gummy bear

Soccer Tots & Noodles of Fun

Liam started SoccerTots today - he's on Team Koala! He really had a good time - not to mention Mommy having a good time watching him! It was SO cute - he would kick the ball, miss the ball, pick the ball up and just run with it. Truly funny - I thought he did a great job for his first practice!

They played with some other toys as well for motor skill development - they were supposed to jump over these noodles. See what my son chose to do with his noodle...so proud. The other moms & dads took pictures of Liam with his noodle as well - we were all cracking up! Of course, they ask Liam which noodle he wanted to play with and he picks pink. The poor single girl in the class didn't even get the pink noodle!!

Events of the Dawson Weekend

Whew- what a weekend! I feel like the last three days and ALL of Spring Break flew by!! Most entertaining though had to be the past couple days. Liam is officially potty trained! I won't go into the gruesome details :) but it was like the flick of a switch and boom, done! Below you will see my lovely lima bean learning to pee pee (this was like an hour after our first success on Friday) and he wanted to pee on everything in sight! I walked inside to get my camera, and walk back outside to this...Liam up on the dog bowls, peeing. I literally was shaking I was laughing so hard trying to take this picture!!! Sorry Uncle Sid - I'm sure this is not how you would have wanted to see your hand-me-down doggie bowls being used...

Then Saturday morning Liam and I woke up early, let Daddy sleep in. We did some serious painting, Little Einstein watching, and then decided we were hungry. Here you will see my little Chef cooking up some great french toast liquid while sipping a juice box! Cooking stirs up quite a thirst!

Next we went to my in laws house with the kiddos and the whole family went swimming. We all managed to get some nice sun and have some fun times in the pool (minus the final water gun fight Jackson started when I had showered and was fully clothed again...boo). Liam learned what a Mohawk is (he is giving Daddy this style below) I think we all have some tan lines today! Thank goodness I have an aloe plant at home - we made good use of it even with 50 sunscreen on!! Liam learned also to jump in the pool with a little more gusto. He's never been a big fan of water in his face (hello Aunt Sissy - who is this kid related to!?!?) But this weekend he did a great job!! Video of his big jump below!

We ended Saturday night with a ravishing game of family Wii. Now, I did get a video of my mother in law hoola hooping, but under penalty of death I'm not allowed to post it :) But, Jackson is fair game so here is his hoola video! Sorry it's sideways, haven't figured out how to flip it yet :)

home phone

Just an FYI, we are cancelling our home phone service since literally we get 2 calls on it a month! I just couldn't justify paying $40 a month for that so if anyone has the home phone number, it will not work after 8:00pm tonight just FYI. You can always still call either my cell or Jackson's.

my son the flirt

Since it's Spring Break a couple of my dancers, Kimmie & Monica, and I went out for lunch the other day and swimsuit shopping (they did, I did not! :) Both girls said they wanted to play with Liam so we went and nabbed him from school to come home and play with the ladies! I don't know who had more fun, the girls with the play dough food kit, Liam with the girls doing anything (big flirt!!) or me watching all the kids play and cooking them dinner! Liam found a new favorite game called spin me that his lady friend Kimmie played with him. We were all quite entertained by the game as well since Liam was struggling to walk a straight line after spinning! Here he is with his friend Kimmie after a good spin! I think it's precious that he plops right away, then gets up, looks around like where is my mom, then finds me and makes a bee line to me like I can save him from his crazy walk! What a precious little man.

This morning he was goofy! It's super foggy here and I realized that the way I speak is rubbing off on Liam! We were driving in the fog and he said "mommy, it's CRAZY foggy today." Whoops - what a goober. I say things like "Liam don't touch the pan it's crazy hot" so apparently he now understood crazy when speaking of the fog today :) He's also really starting to learn to negotiate - we were playing with some toys this morning when he found the Monopoly box - I of course say "Don't open that Liam there are too many small pieces in there, Thor could eat them!" to which Liam replies, " I not touch it mommy I just look at them." What a smart little man! AND he was telling the truth - he just looked, didn't touch!

