Wordless Wednesday

Electronic Saturday

This was the scene at our house this past Saturday morning.  Boys and their electronic toys.

Twinkle Toes

When I came home from church yesterday, this is what I saw when I looked under Liam's door.

The good news is that, as I type this, he is in his bed, no tears, and the door is unlocked.  Progress is being made!!

Last pictures from vacation

My last set of pictures from vacation center around the pool.  The boys started out skeptical, then fell in love with the baby pool and then, finally on the last day, decided the big pool was really cool and worth their time.  All of the adults in the group wished they had discovered this earlier in the week as it was pretty hot and there are only so many grown-ups who can fit in the baby pool while supervising said boys. Or who even want to get in the baby pool, for that matter.

Liam earned his keep by carrying his own towel.

They each had fun with the family.  Here's Aunt Heidi showing Liam the water,

while Micah got a ride on Uncle Ryan's back.

Micah explained some big math theory involving the number two to Mum-Mum, who was undoubtedly mesmerized and thanking God that her genes, which skipped right over me, had landed squarely on her grandson,

while Liam checked out Pop-Pop's sunglasses.

Liam stood for a while contemplating jumping in and letting Pop-Pop catch him.  Would he do it?

Yes, he would! And thunderous applause rose up from all areas of the pool.  Well, just our family, but we were pretty excited.

He kept right on swimming after the big jump.

Micah got braver and braver with each jump. The look on his face in this picture is great.  I'm not sure who's more apprehensive about his landing - him (judging by what you can see on his face) or Mum-Mum (whose face we can't see).

Aunt Heidi posed with Tyson on the last night of our trip.  He was starting to get hungry at that point in the evening, but was a good sport for the picture.

Later, back at the timeshare, Aunt Heidi posed with Liam and Micah, who mostly obliged.

Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop took pictures that night with the boys, but the best one with them was outside of Stacks Pancake House.  (Shout-out here to Stacks for the yummy GF pancakes!!)  Everyone actually smiled and looked at the camera.  At the same time.  It's a vacation miracle.

 

We were sad to see it end, and are already looking forward to next year!

Random pictures

Here are just a few random pictures from sometime in the last week.  Liam's birthday gift from Aunt Deci, Uncle Ryan, and Tyson was this super-cool Buzz Lightyear backpack with a holographic Buzz on it.  He adores it and is soooo ready to take it to school in the fall.  Thank you very much, Deci, Ryan, and Tyson!!

Something funny is on the iPad.

 

Big brother teaches little brother how to do something.  When Micah's done teaching Liam, he could probably teach me a thing a two.  They learn so fast.  Then again, Liam could probably teach me too...

Big Boy Bed

For those of you not on Facebook and therefore not reading my status updates, Liam suddenly climbed out of his crib last Friday.  We lowered it to the last level and he climbed out again.  We put in on the floor inside the crib and he still managed to get out, and Tim found him on the floor next to the crib on Saturday morning.  Needless to say, it was "Big Boy Bed" time.  A trip to Ikea, a visit to Bed Pros (thank you, well-timed Groupon!), and an online order from Target, and Liam is all set up in his new big boy bed.
This is what happens when you don't nap because you don't really have a bed.  Yes, that's my arm.

This is how happy he was to get his new bed!

Seriously, is it just me or does it seem like he's so much older than two in this picture??

Brothers having fun together on the new bed.  By the way, the bed set that I ordered from Target was a sports theme, so neither of our boys will end up with animals.  It's sad that the nursery isn't the nursery anymore, but I'm glad they're happy.

Of course, no matter how much fun the bed is, Liam still doesn't want to sleep in it.  We were forced to turn the handle around on his door so that it locks from the outside, therefore keeping him in at night. After the first night, which was more than an hour of constantly putting him back in his bed, it took Tim and I taking turns holding the doorknob before he fell asleep.  Then he was up again and we had to hold the doorknob for another half an hour.  Locking the door and being able to walk away makes him realize much faster that this is not a battle that he's going to win, and he's only cried for 20-30 minutes the last two nights.  Still a lot, but a big improvement.  Hopefully this isn't setting us up for a bigger battle in the long run.
Sleep tight, Liam!!

