Our Little Pirate Turns FOUR!

Landon,

How are you FOUR already?! My gosh - it seems like just yesterday you changed our lives by making us your mommy and daddy. I have a feeling I'll be still saying that that when you are fourteen and twenty four also though ... 

Presents from mom & dad on your actual birthday!

You are just delightful! You are smart, and funny and so articulate (and talkative!). People stop to tell us all the time that they are so surprised you are barely just four. You have the cutest grin and an infectious laughter. You make us laugh all the time with the things you say and do ... sometimes you are trying to be funny (just like your daddy) and sometimes you aren't, but you end up making us laugh anyways.

You LOVE Joy School and have learned so much this year. And Miss Stepper says you are her best singer! You are already starting to sound words out (always eager to grow up!), and you are curious about everything around you. You keep us on our toes - that's for sure!

I think the thing that amazes me and humbles me the most is your natural curiosity about the gospel. You love Primary (and have awesome Sunbeam teachers), and have learned so many Primary songs - it's your favorite CD to listen to in the car. You ask us really good questions and remember the answers! You teach us new things every day. 

You are such a great example to Liam! He ADORES you so much ... and watching you two play is like watching two little tiger cubs. It's a crack up :)! We love it and pray you are always so close. My very favorite is when you read together, or when you are "helping" him say the prayer. What a great brother you are!

You are about to start another season of soccer, you're learning to ride your scooter, and you've made SO many new friends this year! We can't wait to see what adventures this year will bring us.

Landon, we lived it up on your fourth birthday! You went to Joy School, where you had a party and treats, then we went to the dinosaur museum (your favorite!). That night you chose to have dinner at McDonald's (or Mic-a-donalds as you call it!) and then you opened up your presents from us.

We always told you that when you turn four you could have your first "friend" party! You chose to have a "Jake and the Never-Land Pirates" party. It was too cute!! 

When you guests arrived they got pirate bandannas and decorated swords. Then we had a pirate treasure hunt (your daddy spent a LONG time on that cool map!) complete with a treasure-chest pinata. 

After that we sang, and had cupcakes (courtesy of Aunt Ale, who was a tireless helper) and opened presents. Your little friends were very generous to you! And then we finished off by watching "Jake" in the theater room, and sending everyone home with "pirate's booty." 

We were tired when it finished, but what a FUN time!! It was so fun to see you in your element - you are a social butterfly and LOVE having friends and family over!! Mom, dad and Liam got you lots of  "Jake" toys, and Grandma and Grandpa got you a scooter!

We love you more than you'll ever know! Thank you for the best four years ... here's to LOTS MORE FUN!!

Love, 

Mom, Dad & Liam

Now for the pictures!! 

Your adorable party invites!

Our little family!
Landon - age 4, Liam - age 14 months

Cutest pirate - EVER!

Unless, maybe when there are TWO pirates!

Making your swords

Treasure hunt success (please note the X marking the
spot! And that awesome map by dad!)

Your cute friends!

The Other Days

I tend to blog about the sparkly moments in family life - birthday parties, rosy cheeked children, grins on the playground and overall bliss. But today? Today I'm going to record a little bit about the "other" days. They also happen around here with regularity and I would feel remiss in not giving them a bit of airspace too. When I'm old and grey and look back lovingly at having young children I want to remember the happy days and the days where I'm pretty certain if an entire pan of brownies were sitting in front of me right now I would eat them all. 

Every. Single. Last. Brownie.

You know ... days like today. 

The ones where I'm pretty certain I should change my name. Anything will do - as long as I don't hear "Mom? Mom? MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM,"  one more time. At least until at least tomorrow.


Days when I'm tired of little friends that cause more messes for me to deal with. Or come out of the bathroom declaring "Um, I think the toilet is exploding!" (true story)


Days when fruit snacks are both my best friend and worst enemy (Do you know how many can be asked for and consumed by 3 & 4 year olds? Or how many can manage to get spilled all over the garage floor?)

