Big Helper

Ollie loves to help me. He has recently decided that he's big enough to feed Sis.

Ollie's Babysitting

Ollie has decided that he likes to "babysit" Lily while I'm busy doing something. The other day I put Lily in her highchair, gave her a few crackers, asked Ollie to give her more crackers if she wanted them, and then hopped into the shower. Part way through my shower (showers without interuptions are rare as a mother of two) Ollie came in laughing and told me that Lily was making it "rain crackers." A few minutes later this is what I found... Ollie had dumped the WHOLE box of crackers on Lily's tray and she was having fun throwing them on the floor. We had a good laugh and then we cleaned up. :)

Best Day Ever

Ollie declared our ward Christmas party as his "BEST DAY EVER!!" He has been so excited about Santa this year. He wanted to wear his santa shirt and red "christmas" pants to the party. We had a nice dinner (most of dinner consisted of Ollie looking all around looking for "The big man in red") and then...



All the primary kids sang Santa's Coming to Town while Santa walked in. Ollie sang big and loud!




When he saw Santa and Mrs. Claus he ran up to Santa and gave him a big hug. He was just so so so happy!




He loved being able to sit on Santa's lap and have his picture taken.



And he loved the treat Santa gave him. (notice: Texas Santa's wear cowboy boots)



Lily didn't have any idea what was going on. :)

For the next several days everytime Ollie prayed he thanked Heavenly Father for being able to see Santa and said it was his "best day ever!" Thank goodness for the simple things in life. :)

Big Tummies!

Lily is starting to get a big belly! She has been growing like crazy since she came out of her cast. She was in the cast for four months, during which she gained less than two pounds. Since she came out of the cast she has been gaining about one pound each month! Amazing what more sleep and a bigger apatite do for growth. :)


P.S. Ollie wanted me to take a picture of his big belly after I took one of Lily's.

Christmas Tree

Now that Christmas is over... here are some pictures of our party with Grandma Beck to decorate our tree. :)

Pictures with Grandma

Lily

Look how good this kiddo is sitting up!!

Ollie's Fourth Birthday

Ollie turned 4 on December 4th. Spencer and I got up early and decorated the house. Then we woke him up singing happy birthday. We spent the morning just playing and having fun. We were playing with the balloons but then Ollie popped them all except for the purple one because purple is his favorite color and he "only wanted the purple one." I figured it was his birthday so if he wanted to pop his balloons that was fine with me. He also spent the morning talking about Grandma coming and how he and Papa were going to pick her up from the airport. After Grandma got here we went to Chuck E'Cheese. Ollie had so much fun playing the games. He loves to redeem his tickets for a prize. (I forgot to take the camera so no pictures of that part.) After Chuck E'Cheese we came home for cake and presents. He is really into Santa this year so he wanted me to make him a Santa cake. We also bought him a santa plate to put his cake and ice cream on. He was very thrilled. :) Then he opened his presents. He got moon sand from Grandma and Grandpa Beck. (The next morning he spent about three house playing with it). He loves moon sand and this was in a kit with some fun molds. We gave him some books and a booster car seat. (Kind of boring but we saw them in Walmart one day and told him that he would get one when he was a little bigger so he decided that he wanted that for his birthday.) Lily gave him a hungry hippo game. He also got some money from Great Grandpa and Grandma Beck and Grandma Stirland. He was thrilled to have his own money. He wanted to go buy something so we went to the dollar store. He bought two things for himself and then spent the rest of the money buying Christmas present for us. He is such a sweet kid.




Birthday decorations



Blowing out the candles (yes, Lily is pulling his hair, which she does all the time and he lets her because he is so super sweet with her)



His favorite- moon sand



Opening presents



Giving Lily a big kiss after opening her present to him


Dear Ollie- I just want you to know how much your parents love you. You are such a good kid. You are so nice to your little sister. You are very kind and thoughtful of others. You love Heavenly Father and Jesus. You make me laugh every day. You are such a joy to have in our home. I'm so thankful for the past four years. I love you!!!

