Luke on the Go

Olivia's party overshadowed a very big event here. Luke is finally walking! Saturday morning he just started doing it all over the house (not just his room like before!). It was very exciting, though we were worried he'd wear himself out and not perform at the party. But, 5 days later, he's officially a walker! He has a very strange style. Sort of a constant stumble, and he feels the need to wave one of his arms on the side, sort of like he's swimming in the air.
It's nice to not have his hands on every surface of the floor! I was very close to strapping cloths to his knees and hands so he could clean the floor as he crawled!

Aargh, it's a Pirate Party!

Ahoy! Yesterday was the big day! Olivia's Pirate Party (aka our first party ever). And I think it was a rousing success! The kids had a blast, even painted their pirate ships! Pirate music was blaring and the blow up sword didn't cause any accidents. The parrot is missing, but no one had to walk the plank!

I decided to save some money and make the Pirate Ship cake, and it worked out great (so much better than the one at the store)!

Olivia was a great hostess, she got very used to everyone bringing her gifts, and was happy to hand out the gift bags at the end!

The kids perfected their pirate screams (maybe too much sugar in the frosting!) running around the house like bandits.

Baby Beatrix

Luke and Olivia have a new cousin! Baby Beatrix Rhodes Hoekzema was born on Saturday, Jan 19th. Christine went in for the induction and voom, Baby Bea (that's just what I'm calling her for now) was born in record time! The new family is home resting comfortably. It's cold in Wisconsin, which is probably why Baby Bea came out with so much hair. She's not a dummy, she knows how to stay warm!!

We're still practicing the name around here. It just so happens that B is Luke's favorite letter, so he's getting really good at saying Bea...He's even practicing as he walks!

Just gearing up for Olivia's big Pirate Party this weekend. We've been talking about it for so long, and now that it's only days away, I'm frantically trying to find all the last minute things (where can I get a pirate costume for Brad now!!).

Whoo Hoo

Well, it took three tries, and a total of one hour sitting on the new potty chair, but Olivia had a successful trip to the potty seat! I didn't believe her at first because she kept telling me she did it when nothing happened before, but this time, she was right! She picked a present out of the bag of treats...socks. I had much more exciting stuff in there, but she picked the socks. Of course it's Olivia, so the socks were very exciting anyway!!
Yay Olivia...now I hope it happens again...

The Big 3

It's finally arrived, Olivia's 3rd Birthday! We've been celebrating all week with little presents here and there (some new shoes, very practical). Today when Olivia came downstairs, she was greeted by a table full of fun.

Pirate stickers, musical cards, Where's Waldo, Princess movies, new clothes...but the most fun of all was the sock puppet kit. We made 3 socks puppets...at 7:30am (Thanks Ainsley!) Crafting starts early here!

(can you tell which one I did?)

Olivia has been talking to her loyal subjects (family) on the phone all day. She has been very polite and thankful for all her goodies. I can't believe it was just 3 years ago that she was born! Sometimes it feels like forever ago, and sometimes I can't believe how fast she's grown into this little girl!

I've promised to take her to Friendly's for lunch so she can get a "monster ice cream" sundae...and of course some actual food. (mac and cheese tastes so much better there!)

Now if only Luke makes it...he was so excited for Olivia's birthday that he was up at 5am! It's OK Luke, we wouldn't start without you, really, you can sleep in sometimes!

New Year

New Year's resolutions:

Olivia - Potty Training!!!! (Please!)

Luke - Walking (at night in his room doesn't count...I want full on walking during the day too!)

Christmas part 3

We traveled down to NJ on the 27th for Christmas at the Krout house. We had a blast watching the kids alternate chasing the dog (poor Cyrus) and opening their presents. Olivia is a full fleged girly girl with her new princess vanity. She likes to apply her "makeup" and comb her hair and spritz her "perfume". When she leaves the seat to bring someone tea, Luke wanders over...but he doesn't know the secret magic wand trick yet, so he can't utelize the makeup (darn).
We had a great time hanging out with the uncles and Michelle and Mam Mam of course. Olivia has been asking since we got back when are we going back to Grandmom's house. All the toys came with us, but I think she thinks that she may have left something behind!