Liam: Year-by-year

The day we brought Liam home from the hospital we took a picture of him in my arms in the front yard.  It was a BEAUTIFUL spring day, the grass was green, the flowers were blooming, and Liam was so tiny!

One year later we took the same picture and Liam and the scenery behind him were very different!

Today we recreated the picture yet again the the contrast is even more extreme!  Liam just keeps getting bigger and the weather keeps getting colder!

 

Liam's 2nd Birthday!

Our little Liam is two years old today!  We started the day with a nice relaxing morning at home, including the opening of Liam's present.

Liam is fascinated with our toaster, so we figured a toy toaster and tea kettle would be right up his alley!

Liam's favorite song is "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and he is absolutely adorable when he sings "E-I-E-I-O."  Hence the inspiration for his farm-themed birthday party!  All week long I've been doing little things to get ready for the party but today I decorated the cake and we did all of the final party prep.

 

 

Once the family members arrived, it was time for the official party fun to begin!  We started with some farm BINGO and toss-the-farm-animals-into-the-tractor!

 

 

 

We dined on pizza and other kid-friendly foods and enjoyed all of the wonderful company!

 

 

Everybody gathered to sing "Happy Birthday" to Liam and watch him blow out the candles on his cake.

We forgot to practice ahead of time with Liam, so he got a little help from Mommy and Daddy!

I figured the sheep cupcake would be Liam's favorite - it was covered in marshmallows!

 

Last year Liam wasn't very interested in opening presents but this year he did a great job!

Yes, I put him in his cow diaper on purpose!

Liam got a quilt for when he moves to his big boy bed this summer!

Dan's dad has nicknamed Liam "Dozer" because he tends to bulldoze into things.  It was very appropriate, then, when Liam received these PJs from my parents!

The kids LOVED playing with the balloons!

Liam and his cousin Jet tested out the new toys!

Liam Daniel, you are sweet, cuddly, smart, tough, and determined.  We love you so much and are so thankful God blessed us with you!

Cat in the Hat and carnival fun

Since March is reading month, my school has special reading-themed spirit days each Friday.  Today was "dress like your favorite book character" day.  I dressed like the Cat in the Hat and the kids weren't quite sure what to think!  In fact, Liam wouldn't come to me until I took off my costume!

After returning to my "normal" self, we took the kids to the carnival at Lillian's school. We headed straight to the fish pond, which is the kids' favorite carnival game.  In all, Caleb played it three times!

We even got to see Lillian's teacher!

Dan, Lillian, and Liam waited patiently for Caleb to get a balloon animal.

It was a fun evening with lots of fun, laughter, and little plastic toys.  And, we learned from our experience last year so there were no tears!

Tooth fairy visit #4

As of this dinnertime yesterday Lillian looked like this.  Notice that the remaining top tooth had shifted slightly toward the center. 

Fastforward to bedtime.  Dan was brushing Lillian's teeth and decided to wiggle her top tooth some more.  It came very close to coming out but was still holding on by a strand.  All of the pulling was hurting Lillian, so she decided to leave it in and go to bed.  A short time later Lillian got up out of bed and said that she twisted her tooth and it seemed close to coming out.  Sure enough, Dan gave it another tug and out it came.  Here's what she looks like now!

St. Patrick's day festivities

We did a few small things to celebrate St. Patrick's day.  First, we endured the cold wind for the parade on Saturday. 

 

After dinner we had homemade shamrock shakes for dessert.

 

On St. Patrick's Day we all donned our best green outfits and ate shamrock waffles for dinner.

 

The kids asked to watch a movie and we figured "Brave" was as close as we could get to a St. Patrick's day movie.  All in all it was a fun GREEN weekend!

A big day for Lillian!

Lillian has been asking about getting her ears pierced on and off for the last couple of years.  Last spring my earring holes closed up and I thought it would be fun for the two of us to get our ears pierced together.  Dan and I talked about waiting until Lillian's birthday but we decided it would be fun to surprise her today instead!  We brought the kids to the mall to play and then surprised Lillian with a little extra fun!

Lillian was excited as she waited for her ears to get pierced!

The boys looked on...

She was so brave and even laughed when the earrings were put in!

Just the two of us girls with our newly pierced ears!

Caleb wanted to get his ears pierced.  He got a sucker and purple marker on his ears instead.

What a cutie!

Visit by Bada and Poppy

I attended a women's retreat with our church last night and today and Dan helped lead worship for the event.  Thankfully, Dan's parents (aka Bada and Poppy) came to the rescue to stay with our kids.  Everyone had a fabulous time!

 

One of the other perks of having Dan's parents here is the chance to recruit them to take a new family photo!

Thank you again for your help this weekend and for loving our kids so much!