On a SUPER side note - I have officially reached my pre-Liam weight thanks to some good old fashion excercise and healthier home cooking instead of my deep fat frying everything! :) Since I started teaching dance in August of last year I have lost 20 pounds! Now looking back at those pictures I do see the difference when I didn't before. Yay for wearing a swimsuit in Mexico now for our anniversary trip!

happy st. paint your tractor day

We had a great time together on St. Patrick's Day. The day started with some GREEN MILK! YUMMY!!!!! Liam loved it - as you can see, he slurped every last bit up with his spoon. We then worked on saying Happy St. Patrick's Day which came out as Happy St. Paint Your Tractor Day from the video above.

he's a dance machine - watch him get down

I just found out that you can upload videos to blogs! Oh boy!! :) Liam was in a great mood the other night and I asked him to dance for me while I video tape it. He is in his jammies, hair still wet from bath time, and he required his light up shoes in order to dance!! I call these moves his aggressive dancing :)

Liam has been super precious lately in my opinion (completely unbiased right?) The other morning he woke up, got out of bed, came in my room and climbed into bed with me while Daddy was at the gym. He rolled over and was snuggling and said "Mommy you smell good". I literally got teary eyed - how cute is he? Now he's always the first one too to tell me when I don't smell pretty but I'll take what I can get! Enjoy the dance moves!

big weekend

We had a pretty big weekend - Liam found a new love, the tape measure. He loves releasing it and letting it slither around back into place - we get a good belly laugh out of that one for about 30 minutes! We also found out that Liam DOES watch TV - I know GASP! He is in love now with Little Einsteins, it's like the toddler version of baby Einsteins but these 4 kids ride around in a red rocket to explore things. He loves it - especially the hand motions associated with taking off in the rocket ship (see blast off arms above) Jackson & I also went shopping for our anniversary presents for one another this weekend - Liam decided he wanted to help pick things out for us! I got a beautiful ring from my beloved - I've wanted a solid yellow gold band for my 5 year anniversary ring to add to my wedding set so Liam (and Jackson too!) helped pick it out with me at the jewelry store. It's getting sized and I should have it by Thursday at noon hooray! :) Jackson had no idea what he wanted for his present so he opted for an Xbox 360 video game (sigh - but he asked for it) and I promised him a margarita in Mexico as well :) We the finally made our last stop to get a small cheap digital camera since our nice one is bigger and bulky - I wanted something a little more portable to take on our anniversary trip. Liam ever so willingly posed in the "dear me" closeup as I tested out the new camera settings!

pancakes, pigs, and dino-horse bones

Today is going to be a fun filled adventurous day! My beloved let me sleep in (thanks to the wonderful Fenergen the doctor prescribed me for STILL being nauseous last night) and I woke up to a lovely little voice saying "mommy wake up - I get you dirty with dino horse bones!" Somehow I didn't think I was awake yet, maybe in some weird dream but no, that was my little bubby with his good morning wake up call!

I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, and decided to see if I could eat. I feel MUCH better today so I opted to make a full fledged pancakes and eggs breakfast for the boys since they've had to put up with my icky belly for 2 days now. Liam chose heart

shaped chocolate chip pancakes while Jackson wanted just circular (boring! I have 101 cookie cutters now c'mon!) regular plain pancakes. They were delish if I do say so myself!

Now the boys are off to dig for dino-horse bones at the Children's Museum up here while I go teach a quick makeup dance session from when I was sick. We will all reconvene at lunch to see what else the day holds!!

Quick note that made me giggle - Liam has just learned the toe game, this little piggy. He loves it, more so, Daddy & I love listening to it. Below is the "true" version and then Liam's version :)

This little piggy went to market -- This piggy went market

This little piggy stayed home -- This piggy is home

This little piggy had roast beef -- This piggy ate turkey

This little piggy had none -- This piggy had nuffin

This little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home -- This piggy wee weed all the way home!

