The streets of Cape Cod will never be the same!

SO... I was informed this morning that little D didn't waste ANY TIME... (In typical Dakoda fashion of course!) he rushed right out this morning and earned himself his driving permit! Having ridden shotgun in a Dakoda operated vehicle sometime last year... I know that this kid knows whats up about driving - after all - he has been operating heavy machinery for years and has a good head on his very broad and very muscular shoulders!

Congratuations Dakoda!!!

We love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAKODA!

Our "little" nephew Dakoda is having another bday today.
In honor of his birthday we listened to the recording of "Where the Wild Things Are" that he and his family recorded for Liam. At the end of the recording Dakoda tells Liam that he can't wait to "cannonball with ya dude"! This year... Liam is understanding more WHO Dakoda is - and WHAT a cannonball is... and he said that this year... he is game!

Wish we could celebrate with you! Have a magical year Dude!

link to last year Dak bday

Liam-isms

Every now and then Liam says things that amaze me... here are a few recent "Liamisms" that I don't want to forget.

1) early morning over breakfast
Liam: Mommy, you have Coffee
Me: "Yes, I do have coffee Liam, do you want to smell it?"
Liam: (faking coughing sounds) "cough cough....Mommy I cough in your coffee!!! That's funny!"

2) at home eating a kind of cracker he had never tried before
Me: "Liam, do you like those new crackers"
Liam: "These crackers CRACK ME UP!!!... That's funny!!"
Me: "Liam... YOU crack me up!"
Liam: "That's funny!"

3) report from his teachers after removing a cheerio he had stuffed up his nose this week
Ms. Danielle "Liam, why would you put a cheerio up your nose"
Liam: "I was saving it for a snack for later"

ahh to be two and a half... when everything is funny!

64 degrees and SNOWING!!!!

Yet another reason we LOVE Liam's school - SNOW DAY! This morning they brought in several TONS of snow to their play ground for the kids to enjoy. This morning it was 64 degrees and sunny! We all had been talking about snow day for a couple of weeks, so Liam was good and ready for it. He was up early today - excited, and had his gear on about 45 minutes before it was time to head out the door! Unfortunately... about 4 minutes before it actually WAS time to go - he ripped off his boots, and hat and scarf and said NO SNOW DAY. I WANT TO STAY HOME! NOOOO GO TO SNOW DAY! (it was dramatic and pretty out of character). I finally got him calmed down enough to get into the car and get on the road. The minute we pulled into school - he went into mass hysterics again... I'm trying to hold him to carry him into school and he pulls the limp body thing (loads of fun)... and makes a big scene with crying and crocodile tears. Once again I get him calmed down enough to join his friends outside - which he is excited about - but once he gets out there, he wants NOTHING to do with the snow. NOW he wants DADDY! (who couldn't come with us because he was on an important conference call). I am beginning to think that he will be snow traumatized forever - and getting ready to sign him up for therapy - when DADDY shows up. Immediately Liam is all smiles and ready to sled down the big hill! Thank god for Kurt - he really saved the day today - and everybody ended up having a REALLY fun time.

Getting ready for SNOW DAY!

Before Daddy arrived - just looking at the snow - the uber close up is because this is about as far away from me as he would get... clinging on most of the time.

Another pre-daddy arrival shot.
This is what 4 tons of snow in Los Angeles looks like!

HOORAY FOR DADDY!

After snow day, they changed into comfy clothes and had donuts and hot chocolate.
I think he liked the donut!

I think Taylor did too (the little girl to his right)

Sharing his hot chocolate with Ms. Danielle.

gingerbread-man-house

... that is what Liam called his gingerbread house!
Gramma and Grampa were the head engineers on this project - but Liam was the foreman on the job. Too bad he had a taste for his project! He loved building the house... ALMOST as much as he loved eating the house and it's decoration.
They used super sticky sugar cement to hold the walls together, and adorned the exterior with M&M's, gumdrops, mini marshmallows and other random sweets.
By Jan 1st, Liam had eaten every last marshmallow off the roof!

What a fun and festive afternoon!

Gramma and Grampa working away while Liam almost ate the project!

Doing what he does best...
Again... fingers and building material IN HIS MOUTH - at this point the rule became "5 to 1"... meaning 5 candies on the house to every 1 in your mouth!

Happy grands!

Putting on the final touches

The house even had an icicle or two... (Liam kept calling them bicycles!)

Polar Express Train Ride

One of our Christmas surprises this year was how much Liam adores the movie "Polar Express". We anticipated something like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" would be more his speed - and the length more geared towards his 2 year old attention span. He surprised us by watching The Polar Express (run time one hour and forty minutes!) straight through from start to finish. When it was over - he said "again"! I don't know how many times we have watched the movie this season - but more than a dozen for sure. Since he was so obsessed, we thought he might enjoy taking a trip to the North Pole on a local railroad. Bonus - we took the grandmas and a grandpa with us! It was great - this will be a tradition for sure!

On the way to the train ride - the way his hat pushes on his ear makes him look like a little elf... I think he has some "elfin magic" in him - especially this night... he seemed to look like a little elf most of the night.

Grandpa and Liam posing. (again... a little elfy)
Watching the train arrive w/ gramma merlinkey.

How cute is this train... it looks just like the Polar Express!

Our elfy hostess "Twinkle" passing out the freshly baked star cookies (Mrs. Claus had made them that ver morning!)

We all got our tickets punched - LIam's was shaped like a candy cane - he also got a magic bell! (Oh and some chocolate milk too!)

He was most excited to meet Santa who gave him a candy cane.

He was a little overwhelmed by meeting the conductor. He is looking a little elfy here too - so is the conductor - such a cute man.

He connected with a good friend who apparently sent him a memo on what to wear!
Peas in a pod!

