First Haircut

Liam had his first haircut on Saturday. It was getting so long and kept falling into his wee eyes. He was a good little boy flirting with all of the girls. We tried on the smock...
But he wasn't really having it. I had the juice box and 'In the Night Garden' books at the ready to help entertain him.
He started to get a little bothered after about 7 or 8 minutes, so I just asked Martina to leave the back. We'll maybe go back in a couple of weeks to get it trimmed a bit more. Thankfully we didn't cut off all of his curls and his hair has retained the waviness.
We went to little Patrick's christening on Sunday. Liam has been suffering with very sore teeth and spent most of the service being entertained outside by his daddy. He looked really cute and trendy in a new set of clothes I got him from Next.
Playing around with daddy...
He loved playing with the balloons all day.
Little Anya was in great form and as cute as ever...
I didn't get any nice photos of little Patrick or Oliver, but the day was lovely and so much fun for all of the kids!

Let's make some pizza

Some of my fondest memories as a child were when I would get to participate in making dinner or dessert. My mom would have fish or tacos or pancakes on the menu. My brother and I would gather in the kitchen and help mom make dinner. We'd each get to flour, egg and breadcrumb the fish. We'd get to create our own tacos with a variety of different ingredients. We were each official spoon and bowl lickers when it came to baking cakes and cookies. I loved this family time and think it's one of the reasons I enjoy cooking and baking so much.

Well tonight was my first interactive dinner night with Liam. I made some homemade pizza sauce at the weekend and Liam helped to assemble his mini pizzas. It wasn't a very adventurous pizza- simple Margarita, but we had a very fun time.

Getting the cheese on the mini pizzas...


'This bit of cheese looks a bit dirty mommy. We can't use it in the pizza. I'm gonna have to eat it!'
Let's give it a try...
Mmmmm... that's good pizza!
Maybe some homemade chicken or fish goujons next time...

Belfast Taste and Music Festival and Miscellaneous Pictures

We all went to the Belfast Taste and Music Festival on Saturday. As the name suggests it's about food and music. There were guest cooks from Chicago bringing tasty canolis, deep dish pizza and other yummy treats. The weather started off nice, but had an unfortunate 20 minute (ish) rain shower. We huddled under a golf umbrella to wait for the shower to pass. The rain didn't dampen the day... it's Belfast (aka rain city) afterall. Liam is a food monster and had a try of everything we did- beef, kangaroo (both eww!), prawns, squid and brownies. Liam enjoying some prawns...He would rather drink what we're drinking... thankfully Ollie wasn't having any beer that day! Only problem with Liam sharing my water is the backwash... ew!


We met up with some friends. Here's Stevie with his little cutie Anya (wearing her birthday present from us).

Anna and Nigel brought their new son Patrick and his big brother Oliver...
Liam was all about litle Patrick and kept giving him kisses and trying to wake him up from his slumber. I think he wants a little brother or sister!!
He also loved trying out everyone's buggy...
Getting a little annoyed with daddy... he was tired after an adventureous day. We explored the entire park that day. He's such a busy little bee!
He's some old ones. Until recently, Liam's been a little afraid of the rides at the supermarket. Here he is on his first ride with Bob the Builder.
And on the little plane...
My friend Eric was over from the states for a wedding in Newry. He came up to Belfast for the day and Liam and I went to the park. Here Liam is petting a little dog we met in the park- he loves dogs.

Graduation

Five long years at Queen's University concluded with a wonderful graduation ceremony this afternoon. It was full of pomp and circumstance... I don't recall UMass' being that formal. I graduated with a Second Class, First Division Honours degree in Management and Business Studies. It basically means that I can get into a post graduate programme (even a PhD) without any GMATs. I'm looking into several programmes, but I think I'll take next year off and maybe take a patisserie course.

My team at work had organised a photographer to take pictures for our photo library and I was the primary model. I'll get my hands on some, hopefully, great pictures of the day. Until then, here are a few that we took...

US Trip

Sorry for the delay in getting pictures and commentary up... our laptop was dying and the slowness was too frustrating. It was almost 7 years old, so it was past its expiration date and we're happy to have gotten this many years out of it. Although tempted by an imac... they are so purty... we got a new toshiba.

So, yes, our trip back home. The 7 1/2 hour plane ride over went surprisingly well. The plane was only 70-ish percent full and we got the back two rows to ourselves. This meant we could take shifts entertaining Liam who is a busy bee these days. The weather was pretty miserable overall with only 5 days of dry weather. We just hung out the first couple of days. I found the time adjustment really difficult and was up most mornings before 5 am. Liam and Ollie acclimated straight away... jerks. The first friday we went up to northern New Jersey to visit with a childhood friend, Nicole. She has 2 adorable kids, the older is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer in his sinus cavity. He was so happy and kind and positive that you almost didn't notice his bald head and darkened eyes. Both Julian (8) and Kai (3) took to Liam like white on rice. They were hugging him and playing with toys and dancing around- it was really touching and made me very broody for another baby. I don't have any pictures of the day because I forgot my camera.

Ollie and I headed down to Philadelphia on Saturday for some adult time. We meet up with Lora, Mikey, Wayne, Annie and Kim. We ate at Reading terminal market and did a little pub crawl from 11th and Walnut down to 2nd and Market. It was so much fun catching up with everyone! That's the worst thing about living over here... I miss my buddies so much!

The next day my aunt hosted a bbq for us. Thankfully the weather cooperated and gave us sunshine and warm weather. A few friends from high school came over along with some cousins and family friends. We turned the sprinklers on outside and Liam loved getting wet. We had tons of food, drink and craic with everyone.

