Liam's 1st Birthday!

On the actual day, we celebrated with frozen yogurt at a fundraiser for Jenna's school. And spoiling him all day long. So, basically just a normal day.

The next evening we invited some friends over for a little party. And let's be honest, a first birthday is really all about their first taste of cake! And getting it all over themselves...
I made a baseball cake and some "firework" cake pops. I thought it would be cute to make little baseballs, but the white chocolate and I were not getting along that day. After I burned two batches, I gave up and baseballs became fireworks :)

He was loving every second of everyone singing to him, and then Jenna helped him blow out the candle. Then we just cut off the top half of the baseball to use as a smash cake. As soon as we put it in front of him, he stuck his face right into the frosting!

Then he dug right in and ate at least half of it! I think it's safe to say he enjoyed it.

Liam was having a blast tearing the paper off his presents!

He got some cute cute clothes and PJ's, bath crayons, and a train from the Grandmas. Paul picked out a super hero Little People set for him (I think he's happy his boy came second. I got all the classic and educational toys when Jenna was little, so he can have fun picking out awesome boy stuff now). Someone earlier this summer had given us a Fisher Price basketball hoop, so I cleaned it up and and brought it out, and Jenna chose to give him a little basketball. There have been quite a few one-on-one games in our home since then, a couple of which even involve Liam!

The rest of the night we just enjoyed having friends over and playing with our sweet One Year Old boy :)

Go Cougars!

When Paul found out BYU's football season opener was going to be in Virginia this year, you better believe he was first in line to get those tickets!

Our day doesn't sound great: a 2.5 hour drive, a mile walk to the stadium, a very hot and humid day, a 2 hour rain and thunder delay, a tragic loss, and another 2.5 hour drive home.
But it was totally worth it, and we would do it again in a heartbeat :)
Besides, during the delay we got to hang out with our old boss from BYU, Aaron, and his family, and Liam got a great nap. People kept telling us we have great kids (we do), Jenna found a little friend to cheer with (it was so cute), and we had awesome seats!

Both BYU touchdowns were right in front of us!

the mullet

My children are blessed in their first year of life to grow a very stylish mullet.
With Jenna, I put it in pigtails and remained in denial. But this time I have accepted the truth and chopped it off!

I thought he would be scared of the clippers because he cries every time I try to run the vacuum or dry my hair, but he was calm and cool about it. And now he looks like such a big boy :)

too cool for school

How did this happen? I have a Kindergartener!

I did tear up when we dropped her off, but it's only because I'm so proud of her! She was so excited and not at all nervous. I'm sure she thought I was crazy for trying to make such a big deal about it. But I'm excited for her as well!
Jenna gets to go to a great school and she loves her teacher. In fact, we found out that they share their first and middle names! She called Jenna her "mini-me!" I'd say teacher's favorite student is in the bag :)
Although I'm sad that she has full-day Kindergarten, there are some positives. She gets to take fun classes like music, art, media, PE, world language, and technology. And Liam gets a great morning nap, and lots of mommy time!
It's going to be a great year!

He's a trooper while we wait in the heat to pick up sister :)

We have now entered the era of pick-ups and drop-offs, homework, PTA's, snow days, packing lunches, parent-teacher conferences, back-to-school shopping, summer vacations, and report cards.
Our lives will never be the same again!

tooth fairy

We didn't really see this one coming! One day out of the blue Jenna tells me she has a wiggly tooth and two days later (July 25) we're calling the tooth fairy!

If you want any of my advice on the subject, here it is: put the tooth as far away from the sleeping child as you can manage! Jenna saw the movie Rise of the Guardians, so we were already done for...
It was seriously the most stressful thing I've done as a parent. I mean, whose idea was it to put the tiny little tooth directly under their heads and expect us to replace it with a surprise!? I felt a little like Indiana Jones...
I had to wait until I was sure she was asleep, then tip-toe into the bedroom, making sure to avoid the squeaky spots and not wake either child. I carefully felt around under her pillow, finding nothing, so I left to get my phone for a little bit of light. I sneaked back in, all set with a fake story in case she woke up, and still couldn't find that stinkin' tooth! I just about gave up when I took a step back and stepped on the little ball we put her tooth in - hallelujah! I replaced the tooth with a smiley-face paper tooth I made, carefully slid it and a lollipop under her pillow, high-tailed it out of there, and finally took a breath!

