Kacke

Liam has a couple words that need some explanation before the Jankes arrive. We want to ensure you we are not raising your grandson with a potty mouth. 'Kerze' and 'Katze' both come out 'kacke'. So if he runs around the house saying 'Kacke' - - you know why. :-)

Hummer, Hammer, and Leuchtturm

One good thing about the store is that Liam gets lots of new toys to play with. Two of his new favorite toys are a Hummer truck and his very own hammer. He has played with Tobias' hammer for a while and it has always scared me to death. This one is much safer. In this video he is doing what he always see Tobias do - he is looking for stubs on which to hammer.





Liam is also picking up lots of new words. He said 'Leuchtturm' (lighthouse) for the first time this week. He is also ready for Oma and Opa's visit. He says 'Oma' and 'Ahpoo' at least 3 times every day!

Other tricks include trying to count, which for now goes '1,2,9,10'. And he is trying to spell words and read. Right now every letter is 'M'.

Grand Opening

We finally made it to Grand Opening. It would be an understatement to say that it has been a lot of work. We keep reminding ourselves that we did not decide to go into this for the first year. If it stayed like this no one would ever do this!

Despite the hard work and long hours, we had a smashing Grand Opening!!! Now we have A LOT more work to do. Gonna be a few more tough months before we settle into the new normal.

Tobias and some last minute preparation

A view into some of the clothing racks

The toy section

Our staff

Happy to be opening

Our line started forming at 700
We had 110 at the store when we opened the doors

Marshmallows, presents and cousins

Liam has been very buys playing and having fun since his birthday. Here are some videos of his latest adventures!

Remember these from Christmas?? Liam loves the marshmallow guns!

Liam has always liked wind chimes. Nanna gave everyone a wind chime for Liam's birthday so we would all have one at our house when he comes to play. Liam was at GG's and GG and Tobias were in the back of the house. All of the sudden they heard the wind chime and both wondered how Liam could reach the wind chime without help since he is way too short. This is what they found!!

Liam went into the living room and got this out of GG's umbrella stand to hit the wind chime.

And, finally, another video from Liam's birthday. This was what Liam did after he opened every present. The Elmo hat was a gift from the Powers.

I like that!

Liam said his first official sentence yesterday. While he was at Nanna and Poppa's he said, 'I like that.' Of course, when Mami and Papi asked him to say it he looked at us blankly and ran away.

Birthday!!

I am 2 and look what I can do! I can put on my own sunglasses and pretend to drive a car!!

This evening we had Liam's birthday party. Papi was on grill duty (as always).

Liam loved playing outside before dinner.

Much excitement about cake!!

Liam and the disaster Elmo cake. (That's another story.)
And for the Germans, you will be happy to know
NO ONE ate from the red icing. We stuck to the white. :-)

Liam cheering after singing 'Backe, backe Kuchen!' (video follows)

Liam and Papi (and, yes, the pacifier remains a near permanent fixture *sigh*)

We have a few more videos to follow but I can't get Blogger to play nicely. At least this one loaded. Liam loves 'Backe, backe Kuchen!'. He usually yells 'gehl' at the end. Tonight he got excited and yelled early.

Look who's turning 2!

Liam will be 2 years old on Monday. Once again, our friend, Derrick, kindly took some pictures for us to help us capture Liam at 2.

I love swings!

'Uh-oh!' Translation - 'I just threw Derrick's baseball in the creek!'

Tick-tock, like the clock! One of Liam's favorite games.

Lake Maury and Ahpoo

Liam loves to play outside. Here is a short video clip of one his favorite past times - playing at Lake Maury by the Lions Bridge.

On another note, Liam tried to say Opa for the first time today. It sounds like Ahpoo. :-)

Found it!

Liam drank his 'tea' this morning out of Tobias' mug from Uelzen.