Liam's birthday weekend

I've been a bad blogger.  *putting on my dunce cap*  Here's a recap post of how we spent Liam's birthday weekend!

Liam enjoyed his big day, though the actual day was very low key (his party is this weekend).  He opened up his gifts from us, the big gift being a scooter!  He also got a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and a copy of The Pout-Pout Fish (a favorite in this house after reading it a lot last summer at the beach with Ben--they have them for $5 at Kohls right now!)

We headed outside after gifts to test out the scooter; he got the hang of it pretty quickly!

The next day, Jake had a tball game in the morning:

Dear Diary-it's my birthday weekend and they still won't let me play baseball on the team.

one of these things is not like the other....

That night, GG & Pappy came up to hang out with the kids so that Brian & I could go to a birthday party for a friend....the theme was 90's with a heavy emphasis on Saved by the Bell, so you know I was all over that.

Kelly + Zach 4EVER

We finished up the weekend with a trip to the zoo- Liam gave an overall rating of 9.5 to his birthday weekend, stating it would have given it a 10 but there needed to be more cake.

"If you are trying to come after my snack bag, we are going to have a serious problem."

Happy 2nd Birthday, Liam!!

Dear Liam,

Happy 2nd birthday!  I thought your first year went by quickly, but that was nothing in comparison to this past year.  It's unbelievable to me how quickly the time passed, and how much you've changed and grown in that time.  While you are still my super snuggly baby who sometimes wants nothing more than to curl up in my lap, you have also started to develop your own personality and you are truly becoming a toddler more and more every day.  And your words, oh my goodness your words!  So many, and so very clear, especially if I compare it to just a few months ago.  You are stringing words together to form full thoughts, and you can repeat anything that someone says to you.

You freely pass out "huggies" more than any other kid I've ever met.  Seriously.  To us, to your friends at school, to other parents, your teachers....I'm pretty sure that if i let you, you'd pass them out to strangers, too.  If Jake is upset about something, you are the first person by his side, patting his back and saying "OK, Jakey?  Ok? Huggie?" 

You are happiest when you are outside playing (even though your allergies drive you crazy!), playing with Jake, or eating :)  Your favorite toys right now are cars of any sort and your mega blocks.  You LOVE to color and draw.  I can hand you a crayon and a notebook and you're set for awhile.  A budding artist on our hands, perhaps?

Your favorite books right now are "Moo Ba LaLaLa" by Sandra Boynton, the classic "Goodnight Moon", and "Pete the Cat" by Eric Litwin.  You're not too into TV, though you'll watch a bit of Elmo or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from time to time.

Your bedtime routine consists of 2 or 3 books (you always try for more!), and 3 songs from me.  It started out as one song, but somehow I haven't been able to resist your little pleas for "more songs, mommy".  Every night, I sing to you the 3 songs that I featured in your 1st year slideshow :  "Safe & Sound" by Matthew West, "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas, and "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift. I'm not sure why, but you always smile when I sing the last one; for the rest of them, you just watch me intently as I sing, but the Taylor Swift one makes you grin, and you always reach for my hand (just like the words in the song):

Your little hands wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light

To you everything's funny
You've got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have honey
If you could stay like that

Oh darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
It could stay this simple

I wont let nobody hurt you
Wont let no one break your heart
No one will desert you
Just try to never grow up



You are an amazing, loving, caring, smart, handsome, happy little boy and we are so proud of you!  Happy birthday, Liam...we love you!!

1 day old

6 months old

1 year old

18 months old

2 years old

Moms rock.

Happy belated Mother's Day!!  I don't know if Brian felt guilty after last Mother's Day (which was pretty much a miserable weekend, with both of us having the stomach flu), but he really stepped up his game this year.  I told him on Sunday night that it was, by far, the best Mother's Day yet :)  Now, he's set the bar pretty high for the future, HA!  Good luck next year, buddy.

The celebration started on Friday, daycare had a Mother's Day Luau.  They had so many cute activities and crafts for the kids:

making flip flop cookies

I love the look that Liam is giving Jake!

Liam takes his turn

making picture frames

I just love this picture...Jake & Maddie :)

One of my favorite parts of Mother's Day is getting the presents that the kids make at school.  This year did not disappoint!

On Saturday, we had a pre-celebration that involved Brian cleaning the house during nap time so that I could lay on the couch in my PJ's and watch "The Real Housewives of Orange County"--BLISS!!!