Grandma Beck's Visit

My mom came to visit us for a few days. We had so much fun with her! She came on Ollie's birthday (4 years old!). He was so excited for her to come. He made a paper chain several weeks before. Everyday after he took a chain off he would count how many more days until "fiesta" and then talk about it for the rest of the day.

Here's the highlights of our time with Grandma Beck.

For Ollie's birthday we went to chuck e cheese. Ollie had so much fun! Then we came home and did cake/ice cream and presents. I'll post pictures from the party later.

Spencer and I also had the opportunity to go to the temple together! It was so nice to just get away with my sweet husband. It's wonderful that grandma doesn't mind babysitting!

We also had a Christmas party. We fixed a big turkey dinner, decorated the house, and opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa and then gave Grandma her presents. Ollie made her some painted beach treasure. (Miscellaneuos objects found outside, like sticks, rock, and pinecones, are his beloved beach treasure which he then wanted to paint and give as Christmas presents.) It was fun to have Grandma here to help with decorating the house and it was nice to have an extra pair of hands. :)

One of my favorite parts was just talking with my mom. I loved all the late night talks.

Thanks mom for coming to visit!!! We had a lot of fun with you. You are welcome to come anytime. :)

New Trick

Lily has discovered that her nose has a hole in it. She loves to put her finger up her nose. Sometimes she just sits there with her finger up her nose. She hasn't realized that it really has two holes. It's sure fun to watch her discovering her body. :)

From the mouth of Babes

Here's some funny things Ollie has said lately.

Ollie- "Our toilet is going to grow so big."
Mom- "Why?"
Ollie- "Because we feed it so much pee and poop."



Ollie- "Mom, I want to be just like you."




Ollie- (While writing on a piece of paper) "Santa's making a list and checking it twice."
Mom- "What's he checking it for?"
Ollie- "Good boys and bad boys and good girls and bad girls."
Mom- "What do they get?"
Ollie- "The good kids get a gift and the naughty kids get fire." (I had previously explained to him that coal is used to make fire.)



During family home evening we were playing a game where you rolled a dice that had pictures of different members of the family on it. When it landed on a person you said something nice about that person. Ollie rolled Papa and said "I love Papa because he's so darn nice and because he has a hole in his sock." I'm not sure if Ollie will still think Spencer is so "darn nice" if Santa brings him some new socks without holes. :)

Sunday Best

Every Sunday I try hard to make my kids (and myself) look nice for church. I usually put a headband with a bow on it on Lily. Lately, the second I put it on, she takes it off. Last Sunday I decided to try curling her hair. The only long hair she has is right on top of her head (and sticks straight up).



She looked really cute in the curlers. When I took them out she had two very perfect curls, right on top of her head.



Ollie was trying to explain to her that she had curls in her hair.



The long and short of it... her hair looked okay when we left for church. By the end, the curls had loosened so her hair was sticking up even worse than usual and had just a little tiny curl on top. A man at church asked us if she did her own hair that morning. I guess it looked really bad. :)

Family Camp In

Growing up my family would go indoor camping during the winter season. We have continued the tradition with our kids. We built a fort last weekend and slept in it on Friday night. The fort was too small for all of us so just Spencer and Ollie slept in it. We built a pretend fire and roasted marshmellows. Ollie thought it was a lot of fun. At 10:45 I had to come out and tell the boys to be quiet. We had a very tired, happy boy the next morning. :)

Lily's Art

Ollie decided to do art on Lily's head. Here's the end result. I don't like the kiddos to draw on themselves/each other but this made me laugh. Everytime I looked at her that day I laughed again so I kept it on until bath time that night. :)

Soccer

Soccer is now over. Sometimes he loved to run and play. Other times he just wanted to sit and play in the dirt. We've decided that 3 is too young to play soccer. It will be easier not to have to go to practice twice a week and a game once a week.




Ollie showing me his trophy.



