The many faces of Liam

I've been keeping some pictures of Liam in a separate folder to create a collage of his many faces. For those of you who know Liam, he's got a million facial expressions. Here's a few.

Congratulations Graduate!

Today Daniel graduated from Joy School! He and 5 of his friends have been part of this preschool group for the past two years and will now be headed for kindergarten this fall. As part of the graduation we watched a slide show of activities from the past two years. I'm amazed to see how much he's grown. I'm so proud of him. Anyone who's close to him can tell, just by the pictures, that he's come a long way--he never would have worn the cap and gown with a smile (especially for a picture) two years ago! Just a week ago Daniel memorized John 14:6 and recited it in primary all by himself! Wow. He's capable of anything. We know Daniel will go far in the real world. We're sorry we couldn't invite you all to attend. Seating was limited. Daniel will be accepting gifts, especially those in the form of college fund donations (hee hee).

All Access Pass

The other day while Daniel and Liam rode bikes on the driveway I decided to put Caleb down on the grass and trim our rose bushes. Caleb loves his new found freedom in crawling and pulling himself up on things. When we put him down he gets all excited and grins and giggles like he just got an all access pass. Unfortunately, in his exploration, he often finds things that we were totally oblivious to. So when I turned around from the rose bushes and saw him chewing on something, I had no idea what it would be. I quickly did a finger-scoop of his mouth and pulled out something round and hard. I thought it was a rock at first, but then recognized it as a medium size garden snail shell. (Me: Scream, Toss, "Eww, Eww, Eww!) There was no snail inside when I reached it and I can only hope he had been long gone before Caleb got the munchies. This is the second time Caleb has tried fresh Es Cargo. They say you should expose your children to many foods so they will be open to all kinds. I guess I'm a spectacular mother because he's also recently tried bark, rocks, dirt clods, leaves, grass, and (my favorite) toilet water (I'm not sure if he was thirsty or just wanted a good water fight.). Then again maybe it has all started to get to him because this morning he washed his own mouth out with soap using his brothers' tearless shampoo. I think the shampoo was the most disagreeable to him. Everything else he would have taken seconds on. FYI tearless applies only to use near the eyes not in the mouth.

It must run in the family.

Lately, Daniel and Liam have taken quite an interest in taking pictures. It seems they have caught a bug that tends to run wild in this family . . . here are some of thier first attempts . . . definitely not Ansel Adams quality but they truly love pointing, clicking, at then studying the end result. Thank goodness for digital cameras . . . .

Frogs, Snails, Puppydog Tails and ...Curls?

Liam is definately all boy. He loves to dig in the dirt and play with worms and roly poly bugs. Right now he brings a GI Joe jet or tank with him just about everywhere he goes. So I have to laugh when I think of all the hours I have spent trying to make my hair curl like his. Yes, I'm jealous. When Liam's hair gets wet it curls perfectly. I can't bring myself to cut it. It can get out of control sometimes which is pretty hilarious. It is especially funny when he insists on wearing his winter hat and mittens in our 75-90 degree weather, or he puts on his dragon Halloween costume.

Liam just turned 3 in March. We thought we'd get away with a little family party with Brad and GG (adoptive grandparents across the street), but afterward Liam asked when his friends were coming for his "Dragon" birthday party. I guess he's old enough to remember Daniel's past birthdays. So we invited over a couple of his friends and had a Dragon Birthday. I made a 2nd dragon cake and the kids made dragon paperbag puppets, they did dragon bowling, and a dragon egg hunt. Liam wore his dragon costume all day. It wasn't easy to get pictures because Liam decided he should be the photographer. I guess we should have gotten him a camera for his birthday.

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

A few weeks ago we rode bikes to the park by our home, and our boys loved seeing and feeding the new ducklings. Daniel asked me if he could name them. With all of the authority that comes with being a mom I told him that he could. So he decided their names were Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego. I couldn't help but smile. Those are the best duckling names I've ever heard of. Apparently, something sinks in even when we don't realize it.



Daniel is full of all kinds of wisdom. One morning I heard him talking to Caleb saying, "I will teach you all about tomatoes". I couldn't understand the sudden interest. Daniel doesn't even like tomatoes. So I asked him what he would teach Caleb about them. His response was, "Tomatoes can pick up your house and cows and make them go round and round." Apparently, the TV show Nathan had on for about 2 minutes the night before had left an impression. Toto I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!

New Washing Machine...not that we need it!

Not that we need it (HA HA)...but finally after 3 years of off-and-on leaking, we broke down and bought a new washing machine! Hooray! With these three there's really no hope of getting all the clothes clean, but at least now we can barely keep up with the flow of dirty clothes to put on something clean in the morning.

Caleb has really taken to feeding himself. His favorite foods are the ones that he can squish through his fingers, rub into his hair, and drop on the kitchen floor. He loves strawberries and spaghetti (is it coincidence that they both stain everything?).

We are all thankful for our newly remodeled kitchen, but I think that Caleb enjoys it most! After he creates a minefield across the kitchen floor of slimey bananas, berries, and other assorted unrecognizable food stuffs, he can't wait for his cleanup. We pick him up out of his booster seat and he lunges for the sink (it is difficult to remove his messy clothes and diaper with all of his eager efforts to kick his way there). Basically it is a baby hot tub. He loves to splash and play in it. Usually at least one, if not both of his brothers get in on it. They love Caleb and water, so bathtime can get pretty crowded . . . and wet. The silver lining is that the floor gets mopped almost every night.