Mother's Day

Hello all and happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
Liam and I spent the day in Girdwood with some friends. He loves the kids Murphy and Wesli. We were sad that Brody had to stay in Coldfoot to continue on the monster of a project he is working on right now. We miss him so much:( Send him all your good thoughts because they are having a really hard time getting the equipment to work up there. It seems like its one thing after another and its defiantly taking its toll on moral. He is still plugging away though and working very hard for us so send him your good thoughts!!
Our friend John cooked Eggs Benedict for his wife Julia and I and it was really good. It was his first time making the dish and it came out really great. He was very proud of his poached eggs, we found that the trick is to add a little vinegar to the boiling water. John googled it.
I got up earlier than Liam this morning so that I could have a peaceful shower and some coffee. It was totally worth it. What a good way to start a morning. The drive to Girdwood was beautiful, a blue sky day. We haven't been to Girdwood for some time so Liam really enjoyed the ride down. He loved the waterfalls on the side of the road and liked looking at the sun glittering off of Cook Inlet as we drove.
After breakfast we took the kids to the playground and let them play for a while. Murphy and Wesli rode their bikes around and as you can see from the pictures Liam had a great time playing on the slide, swing and just climbing around. He was unsure of the slides at first but it only took one time of me coaxing him to go down that he did it by himself and LOVED it.
He has really been enjoying the playing outside stuff. I noticed tonight when he was in the bath that he already has a tan on the back of his neck. I noticed that after I got done washing his hair 3 times trying to get all the dirt out. I finally had to put some conditioner in it and comb the small rocks out of his hair, not his favorite bathing experience, I must say. He only wants to come inside if he is hungry and sometimes that is even a struggle. I have planters left over from last year with old soil in them so I gave him one with several containers and he is totally happy to fill and empty the soil out of them for at least 30 minutes at a time and that's saying something for a toddler.
In other news
-We are almost moved in to the new rental up on Lazy Mt. Brody moved the big stuff before he left for Coldfoot so all I had to do was move boxes. Thanks to our helpers - Kevin, Lucas and John we couldn't have pulled it off without you guys.
- The puppies are growing like weeds. They are about 3 months old now.
- Liam and I are embarking on a 2 week journey soon to Kansas City where Liam will stay with his Mimi and Poppy and I will go on to Vermont to present my Capstone. This is a big deal since I have never left Liam overnight before. I couldn't think of better people to leave him with though!!
-The baby is doing great and moving so much everyday. People keep asking me if I'm having the baby soon and when I tell them I'm only six months pregnant they say things like, "Wow, Your going to have a big baby". Note to self, don't say stuff like that to pregnant women. I'm measuring at 41 inched around my belly at my belly button right now and just keep expanding.
- Brody is working really hard up in Coldfoot and is very homesick so if anyone wants to send him a card or a little care package I will give you the address if you e-mail me, he would love to hear from you.
Hope your day went well and I will write again soon.

