summer birthday party at preschool

Addie got to celebrate her summer birthday with friends at preschool! About an hour after dropping her off that morning, I got a call that she was having a reaction to the face paint and that she was very upset. Without a moment's hesitation, I dropped what I was doing and headed back to preschool. When I got there, to my relief, she was feeling better and wanted to stay and enjoy the rest of the festivities. I'm glad she was able to enjoy the rest of her celebration, but hate that we cannot pinpoint what seems to cause her to have reactions. She has had her face painted numerous times and has never had a reaction.
I'm so sorry baby girl. I promise I will continue to fight for answers and relief.  

firsts on the boat

We took Liam on his first boat trip recently! He did great even with his very cumbersome life jacket!

We also thought to pack along the inner-tube. After a picnic lunch, we let Addie play on the inner-tube and then we asked her what she thought about Daddy pulling her with the boat. She was willing, so we very cautiously started pulling her. She was full of smiles and giggles and before long she looked bored and asked us to go faster! We were shocked and so proud of her courage and enthusiasm! I foresee many good memories on the boat this summer! 

The kids were pretty excited loading the boat in the water.

Eating our picnic lunch on the boat! 

Happy guy!

Testing out the inner-tube. Keep scrolling for a little video of our brave little inner-tuber!

Liam fell fast asleep on the way back to the dock. 

So sweet!

here comes summer!

It feels as though we get to skip right over spring and head right into summer here in California! So we got out and took full advantage of the first hot summer days!

First we went to a place called Scandia. Addie always sees it from the freeway and says, "There's a Disneyland castle!" It's not quite a Disneyland castle but a miniature golf course with a small blue castle on it. I think she might have been a little disappointed when we finally got up to it, but she had a good time on the bumper cars and bumper boats!

Kevin was the only "big kid" in their. This picture of him squirting the other kids made me laugh!

Big K's idea! Fun!

liam's first steps

Auntie Pam stayed with us the week after Liam's birthday party and while she was here we caught Liam's first steps on video! Now as I'm posting this, about a month later, he's really started to get the hang of walking and starting to really enjoy his new found legs! So proud of you Liam James! Go baby Go!

family fun

There were lots of great pictures taken of the weekend our family was here for Liam's Birthday! Here are many of my favs...

let the fun begin!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped us celebrate our little man's first birthday! 

The weather was perfect! We played games with the kids, ate pizza and cheered on Liam as he devoured his cake! Here's the kids playing the cake walk game and winning prizes!

Next up, Pin the Mustache on Liam!

We also had a photo booth! Sadly not everyone visited the photo booth though. Boo.

Presents! Liam's mom thought it would be a great idea for the older kids to open the gifts they brought for Liam, all at once! Ooops. Did not think that detail through. Liam loved all of his gifts though and I think I pretty much figured out who gave what.

Cake time! Atta boy Liam James!

preparation for liam's first birthday party

I came up with a red-headed mustache bash theme for our little man's first birthday, probably back in January and since then, I began the process of planning and creating. I love it. You could say it's a hobby of mine. I've become so inspired by Pinterest and various blogs. So after many trips to Michaels (gotta love 40% off coupons and a teacher discount!), a couple of late nights, and lots of hard work, here's how Liam's big celebration came together!