That one really long birthday post...

 Liams birthday was wonderful! We woke up on Sunday morning and cuddled in mom and dads bed for 10-15 minutes before we headed to the kitchen for his special birthday breakfast! Eggs with cheese and a #2 made of bacon on top, with a side of banana slices and strawberries (all of his favorites and 1/2 of which he calls "pancakes"). He gave a wonderful prayer about how grateful he is to be with his family (made his mama cry a little) and then immediately after thanked Heavenly Father for his peabody sherman jammies. Classic.

 W ewent to church at ten and I was floored with how reverent he was. I don't say it enough, I'm so grateful for such a responsive, attentive, and well-behaved little guy. I'd like to say I'm a natural mom and I'm the reason he's such a good boy but it couldn't be further from the truth, he's all these amazing things in spite of me. This Sunday was the 1st Sunday that he didn't talk too loudly or have to get taken out in the hall during sacrament, he whispered the whole time and was excited to talk (softly) about the bread and water and what it means. Grateful mama over here.
   Liams awesome nursery leaders gave him homemade birthday cards and made him feel so special all day, I loved peaking in on him and seeing him get hugs and kisses from all his leaders and friends. What a great ward we have!

  He said "Mama, I say cheese, okay?"

 We went home and made the most colorful fun fort any of us had ever seen! Chad planned a Liam lunch of saucy spaghetti and meat sauce (Liams favorite food) It took us 20 minutes to clean up the mess but Liam loved it. We had a family party with the Hatch side at night so we got to see lots of family which is always fun, but Liam festivities were postponed until the next morning.

We  I have been really looking forward to the day that i could take Liam to the Childrens Museum of Phoenix, I went a number of years ago, before i even had Liam and I knew it was going to be somewhere I'd take my kids and watch their eyes light up and imaginations blossom. Liam and Chad agreed, it was the perfect way to spend out day together!

 Thats Liam and Dad, fearlessly crawling 3 stories high thought the climber gym and army crawling the whole way down through the switch back tunnels!

  We built many block towers and used our team work skills to make a tower so tall, it deserved double high fives!

On every wall and around every single corner there were different learning stations that made Liams brain flip over again and again. He especially loved anything that involved him placing an object at the top and watching it move down and out of whatever contraption we were put it in. This one below had a little guy who would hit his head on eat block on the way from the top to the bottom and Liam thought it was hilarious is I made the "ouchie" sounds on the way down...He makes me feel like I'm hilarious, thanks little guy.

 Oh I could squeeze him all day!

 We went through the "car wash"

 We "Checked the Mayo"

 Played with playdo

and PAINTED A CASTLE! Liams all time favorite part! This kids always asks to paint a picture and his favorite (and only discernible color) is green and he got to PAINT and castle GREEN! He kept looking at us with a doopey grin that seemed to say "Is this for real?!"

 Look at that face! ^ he was in heaven!

 We played with Sand

 Watched balls run down the pipes

 Raced cars on the track

 Rode a motorcycle

 and a pickle,

 Went grocery shopping

 wrestled with pool noodles

and finally ran out of energy.

We raced home to give him a nap in hopes he'd be ready for the festivities to continue at his birthday party that evening.

I had huge plans, as i normally do, for a great cowboy round up party, were the tables would be decked with gingham and paisley and cowboy boots stuffed with babys breathe, mason jars to eat our strawberry short cake from and campfire tins to eat our chili dogs and corn on the cob from...but yeah none of that happened. Instead my parents saved the day by finding a guy in the stake that was kind enough to bring over a pack mule for the kids to ride! Liam was literally speechless, he just had a huge open-mouthed smile slapped on his face the whole time.

We had Liams favorite foods, chili, hot dogs, corn on the cob and salad for the adults. Liam loved it and made a nice 2 year old sized mess. I wish i could have focused in on his cheesy smile and not his nasty food but you win some you lose some.

The truth is, we have no friends in AZ...ok like two or three but we decided to keep it to family since ya know, if even just one of them didn't show up, the numbers would be pretty embarrassing. Plus, Liam loves all his cousins more than Chad and I sometimes so it was all he needed to have Millie and Stratton there. Even with just the three little ones, opening presents was completely chaotic (major understatement). I found myself being very grateful for the lack of friends we had at the party after spending just 30 minutes mediating present wars, stopping tantrums due to Liams new-found need to share and reminding Liam that hitting Millie is NOT a funny thing to do.

Liam was spoiled rotten, luckily he's totally happy with all second hand craigslist items because that's what he got from us (minus his cardinals hat, we splurged a little and got that one new!) But naturally the grandparents went all out and so did the Fishes!

We ended the evening with a little cake and fireworks! Liam temporarily forgot his love for sparklers and acted scared of his sparkler candles until we convinced him they were the same as the ones he has seen and loved a few weeks earlier at new years. My petite little eater barely touched his cake which everyone seemed disappointed in,  but it was perfect, that's so Liam. Itty bitty baby bites!

The fireworks were great and by the end of the little show, everyone was ready to be done for another year.

We went home and Liam quietly played with his new toys in his corner for 20 minutes, blissfully enjoying the spoils of the weekend! He was very grateful and as the evening came to an end and the sugar high faded, his sweet contemplative conversations came out. He did a lot of, "so-and-so gave me dis and I love it, dat so nice a dem!".

Love that boy and I'm oh so glad his birthday is over, it was fun but now I've got a week to figure something out for my other favorite boys birthday! Chad's b-day is on Friday!

Note to self: No more babies in January! Two birthdays in a month is enough!