Christmas Day 2010

Leaving a couple of treats for Santa on Christmas Eve. We ran out of our Christmas cookies, but I made a dozen cupcakes so Santa got a Guinness and cupcake and Rudolf got a yummy carrot. Liam has his wellies on because we had just finished sprinkling some reindeer dust in the front yard so that Santa and his reindeer knew were to land.Liam was up bright and early- think we had a 6 am wake up call. He was very excited this year to get all of his goodies from Santa. His favourite so far seems to be his new easel- a bargain find at Ikea. We're hoping this allows him to express his creative side on somewhere other than the walls of his bedroom!
He's still big into toy story and loves playdoh too. He ripped through all of his presents in record time and then opened all of ours too! Our house is over run with toys and clothes and books and dvds following Christmas and Liam's birthday.
A family shot. I look exhausted and you can see my growing bump. We had a lovely dinner at Anne's house this year. I hosted the last 2 years, but was given a break this year seeing as I'm 8 months pregnant! I made a tasty cranberry and clementine sauce and Apple pie for desert.
We've had a lovely Christmas this year- it's been fairly quiet and we've enjoyed lazying about the house, watching new movies and playing with new toys. Can't wait to give the new wii a proper go- I'm reluctant to go on the Wii Fit Plus because it doesn't have a pregnancy setting and I don't want to be told I'm obese!
We're both back to work on Tuesday (depressing), but on the bright side I've only a few weeks left until I leave for maternity and then I'll not be back until October/ November. Yea! So the next 7 weeks are all about getting ready for baby- decorating the nursery and getting Liam settled into his new room, washing and organising baby clothes and general nesting activities. Ollie and I will also try and get a couple of nights out before bambino arrives as I'm sure we'll not be out properly for a while after!

Christmas cookies

Liam helped me make Christmas cookies this year... well he helped me cut them out and decorate them. He loved it.Look at the concentration...
He was so proud of his creations...

The snow has come to Belfast!

For those of you who haven't been to our new house in Mount Eagles, we live at the top of hill just outside of West Belfast. It's a mile and a half up the side of the hill to our house. While a graduated incline, it still provides quite a challenge when freezing weather, snow and ice come to town. This year, the snow has debilitated most of the UK and Ireland. Heathrow airport, the busiest international airport in the world, was closed for 2 days because of snow and ice! I missed my Christmas party because of 8 inches of snow :( It's been annoying and dangerous, but Liam has gotten some great enjoyment out of it...
Helping daddy build a snowman...

"Snowman," Liam's first snow creation. Grapes for eyes, carrot nose and clementine segment mouth. Unfortunately Snowman didn't last very long, he was kicked down by some mischievous youths.
RIP Snowman (16 December 2010- 17 December 2010)
Trekking through our hill of a back garden.
Oisin, the snowman sits proudly on a table in the back garden. Liam says hello to Oisin each morning and goodnight before he goes to bed.

I love my new scooter

Liam got a new scooter for his 3rd birthday. Unfortunately the weather, snowy and freezing cold, hasn't allowed for many opportunities to take it for a spin round the neighbourhood. This is from a couple of weeks ago... before the big freeze landed us with nearly a foot of snow (debilitating for Northern Ireland) and temperatures that got as low as -18C!

Here's the wee man enjoying the scooter on the footpath in front of our house.And to the play park we go...
We'll get out again once the snow thaws and the footpaths and roads aren't so treacherous!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I wanted to include a Christmasy photo of Liam in our Christmas cards this year. I was going to get picture cards done, but didn't have the time. So I just threw on a santa hat and took some candid pictures. Here's the wee poser.
Silly kid smiles are the best. You see all of their teeth- it's just so unnatural!
We made a visit to Ikea on Saturday and decided to hang around for Santa, who was visiting at 1pm. It wasn't a super fancy Christmas set up, but it was for a great charitable cause- Tiny Life
a charity helping premature babies. Liam loves Christmas this year and isn't afraid of Santa or 'the bad boy' as he called him last year. "Santa's a good man, Mommy". Liam introducing himself to Santa...
They had a nice long chat about Christmas and Rudolf and being a bad boy sometimes and his birthday party and that he was turning 3 years old. It was very cute.
We got a more professional shot which turned out rather nice than this hack job here.
We'll be visiting another Santa again this weekend and then he's coming to Liam's daycare for a big party next week.

