Things I'm Thankful For:

Liam "trying out", in other words ruining, my favorite chapstick :)

I think it's important, especially when our lives become hectic, to remember and many times ponder the things that we are thankful for. Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions we are able to feel - so here is my list today:

** I'm Thankful For **

*Family - some people never get to experience that kind of love in their life.

*The lifelong journey to find who I am

*My "weird" or quirky side

*Daily inspiration all around me

*Love

*Little sentences from my son

*Laughter - typically the kind that makes my cheeks or stomach hurt is best

*Fear - without it we have nothing to push ourselves beyond

*Kisses from my husband before he leaves for work, trips, lunch, anywhere, always kisses first

*Mistakes and the lessons we learn from them

*Quiet - however few and far between those moments are

*Garbage bags - sometimes a good purge of old things makes your head clear

*Toilet paper - c'mon don't we all take this for granted?! Better than Sears catalogs right G-Ma?

Take the time today to just remember things you're thankful for. It can change a bad mood to a good, a rough day to a great one, and chaos back to order.

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Autism - playing the odds

Great information - for those of you that know me closely you know that autism is a cause I regularly donate to and commit to helping through volunteer work. One of my close friends' son is autistic - she's such a strong mother and seeing her with her son caused me to really learn more about this terrible disorder years before I became a mother. I just thought I would post my personal favorite site that I get information from regarding autism as well as the place I donate to as a reputable source. Autism in children is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Boys are four times as likely to be autistic than girls. It's a growing disorder and we still know very little about it and why it happens. There are great ways to get involved without having to donate money. Go to the website and there are volunteer options (I find "Parent's Day Out" locations in my area through the United Way - basically you play with an autistic child while the parents get a day off from the schedule and structure just to have to themselves.) There are also benefit walks in all areas, as well as ways to speak to congress regarding this disorder (many times autistic children are declined health insurance coverage which makes this a tragedy for most families financially to get the appropriate care for these kiddos)

www.AutismSpeaks.org

They had a great fact on the site recently -

The odds of winning the U.S. Open twice - 1 in 1.2 billion
The odds of being diagnosed with autism - 1 in 150
The odds say it's time to make a difference.

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Busted...

Just had to post this -

I was in the living room cleaning the other day when I heard giggles and snickers coming from the other room. As a responsible parent I go to investigate and find this...

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I'm such a slacker!

The scene from the back porch - crazy cool trees huh!

Liam feeding one longhorn from our backyard

JR - the bull that either really liked me or really hated me, can't tell

Beautiful Gruene Hall - oldest standing dance hall in Texas

I just realized how long it has been since I blogged (where does the time go when I'm HOME ALL DAY!?) Good grief!

So we've been hanging out alot inside lately due to the ridiculous heat here in Houston. Anything above 95 and my precious little dainty skin melts. Liam really doesn't care - he has been logging alot of underwear time around the house to stay cool. I've been logging alot of swimsuit time - sadly enough one day my husband asked me if I planned on wearing a swimsuit indoors the rest of my life...I wanted to say yes.

I posted some pics from the lake house vacation with my in-laws to Canyon Lake. Liam especially loved the wildlife drive through safari where an Ostrich ate right out of daddy's hand (video coming soon I promise!) The 5 longhorns living with us on the ranch were awesome (of course UT alum) and right in our back yard basically (too close for my comfort). I obviously am a "city girl" my husband likes to say (bugs, heat, well-water, large cattle, wilderness, all scare me and I was attacked by fire ants twice!) But the kiddos seemed to really enjoy themselves in the country as did my little country-bumpkin husband :) I think we may retire in that lake house we went to someday - he liked it just a little too much this past weekend!! Jackson, Liam, Avery & I walked out on the ranch to feed the cows one afternoon - bad idea. I was in a cute little sundress and flip flops...not appropriate "run for your life from the stampeding cows" attire. But we survived - and Liam loved throwing cow cookies for them to snack on! I also learned how to call cattle - sounds similiar to "come boss" according to my father in law. Either that or he just wanted me to make a fool of myself screaming that at the top of my lungs from the porch in my cute little sundress and D&G sunglasses!

We did get to go to my absolute favorite place on our trip - Gruene. Hello Gruene, I love you. I could so retire there - in the city/small town, not in a cabin in the woods with grasshoppers the size of small rodents. But the river, the shops, Gruene Hall, oh I could have just stayed forever. People there still say hello as you pass them on the street. People there drive cars older than me and live in houses that their grandparents built. People there are still honest. What a wonderful secret Eutopia. I'll be back someday Gruene - someday for good.

