4 years

4 years ago I married my best friend. Now with one son and one on the way we are looking forward to many many more wonderful year together!

So I may have been withholding some information

So yes many of you may have guess it but we are having another baby! And we found out today that we are having another BOY. We are so excited! I am due May 15th which is almost exactly the same time that Liam was, so we are going to have sons with close birthdays! So here are some of the little ones photos. We can't wait to have another baby in our house.

Liam and Santa

Yesterday we went to go meet Santa. I am not sure if Liam really knows who Santa is yet, but it was fun to go anyway. I was a little worried that there would be tears of fear, but he was not scared at all. He ran right up to him and sat down on his lap. And although he couldn't tell Santa what he wanted just yet, I'm sure he will be able to next year. Merry Christmas!

Happy!

Okay Mom, I am ready to get off!

Saturday Stroll around Fair Park

Last Saturday while Liam and I were taking naps Roland saw that the Children's Aquarium at Fair park was free for the day. So when we both woke up we decided to do a spur of the moment trip over to Fair Park. Turns out the Aquarium was not the only place with free admission that day. Almost everything was free! So we went to the Planetarium (which was kinda lame), and the Butterfly house(which was cool). We also just spent some time strolling around Fair Park. We didn't make it to the Aquarium because the lines to get in were way too long, but we had fun anyway. After Fair Park we went to get dinner and they messed up our order, so instead of getting 1 pizza, we got 2! Score. It was a very enjoyable Saturday afternoon.

Hi Mommy!

My boys

Cool butterfly in Butterfly House

Can I have the camera now?

Dental School Gala

Roland and I went on a hot date last Friday to the annual Dental School Gala. It was fun to get all dressed up and have a nice dinner. I also got to meet more of Roland's friends and their spouses. Good food, great conversations, wonderful night with my husband.

Me and my lovey.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!

I love the Christmas season and I love decorating our apartment for Christmas. On Monday night we set up our Christmas tree. It was really fun this year because Liam was able to "help." We had fun listening to Christmas music and getting all festive as a family. And although I often have to say, "Don't pull the ornaments, just touch them," it is totally worth it to have the spirit of Christmas in our home. FYI plastic ornaments are amazing!

My two favorite boys and the decorated tree.

Liam helping!

My little helper

So Liam has decided that he wants to do everything that Mom and Dad do. That includes drinking out or normal cups, brushing hair/teeth, wiping his own nose and face when he gets dirty and vacuuming. Case in point, after we set up our Christmas tree on Monday for Family Home Evening the floor need a good vacuuming. So we get the vacuum out and I start doing it. Shortly into my chore Liam decided he wanted a turn, so we let him. He loved it. You would never believe that a couple of months ago he was scared to death of the vacuum. He loved helping so much in fact that he was mad when we took it away. So cute and now I have a little vacuumer in training!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was AWESOME! We went to New Hampshire to visit my family and had so much fun. The only downside is that we were only there for a week and it went so so fast. I had not had Thanksgiving with my family since high school so it was a treat to be able to spend the holiday in my hometown. I was also able to visit wonderful friends that I had not seen in a while so it was great. Let me just warn you I was horrible at taking pictures. I would have like to take pictures of the Thanksgiving feast and everyone that was there, but I think I was just enjoying it too much and forgot to get some pictures. But the meal was great. Everyone pitched in and made it a very enjoyable and yummy day. What can I say I always love visiting family and friends and right when I leave I want to go back again. It was a great break from my normal life, and I am so thankful we were able to make the trip.

We cut Liam's hair for the first time in NH! It was getting really long. But I do miss his curls. This is before the hair cut. And,

This is after. I think he looks a little less like a baby now and more like a big boy.

On Tuesday we made a trip down to Boston to pick up Roland's brother Adrian at MIT. He then had Thanksgiving with us too which was a bonus! We took a lot of pictures while we were exploring MIT.

It was really cold in New Hampshire. I think I am growing soft here in Dallas. Liam didn't like the cold much either.

Grandma and Grandson

My family's new dog Bailey. I was a little nervous at first, but Liam and Bailey became best friends. Liam loved to pet him and Bailey liked to try and steal Liam's food.

Plane ride back to Dallas. Liam was able to get his own seat which was amazing because he was comfortable and slept. So did his parents:)

Roland Won a Photo Contest

We found out last week that Roland won 1st prize in the River/Ponds category of the Trinity River Photo Contest. Today I got to pick up his certificate at the Dallas City Council Meeting(Roland had a test). It was all very formal. I had to go through a metal detector and they searched my bag. I was so glad that had someone watch Liam (thanks Lauren) because it was a very kid free zone. Everyone at the meeting looked really important and you could definitely tell who was there for the photo contest. When they called the Amateur division (There were three divisions:Professional, Amateur and Youth) up I got to shake hands with the Mayor of Dallas and he was the one who read all the names. It was fun and out of the ordinary to be able to go the meeting and I am so happy for Roland for winning.(There were about 850 photos entered). He is so talented at many things. Here is the winning photo. It was taken at sunrise and features three herons.

Reverting back to the baby ways

The other day we were watching our friend's 2 month old baby. We got the swing out so that we could get the baby to sleep. We left it out and the next day Liam wanted nothing more than to climb in his old swing. He loved to swing with his blanket and lounge. Another baby thing that he has been weirdly picking up is pacifiers. He has never used a pacifier, but we have them in a drawer because we thought he might use them. He found the stash one day and had been using them as toys. I think he has seen other kids with and thinks they are cool or something. He will stick it in his mouth, and walk around with it. It is a little funny that he is still shows interest in the baby stuff even though he is becoming such a big boy.

Lots has changed in a year and an half

What a difference a year makes

It has recently been cold enough to start bundling Liam up and it got me thinking about how much Liam has really grown. I remember doing the same thing last year when we would go outside and thinking oh I am sure he will stay like this forever. But he didn't. He has grown up so fast and although he is super cute and fun now sometimes I find myself missing the little baby in the car seat. So for picture explanation, I was walking earlier this week and he was all bundled up and he actually feel asleep. This hasn't happened in a long time. A year ago it used to happen all the time. So that is really what got me thinking about how big he is now. What a difference a year makes.

Liam a year ago

Liam a few days ago

Trick or Treat!

On Saturday night our ward held a trunk or treat Halloween activity for the kids. It was so much fun. I enjoyed taking Liam around to all the cars saying, "Trick or Treat," for him, and then watching him drop his candy into his bag. He was the cutest turtle ever! And although he did not stay in the costume all night it was a big hit.

This is a look we get quite often now

I did not get too creative with my costume

Action Shot

Love this picture. No one was quite sure what Roland was(including me). He got back from a scout activity and just ran around grabbing random things from the house before we had to go. He was exhausted from the scout activity but still had some fun.

Getting some grub

Messy face

Dropping the candy in

The last part of the activity was a march with all the kids in their costumes. As you can see we had a naked turtle (no shell) at this point.

So it was a fun night. Liam got a fair amount of candy (which his parents have eaten quite a lot of) and had fun running around with all the other kids. Happy Halloween!