Home Again!

We have been back at home for 3 days, and we miss Grammy, Granddaddy and Max already! We had a great time visiting them. Oliver had fun helping Granddaddy outside: they planted bell pepper, tied garlic for drying, watered the plants, and dug holes in the garden. They also had fun inside, making cinnamon rolls!




















































We also visited a few playgrounds, saw Mike the Tiger at LSU, and went to the zoo. Mike was sleeping both times we visited him, but I think Oliver enjoyed seeing him the most. We'll definitely have to see him again on our next trip!

Visiting with Family

This week Oliver, Buttercup, Aunt Anna and I are visiting my parents in Louisiana. God blessed us with a safe, uneventful trip (10 hours on the road!) and we arrived just in time for bedtime on Saturday evening.

Oliver is having the time of his life! He is enjoying having Granddaddy and Grammy around to play with him, and he loves being outside in Granddaddy's garden. So far he has helped Granddaddy plant bell pepper, tie garlic (for drying), and dig holes in the garden. We've also been to a couple of playgrounds in the area. Yesterday afternoon, Granddaddy, Oliver and I went to a playground where there happened to be an excavator, bulldozer, and jackhammer in a field behind the playground. Oliver walked right up to the excavator, and the scooper/digger part was almost as tall as he is!

Buttercup is having a good time, also. The poor baby has some teeth coming in, so she's not always happy, but she is such a fun baby girl when her gums aren't hurting! Aunt Anna made her laugh really hard last night -- I'll have to post the video when we get back to our house!

Stinky Mommy

Yesterday afternoon, I went running with the kids and was sweating a lot by the time we got back home. I wanted to take a shower right away, but I never got around to it. About 3 hours later I was putting Oliver to bed and had just finished dressing him in his PJs, and we settled into his rocking chair to read. I was still wearing my running tank top and shorts. He turned his head and moved his face really close to my chest, then looked up at me with a questioning look on his face and said, "Mommy take shower??" I said, "No, I didn't take a shower yet, I'll take one later." He moved his face close to my chest again and wrinkled up his nose and said, "Mommy take shower." It was like he was ordering me to take a shower. LOL! I said, "Does Mommy smell bad?" He said no, but then he kept turning around and smelling me the entire time I read to him. LOL!

Springtime Fun!

Oliver, Buttercup and I have been having a really fun day! This morning we all played in Oliver's room after breakfast. While Buttercup was napping, Oliver and I went outside to play. I pushed him in his swing for about 15 minutes (not an easy task pushing a 36 pound toddler for that long!), then we ran around the yard and pretended that we were helicopters, airplanes, and jet planes. Then we went in the backyard and Oliver pretended to cut down a few of our trees. I think he'll be ready for some serious yard work in a couple of years!

While we were playing, Oliver and I talked about our upcoming visit to Grammy and Granddaddy's house. I reminded him that Daddy wouldn't be going with us, and that it would just be Mommy, Oliver, Buttercup, and Aunt Anna. We had the following conversation:

Oliver: Granddaddy be there?
Me: Yes, Granddaddy will be there!
Oliver: Granddaddy play cars with My?
Me: Yes, I bet Granddaddy would love to play cars with you.
Oliver: Grammy be there, too?
Me: Yep, Grammy will be there to play, too!
Oliver: No. Grammy no play cars. Grammy hold baby. Grammy hold baby so Mommy play with My and Granddaddy.

Oliver definitely has things figured out by now. LOL! Later on, he and I were dancing around and acting silly. I said, "We're just a couple of silly goobers!" About an hour later, we went to a friend's house to visit, and Oliver greeted her with, "Hi! I a GOOBER." Oops.

Here are some cute pictures from the past few days.

Buttercup can sit up so well!! And in case you can't read her shirt, it says, "Honk if you think I'm cute." HONK!







































And here are 2 pictures from our impromptu Easter photo shoot. We may have to try it again on a different day . . .









































Here is a video of Oliver's version of The Three Little Pigs:

Three little pigs wanted to build a house. Big bad wolf come over to knock down his house. There was another little piggy wanted to build a house. There another big bad wolf who wanted to knock down his house.
Me: And what did the wolf say?
Want to knock down his house. Want to knock down his house. Want to knoooock dowwwwwwwn his house.

Happy Resurrection Day!

This weekend we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! We are thankful every day for His sacrifice and strive to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him.

