Liam's big day

I would be remiss if I didn't give a tribute to Liam's big day last Wednesday. The recap got away from me last week, when we were in the thick of party prep, but we did what we could to make his day fun and I got some photos along the way. As I mentioned, Liam had school on his birthday, so we weren't able to make it a day-long celebration the same way we did with Mallory. He seemed pretty excited to go to school on his birthday, though, and I remembered from the previous year why. Sure enough, he came home that afternoon wearing a birthday crown, showing off a little gift from Mrs. Garrow and telling me about the 'little chocolate cake' she gave him at lunch. (I think she hands out Wagon Wheels. Remember those? No wonder he was excited!)I slipped away from the office early and picked Liam up directly from his classroom, rather than sending him down to the after school program. We went home together and whipped up some chocolate cupcakes for dessert. I asked him a few times if there was anything special he wanted to do on his big day, but I think hanging out in the kitchen with mom, mid-afternoon on a weekday, doing some baking, was out of the ordinary enough to make it special.We had dinner at his request: hot dogs, corn on the cob, and cheesies. Again, not the healthiest week of meal planning I've ever done, but getting to choose your own dinner on your birthday seems only fair. After dinner, Gramma and Grampa dropped by to give him his present and to join us for some cupcakes.We gave him a Morphibian for his birthday, a remote-control car that can go from land to water. We thought it would be fun for him to play with in the pool, though on closer inspection, it says it's not suitable for salt water. Oh well. He can still have fun driving it through puddles and maybe even down in the creek if it ever warms up.He definitely got a big kick out of it, which was good, because we asked him several times what he might like for his birthday and he never came up with anything. He wanted us to pick something for him. Mallory gave him a puzzle - and it's a nice coincidence that that is something she can enjoy, too.I hope this little guy grows up to fully understand one day just how crazy I am about him. Happy birthday, dear sweet Liam. The past six years have been the best ones of my life.