Christmas crafts and other stuff

We recently had our first taste of fall weather! It's only October, but the cooler weather put me in the holiday spirit, so Oliver and I got started on making Christmas ornaments. We had so much fun! Without a doubt, his favorite part was using glitter glue. :-)


The artist at work















Look at that concentration!















Finished product. Beautiful!















Last weekend, we went to the local garden store to attempt taking a fall picture of the kiddos. It obviously didn't work out as we planned.












































After that, we drove to the creek to look at the "big water". Dennis and Oliver took turns trying to dip each other in the water, then we walked and ran down to the playground to play before heading home.

































































Other fun stuff!

Oliver as "Dr. Baker", addressing the needs of his patient, Elephant.
















Oliver LOVES his new cowboy boots.



















Don't all firefighters climb trees?

















Cute video of the Toot playing with me in the kitchen.

Big girl!

October is upon us, which means that we will soon be celebrating two very important birthdays in our house! Buttercup is becoming such a big girl right before our eyes. She waves "hi" and "bye", and says "uh-oh" (not always appropriately, but she's working on it!). She seems to verbalize more and more every day. My favorite sounds, though, are the ones she makes when she's not really trying to communicate with us. It's as though she's trying to add to the conversation, but not really trying to tell us something important. Here is a video of her making some of those sounds during our dinner tonight. Enjoy!

Sleeping Princess

We had a fun afternoon! A cold front came in yesterday, and we got even more cold rain today. Yay! We'll probably get tired of the cold rain soon, but for right now we're enjoying staying warm and dry and playing inside the house!

Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.

Buttercup took a 3 hour nap!
































After she woke up, I bundled the kids up and we went for a run.



















Oliver couldn't wait for me to put the rain cover on the stroller, he was so excited!














A close-up of the cutest baby girl shoes EVER.













How sweet!

The usual business and cuteness!

We've been pretty busy over the past few weeks! The kids are growing and learning new things every day.

Oliver can spell his name, the word "open" and he attempts to spell "Buttercup" (but I think that one might take him a good bit longer to master). He can count to 13, knows the entire alphabet (even out of order), and can read several words. We're working on tracing letters and numbers, but that will come with time! He also has such a vivid imagination and is really into building his own tools. For example, (you'll see this in a picture below) he made a "nail gun drill" out of his drill, pliers, and my vacuum cleaner hose. He is such a smart little guy. I have no doubt that God has great and wonderful things in store for him!! Most importantly, Oliver is enjoying having a baby sister more and more every day . . . I think he just wants a playmate, he doesn't care about all of that baby stuff! He and Buttercup are turning into the best of friends. He's her protector, advisor, cup- and snack-retriever, and helper. He is just the most wonderful little boy.

Buttercup is such a sweet, laidback baby girl. She's going through some rough spots right now (teething and separation anxiety) but she is still mostly happy during the day! We just have so much fun together. She can sign "more" and "cup", she can mimic sounds that we make (da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, etc), and she is trying to say a few words! She already has a word for Oliver -- "buh BUH" ("big brother"). She loves her big brother!!

















Oliver's "nail gun drill"















The young engineer at work.



















































One day, I told Oliver he could play quietly in his bed during naptime. 20 minutes later, this is what I found. :-)































These next few pictures were taken at a birthday party for 2 of Oliver's friends. There was a petting zoo! I think Oliver liked the bunnies the best. :)




















































Buttercup and her friend Lucy.
























































Oliver hard at work in his "worker site".

Real Big Acrobats!

This afternoon we took advantage of the cooler weather to have some fun at the playground before dinner. Oliver and Buttercup both enjoyed the swings for a while, then we all played in the rocks. Oliver made us rock "hamburgers" and "cheese", and Buttercup tried to eat as many rocks as she could. :-)

Here is a short video of Oliver's latest "acrobats" on the toddler slide.




And here he is, singing a song he made up about barrel bolts. If you're wondering about the look of confusion on his face midway into the song, it's because he forgot some of the words to the version he had just made up. :-)

Playing at "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

Like most kids his age, Oliver loves going to McDonald's. We don't go very often at all -- maybe once every 2 months -- but every time we go, it's a major cause for excitement.

The last time we went was on a Saturday about 3 weeks ago . . . we spent the afternoon at the mall, then Dennis asked Oliver where he wanted to eat for dinner. Oliver said, "I want to go to Old MacDonald had a farm!!" So McDonald's it was. Fortunately for us, the closest McDonald's was across the street, and it had a huge playground outside. A playground that rose about 12 feet in the air. Oliver shoveled in his chicken nuggets as fast as he could, then ran outside (with Daddy in tow!) to play. He was a little hesitant at first, but then dove right in. What a big boy!




















































































These pictures are from one day last week when Oliver and Buttercup were playing in the living room while I cooked dinner. They're beginning to have so much fun together. :-)

Flowers from my sweet boy

Oliver is such a loving, giving, sweet little boy. He makes my heart so full of joy!! One morning this week, I took the kids out for a run after breakfast. On our way back up the driveway, Oliver noticed some purple flowers growing in our grass. He asked if he could pick one, and I said, "Of course!" He bent down and studied the flowers for a minute, then he carefully picked two. He walked proudly toward me, holding out the flowers, and said, "Mommy, I picked 2 flowers! This one is for me. This one is for you . . . but you have to share it with Baby." LOL! What a sweet, sweet boy. :-)




















Here are some other pictures from this week!

Oliver and Jaxon getting ready to BOWL!














Bowling is so much fun!!














How cute is this??!



















And this is what I discovered when I walked into the kitchen this morning . . . perhaps it's time to install safety locks on the cabinets? :-)