Catching Up

It has been so long as we have been very busy these past few months spending time as a family and finally feeling comfortable in our new normal post-deployment. I figured instead of covering everything that has been going on with the boys, I would touch on some main points.

First off...Liam



The biggest thing that has changed with Liam is his age. Liam celebrated a fun 5th birthday with a class field trip to the firestation...



a nice family party at home...



and his first class party....at the bowling alley!!



He had a great time and we our loving our little five year old!! Liam continues to excel at school and is really enjoying his class there. We are so happy with our choice to put him at Trinity. He is learning so much every day and is beginning to sound out words to write. He is also learning all about God and Jesus, of course and has taught us some interesting facts...like that Taylor is not Liam's father...God is his REAL father....and that King Herod is in Leavenworth Federal Prison (he was a bad guy and that's where they put bad guys). He also loves to sing us all the songs he learned for his Christmas program and did such a fab job (videos can be seen on the video site).

Other things we have learned about Liam is that he is a bigger fan of Halloween...



than Thanksgiving. :)



This month has brought lots of snow to Kansas and Taylor and I were thrilled to find that Liam was a MUCH bigger fan of snow this year than last and was more than willing to play outside as much as he could:







Christmas this year was very fun for Liam. He was able to do an early Christmas with his Wezwick side and celebrated Christmas day with Mimi and Tooey. It's so much fun to enjoy the season with a 5 year old who is constantly filled with excitement. He was certain to wear his track pants, explaining that he and George were going jet skiing that night. Huh?



Yeah, our Mr. Man can be a bit silly, but honestly...how can you argue with this?



And now...Big G...



I love Mr. G...but...wow! Here is the main reason I haven't been able to post much lately. This little guy is busy busy busy!! George is super super smart and so full of life...a deadly combination. Some new things that George has been experiencing since my last post are....

Moving into his new big boy bed a week after climbing out of the crib:



Trick or treating:



Trying nuts:



Shoveling his first Kansas snow:



Having playdates:



and sledding:





Christmas this year was really a joy for G. He understood more than I expected and told me.."wake up, presents!" And honestly...there's not much better than watching a 2 year old experience Christmas.





I plan to get back on track with updating with the new year. We recently found out that we will be moving again in June and should find out by April where we will be headed. In the meantime, we are really loving Kansas and I can't get enough of having the privilege of staying at home and being the Mama of these two little men.

Party, Party, Party

That is all we did....all weekend...party, party, party. Friday afternoon, my cousin, Brianna, and her two cuties, Owen and Emma, came down from Iowa for the weekend to help celebrate G's second while Daddy flew to DC for the Army 10 miler (where he kicked arse with an impressive 1:08 finish!).

Saturday was G's birthday and it was quite a whirlwind. We let the kiddos hang around the house while I made Banana Bran muffins with chocolate chips for breakfast. With three boys ages 4 and under, we decided that lunch at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant would be a hit and so headed out the door on our birthday adventure. The restaurant is an old 1950s style place with a quirk...servers bring the drinks, but trains drive around tracks near the ceiling and deliver your food to you. It was a HUGE hit! While George spent most of the time watching the trains, I did catch him (James in hand) taking a quick sip of milk.



Afterwards, we headed out to Science City for a few hours of good old fun. All four seemed to enjoy exploring and trying out all the neat stuff they have there.







That night, I made G two of his favorites: mac and cheese (homemade) and hot dogs. All the kiddos seemed to enjoy it.



But, of course, the biggest hit was dessert.







We let G open a few gifts while chatting with Daddy, Mimi, and Tooey on Skype. He really likes this truck that Liam picked out for him.



On Sunday, Liam was invited to his first birthday party (aside from Ben's). Of course, Taylor is gone so it was destined to be a tricky party to take to kiddos to...horseback riding. I was not sure that Liam would ride the horse, but to my amazement...