Adorable?!?!

why does it rain mommy?

After a very long night with stomach flu, (thank you Jackson for being wonderful and letting me sleep sitting up on the couch for a while!!) I woke up feeling *slightly* better this morning and decided I could handle Liam alone :) He was very well behaved for me after I told him I had a bug in my tummy (this is how we describe germs to Liam so he knows to be on his best behavior if mommy or daddy has a bug in their tummy/nose/throat/chest etc) So our conversation this morning goes:

L: Mommy you feel better?
C: Yes baby, a little better.
L: No more bug in your tummy?
C: No, just maybe a little bug in mommy's tummy.
L: We go to the park?
C: No bubby it's raining today so the slides and swings are really wet.
L: Mommy why it raining?
C: Well God decided to make it rain today so our grass and garden could get a bath.
L: Huh?
C: The park is too wet today, maybe tomorrow if the sun comes out we can go to the park.
L: Mommy I got a bug in my tummy.
C: Oh no! Really?
L: Ya, there's a bug in there (pointing to our tummy, shirt pulled up) I need some M&Ms.
C: Okay will M&Ms get rid of your tummy bug?
L: Yup - M&Ms make the bug go away.

Do we think Liam has a future career in medicine? Maybe he can cure something with M&Ms someday.

alien or artist

We decided to get started early today on our craft project. We decided to make tongue depressor aliens. Liam decided his would be painted with our handy dot paint sticks and would be green, purple, have three eyes, and have a colorful pipe cleaner clothing ensemble. Now he's scared of it or says "no mommy, I no like him"

This morning we've been working on answering the question "how old are you Liam?" The picture below was the first answer I got from him (sounded like AHHHHHHH) But now he gladly answers with hand/finger motions and all "TWO!" Now we're having a discussion about why we cannot use silly string in the house anymore ( daddy, mommy & Liam got in a silly string fight indoors a couple weeks ago which prompted our trip to Walmart to get a rug cleaner!)

grocery savings mission

Liam's trip to the "tractor scoop" with Daddy

With everyone feeling the tightening of the purse strings with our economy, I decided that we should do our part as a family to be more fiscally responsible. Being a mainly one income family (my dance income is really just "fun money" and savings) I know how sometimes you have to pick and choose what you want to do, what you can afford, and what you can't.

My mission this week was to somehow widdle down our grocery bill. Eeeek - I had a minor heart attack just thinking of how to feed a full grown man (not a light eater), a growing boy (not a light eater), two dogs (one of which is the size of a horse and not a light eater, the other is fat and on weight control food which isn't cheap!), a frog - thank goodness Apple only eats every other day, and have some food left for me to nibble on :) So I'm going to share in my menu planning, grocery shopping and deal finds, and see how it works. I started today with planning out my dinner meals for the next two weeks. Here is the menu -

Thai Turkey Rolls & Rice

Rosemary Chicken Squares & Mashed Potatoes

Spicy Beef & Corn Casserole

Mom's Baked Spaghetti

Mexican Chicken Pot Pies

Baked Potato Pizzas

Desserts: Apple Napoleons & Bananas Foster Mountains

Okay, I know what you're thinking - Christie can't count, that's only 6 dinners. Well, part of my savings plan is learning to eat leftovers more effectively (not letting them rot and find them with a heartbeat 7 months later in the back of the fridge) Now, I went to the grocery store armed with some coupons and special deals from the Kroger circular as well that helped me plan my menu. Today I spent $129.19 which included 4 Lunchables for Liam, 4 orange yogurts for Liam, 2 packs of juice boxes for Liam, sandwich elements for Jackson & me to eat for lunches, 7 breakfast bars and 4 Rockstar drinks for Jackson (they're cheaper at the store than at CVS/Walgreen's) 3 giant tubs of ice cream when our desserts from above run out, miscellaneous toiletries for Liam & Jackson, and a fridge pack of Diet Dr. Pepper for me :) So, that balances out to about $65 per week for groceries. Sigh, I was hoping for more around $50 per week but it's a start.