The team



Funniest soccer moment- One day during a game, a member of the other team was bent over with his hands on his knees. Ollie reached over and goosed him (pinched his bum). Thanks to the Olson family for giving us this fun tradition. :)

Ollie Halloween

Ollie wanted to be a skeleton this year for Halloween. He told me that's what he wanted to be several weeks before hand. He wanted a costume that looked nice and not scary. He really liked this one when he saw it. He had a lot of fun trick or treating. He fully understood that he was getting candy. He ate so much candy that night that he threw up! And yes- it was warm enough for him to wear flip flops. :)

Lily Halloween

Lily was a duck for Halloween. We had shown her the costume several times before Halloween so she knew it was a duck. When I was getting her ready she started quacking like a duck. Very Cute! She didn't really have any idea that anything different was going on. She was just happy to be held.

Parenting

As a parent, I always wonder if I'm doing okay. When you have kids, they do not come with an instruction manual. I wonder about the small things, like getting enough veggies, to the big things, like teaching about faith in God. Every now and then they do or say something to let you know that you are on the right (or wrong) track. Today we had such a moment at our house. This conversation was overheard.

Setting: Lily had just thrown some food on the floor.
Ollie: "Lily, I sure love you. I love you even when you are naughty."

Heavenly Father sure gave me two little angels. :)

Jack O'Lantern

The finished product!



Helping Papa Cut.



He loved getting out the seeds. He was excited that we were going to cook and eat them. :)



Ollie picked what the pumpkin would look like. He told me how to draw the eye, nose, and mouth. He really wanted the mouth to have curved teeth?!?

Ollie Quote

Ollie- (Said to Mom, right after she got done exercising) "You'd better take a shower or you will have to go in a cage at the zoo."
Mom- "Why?"
Ollie- "Because, you smell."

First Oreo

Lily's first ever oreo. You don't need teeth to eat an oreo, if you suck on it long enough it disolves. You can tell from the photos that she LOVED it!

86 Degrees

Ollie loves to get himself dressed in the morning. The other day he picked out sweat pants and a sweater. I explained to him that it was going to be warm that day (high of 86) but he didn't want to change. Even after he was hot and sweaty he still refused to change. I wonder where he gets his stubbornness from??? :)

Quick Update

Spencer and Shree- We started a 90 day challenge this week. The challenge is to get healthier. We get points for drinking enough water, proper diet, and exercise. The reward is money. Spencer wants to buy some new CD's. Shree is still trying to decide how to spend it. I guess first we have to earn it. We decided to do this mostly because Shree decided to, so Spencer had to agree. :) We've been trying to exercise and eat healthier since Lily came along (Dwarfs often have weight problems) but we just felt that we really needed to put a big focus on this so here we go. We are currently on day 3.

Ollie- Tried cleaning his room by putting everything in the closet. Mommy decided that was definitely not something to let slide. Mommy took everything back out of the closet and made him start over. The second time he did it right. :)

Lily- One year pediatrician check up: weight 14 lbs 2 oz. Height 25.5 inches. Head 43.5cm. She is going to get her kidneys rechecked by ultrasound (enlarged at birth). Needs to have her hearing checked (free- thanks to Papa). Maybe needs a speech evaluation. Still patching right eye to strengthen left eye (still a horrible time) for 1/2 day. Wearing a harness at night and naps for hips. Physical therapy from ECI twice per month with daily from Mom. Skin still using ureacin cream.

Well that's just a real quick update. The kiddos are up from their nap (Lily) and rest (Ollie).

Art

Ollie loves to do art. I'm always on the lookout for fun, easy, and cheap art projects for a pre-school age kid. I saw this one in an art book and it looked like a lot of fun. What we did was take some grape vines, put them in brown playdough, and then decorated them. Ollie had a lot of fun. He really thought we were trying to grow grape trees. I had to throw them out when he wasn't looking because I was sick of trying to explain that we made them just for the fun of decorating them and NOTHING was going to grow.



A close up of our trees. The ones in the book looked a lot cutier, but Ollie had fun cutting out the felt and decorating the tree.



Side note- We used to have a lot of fun different colors of playdough. Ollie has since mixed it all together and we now have tons of brown playdough. At first I tried to explain to him that it was more fun to have different colors but he is convinced that mixing them together is the "best way". He loves his brown playdough and hasn't asked for any more of different colors. :)