Monday, December 29, 2008

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. :)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

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. :)