The lollipop was all Jenna's idea. She told us that is what the tooth fairy would bring, and I couldn't disappoint my little girl! She was over the moon excited when she woke up the next morning.

Exactly a week later, about an hour after her first dentist appointment, she lost her second tooth!
It was a ton less stressful this time, because I had already done it once and she hadn't tossed around so the tooth was still under the pillow.

We did money this time, but honestly she was more excited about the little paper tooth I made. I'm pretty sure she's actually forgotten about that dollar!

Speaking of the dentist, she loved it! I know, slap on the wrist for waiting this long to bring her, but I'm not stressing because she has no cavities and can't wait to go back! Seriously, she asked for days to go again. They did such an amazing job making it fun and not at all scary for her.

I'm not sure exactly when my baby turned into a kid, but she's a great one!

10 months

Liam is growing and learning so quickly, and every couple of weeks I catch myself thinking "this is my favorite stage!". It is just so fun to go through all the milestones with him :)

This month he has decided to get picky with his food. Bummer, I was hoping to avoid this stage. The weird part is he spits out stuff like bananas and strawberries! But I can't complain too much, because he still enjoys chomping meat and veggies with his 8 teeth!

He likes to give kisses, but he's pretty aggressive with them so it just looks like he's attacking our faces!

His absolute favorite activity is climbing the stairs! I probably spend half my day following him up the stairs, then carrying him down so he can climb right back up again.

When he's not climbing the stairs, he very much enjoys opening and closing things: books, doors, the dryer, laptops... anything that opens and closes.

It seems he can make every sound and sound combination humanly possible except for mama! And I swear he's doing it on purpose! When we try to get him to say mama, he looks right at me and laughs...
But he gives me great hugs and kisses, and smiles when I come in the room, so I know he loves me :)

 BEST KIDS EVER!

straight A's

On her last day of school, Jenna got her first report card:

I didn't want to be the annoying mom who made the teacher stop and pose for a picture, so I quickly snapped one when she was saying goodbye. So precious!

Jenna loved Mrs. Robinson!

Jenna is more excited than ever to start "real school" in the fall.
In the mean time, she is doing hours (seriously) of "homework" (Kindergarten workbooks) and we plan to spend as much time as we can at the pool :)

zoo animals

We went to the zoo with some friends a little bit ago, on a day when it wasn't quite raining (just a light mist) which was a welcome change to the 1000-degree days we've been having lately.

Liam wasn't too impressed, even when he was five feet from a monkey:

Jenna loved them all, but was beside herself with joy when we finally saw the parrots!

You can just barely see the red to the right of her head, but it's there!!

We all enjoyed seeing and learning about the flamingos. The zoo went to a lot of trouble to get them to breed in captivity, and they are the first to accomplish it!

I feel like I haven't talked much about the Madsen Family, but we love them oh so much! They have a son Jenna's age, a daughter Liam's age, and live a stone's throw from us. Elena works from home so I will often watch Huck for the day, and in exchange she lets me use her car when I need it. Jenna and Huck are best friends, and we all get together for dinner and game nights at least twice a week. Don't know what we would do without them :)

Jenna, Huck, and the biggest fish ever!

Liam and Harper being adorable :)

Grandma's visit

Paul's mom came up to visit us for the fourth, and we had a great time! Our days were so packed full that we just collapsed in our beds every night!

Wednesday night we went to an adorable little local Italian restaurant. It's a nice place, but I knew it would be alright because my kids are rockstars in public :)
We eat pretty early, with the "old" crowd, and they all ooh-ed and aah-ed at Liam while he smiled at everyone. Jenna entertained herself by drawing a map of the restaurant:

On Thursday we took the metro into D.C. to see the parade in the morning. It was pretty cloudy when we arrived so we didn't think about shade when we got our spot, and I got a good sunburn when the sun came out. Everyone else got a little pink, but I definitely got the worst of it.
I had told Jenna that Daddy's favorite part of the parade was the soldiers (she asked, so I just said something). Every time she saw soldiers, she got so excited "Daddy, Daddy! Look, there's the soldiers!" :)
We enjoyed waving our flags and watching the performers, balloons, and floats!

