Liam is 4!

It doesn't seem possible, but our Liam is 4!

He continues to be a "grab-life-by-the-horns" kind of a kid: fearless, funny, assertive, and so very social.  He loves big, fights big and can melt your heart with his creativity, imagination, and smile!

Even his weeks of sickness in January and February couldn't keep this kid down.  He got tickets for Christmas to see Disney on Ice at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and who ever would have known he had been under the weather?!  He was too excited to care.

He is really becoming quite the little man.  From his interest in wearing a jacket and tie to church these days (thank you to cousin Shannon for lending us Dillon's former duds!) to initiating conversation with any (and sometimes, every) adult, he at times seems downright determined to grow up. As a general rule, Liam loves whatever other kids are into... especially big kids.  He often comes home from Aunt Doreen's with a new app or song for us to "upload", thanks to time spent with her 13-year-old niece Gina and 11-year-old nephew Lou.

Liam lives for Friday Family Movie Nights (held every Friday, provided he's been good!) and especially for the accompanying popcorn.  Without fail, he will not only sit next to you for stories or movies, but try to climb all over you... get up on your shoulders... leap off a table or neighboring chair into your lap... or whatever else the mood strikes him to do.

Liam is pretty much always down for a board game, and has been having a blast with the new games he got for Christmas.  He loves his new penguin game from Uncle Jake and Aunt Surabhi, the octopus game from Aunt Erin and Uncle Thomas, Spider-Man Dominos and Candy Land from Grandma and Papa (he's pretty good at both!), and this cool circus game from Miss Anita.

He is also getting more and more interested in drawing.  I loved this one that he drew for his buddy Kaelyn, who has curly hair (see?) and who he insists he will marry:

He made this one for Uncle Tim for his 30th birthday of Goofy, Mickey, and Minnie... see, Goofy is the tall one!

Although Liam's energy and volume are often on full blast (and frequently must be reminded to use his inside voice), he is also a truly sweet and thoughtful boy. When I wasn't feeling well one day and lying down before dinner, Liam gently approached me and said, "Mommy? You should come downstairs and have some dinner.  Because if you don't, I'm worried you will wake up hungry in the middle of the night."  It took everything in me not to laugh out loud!  And when running through BJs while steering one of their giant carts, he was sure to exclaim, "Excuse me, please!" to everyone who may have been walking in his wake.

Since Liam's 4th birthday fell on a Friday, he got to celebrate with his preschool friends by bringing in birthday treats that Thursday.  Preschool is in the mornings, so we decided to make dinosaur donuts!  (Loving Chef Chloe's vegan dessert recipes!)

We celebrated on his birthday with spaghetti (sans meatballs-- it's Lent!), which is Liam's favorite dinner...

... and then with some special phone calls from some very special people near and far...

... and of course with opening presents.  He had a very dedicated helper in that task!

Batman stuff!

The Hess helicopter!  Yessss!  (that face says it all!)

And a whole box of Dinosaur Eggs!

That night after the boys were off in a new-toy-induced slumber, I baked a birthday cake, which Liam helped me decorate the next morning:

And then it was off to meet Nana and Grandpa at Chuck E Cheese in Berwyn!  Liam emphatically insisted that that was the only place he wanted to go for his birthday, which we thought was rather interesting for a lactose-intolerant kid.  But the hotdog was safe, so off we went.  He had a BLAST.

C'mon up here, Joergen!

The boys were beside themselves with excitement when none other than Chuck E Cheese himself walked in:

High Five!

I adore Joergen's expression in this pic:

Hi Chuck!!

After a rousing group rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It", Chuck tossed an armful of free tickets in the air for the kids, which was basically a free-for-all version of 52-pick-up.

When we'd had enough excitement (which coincided with the moment when the place started to get packed to the gills with what seemed like hundreds of concurrent birthday parties), we sat down for lunch.

Then it was time for cake!  Make a wish, buddy!

Liam lickin' those fingers!

Present time!  He was so excited to get a fireman costume from Nana and Grandpa... the best part undoubtedly being the hatchet!!!

With hatchet in possession, Liam proceeded to use it for pretty much everything.  I love this shot of him trying to open an envelope by hatchet... Nana and Grandpa's expressions (and body language) say it all.

After a fun-filled morning, we said good-bye to Nana and Grandpa, sent Joergen and Daddy home for naps, and headed to Villanova to keep the party going!  Nova was sponsoring a free indoor winter carnival for kids as a lead-up to the Marquette game that night, and what better place to meet up with our buddies Brigid, Kara, and TJ?!

Liam and Brigid

In addition to hours of moon-bounce bouncing and obstacle course-racing...

... Liam got to try his very first cotton candy!

nom nom nom

He and Brigid also got to have their faces painted by Villanova cheerleaders.  Heavens help us!

