Meeting Santa

This was the first year that we took Liam to meet Santa.  Last year he was more timid around strangers and I didn’t want to force him to sit on Santa’s lap and traumatize the poor little guy.  This year however, Liam thought that Santa was a pretty cool guy and was so excited to meet him.  Luckily for us, Santa visits the Bass Pro Shop everyday in December!  That Santa is a hard worker!  We waited our turn in line, all smiles and happy faces.  Then it was Liam’s chance to sit with Santa and he ran up there, willingly sat with him but kept giving him funny looks.  I think he was just waiting for the candy cane at the end.  I’m just glad there was no screaming or tears….we saw some of that!

 

 

 

Christmas 2010

As sometimes happens in life, smaller things get pushed to the side so that the necessities can be dealt with.  Unfortunately, one of those smaller things, was the blog.  We have had such a busy end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.  From Christmas tree cutting to visits with family to nasty illness that knocked us all flat, it feels as if we’ve been running flat out for months now.  But at last, I’ve got a free second to sit and play on the computer.  I really want to make it a point to keep up to date with the blog so that we will have a family history of this time in our lives.  Liam changes so much…. day to day… minute to minute it seems, that I want to remember these times.  (Not to mention I torture my family by making them take  a bazillion pictures!)

So here, at long last, are some pictures from our holiday season.  We started off the season going Christmas tree hunting in early December.   Liam loved to run through the trees.

Last year we got a picture of Liam in front of this Santa measuring board.  It was fun to see how much he has grown!

 

He thought he was such a big boy helping Grandpa

 

 

Grandpa, Liam, Spencer and Grandma.

 

Kyle and Darshan went with us too… they were off cutting down their own tree and missed all the picture taking. 

Our Anniversary

On December 2nd Frank and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary.  I can’t believe that it has been 4 years already!  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is so kind, loving, and patient.  I am such a lucky girl.  We celebrated our anniversary by taking a trip up to northern California and spending a night away in Monterey.  We had a great time visiting with family and getting to have some grown up time, too.  While up north we took time to feed the ducks at Pinto Lake. 

The geese were very friendly.  They would eat bread right from your hand.

Whatcha looking at?  Just all the crumbs in your hair!

 

 

Funny boy with Grandma!

Birthday Party #2! 11/12/10

Liam’s second second birthday party happened up at Grandma and Grandpa Thorne’s house.  Grandma made Liam a special dinner of chicken nuggets, jello, peaches and mac ‘n’ cheese.  With cupcakes for dessert!  Liam had a blast!  We took lots of pictures at the party but the ones that were the most entertaining were of Liam and his new big boy standing scooter.  Grandpa and Grandma got him an awesome scooter with a Toy Story helmet and bell!  The boy loves it and mastered scooting right away. 

Awesome moves

Love that helmet strap tucked behind his ear!

 

Liam had fun squirting Grandma…they both ended up soaked.

 

Out of the mouth of a babe

I’m certain that I will forever be behind on my blog post.  I still have more of Liam’s birthday pictures to post but I wanted to include a funny little Liam story.  We recently went up to my parents house to celebrate our 4 year anniversary.  It was wonderful.  Frank and I got a night out, cruised around Monterey and enjoyed some quiet time together.  While we were up at my parents we were looking at all the pictures on the walls.  Liam and I stood looking at pictures of my sister’s wedding.  I asked him to name the people in each picture….Grandpa….Grandma….Marcy….Jay….Kyle…..and then there was one of me.  Now, I was slimmer back then so I was curious if he would recognize me.  He looked at the picture for a second, then looked at me and said, “Baby Mommy”.  I guess to a two year old, a smaller version of a person is a baby, so a smaller Mommy is a “Baby Mommy”.  Pretty good rational.  Liam sure is a funny, smart little guy. 

Sweet Baby Spencer

Being an Auntie is a new experience for me.  Being an Auntie from 400 miles away is really hard!  It was so difficult being away from my sister as she delivered.  As a NICU nurse I wanted to be right there, just in case… But we were able to get up to visit when Spencer was just a week old.  I had a blast cuddling him, oohing and aahing at him and then passing him off to his Momma when he started screaming.  Man, that kid has a ton of hair.  So much more than Liam ever had.  But holding that little guy brought back such wonderful memories of holding my own little guy.  What a special time!  Marcy and Jay… you guys are great parents already.  Spencer is a lucky boy!  And I’d have to say you are pretty lucky too!  Enjoy this time, it goes so fast!  And take lots of pictures!!!

Look at all that hair!

 

 

Big old boy barely fit in this basket!

 

Time for a snack break.

I think this is my favorite picture of him, I just love that little smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Baby Spencer, we love you sooooo much!

Birthday party….Number 1

This year for Liam’s birthday we had an untraditional couple of “party days”.   Since my sister, Marcy, had just given birth to her first child we decided to head up to Northern Cal for Liam’s birthday weekend.  We spent his actual birthday at home and celebrated with Grandpa Ray, Grandma Ruth, Uncle Michael and our new friend Jackie.  We had a wonderful dinner at BJ’s and then came home for cake and presents.  Liam was so excited to open all the presents…but when it the tape was too tough he just wanted Daddy to open it for him so he could get to the good stuff inside.  He had so much fun and scored some super cool gifts.

The birthday boy and Daddy

When the tape gets tough…use your teeth.

 

Showing off how he is going to use the stuffed fence from his new farm

We are big Buzz and Woody fans.  We watched this movie 3 times on the way up to Grandma and Grandpa Thorne’s house.  Made the trip a whole lot nicer!

 

I am not known for my cake decorating ability.  I have an excuse for the way this one looks though….a two year old got to it.  I forget how tall Liam is and sometimes neglect to push things far enough back on the counter.  Liam’s little arms reached right up there, grabbed the edge of the cake caddy, and slid the whole thing off the counter.  I looked over to see him holding the cake, by the little lip on the edge of the cake container, tipped completely on it’s side.  The cake slumped to the bottom, the frosting now stuck to the plastic rather than the cake itself.  All I could do was laugh.  Good thing it was his cake!

 

Here is the cake after a few touch ups.  He even managed to break the

candle when he pulled it all down, Daddy had to melt it back together.

 

He loved the singing and blowing out the candle this year….

we did it three times!

 

 

 

Success!

More to come from Liam’s NorCal birthday celebration!