Liam checking in on Apple the other morning

evolution of liam's emotions this morning

CHEERY GOOD MORNING LIAM

This morning Liam and I woke up and decided to relax a bit in our nice green chairs on our new back patio we laid this past week / weekend. He was in such a good mood - lots of "hello chicken nugget!" were being hollered to me as he sat talking to me about his night (sleeping again in mommy and daddy's bed because he "was not alright" at midnight. We decided to get up and play in the back yard. Liam is still not used to the extra concrete and proceeded to take a nose dive onto it.

OUCHIE AND GROUCHY LIAM

OUCH - no tears, but lots of "owie mommy, OUCH, Ughh, ooowww, owwww." and then a pitiful little limp. Tiny drips of blood were on his knee so we went inside for a quick cleanup and then he ASKED for a band aid - Liam NEVER wants a band aid or if he does he just wants to hold it, not actually stick it on the boo boo. But this one went ON the owie! He was such a good patient and told me "you make it better mommy, it still stings." So I guess I did okay and then not okay as far as my nursing skills :)

VERY HAPPY HEALED LIAM WITH GREEN SLUSHY

I asked Liam what would make it feel better - he told me a little lollipop from the lollipop store (I have NO idea what or where this is but he told me Daddy knows where it is...he doesn't, I asked) and a green drink. I said well I'll take you to the store for a lollipop but I don't know what green drink you want? So we went to the corner store and he literally walked in and made a direct line to the green slushy machine. Here's the weird part, we've been in that corner store ONCE and it was about 6 months ago so this little kiddo remembered the green slushy drink from that long ago?!! Crazy what they remember right??

So we had a full circle of emotions this morning - what a day!

He's reached his cute quota today!

Seriously, my son is precious. First of all, last night at 12:45am, he has a bad dream. It's official, he's able to communicate that something scared him in his sleep. I hear screams so I call dibs and let Jackson stay in bed. I get in to Liam's room, he's standing at his door balling. Pitiful! I swoop him up and say it's okay Mommy's here. He tells me "mommy the airplane scared me. it's really loud."Oh this is just sad! So I offer to let him to sleep with us (MISTAKE) I proceed to get judo chopped in the face by Liam's feet all night. My son finds it to be a physical impossibility to sleep straight up and down so I get feet to the face while Jackson gets his pillow stolen. I'm pooped...

Then, this morning, we're laying in bed, Daddy had just left to go to work and I hear the most precious little sound and voice "our Father, our Father, we thank you, we thank you, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen." (this is sung to the frerejaca - I know I butchered the spelling of that!) How adorable?!?! He wanted to pray first thing in the morning.

I thought he had reached his "cute quota" today but NO, I was wrong! I go in to the office to type this blog, he's sitting on the floor looking through his craft been and he finds some letter flashcards. He proceeds to quiz me - holding up each flash card towards me, "Mommy what is this? - I answer - Liam replies "Good Job!"

What a little dumpling!

one S or two?

I can never remember if dessert has one S or two, I guess spellcheck will let me know shortly!

I just wanted to upload this picture I took today at lunch. My good friend Bernice and I met up for a girls lunch and decided we wanted to split a dessert, this is what we got. We were in WAY over our heads...

liam's random thoughts

My son is a regular comedian I've found. The problem is, sometimes he doesn't know he's being funny and I laugh and he gets upset with me... example in the car on the way home yesterday:

Me: Liam, you have a new friend at home!

Liam: My daddy's at home?

Me: Yes he is, but we got you a present waiting at home for you!

Liam: Where is it?

Me: At home!

Liam: You get me a present?

Me: Yes, it's a new pet! Mommy & Daddy got you a frog today!

Liam: A froggie?

Me: Yes! He's white and you have to name him - what do you think you should name your frog?