George ran out to the horse when it was his turn, but then just wanted to give it a pat pat. He did participate in the sugar consumption, though....



...while big brother told me that "he would just have one of our cupcakes at home" and skipped out on the cake so he could hang out here for a bit longer.



I think he spent about 90 percent of the party climbing around on the two tractors they had. Both boys LOVED them!

Taylor came home today and we did a redo of G's birthday with Nick and Sidonie present as well. George seemed to enjoy unwrapping his gifts and definitely playing with them. Hard to figure what his favorite is, but definitely he LOVED all the trains, trucks, cars, planes that he received.

Oh, and he liked the cake, too.



It's hard to believe the my little G is two already. I'm loving every day with him and watching him grow and learn and definitely love the friendship that is growing between he and Liam. Everyday with George is a treat and he makes everyone he sees smile. How can he not with this face?



Happy Birthday, Big G! We love you so much!!!

First Field Trip

Liam had his first field trip today. The class went to the farm since they were studying that unit. One of the best parts was that my neighbor invited George to come play with her 2 1/2 and 1 year old boys...he had a BLAST and Liam and I got some good time together.

The trip was a load of fun for a small local farm. They learned about pigs, goats and sheep and then got to go through a maze.



He had so much fun, he even went twice.



Next, the class went on a small train ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.



Before I knew it, Liam jumped out of the train, ran to a pumpkin, grabbed it and jumped back on the train in maybe 30 seconds flat. All the other kiddos took their time and posed for cute little pumpkin patch photos while my punk was content to just make sure he didn't miss his ride. He was still pretty cute though.



They then had snack and afterwards did a small craft activity where they made a candy corn man and ate some candy corn then got to meet a donkey. After some bean bag tossing games, the trip ended with a fun hayride.



All in all, a very successful first field trip for my little man. We had so much fun and some much needed quality time together. Good times!

Gymnastics

George had his third gymnastics session today. He loves it and calls it "bouncing". I first thought it would be some sort of Gymboree set-up where it's basically a padded place to run and play with some direction. I couldn't believe it when 2 minutes into the class, we learned about G's first circuit. As an example, today's first circuit was:

1) Roll down an incline (has summersaulted down this in the past)
2) Run and jump off a spring board into a hula hoop
3) Hang from a high bar, walk your feet up a mat in front of you, and swing yourself
over the bar.
4) Do a back handspring-type move with the help of a huge semi-circular mat.
5) Do a summersault over a circular mat.
6) Jump your way through a hopscotch board.

That is just the first of two sets. Let me tell you, this is a workout for both mom and G. But good fun and a great experience.

The second circuit today was a ton of beams that he had to walk on and step over cones or colored rectangles. George did well when holding my hand and was very concerned with the one cone he knocked over.



He then walked on a regular high beam to the end and jumped into a big pile of foam. He was a bit nervous about the high beam but did great!



There are several videos up and the pictures are not the best, but it's all I can get while holding onto G. The maneuvers are so much more than just jumping around or "bouncing" as he calls it and it's a miracle I got what I did today.

Liam is also doing gymnastics and LOVING it, but haven't got decent pics from dad yet since parents sit way off to the side in that class. Mike and I will try to bring my ultra-zoom camera with us when we go next week.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

This week, I was able to enjoy my birthday surrounded by the men I love. And they treated me like a princess, complete with a "fancy flower necklace"...



and full-on, all pink, princess paraphrenalia...



all picked out by my sweet Liam (who confessed to his dad that he thought that they should also pick out some Transformer supplies for he and George). I even had a Tinkerbell candle!

But the greatest gift of all, was spending some time hanging with this guy...



and this guy...



even though it was nearly his bedtime and his mood was mostly like this...



Really, is there nothing better in life than watching your first born enjoy a nice summer day to it's fullest extent?!









That's what birthdays are really about after all...celebrating life. And how can I not when my life includes this little guy.



Thanks for making me a princess. What a fantastic day with some fantastic boys!!