On Sunday, I slept in and woke up to the kids making muffins for breakfast.  They also got me an armband for my phone to use when I run (it's nice to not have to hold it anymore!), a gerbera daisy (which was actually Jake's idea all by himself, and he picked it out!), and a box of chocolate covered strawberries that are to die for!!

We were going to visit GG & Pappy that day, and I had told my mom I would bring dessert.  I mentioned this to Brian, and knowing that "bring dessert" for me means buying something from the store, he volunteered to bake something instead.  Well, there was no way I was turning down that offer!!  Here is the delicious strawberries & cream cake that he made, recipe originally found on Pinterest here.

The day spent at my parents house was fun, the kids had a good time playing with GG, Pappy, Uncle Nate & Aunt Katie.

Happy Mother's Day, especially to our own moms...we wouldn't be who we are today without you!!

SHAKY CHEESE!!!

Someone was pretty enthused over the shaky cheese (aka-Parmesan cheese) on his pasta the other night.

Here comes the sun!

Paying tribute to the Beatles yesterday:

Helpers for hire!

Do you have a landscaping project you need help with this summer?  I've got just the person for you!

He may be small, but he does a great job!  Seriously though, Jake was actually a great helper on Saturday when we had a ton of mulch delivered.  It was the first year that his "helping" was an actual help, and not a giant mess maker :)  

GG was there for the afternoon, and she was a big help to have around since she was able to keep an eye on Liam so the rest of us could spread mulch.  Yes, even I helped to spread the mulch!! 

Excellent job, everyone.  Keep up the great work!  We'll supervise from here.

We rewarded everyone for their hard work that night with a trip to the ice cream shop!

Everyone had such a great time with the mulch on Saturday (HA!) that we decided to do the same thing on Sunday.

We're about 95% done with the mulching (had to call it quits early on Sunday, Brian wasn't feeling well), so all in all, a very productive weekend!

Take me out to Jake's ball game!

It started out a bit chilly and windy, but it ended up being a nice day for baseball.  I'm going to switch from calling it tball to baseball, because at this point, all of the kids on the team are doing such a great job they don't really need to use the T anymore!

Here's a video of Jake hitting the ball on Saturday:

Liam has been good and patient at the games, which helps tremendously.  I was very nervous going into the season that my time would be spent trying to keep him OFF the field, since he always wants to be doing whatever Jake is doing.  Sometimes he does put on his sneaky feet and try to join them out there, but for the most part, he's content to just sit in his little chair and stuff his face full of snacks the whole time.  His favorite part of the game is the very end, when one of the parents distributes the team snack....he's been lucky every week and offered a snack!

A highlight of the day took place after the game; daddy needed to run into Lowe's for a new shovel, so we were just going to stay in the car until we pulled in the lot & saw a huge fire truck parked!!  Daddy got out to see what was going on, then ran back to the car and reported that it was there for kids, they were giving away firefighter hats and letting kids climb inside!  Score!

Liam was totally auditioning to be a new member of Run DMC in that outfit.  Or a cast member of the Jersey Shore: 2.0.  I think he'd qualify for either one of those.

Someone was so obsessed with the new hat that he insisted on wearing it at lunch:

The countdown is on!!

image from hotels.com

I first posted about our upcoming trip back in October when we were still in the beginning planning stages, but now we have everything lined up!  We will be staying at the new Art of Animation resort, in the Little Mermaid rooms.  This resort also has a Cars themed area, and I have a feeling that my little Lightning McQueen-obsessed Jake is going to go CRAZY when he sees it.   

Photo courtesy of my favorite Disney blog, Easy WDW

So, we have our resort booked, flights booked, of  course I have a Pinterest board going full of ideas and tips, and I was just able to reserve our meals for the week!  We will be enjoying food at the following restaurants:

T-Rex Cafe  (Downtown Disney)
The Crystal Palace (Winnie-the-Pooh character lunch at Magic Kingdom)
Mama Melrose's (Hollywood Studios)
Chef Mickey's (Mickey & Friends themed breakfast at the Contemporary Resort)
Tusker House (Safari lunch at Animal Kingdom)
Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom---new restaurant, definitely the one I'm most excited for!)

So....I guess now, we just sit back and wait for the next few months!!  I may, or may not, have frightened my fellow Disney-goers (my husband, my in-laws, my parents) when I sent them a day-by-day itinerary spreadsheet that included names of restaurants, parks, and plans for the day that all featured hyperlinks to the various sites to find out more information about each restaurant. Brian's new nickname for me is "Disnaster" and he tells me from time to time that I need a "Dis-nervention".

 Some say crazy/OCD/overplanner, but I prefer the phrase "detail-oriented".  So let's just go with that.