Liam looking super cute in his wee sunglasses.

We chilled on the Monday in preparation for our long journey on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon we headed to upstate New York to stay over my Aunt's partner, Mark's, house and break up the journey. We headed for Amherst early the next day- wanted to show Ollie the first University I went to. It hadn't changed that much since I left over 10 years ago. We stopped into the town for some lunch and to stretch our legs after the 3 1/2 hour car ride. Here's Liam enjoying some pizza at Amherst Brewing Company. They do the best sweet potato fries.

A further 1 1/2 hours brought us to our final destination in Fitchburg. We had 2 rooms at the Marriot there- the rooms were a great size and lovely decor. Pretty nice quality considering it was a relatively cheap night rate. On Thursday I spent most of the day with Rachael and her other bridesmaids- sister Angela and friend Chrystal. We did our nails and had a tan before the rehersal and dinner. The weather was so awful- torrential rain and some localised flooding. We were really worried about the Friday- especially since Rach's wedding service was outside and the reception in a marquee. Thankfully the weather broke and it was sunny and warm.

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Rachael's hair- She added in an additional flower.

They had a bunch of really cute ideas at the wedding. Here's the 'candy bar'. They had chinese take away boxes saying 'life is sweet, thanks for sharing our special day' and a variety of candy. Tasty!

The cake was so yummy!
Rachael looked gorgeous and had a smile on her face all day.

You can see my dress here. It was really nice and I'll definitely be using it again!
Congratulations Rachael and Ian! We had such a wonderful time at your wedding- it was a brilliant day!

After Massachusetts, we tried to take it easy. We went out to Paoli to visit with Ollie's aunt and uncle. I also got to catch up with a very old friend and meet her family. She has 2 adorable kids and a beautiful house in Yardville. Nicole and I hadn't seen each other for about 10 years, but it was if only days had passed.

All in all it was a great trip. We needed another vacation once we got back home to Belfast! Next trip we might head south... get ready Fieldens!

I have some more pictures on another SD card, so I'll get some more up shortly.

Our football star

I had to get him into this cute little football (soccer) outfit before he was too big. The weather has been rotten, so we've been doing our exercises inside. He kicks the ball about and claps when he gets it into 'goal' or through daddy's legs.Liam can reach all of the doors and spends hours opening and closing them. It's a little annoying, but he gets a kick out of it.

He loves running around...
And singing and dancing...

Easter Holiday

We had a lovely time off for the Easter Holidays. The weather was nice and sunny (not very warm, but nice and sunny) and we spent loads of time together as a family. Here's Liam enjoying his little Easter basket. They don't do baskets here, so it was only by luck that I got this one. I also had to cut up a bunch of green napkins to make the little Easter grass- apparently they don't do the grass here either (or at least, I couldn't find any). He got a few stuffed toys and bunny cookies and chocolate (plus some new clothes and money from the family).

Liam in his nice little Easter outfit. I think he looks really tall in this photo, but I also think it's the angle it was taken at. He was fairly well behaved at mass- thankfully our chapel has a 'crying chapel' which is an enclosed room for parents with young children. There are some toys in there and at least the screaming and crying won't interrupt the mass! We enjoyed Easter Sunday dinner at Ollie's mum's house. Aunt Susan and Uncle Gerard were there as well. Liam loved his Turkey dinner and the chocolates after! The turkey was massive and Ollie's enjoyed turkey and stuffing sandwiches nearly all week!
Cutest little Bob the Builder pyjamas! Look at the hair- it's wild first thing in the morning.

We went to the Belfast Zoo on Monday. We were wise to have arrived before 10am as we only had to wait in the queue for 1/2 an hour. Had we left it any later, we would have waited up to 1 1/2 hours! The traffic and parking looked a complete nightmare when we left the zoo around 1pm.

Here's the wee man with a cute bear in the parking lot. He was so excited by the bear and was screeching in enjoyment. It was super cute! He's not much for still shots these days, so it was very difficult to get many shots of him enjoying the animals.

They have a small petting zoo area with farm animals - Liam liked the wee donkey. I was close at hand with anti-bacterial wipes.
The Belfast Zoo, for those of you that have never been, is set on 55 acres of what is essentially a huge hill. We were walking at a near 90 degree angle in some points- talk about a butt workout! I allowed myself a little chocolate Easter egg because of the workout. Most of the animals were out enjoying the sun and the influx of people- they must make all of their money on Easter Monday because there were probably 1-2 thousand people in there throughout the day. Liam enjoyed the penguins and sea lions. He also loved the lion and lionesses and the monkeys of course. We got him a cute red panda and a zoo cutlery and plate set.

We then flew up to the house for a quick change and then onto Annie's house for Easter Monday dinner. Ollie's Aunt Margaret and Uncle Pat are in town from Pennsylvania. It was there first time meeting little Liam and he was, for the most part, very well behaved. He enjoyed the cooked lamb and I tried not to gag at the smell (I think the smell of lamb is so gross).

I worked a bit on the garden and planted a few new flowers in pots at the front of the house. We still need to finish the fence and erect a shed and make my organic veg planters, but we have this weekend and next for that. I took a few extra days off to run about and hit the gym (burning off the few Easter chocolates I allowed myself).

Liam's routine was a little thrown off and the sugar rushes from the chocolate made for difficult naps and evening bed routines. He slept much better last night and hopefully will sleep okay today at daycare.