Oregon Trip! March 2014

A few pictures before we get to our trip: we had our first bike-riding lesson! Olivia was very excited, until I told her she had to wear her helmet. She did try for a while, but was more excited about helping Carter learn than actually riding herself. Also, Carter had to try it as well, even though he isn't anywhere near reaching those pedals. We have a lot of bike-riding in our near future!

Then a few days later, the kids and I flew to Oregon. We take any opportunity we can to see family, and a baby shower made for a great excuse! We happened to fly out on a dance day, so Olivia had her bun in. I thought her waiting for the plane was just too cute not to document!

As soon as we got to Oregon, Carter found his Grandpa buddy. This boy is always attached to his Grandpa when we are together. Mom is no longer good enough to do anything, including silly things like washing up after meals and getting snacks. Carter will say no to me, only to immediately find his Grandpa and ask for the same thing :). I love having grandparents that are such a crucial part of my kids' lives!

 On morning while we were in town, we met Michelle and crew for some cousin time! We did the carousel, the park, then went out to eat before the kids were all tired and grumpy. These kids are going to have so much fun growing up together, and eventually maybe even the boys will notice each other. Right now Carter and Logan mostly play around each other, but they don't fight too much yet!

Logan had so much fun with these 'telephone' toy things. He was listening to Aiden on the other side, just giggling and shouting his response. I also loved how Tyler was so quick to hold Logan up to let him participate! What a great older brother!!

While we waited for lunch at the restaurant, Carter and Logan shared a snack. They were so funny about never complaining, but also taking as much as their little hands could hold and shoveling it into their mouth. I don't think either one was keen on sharing with the other, but they were quite passive aggressive in their demonstration of that frustration.

As I type this, I'm trying to figure out exactly how many people we had in that booth. We were at an Applebee's corner booth, and if my memory serves me right, we had Janet, Michelle, Tyler, Aiden, Andy, Ashley, Danielle, Mary, Gary, Olivia, and myself, with two high chairs squeezed into the opening. It was a FULL booth, but it's too fun to all chat together, so we didn't spread out. At the time I remember smiling to myself, because it was such a familiar experience to me, as my siblings and I would never want to split into two tables. We would have squeezed in just like my new family did that day :). I started out with a pretty great family, and married an awesome one too. I'm so lucky!

Andy doing the requisite jungle-gym Uncle play :). He is such a sport about letting the kids climb all over him every time we are together!

 After we spent a few days with our Keizer family, we headed down to Philomath for some time with my side of the family. We always split our time when we visit, so the kids get a parade of family members to play with...the perfect vacation! This time we were lucky enough to get to meet baby Adelyn, a new baby of our friends. I think at first O was more excited to play with her friend Grace, but after I finally let her hold the baby, she didn't want to give her up! She loves babies, and was entranced by this sweet little girl. I totally enjoyed the hours catching up with a great friend and snuggling this sweet baby. It confirmed my own baby-hungriness!

Just a couple fun pictures from this amazing rocking horse that my Grandpa Dale built. He built one for each of his children at Christmas last year, so this was my kids' first opportunity to test drive it. As a note, it is constructed beautifully, and is EXTREMELY difficult to tip over. You can kind of see from the second picture, but O was rocking it crazily, and didn't get it to tip over once.

The next day we went to the Newport Coast with my mom. It was so fun! The weather was great, especially for March, so we were able to be out the entire time. Our first stop was down to the bayfront to say hi to the Sea Lions. The kids weren't as impressed at first, but soon they started kicking each other around and yelling to eachother, which produced mixed reactions. O was cheering them on, while Carter cowered behind Grandma Terece. It was very indicative of the different personalities of my kids ;).

This was Carter's comfortable distance from the water. You can see how far forward Grandma and O are, but he was happy to be in about 1" of water the entire time :)

During our week in Oregon we had some wonderfully unexpected additions to the family (baby Reese and Zoey came quite early, the day before their planned baby shower!). We weren't able to see them quite yet, but we did catch the new Grandma Kathy one evening before we went home. Olivia loves her special time playing at Aunt Kathy's, especially reading together. The next time we visit will be even more special, as O can hopefully read to her new cousins :)! They are the most adorable little girls, just typing this makes me itch to cuddle them again!

