Liam’s Birthday

We had a great time on Liam’s birthday.  We went to Disneyland and had a big breakfast at Storyteller’s Cafe.  They have a delicious breakfast buffet there and Chip and Dale and all sorts of Disney woodland creatures mingle with the guests.  Liam was not a big fan of these costumed characters, though.

Liam’s favorite part was hanging out in Downtown Disney after breakfast.  He’d just started using his feet as his main mode of transportation, insisting on making mommy and daddy run after him even faster.

  Liam REALLY liked the fountain.  He tried several times to climb inside.

The following Saturday, lots of family came over to help us celebrate Liam’s first year!

We’re happy that so many were able to come, many from far away.

We barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs.

Liam opened lots of very fun gifts from many generous people!

He even got his very own little birthday cake!

And he managed to get some of it into his mouth, believe it or not…

Footnote:  redeye fixes were not done to any photos in this post.  This is not an omission.  It is proof of redeye.

One year.....

My how time flies! I know I have said it as each month passes by, but the time just seems to go zipping by at such a pace that I often am left reeling. How did one whole year pass already? How can my sweet little baby be entering toddler-hood? Liam has been the joy of our lives. He has brought such happiness and fun into our home. We feel so blessed to have been given this perfect little one to love and raise. I am so impressed with my sweet husband. He has grown into such a good father. I'm continually amazed at his patience. Liam is so much fun right now. He is sporting 8 little teeth and eats everything. He has just about given up on crawling all together and prefers to do his crazy zombie walk. His poor little shins are so bruised! He loves to blow kisses, point out his nose, tongue and everyone else's eyes (don't want to risk poking your own eye!) and put his hands on his head when you say "oh, no!" He loves music and dances to anything. It cracks me up to catch him dancing to some random commercial on TV. He is now 31 inches tall and weighs in at 20lbs, still tall and slim. What an amazing blessing he has been!

This is one of my favorite pics that I've taken of Liam. I love that he looks like a little doll propped on a bench. He was such a good boy!

If you look close you can see that he has 4 little teeth on the bottom!

What a ham! I've got him trained to look at me when I say "look at Mommy"

...well...as trained as a one year old can be!

Can't keep the boy out of the dirt.

Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Liam

Halloween

This year was Liam's first Halloween. We ended up going with a cowboy costume since it will do double duty for his rootin' tootin' cowboy birthday party. (You know, might as well get good use out of it!) And is was just so cute!!! Liam loved handing out candy at the ward trunk-or-treat the night before Halloween. On Halloween, Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Ray came over for dinner and then we went trick or treating to a few neighbor's homes. Liam had fun walking and knocking on doors (with is little knuckles!) So here are way too many pictures.

Love this one of Frank, Liam and Grandpa!

Pumpkin Hunting

I love this time of year. The weather begins to cool, the trees start to drop their leaves and the holidays are right around the corner. This year we get the extra fun of celebrating Liam's first Halloween. We spent a wonderful Saturday with Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Ray and went to hunt up Liam's very first pumpkin. Liam fell asleep in the car and was a little confused by the whole pumpkin patch idea. But after a lot of silly noises, clapping, cheering and tickling he finally warmed up and gave us a few smiles.

This is the "why did Grandpa make me sit on this thing?" look

Finally warming up.

Just so handsome!!!

A little help from Grandpa.

My crazy gang

We got home, grabbed Finner and ran to the park for a quick walk and were treated to an amazing sunset and crows flying home to roost. Very Halloween-y.

On the go...

This post has been long overdue but life has been busy and the computer takes the backseat. As of October 16th, Liam is an official walker. For the last few months he has been sooooo close...cruising along the furniture...taking a step or two to get from one piece to another....needing just one finger to hold for that little extra support. I knew the day would come when he would just let go and walk. In reality, Daddy just let go and off our little dude went. He is now a walking machine, it's thrilling and terrifying to watch. You can't help but cringe and lunge forward to try to catch him as he stumbles. But falling is part of learning and this boy never hesitates to get back up.

Love that look of determination!

Sorry about the focus...I wasn't expecting him to walk! I was just going to torture the poor boy with some poses before I headed off to work but he had other plans! So glad I happened to have had the camera when he decided to take his first steps!

T.G.I. Weekend!

We've had a rough week at the Ellett house. Liam and I got a cold which meant that Liam was stuffy and didn't sleep well and I was stuffy and slept even less! But in the middle of all that "un-fun-ness" were some sweet little moments.... A few weeks ago Frank taught Liam how to blow kisses.

Now my boys can send me off to work with lots of love.

He is such a happy boy. Always full of smiles.

Liam LOVES Finn. And Finn loves (and tolerates) Liam. In this picture Finner is doing his best to ignore the little dude who's pulling his tail.

I had just fixed Liam a bottle of that ever so yummy (not to mention exspensive) formula and he decided that he would rather have....

....dog water.

Refreshing.

Here's a sneak peek of Liam's halloween costume...

...the costume is precious and Liam looks adorable in it.

Who can resist little boot slippers? Not I.