Sunny Days

 So, this little man and I have been having a LOT of fun lately. At the beginning of last week we found out he had a double ear infection, but ever since he got through the first couple of days of antibiotics, he has been feeling great and we've been living it up! I've also been really motivated to work on fun crafty projects, so my house is sort of a wreck, but it's been delightful.

It all started with these little crazy flowers I made out of  stryrofoam balls & q-tips. After I finished dyeing them orange I really couldn't decide if I liked them or not for a few days, but I finally decided they could stay on the mantle ... I've been needing some orange accents to go with the giant orange curtains that are hanging in the living room, anyway. So then I had to change out most of the other stuff I had on the mantle because it clashed with the crazy flowers, but that motivated me to paint some picture frames white so I could display a few of Liam's sweet one year photos. I love it.

Another project I worked on over the course of several nights this week was zebra-striping some letters for a friend of mine. She is getting ready to redecorate her little girl's room (moving up from a nursery to a "big girl" room) and she's using zebra accents. Since I'm not much of an animal print girl, myself, it was kind of fun to work on the sort of project that I'd never do for myself. While I can't see zebra fitting in anywhere in my home, it was fun to paint & I think it looked cute (I did "Wild" & "Lilly").

 Liam is becoming more and more interested in "helping" me with whatever I'm working on, so this Tuesday when I was making some treats for community group I was happy to let him smash graham crackers into crumbs with his little wooden hammer. Here he is, very pleased with his work:

 And, just one more random story from our week ... Today we had lunch with a couple of friends from our community group on the patio of a sweet little tea room that is located next to a creek and a sort of a green space (I promise, that is relevant). After our lunch arrived, it started occurring to me that Liam was throwing his food on the ground (which he normally doesn't do until the end of the meal), and that he was making the "barking" noise he makes when he sees a dog. My mom brain finally kicked in and I looked down to try to figure out what had caught his attention, and this is what I saw:

Yep. A baby raccoon. Liam was throwing his food down to a baby raccoon, and was barking at it because I haven't gotten around to teaching him how to make raccoon noises yet :) The little fellow must have somehow gotten separated from his mom and made himself at home in the bushes next to our table. He spent the rest of our meal napping next to my feet and feasting on grilled cheese and grapes. Aside from my brief concern that he might bite my toes and give me rabies, it was a fun surprise and a great way to keep my son entertained through lunch!