The Little Master of the House

With Daddy gone, the man of the house is now the youngest member... and believe me, he definitely acts like he owns the place.  This little man has grown so much over the last few months, I am afraid his dad might now recognize him as the same boy that he left behind.

 

This little man can do some pretty cool things.  For example, he can climb up into his seat.  Oliver can also open doors, fold his arms during the beginning of a prayer, and go up and down our little indoor slide all by himself.  Life as I know it has changed, forever!

 

Oliver also likes to play, a lot!  He wants to play with his sisters and do whatever it is that they are doing.  Sometimes it leads to him to doing silly stuff that will only embarrass him when he is older... like wear hair pretties!



I definitely love my littler man and couldn't see our life without him!

Things Oliver can say (at 15 months old):

"No", "Mom", "Cheese" (when his picture is being taken), "Hi" (when talking to dad on the phone), "Shoes".

Sleeping Beauty

Last night, my little angel woke up at 2 am.  She was having nightmares.  Then she needed a tissue.  Then she needed a drink.  Next it was the snuggle with mom, but then to beat up mom while she was sleeping.  She wanted in her bed, she wanted in my bed... she wanted to snuggle in her bed with mom.  The night continued on like this until 4 am, when I decided to make a make-shift bed in her room.

 

Then she wanted to snuggle with me, wanted to sleep in her bed, wanted to eat something, needed a tissue, her ear hurt...  okay, so this decision didn't really award me any sleep, but it eventually helped her get settled.  Too bad her older sister didn't know that she couldn't sleep, because Noelle finally got to sleep at 5:30 and her sister woke her up at 6 to play.  (This didn't go well because Noelle just started crying and ended up snuggling with me for about 20 minutes and then was up for the day...)

 

So, I wasn't very surprised when I saw her doing this at about 9.  Hopefully she will get some relief from this nap. 

Thus, it's sleeping beauty.

A Busy Bumble Field Trip

Melanie has been learning about bees at school!  The things that she comes home to tell me about bees baffles my mind.  Very fascinating!  And, to further their bee-duation, the class took a field trip to B&B Farms to see a bee hive. 

 I didn't take any pictures of Melanie or the class, but I did get one of the bees.

It was such a fun field trip, and I was so happy to have the opportunity to join them (I missed the first 2 field trips, so this was a treat).  

It's That Kind of Love

We had some pictures taken lately.  My friend, Kristen, did them as trade for her wedding cake (which I did in January).  Anyhow, before she was done, she asked if there were anything else I'd like, and I asked for pictures of just Brandon and I.  Since our engagement and wedding pictures, we haven't had pictures taken of just the two of us. 

 

Anyhow, I was perusing the pictures and when I found this one, my smile grew.  Yep, after almost 10 years, it's still That kind of love!

 

But mom! You need your hair!

I have been going through our stuff and donating a lot of things lately.  My kids have kind of gotten use to the idea (though they still worry that I'm giving away something they want or need, silly kids!)  Anyhow, I mentioned to Melanie that I was going to donate my hair.  Donate your hair?  What?  I explained to Melanie that some people are really sick and don't have any hair, so I'm going to give my hair to someone that needs it.  Of course, both my girls got upset by this notion.  "But Mom!  You need your hair"  was Noelle's response. 

 

Even with their objections, I decided I was going to do it.  I had made the decision to grow it out with that intent, and I meant it.  This is the longest my hair has ever been... EVER.  It has been fun to braid and learn new buns.  I really enjoyed it.  But it was time.  So, here you go. This is what it looked like before.

 See... longest it has ever been. 

 And here I am now!  (This isn't the after photo that I took yesterday.  I liked my hair yesterday, but I LOVE it today, so I went with today's photo).

Melanie has decided that she loves my hair and is even considering cutting hers short (we'll see).  Noelle misses my braids.  Personally, I really think she misses the length because it was a fun toy for her.  She really enjoyed playing with my hair.

 

Thank you, Jen Ray, for the wonderful hair cut!  There are no regrets! :)

Indoor Picnic!

Grandma and Grandpa Smithson bought the kids a fun picnic table.  And my kids were SO good at the store (the Superstition Ranch Market, during a crazy rush, yeah, they definitely earned a reward) so I decided to let them have lunch on it in our living room.  The irony is that it is beautiful outside, so it would be a great day for an outdoor picnic, but apparently that's not as nifty as an indoor one. 

So we broke all the standard "rules" and set it up indoors.  Good times were had by all!

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss

Today was one of our favorite children's author's birthdays.  It has become a tradition of ours to celebrate his birthday every year.  This year was no different.

 

 Well, perhaps it was a little different.  This year, I decorated and invited some other people to join in.

Here are some truffula trees as inspired by the Lorax.

 The table was set full of different pieces and parts of books we love.

 

 The cupcakes were Thing One and Thing Two from the Cat in the Hat.

 Dinner was Green Eggs and Ham.

The beverage was Yink Pink Ink Drink.

 The party was fun!

 The cups had Lorax mustaches on them and the girlies really enjoyed drinking from them and looking like THEY had mustaches on.

 Everyone liked the sugary cupcakes!

 

 Oliver mostly like to play with his.  But that was okay too.

 My mom and Terry showed up for the dessert!  We were happy they came.

Some group shots of our guests.

We were so happy to have Liz, Morgan, Ethan and Blake with us!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!