Picasso?

Liam has been expressing his creative side by drawing on the walls in his room. We were not impressed and he got an earful. He's been banned from crayons for a week and has to tell Santa he's been a bad boy.
I suppose we have to redecorate the nursery anyway for the new baby...

Liam's 3rd Birthday Party

Liam had his 3rd birthday party on Sunday. I decided to opt for the less stressful option and go to a soft play centre, Funky Monkeys . Liam had a jungle themed party which started off with face painting. We had 14 kids, 2 babies and a bunch of parents there to celebrate with Liam. Here he is getting his tiger face painted on...
After a run in the soft play area, we had some singing and dancing. Best dancer award goes to Aoife! She was jumping and dancing around like a wee monkey. It was very cute.
Here's Liam getting his cake. He loved having everyone sing to him and being the centre of attention... wonder where he gets that from??
I did the cake again this year. Turned out pretty good- it was very tasty. Liam came into the kitchen as I was finishing it and after a wide-eyed look he gave me a big hug and said, "Mommy I'm so proud with you, it's beautiful". I had a little cry it was so cute.
He did pretty well on the presents. His big toy from us was a 3-wheeled scooter that makes all of these motorised noises. He loves it, but the weather is so cold and the snow is on the ground that he'll not get a proper run with it for a while. He's been riding it in the hallway.
Liam's official birthday is Wednesday. We'll have another party at his granny's house and give him a few more presents then. Our busy week continues with the Christmas Panto, Snow White, at the Grand Opera House on Thursday night and then another kids birthday party on Saturday. The fun never ends!

US Trip, October 2010

I know it's been far too long since my last post (2 months!), but this should be a fairly long and action packed one for ya'll. Just a bit of laziness has been holding me back. I'll try and get my act together!

We were back home in the states for 2 weeks in the middle of October. I tried to fit in as much as I could, but didn't manage to see everyone. There were a bunch of fall festivals going on and we thought Liam would love running about on a farm. Here he is enjoying the bouncy castle at Windsor Farms the day after we arrived.

Pony rides with daddy- he was a little hesitant at first, but couldn't stop talking about it afterwards...
Family shot- we never get these, it's always one of us taking the photo. We took advantage of the extra set of hands.
He's not standing up completely straight, so it's not the most accurate measurement of his height. He's tall like me and Ollie...
He had to pick up the biggest pumpkins on the patch- showing off his strength!
With Nana Jersey- he's saying 'cheese'.
We got him a proper short haircut when we were home- I thought it was about time. He's looking cute in his Ireland Rugby kit.
No rugby balls, so an American football will have to do. He's not too bad at throwing and caught a couple too!

He's getting so big, but I still think he's my little cutie.
Celebrating uncle Mikey's 30th... Liam really wanted to blow that candle out first!
I took a trip down to North Carolina to visit with my bestie Heather and her family. It was truly a quick visit- about 24 hours, but brilliant to see her! Here's Sam holding the newest addition Annarose. What a complete angel Annarose is, I didn't hear her fuss or cry once! And Sam is so smart and inquisitive. He loved showing off all his toys and dance moves!

Since Ollie was only staying a week, we had a big birthday celebration for all of us- Ollie and I were the 23rd of October, my grandma is 90 on the 18th of November and Liam is 3 on the 8th of December. We had yummy Carvel Ice Cream cake and had presents too! Here's my grandma with Liam. I love this photo. He has her wrapped around his little finger- every time she would come over to the house Liam would say 'Oh Biznona (Great Grandma), I missed you'.
Silly kid smiles.
We checked out another farm, Terhune, on the following Saturday. It was cold and windy but Liam had a great time with the animals, especially another little pony ride with Rigatoni the Pony.

My mom, Liam and I all piled into the car for a 6 hour road trip up to Massachusetts to see my best friend from university, Rachael, and her 2 cute little twins. Here's little Miles napping away.
And Blake snoozing on Grandpa George's chest.
It was great to see them all, even though it was another super quick visit. Hopefully next time we come home, we'll have more time!

On the last night I was home I had a little pizza party with a few of my old high school friends, Lorie, Cherie and Suzanne. It really felt like we were back in high school, gossiping, sharing memories and just enjoying our time together. Here's Suzanne's little cutie, Lauren. She was full of smiles (not in this photo) and laughter.
I hope we can all come back next Autumn with our newest arrival (due in late February).