The Birthday Parties!

On Saturday we celebrated both boys' birthdays with a party at X-Site Laser Tag. Evan turned 10 on January 24th and Grant will turn 6 on Valentines Day. We had Evan's birthday party at X-Site last year and had a really good experience (well, except for when Shawn blew his knee out playing laser tag and had to have surgery). Grant was really upset last year that he wasn't old enough to play - so he told me a few weeks ago that he really wanted his party there too - since you have to be 6 to play!

Well, everything turned out okay in the end - but I don't think we'll be doing a duel party thing EVER AGAIN!!! 20 kids, a very crowded venue and only 1 x-site employee party helper equals disaster!!! I do have to say thanks though to the parents who stayed and helped out. My migraine headache is now gone!!!

Evan's table of friends.
Grant's table of friends.

Grant and a few of his friends on the blue team in the laser tag room.
Evan rallying his red team in the laser tag room.
Grant and Evan next to their birthday cakes.
Grant and his buddies enjoying some cake.
Evan and his gang taking down some cake!

Blake's a big boy now!!!

So the past week, Blake has been sleeping in the bottom bunk in Grant's room, so we decided to roll that twin bed into his room this weekend to see how he'd do. He LOVED IT!!! So now we have his bed and the old crib (which we're trying to sell, see the post below this one) in his room until we sell it. Once we do, I'll get crackin' on painting and decorating his room in a more suitable "big boy" theme! For now, his new bed is a combo of the Wiggles, Cars and Backyardigans!

Any suggestions you have for decorating ideas once the crib is sold would be great!!! Let me know what you think I should do!

The new bed on one side of the room.
Gotta love the Wiggles, Cars and Pablo and Uniqua from the Backyardigans hanging out in the upper righthand corner of the bed!
Blake trying the new bed out.
Grant thought it was pretty cool too (probably more so since it gets Blake OUT of HIS room)!
It's bed time - and Blake did GREAT!!!

Crib Set for Sale

So it's a sad day, for mommy anyway! After 10 years, we will no longer have a crib in our house!!! We moved Blake to his "big boy bed" this weekend (see other post for more pics on that).

Up for sale is the crib (Simmons mattress and waterproof pad included), changing table, bedding (2 sheets, bumper, head bumper, crib skirt, comforter), matching mobile, matching diaper stacker, matching lamp and matching valance. If you know of anyone interested, forward this to them and have them make an offer. And yes, we will sell separately if desired.


Changing Table and Crib
Crib set to infant position. Crib is all white except for a sapphire/navy trim piece at the head and foot of crib.
Changing Table is all white. Vinyl changing pad included. I have 2 covers, 1 is denim blue and the other (not pictured) is a terry fabric in yellow. Also shown is the Diaper Stacker.
Exposed changing pad and musical lamp.
Details of bedding and mobile.
Matching valance (only 1)

Evan's 10th Birthday!

Well, it finally happened - I now have a child in double digits!!! I can't believe how fast the past decade has flown by!!! Evan has been such a blessing to us in so many ways. Not only was he our first born, but he held our family together at the ripe old age of 2 when my dad was diagnosed with his brain tumor and we were moving out of our house in Cincinnati to move to Fishers! God's hand was in everything during that time - and I believe he gave us Evan to help all of us cope, in ways he still will never quite understand! So today, I thank God for his life and his continued blessings. Evan, we all love you more than you could ever imagine - but I hope you always know and love the One who loves you even more than we do!!!

So we gave Evan his choice of places to go tonight to celebrate (he and Grant are having a joint birthday party in a few weeks). So, he chose Ben and Ari's (one of their favorite places to go). We munched on pizza and then it was on to the games and prizes!!!

We've known Leonard for a long time (the owner of Ben and Ari's), so he graciously took this famly photo for us!
Evan with his "prized" penguin!
Evan and Blake on the waverunner game.
Grant got a baby penguin to match Evan's larger one!
The younger boys giving the birthday boy a big, brotherly hug! And let me tell you, that doesn't happen often, so I was glad to get it on film!!!

So I just had to throw in a "baby" picture of Evan. This shows you just how old he is - this is one of the first pictures we have of Evan on a digital camera!!! It was taken when he was about 2 1/2 in 2000 after we could finally AFFORD to buy a digital camera!!! Guess that also explains why his photo album stopped around this timeframe as well!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I haven't been taking many pictures so far this year, but here are a few from just before New Year's and yesterday!

Two of my closest girlfriends from my college days. Colleen is on the left and Tammie is in the middle. We got together for breakfast just before New Year's. It's a shame it's been years since we've all seen each other together, but we're going to change all that soon! Tammie just moved to Atlanta (where my sister just moved to as well), so hopefully I'll see her more than we have in the years since I moved to Indy. Colleen and I just have to make it more of a priority as she still lives in Cincy! What can we all say - we're busy with our families and kids - but we still love each other as much as we did 15 years ago!!!
Evan, his iPod, and the makings of (hopefully) another Pinewood Derby Car winner for Cub Scouts!!!
Blake can be quite interesting. This morning I came downstairs from folding laundry and there he was under the family room coffee table: pillows on 3 sides and the "gate" we usually have across our stairs (to keep the dog downstairs) on the last side. So, he's gated under the table with a flashlight, his brother's Nintendo DS and his Uniqua doll from the Backyardigan's. He's just under there playing the Monster Truck game, completely oblivious to everything else! Too funny!
Yes, most people make their Christmas cookies BEFORE Christmas - but they get eaten up so quickly that we had to make another batch for New Year's Eve!
My 3 boys helping bake and decorate! Who said only girls bake!!! ;o)

Christmas 2007 at the Liller Home

So we started out the day with the kids waking up at 6:45am! They just couldn't wait to check out the loot under the tree. . . and so the day began, the first of 3 stops.

