Welcome home mama and papa!

My parents just got back from a two week vacation without much cell phone access.  We all missed being able to pick up the phone and call or text them whenever we want. Karsten talked to them on the phone once while they were gone and when we hung up he said (while starting to cry) 'I just want mama and papa to come back to their house.'

I texted that to Shannon and Chuck said he thought she was going to try to walk home from Hawaii to him.  :)

So when they got back, we were all excited to see them! Karsten had so much to tell them!

They said Liam had grown so much!


 Looking at all of the fish they saw at the aquarium. Karsten would have loved that!

 Karsten showed mama what he learned during school at Gail's.

Photo aftermath

It's no secret I love pictures - especially of my two boys.  We had Liam's three month pictures here on Saturday and after an hour or two of us in his face making funny faces and noises in an attempt to get him to smile, he was worn out and fell asleep on the floor in the last pose we had him in.



 After the photographer Ashley left, we ran around and picked up the chaos we always create when we take pictures. All of the props and clothes and blankets are strewn about and furniture is in odd places as we used it to hold or prop backdrops. When I walked by to check on Liam, this is what I saw. He was awake and ready to smile. He hadn't smiled all morning despite all of our (desperate) attempts. 



I'll take this smile anytime.
 





Luckily Karsten was willing to sit down and take a few pics.




 And again with the silly cheese face.
 

Big Bird

This Big Bird chair was mine when I was a little girl. My uncle Kevin gave it to me and I always had fun playing with it. The first time Karsten sat in it he turned around, saw Big Bird's face and burst into tears.  Now he enjoys sitting on him and Big Bird is the perfect height to play games at the table. Big Bird gets carried around the house for Karsten to sit in it.

 

Stickers!

Grandma and Grandpa sent Karsten some Mickey Mouse stickers and he was so excited! He quickly adorned his shirt and Liam's shirt with Mickey Stickers.  The Mickey stickers also watched us eat dinner (that's how we get him to come to the table when he won't stop playing).

The a few days later, Gaga sent some dinosaur stickers.  He was in sticker heaven - what a lucky guy! Stickers in our house don't last too long, they aren't something you play with then come back to - they must be used up right away.

Play ball

Karsten said "play me daddy" and wanted to play ball. Liam was in the bouncy seat and Scott decided Liam could play too. Karsten thought it was pretty funny that Liam was going to play too.

Rolling the ball to Liam and Daddy


Asking Liam if he was having fun playing ball.  The response was a smile and leg kicks.  



This is his new 'cheese' face.  I'm going to have to stop saying cheese!!

Wordless Wednesday - soo big!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's day  - didn't do anything too exciting, just an evening celebrating at home. Scott made a yummy dinner and we lit the candles which Karsten always gets excited about!

Karsten liked the dinosaur card we made for him.  I'm a huge fan of Tiny Prints and Shutterfly for personalized cards.  This little card had his name on the front and his picture on the inside.


Scott brought us chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels from a yummy chocolate shop. At first, Karsten didn't believe it was a strawberry because he couldn't see any red, only chocolate.  When we bit into ours and showed him the inside, he was ready to try his.


He eventually ate all of the chocolate off of the strawberry and moved onto the pretzel.


Liam hung out in the highchair and kept us company during dinner.  He must have had a busy day at Gail's because he looks sleepy!


Our little valentines.  Karsten loved his Cars balloon from Gail - it was close by him all night!


At dinner, Karsten likes to get Liam's highchair as close to his chair as possible.  When I try to pull him a different direction, he says 'no mommy, Liam wants to sit closer to ME'.


Opening a present from Gaga!


A dinosaur shirt - you should have heard the gasp of excitement as he exclaimed A DINOSAUR!


I'm a lucky gal with three sweet valentines!