School picture

Autumn pictures are back from Liam's play school. When I look at this picture I see a lot of Bunn with Opa's smile!

Big boy pants and camera

Today was a big day. After seeming to lose interest in potty training, we decided to get Liam big boy underwear to see if we could breath some life into the process. Liam LOVED his new underwear. I showed him how to go to the bathroom standing up and he thought that was the best thing ever. Without me showing him he automatically wiped the bowl of the toilet when he was done. I guess he has been watching Papi :-). At any rate, at least for tonight, Liam consistently went to the bathroom without any accidents. This is probably due to the novelty of it all . . . but I'll take that for a day!!

 Liam in his new Thomas the Tank Engine undies

After his potty success I wanted to reward him with something. When I took his picture in his new undies he asked to see the camera. We do not normally let him play with the camera because, as we tell him, 'It is expensive and there isn't enough money in [his] piggy bank if the camera breaks.' It, however, seemed to be a nice reward for his learning today so I let him try to take my picture as he was asking to do. Enjoy Liam's first photo shoot of Mami.

This and that

Here some pictures from the last couple of days at the Janke house . . .

Liam learned about 'tanken' when Tobias had to fill the generator twice a day after Hurrican Irene. Now Liam has to 'tank' before he drives his car. 

Liam in his Spiderman slippers with the 'crash and burn' helicopter -
one of his favorite toys, Onkel Dodi!!

Liam decided he wanted to play in the dryer the other day. He said it was a little 'eng' but he stayed there for about 15 minutes talking to us.

 Liam is in a big train phase because he loves Thomas the Tank Engine.
Onkel Dodi, notice another favorite toy!

 Today we were talking about Halloween costumes. Since Liam won't be in the US for Halloween I decided he could play with his costume early.
He loved being Bob, der Baumeister. (Yes, I did put his tool belt on upside-down . . . )

Hallo Oma! Hallo Opa!

 Liam found his German flag in the deep, dark recesses of his toy box. He immediately picked it up and started yelling. 'Hallo Oma! Hallo Opa!' We told him this past week that we are going to Ingelbach in November. When he was waving his flag I asked him where Oma and Opa lived. He yelled, 'NOVEMBER!!!!'

Tobias converted Liam's crib to his stage 1 bed. Wtihin 30 seconds Liam figured out how to get around the child-proofing on the rail and collapse the rail into the bed. (Wonder who he takes after?!) Tobias added some reinforcements to the design and now Liam has his 'tank bed', as he called it. I asked him why it was a tank bed. He said 'like Thomas the Tank Engine.'

He slept the entire night in his bed without getting up. When I walked in to get him this morning he said, 'Mami, I am not allowed to push the green button (to collapse the rail). Only Papi can push the button.) :-)

Cake video and breakfast

Cake for breakfast is, of course, what must follow the birthday party. At least Liam thinks so. I, foolishly, froze all the left-over cake after the party last night. Liam immediately asked for cake this morning. Breakfast preparation included thawing cake, putting the candles back in and singing. 

 

Singing and cake from the party . . . just didn't get this posted last night

Birthday party

We celebreated Liam's 3rd birthday today. We had a dinosaur, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder themed party. You know, because that makes sense to 3 year olds. ;-)

We rented a dinosaur bounce house as the main activity for the kids. We have had lots of rain and storms all week. Thankfully, today was sunny all day. It cooled off nicely by 1600 so we had a good time outdoors (with the exception of the mosquitoes!).

Here are some pictures from the day. (Actually, it's a lot of pictures, but it was a big day.)

The dinosaur bounce house. Or as Liam and Bryson called it 'the best thing EVER'

I'm not sure this is what the instructions meant when they said 'Adult supervision required at all times.'

Getting the 'favors' ready for the kids - part of the Thomas theme

Liam's cake - part of the Bob the Builder theme

The calm before the 3-year old party storm

Liam LOVES tractors right now. Especially a John Deere. He got several for his birthday.

A digger from the Powers and one happy kid!

Liam figured out how to inflate and deflate the bounce house. That was the final game this evening.

Cup cakes!!

Liam has started his new class at play school for 3 year-olds. He is very excited because his new class has a hamster named Percy. That is his favorite thing about school right now and all he talks about.

Liam helped me make cup cakes for his class at play school tomorrow to celebrate his birthday. Here are some pictures of his in action in the kitchen.

Carefully placing the sprinkles on  . . . 

Evaluating his work

Enjoying his work!

Labor Day

It's been a week since all the fun began with Hurricane Irene. We got power back Friday evening at 5:00PM. As much as we enjoyed camping in our house, we were thrilled to finally have power. Being without power for nearly a week really makes one aware of all the little things we take for granted!

On Thursday Liam's play school had their annual ice cream social to celebrate the end of summer. Here is a picture of Liam from that day. (That's Papi behind him eating his ice cream.)

 

Tonight we had a cookout at Mom and Dad's for Labor Day. Liam loved playing with his cousins and Bryson. You will notice between the video and picture that Liam still hasn't settled on a dominant hand . . . Also, Abby and Bryson are very good friends. Despite their size difference, they are the same age!! Abby is unusually tall and Bryson is unusually small.