Warm December

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, it's been quite warm this December. We have been trying to take advantage of the warmer weather and get outside while we still can.

Because I've been horrible about taking pictures lately, I pulled out the camera to try and catch these sweet moments.

Digging in the dirt

"Here Mommy..you take it"

Super Owen in his favorite outfit.  I swear he would wear this outfit every day if we would let him.

Here is he demonstrating his super fast "flying" skills

 "Look how fast I am"

 We are so thankful for a huge fenced in backyard that provides us room to roam.

Oliver is 2!

Our littlest guy is already 2 years old!! I know I say it all the time, but I really can't believe he's already 2! The time seems to fly by faster with each kid.

He is extremely hard to photograph these days because he's always moving.  If he's not moving, he's thinking about his next move and doesn't want to focus on you taking his picture.This is as good as we got with the "I am 2" chalkboard.

Oliver is such a fun kid.  He has such a vibrant and fun-loving personality.  He makes us laugh all the time with his funny antics.






At age 2, he:

• weighs 31.5 lbs and is 35 in tall.
• wears size 2T shirts and 24 month to 2T pants, size 7 shoe
• must have a banana and a cup of milk every morning upon waking up
• sleeps with a paci and his dog Woofie every night, still in his crib
• is the best sleeper...he goes down without a peep every night and sleeps 12 hours most nights.  He takes a 3 hour nap every afternoon.
• is a little parrot. He repeats everything you say. The funniest thing is when he imitates me fussing at Owen, like when I say "Owen come upstairs now!" 
• loves to sing and is often caught singing a song he learned at preschool
• knows all of his friends' names at preschool and will sing about them at home.
• has no fear...he will jump on anything, slide down anything
• loves all the men in his life. He is obsessed with his Daddy, Papa, Grandpa and Uncle BP.  We have to call them often on Facetime and Skype.  He literally cries when Papa leaves him. 
• loves spaghetti, black beans, raisins, crackers, tortillas, all kinds of fruit, yogurt, etc.  He really is a great eater and will eat whatever we put on his plate.
• loves dogs, especially our neighbors' dogs, which he loves to call through the fence, and Cooper, BP and Lauren's dog
• like his brother, he is very fond of Curious George and Cat in the Hat
• loves to play in the sandbox at the Y. We find half of the box in his shoes each day when we pick him up. 

He is such a little ham and we love watching him sing and dance. He plays an integral part in our family and we are so blessed to call him son. 

Oliver's Birthday party

On December 1st, we celebrated Oliver's 2nd birthday with our family and a small group of friends.  This December we have unseasonably warm weather.  It was so warm in fact that we could spend most of the morning outside, which is unheard of for December. 

Sadly, once again, I get wrapped up in the party and forget to take pictures.  Luckily I finally remembered to throw the camera to my sis-in-law Lauren.  We forgot to take a picture of the table again of course so I'll just have to recap.

Our theme was basketball since Oliver is obsessed with basketballs. I made little pendants and jerseys with his name on it for decoration (with the help of my Silhouette) and served concession stand foods: hot dogs, chips, big soft pretzels, popcorn and then added some fruit and veggie trays to make it a little healthier. 

These pictures are all out of order, but blogger is being difficult. 

Owen enjoying his lunch.

The only pic I have of the food and the cupcakes

  Singing Happy Birthday to Oliver

2 candles

Grandma and Grandpa

BP had to have a cupcake

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy

These boys love cupcakes

Some of the party guests

We borrowed Erin and Nathan's bounce house again.  It was a hit of course. The boys loved the uninterrupted time to jump in it before the guests arrived.

Oliver and his Uncle BP

Sweet Kate

I'll spare you the 20 million gift opening presents.  They all look similar to this.

Oliver had a great time and enjoyed running around playing with his friends.  He received many wonderful car, train, and basketball themed presents. Thanks for everyone who celebrated 2 years of our sweet little guy!

Granny's 90th Birthday

On November 7th, my Granny (my Dad's mom) turned 90 years old! This is quite a milestone for such a fine lady.  At 90, she is on no medications and other than a little dizziness, is doing quite well.

To celebrate, the entire family gathered for a barbecue at her house on November 10th.  Granny has 4 children, 8 grandchildren + their 6 spouses, and 3 great grandchildren now.  

 We had a beautiful (and warm) day to celebrate in her backyard.

 Whoops, caught her mid-bite!

Yay for cake!

Granny and her kids from oldest to youngest (left to right): Anne, Wanda, Carolyn, JE

 The great grandkids: Emma, Owen, and Oliver

Anne and her family

Carolyn's family

 Wanda's family

JE's family

The whole family

We praise God for the time He has given us with Granny so far. We pray she will have many more birthdays!

 

Guess what??

We're expecting baby #3!! We are excited and a little surprised! We wanted a third but had plans to wait a little longer.  As usual, God showed us His plans are different than ours and we're now due to have another bundle of joy in late June.  

Here are pictures from the first ultrasound at 6 weeks.  I wasn't feeling really any symptoms so the midwife did an u/s to confirm everything was in the right place. This u/s gave us a due date of June 29, 2013.

This is from a 9 week ultrasound. This one was unexpected but I had some bleeding that had to be checked out. U/s showed I had a small clotted cyst on the outside of my uterus and everything was ok with baby.  He/she had a heart rate of 164 (I think). 

We go back for another checkup around the 17th of this month for my 12 week checkup.

The boys are excited as they can be for a 4 and 2 year old. Owen understands more of course than Oliver. When asked, Owen says it's a girl.  We can't wait to find (probably the end of Jan). Personally,  I would love a little girl, but we'll be excited for whatever the Lord gives us.

Stay tuned!! :)

New Christmas Tradition

For as long as I can remember, we have always had an artificial Christmas tree. My parents liked the ease of it and even after we got married, I inherited that same tree.  I've always wanted a real tree though for the smell and just the fun of it really.

Well this year, before leaving the mountains at Thanksgiving, we decided to go pick out a fresh tree.  The boys were feeling ok so we said why not.  We drove a little ways to choose and cut farm.  We really just picked the first one we came to, but it turned out to be awesome.  The farmer drove you up the mountain in a hayride to a mass hill of trees.  You picked up a measuring stick and wandered around in the forest until you found one. After you picked the tree, one of his workers came by on the 4 wheeler and cut it down and took it back down to be tied up.  They gave you free hot chocolate and coffee too!

The older boys on the hay ride (please forgive the poor quality from my phone)

Hayride up the mountain

All the trees on the mountain ready to be chosen

Jeremy sizing up the tree

Trying another tree

The man cutting down our tree

Family shot before going down the mountain

It really was so much fun and a new tradition that I hope we continue for many years to come!