Oh, happy boy

Liam is doing great! He is talking a ton - some of which we can understand. He is sleeping great at night (not so much during the day). He is happy happy happy. Liam loves school. He marches into his class room like he owns the place. He knows where to put his backpack and his lunch box and then heads off to explore toys, crafts and musical instruments. He loves monster trucks. No idea where that came from but we now have several monster truck toys because of it. He still loves trains, tractors and anything else with wheels. He love to read books, snuggle and eat chocolate. Come to think of it, I love those things too. Sweet baby will be three in a few months. That's hard to believe.

It ain't over yet

We weren't quite done celebrating our Daddy! Ben decided to whip up a chocolate cake.

He loves whipping up a cake.

Liam decided to get in on the action and make up a pot of soup for dinner.

Liam is great at stirring the pot. He also likes to sneak a bean or piece of corn which I let him because it might be all he eats. He is on the one day on, three days off eating program.

After the cake had cooled it was time for frosting. Yum. The boys worked really hard at getting it smooth.

One last minute sniff before putting on the toppings.

Ben handed over the sprinkles and let Liam start the decorating.

The cake turned out great. We even lit candles and sang to Daddy when he got home from work. The boys were so excited to sing - we did it three times!

And, three times they blew out the candles.

We love Daddy! Happy Birthday (again)!!

Active mind and keen imagination

We got take out from our favorite Chinese restaurant and Ben's fortune cookie was no surprise to me: an active mind and keen imagination. This morning Ben arranged the couch cushions around the coffee table to make a car. Then he invited me and Liam to go with him on a ride - to Africa. I mentioned that we might want to fly so he quickly transformed the car into a plane and off we went - on an adventure! Oh, my! What fun it is play with an active mind.

Pre-birthday preparations

A lot of hard work was put into birthday preparations for Daddy. Ben worked hard on Daddy's birthday packages. He spent a long time on this one in particular.

I thought he did an excellent job on that monster truck. He even got the lettering on the side of the truck. Way to go Ben.

We left the packages in the car over night so in the morning we headed out in our pjs to get them.

The boys were a big help bringing them inside.

Ben was very excited to celebrate with Daddy! He did a lot of heavy lifting.

Here's the big moment when Daddy is seeing Ben's work of art on the package. Daddy loved the monster truck.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Two boys were very happy to celebrate their Daddy today. We had presents in bed (Ben was a bit disappointed Daddy didn't get any action figures), breakfast at iH0p, lots of playing outside and dinner at Chi!i's. Super great day for our super great Daddy!
Happy Birthday, we love you!

Dinner

Dinner is much better when prepared by the loving hands of two adorable little boys. Liam made the soup.



Ben made the corn bread.






Excellent work, guys! It was delicious.

Helicopter

Liam spotted this super cool helicopter in the hospital parking lot and convinced Daddy to stop and take a closer look. Daddy took some awesome pictures for Mommy so everybody is happy!

Literal

While stopped at an intersection, Ben asked me what that arrow is for on the ground. I explained that the arrow tells people in that lane that they are supposed to turn in the direction the arrow points. Horrified, Ben replied, "Then they fall in that hole"!

Country Fair field trip

Liam and I went with Ben on his class field trip to the Country Fair. Oh, what fun! We saw cows, pigs, poop, cows, goats, poop, chickens, poop, rabbits and poop.

Ben was very excited to see the egg in the corner of the cage. He almost had his hand in the cage to grab it when I stopped him. Oh, that would have been bad.

Meet Cupcake. This is Ben's new friend, the goat. I have heard about Cupcake all day. He is trying to wait patiently until we can get back to the fair so he can hang out with Cupcake again.

This is Ben's Fish Class. I gotta say, I think my kids the cutest with that balloon.

County Fair Parade

If it weren't for the two trains that delayed the parade by 45 minutes, I'd give the whole experience an A+. The boys were quite good, considering the wait. And, everyone loved it once it started! The horses and emergency vehicles were Liam's favorite and Ben loves the bands - even if they are a bit loud. Liam didn't stop waving the entire time and when the bands came he was a dancing fool. Good times! These are the things I love about our (not so) small town.

Books

This sweet boy loves to read books. He was so tired that he went in his room and started his nightly book time without me. When I saw him in the chair I had to run get the camera.

And, that reminded me of this sweet picture of Ben from many years ago when I found him in the same chair (but different house) reading his favorite books. Sweet boy has grown up but we still read every night. I love that.

Sunday at the park

It was a nice day to play at the park.


The boys really liked swinging in the shade the best. Especially if daddy was pushing.




Happy days!

Happy Boy

Oh the joy! He looks too little to be riding on these things but he handles them quite well and he LOVES it!