weekending and other updates

Saturday

After Friday's mayhem and mental exhaustion, we all needed a good weekend. And I needed to remember the joy of sharing Liam's excitement.

So I brought him cleaning at the preschool with me and my mom Saturday morning. This is a big treat for him. Plenty of toys to play with, small brooms and vacuums for helping Mama and Grammie, tricycles to ride in the hall, and getting to help Grammie squeeze the mop. What could be better?
The forbidden fruit. Liam loves this shelf of goodies and other snacks I don't buy for him, but Grammie is always sure to share...

And the cherry on top: taking the trash out with the bye bye buggy.

River and Gabe stayed home for some special Daddy bonding time.

Sunday

We woke up to Fall. Crisp cool air dense with mist. It felt fantastic.

And then we got in the car to go to church and the car didn't want to turn on. Our neighbor Trish came to our rescue yet again and let us borrow her car for a jumpstart. Trish, what will we do when your house sells? I'm not letting myself go there yet...

We went to Wal-Mart, because that is what you do here in Arkansas, and bought a new battery. By the time we got back into our car, the battery was dead again. So, we went back into Wal-Mart for some cheap pliers for switching out the batteries. Liam helped.

After church, we went to Gulley Park in Fayetteville for Ozark Natural Foods annual Co-Optoberfest. Yummy (dairy-free) food. Music. Wide open grass fields. Playgrounds. A rocky creek. It all added up for a fantastic, and slightly chilly, afternoon.

This is the Liam that keeps me going.

Our attempt at a family portrait. The camera thought the tree in the foreground was much more important. We didn't bother with a retake...

The perfect ending for a great weekend: the first fire of the season.

...

And an update:

After a week of dairy-free for both boys (and me), River is back to being blissfully happy, smiley, and just fun to be around. And Liam's appetite is definitely picking up. He has eaten at least some dinner every night for the past few days, and is even willing to try new things. He ate pea soup tonight... Clearly, dairy-free is working for him, too.

So, we will stick with the dairy-free diet for now.