July already?!

This summer is flying by so quickly! We've been busy with visits from Grammy and other friends, as well as our usual day to day activities.


Oliver picked out a wood pirate ship at Hobby Lobby and painted it (mostly) by himself! He did a GREAT job.




















Oliver also learned how to hold up 2 fingers! He's been working on that skill for a very long time. :-)
















We didn't do much to celebrate Independence Day (too hot!), but the kids did dress up in their holiday outfits!







































Oliver helped me make and frost a cake for our neighbor. I think he enjoyed the icing the most.

















And finally . . . it's difficult to get a good shot of both kids when they're smiling, but I think both of these pictures are very cute.

We love summer!

We've been having a lot of fun this week. Buttercup is maturing right before our eyes, and it's nice that she's beginning to enjoy some of the same games and activities that Oliver likes! It's also so much fun that the kids are beginning to really enjoy playing together as much as possible.


eating lunch















Buttercup was trying to get into crawling position, but Oliver kept tickling her feet















swinging outside

































Buttercup "drove" the Cozy Coupe while . . .















. . . Oliver horsed around with Aunt Anna





























jamming on the piano















wearing their matching LSU shirts to celebrate LSU's win over UT in the college baseball World Series . . .















. . . then Oliver accidentally bonked his head into Buttercup's
(note: she calmed down approximately 2.3 seconds later)















Other cute pictures:

Oliver talking to and sharing a snack with Hippo Hippio Hippo before church















What a cutie!





















2nd tooth has arrived!















Playing with the plastic storage containers

Conversations with Oliver

I have new pictures to upload, but in the meantime I thought I'd share some Oliver tidbits with you.

One day last week, Oliver, Buttercup, and I headed out for an outing after Buttercup's morning nap. We were leaving our neighborhood when Oliver saw a man and a 13-14 year old boy standing near the sidewalk outside of their house. The boy was holding a weedwhacker, and the man was standing next to a lawnmower.
Oliver and I had the following conversation: [FYI, Oliver is fascinated with weedwhackers and other yard tools]
Oliver: That boy have weedwhacker???!
Me: Yep, it looked like he was going to help his daddy with some yard work!
Oliver: He real big boy???? Has weedwhacker??!!
Me: Yes, he's a "real big boy", like Austin at church.
Oliver: When I real big boy, I have weedwhacker?
Me: Maybe, when you're a "real big boy", you can help Daddy with the weedwhacker! Would that be fun?
Oliver: [his face lit up like a Christmas tree] UH HUH!!!!

A little while later, we were nearing our destination and Oliver was looking out of the window at the clouds in the sky. He said, "That rain cloud look like soap. That rain cloud [is] soap to wash my hair with!"

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On Friday, I took Oliver and Buttercup on another outing. We were at an intersection, and a police car turned in front of us. I pointed it out to Oliver. Then, we turned behind the police car and I noticed that it was a K-9 police car. I said, "Oliver, that police car is a very special police car! It says, 'K-9', which means that there is a police dog in that car!" Oliver looked at me with his mouth open and said, "Police dog driving the car????"

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This morning, we went to HEB and I let Oliver pick out a toy to buy. He chose the "Bob Cutlass" car from Cars. He asked me later what the name of the car was, and I said, "Bob Cutlass" and he started making up all sorts of funny names, like "Bob Footloose," "Bob Froot Loops," "Bob Fungus." He is such a hoot!

Happy 8 months old, Buttercup!

Little Miss Buttercup turned 8 months old today! I can't believe she's already out of the "blob" stage and becoming a real little person. We didn't do much in the way of celebration, just the usual daily stuff -- running, playing outside and inside, etc.


It's hard to see in this picture, but Buttercup's first tooth is coming in! (bottom left)






















Having a "big girl" snack of Gerber puffs and water

















Oliver helpfully showing Buttercup how to pick up puffs and eat them

Having fun at the duck park

Oliver loves going to the park. Fortunately for us, there are several parks to choose from in our area! There are 2 parks with ducks near our house, but Oliver's favorite is what he calls the "duck park with deep water". That park is pretty great, and it's one of my favorites, too. It's about 14 acres, there are plenty of rocks and sticks to throw in the creek, 2 playscapes, swings, and of course, the aforementioned ducks.

I took Oliver there last Sunday morning when Buttercup was sick and we thought Oliver was coming down with the same virus. He and I had a lot of fun together!


"Airplaning" in the swing

















Throwing a pretty huge rock (for him!) in the water





















Tossing another rock in a puddle


















Looking for fish, I think

















Wandering















After all of the rock-throwing, it was time for a snack!

















Then Oliver practiced his silly faces

Pretend games and other cuteness

Oliver's new favorite game is to pretend that he's giving a concert . . . he sets his little chairs next to each other, places his Bible and "microphone" (his microphone is usually the cardboard piece inside a roll of paper towels, but sometimes he uses his hammer) on one chair and sits on the other. Then he introduces himself and announces the names of the songs he's about to play. The funny thing is, he rarely gets around to playing a song, because he gets so caught up in getting his introduction just right. :-)





















Sometimes all of us get involved in the concert. One night, Dennis brought out his saxophone to play!



















Toward the end of this week, Buttercup came down with a fever plus runny nose. She's been pretty happy, but obviously doesn't feel like herself! Oliver has been a good big brother, bringing her toys and other (not as useful) items to "help her feel better."

Here's a cute video of her from earlier this week:




Just hanging out with Mom


















Flexing and showing off his Home Depot tattoo





















Closeup of the tattoo

Oliver's first race!

We had a very exciting weekend! Oliver and I ran a local race on Saturday morning. I ran the 10k and Oliver ran the kids' run (400m).

We woke Oliver up at 6:30am to get to the race site by 7:00. (Aunt Anna very kindly stayed at our house with baby Buttercup)























Oliver helped me stretch before my race
















then he and Dennis cheered me on while I ran,





















and passed the time by hanging out with the Chick-fil-A cows.

















I ended up finishing first out of 104 women! Oliver helped me stretch again after my race.
















Then it was time for the fun stuff . . . making a craft at the Home Depot booth! Oliver loves his new Home Depot Kids apron.









































Then, the best part of the morning! Oliver had been asking for 2 hours if it was time to put his race number on. And finally, it was time!!!






















He and I lined up at the start





















then the gun went off! Oliver took off sprinting, but ran out of steam pretty quickly. Fortunately, the Chick-fil-A cows were there to save the day, and paced him for the remainder of the race!






















"Just keep swimming, Cow!"
















Almost there!!!






















YAY! He did it!!! Oliver won a green finishers' ribbon!






















But he didn't care about finishing, he just wanted to play with the cows some more.























After a good nap (for Oliver and Mommy), it was time to get to work fixing all of Oliver's cars. He even wore his new Home Depot apron. :-)



















And, lest we forget about Princess Buttercup, here are some cute weekend photos of her.

Hanging out in a diaper box:























And lounging in the pool!


















Here's a video of Oliver singing his made-up "Henry" song.
A little background: Henry is one of his beloved Thomas trains, and the lyrics are: Henry likes to drive on the track, Henry likes to drive on the track, Henry likes to drive on the track, etc.