Liam Meets Grandma June and Granddaddy B!!!

Grandma June and Granddaddy B came to meet Liam and visit Kyra!   Liam bonded with them right away!

Kyra was happy to see her grandma and granddaddy.   Lots of laughs and smiles all around!
 It was our first chilly weather of fall, but we made it to, as Kyra described it to Grandma June, "the best ice cream place in the whole world!" or something like that.  

There was also lots of time spent playing around the house, a trip to the playground, and some yummy meals out. 
We finished up the 5 day visit with a trip into Boston for a Duck Boat Tour.  A history filled trip on land...
and on sea...well, the Charles River anyway.  (Little Liam slept on most of the "sea" part, but woke up just in time to see some water.)

A fun time was had by all!  Quack Quack!

It was a fun visit!  Craig really enjoyed spending time with his folks and the kids really had fun with their grandparents.  Of course,  Mommy enjoyed having extra playmates around for Liam and Kyra!   Visit anytime Grandma and Granddaddy!

Big Happenings at Our House!!

The biggest happening at our house is... my baby girl lost her first tooth!  She's not my baby girl anymore!

It was so tiny that it's a good thing we had LaLa's present to Kyra - 

a tooth fairy bear that had a little pocket in front to put her tooth in!

The tooth fairy came and left her $5.00 for her first tooth!

Our next big happening was attending a reunion in Boston of some of the families we traveled to China with when we adopted Liam.  It was so wonderful to see how well all of the kids are doing!  Beautiful chubby little thighs and big smiles!   They all looked so healthy and happy!

(Kyra hanging with the older brothers that traveled to China with us - and I thought she wouldn't like having a brother!)

What happy beautiful families!

We tried out Liam's trundle bed for the first time - my dream was that they would sleep in the trundle and I would sleep in the bed with no little feet in my face, legs or ribs.  No go - we all ended up in my bed.

But how sweet it was watching Kyra read Liam stories.

Even though no one actually sleeps in his room, we finally got the letters painted to put his name over his bed.  We'll always remember (and be able to tell) that Liam painted the A.

And here's a big preview of...

Halloween!

Little Bo Peep and her Sheep

I can't wait!  You should hear Liam, "Baa!"

Finally, the most endearing greeting that happens everyday Monday-Friday at our bus stop.

A little boy running arms wide open to greet his big sis and her swinging him in circles.

(And Liam always waving, "Bye Bye Bus!")

Growth Spurt!!!!

Liam has been refusing to wear his shoes.  Kyra never wore shoes and ended up being diagnosed with sensory integration disorder. (Do all West Virginians have sensory integration disorder? We're famous for not wearing shoes!)   I've seen some other signs of sensory integration disorder (most signs are the polar opposite of Kyra's signs) from Liam and just figured we were heading for possible therapy with him as well.  But when I recently put Liam's sneakers on, he said ouch!

Off we went to the shoe store for measurements.   I expected some growth, but what a surprise!  Laim's feet grew 1 1/2 sizes in 3 months!!! From a size 6 to a size 7 1/2!  No wonder he didn't want to wear shoes!!!

Here he is!   The 2009 Firemen's Calendar - Mr. May!!!!   How cute is he????

From Calendars to Raspberry picking - Liam is a well rounded guy!  Not really... Liam picked one raspberry, squished it in his hand and he was done.  He proceeded to run barefooted up and down the raspberry rows.  Kyra was a good little raspberry picker.  She eventually got tired of picking and she and Liam ended up in tickling matches up and down the raspberry rows.  And me without my camera!   I had left it back in the car.   They had a great time while I finished filling our 5 pint boxes.

As we got ready to leave, the man who took your money picked some golden raspberries for us.  Kyra and I were pretty fascinated - we had never seen golden raspberries.   
Kyra wanted to make a pie, but both kids were sound asleep by the time I got to the grocery store and didn't want to wake up.  Kyra and I decided on raspberry cobbler instead.  Kyra mixed it...

and licked the spoon!

Yummy!  Daddy and I loved it - Kyra decided she likes plain fresh raspberries better.

When Liam isn't posing for calendars or running around raspberry patches, he's working with his tools...

"learning" to roller skate...

or riding around in our red convertible sportscar!!!!  OK, so it's not quite the convertible I've always dreamed of, but....

Kyra and Liam are having a blast in it!

Our First Family Movie and Other Fun

Our First Family Movie

We finally made it through our first family movie and the kids loved it!!!   We had tried to take Kyra to Bee Movie last year, but only made it 40 minutes into the movie when a guy in the movie almost ate the bee on a guacomole chip and another guy in the movie screamed and then Kyra screamed and cried and all heads in the theatre turned to see what we were doing to our child!  Needless to say, we left.  This time we tried the movie "Ponyo".  Liam settled right in like he'd be doing this for all 2 1/2 years of his life!

Kyra loved the movie, but still looked a little stressed. 

Like her mother, she found solace in her box of chocolates. 

Kaleidoscope Museum

One day while Kyra was in school, Liam and I made our way to the local children's museum for some fun.   After "making pizza" out of felt ingredients, Liam decided to keep his hot mitt.  Then he decided to be a mailman with a hot mitt and a mail bag. 

Next he decided to drive a car with a hot mitt and a mail bag. 

He also drove the firetruck with his hot mitt and mailbag. 

And captained a pirate ship with his hott mitt and mail bag. 

He even checked out one of the slides with....his hot mitt and his mailbag!

So what will he be when he grows up? Hmmm.....

A Fun Playdate

Here are two lovely princesses, Princess Kyra and Princess Avery, making "colored sand" with sand and chalk.... 

with help from their sidekicks (and siblings) Ella and Liam. 

 Daddy never ceases to be amazed at what he finds in our driveway when he gets home from work. 

A Budding Artist

LaLa sent Liam a Lightening McQueen notebook.  On Page 1 Liam put lots and lots of "Cars" stickers and drew "Tow Mater".  (The blue art work inside the silver foil sticker border.)

Then Liam went to page 2 and drew a "pillow"....

and lay his head down on it.  

I couldn't help but think of "Harold and the Purple Crayon."

Butterfly Boy (who wants to see himself on the camera..."pee (please), pee" )

I think Santa may need to bring some "boy" dress up clothes.  Daddy's beginning to worry.