You make me feel like dancing...

Liza breaks out in dance a lot and it's very cute! She can dance with or without music. In these pictures Liza and I were getting in the car to go to the memorial service for a friend's husband. Her Daddy thought she was so cute so he had to take some pictures.

Here Liza is contemplating what dance moves she should do.


Now she's asking Mom - what do you think I should do?


Off she goes...





This would have been a really cute picture Mommy if my bow wasn't stuck on top of my head!


Daddy how did we do?

Blank Park Zoo

Sunday was a beautiful day in Iowa so the Bair family headed to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. Liza is getting really good at making farm animal noises so we thought we'd broaden her repertoire. The animals weren't making a lot of noises for her to mimic but that was just fine since other things intrigued her.

Liza wants to know where did that Wallaby go? She was watching it and now it's hiding in the grass and she can't find it.

As were walking into the children's play area Liza was enamored with the ducks. She didn't want to leave them to go see anything else. We had to promise her we'd come back to get her off the bridge. This picture is our promised visit back and she has food pellets to toss at the ducks. Of course she tried to taste test them first!

This goat came a little too close for Liza's comfort.

At the next pen Liza decided to let Daddy do all the feeding and she kept her hands in the air so they wouldn't be mistaken for hands that contained food.

This bull-type creature was huge and apparently had a tongue to match. Bair fed it and afterwards he walked over to me holding his hand out asking for a wipe! So glad that Liza has a wonderful Daddy and he took one for the Bair team. I'm not good with slobber!

Iowa State Fair

It's Iowa State Fair time. We went with friends, Addy, Brody and Evan on August 15. According to fair reports we were there with 99,516 other people! It was crowded and we noticed that especially when it started raining and everyone was running for cover. We ended up huddling under a tree, Liza was completely protected in her stroller, and Addy and Brody ducked under the tailgate of a gator. A little rain didn't dampen our spirits.

Within minutes of going through the entrance gate we spot a gentleman leading his flock of geese through the crowded streets. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked closely - each goose was dressed up in an outfit. I scrambled for the camera and was able to take a shot before they were out of picture range. What a hoot - you never know what you'll see at the State Fair.

Addy and Brody played in the splash fountains and I think this picture is Brody "begging" Addy to go back in with him.

One of the indoor facilities is filled with the baby version of typical farm animals. It's an enclosed windowless room so I wasn't too thrilled about the smell. It was fun for the kids to see the animals and to touch some of them. This is Liza admiring the baby chicks. Addy and Brody's grandfather Wilson used to take them, when they were little, to see the baby chicks at our local farm store. I thought that was a great idea so I suggested it to Bair. He took Liza a few times and she loved it. What she didn't love so much was the time they went and the container was still there but all the baby chicks had been sold! I think there was a sweet girl meltdown then.

She had a lot of fun pressing up against the wire mesh and smiling for the camera.

Happy Birthday Gaggy!

Happy Birthday Gaggy! We wish we were with you to celebrate your special day. Since we can't I thought you'd might enjoy seeing a few pictures of Liza. This morning I told her it was your birthday and she kept saying Gaggy over and over. Should have had the video camera instead! I tried to get her to stand nicely, put down the milk and smile but was not successful in getting her to do all of those things at once. I think she was still a little put out with me over her time out this morning. We were singing happy birthday in this picture.

We didn't make it through Happy Birthday before Liza was off picking up sticks and having a big old time tapping them on the pavement.

I guess the stick activity wore her out because she had to take a milk break. I think she's saying just as soon as I finish this milk Mommy I'll be ready to smile for the camera...too bad we didn't have time! We all hope you have a wonderful day!

Quick Trip to Madison, WI

Auntie Em moved from Chicago to Madison a little over a month ago and on Saturday we took her things that have been in Bair family storage. We had all been together for vacation just 2 short weeks ago so I think Liza recognized her and Logan when we arrived.

AuntEm's house is especially fun because there are no gates on the stairs, she is still collecting furniture so there are empty rooms to run around in and she has a great play station in her back yard. Liza likes to sit on the bottom step wherever we go so she's checking out how much she likes this one - seems good to me.

Emmie is working so hard to get things in order and just when she thinks she has her drawers perfectly arranged something or someone (in this case me) comes along and shakes things up by suggesting she move furniture around. In this picture we are trying to decide on which wall we think the chest will look best. I asked Em to pose next to the chest so I'd get a sense of how much space is left on wall if we leave chest there so she decided to be a little Vanna White-ish!

Since a moving truck was coming to get Emmie's stuff from Knoxville too I think my parents took the opportunity to clean house. We've been joking that my sister received 25 chairs and that she ought to have people over to play musical chairs because with all the chairs she doesn't have room for much else! It turns out that Liza is having a smaller version of chair overload because we brought back in the U-Haul a table and 2 chairs that Emmie and I had as children, a rocking chair for Liza, and 2 different size school desks for her. If you add these 5 chairs to the other 3 chairs that are just for Liza at our house already we have chair overload too.