He was a little wired after the train ride and wouldn't sit too still for a photo w/ Grammy M.... but they still look cute talking to this vintage Santa Claus.

Santa Was Here!

No trip to see the mall santa this year...Santa came to US.
Seriously.
He did.

So - I have "upgraded" to the new blogger format - and unfortunately cannot figure out how to rotate my photos the correct way - and the video isn't uploading (technical difficulties) so, I will work on it. but without further adieu, i bring you... THE SANTA VISIT (this was about 3 days before Christmas.

Liam sat right up on his lap as he asked him what he wanted for Christmas... Liam replied "a Woody doll" (which Kurt quickly corrected as "um Santa, he means a Woody ACTION FIGURE!"

Ask and ye shall recieve! He got one! How does Santa just KNOW?

The next morning, Liam had to wear his Buzz outfit to hang out with his pal Woody!

This is Liam looking up to the "elves" saying - "SEE Elves... I've been a good boy - Santa brought me what I asked for.... um... thanks for sending a good report!!!"

Hopefully I can figure out my technical difficulties soon - until then.... don't strain your neck!

christmas memories 2010

Here we are... 2011, and not a Christmas memory has been documented. Once again, I am behind schedule - I like to think of it as living in the "now"... been so busy just savoring the season - Until today, I haven't yet had time to reflect... let alone download any photos or formulate any kind of re-cap!
Kurt and I sat down today and made some lists. More words than eye candy today. I'll work on getting the photos up soon (promise grammas!). There are a lot (PLUS Kurt put his NEW Flip HD into some serious work mode this season - so we even have some GREAT video)... again... SOON (see how HARD I am working on the not procrastinating thing?).

SO - here are the lists / categories of the season:
Memories / Surprises / New and Old Traditions ... and top 10 things we learned.

Christmas Memories:
- #1 the visit from mom and dad (Liam's Gramma and Grandpa from Oregon)! It was the BEST. it was so fun having a lot of people around at Christmas... Liam LOVED spending so much time with them - and I am pretty sure they had a great time (aside from both of them leaving sick... oh flu... you ARE the gift that keeps on giving!)
- The awesome gingerbread house project.
- Our prosecco birthday party
- The Polar Express train ride
- Santas visit to OUR HOUSE
- The great pj party at school
- SNOW DAY at church
- Our little jumpin elf
- Liam truly getting into Christmas this year in every sense of the season... down to passing out the Christmas gifts like a little elf :)

Christmas Surprises:
- HOW MUCH Liam LOVED watching Polar Express... and The Santa Claus movies.. in the days of VHS... both would have been worn out by now.
- How I received #44 (tasting spoons) of my newest favorite book (how easy is that - ina) from todd and kam... how is that for friendship?
- 6 pairs of black boots from kurt... he literally brought me a shoe store for christmas... how sweet is that?
- the hot air balloon ride that i was SO excited to give to kurt (thank you GROUPON!)
- oh... we ALL got sick...every last one of us (i didn't say ALL the surprises were GOOD ones)
- at exactly 1:02 p.m. on Christmas day.. Liam said to Kurt (completely unprompted) "Merry Christmas Daddy, I Love You!) ... he wrote it down... i saw it on a note in the bathrooom!
- About half way through the gift opening explosion Liam said "NO MORE PRESENTS MOMMY!" ... really?

New Traditions of the Season:
- Watching the Polar Express the day after Thanksgiving
- Riding the Polar Express Train on the day before Christmas Eve in Fillmore
- Making home made Hot Buttered Rum Batter (It's SO MUCH better than storebought... and so easy.. how are we just now learning this???)
- Henny's amazing Beef Stew on Christmas Eve!
- Ham and Cheese Paninins on the day after Christmas.

Old Traditions that keep on keepin on:
- Christmas light drives
- Elf on the Shelf
- BIG Pine Candle / BIG fake tree
- Hot Buttered Rum at night
- Enjoying Christmas dinner with the Kenmans
- Christmas Eve Service at Calvary (with appetizers at Grammy M's house)
- The big beautiful box of gifts that come from Cape Cod
- Watching LOTS of Christmas movies

Finally... the TOP TEN THINGS WE LEARNED THIS YEAR about the holidays:
10) Tree lighting ceremonies are over-rated.
9) Starting the "elf on the shelf" tradition can not come too early (we may start in February this year!)
8) Massive amounts of cream and butter make excellent mashed potatoes.
7) When making gingerbread-man houses (as Liam calls them) the rule must be a 5-1 ratio... meaing you must put at least FIVE candies on the house to ONE candy in your mouth. at least.
6) ONLINE shopping rules. However, the same rule about shopping early applies on Cyber Monday... shop EARLY... the best deals are out of stock before 9:00 a.m.
5) The older Liam gets... the MORE assembly toys require... PUT the toys together the night before... little boys don't have much patience on Christmas morning. And if we all want to enjoy the toys... its better that they are all assembled - only a bow required. easy access is key.
4) There is ALWAYS enough room for extra guests at Christmas dinner. No matter what.
3) Make time for at least one date night to reconnect and clear your head between Dec. 1 and Dec. 23.
2) Less is more. (with the exception of butter and cream in the mashed potatoes of course!)
1) Christmas is magic! And its children that really help us all remember how much fun it is to believe!

Christmas memory photos will be posted all week.

Grampa/Liam/Gramma having some fun after the Polar Express Train Ride

Happy New Year!

Reflecting on the past year - we've been blessed. A wonderful year. An amazing family. Lots of Christmas memories to post... soon. Tossing around some resolutions.... will post...soon. Maybe one is to not procrastinate so much. maybe. Until then... off to enjoy Lima Bean, and take the last "Christmas Light Drive" of the season. Cheers to 2011.

reflecting on a great year