Liam: Toby the Train.

Me: Toby?

Liam: No, (long pause) chocolate milk.

Me: You want chocolate milk?

Liam: No french fry. His name is turtle.

Me: Your frog's name is turtle or french fry?

Liam: No his name is Apple Mommy.

Me: Okay, so Apple it is (a little Gwenyth Paltrow-ish but who am I to judge)

Liam: Mommy - God doesn't like frogs.

Me: Yes He does - He made the frogs!

Liam: No, He doesn't like them, they hurt Him.

Me: Okay, the frogs hurt God. But I don't think they did.

Liam: Mommy, I want Donald's (this is Liam for McDonald's)

Me: No we have to go home and see your froggie!!

Liam: No, I don't have a froggie. I have chicken nuggets and apples.

Me: Okay, sounds good. We'll see when we get home. Daddy's at home waiting.

Liam: (very loudly and waving) Hey Chicken Nugget!

Me: Yes Liam-

Liam: My Daddy is at home!

Literally, we went on and on and I really don't know if the frog's name is after a McDonald's Happy Meal or if it's really Apple. But, Liam loves his frog. He is also calling me Chicken Nugget (not quite sure why). And he was very excited that Daddy was home (thrown out back and all) So, I couldn't help but giggle throughout this entire conversation, too precious, but you could tell my chuckles were not welcome by the look on Liam's face...

a dawson to be named later...

I know what you are all thinking - this is not a human Dawson to be named later. We had a new addition to our family today. Since the Triops are officially gone (Liam caught me flushing the water and said "mommy where my fishies??") AHHHH, I couldn't bare it so I had to add a replacement. Off to the store I run to replace the fishies. I originally set out for a beta fish, I wanted something low maintenance since most likely I will be doing the cleaning! While there, I discovered our new little buddy. I asked the pet man what kind of maintenance I'm looking at for this little guy and he said way less than a fish of any kind so I was SOLD! Our new addition to be named later is an Albino Clawed Frog. Yikes - not cute an cuddly but Liam has an obsession with reptiles so I figured this would be a winner. Liam has not seen his new pet yet, and we've decided to let him name it (hold your breath, we may have a frog named Chicken Nugget soon) He is an underwater frog (he will only come up to the water line and NO higher then man promised - what am I to do if I have a white crazy frog jumping around on my counter top!?!) So, as soon as our new little buddy has a name I will be sure to let you know what it is!!

quick update...

I forgot to mention two very important updates...

1) I'm fairly certain the Triops are all dead. I haven't seen anything move in that bowl for at least three days. I think Liam and I are going to go get either a Beta Fish or Sea Monkeys tomorrow to help replace the empty hole left in our lives by the dead Triops.

2) Pottying is not going as well as planned. He now will only go in the bathroom sporadically. And once I get him in there, he stands for 5 seconds, tells me he pee peed (he didn't) and says he wants a toy. Sigh, will he pee in his pants forever? Any advice is great - I've found nothing that motivates him, not M&Ms, not Hot Wheels, not stickers, nothing....

i've been vandalized!

Well first, I just had to put this picture on here. It truly makes me giggle every time I see it. Liam has these great Crayola brand bath dyes that he got as a Christmas present from his wonderful babysitter Heather! They are so cool! They dye ONLY the water, not hair, skin, or tub to boot!! He loves them - this was our first time to dye water and I laughed so hard when I walked in to see this!! Here is my bambino, brushing his teeth, sitting in a pool of blue water happy as can be!! What a great invention Crayola!

Next, I realized my poor husband has been sadly left off my blog stories numerous times and he is such an important part of our daily lives! I had to put something on here to show you all he's still alive and real :) Jackson, my beloved, thinks he is a rockstar. Little does he know that being really really good at the Wii Rockband guitar in no way equates actual guitar playing talent. I'll let him dream though... this above pic was from a "jam session" with our friends Lee and Gena.

