Liam's 9th Birthday

(It was hard to pick a song that goes with a post about Liam's birthday. He is such a little music lover - should I pick AC/DC? Michael Jackson? I finally decided to go with Liam's favorite song right now - the Foo Fighters' "Walk." Yep, Liam's just very cool like that.)

I won't say what I always say when posting about my kids' birthdays - "I can't believe so-and-so is __ years old" - because in this case, I can totally believe that Liam is 9! He is remarkably mature for his age and has seemed that old for a while now! He is such a fantastic kid!

Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we went out for his birthday dinner to Winger's on Saturday night. Instead of a big party, he just wanted a special date with his dad, so they went to see "The Green Lantern" and had a lot of fun together.

We let him open his presents bright and early Sunday morning.

Each of the kids picked something out for him. Sam chose Lego ninjas.

And so did Declan.

Grace got him a Zumba Wii game. Don't believe for a second that she was just thinking of herself getting to play it - that boy sure loves Zumba!

Garreth and I got him an iPod nano and a new bike.

Listening to his tunes and building Legos = heaven.

After church, we went to our new favorite park for some zipline rope swing birthday action.

When we got home, there was a big present wrapped in lion wrapping paper sitting on the counter, so we knew that Papa and Nana were there for a surprise birthday visit! They were cruising Rock Springs looking for us, since we had left our cell phones in the van at the park, so we called them and they came over to join the party. It meant so much to all of us to have them there with us!

Liam's requested birthday dinner was homemade pizza and salad with grasshopper pie for dessert.

We had fun hanging out with Nana and Papa, then they left and we put the little boys to bed for a game of Risk. And in true birthday-luck fashion, Liam killed us all and won his first game of Risk! Perfect end to the day!

Liam's last birthday request was to go bowling as a family, which we did on Monday night.

Grace kept going up to the lobby to wait in between turns. Garreth thought this might have to do with the cute boy working there, but it was definitely because of the reality cop show they were showing on the TV up there! She was very into it. Should we be worried?!

I love this picture of Grace, pulling a very Garreth face! And notice Liam in the background, transfixed by people getting beat down and arrested?!