Liza asked her AuntieEm to come sit next to her on the stairs (by saying AuntEm here and patting the seat next to her over and over) so I called Logan over for a picture; unexpectedly a quick snap turned out well! Liza is learning to smile for the picture better and better each time.

18 month appointment

Today was Liza's 18 month well baby visit. Technically she's 18 1/2 months but who's counting! She was wonderful during the visit, waved hello and good-bye to everyone. She topped to pet the 4 life size stuffed animals on the way back to the room and remembered to tell them good-bye on her way out. Liza especially liked twirling around on the doctor's stool. Her Daddy let her lay on her tummy and hold on and he spun her around and around. I wasn't a big fan but she was having fun. When the doctor came in and needed the stool I think Liza was a little bit indignant about it. Dr. Wehr said she was perfect and doing wonderfully and no more shots until kindergarten!

Before we left the house this morning I took a few pictures to mark the occasion. Liza is starting to learn what it means to smile for the camera. I asked Liza if I could take her picture and she ran over and stood ramrod straight in front of me, hence the picture below.

I then asked her to smile for the picture and she gave me one cheesy grin.

Before I could give any more editorial direction she came over to the bench, patted it and said here (that means she wants to sit wherever she touches). I picked her up put her on the bench and she looks at me and says picture please - so I took it!

Living History Farms

Sunday afternoon the Bair family went to Living History Farms in Des Moines. Bair and I have been before and I remember questioning why we paid good money to come see it. Now as the Mother of a toddler I get it; it's a great place to learn, see animals, explore and have an old fashion sarsaparilla (something Chris loves). Living History Farms shows a 1700, 1850 and 1900 farm as well as an 1875 town. Liza can say many names of farm animals and make their sound so she had fun mooing, neighing and oinking through the afternoon.

At the 1900 farm I asked Bair to put Liza on the farm cart so I could take her picture. The picture didn't turn out so well but I'm posting because after I took it Bair said now I want you to make sure wherever you post that picture that you tell people you just took a picture of our daughter on a manure spreader. Little did I know!

Bair also suggested I take this picture and title it Welcome to Iowa!

The kind man let Liza pet the horses and I think she was expecting them to say neigh-neigh back to her when she said it to them.

Liza and her Daddy are checking and the chickens and Liza really wanted to go in the house with them.

We tried and tried to take a shot when we were both looking at the camera but this is the best you are going to get. Enjoy! Until next post.

Vacation Part VI

One afternoon Mother and I scouted a location for a family picture since we were all together. Here are the members of the Jones family after a great day in the sun!

Liza is Daddy's little girl and they looked so cute in this picture I had to post.

Family friends Judi and Dick came from Maryland to vacation with our family and Emmie is posing with them during our mini photo shoot.

Liza was a trooper during the picture taking and if we can get her to time her smiles with when we take the picture that will be great progress.

Our time together wouldn't be complete without an entire group photo! So glad we were all there together.

Vacation Part V

Emmie, Daddy, Judi and Dick took a kayaking adventure through the marsh and Mother and I were there to capture their departure in pictures.

Daddy is always the best dressed for the occasion and I think that includes kayaking. I'm guessing he picked the blue life jacket to coordinate with his swimming trunks.

I think this picture reflects truth in kayaking! Emmie paddling and Daddy enjoying the ride. Daddy has a sore back so I'm awfully proud of him for attempting the kayak adventure.

Liza and her Nana (pronounced Nan-nah)having fun together on the deck.

One of Liza's favorite activities was chasing around the pat-pats. She loved the dogs but I have to say they didn't feel the same about her. They would often run away and get in their kennel, trying to escape her, but she still tried to make friends. Hallie and Molly, Liza misses you a great deal but I'm guessing you are glad to have your parents and your house back.

Vacation Part IV

Litchfield is a great place to ride bikes so each afternoon we loaded up and headed over to the pool with the lazy river. Liza liked riding in the caboodle but was especially pleased if the ride came with goldfish crackers.

After arriving at the pool Liza would check out everything that was going on and then she'd pick the lazy river or the submarine play area.

On the way to the submarine there was a big mushroom and water was flowing from it like a shower. The first day Liza didn't want to have anything to do with the mushroom but by the end of our time at Litchfield she was asking her Daddy to take her under it. In this picture Mommy and Liza are making their way to the submarine with Liza "touching" the mushroom water.

The submarine, mushroom and other children's water features are all in a 1 foot pool. Liza was very apprehensive about standing up in the water. The first day or so we would carry her over to the submarine and she would walk through it to where the other parent was standing. Inside the submarine there were all these gadgets that turned water on and off and water cascading from the ceiling wasn't Liza's idea of fun. By the end of the week she was splashing in the 1 foot pool without holding our hands and running through the submarine almost beating us to the exit she picked. The lazy river circles the pool and you can see a child floating by in the lower corner of the picture.

Liza enjoyed the beach too. She was a bathing beauty under the umbrella and the sunscreen did its job by protecting our sweet baby girl.

Playing in the "mud" was a favorite activity and when the waves would come in Liza giggled and giggled as the water would surround her.