It's a great life!

Nick captured this picture of Julian "hanging out on the tree swing". JuJu's favorite way of swinging these days is best described as the crazier the better!!!! He even pushes off the tree for a little extra fun -- agh!!!!

Julian often likes to sit as his very own picnic table for lunch, snacks and dinner. He must have thought his spot was a little too sunny, so he improvised a shadier seat with a rain umbrella.
The Pages' Circus (it has a Spanish pronunciation, by the way) came to Pekin, IL last Wednesday. We toured the arena grounds during the morning and were able to see the elephants, camels, ponies, horses, tigers and lions. Julia's favorite thing t0 watch was the park ranger mowing grass on the riding lawn mower!!! Later that night we did attend the live show; Julian laughed out loud, clapped enthusiastically, jumped out of his seat and attempted to perform some upside-down acrobatics and spins of his own, and even cuddled up to an 8 yr. old girl to enjoy the second half of the show!
What better way to raise Mom's heart rate than to fly down the slide on your belly!
Julian's trying to keep up with our neighbor, Tom, who has a riding lawn mower!!!
We toured the "Art of the Brick - LEGO" exhibit at the Lakeview Museum with our friends, Walter and Monica. The boys were most captivated by the permanent hands-on exhibit with plastic pins that you press back and forth.

And, finally I must confess to dragging the boys (Nick and Julian) to a Primetime Expo on Saturday that was sponsored by our local newspaper. We were the youngest attendees...apparently "primetime" is a bit older that I imagined. Many in the crowd were participating in chair aerobics to the Golden Oldies. The antique car show was pretty cool though, and the Elvis impersonator bestowed a silk sash on Julian!

Fun in the sun!

Thanks to all the time we spent outdoors in the backyard last summer, the dogs have become very proficient at digging in the dirt. Their favorite spot is this shady area next to Julian's play house. Julian doesn't seem to mind; in fact, he's benefited from the dogs' actions. The dirt (when dry!) is really lose, and the hole has really grown in size. Julian grabs his "sandbox" toys and digs right in. Here he is with his safety glasses from Lowe's as it was a breezy day and he was tired of rubbing dirt out of his eyes. The outfit was of his own doing too!

Lots of dirty fun!

A little clean fun, too!
Concentrating while climbing at the playground.

Give a kid a shovel, and he'll spread mulch around for you!

Have lawnmower ... will travel

Shhhh! Don't let the IRS know about Julian's new toddler lawn mowing service! It's quite the set-up. He crawls into the red wagon, hauls the plastic lawn mower in with him. Then, Mom gets to pull him along to the "work site".

Here are some photos from the past week:Hanging out in Grandma Shari's forsythia bush.Swinging along the zip line that Grandpa Jerry installed.
Looking for what the Easter Bunny left in the yard.

Going green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Mother Nature must know that today is an Irish celebration -- we woke up to a thick blanket of fog outside. Hopefully the sun will appear in time for the annual St. Patty's Parade downtown. Julian made a shamrock wand with Miss Mary at the library yesterday; he's looking forward to waving it among the crowd.
So, here's Julian helping Mom cut up a big head of cabbage for a yummy salad. Of course he was the official taste tester; at one point he lifted up the entire head of cabbage and took a big bite out of it!

In other news, Julian likes to tell you his name -- "Ju, Ju" he says. Ahhhh!

Julian's hot-stuff picture!!Rockin' out!

Playing in Peoria

Guess Mr. Monkey had a little accident with Thomas the Engine on the train track! "Doctor" Julian soon had everyone up and playing again in no time.

The weather has been very Spring-like lately, so you can imagine where Julian would spend every waking moment if he could. He's been raking up old leaves, digging in the dirt (mud really!), exploring behind the garage, testing out all his riding toys, and even rolling down the hill in front of the house. Mom and Dad got in on the act and had a great time too!

Dress-Up

Julian loves to dress-up like his hero, Dad!!! What do you think of his white A-frame shirt and black rimmed glasses? Isn't he just the budding engineer??!!

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss......"left foot, left foot, left foot, right; play, play, play all day and night"!!

Last night we worked on a family project - fixing a slightly used wooden train table. Julian was totally focused on repairing the broken draw. He really kept his mommy and daddy going despite the distraction of Monday night TV shows like "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men". After the table was mended, Julian tested out how the trains rolled around on it. He kept pulling Daddy by the hand over to the train table to play "Toot, Toot"!

Toddler tricks

I was finally able to catch Julian in the act of doing his handstand. He picked up this trick after participating in a toddler's gymnastics course at Family Fun day at the Peoria Civic Center. As you can see by his quick get-away in his box car, he'd rather not have his gymnastics tricks filmed until he's perfected them! :-)

Right now the little man is scanning the bar codes on some library books with his toy register. Do you think we visit the library too often?? Hope we don't have a late fee to pay - Julian's piggy bank is already swelling!

Another "trick" Julian has picked up from his parental units is hanging coats up over the back of a kitchen chair. Of course, Julian insists on taking off his zippered sweaters, jackets and PJs (which he is supposed to be currently wearing indoors) and hanging those up over his little chairs too!

Daddy has been helping Julian develop a skill - writing his name. Julian really does like drawing, especially with Daddy's new MECHANICAL pencils: