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Gotcha Day – 4 Year Anniversary
2We celebrated Liam’s 4th Gotcha Day by going out to Rosa’s for dinner. I’m guessing he picked Rosa’s because he LOVES their chocolate cake. On the way home, we stopped by Donna’s house to take our annual stairway comparison photo (see below) that shows Liam in 2008 on his way out of the baby home compared to today. It’s a reminder to me every year of how much he has changed and how fast he is growing up.
We got off to a rough start this year with Kindergarten but since the Christmas break things have been going great at school and his after school child care. They informed me today that he has been picked to be the Star of the Month at the child care because he did so well in January and his Kindergarten teacher gave him a reward for his good behavior. I’m so happy that he is finally adjusting to all the changes he had this year.
Most of all, I think he has learned the most important thing in life…that chocolate will always put a smile on your face!
A Spiderific Halloween
2Wow, it’s been over a month since our last post on here. We have become such blog slackers! I think Kindergarten has taken a toll on all of us but more on that another day.
Liam is in super hero mode these days so of course, he was Spiderman for Halloween. I really didn’t expect him to leave that mask on for more than 5 seconds or I would’ve picked a costume with a different kind of mask that didn’t go over his head. We spent a great deal of time adjusting it so he could see through the eye holes. Lesson learned!
We went to 2 carnivals over Halloween weekend and then trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween night.
Here’s a couple of pictures of Spidey Liam getting into character:
Spidey Liam swings from his “webs” at sunset:
Trick or treating was an adventure and Liam was really into the “trick or treat smell my feet…” chant this year. Someone (me) regretted teaching him that one. 
About half way through the neighborhood, we were told to be careful that there had been a coyote in the neighborhood the day before. Yikes! We survived and after 3 days of Halloween activities, I was ready for it to be over.
June Recap
3Wow, I just noticed that it’s been over a month since our last blog post. With our Facebook status updates, this blog sometimes gets forgotten so let me fill you in on what all has been going on in our world!
As noted in the last post, Liam played T-Ball for the YMCA and for the most part, he enjoyed it. The temps during June were over 100° most days so it was a bit miserable for the kids (and the adults). Each Saturday, we usually had two back-to-back games and by the time the second game started, Liam was ready to be done. One of the coaches dunked the kids’ caps in ice water during the breaks to keep them cooled off. It was fun but at the same time, we were all kinda happy to see the season end. It should definitely be moved to a winter sport in this area! It didn’t end without an injury though—during one of the games, Liam was charging for the ball and collided with the kid who was running to third base and somehow the kid’s check bone hit Liam in the corner of his eye. There was blood & tears but after we got the bleeding stopped and an ice pack on it, he was ready to go back in a finish the game.
June was also a month of sadness for us. My Mom passed away suddenly, but very peacefully on June 8th. It has been bittersweet losing her. She had been in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s for the past couple of years and she would’ve never wanted to live like that, but on the other hand, you’re never ready to lose your parent. Every Sunday we’d go visit her and even though she no longer knew any of us, Mom lit up everytime Liam was around. Losing his “G-Ma” has been particularly tough for him. He has a lot of questions about death and worries about getting old. Telling him that she had died and breaking his heart was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
I’m so very grateful for all of the support we received from family & friends during this difficult time. For those of you that may recall, I also lost my brother about the same time last year so June has not been a good month for us the past couple of years.
The one good thing about all the extreme heat that we’ve been having is that it has made for some really nice days in the pool. Liam is getting so good at swimming that I think he will have it mastered by the end of summer. I still make him wear a life jacket for jumping off the diving board and swimming in the deep end but he has been doing a lot of practice without it in the shallow end. He’s just a little fish in water and if there was any doubt about how much he loves it, I think this picture says it all:
So that should about cover it for getting our blog up to date. As we say here in Texas, stay cool & hydrated!
Liam’s 5th Birthday
1Liam celebrated his 5th birthday on April 28th. He wasn’t really into having a big birthday party this year. They had one for him at his Pre-K with all his friends from school so we just had a small celebration at home. I got him a pirate themed cake and decorations since he is all into the Disney show Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
For his birthday gift, he finally got a bike and he was one happy little boy!
The Year of Change Continues
3Back at the first of the year, Rob predicted that this would be a year of big changes.
Well, sure enough, 2010 has been eventful! If you’ve been following our blog, you know our family has been through some doozies this year. First was a new car, a new house, then a new job and even our blog platform changed. Those were all good, although stressful, changes.
But I suppose you can’t expect all changes to be good ones though… My brother Bob (a.k.a. James, Jim, Rio) passed away suddenly, unexpectedly in June. Here’s a picture that was taken just days before he passed away:
Bob - 1955-2010
Bob lived in Seattle and had taken our Mom to live up there with him back in January ’09. At that time, she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and we felt she was nearing the point where she could no longer live alone. After my brother’s death, I had to quickly get to Seattle and relocate my mother home. Unfortunately, her Alzheimer’s has progressed rapidly and she no longer recognizes me or knows where she is.
It’s been a tough couple of months getting things finalized with my brother and getting Mom settled into a nursing home here. It’s tough seeing her this way but the one good thing about the Alzheimer’s is that it has spared her knowing about, and going through the pain of, losing another son.
Hopefully, whatever changes the second half of this year brings will all be positive ones!
Productivity Is At An All-Time Low!
0We finally closed on the sale of our old house and work continues at Kirkwood Manor with painting and other minor improvements. However, our productivity has taken a nose-dive with the arrival of triple-digit temperatures and an all-inviting swimming pool tempting us every time we look out the window. As you can imagine, the pool is winning!
We promise to post more house progress photos in the near future, but for now we’re beatin’ the heat!
New Year, New Blog
0The stinkers at Blogger have sunsetted their publish-via-FTP feature, so we were forced to finally jump ship and get onboard with WordPress. I’ve wanted to make this move for quite some time now, but had been a bit too intimidated by the process, fearing that we could lose all of our old Blogger posts that’ve accumulated since we started back in March ’04.
So, 2010—a.k.a. the year of NEW—continues to steamroll onward!
Lucky Thirteen
0
To those who are superstitious, thirteen is a number to be feared, but I’ve never felt luckier — today marks our 13th wedding anniversary!
We played Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Grow Old With Me” during our wedding ceremony and those opening lines, “Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be…” have never, ever ceased to be true. These have, without question, been the most amazing, eventful, rewarding, & blessed years and I continue to eagerly anticipate whatever comes next…
And I discovered that there are quite a few interesting things associated with the number 13:
- The American flag has thirteen horizontal stripes, six white ones & seven red ones, to commemorate the 13 colonies that originally formed the United States.
- Considered a special number in Pakistan, 13 is tera in Punjabi, which means “yours” (as in, “I am yours, O Lord”).
- NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino both wore number 13.
- The expression “baker’s dozen” dates back to 13th century England where bakers would give an extra loaf when selling a dozen to avoid being penalized for selling short weight.
- There’s a formally-recognized phobia for those who dread the number 13: Triskaidekaphobia.
- A mid-mission technical malfunction (explosion of an oxygen tank) forced the Apollo 13 lunar landing to be aborted on April 13, 1970 — 39 years ago (39÷3=13).
- There were thirteen participants at the Last Supper, with Judas Iscariot (the disciple who betrayed Jesus) believed to have been the 13th to sit at the table.
What a Difference a Year Makes
0Our little boy is growing up so fast!
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