You can't help but be excited by all the gifts for the kids, but we also need to make sure our kids know and remember the true meaning of Christmas. We didn't have a birthday cake this year, but we still sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" anyway and said a prayer thanking God for the most amazing gift of all - His son Jesus Christ!!!

Oh yeah, and one more heartbreak (for me anyway) was Evan asking if Santa was real the night before Christmas Eve . . . it's sad in a way because it's the end of that make-believe era when one of your children finally knows their parents are Santa. He was cool with the truth and everything, he said he suspected last year when "Santa's writing looked a lot like mom's". Maybe it's just more devastating for me as a parent. So now I just have to make sure he keeps the secret until Grant and Blake are old enough to understand . . . hmmmmm, that could be interesting!!!

An aerial view of the 3 boys tearing into their gifts.

Grant grabbing a heavy present (Magnetix).

Evan and Grant loved all the Pokemon books they received - they almost couldn't tear themselves away to open more . . . I said ALMOST! ;o)

Evan and his Pokemon Kyogre doll.

Blake loved his Dora backpack - I think he kept it on most of the day (and didn't really even bother looking at all the games that came inside it)!

This video is Blake dancing with his favorite toy, "Sing and Spin Pablo". Click the play button twice on the video to watch it.This video was taken as Grant was opening his most asked for present - a wooden mailbox! Check out his reaction by clicking twice on the play button on the video.

Next stop: The Elmlinger house

So after opening gifts at our house, it was off to Cincinnati for more! We went to my parent's house for the festivities. What made it even more special was that I got to spend Christmas day with my 2 siblings (whom I hardly ever see). My sister Melissa and her hubby Mark and my adorable nephew Kyle (2) were passing through on their move to Atlanta, GA. My brother Greg was also there (he's also moving back to San Francisco in January). So it was a great day with my family!!!

My mom had all the grandboys wear Santa hats as they handed out the adult's gifts - they got a big kick out of doing that!
Kyle and Blake had to get in on the action too, so they donned Santa hats as well.
Kyle loves Pablo almost as much as Blake, so they had a great time playing with Blake's Pablo's.
The biggest shock of all was The Wii and the Nintendo DS. See below for the video of Evan opening the Wii.
The annual Liller family Christmas photo - not the best, but hey - at least we didn't forget! ;o)

So I stood in line from 11pm til' 6am at Meijer a few weeks ago to get a Wii (which my parents bought for the family). Evan's reaction here is priceless - he totally never expected we'd get one, he knew how rare they were to find! Check it out by clicking twice on the play button on the video.

Final stop: The Liller house (Shawn's mom)

So our final stop of the night was at Shawn's mom and sister's house. We decided to stay the night there since my mom's house was already fully occupied with my siblings! A really cool surprise was seeing Shawn's sister's engagement ring. The wedding will be on March 19th, which is both Shawn and Stacy's dad and fiance David's dad's birthdays!!!

Evan with one of the things he really wanted - an Action Replay for his DS (don't ask me what it does, I'm still trying to figure out what the Wii does!!!)
Grant is a Deal Or No Deal fanatic - so he was thrilled to get the electronic game!
More Pablo/Backyardigan's stuff, what more could a 3 year old ask for?!?!

Ice Skating Fun & the Mall

We had the opportunity this past Saturday to go to an ice skating party downtown at the Pan Am rink (Thanks Cheryl & Tim!!!). I didn't think the boys would actually put on ice skates, but they all tried it. Evan was the best tryer of the group, Grant lasted about 5 minutes before he was too afraid to go any further, and Blake was the most fascinated. It was a great time - and since we were downtown, we decided to take the boys into Circle City Mall (what we're we thinking - it was the Saturday before Christmas)!!! ;o) We had a great family day, I wish we could do more things like that together more often!

Also, we didn't send out Christmas cards this year - so here is just a little greeting from our family to yours. HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and may God bless you in this coming year!
Love,
Shawn, Beth, Evan, Grant and Blake Liller


They give the little ones cones to help them learn how to skate - it helps them keep their balance. Blake thought it was a blast!
Grant was fine - as long as you kept the cookies and hot chocolate flowing!
Evan was braver than I thought he would be. The last time he attempted to skate, he quit the first time he fell. This time, he kept trying and moved around pretty well. He especially liked this penalty box - he and a few friends he met liked playing in it.
So the boys had to check out Game Stop at the mall. I think we have our very own Guitar Hero in the making here!
Nothing like eating pretzels in a crowded mall - so we just picked a non-crowded spot on the floor outside Gameworks (we went in there to play some games, but got shoved out pretty quickly when the fire alarm went off).

Christmas Concert with Steve Quinn

What an awesome night! Steve's concert was AMAZING! It was such a privilege that he asked me to be a part of it, and I had a great time! It was videotaped and everything, so I can't wait to see the whole finished production. In the meantime, Steve recorded a brand new Christmas album that you can purchase at Capstone for $15 (and I got to record with him on that as well - 3 songs including the solo I did at the concert "Breath of Heaven"), so all in all, it's been quite an awesome experience. Steve also wants to record a Valentine's Day album with me of love songs, so stay tuned for that!!!

Steve and I before the concert.
I agree Steve, it IS the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!
The stage setting was so cool - the tech and video teams did a fantastic job!
Steve and I singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside".
Steve and I "Walking In A Winter Wonderland".