We waited in a huge line to get into the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution (worth it!).
We stopped by the Museum of Art for Jenna - she's been asking to go for a couple weeks. It was funny to see which ones she thought were "beautiful" (basically anything with a girl in it), and she really liked the sculptures as well.
Then we hopped back on the metro and went to the Arlington National Cemetery. We had planned to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it was a pretty far walk. We didn't want to risk Liam getting a sunburn, and Jenna was starting to get tired. So, we just read a little in the visitor's center and saw some of the graves.

That night we had a BBQ, watched National Treasure, played games, and lit sparklers with our good friends, the Madsens.

On Friday Paul stayed home with the kids so his mom and I could go to the temple, then we all went to Nationals baseball game. Paul got tickets from his Miller Lite guys at work, so we had to wear lanyards and wrist bands to get into our "VIP" area (except the kids, of course).

Paul and Liam even got on TV:

One of our friends was watching the game and texted this to us :)

...which we all thought was so cool, until Paul realized he is wearing a Miller Lite lanyard while sporting his BYU hat! Fail!

Someone in our ward was giving away a kids bike, so Jenna also had her first big bike ride that day:

On Saturday Jenna went with Daddy and Grandma to Home Depot Kids Workshop, we went to a BBQ with a couple families, and then to see the Laurel city fireworks, which is always awesome!

 How many kids can we fit on Paul?

probably more, but this time it was 4 :)

loves his daddy :)

On Sunday Grandma made us a delicious breakfast, and we all got to hear Jenna's talk in Primary! She wrote most of it herself, but since we did it that morning I had to help her read it a little more this time.
Grandma left after church, and we missed her as soon as she walked out the door! We sure love our Grandma!!!

first week

We all had a successful start to summer school: Jenna loved every minute, I didn't break down in tears, and I got her there on time every day!
I took a couple pictures of her first week:

breakfast on her first day of school :)

loving our sunny walks :)

She has to pick EVERY dandelion she sees! She tells me to close my eyes, then gives it to me "because she loves me". She is the sweetest little girl ever!

She has to balance on these beams every time we pass

So happy to see brother after three whole hours apart!

I've enjoyed our walks everyday more than I thought I would. I get uninterrupted time to chat with Jenna, and after we drop her off Liam enjoys the sights while I get quiet time with my thoughts.

This week has revealed at least one positive to full-day Kindergarten in the fall: Liam will get a decent nap. For now, I have to wake him up to go pick up Jenna on time. He's been happy about it so far, but I don't expect his good attitude to last forever!

Jenna's teacher stopped me after school on Friday to let me know she is a joy to have in class and is more than ready for Kindergarten. That's my girl!

9 months

Liam's 9 month stats:

 20 lbs. - 60th percentile

28 in. - 50th percentile
A perfect little boy! 

This past month Liam has been all about three things: clapping, cruising, and climbing!
And making this face:

It's his "I'm trying to be upset and not laugh at the same time" face.

...cracks me up every time!

This little boy is all over the place now! Nothing under 3 feet is safe!

checking out the book big sister is reading

He has just about mastered using his sippy cup, and he eats everything we give him. He's got a very healthy appetite, and he definitely eats more than Jenna at dinnertime!

He has 6 teeth now! The top four all came within a week, and since they're all poking out at different lengths he's got a little redneck smile! So funny!

Liam has an extremely over-protective mother, and her name is Jenna! She won't let him within 10 feet of the stairs, and watches him like a hawk so he won't fall while cruising along furniture. We're constantly telling her to let him do things himself, so he can learn! If she didn't go to school, he would never be able to get into any mischief!
She loves him so much and needs to be near him most of the time. Ever since we let her pick him up on her own, she has been carrying and dragging that boy all over the house with her (supervised, of course). 

 

Don't worry, he loves it! No one can make him laugh quite like his big sister :)