So Much has changed

Wow, I cant believe its been this ling since Ive written anything on our blog.
Boy if its not one thing its another. And before you know it its months later.
Christmas went well. Mitzie and Eden were up to see us and even though we tried to keep the gifts to a minimum we all made out pretty well. Liam had the most by far and amazingly he still plays with many of them.
The pregnancy is going well, now anyway. I think the first 4 months were worse with this one than with Liam. I felt really gross and as Brody can attest very grouchy. Things are much better now and I'm getting bigger and bigger everyday. I'm really hoping for a natural child birth with this one! My OB is great and he has an awesome midwife who will deliver the baby if all goes well. Our due date is July 29th, Brody's birthday. Liam was born a week late so we will see what this one does. And No we are not finding out what we are having.
Now on to the all important Liam News
1) He learned to climb out of his crib, he is very agile and has managed to do this and not fall once.
2) We tried a toddler bed and cam to the conclusion, after many sleepless nap times and nights, that he wasn't ready.
3) We bought him a crib tent, you know the kind to keep cats out, and Eureka! it worked. We will try the bed later.
4) Potty training is going really well. You will see in the picture he is wearing blue underwear. He sports his training pants around the house these days.
5) He got his first haircut today and he did great!! Please see the proud pictures.
In other news-
We have 5 beautiful puppies by Natchez. We are hoping to keep them and use them for Liam when he is old enough to start mushing. Brody has always wanted a sibling team.
My job at the farm ended in February so I have been a stay at home mom since then. Its nice but who ever said a mothers work is never done really meant it.
Brody is working in Coldfoot, AK. Its really beautiful up there but defiantly still winter. Liam and I are hoping to meet him in Fairbanks for a visit some time soon.
We love you all and will write more soon!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Hello all,
Hope your reading this after you have stuffed yourself with the delights of thanksgiving. Brody is still in Coldfoot so Liam and I went to the farm for Thanksgiving this year. We missed Brody a lot but we had a good time. There were four little girls there for Liam to play with and he had a blast. He ate so much food I was impressed. We started the day off pretty easy. We outside for a walk and then Liam played in the snow while I did a little shoveling (it snowed about 5 inches last night and its snowing again right now). Liam gets really excited when we talk about going outside and he always wants to help to go out. This morning he found his gloves and was trying to put them on. Then he stands by the door and says eh, eh, eh, like he is saying, "Hurry up mom, times wasting." He is such a good little helper too. He always wants to shovel or sweep, what ever I'm doing. I hope that last through his teenage years, right.
So after we came in the house we had a lite lunch and read some stories. He is getting so he likes to play in his room a lot and I came in to see him sitting in the rocking chair looking at a story by himself. He is growing so fast, I can hardly believe that he is becoming such a little independent person. This is an all time favorite for him to read, Goodnight Moon. Thanks Gingin!!
I baked an apple pie during his nap and then off we went to the Thanksgiving Feast. The pie looked beautiful but cut very poorly so once it was cut the pretty pie was done. I also made stuffing and green bean casserole (one of my personal favorites). Liam had a super full day so he was very tired when we got home. I had to fight him to clean all the sweet potatoes off his face but after that he fell right to sleep. Speaking of sleeping I am headed that way as well.
One last thing - Calling all family and friends - I would really like to send out holiday cards this year, I have a beautiful picture of Liam to put on them. Please send me addresses via e-mail jennifer.sundquist@mail.sit.edu
Hope you all had a happy Turkey day!!!

Halloween, what a difference

I thought I would post these 2 pics of Liam. One is from last year at Halloween, we were at my parents house. The other is from this year at the Halloween Carnival at the Fair Grounds. What a difference a year makes!!
Yesterday was Liam's first day of daycare outside our home and it was much harder for Brody and I than it was for him. He hit the ground running and didn't look back. He did great but no nap which we expected. He is having a great time and this morning when I took him he was visibly happy about it. He is with a few other kids that she watches 2 boys and a girl. She told me today he is good at defending himself. The older boy tried to take a toy from him and he just took it back. That's our boy!!

It's been oh so long!!

Hello to all you Liam fans out there. Sorry its been so long since I posted last. Whoa so much has happened. Well....the summer just flew by. I spent a lot of time at the elementary school keeping up on the garden which went really well. We had a Harvest Fest with all the veggies from the garden, the kids loved it.
Brody has been working in Anchorage which is nice. He likes the job and the people but hates the commute. One day maybe we will both have jobs close to home.
At the end of the summer I went to Idaho to see my grandparents on my dads side. Mom and Dad came and so did Liam's cousins Noah, Neci and Naomi. Here is a great picture of Liam and Noah playing with some blocks of wood they collected. Liam got stung by a wasp while we were there and he didn't even cry. He tripped and his hand landed on it. I was right there and flicked the stinger out right away. His pinkie swelled up a bit but he was fine.
After we got back school was in full swing and it was back to the normal school year schedule. Of course Liam and I both got the flu and I had an extra fun infection 2 weeks later....that was great. Brody somehow managed to get through the sickness unscathed, that lucky duck. Then it was on to Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. Liam helped me make chocolate cupcakes for the kids...actually he just licked the whisk. I think that was his first real taste of chocolate, he loved it. This is his box that he likes to sit in. He kept trying to climb in and falling over, it was very frustrating for him. So I decided to cut out one side so he could get in easier and it was a big hit.
For Halloween we went as Zombie Farmers. We had a great little party at the farm for the Farm School families. It was a lot of fun to organize. We had a pin the nose on the scarecrow, a fish pond, a 3 legged race with parents and kids and a pumpkin carving contest. Liam had a blast chasing the kids around all night and being crazy. For the actual night of Halloween we went to the Fairgrounds where they had a Halloween Carnival. It was perfect for him. The weather was really bad and he isn't really old enough to trick or treat yet so it was a great way to spend the evening with him. We ate all the candy he won at the different games. Yes we are those kind of parents, Ha Ha. That pretty much brings us up to the present. Brody has been working really hard on the house up at Lazy Mt and still working in Anchorage. I am still at the farm but I'm starting to think about what the next move should be. I'm going to sub in the public schools for the rest of the year and hopefully have a teaching job in the Fall. We are having a mellow Thanksgiving this year just staying home and I will be cooking dinner. I haven't had the chance to cook a turkey for a while so I'm looking forward to that!! Liam is 17 months old this month and crazy as ever. He is starting to talk, just the first sounds of a word but its a start. We love you all and thanks for reading our blog.

