Liam is Three!

This weekend we celebrated Liam's third birthday.  Our baby boy has gotten so very big and in the last year has really developed into a great little boy. Liam wanted the theme of his birthday to be Dora the Explorer (or as he calls it Swiper no Swiping).

The night before we set up all things Dora around the house.  Sunday morning his grandparents and Liam's friends from school and the neighborhood came over.

He liked going around giving people "presents" from his tin.

He also loved surrounding the house with yarn.

We had a rainbow piñata - his choice - and it was fun to watch the kids swing at it.

The cake was super yummy.

Once everyone went home, Liam opened his presents.

And then he fell asleep in my arms.  What a great day!

Sacremento Train Weekend

Last weekend we headed up to Sacramento for a train adventure weekend.  We caught the Capitol Corridor train in Oakland's Jack London Square, for a 2 hour ride up to Sacramento.  The kids both loved being on the train.

Once we arrived, our first stop was the California Railroad Museum.  Liam loved the big trains and wanted to go on all of them.  He didn't want to leave.

 We then walked along the waterway to our hotel.  It was a beautiful day.

Once at the hotel we played in the pool, before heading into Old Town Sacramento for dinner and candy.

The next morning the kids were up early and we walked down the Capitol Mall to the State Capitol.  It was great to see the Capitol building and the Senate (red room) and Assembly (green room).   On the walk back the kids played in the leaves!

As we wandered through Old Town to go back to the Railroad Museum, the kids were fascinated by a street performer with paper marionettes.

On our second visit the the museum, we went to the floor with toy trains!  Liam was in heaven.

We had to take a break for lunch and then went on a carriage ride!

Then, Liam went back into the museum to play with trains, while Elsa, Grandpa and I explored the old schoolhouse and found railroad spikes to make designs with.

 

 It was a great trip and on the return ride, the kids said they want to do more Train Adventures!

Halloween 2015

Halloween this year was a warm and beautiful night.  Elsa started her Halloween night planning by building her own Haunted House.

After putting it out and getting the neighbors' kids to try it out, we headed out into the neighborhood to trick or treat.

Elsa was Anna from the movie Frozen and Liam was Batman.  They had a lot of fun going up to front doors and saying Trick or Treat.

In the week before Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch.  The kids enjoyed playing with all the pumpkins.

One night Elsa and Liam dressed up as matching firefighters. Their favorite thing to do was blow the whistle.

On Thursday, my office had a holiday party.  Elsa was Elsa (from the movie Frozen) and Liam was a firefighter.  They both enjoyed getting face painted.

On Friday, it was the school parade.  Elsa enjoyed being Elsa (as did 2 other girls and 1 boy in her class).  It was fun to watch her with her classmates.

Liam also had a parade around town, where he went as a firefighter.

Friday night we went out to a party, and Liam wore his mummy pajamas.

Elsa tells us Halloween is her favorite holiday.  She gets lots of candy, that she sorts in to bad candy (chocolate) and good candy.  Then the Switch Witch comes overnight and replaces it with presents!

We really enjoyed watching Elsa and Liam dress up and play this Halloween week.