Cousins!

The Dickerson clan came to Utah to visit. I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I should have, but here are a few:

Fort of banana chairs- Brayden and Kylee, Liam in top, Reese in bottom picture

Color Me Mine: Reese pained the owl, Brayden the dragon, Kenzie the flower bowl and Lauren the mug. Kylee also painted a flower bowl, but it ran off before I got the picture.

Sidewalk Chalk

Playing at the mall play area (click to enlarge)

Kylee was anxious for Uncle Will to come home all Thursday so she could watch Liam open his birthday present (it ended up being two toy trucks)

Liam had birthday cake with the Heath side of the family, and then again with the Fabers. I don't think he minded.

Happy birthday again:

Birthday Party

We celebrated Liam turning 1 with the Heath side of the family on the Sunday before his birthday.

Some of the Kids sat at the counter just staring at the cake, trying to sneak tastes while we weren't looking and wishing it was time to eat!

Everyone gathers to light the candle. We had to do it three times- the first time Reese blew it out before we could sing, the second time the wind from the open window blew it out before we could sing, and the third time we made it through the happy birthday song, then Reese helped Liam blow the candle out again.

Liam and Daddy look at the cake

Song's over, let's eat!

The Pixar "Cars" themed cake had a lot of black frosting, and Liam's cousin Daxton didn't hesitate to get it all over his hair.

And uncle Mike models how we all got it all over our lips.

Liam dug right in to his piece of cake, and then went on to finish two others

Happy Birthday:

Aaaaand some video of Liam poking at cake:

One Year

Liam is a one-year-old today! Happy birthday Liam!

Here are some things about him:

Loves to dance . crawls all over but still not walking . two teeth . travels well . clings to Mama . loves playing with Gramma Great . eats and eats and eats . likes to drink out of a cup though he spills all the time . climbs stairs . learning to slide backwards down stairs- to break the habit of attempts to walk down the stairs while holding on to the railing . one-a-day naps . goes to bed around 7:30 pm . lets his hat stay on his head . throws fits when he doesn't get his way . gets a hold of the comb and tries to comb his own hair . tried talking into the phone the correct way . becoming more attached to his blankets for comfort . likes to do what his sister is doing . likes to turn pages in books . smart and clever (that's right, both).

Goings On

Reese saw her first movie in a theater! Will says she did pretty good, aside from about 5 minutes when she was just playing around. She went with her dad and her cousins (Mike's family). They saw Cars 2.

Liam has been crawling around like a mad man. He loves making noises at Gramma Great.

And he continues to be jealous of every food or drink he sees anyone else with.

Group picture when Reese had her camera out and insisted that I do the same.

ipad:

After jealously playing with Grampa Great's ipad, Will finally decided to spend graduation gift money on an ipad last night. He took Reese to the store with him and as soon as they stopped in front of the display Reese exclaimed, "I want to play Angry Birds!" I have never played this game before in my life, let alone with Reese, but somehow she connected the ipad with the game. I don't know. Oh, I also think she doesn't know that "angry" is an emotion. I think she believes it's a type of bird.

Will plugged it in on his night stand and was fiddling around with it this morning before he even got out of bed. Reese walked in to cuddle, saw him, and without missing a beat asked, "Dad, you playing with my ipad?"

As evidenced by the picture, she has gotten her share of playing with the new toy. Daddy read bedtime stories to her on it last night, she loves taking pictures and, yes, she knows how to play Angry Birds. Though I still don't. I would just like to take this moment to point out that she is two and I am 26.

4th Of July

Our Independence Day started with Reese asking to go to the "castle" playground, but then it started raining, so we went to Jungle Jim's instead. This time we actually had fun. Last time she rode one ride and was too scared to do anything else.

The Jeeps ended up being her favorite, while Liam threw tantrums when the carousel stopped. There were no lines, so we kept letting him ride it. He throws the same sort of tantrums when it's time to get out of the swing at the park.

Reese and Daddy on the elephant ride

Reese and Mother (Mama, sometimes I call you "Mother") on the spin around ride

Daddy and Liam watching

Later, we went to visit Cathy and Curtis for the annual Heath family barbecue. Luckily, the rain had, by that time, decided to move on. Uncle Grant was a favorite among the kids. As seen here.

Cinderella

Sometimes things just work out.

Reese has been asking and asking for a Cinderella dress. I searched DI and classifieds and Etsy and online and Kid to Kid secondhand shop. No smashing deals.

I finally gave in and went to Wal-mart. Would you believe that on their hangers with princess dresses there was only one Cinderella? I would have been totally in luck If I had wanted a Tiana or Belle dress, but I had to dig to find the Cinderella.

So when I brought it home and put it on a very excited Reese, there was nothing I could really do when I found the sleeve was torn. I could try to take it back but then what? No. playing with a torn dress was just the way it would have to be. And play in it she did. Every day.

A couple days later, Will and I were again at Wal-mart looking for a bath-toy storage solution. No luck in the baby section, so we decided to try the toy section, just in case. We find what we were looking for, but we did find a Cinderella dress. I hadn't noticed it before because it wasn't on a hanger- it was in a box. It was packaged this way because it came with a tiara and shoes.
AND

it was less than

two dollars

more than the dress I had purchased.

Ug! I lamented to Will how I had just taken out the garbage before we left- containing the packaging and probably the receipt the the dress we had. I couldn't just take it back used without the receipt. "But is has that torn sleeve," Will said. "Yes! The sleeve!" I exclaimed. "Will, you're a genius!" I suddenly didn't feel guilty trying to return it. People return defective products all the time.
When we got home, Will fished the Disney dress hanger (complete with barcode) out of the garbage can so they could just scan it in instead of look it up at the register, and the next day we were on our way to get the new dress package. While in the car, the receipt magically appeared on my lap. It must have been hiding under some junk in the car. Woo-hoo. Then- get this- The new dress, which we expected to pay about two dollars for after the return, was actually about FOUR DOLLARS LESS!
I went home a very happy mother. And Reese loves the crown and "glass slippers" so much she takes them to bed with her.

Balloons

The weekend after the move we went to a city festival. Reese's favorite part was getting candy at the parade, but she also enjoyed the pony ride and stick-on tattoos. But Liam and Reese both loved the balloons!