Finally, to the vandalism. My little helper this morning decided he wanted to help me sew his friend Hunter's cowboy pocket shirt. Now, when Liam said he wanted to help, I assumed that meant sit on my lap while I sew (his favorite part is how noisy the machine is) but today, I left the room for one minute and returned to this little helper. My sewing machine is now very positive and encouraging, full of stickers that say, "you did it!" , "terrific" , great!" , "WOW", and "good job" So it's a nice addition, like I said, very uplifting as I sew for the first few times. He just wants to be a part of everything and I can't bare to tell him no :)

my favorite childhood memories

I realized the other day while talking to my sister that we remember some weird things about our childhood that today are very special to us. Mom, you'll get a kick out of these. The two things I REALLY remember being in my house when I was little (like four or five years old) were in our breakfast nook. Maybe I remember these things because I have a fondness for food so I was in the breakfast nook alot just eating. I remember a kerosene lamp that was on a wall in our breakfast nook - I don't know if it was a working lamp or just for decor, and I have no idea if mom still has this lamp, but I loved it. I would dream of being an explorer going through a deep dark forest with nothing but my kerosene lamp to light my path. It was magical to me - so I found one at a store down here in Texas (for $7 no less!) to help bring a little bit of my magical childhood to my home for my son. Now he may never even notice this lamp, but for me, it makes me still feel like that little five year old girl in her secret forest escapade.

The other thing I really remember from my house were some stained glass window hangings that I honestly have no idea where they came from. It may have been a craft my sister or I did, or mom may have just bought them. But I remember them hanging on our windows as long as I lived in that house! I found some clear ones at my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, and also the stain paint to go along with them. JACKPOT! Liam and I made three together - mommy really had to help with these alot because the stain paint is very drippy and it frustrated Liam. We had so much fun though giggling and now our three creations of Liam's choice are hanging on our kitchen sink window. I love them and again, it brings a little piece of my childhood to my son.

Just because my post wouldn't be complete without a little picture of my lima bean, here he is napping (this pic was taken months ago when he still actually took naps at home (sigh) I was cleaning his sheets mid-day and he crashed so poor thing had to sleep with an old sheet, no pillowcase, and his not so masculine blanket that was mine as a baby. But it got the job done and napping commenced! This pic also shows his "big boy bed" with the roll out prevention device up :) The most precious part is that he hasn't figured out that now as a big boy he can get out of his bed by himself which to me is a good thing!!

Hold your breath, it's an actual working pocket

This week is "Go Texan" week in honor of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. For those of you family reading this that aren't from Texas, you wouldn't understand. We basically are our own country and have "days" in honor of ourselves...makes me giggle. But, being a good sport, Liam is participating in Go Texan Day at school on Friday. They have a chili cook-off, rodeo, costume contest, etc. So they are to be in their best "duds" on Friday. Great...we have nothing cowboy-ish in his closet. So we go out together on a shopping "date" this morning in search of Liam's cowboy gear. He states he is in search of cowboy boots (eek) and I claim the red and blue bandanna search. We went to our favorite stomping ground, Hobby Lobby (Liam calls it Hob Lobby? literally with the question inflection tone in his voice every time...too cute) We found no boots (I didn't have the heart to tell him they didn't sell shoes at Hob Lobby?) But we did find bandannas for 88 cents and plain white tees for just $2! In my mind I'm thinking, he needs something he can wear again so this isn't a complete waste of money so I decide to take the plain white tee and sew (gasp!) a red bandanna pocket on the chest. I know I know, I'm in deep at this point. I've guaranteed a red bandanna pocket to my son by the time he gets home today. Sigh -

After many practice runs just sewing on my practice material as warm up, I managed to sew, say it with me, AN ACTUAL WORKING POCKET, on Liam's shirt!!! Picture proof too!!! I'm so proud, and I hope that it passes Liam's inspection tonight upon his arrival home. So we now have our shirt, wearing jeans with a blue bandanna in the back pocket, and his converse all-stars I'm sure :)

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