Happy Birthday Liam!

Liam when he was born:








Liam's 2 year old picture:







It is just too hard for us to believe that our baby is now two years old! These years have flown by, and we have learned so much from Liam. When Liam woke up this morning, I swear that his vocabulary had doubled. His words were clearer and he was using fuller sentences instead of just a few words. Deron had Liam's present sitting out in the living room, so when he woke up he would see it. I woke up to a "whoaaaa!" this morning. We got Liam a Spiderman Power Quad and helmet. Liam wore the helmet for the first few hours this morning. We have to charge the quad before we can really let Liam go in it, but we got a few moments of movement out of it this monring.






Today we were going to take a trip to Disneyland, but with the weather, we had to cancel it. We are going to take Liam to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch today, then we are going home for cake and a nap! We are celebrating his birthday on Saturday with our friends and family, which we are looking forward too!

"I Love My Mom"

So Liam's favorite show is the Imagination Movers on Disney. We bought their CD a while back, he just loves to dance to all the songs. Well, one of the songs on the CD is titled "My Mother's Love," and in the song it repeats "I love my mom." This morning on the way to day care that song was playing. Liam was so happy when it came on. During the first 10 seconds with just the instruments he said, "Mom!" Then when the chorus would come on he would say, "na na na na na Mom!" I would ask him, do you love your mom? And of course, with a cheesy grin he would say, "no!" Then the singing continued! My little guy makes me laugh so much everyday.

The first day of a new year!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had a safe and fun new years. We just stayed home :) We went to lunch earlier in the day to our favorite place, Chevy's, then came home to take naps. We didn't get up from our naps until about 5pm, we kinda just slept the day away. It was nice, and some much needed rest. We popped some popcorn and watched Monsters vs. Aliens, then it was bath time. Afterwards we blew our party noise makers and popped some poppers in the kitchen. Liam loved them. Then it was off to bed. We didn't make it until 12am. In fact, I think I crawled into bed at about 1050pm and Deron was at about 11pm. That is late for us old folks :) But we had fun just spending time together as a family. We are excited to enter this new year and can only wait to see what God has in store for us. There are so many things that we have talked about doing this year, but know that it is only in God's control and we just have to wait on Him. I start my Human Resources Training program in about 3 weeks and I'm really excited to see where this takes me in my career. Liam is also turning 2 in about 2 1/2 weeks. Wow have the years flown by. He has grown into such a character. We are excited to celebrate another year of his life and watch him learn and grow. He is such a smart little kid with such a big imagination! We hope everyone has a blessed year!

My baby Brother is 18!

My o my where did the last 18 years go?!? David turned 18 on December 27Th, and I think that I am still in shock. He has grown up so much. I can't believe that he is graduating from high school this year either. For his birthday we went to dinner at Nikko Nikko. What would David's birthday be without some sushi? It was a nice little dinner. Deron has never eaten there and doesn't care for sushi, but he ate some and he loved it! Liam tried his hand at chopsticks and ate a bowl of rice with those lovely sticks. He won't eat rice otherwise, now we have our secret weapon!
















David, you have grown into such a great man. We are so proud of all you do. We know you will go far in life with God by your side. You are a great man of faith and determination. You strive to be the best you can. May God bless you in your journey this next year. We love you!

Merry Christmas!

This is about a week late, but we've worked every day since Christmas and today is our first day off, and time to really do anything. We had a great Christmas. We are trying to start some family traditions now that Liam is getting older and understanding a little more what Christmas is. We stayed home on Christmas Eve and cooked a great dinner. Liam and I had ventured out earlier in the day to Barnes and Noble to get a few books for reading that night. We were constant trackers of Santa via the Norad Santa Tracker website. We would log on and show Liam where Santa was in the world and where we lived. He was so excited. After a great dinner and a fun bath, we sat down and read The Night Before Christmas and The First Christmas. He really recognizes Santa this year. Whether he really understands what he stands for... I don't think quite yet. We set out all Liam's presents after he went to bed and spent about an hour putting together his big gift, a play kitchen. When he woke up in the morning, he was so excited. He saw his kitchen first, and we had to pry him away from it just to open his other gifts. Right away he made us coffee. And now every morning, he makes sure to make me some coffee before we leave the house. After we opened gifts, we went over to my parents house to have some brunch. My Grandma and he husband came over, as well as my Aunt and Uncle who live here in California and my other Aunt, Uncle and some cousins who live in Texas. It was great to see everyone. Lisa was not able to be here with us this year, so we skyped her and put her up on the big screen t.v. so everyone could see her. After spending some time there, we headed over to Deron's parents house. Liam made out and every stop and really had a great day. He only had about a half-hour nap all day, and really did good in the behavior department.

The Best Macaroni and Cheese Ever!

I have to share another recipe, but this one is a must. It is the best macaroni and cheese I have ever tasted! You really must try this recipe if you like mac & cheese!

Double-Cheese Macaroni
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(12-1C. servings)
It really does make a lot!!!

1 pkg. (16.oz) elbow macaroni
3 C. 4% cottage cheese
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic salt ( I just added garlic powder since we don't really add salt to anything.... and I put more than 1/4 tsp.)
3 C. half and half cream
1 C. milk
4 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Topping:
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1 C. dry bread crumbs (we used Italian bread crumbs)
1/4 C. butter

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, place the cottage cheese in a food processor, cover and process until smooth. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt, pepper and garlic salt until smooth. Gradually add cream and milk. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 min. or until thickened.

Drain macaroni; transfer to a large bowl. Add the cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, and white sauce; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 13x9 baking dish (this will be really full!). Combine butter and bread crumbs; sprinkle over the top.

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 20-25 min. or until bubbly.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe, it is definitely a keeper in our recipe book!

a few tough days...

These last few days have been really rough ones. Nothing really with work, or school, but with Liam. He has been so temperamental and moody lately I am beginning to become concerned. Everyone keeps telling me that he is just turning 2, and that's fine, but he is just different to me. He has started crying again when I drop him off at daycare, and sometimes even with my parents. When we come home, all he does is seem to cry, and everything we do is wrong. He just wants to lay on top of me on the couch and go to sleep. Tonight, he fell asleep at 7pm which is really early for him. He just grabbed his pillow and blanket and crawled up onto the couch and went to sleep. He is throwing temper tantrums so often now, that a good mood throws us off track for the day. He just screams and we have no idea what it is about. I know this is probably all normal, but it is just so difficult and we don't know what we can do to sooth him. He is also struggling with paci separation. We are really trying to clamp down on getting rid of the paci, but his attachment seems to be getting worse. And there are many times that he wants nothing to do with Deron and gets so mad when Deron gets even a little close to him. He has made it so I am the only one that can do things for him at times and it is definitely draining. I guess this is just life with a toddler right? Any advice is definitely welcome!!!!