Hey Liam, how old are you today?

I started a tradition last year on his 3rd birthday of balloons in their bed when they woke up. Except I forgot that I had a tradition this year. So when he woke up and went to the bathroom, I made him go back to bed, so I could hurriedly blow up some balloons and toss them on his bed. He wasn't exactly surprised, but Walker loved it. "O-wenge" he said. Walker really likes orange. 

Liam's reaction to me saying, "gimme some birthday love"

And they played some random, newly-invented game with the balloons, like so:

I asked him where he wanted eat for his birthday, if he could eat anywhere. "Arby's. They have milkshakes. Let's go through the drive-thru and get a milkshake," he screamed. 

So, that's what we did...and headed to the park.

This moment was a little surreal for me. 

He went from three to four, and that's a big step!

 After spending some of the day cruising in the new(er) minivan, we headed home for Sunday naps. 

It went like this...

...we napped...

...they didn't!

When we chose to wake up and let them out of their cage, Liam opened an e-card from grandma (Charlie's mom). It had a matching game. He played it while I finished the cake. Below is a major milestone.

 He had never used a mouse on a computer before. And with some practice, he mastered it...and this matching game that he played more than 20 times.

"No, mom, I played 12 times," he corrected me.

That e-card was an amazing idea! He LOVED it! 

"Hey Walker, Happy birthday to myself!" 

Yeah, I know...gross, huh? 

Don't worry, that lick marked the spot that his piece was cut from!

Today's Trivia:

What mother forgets to buy candles for a birthday cake?

Answer:

(Ding Ding Ding)- you guessed it-  Lizzard! 

This is the third birthday (between the two oldest) that I've forgotten. 

Guess I have to throw a party to make up for it!

Can we get more fake, people?

Oh yeah, we can! 

 I know what you're thinking.

Really, I do.

Why in the world would you get that boy a pink birthday cake?

Well, it's like this: 

I had a strawberry cake mix. I didn't have icing. 

He asked for blueberry icing.

OK. Sure. 

Went to Wal-mart. 

No blueberry icing. But hey, there's strawberry icing.

I'll grab that.

No, it did not occur to me that it was pink...

until I started spreading it!

And you know what?

He didn't care!

Have you ever had the feeling before that, "man, that Liz sure is weird."? Well...

Let's say you have a four-year old. 

And let's say you're picking out a birthday present. 

What would you get your first born son?

Do you have a guess at what he's getting from us?



Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace, Jr.

 Again...I know what you're thinking...

...man, they start brainwashing early...

well, why not?

The idea actually came last week when Liam took an active interest in helping around the house. 

"Mom, I really like it when you give me a job to do."

Charlie and I threw each other a couple of happy-shocked looks that said, "let the brainwashing begin!"

So, we gave Liam a few chores, like taking diapers to the trash, picking up toys, 

clearing the table and feeding Arwen. 

He now gets paid commissions. And let me tell you: that's one motivated kid! 

His commissions are small. But he's proud. 

And, he's thinks nickels are neater than quarters and dimes...so, I say, SWEET! 

Because he could pay his way to college just by picking up diapers around here!

And Walker does everything Liam does, which in this case, is a very good thing. 

Walker likes the look of Liam's money :-)

At the end of the week (yesterday), he counted his money (with a little help) and we portioned out his giving first, then his saving, and then the rest for his choosing. 

Liam's total wages for the week was $2.26. 

All I have to say is that he better go find him a union to join because there's going to be 

some pay cuts going on around here. 

Back to the birthday boy:

What better to end a perfect day, than to show the boys a perfect night sky.

  This was a first for our boys. I remember the night we won the auction for the farm. We came back and parked on side of the road and looked up at the stars. The boys were asleep in the car. We thought, Wow, how awesome that our boys will see this someday. Today was the first of many somedays.

 In my whole life, there's been only one other place that the view was better than the sky above our farm tonight. That was Haleakala Crater on Maui in Hawaii. There are no words to describe such a sight. One of our friends with us on that trip said, as he looked up at the innumerable stars, "it gives new meaning to God's promise to Abraham- that his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky."

And can you imagine what the night sky must have looked like to Abraham,
with no electricity to power street lamps or houses?

Happy Birthday, Liam! 

You are loved!