That was the end of our trip, the kids were very ready to see their dad, and I was quite ready to pass off a bedtime or diaper change as well! We were surprised when we got home by these beautiful shelves in the garage! Now we have more room for more stuff!

Valentine's Day, Carter's 18 month, and February

We didn't have anything huge in the beginning of February. Mostly just hanging out, ready for the winter to start letting up so the kids could get outside more. As you can tell from this first picture, Carter was feeling a little cramped in the playroom :). He actually rode around on this for quite a while before O commandeered it back for her Barbies.

We went to a random Kids Expo in Nampa, which was really fun. Anything that has sample booths, blow up obstacle courses, and face painting is good by the kids, and I loved to see some of the businesses and activities that we haven't yet tried in Idaho.

I love to throw in proof that I actually exist whenever I get Alex to take a picture. I like being behind the camera, but I try to get out and play too :)

Below that is the beginnings of a snow fort that Alex made the kids. I think he was anticipating more excitement and help from them, but they were quite content to sit in their chairs and watch Daddy work. 

One great thing about Meridian winters is snow ice cream! Lots of it. I will admit that I am the ONLY one in my family that even enjoys snow ice cream. The kids would rather eat plain snow, and Alex isn't sold on it yet, but I still go through an embarrassing number of cans of evaporated milk every time we get snow :). It's also dry enough here that the snow lasts in good eating condition for quite a while, and the kids know not to touch the snow on the patio table, that's for Mom :).

This is a silly thing to post about, but we got a video monitor on an after-Christmas sale this winter. We have had some febrile seizure issues in the past, so I get overly cautious around illness and fever. Add that to the crazy sick winter we had, and I was a nervous wreck whenever I felt an elevated temp. We decided this was a good investment, and it has proven to be just that. The fevers we have had since then are much more manageable, because I can still sleep in my bed without feeling like there is impending doom, and we have used the monitors to play games with grownups, to spy on kids who are making bad nap-time decisions, etc. We love our video monitor!

I have to record official proof of the 'cat face,' This particular face is requested daily by Olivia, who named it herself. I'm not sure why she named it cat face, but both of the kids crack up whenever Alex makes this face. I love being married to a goofball, particularly one who will do just about anything to get a laugh from his kids.

I learned an important lesson in February. For me, important lessons usually come from traumatic experiences, and this was no different. The lesson? Never take Carter into a Car Wash unless there are two adults in the car. I took him through for the first time, thinking that he would enjoy it as much as Olivia always does. What I ended up with was one child screaming with laughter about 'THE SNAKES!' and 'ALL THE COLORS!!'. She was hilariously loud and excited, but not enough to drown out the terrified screams from the car seat next to hers. Carter was completely terrorized from the experience, and there wasn't much I could do from the front seat, so we just waited it out. After pulling into the parking lot next door, I took him out of his seat and held him as he sobbed and cried for well over 5 minutes. It was awful, and I felt so bad. Apparently he is a more sensitive kid than I have previously given him credit for.

The best thing about Idaho so far is the proximity to cousins! I love that every week we have reasons to hang out and live life together, and there is always someone to play with. It's also nice to have the distraction for my kids, who are just reaching the age that I can let them go play and I get to chat. Amber and I work out together regularly, and these pictures come from a grocery store adventure one day after the gym. Not every get-together is as happy as this particular occasion, but the kids are growing up to be the best of friends with their cousins, which is just what I want for them.

The 11th of August marked Carter's 18 month birthday! We love this sweet boy and can't imagine our family without him. He brings much laughter, adventure, and lots of learning experiences. His favorites right now are following his sister and playing with balls. He loves to eat rice, and can pick every grain of rice out of a casserole or other dish without eating a single vegetable, which is quite a feat of dexterity!

At his checkup he weighed in at 21 lb 2 oz (15th %) and 31.25" (20th %). He is definitely growing, but I think he might always be our scrawny little dude. He is learning new words all the time, even if sometimes he is the only one who can understand himself. We love you Carter!