That's all for now - thinking of doing something crazy with my hair like super side swept long rocker-chic bangs. We'll see - the chameleon in me is itching for a change. Who knows - I'm a gemini so that means I have a split personality right?? I'm part responsible mommy, part rocker chic :) Does that work?

peace and many blessings today...

christie

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Happy Birthday Boy

What a great birthday - or at least I thought so :) I think Liam agrees, it was a GREAT celebration!!! Below are some pics from his true birthday and his party the following weekend.

"Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday My Liam, Happy Birthday To You."

I remember singing that to Liam just three short years ago for the very first time, while he slept in my arms on his first day with me. Scary how quickly time passes - I see now after staying home with Liam really what I was missing before while working full time. I'm just so thankful to be home with him to see all his little changes as they quickly fly by!

Liam and his friends Amelie, Hunter (Liam) and Evan.

The kiddos in the yard (big sissy Avery helping) with the sprinklers.

The dinosaur cake - watch out Martha Stewart I'm comin' for ya!

These crack me up - our present from Aunt Sissy. Above you see Liam closing his eyes while I bring the big box out, then you see him so excited all he could think to do is lift his shirt up and scream when I showed him the picture on the box. Then, after much frustration you see the finished project since the directions were in DUTCH! Thanks Aunt Sissy - Liam is clearly in love with his giant digger - it goes outside, and inside, many times along with the dirt he's dug up in the back. My Dyson is getting a workout :)

Miss Cora giving Liam an aggressive hug!

The cake I bought for the family on his birthday - just enough for the three of us, it was really cute!

Liam and his future wife Amelie - WAY too cute. She's just adorable and Liam was BEYOND excited when she showed up to the party! He came RUNNING inside to tell me AMELIE IS HERE MOMMY AMELIE!!!!!!

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Happy Birthday Weapon

More pics to come...but, here is our obvious favorite present so far today on our birthday. It's Liam's first weapon :) The Marshmallow Shooter! It really is awesome - shoots marshmallows up to 40 feet!!! We've already shot mommy accidentally in the back, and Thor numerous times, not so accidentally point blank in the tushy. Thor is now cowering under my desk terrified - what a brave guard dog?!?!

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The birthday cometh...

Weird to think it's almost here - the big 3! I still can't believe how Liam has transformed before my eyes into a little man (well almost!) I remember holding him for the first time ever thinking to myself "he's too small - I was WAY to big for him to be this small!" and now I can barely hold him period! We've gone from gurgles and spit to words and well, spit many times (we're in a blowing raspberries in your face phase...)

How did we get here? How did three years pass by already? I was (still) spring cleaning this morning (sigh) and started to go through clothing to give away and got a little teary eyed when I went through some shirts that had some funny memories attached to them. I now have a box of tshirts to start making a tshirt blankie for him mostly because I just couldn't part with the shirts. It's like a little piece of him is attached to those shirts and I have to keep them!!

My precious little man keeps telling me his birthday is in 2 minutes - I can't bear to tell him it's a day away! We've also been saying we don't feel good all morning so cross your fingers that we aren't sick yet again on our birthday - we've had ear infections on both of our other birthdays previously so it's par for the course I suppose. Well, we have only one birthday errand to run today and that's to go get giant poster board to make our McPherson family traditional birthday number on the front door for tomorrow. Neighbors don't be afraid - we hang the age number of the birthday kiddo on the door only for a day :)

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Easter & official first day home with mom!

Here are some pics from Liam on Easter - crazy man. He had a great time, this was the most fun so far since he was actually able to understand the egg hunt this year. Previously I think to a one and two year old it was all very confusing!! He got some golf clubs that are now officially weapons, a sweet rubber band airplane, and plenty of candy. We also had brunch with my in-laws and we all found ourselves caught in a terrible Easter storm hail and all! We also tried out the ice cream maker. Liam was really enthralled in the whole process and watched the majority of the making of the ice cream beginning to end.

Monday following marked Liam's first official full time day home with Mommy. It was really great - we did go to the park for a picnic and playtime. We also got his haircut since we're flying to see Mimsy, Aunt Sissy, & G-Ma on Thursday. He was starting to look like Chubacca (spelling Jackson?? Sorry) I did cut his bangs myself and his side burns and the stylist made sure to let me know what kind of job I did on those areas...I guess I need to stick to teaching dance according to her??

We are having a blast staying home - no time outs yesterday, a couple today so far :) We're having to break some bad daycare habits the hard way and I know he's a little confused with the new Mommy rules during the day but we're progressing! I'm just so so very blessed to be home full time with Liam - I'm teaching three nights a week (started off as two) but when Jackson gets home from work I have about 30 minutes to see him before I go off to teach. After May I will be teaching most likely 2 nights a week, we'll see how three goes in April/May.

