Thankful for Friends

We are so thankful for our friends and enjoyed all the time spent together this month chasing bubbles with Lily Star, playing cars with Sam, building sandcastles with Steven, and attending fabulous Dance Recitals performed by Erin.

We also enjoyed a couple "family playdates" with our friends, The Moore's and The Allen's. Thanks again to Jaime, Lucas and Steven for inviting us over for a wonderful home-cooked country dinner. While the boys had fun playing with Steven's toys and the guys competed on Wii, the gals enjoyed visiting about all good things! We also enjoyed having Julie, Maura and Tristan over for dinner one evening to celebrate their return home from GA...I know they are all very anxious for Brent's safe return home, too!

We look forward to the summer and visiting with more of our friends, near and far!

Liam's Last Day of School

Today was Liam's last day of his first year of school...WOW!!!

The year sure did go by quickly. This morning the school director shared with me how amazed she is each May at how big the children of the two year old class look compared to how little they were starting out at the beginning of the school year...she's spot on with that! Liam entered the school room as a toddler and exited as a preschooler!!!

We're so thankful to the First United Methodist Church Preschool for providing Liam with such a welcoming and loving learning environment throughout the entire year. He enjoyed his teacher, Ms. Kelley and all of his first classmates - John, Nate, Rhett, Taylor and Hollee.

We will always remember FUMC as his preschool foundation...Enjoy your summer, Liam!

Use Your Words

We have used the phrase "use your words" with Liam since before his first birthday. For a three year old, he does quite well expressing his feelings through words versus over-emotion or becoming physical. His latest expression of frustration and anger towards Mommy:

"My eyes are mad and I want them to be happy!"

Happy Anniversary, Liam!!!

Today we celebrate Liam's 3rd Baptismal anniversary...what a truly special sacrament and memory for our family.

We pray for you everyday, Liam. We pray that you enjoy learning about your religion...your faith. We pray for your relationship with the Holy Trinity...your spiritual growth. We pray for you to understand Christ's love by the way we love you...

We will always love you!

The Excitement of Role Playing

Liam really enjoys animals and here lately has become addicted to "Eyewitness Documentaries" about all different kinds of living species. He also has rainforest flashcards which he enjoys reading and studies the pictures.

We've been enjoying watching Liam push his role playing boundries more and more lately. It was so fun for us today watching him enjoy his "Eyewitness Rainforest Documentary" while quickly shuffling through his flashcards trying to find the animal match and proceed to acting out each animal.

We so love Liam the boy....and Liam, the tiger; Liam, the parrot; Liam, the monkey; etc....

Privacy Please

When Liam first started expressing his needs verbally well over a year ago, he would sternly say "Go Away". While this may sound cute at first, it had to be change...so we had to come up with something very similar but much nicer. We finally decided on "Privacy, Please" which, fortunately, caught on like wildfire. So, now it is used in nearly every situation where he needs, well, privacy.

It was funny, though, today when he had to use the bathroom. He told me he had to go, went on in and shut the door. I came to the door, knocked and opened it to check on him and found, to my surprise, him sitting on the potty asking me for privacy, please. Taken aback, I apologized and shut the door...then I went snickering around the corner.

They absorb everything! And if it's the right things....it's so darn cute!!!

Chef Liam and the Casserole Pie

I planned to make a chicken casserole pie for dinner tonight and thought maybe if Chef Liam helped he would be excited enough to try it. He helped me mix all of the ingredients together (he's very handy with a spoon), roll out the pie crust, fill the pie plate and top it off with the other crust. He watched me put it in the oven and we left the oven light on so we could watch it cook.

When it was done, he thought it smelled soooo yummy and......still refused to eat the chicken....oh well, it was a fun time nonetheless. I suppose if he ever decides to eat meat it will be when he wants to not Mommy.

St. John's Spring Fling

Liam and I went to St. John's Spring Fling this afternoon after mass. It was sponsored by our church for all children of the parish and school. They really did a nice job and made it extremely affordable...even the lunch was free. They were kind enough to make "Liam the Grainatarian" a cheese sandwich out of two hamburger buns!

After lunch, Liam was so excited to play the games. We paid $5 for a bunch of tickets which he got to play on different games including a bounce house, duck pond, ring toss, plinko, bowling, etc. After each game, he "won" a prize from the box which he enjoyed digging through with the other children until he found the perfect choice. I'm sure it will soon end up in our "hodge-podge" toy bag but what great fun!

It was fun for me, too, watching Liam outdoors playing with the other parish children. He was able to see a couple friends he knows from his current school, too, who belong to our church and will be attending St. John's with Liam next fall. We also had a chance to see and speak with his upcoming teacher, Mrs. Erpenbeck.

Thank you, St. John's for a wonderful day...we'll be looking forward to next Spring!

Happy Mother's Day

I told Billy and Liam, "No presents this year, please, just a fun day out together!". So glad they agreed!

I thought about going up to Natural Bridge State Park but noticed signs hanging in downtown Lexington for MayFest 2009. I checked it out online and it sounded like a lot of fun so after a beautiful mass at St. John's we decided to spend Mother's Day at MayFest in Gratz Park (which is near Transylvania University and is the oldest University east of the Allegheny Mountains).

What a lovely day! The perimeter streets were blocked off from thru traffic so it was the perfect setting for us all. Liam loved roaming the park, playing around the children's fountain (which was dedicated to the city's children as a gift from Lexington author James Lane Allen), and jumping in the bounce house over and over again. We also enjoyed a complimentary horse and carriage ride, a tour of the Hunt-Morgan House (which, believe it or not, was Liam's idea), and freshly popped kettle corn while listening to the live entertainment and strolling past the vendors. This could easily be a Mother's Day Tradition...thank you Liam and Billy for making today such a truly special Mother's Day!!!

As wonderful as the day was, we couldn't allow it to pass without thoughts of loving memories and appreciation of our own Mothers, Grandmothers, Godmothers and special women in our lives...Happy Mother's Day!!!

Liam's 1st Field Trip

Liam's pre-school took their field trip to Old Friends, a KY facility for retired thoroughbreds. The children lined up with their class and parents to tour the grounds enjoying all of the retired horses. The tour guide fed them carrots and told us about each one. After the tour, we all enjoyed a picnic lunch together. Liam enjoyed the free time to talk about the horseys and play with his friends. After lunch, everyone lined up to pet the pony and say goodbye to the farm.

What a beautiful day!