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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Yippee! I am three!

This past Saturday was Liam's third birthday. We tried to make the weekend as special as we could for him.

On Friday afternoon we took the kids to our local children's museum Above & Beyond. We went there for his birthday last year too, so I guess it's become his annual birthday tradition :)

Then on Saturday we invited family over for Liam's birthday party. The theme he chose was "blocks" which is fitting because he is currently obsessed with building blocks.

I will let these photos do the talking:

Birthday breakfast - pancakes and fruit


Helping put up some last-minute party decorations.


Little party bags for Liam's cousins.


We let him open a gift from us after breakfast (something to keep him busy
while we ran around finishing prep for the party).


These poles and fish are for the bathtub. A unique find from our favorite
local toy store Movers & Shakers Kids Toys.


The streamers and balloons are up...


Blocks all over...



I made a vase out of Mega Blocks (I placed an actual vase inside).


Liam watching a little boob tube prior to his party...


I bought the cake, but I decorated it myself :) It was cheap to decorate - I used blocks
and Legos that we already had (which were thoroughly sanitized beforehand!).



Lemon-Strawberry punch. Recipe here



Me and my three year old!


Rolling around on the floor with cousin Tim.


My aunts and grandma gushing over my nephew Hudson.


Food. Family.


Crazy kid corner.


Lucky little boy.


Bella, Rylan and Liam hanging out with Aunt Shelley.


Sweet little Hudson - 6 1/2 months


Chloe with Aunt Tracy


It's gift-ripping-open time!!


Intrigued by the soccer ball.




"Mmnnnn I wonder if wrapping paper tastes good....?"


Cake time.



(The 4th yellow candle is in memory of my dad's birthday, which is 4 days earlier)



Happy 3rd birthday little Liam!
You are the sweetest, feistiest, coolest, funniest little dude!

We love you.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Liam's 3rd Birthday Interview


Liam's third birthday is fast approaching. I can't believe how fast three years has flown by!

We've been busy all week preparing for the family party we're throwing for him this Saturday. Cleaning, decorating, cooking...

Yesterday we took 5 minutes to ask Liam some questions. A '3rd Birthday Interview' we'll call it. I figured the interview would go one of two ways: 1) either he'd be shy and stubborn and not want to answer a single question or 2) he'd be excited and brave and answer a few of them and then get bored.

Well I'll tell you what -- he was a trooper! He sat and intently listened to all of the questions, thought about each one for a bit and then gave the answers. He was actually excited and smiley about the entire process.

Here it is, word for word. And there was no arm-twisting or helping him in any way:


What is your name?  "Liam"

How old are you? "Ten"    (hey, slow down there buddy)

What is your favorite color? "Blue is my favorite"

What is your favorite animal? "Giraffe"

What is your favorite food? "Crackers"    (he was eating crackers when I asked the question - I would say his favorite food at 3 yrs old is definitely pickles)

What is your favorite toy? "Blocks. Yeah!"

What is your favorite song? "Don't Worry. It's a good song. Daddy sings it to me."   (Matt sings the Bob Marley song 'Three Little Birds' to Liam every night when he puts him to bed and the words go "baby don't worry about a thing 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright" -- so he was right on)

What is your favorite book? "Three little bears"

What is your favorite TV show? "I have to think about it." "Hhmmnn..." "Hhmmnn..." "Daniel Tiger"

Who is your best friend? Daniel Tiger    (for the record - he told me the day before that I was his best friend - just sayin')

What make you happy? "Playing" "ABCs"

What makes you sad? "Not happy"

What do you like to do indoors? "Play"

What do you like to do outdoors? "Play"

What do you want to be when you grow up? "Liam"   (that sounds like the best thing to me!)

______________________________

I will be adding a copy of this to his "Liam Saves file" and I look forward to seeing the different answers he gives each year.

* I saw the idea for this interview on Pinterest and some blogs that I follow. I looked at 5-6 of them and then created my own interview with my favorite questions. If you would like me to email you a copy of these exact questions please let me know (scroll down to the bottom of the page and send me a note w/your email address). I'd be glad to send you a copy!*

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Cooking and a cave

A few things that have made us smile lately:

A car ride to Nana and Grandpa's house...


Matt and Liam & his Nana building a snowman...


Liam got his 2nd professional haircut ever...


Chloe pulls herself up on everything now!
She would rather be standing than doing anything else...


Trying to decide on a new fabric for the window seat in our stairwell...


Liam being silly...


Liam playing in his homemade "cave"...


This little man loves to help cook. He gets upset if we don't let him help
out while preparing meals...


Feeling loved on Valentines Day -- the cards we received in the mail...


PeAcE,

Erin

Friday, February 13, 2015

Love notes

Have any of you seen the cool little crafts you can do with mini-mailboxes on Pinterest? Here are a few examples of Valentine's Day themed mailboxes that fellow crafters have created and pinned:



I think the idea of having a little mailbox to put a gift/love letter/candy in is nice for Valentine's day. But I think that having a mini-mailbox year round is an even better idea! It's a little place for spouses or partners or kids or parents/kids can leave little notes or snacks for one another. I mean who doesn't like a sweet little surprise every once in a while?

My friend Erin hosted this month's Crafty Club, and this is the craft that she had for us to do :) She provided the cardboard mailboxes (the small ones are $2.99 at Hobby Lobby) and an assortment of embellishments, papers, craft paints, stickers and stamps to decorate them:


Three rounds of margaritas later....


Here's mine. I attached scrapbook paper with Modge Podge, tiny burlap flowers and a stick-on chalkboard sign (to distinguish which family member has mail):


 Erin gave each of us a little bundle of notes with envelopes (so cute!) to start us out:

And a bundle of chalks sticks as well:

Matt and I tested out the mailbox the very next morning.
Well what do we have here...?

I wrote him the first note (I forgot to take a photo). Basically it said something to the effect of "sorry for being so tequila-drunk and obnoxious when I got home last night" and that I love him.

Then he wrote me a note back saying "it's okay that you got sh*t$ace% the night before." What a sweet, sweet man I'm married to...

Are we romantic or what?

Right now it's on a shelf in our kitchen. I think we'll be putting Liam and Chloe's Valentine's inside for delivery by tomorrow morning!


Has anyone else done a craft with mailboxes? If yes, please share.

And have a nice weekend!