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The Replacements

Well we had our first pet casualty last night. It's all very weird...

Apple the frog was happy in his new aquarium yesterday that we purchased for him due to the foggy slime he emits when stressed. He had a brand spankin' new 2.5 gallon coal filtered aquarium with plants, gravel, and everything! Well, when Liam went to bed Apple was fine in his new house. Somehow between bedtime last night around 8:00pm and when I got up this morning with Liam around 7:30am, Apple escaped. Now, the aquarium had a lid, with only one nickel sized hole so it took an act of God to get Apple out of there. I searched Liam's room after noticing Apple was gone. Nothing. I looked and looked and finally gave up thinking Apple had spontaneously combusted. So I started on my other pet feeding rounds of the morning. I start with the dogs since they are the most verbal about being hungry. Lo and behold in the laundry room was little dried up crusty Apple. Somehow Apple made the long trek out of water from Liam's room about 20 feet to the laundry room to die. Pitiful. I immediately went into distract and fix mode. I quickly moved a new fish into Apples old tank - the beta fish Liam named "Cherry". Please welcome little Cherry to our house!

Then we went on a mission to cover up the empty old fish bowl that Apple started off in. Thank you to WalMart for having quick cheap fish!! We got 2 new "replacements" that are literally called GloFish. One is orange/pink and the other is yellow. Liam took his time naming these buddies (I think he's had some practice now naming his new pets!!) The orange/pink fish is "Little Guy" and the yellow fish is "Sunny". So, please welcome Little Guy & Sunny to the family :)

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I'm Back!!!!!

We are back from Isla Mujeres and better than ever. Happy 5 year anniversary baby! Crazy how a nice relaxing adult vacation can rejuvenate your mind and body - not to mention add a pretty tan to some much needed white skin :) Jackson & I had a GREAT time - we danced, we drank, we ate, Jackson barfed the last night, I was up all night first night there with nausea, but we did fly first class on the way home -thank you Jackson for flying so much and getting upgrades! Let me tell you, there is nothing like laying on the most perfect white sand beach, dozing on and off, having your wonderful husband ask "I'm walking up to the beach-bar babe can I get you anything?" and then dipping into the absolute most wonderful water when your little body gets too hot. Making you jealous yet? You should be - take a look at these photos of the heaven we were in for four days!!!

Liam stayed here in Texas with his Mimsy - he had SUCH a blast. He's still talking about his time with Mimsy! Guess I need to step up my momma game because he thinks Mimsy is WAY cooler than mom. He's already talking about his plane trip next week to get to go see Mimsy, G-Ma, and Aunt Sissy. I guess home, Mom & Dad are stewed peas!!! Liam was not happy when Mimsy left - he very much wanted to get on the plane with her. What a special time for him - great memories and wonderful stories he's telling us!!

One visitor that came and stayed is Bob - let me introduce our newest family member courtesy of Mimsy (remember in an earlier post my mentioning that Liam was convinced Mimsy had a lizard and was bringing it to show?? She did...). This is Bob - the Chinese Water Dragon. Now don't let his little size now fool you - he will be 3 feet long full grown (including tail... sigh of relief but still huge) He also has a 10-20 year lifespan so Bob will be a college pet for Liam! Bob is actually pretty cool and I don't mind him one bit. He's much cleaner than Apple the frog. He's pretty docile - likes to be handled (although yesterday Bob pooped in my hand as I picked him up - guess I'm not his favorite but Liam found this episode hysterical including mommy's squeal) Now for the fun part....

Meet 45 or so of Bob's closest friends...live crickets for mealtime! Delish! He eats live crickets...every single day...until he's big and then he eats mice! Hooray!

Mom - take a look at the crickets above. I bought the KRICKET KEEPER today after I asked the pet guy for more food for Bob and he obviously saw my traumatized face. Like the toilet paper roll idea but perfectly manufactured with seals so there will be no touching of bugs by me! Worth every penny in my opinion...

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Dance Dynamics Nationals - Denton or Bust!!!

I'm leaving literally in moments for Denton, TX (near Dallas) for our dance team's Nationals!!! We had our team pep rally on Wednesday despite the tornados and deluge of rain! Here are some fun picks from the rally and from the 2008-2009 dance season.

Kimmie & Monica - no time to change from Wiz of Oz to solo finals?!?!

We have to dance after the pep rally?!

Bonnie - precious little dancer

Ann Marie's ridiculous tilt - get it girl!

Pep Rally Sign Making

Flex Class - Olivia, Jackie, Mel Bel, & Monica (me too!)

