Pictures from our Trip, Part 3

We went to see Mike the Tiger on the 2nd to last day of our stay with Grammy and Granddaddy. Oliver loves going to see the tiger. He talks about him a lot at home and regularly picks out his "Mike the Tiger" shirt to wear. :-)


















As you can see, Oliver was very excited. Rooooooooooooooar!
















Buttercup liked looking at Mike, too! She barked at him ("ruh ruh ruh!") almost every time he walked by.















Before we left, we all had to take our pictures sitting on the tiger statue. Oliver was a little reluctant to pose at first . . .

















. . . but he perked up when it was his turn to sit by himself. Geaux Tigers!

Good to be home!

We had a great visit with everyone, but 2 weeks is a long time to be away from home! The kids have been so happy to be home. There have been very few squabbles or tantrums for the past 3 days.

Oliver has been so loving with Buttercup. He voluntarily hugs her and says her "I love you" -- but don't be fooled into thinking he's not a tough guy! He has mastered bike riding on the bumpy, cracked, hilly sidewalk and it took several hard spills to get to that point, but he handled it with as much tenacity that a 3 year old can muster. What a big boy!

Buttercup is still working on walking. She takes steps randomly throughout the day, but crawling is still her 2nd favorite way to travel (1st choice is being carried on my hip). She's really funny though, and is so tolerant of Oliver roughhousing with her. Yesterday she let him "amputate" her limbs with his saber saw, and both Oliver and Buttercup giggled the whole time. :-)


Here are some pictures from this morning.

Carefully mincing onion with his knife















Coating the onion in flour

















Smiles in the sunroom! We were repeating "cracker?" to each other, which Buttercup apparently thought was the funniest thing in the world. LOL!
















The next Kareem Abdul-Jabar, maybe?
















Her shirt says, "It's not easy being this cute" She is such a cutie!

Pictures from our Trip, Part 2

We had a great time at the beach! Many thanks to Dennis' family for inviting us to come. Here are some pictures!

Pictures from our Trip, Part 1

I took so many pictures from our trip(s) that I thought it would be best to break it down into 3 or 4 posts instead of 1 really big one. :-) As a side note: Have I mentioned how much I love my kids? They really are the best. We traveled for an average of 9 hours each trip, and barely complained about it. God has been so good to us!


These are the pictures from our first day of traveling! We drove from our house to Grammy and Granddaddy's house.



Oliver was very excited when he woke up that morning. He said, "Is today the day we go to Granddaddy's house? Can I wear my jammies? Can Buttercup wear hers?"















Then we had to wake Buttercup up so we could get an early start. She wasn't nearly as excited as Oliver. :-)
















Finally about to get on the road! Oliver was yelling, "We going to GRANDDADDY's HOUSE!"

















I took this picture about 2 hours into our trip. We had a potty break and Oliver was so excited to get back on the road.
















And Buttercup was just happy to have her water. :-)

















Buttercup protested for a little while, but finally fell asleep.

















Oliver did, too.
















I was so happy to see the Atchafalaya!
















Then we got stuck in traffic for an hour.
















But we finally made it! YAY!

Christmas Travels

This year we decided to spend Christmas with both sides of the family. We drove to Grammy and Granddaddy's house first, spent 2 nights, then drove to meet Grandma and Grandpa in Florida, spent 4 nights with them, then drove back to Grammy and Granddaddy's house to spend a week before driving home. Whew.

At first, I was excited about taking a road trip, but then I started to get a little (okay, a LOT) apprehensive about sleeping arrangements, if Oliver would take a nap, if Oliver would keep Buttercup awake the entire time, etc. I prayed about it and talked to Dennis about it, and I am very thankful to say that God took care of all of my worries and things could not have gone better. God is just awesome! He takes care of us, provides for us, and also listens to our tiny little requests!

While we were in Florida at the beach house, Oliver and Buttercup played in the sand, went looking for shells, and Oliver "fished" from the pier. We also made lots and lots of Play Doh hamburgers with Oliver's new Play Doh maker. :-) Now that we're back at Grammy and Granddaddy's house, Oliver has been spending most of his time outside with Granddaddy-- cutting down banana plants, digging holes, shoveling rocks, building fires, picking vegetables, and just having the time of his life. Buttercup has been having a good time watching Max (the dog) and playing with her new toys.

Pictures to come in a different post!

Crafts and Christmas Ornaments

These are the ornaments that the kids picked out for themselves this year. (Well, Oliver actually picked out Buttercup's ornament, because she was too busy smearing graham cracker residue on herself and the stroller) It will be fun to see how their tastes change over the years!


































Yesterday afternoon, we decided to all sit at the table and work on a project for Dennis. Buttercup colored (and ate crayons, too), Oliver cut out paper scraps and glued them together, and I helped with the coloring and tracing.

Static Electricity and Tic Tac Toe

This morning Oliver and Buttercup were playing with a box of old bottles in the kitchen, and Oliver found that he could make Buttercup's hair stand up if he brushed her hair with the bottle brush. I told him it was static electricity, and he couldn't quite understand how the electricity was in the brush since it didn't have a light switch. :-)




























After breakfast, Oliver asked to write on the dry-erase board. He wrote his name and did a very good job! (I didn't get a picture because he erased it too quickly) Then I taught him how to play tic-tac-toe (he drew Os and I drew Xs). That time, I was much faster with the camera. :-)