Days when I struggle being patient during diaper changes ... because we've hit the age when they are an EPIC battle. The type of battle that includes lots of indignant screaming, arm flapping and twisting as if his life depends on him escaping the evil wet wipes.


Days when I just don't know if I can make it until nap time ... let alone bed time with my sanity (somewhat) intact.

And the moms who manage to never yell? Yep, I'm not one of them. This is not a fact I'm proud of. But unfortunately it's a fact of life. I yell. Some days more than I want to.  We always talk about the situation after, in calm tones. But my kids have definitely heard me yell a time or two (possibly today alone). 

You might think I'm bad, or crazy. But I hope there is a force of of moms out there that think, "yep, sounds about right." If so, please feel free to band together with me and repeat "we can do this!" together. 

I'll bring the brownies.

It's the Little Things

Friday night we made calzones and rented Turbo for a family movie night. And it turned out to be one of those nights I hope I never forget. 

We spread out a blanket picnic-style on the floor of the basement and settled in to watch. Turbo is a cute movie about a snail who dreams about being in the Indy 500 - lots of race cars and hip hop music are involved. 

Jeff and I had so much fun just watching the kids watch the movie. Landon was so into it he stood up half the time ... and had to turn on his race car track and race cars in the middle of it. Any time music came on Liam started dancing in his high chair while still shoveling food in his mouth (his whole calzone, fruit and then a LOT of popcorn ... he's a bottomless pit!). 

We kept exchanging looks that said, "they are so cute!" and "aren't we lucky to have such sweet kids!" There are so many parenting moments that are wonderful, and some that aren't quite so wonderful, but in that moment the world was perfect. We were together and happy, and I wanted to freeze that moment in time. Unfortunately that isn't possible, so instead, I'll write it down and remember these beautiful, simple, wonderful moments with our two favorite little guys.

One!

Liam is officially one!! I've been putting off writing this post because that makes it more real somehow. I'm always surprised at how quickly time goes, but Liam's first year seems to have gone quicker than any other time in our lives, and honestly it makes my heart break a little. 

This guy stole our hearts a year ago. He took us by storm and we all fell in love instantly. And how could we not?

Liam is the happiest baby. He loves to be loved on. And he loves us - each in different and very noticeable way. He's a mama's boy through and through. If I'm an option to put him to bed, that was exactly what happened. And I LOVE IT! Life has been busier with two, and every second he wants me, or insists I put him to bed is a special moment just for us. 

He has figured out that dad is the fun one! He loves to wrestle and play rough already. He loves to roll or throw a ball, play cars and ride on his horsey - and he knows that dad is always up for a fun time. And daddy is always willing to read a lot of stories!

And boy, does Liam LOVE Landon! It's the sweetest thing - those two together. They already wrestle and play rough, but will also sit together and play cars or read so sweetly. Landon is always so eager to go get Liam up in the morning, and Liam doesn't want to go to sleep without loves from Landon. He lights up when Landon comes into the room! 

In addition to being super sweet, Liam isn't afraid to share his opinion, or let us know how he feels. He also already thinks he has quite the sense of humor. He loves books and to be read to, and is very pleased with his page-turning skills. He wants to be one of the big kids so badly - he plays well in the same area and is just happy to be a part of things. 

I love his smile! It's contagious. At one he had three bottom teeth, and his gums look like several more aren't far off.

He started crawling at 11 months, and is delighted by his new skill. I love it when he starts laughing in delight when crawling fast. He is already pulling himself up on things, so we'll see how soon walking comes. He hasn't mastered the stairs yet, but isn't afraid to go right up to them and look over the edge. He LOVES to dance - anytime music is on, he's moving to the beat.

Liam folds his arms in the absolutely CUTEST way possible. And is good about reminding the rest of us to say a blessing on the food. Melts my heart.