My crazy babies, Jane, Kitty Sydney, Kayla & Kendall

You need to act more angry - get cracked out girl!

Coolest dance teachers ever...Christine, Whitney, me and Jenny

So we weren't expecting this photo hence the super surprised looks

Madi & Kimmie did some pep rally artwork on my leg (it's zebra stripes...)

Pumpin' up the hip hoppers before they go on at comp

Pep rally - Olivia, me, other Olivia, Sarah & Mel Bel

Really? Hot OLD lady??? C'mon - I'm not old...yet
They graffiti'd my car at the pep rally - all four sides before the rain!! :)

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Chew up all my bubble gum

Liam has a new favorite delicious treat - bubble gum. He's a little addicted to it I think?? This morning he chewed 4 pieces before school (I just counted the wrappers in my trash for verification) He is however, very good at not swallowing the gum oddly enough. He loves to chew gum with me, watch me blow bubbles, *blow* his own (I'm using that term lightly, it's a lot of sticking his tongue out) and then pop my bubbles.

Liam and I were doing some crafts this morning before school time and I hear this HUGE belly laugh from my office. "Mommy come and look, come and look!" so I come running in having no clue what to expect (potty training, so you can assume what I thought I was going to find...) and I walk in to these two cuddle bugs that typically steer clear of one another. I guess it's the rainy weather but they were happy as two peas in a pod to be cuddling with each other. Kind of reminds me of the Bible picture you see in kids Bibles with the lion and the lamb?? Little Stoli has no idea she could be eaten at any moment if not for Thor's gentle spirit :)

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Precious Moments...by Liam

Liam eating his potty present Ring Pop, and practicing his pom routine with Mom @ work :)

When Jackson is out of town Liam sleeps with me in my bed (sorry Jackson, I know I know, the rule -but I get paranoid when you're gone!!) So I just couldn't resist posting some of the little precious things Liam has said to me over the past 3 days as we are getting ready for bed.

Night 1:

L: Mommy - what you doing

M: Going to sleep bubby, close your eyes

L: Mommy -I want my mommy and daddy

M: Mommy is here Liam, daddy is on his trip but will be home soon. Go to sleep

(Here is about 30-45 minutes of silence so I'm truly thinking Liam is asleep since it's late!!)

L (whispering): Mommy - Thor tooted.

M (laughing): It's okay Liam, just go to sleep.

Night 2:

L: Mommy why it dark in here?

M: Because it's night night time, go to sleep bubby

L: I can't see your face mommy

M: It's okay, touch my face, I'm here.

L: Mommy I have friends

M: Really! I'm happy you have friends

L: Eban my friend (this is Evan our neighbor who is Liam's age as well)

M: That's nice, Evan is a good friend to you

L: Hunter too (this is our other same age as Liam neighbor)

M: Good! Hunter is a good friend too!

L: Yeah, Hunter & Eban are my friends mommy.

M: Sounds good bubby, now go to sleep okay.

L: Mommy - I like your hair. (Now caressing my bangs) Mommy it stuck in your hair!!

M: It's okay Liam, it's a bobby pin, it holds my hair back.

L: Take it out mommy.

M: Okay it's out, now go to sleep bubby.

Day 3 on the way to tumbling class:

L: I see my daddy today?

M: Yes! Daddy comes home today! He'll pick you up from school.

L: He pick me up from school?

M: Yes!

L: Why?

M: To play with you when he gets home from his trip!

L: Daddy wear his pink shirt to pick me up?

M: I don't know - maybe he'll wear his pink shirt to pick you up. We'll see.

L: My daddy silly - pink shirt silly.

On a side note from Liam's precious little conversations, my wonderful sister did such a nice random act of kindness for Liam (and me) the other day. Liam really wanted a picnic table to eat snacks at outside and after seeing his friend Evan's picnic table and getting to eat there with his friends, he REALLY wanted that table. I just couldn't afford the quite pricey (pricey to me for a kids table!) plastic kiddo picnic table and couldn't find a used one quite yet. I found out Walmart was having a sale, then showed up, found out the sale ended the day before (sigh) and had to put the picnic table back. I knew Liam would be crushed but would understand. Well, my sister, Aunt Sissy to Liam, decided Liam deserved that table (especially after his good potty habits!) so she bought Liam the table for a surprise present! Liam was super excited when he got home and was able to eat both dinner and breakfast on his new table. He also spent a lot of time playing with the umbrella attached. Here is Liam's new backyard hideout - he just couldn't be happier. I couldn't be happier either that I have such a wonderful family that is very generous :) We love you Aunt Sissy!

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