An Apology to Ducks

An Open Letter of Apology to all Ducks on the Surfwatch Property in Hilton Head

Dear Ducks:

When we saw this sign

we thought it was cute.  True, maybe, but cute.  Now we are petitioning the board of Surfwatch to post a cautionary sign warning you, the ducks, about our boys.  It would read something like this: CAUTION - Waddle fast when you see Micah and Liam!
You see, our boys loved you.  They loved to feed you.  They ran after you just to give you bread, which is something you really shouldn't have anyway, seeing as how they actually sell duck food at the timeshare.  But they ran after you to give you bread, bread that probably made your tummies bloated and spoiled you from the food you were meant to have.

You were good sports about them being nearby.  Sometimes they threw the forbidden bread towards you.

Sometimes you even dared to get close, surely lured by the yeasty scent of pieces of fresh hot dog buns.

That is, before you saw Liam eat your grainy goodness, and you waddled away in utter disgust.

Our boys watched you, sad to see you go, not understanding that you needed to leave to save yourselves from the effects of the bread, and from the little hands of two boys who would have loved nothing more than to give you big hugs.

 

But we want you to know that we understand.  And if we're lucky enough to come back, we promise not to give you forbidden food that makes you sick.  Rather, we vow this day to give you the food you need, the food you deserve, and to keep those curious boys far from the shores of your safe pondly habitat.

Sincerely,

Tim and Kelly

Beach fun

Because we live less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, our boys have seen the beach much more than the average kids.  But they still love playing in the sand, and are growing more adventurous when it comes to the ocean.  Liam especially.  He liked to put his feet in.

Sometimes Daddy lent a hand.

Yes, you can still play trucks in the sand!!  The dump truck was a hit all week.

For those were are wondering, dump trucks can also be worn as hats.

How cute is this boy?

And how different from this little guy from just a year ago.

Speaking of little guys, we finally got to meet Tyson (officially known as "Baby Tyson" in our house), who is Ryan and Deci's new son.  He was fun to hang around and tolerated his cousins well, and their desire to give him knuckles.  Check out the smile!

The new family.

Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop bought boogie boards for the kids (and adults) this year, but the boys weren't interested yet.  Tim tried it out... 

...and so did Deci.  I think Deci managed with much more flair!

Liam made sure to get in some quality time and hung out with Aunt Heidi,

and also with Pop-Pop.

 

Can we just go back to the beach right now?

Liam's Birthday Celebration on Vacation

Liam turned two a few weeks ago, but we celebrated with my family on vacation.  He had an ice cream cake from Publix.  (Forgive the bad picture.)

We added the "2" candle to it, but sadly had no way to light it.  Why oh why does none of us have a secret smoking habit?  So we sang, and pretended to blow out his candle, which probably made Liam think twice about the oddity of his family. 
But he recovered and really enjoyed the cake, in particular the Nilla wafer decorating the top.

Beach toys!  Those came in pretty handy.

Fun shorts!

I was inexplicably really excited about this shirt that Aunt Heidi gave Liam.  Hey, it was a cool shirt that was one of those with the sunscreen built in and that you can wear in the water, but I'm not sure that Liam was anywhere near as excited as I appear to be.

A favorite gift?  Little Steeler footballs that were meant to go in the water.  (The soccer ball from the next picture was one we brought from home.)  I sort of felt that the balls were too good for the water, though, so we throw them around the house instead.

Treasuring them once he could actually hold them.

To ensure a little less jealousy at all of the attention Liam was getting, Micah got a cool Hot Wheels coloring book.  We didn't have crayons, but he treated it like a regular book and looked at all the pictures.  We're looking forward to coloring in it now that we're home.

Happy Birthday, Liam - again!!

Back from Vacation

The Black family vacationed last week in Hilton Head, SC, joining the branches of the Williams family for a week of fun in the sun.  Although we couldn't check in to our timeshare until Sunday, we decided to take off on Saturday, visit some dear friends, and experience their church with them before heading to Hilton Head.  But we began the day at Magic Kingdom because our friends, who live in Jacksonville, wouldn't be home until dinner time and we were just ready to get out of town.  While we were there, we made time for things we haven't done before, like meet Buzz Lightyear.
If you remember this post, you'll remember what Buzz Lightyear means to Liam.  We waited in line, and Liam was so excited by the time we got to the front, he could barely stand it.

Micah got spooked at the last second, but Liam rushed forward to great him - no fear, just a little hand waving hi.

Our boy and Buzz, together at last!

The only appropriate way to thank Buzz for the meet and greet is knuckles, so that's what Liam did.

When it got too hot and sweaty, we rode the covered merry-go-round.

Micah checked out the beanstalk from "Mickey and the Beanstalk",

and tried on silly hats! 

 

Then it was on to Jacksonville...