He will sign more, all done and please (sometimes). He's also starting to try to say words. "Mama" means most things now. Like Mama, more milk ... and pretty much that he wants whatever he is pointing at (but if you saw his chubby finger pointing, you would be tempted to give him anything he wants also). If you ask him what a cow says he'll say "mmmm." Again, so stinking cute! He also says dada and ba for "brother." 

For his first birthday bash we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point so he could ride the ponies. Then we had dinner at the cafe and came home for presents and dessert. We didn't go the traditional route, because Liam LOVES brownies and mint ice cream - so that's what we had! He didn't hesitate to dig right in ... our little bitty loves to eat!

We love you Liam, and are so glad you are part of our family!!

(Disclaimer: Picture overload ahead ... I have taken thousands of pictures of this cute boy, but not been nearly as good at blogging them - so here goes!)

Sunbeam!

With the New Year Landon became a Sunbeam at church! I can't believe how fast time flies and how quickly they grow up. 

We were a bit worried because he really wanted to stay in nursery. But his wonderful teachers visited before the first Sunday and made him feel so welcome that Sunday that it was a huge success!!  

Here's our little Sunbeam!

Holiday Happenings

Every year the holidays seem to pass much too quickly. But I like to think we live up every moment possible during that magical time of year!

This year was so much fun! Landon really understood what Christmas is all about ... and he definitely understood Santa in a whole new way also! And watching Christmas unfold for the first time through the eyes of a baby is just about as magical as you can get! 

A few highlights from our Christmas season:

*Landon played Joseph in the Joy School Christmas program. Cutest. Thing. EVER! 
*Telling the nativity story before bed. We have the Fisher Price nativities in each of their rooms so they can play with them. And each night we tell the story of Baby Jesus. I love watching them learn, and begin to understand the real gift of Christmas. 
*We started a new tradition of a "Christmas Eve Box" that includes the kids' jammies, a new Christmas book, a new movie and a treat to open on Christmas Eve.
*Taking the kids to see Santa. Landon was very jazzed up about the big guy in red this year. Liam on the other hand was feeling like he might be a bit sketchy.

*Fun parties! We had our church party, friends invited us over, we decorated cookies with the kids and Jeff's work had a fun get-together.
*Christmas lights! I love the lights on temple square! It's a special date for Jeff and I each year, and we always take the kids as well.
*Seeing Frozen. I don't even like animated movies and I've seen it twice - it's really that cute. The kids like it too :)
*Landon putting us on the "Naughty List" or the "Nice List." Generally we moved lists a few times a day depending on how his day was going. Also, it was the first year we could hold said "list" above his head. Worked like a charm :)!
*Babies wearing elf jammies.
*Landon received a special message from the North Pole letting him know that he made the "Nice List!" His face was priceless!

Christmas Day was magical! Landon tore through his presents. It made us happy to see how much he loved what he got, but sad in a way too. In past years he opened slowly to play with and enjoy each toy. His favorites: race car set (this actually kept all the boys - old and young - busy for hours), dinosaurs, Jake's Island and a kitchen for both of them.

Liam was just delighted by new toys and all that WRAPPING PAPER! He would just look at us and grin - fascinated by the whole process. His favorites: Rocking pony (it sings while he rides and he dances and rocks ... and has the CUTEST smile on his face the whole time), dinosaur that pops balls out, bath toys, books and the kitchen.

 Jeff and I both took a couple days off after Christmas and we had a great time just hanging out together as a family and relaxing. 

New Years isn't a huge deal to us, but we wanted to do something fun with the kiddos. We went out for Chinese and then had a party in the basement ... complete with balloons, noisemakers and watching the ball drop on the big screen. Don't tell the boys ... but it was a YouTube video of the ball drop in 2010 :)! 

Now here we are ... in 2014. I really can't believe it! I'm grateful for the wonderful Christmas season we had - spent with family and good friends. We feel incredibly blessed and I hope we can keep the magic of the season with us throughout the year.