Liam's First Birthday

We had a very low key birthday for Liam this year. We started of the morning with a present. We let him open one before breakfast. Its really funny but he is totally in to trucks and making the noises that go along with the trucks. We did not intentionally teach him that, he just picked it up. He had a blast all day with the little rubbery tonka trucks my mom got him.
After we opened a present I made French Toast with some sauteed cinnamon apples. Brody went to work a little late and we had a nice family breakfast. After that it was off and running for the rest of the day. Since our nanny is on vacation I have been taking Liam with me and he has been doing really well. We went and did some watering at the elementary school garden where I teach and while we were there we played on the slide, which he really liked and on the swing, which he did not. He took great naps today and while he was sleeping I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing for his birthday cake. We had a nice dinner outside and opened presents after.
Brody and I joked that we should have all the things he likes for dinner like fish sticks, mac and cheese and eggs with avocado, maybe a smoothie or some spaghetti. I settled on BBQ. He liked it and ate like a champ.
He really liked the hammer and ball toy that Monty brought with him so we found some other toys we liked by the same company. The toys are not plastic and are make with dyes not paint. The rubber wood is super durable too. This is a picture of him playing with the banjo toy. He watched us play with it for a minute and then put all the parts in his mouth then tried playing it. I love this picture, our little musician.
We also found a little drum set for him, mostly he likes to take it apart and throw it around but he drums on it too. His Mimi and Poppy got him a really cool wooden plane, he doesn't fly it around yet but he drives it on the floor and makes his motor sounds. Such a smart little manny we have. Wish you all were here for our boy's birthday. We couldn't have ask for a nicer evening to celebrate it.

Could it be Spring?

Happy Easter to all of you readers. We here at the Sundquist-Shuck house hope your spring is shaping up nicely where ever you live. Muddy season is quickly approaching here in AK or as we like to call it break-up season. Its time to get the rubber boots out and get used to the huge puddles and pot holes. I have been seeing some really cute rubber boots for little ones at the store and I have to remind myself that Liam is not walking yet and he doesn't need them, but they are soooo cute.
Today we went into Anchorage for an Easter Brunch at a friends home. We brought Cardamom Coffee Cake and Spinach dip (they are always a hit with the crowd). Liam was the star of the show, he was the only baby there so that made it easy to get all the attention. Unlike Keegan my friend Kates dog Fern loves to follow Liam around and lick him when ever she could get the chance, she loves babies. He also had food in his hair, probably eggs from breakfast so that was extra incentive for Fern to lick him, she is a Labrador after all. Liam had a great time crawling around and looking at the different people that were there.
Things at my job have been picking up with the season. More and more schools want to set up tours on the farm which is great but we don't have room for all of them and they all want to come at the same time. Our nanny had to go into Anchorage on Friday so Brody stayed home with Liam and I couldn't believe it but that little bugger took a 2 hour morning nap for dad. I think it is because Brody plays with him so much that Liam was exhausted.
One of Liams new found joys in life is spaghetti. He loves the marinara sauce too. I know it is really messy but he likes to feed himself and it does lend it's self to good pictures. He has a good set of choppers, as you can see from the picture above. Liam still has about 8 teeth and we haven't seen anymore for a while now which is ok since teething seems like such a drag for him.
He is so tall that he can reach the top of the table. He likes to get up on his tip toes or pull himself up by his hands to try to get anything I slide out of his reach (which is a lot of stuff). I finally set some of his toys there so he would have something to reach for that he could actually put in his mouth without me having a heart attach. He loves the game and will play at getting things off of the table for a while. He can reach things on the edge of the counters too so we are extra careful to put everything away from the edges.
Well Liam is waking up from his afternoon nap so until the next post we wish you all well.