 'Napkin Monster' made a fun appearance at dinner one night...and was requested every night like clockwork for two weeks :)

Olivia's dance class was our first opportunity to make Valentines! She loved picking them out, helping to make them, and handing them out to everyone. She might have thrown a few just to pick up the pace (she REALLY wanted her own sucker). It was a few days before Valentine's Day, and I think she forgot how much candy comes with every holiday! She quickly remembered, and was on a sugar high for a couple days straight. We also found a pretty heart bun to wear that day, which I was happier with than she. She would just rather leave her hair down like a princess every day. We need some Disney princesses that wear ponytails!!

Just hanging out with dad in this sweet fort! The kids love when they get to watch movies in a fort

On the actual morning of Valentine's Day, I made pink heart pancakes. Nothing spectacular, but the kids were impressed. Carter might have just been glad to get something that wasn't already cut up for him! He proceeded to try once with his fork before shoving the entire heart into his mouth. Love these kids!

Dance party! She is dancing with this little hamster toy (I think it's called a zhu zhu pet?) that she found and started playing with...it only lasted out on the shelf for a few days before it 'disappeared' into a bin, to be found when I can finally get the tune out of my head!

I wish I had pulled out my real camera for this event. It is the annual (or whatever every holiday would be called) opening of the Grandpa Gary J box! The kids get so excited because they know that it will be full of packing peanuts. You can see from this picture that the candy is being totally ignored as they squish around and make a complete mess of the peanuts. These things are nearly impossible to clean up, we are so excited for the Shop Vac as a clean up method next time!

The day after Valentine's we got to have the kids over so Amber and Dan could go out. It always amazes me how the volume and craziness grows exponentially when we have all the kids together, but its also a blast every time. I know a few people who have had 6 kids in 10 years, and I definitely have added respect for them every time!

I don't have a picture, but we also discovered an awesome kid yoga series on Youtube! I'm not a huge yoga person, but I love anything that gets the kids active while they watch TV. We have tried kid yoga before with mild success, but both of the kids get totally into this and love the stories. The series is called Cosmic Kid Yoga, and they have 20 or so different stories based on an animal going on an adventure, with lots of easy yoga poses.

Kid insights into learning are always fun, and this day at lunch I was super excited because just a couple minutes in Olivia exclaimed: 'Look! Two triangles make a diamond, and my apple is a C for Carter! It's the simplest thing, but it shows that the effort I make as a mom to make things educational is worth it! They do learn :)

Carter has been a mad man at the park recently. It's so funny to see this tiny guy climbing up on the playground with all the bigger kids. He's not as fast, but he does everything up there, gravitating towards the scary things that make me feel like a slightly irresponsible parent for not following. That's one of the differences between the first and second child I guess!

One funny note from February 22nd. Olivia officially got her first 'When I was your age' lecture from Alex today. I didn't even write down what it was about, but I was dying in the other room. The first of many such lectures I'm sure!

One new thing that we started in February is at home preschool! Olivia was so excited, but she was WAY more into the art project than anything that resembled learning :). She is so cute about hearing all the instructions before she tells me how she will do it differently! This girl is always in charge. But I was very proud of her efforts to sit for the entire time and learn. She is VERY ready for official preschool this fall.

After preschool we went outside to play while the sun was still out, and I learned a values lesson from Olivia. She came up after a while that I hadn't been paying attention and said, 'Mom, I just made a promise. I promised to the birds in the tree not ours that I would make them a house to live in our tree. We can do it tomorrow so I tell the truth always.' Our lesson on honesty that morning cost me some extra work :).

This next picture is just of the kids dancing, which they do regularly. Sometimes Carter dons full princess gear as well, but I try to limit the number of pictures I post of Carter in girl clothes (at Alex's request). I am so glad I got this picture, because ten minutes later I heard her shout 'It's midnight! Have to go!!' as she ran out of the room. All she needed was a glass slipper :).

Last picture, from a GRRRR mom moment. Every week there are a few moments when I realize that my kids are getting older, and my time of control is dwindling. This day was when Carter discovered On/Off switches. Here he is turning on the super annoying music on the sit'n'spin. He also turned the volume up on every toy we had. I don't know why O never showed an interest in this, but our lovely, quiet dream home with children playing quietly is now just a dream, and we are living a much louder, more chaotic dream.