We had a pretty good Easter weekend. Buttercup and I caught Oliver's bug and we were both feeling under the weather, but all 3 of us were feeling pretty good by Sunday evening. On Saturday, Dennis and I hid eggs in the backyard during Oliver's nap. Oliver had a great time finding the eggs after he woke up! We made sure to "hide" the eggs in obvious places, but he still had a little bit of trouble finding them until we pointed them out. It was a lot of fun! I can't wait until next year when Buttercup can look for eggs, too.




































After naptime on Sunday, Dennis and I took the kids to the nearby trail to walk/run and we also visited a playground. Buttercup had fun on the swings!





















Sunday evening, we decided to barbecue and have a picnic in the backyard . . . possibly not the best idea with a toddler and (almost) 6 month old . . . but we had a good time anyway. Definitely made some memories! While the kids and I were waiting for Dennis to join us on the blanket, I talked to Oliver about the reason why we celebrate Easter. I began, "Easter is the time that we celebrate Jesus . . ." and then I stopped to collect my thoughts. Oliver looked at me, and then started singing, "Happy Birthday to Jesus." Here's a picture of him singing the song to Buttercup:
















and this is after he stopped singing to her:














I love my cuties! They are so much fun!

Fun (and funny) pictures

Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today. As you can see, we've been busy with sidewalk chalk!















In case you're wondering what this is . . . it's an outline of Dennis, traced by Oliver. We have a budding artist on our hands! (you may need to click on the image to see it better)





















Buttercup wearing the bonnet that Grammy made for her.

Thoughts from Oliver

Oliver still wasn't feeling too well yesterday, so we had another lazy day at home. Here are some cute things he said during the day:

-- I was feeding Buttercup in the recliner, and Oliver was playing with his new saw on the rug. He kept mumbling something, and I asked him a few times to repeat it. He finally said (slooooowly and looooudly), "I WANT BABY TO GO BACK IN MOMMY'S BELLY."

-- We were listening to the Beatles, and I was singing along to "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Oliver was dancing along with the music. I asked him if he liked that song, and he stopped dancing and said (very seriously), "No, Mommy. That a silly song."

-- We were outside writing with his new sidewalk chalk, and I was singing the bunny song that Granddaddy made up several years ago. The song goes like this:

Daddy caught me a new thing to play with
Its eyes were brown and its ears were long
I gave it to Mama to hold for me
It kicked her belly and -pbbt- it was gone!

As soon as I finished singing it, Oliver said, "Mommy no sing that song. Mommy no sing about kick[ing] Mommy belly. Mommy sing about song nice to Mommy belly."

Easter gifts!

Poor Oliver isn't feeling well today. He's been in a pretty good mood, but you can just tell that he's not feeling like himself. I think those days are hardest on the parents, because it's not fun when your usually-rambunctious little boy doesn't want to play!

BUT Oliver definitely perked up this afternoon when the UPS truck brought a delivery from Dennis' parents . . . a box full of Easter goodies, toys, and books! Oliver loves playing with his new Black & Decker saw. He even wanted to take it to bed with him!




And -- this video is for Aunt Anna, but I bet the rest of you will enjoy it, too -- here is a super cute video of Oliver announcing the names of the Thomas trains from one of his videos:

Card from Grammy and Granddaddy!

This afternoon Oliver received an Easter card from my parents. He really loves it, as you can see in this video!

Weekend Fun!

This weekend we had 2 really wonderful days together. On Saturday, we took Oliver to his friend's birthday party at a gym for little kids. That afternoon Anna was babysitting the 3 boys she nannies, so we surprised Oliver by taking him to play with the 3 year old twins and 1 year old Marco after the party. We had a great time and I think Buttercup even enjoyed herself!












































On the way home from playing, Oliver had a few things to say:

He also wanted to share his dance moves (video from Sunday morning):

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to our family blog! I plan to update our blog frequently as a way to keep far-away family and friends in touch with what is going on in our daily lives.

Oliver, Buttercup, and I had a great day yesterday. While Buttercup took her morning nap, Oliver and I went out on the back porch to play with his new sidewalk chalk. I asked Oliver what he wanted me to draw, and he said, "An M&M, and my birthday party!" He is such a hoot. After my smiley girl woke up from her nap, we all played outside, then went for a long walk. Oliver pushed his bubble mower and got quite a few compliments on the bubbles flowing behind us. Later in the afternoon, Buttercup and I watched Oliver and Dennis plant azaleas in the back yard. Oliver's feet were so filthy by the time we all came inside. We love spring weather in Texas!

Here is one of my favorite videos of Oliver and Buttercup playing together. They are going to be the best of friends!