Wordless Wednesday: Uncle Alex

Olivia's newest obsession

Miss Olivia has a new obsession lately and its driving us crazy! She LOVES water bottles! And I don't mind letting her drink out of one, but its the squirting water all over her body, the floor, the dog, etc. that makes me nuts! She has started refusing her sippy cup and only wants whatever Jacob or the rest of us have. It was so bad the other night, I had to hide my water bottle at the dinner table! I kept it on the floor next to my chair and whenever I wanted to take a drink, I turned my back so she couldn't' see me! Yea, told ya she was obsessed!

Love Letters

I cleaned out Jacob's backpack this week and found these.

Jacob, what are these?
They're love notes mommmmm.
Excuse me????
What?
Who are they from?
"E' in my class.
Why did she give them to you? *feeling a little protective*
Because she said that she loves me and likes me a lot.
Oh, um okay (not really sure how to answer this...still stunned I am having this conversation with my five year old! Even though I secretly think it is kinda cute too!)
But I don't like her. She's a girl and girls are gross.
*Oh thank God we are still in the "girls are yucky" stage*
Sigh
Okay honey. I think she just thinks you are a nice boy. But I am going to remind you of this "girls are gross" stage in 10 years or so. Ok?
Huh?
Nevermind.

Stranger Danger....or maybe not?!

As usual miss Olivia has been "keeping me on my toes" which we all know is nice mommy talk for driving me crazy keeping me busy! She is in a major mommy attachment phase right now and we have had a hard time with things like the Physical Therapist coming or leaving her at the church nursery, etc. This morning I had my last MOPS meeting for the semester. Last week when I dropped her off, she cried at first but then surprisingly did well and made it through. Today when I dropped her off, she cried really hard and as usual, I wondered to myself if I would get paged. Well, sure enough about 20 minutes before my meeting was over, I got the dreaded buzzzzzzzzzz from my pager signaling me to come pick up my child A.S.A.P. I rushed downstairs to get my sobbing daughter whose face was beat red from all the crying she had done. She clearly had been very upset and obviously cried loudly because even one of the other church workers commented on what a strong pair of lungs she has. Nice. Thanks. We picked up Jacob from his room and left. She was happy as a clam by the time we got outside.

I had an errand to run on the way home and stopped at the U.P.S. store. Apparently I appeared as though I needed some help because in the midst of trying to unload the car, the store manager walked out and opened the door for us. Olivia was walking trying to get up on the sidewalk and I was still trying to get Jacob out of the car. (Moms, please tell me you can relate to the chaos of trying to get all your stuff and your kids out of the car!) Well I opened Jacob's car door and when I turned back around, the store manager had picked Olivia up. Now being that this is the kid who just cried for over an hour after being left in the care of strangers, it would be safe to assume that this would totally freak her out. Think again.

She was FINE. Not at all bothered that a complete stranger had just picked her up and was carrying her into the store while Mommy walked behind. Some of the employees were joking with him at how well he was handling her and commented they had never seen him carry a baby in before (I must have really looked needy!) I told him that I was in desperate need of a date night and he was hired if he was available this evening to which he responded, 'Well babies really aren't my thing.' And then he pawned her off handed her to one of the girls behind the counter.

Once again she was in the arms of a complete stranger looking at me across the counter as happy as can be. I think she was having fun playing cashier while this girl was helping out a customer.

I don't get it. I even made a comment to the girl who held her that I had just left my meeting early because she was crying. She couldn't believe it either.

So Strange.

She won't stay in the care of the nursery workers each week at MOPS or church (which is the SAME PLACE) but will let 2 complete strangers pick her up and carry her around a store we haven't been to in 6 months?

I don't get it. Hopefully this has nothing to do with her dislike of church.......yikes!

Wordless Wednesday: Easter

Brownies

My little chef is always ready to help me in the kitchen. It is my goal to foster a love for cooking in hopes his wife will appreciate this he can be self sufficient one day! Not that he will learn much from me, but at least we are spending time together and he really enjoys it!

Easter Tot Party

Last Friday was the Easter Tot party and it was our turn to play hostess. Luckily, the weather was perfect, we had fun guests and I think all the tots thoroughly enjoyed themselves! We made bunny headbands, had an egg hunt, played outside, ate pizza, and had cookies for dessert! Here are some pix from the festivities. Looking forward to our next party already!!

Me & the munchkins Sandy & Emma Jenny & AveryThe SpreadJack F. Jack S.Jacob & Avery Check out Jacob's face in the window!

Soccer Mom

It's official. I have joined the ranks of thousands of women across the U.S. and can now be proudly referred to as a.....

And I couldn't be happier!

Jacob and "The Sharks" had their first practice and game last week. He proudly wears jersey #9 and enjoys being goalie the most so far. The team kicked off the season by meeting together, decorating our cars and parading to the fields together. The kids got a kick out of us honking our horns all the way down the road!

With the coach...

Check out my 'lil sis shirt!
Just hanging out & watching the game... Goalie

Our soccer star Love him!

Wordless Wednesday: Walking Video

Have you seen our little walker? It's been a long time coming, but I think we can officially call Livvy a walker now! She took her first steps on February 29 but is such a fast crawler, still resorted to that in most instances. We have really been working with her and lately she has been doing more walking than crawling. With the help of ECI and a friend of a friend that is a Physical Therapist, we recently determined the reason for the delay in her walking. We are hoping to get her Sure Step braces in a few weeks and I'm sure we will really be chasing her then!

Bluebonnets

Last week we went to the same spot as last year and attempted to get Bluebonnet pictures. Unfortunately, I waited a little late this year and they were not nearly as full and pretty as last time. However, at least I remembered to go in the evening so we didn't have the sun in our eyes. Now if the flowers had only been prettier. Oh well, there's always next year, I guess.

Last year, Suzy was here to help me to take pictures. Click here to see what we looked like a year ago in the same field of bluebonnets!!

In Real Life

I have read Heather's blog for a long time. We seemed to have an instant connection and a lot in common. We both had boys first and then baby girls who keep us on our toes! Both former teachers, now stay at home moms. Its not everyday that you get to meet a "bloggy friend" in real life. But today I did!! It was wonderful to connect with Heather and Cody in person. We met for lunch and had a good time talking and sharing stories. Unfortunately, the reason Heather was in town was to visit MD Anderson. You can read more about her story here. It touches a special place in my heart since I lost my own mom to cancer at the age of 13. But Heather has a great treatment plan in place and is going to beat this stupid cancer thing! Thanks again Heather, for taking time to stop and have lunch with us. Hope to see you again sometime in the next few weeks if you are up to it!

Wordless Wednesday: Splish Splash

Hullabaloo

Jacob got the game Hullabaloo for his birthday and we finally had a chance to try it out this weekend. He LOVES it!! I love it too because it is the easiest game to set up AND clean up! Because we all know kids are so eager to bring OUT the games but when it comes to clean up time, well that's another story...

All you need to play is this...

Sixteen of these...

And a couple of kids...

And you're all set!

Thank you Jenny and Avery for this game! You will have to come play with us soon!!

Wordless Wednesday