Liam

Liam’s First Travelling Soccer Match

Out in Orono. But they have grass there, so it was something different.

They lost 6-0, and never one a game until their very last game when they beat a team from Duluth which had never won all year long, either.

Then after the game we went to Cooper’s in St. Louis Park to eat lunch and for Liam to watch the Vikings game, which they surprisingly won. By the time we got home and Liam finished watching some more football, he was pretty beat.

 

Wild Game

For his birthday, I took Liam to his first Minnesota Wild game. They were playing the Winnipeg Jets, in their first season since the team left for Phoenix(?) years ago. Lots of Canadians there, which made the game much more enjoyable.

My favorite part of the evening is when the Wild were up 3-2 and Liam was telling me how great it was that it would be the first time that we’ve been to a game (he’s listing them all) that our team had one. Just as he was about to finish the sentence, Winnipeg scored, so he stopped and went “Awww” in frustration.

Also, Liam hasn’t seen a hockey game before, other than part of one on a television last year up in Brainerd, so he was quite surprised, and a bit confused, when a fight broke out.

Warming up.

Buffalo’s old logo is still hanging. I wonder if anyone here even knows that it should be changed.

Last shot of the night. The Wild did end up losing in the shootout.

Liam’s Birthday Party

Liam’s birthday party was nine kids coming over and making lots of noise.

Two kids came an hour early because they couldn’t stay the entire time, and Liam played with them while we waited for the rest. Right at noon, when the party started, we ate lunch so the early leavers would have their lunch. Then the kids went downstairs to play Super Mario World. After that, I made Liam turn it off and head outside, where they played (mostly) football, but some played on the swing and some played with a soccer ball. Because it was warm and sunny, some kids even got to take their jackets off, which is pretty rare for a February party.

After that we came inside and ate cake, and opened presents. There were kids there for over three hours, but it goes by pretty quickly.

Liam’s Birthday

As soon as the alarm went off in the morning, I was just getting out of the bathroom so I peeked my head in Liam’s room and asked if there was anything special about today. He got a huge smile on his face and said “Today’s my birthday!”

His dinner of choice was a hibachi grill place that we’ve been to in Plymouth, so that’s where we went.

Once home, he opened a few presents. Dalen got him a Lego set that he began working on right away, but soon enough it was time for bed, anyway.

 

First thing in the morning

At the restaurant

Liam and Helena sharing a laugh

Liam in the mask.

Helena being silly.

I got Liam Wild tickets.

Liam counting his birthday money.

Liam’s new lego set.

Liam finished one part before he had to head up for bed.

 

Liam’s Letter to Santa

Helena remembered to leave cookies and milk out for Santa after I had just put them to bed, so we got back up and came upstairs (they slept downstairs) to leave them out and I asked the kids if they would like to leave Santa a note. Helena wrote a short thank you note and mentioned that she had helped make the cookies. Ada, who is just beginning to write, said thanks as well. Helena chastised Liam for not writing one, but he said that he left one under the tree. Helena thought that wasn’t too smart, but Liam, being practical, said that since Santa was going to leave presents, he’ll see the letter.

Liam’s letter was about two NFL plays that he saw on television that day. Since I was trying to keep the kids out of the house as much as possible to keep it clean for Santa, we went to a bar/restaurant for lunch where I know that they have plenty of televisions for Liam to watch, which is heaven for him. That’s where he saw the 99 yard reception in the Giants game, and he saw a nice fake handoff executed by the Vikings (of all teams) at Lifetime. He’s convinced that he’ll see them on the top 10 plays of the week, which he periodically will catch in the television section of Target while playing Wii.

Liam’s Tesselation

Liam is famous for not realizing that he’s had projects to do for weeks and weeks. Dalen tells me the night before it is due, that he’s had a tesselation project that was assigned a month earlier. So Liam had to do the thing in one night. Luckily I had some paper at work, so we did it there and he colored it at home.

Funny how the kids never want to do these projects but when they are done they’re happy as can be about them.

Liam takes some photos

The community mosaic was being installed across the street at Bryant Square Market and Liam wanted to go see it. His sisters didn’t want to go, so I took him over there and he took some photographs once he practiced with the camera with a shot of the refrigerator.

Later on we went for a walk where Liam took a photo of this “cool” plant….

His sister….

The construction area at Calhoun Square with graffiti….

and the pirate ship at Penzey’s Spices.

After that we went to Puff ‘N Stuff, which was almost out of business and ready to become the Rusty Quarters Arcade. Liam is giving Defender a shot.

Helena and Ada were given dog biscuits by the owners and they played with Bosco for awhile.

Ice Skating

At Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. For the first time, their classes are not at the same time, so Helena and I skate for 30 minutes and then Liam and I skate for the second half-hour. Liam is finally getting a little speed. Helena plays with her friend Olivia and Liam is hanging out with two girls from his kindergarten class and has made a friend who goes to Hale.