3 year old boy

Liam turned three on Monday! I can't believe that I have a three year old! He has changed my life and I love that precious precious boy. We had a little party - a bicycle party. I told Liam he could invite 3 friends and he picked Parker (friend from church), Fletcher (buddy since we've moved) and Luke (Bible study friend). Liam's big present was a new bicycle of course. The bike was a surprise, but Liam had been asking for it and I'm pretty sure he had a sneaky suspicion that we were getting him one. So all of his friends brought their bikes over to ride. Will grilled hot dogs for lunch and then we opened presents and had cake.

love the smile on his face

Luke, Parker, Liam, Hayden and Aunt Pam (Will's aunt from LR happened to be working in Minneapolis this week and got to come to the party. so cool!)

Luke's mom Brooke and little bro Samuel

Fletcher and his mom Alexandra

Buzz Lightyear from Nini and Pa

M&M cake made by yours truly (and Betty Crocker)

can't have cake without ice cream

loves his daddy

Aunt Pam was Hayden's best bud at the party. Pam knew the way into her heart with cake and ice cream

garage party - the weather was perfect

We gave these little Buzz Lightyear water guns as party favors and they were a hit. Worth every dollar from the Dollar Tree.

Fletcher's bro Ferguson getting Liam good

Liam and Will got surrounded!

Hayden was cleaning the plates while everyone else played

family pic

It was a fun little party. Thank you friends for coming to celebrate Liam! He got some great gifts. A Duplo leggo truck, Memory game, a Slip-n-slide, stick horse and cowboy hat, art kit, new clothes, and I think the gift that takes the cake is Buzz Lightyear. Liam loves him some Buzz Lightyear.

Will and I have found ourselves saying more and more "Liam's such a good kid". And he is! A few months ago I was not saying that very much! But I think we've turned a corner. We've finally moved away from the phase of constant discipline, and it's no longer this endless battle for control. There are definitely still days that he tests me - like his birthday for example. He decided to throw all of his learned skills out the window - he was U-G-L-Y to his sister, talked back to his momma and peed his pants all day. BUT for the most part we're out of the trenches of the terrible twos.

The phase I'm finding that we're in now is me playing referee between the two kids. Liam picks and picks and picks at Hayden and she's beginning to fight back. Yeesh. I was a picker...or a pest as my mom called it. I know the thrill of pushing someones buttons and getting a rise out of them. As a matter of fact I still do that from time to time.

I'd like to quote Justin Timberlake at this time, "What goes around comes around goes around comes all the way back aroouuu-ou-ou-ound." My theme song for year 3.