Life as we go it

Looking at the ducks...

Picking up rocks and throwing them into the lake... Picking up rocks and throwing them into the lake... Picking up rocks and.....you get the picture!

More rock exploration...

Investigating the green slime stuff....luckily he didn't try to taste it :)

My cutie's sandy little feet...

Snack break! "Would you like a little applesauce with your sand?"

Okay - here is MY favorite part of our beach day (other than my amazingly cute little boy splashing in the water of course) - beach glass!! I just love beach combing. And finding beach glass is like an added bonus! I found ten pieces, which I think is pretty good. I'm excited to add it to our beach glass collection (yeah, I know, totally dorky).

Liam got a nice warm bath the second he got home. He had sand in places I won't even mention....eek. He skipped lunch and went right down for a nap :) Mama likes the beach.


And one more quick photo.
The Italian Zucchini I harvested from our garden last night:

Holy cow! (I bet you NEVER would have guessed I was a child of the 80's by the use of that expression). Liam has accumulated a ton of books in the past seventeen months.


As a mom I've realized that there IS such a thing as your kid(s) having too many toys. But, in my heart, I don't think a kid can ever have too many books :)


He's been given a bunch as gifts (when he was born, for his baptism, for his 1-year birthday). And I've found quite a few "cheapies" at rummage sales this summer (I love me some $0.25 books). And occasionally Matt and I will find one at a toy store or a book store that strikes a chord, so we'll by it.

But this week we were absolutely blessed with two huge boxes of lightly loved board books from our neighbors (thank you B&P!). Their kids are now school-aged and they're moving away, so they figured Liam would love them. And oh does he ever love them!

We've looked at each and every book already (within a 24 hour time period) and I think I've read half of them to him already. I think I'm losing my voice.

And today I made sure to put little "This Book Belongs To Liam" bookplates on all of the books that he already had. I just think it's cool and important that he knows which books were given to him as gifts by his grandparents, cousins, us, etc. My mom STILL has books at her house that have my name or my brothers' names written on the inside cover. It's fun to look back at them and remember reading them as a kid.

Here are the little woodland-animal-style bookplates I bought a while back at an awesome local home shop, Nest:

Gallison New York makes these

Aren't the little bunnies  and lady bugs cute?

Here are the new books, happily living with the books that Liam already had:

Some of Liam's faves from this stack: The Napping House Where's Spot Is Your Mama A Llama

Faves from this stack: All The World Happy Pig Day Skippy Jon Jones

Faves from this stack: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See Little Miss Spider Goes To School

Faves from this stack: Are You My Mother The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Okay, so I really want to know, what what was YOUR all-time favorite book when you were a kid? Mine was "Socks For Supper." Ever heard of it?

My mom made these cute little t-shirts for Liam, Bella and Rylan

Liam, walking in memory of my dad :)

There were plenty of snacks to keep us fed throughout the night...

Each time one of us walked a lap we put in noodle in the "Laps Walked" jar. I didn't count the noodles yet, but I'll let you know how many miles we walked once I count!

Liam loved the therapy dogs that were a few campsites away

My niece Caroline and my mom, keeping Liam out of trouble

My niece Bella sold $30 worth of glow in the dark necklaces! Proceeds went to the American Cancer Society.

We purchased luminaries, which we dedicated in memory of my dad

The luminary walk at 10:00pm - my favorite part of the event. The bags glow all night long, making it very peaceful while you walk.

We made it until morning! All of us slept in our tents a bit, except for my niece and my brother Jason. Crazy night owls!

A photo of my dad, keeping us company until morning :)

The event raised over $50,000 for the ACS. And our team raised over $1,500 by itself!

Thanks for letting me share this with you :)