keeping up with the big boys

On Wednesday, Owen's friend, Noble came over. After a fun time at the bounce house place, we had an indoor picnic. Afterward, Owen found his and Liam's new rain boots and had the bright idea to go searching for puddles.

Owen has 3 pair of rain boots...so, Noble got to borrow a pair. I stuck Liam into his very first pair EVER and hoped he could walk okay in them. What was I thinking. OF COURSE he can keep up with his 2 1/2 year old brother and his 3 year old friend. He is, after all, just a mini-2 year old. Oy.
I love this one. Owen's boot fell off and Noble and Liam were quite interested in that. Owen's expression and body language is pretty funny, too.

No puddles were left behind by the very, very brief rainstorm. But, lucky for the boys, a neighbor was watering their yard at noonish that day ;-)

To say they had fun together would be an understatement. These boys were hilarious!

Owen is catching the water in his mouth...

and, so is Noble. Both approaches seemed to yield water, but Noble's was way funnier to me!

After this afternoon, I have to admit I kinda decided I might like to have 3 boys. Boys are so much fun!

Owen and I took Liam to meet his preschool teachers today. I wanted a picture of Liam with his teachers. Liam didn't. I then decided to settle for a picture of him in the classroom. Liam didn't want that, either. So, this is the best I have. A photo of Liam running out of the building.

I think he will LOVE school....do you agree? Ha!

Baby Liam's First Haircut!

I love little-boy cuts on little boys. Its just my preference. I especially love trendy, spikey-up, super cute little-boy cuts on little boys. But, Liam's hair is so light in color and so fair in texture that I have held off getting it cut. Today, however, I decided to put an end to the chaos in the back of his little head. So, on this day, little bit got his first hair cut!
Owen was happy to go first to show "Baby Wiam" what getting a hair cut was all about. Baby Wiam wasn't paying too much attention at first.

And, then he took notice of the clippers and got a wee concerned on Owen's behalf. Lucky for me, Owen was super content in that chair today. Maybe it's because hew as being the big brother. Maybe it's because he knew if he got that hair cut his friend Emma would come and play. Or, maybe it's just that he was in a cooperative mood today. Who knows. But, it was the easiest haircut for him in 6 months or so. He was awesome!

When Owen was done, he told "Wiam" to hurry up so that Emma could come over.

Look at my sweet Liam being such a good, sweet boy. He did AWESOME!!

Well...until I walked closer to him. Then, he still did great with the cut.

He just wanted me to hold him. So I took this one last picture and then I got him out of the Hummer and held that baby boy through he rest of his cut.

He looks so stinkin' cute, doesn't he?

And, see how nice the back looks. Hooray!

My little baby Liam is turning into such a big boy.

RVing Again

We went down to our lake property again this weekend. It's hot out there; but, so much fun. The best part, as far as the kids seem to be concerned, is that they don't really have to get dressed for the day! Owen loves hanging out in his t-shirt, underwear, and rain boots. Gotta love him.
Pa has been building a swing set out there for the boys (and their will-be-here-in-December sibling). To say that both boys love it would be an understatement.

You couldn't get them out of those swings! They totally loved hanging out in them.

And, it was probably the coolest way to pass the time during the heat of the day. Well...except when Owen decided it was way more fun to run for about 12 feet into the swing, go "high", and start over. He got pretty heated up doing that. 104 degrees F is HOT!

It may be hot outside for the rest of us, but it doesn't seem to phase this super-cool 2 year old...

Can you believe his parents let him leave the house looking like that?

What were they thinking?

I agree with Owen...

...the icing on the cake is definately the best part!

Bouncin' Good Times

It's hot here. Really hot. Finally, now that the summer is nearing an end, I am finding really fun things for us to do. Too bad I didn't have these bright ideas in June?!?
For the past couple of weeks, we have gone to toddler time at Pump It Up, Jr. The room is full of bounce houses, slides, and balls. Perfect for my little guys! Owen, was the bravest he's ever been here. He went up and down the big slide, through the obstacle courses, and bounced his little heart out for over an hour.

Last week, Liam played in some of the air-filled toys; but, mostly, he stayed on the firm ground throwing balls. Which, is how he started off today, too. But, this little dude got in some bouncin' good times before we left. That's for sure.

After Liam watched Owen happily coming down the big, big slide, he started flailing his little legs trying to get down from my arms. He crawled over to the ladder, so I went up with him. The three of us slid down together a few times.

A bit later, there was a slow point in the big, big slide. Only a couple of kids were on it. So, I asked Owen if he would help Liam once Liam got to the top if I let Liam go on his own. Owen thought this was a fabulous idea, and agreed. Liam couldn't wait to tackle the ladder on his own. So...off they went. Mind you, Owen has only started going without me last week. He is 2 years and 7 months old. Liam is a whopping 13 months old. My how they have different personalities.

There he goes...almost there!

Owen made sure Liam crawled to the entrance of the slide, then Owen showed him what to do, got him situated, and slid down himself. At the bottom, Owen held out his little 2 year old arms to catch his brother.

He did it!! Look at the smile on Liam's face ;-)

Yay! I'm a big boy, mama. Liam was clapping for himself at the end.

Goodness, this little guy is growing up fast.

4 months from today...

we will meet this sweet baby!
I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy is going. I blame that on the two hooligans that I have running around the house keeping my mind otherwise occupied. That, and the fact, that somehow I have managed to gain only 3 pounds, so I am not uncomfortable, yet, and don't have the constant reminder of a baby belly ;-) Even still, the baby is perfect for his/her gestational age...some measurements were even a week ahead.

I *almost* caved and found out the gender of New Baby. I did give the sono tech permission to let me know if she spotted anything that made her suspect the baby was a girl ;-) In that case, I would have lots of fun shopping to do!!! Told her, otherwise, I would prefer to wait. She told me that the baby's legs were crossed and that it was a good thing I hadn't walked in there with my hopes set on finding out anyway. Was that a ploy or fact?? I'll never know. Either way, looks like it will be December 17th at noon before we find out if we will be a family chock full 'o boys, or if there will be a smigin of pink in the house.

I can't wait to meet this little one!

Working with Lightroom 2

For my birthday, my dad got me Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. Since then, I have pretty much been scared of the program...it seems daunting at first. Well, I bought a book that walks you through it and started working through the material last night. I am working on filling a collage frame with photos that I took of Liam's 1st year. I picked a couple of my favorites and worked on them last night. Here are the results.
I still need a lot more practice AND I have only barely scratched the surface of the book. But, I do know that I should start shooting in RAW instead of JPEG. JPEG limits what I can do with the photo in Lightroom.

I thought they were pretty good, and thought I would share! I can't wait to keep learning. Now that I have started, it doesn't seem to scary after all!!

We Like to Learn 'round here.

Liam likes to play with the bouncy balls...

Owen likes to jump...

Liam learns to share....

Owen learns to fly....

Liam learns to color....

See? It's his very first "masterpiece"!

Liam learns to eat at the table like a big boy (aka his brother).

Kind of...

Oooops.

Owen learns to pedal his bike!!Liam likes to watch.

Owen learns that sometimes its too hard to pedal and walking the bike is still best ;-) Liam likes to chill.

Owen likes to ride nonchalantly.

The grandkids all like to hang with Pa!
The boys learn from cousin Jordan how to assemble a wheelbarrow ;-)

The boys learn to fill the wheelbarrow.

Owen likes to dump it (although he also likes to delegate this task).

Owen likes to take Dora EVERYWHERE.
Dora likes the birthday cupcakes Owen gave her today.

I like hanging out with my boys. They are so much fun these days!