After maybe the most action-packed day of his little 4-year-old life, Liam settled into bath time that night to play with his cool new bath toy from Aunt Erin and Uncle Thomas.  It was the perfect way to wind down.

Happy 4th Birthday, buckaroo!

York for GG's 89th Birthday

Our Rhode Island family was in York for the weekend to celebrate GG's 89th birthday, and you didn't have to tell us twice to head on over and join in the fun!  GG is so special to all of us, and we couldn't wait to spend the weekend all together.

Liam and Joergen finally connected that Uncle Jim was Grandpa's brother ("Hey! Just like Joergen and me are brothers!"), and that GG was their mommy ("Hey! Just like you're my mommy!"), but they could have cared less how or why they are related to Dillon, Gilbey, and Anneke, because they just love them regardless!  Shannon and I have had so many adventures together since we were little, and there is just nothing better than seeing all those kiddos following right in our footsteps.

Joer and Anneke sharing some Froot Loops (which he knows is a perk to visiting Nana and Grandpa!):

Cheeeeeeeeeeese!

Frick and Frack, a.k.a. Gilbey and Liam, sharing some hot tea (what?!):

And some iPad games:

Seriously, those two are the best of buds!  Joergen, like his cousin Dillon, was content to surround himself with a pile of books.

Who says the kids should have all the fun, right Grandpa?

Somehow... somehow we managed to get all 5 wiggles to sit for a moment all together for a photo.  Joergen and that cheeeeeeeeese-y smile crack me up!

Liam (3), Gilbey (6), Anneke (2), Dillon (9), and Joergen (1)

Now, in all the visiting and celebrating and running around, I managed to not take a single photo of the birthday girl. Thank goodness Shannon shared this online.  I just love this pic!  Happy birthday, GG!!

Valentine's Day 2013

Just when we thought the Plague of 2013 had officially vacated the premises, we woke up in the middle of the night to Liam yelling for us.  When I ran into his room, he looked at me, sobbing, "I just threw up everywhere, Mommy..."  And that, he did.

We cleaned him up and laid him back down, but minutes later he yelled for us again, complaining that his tummy hurt.  So we brought him into our room where we could at least keep an eye on him.  We had all dozed off for a few minutes when suddenly Liam sat up and said his tummy really hurt... but not even Usain Bolt could have gotten him to a trash can fast enough.  Poor Liam... and poor Mommy...

It was a long night.

So what does all of this have to do with Valentine's Day (seriously! Could there be anything less love-inspiring?!)?  Well, the next day was in fact Valentine's Day, and although it was not exactly how I envisioned it, I at least got to spend the whole day with one of my loves...

We started off our morning by making some valentines, and Liam was excited to learn how to make a heart from a folded piece of paper.  To these hearts we pasted lots of little confetti hearts, and thus created some pretty snazzy cards for Dad and Joergen.

Liam was pretty sad to have to miss his big Valentine's Day party at preschool, so I did my best to try to make his sick-day at home a little more festive.  After he made it through 12 hours without an "episode", and once he seemed to have his appetite back up and running, we had some lunch:

When Joergen and Dad got home, we were so excited to see a Valentine's Day present on our doorstep from Grandma and Papa!  The boys couldn't wait to open it!

Hooray for new books!!  Joergen loves "Hatch" so much that it has become a frequent companion in his crib at night!

Thanks Grandma and Papa!  And thank God the plague is finally over!

(for now.  Fingers crossed.)

Dinner with Styles

Our good friend Styles, who was one of Daddy's college roommates and a groomsman in our wedding, recently took up residence in New Jersey for about 8 weeks.  Since he is usually much further away in Connecticut, we took advantage of the relative proximity and met for dinner at a Chickie & Pete's halfway.  It was so great to catch up with our friend, and the boys even managed to eat a decent dinner and behave themselves :)

As we were finishing up dinner, the boys got antsy and wanted to explore the restaurant.  It just so happened to be karaoke night, and as the DJ set up all of his equipment, the boys watched curiously, danced to his music, and asked lots of questions about his stuff.  The guy was super nice and let the boys take turns playing with his microphone:

What happened next still has me a bit baffled.  Unprompted, Liam says to the guy, "Um sir?  Do you have You Don't Know You're Beautiful by One Direction?"
- "Ha, yeah.  Why?  You want to sing or something??"
Liam: "Yeah!  Sure!"
(How does he know what karaoke even is?!)

And so, for the second time in his little life, Liam managed to draw in a crowd while he quite literally took the stage.

I will never forget that experience, as long as I live! (Including little Joergen, busting a move himself!)  And the look on Styles's face was absolutely priceless.

The best, best part?  We found out just a few weeks later that after a tough 11 months, Styles is officially cancer-free.  God is GOOD!!