My little Picasso

Olivia has become quite an artist over her 4 years. She was drawing smiley faces pretty early on, and has moved on to bodies and even appendages! We're so proud.

The top picture has "robots" in it (and Luke on the right... we can all hope he grows that tall one day). (Note that they actually have five fingers and toes in some instances)

The one here on the left has Captain Hook on the right side and what appears to be a potato with hair on the left side. These guys didn't get bodies, but they got some nice frizzy hair on top!

Happy Birthday Cupid!

Today was our Valentine's Party with the MOMS, but Olivia was really confused thinking it was a birtday party, so we kept saying Happy Birthday to cupid. It was a LOT of fun for the kids, despite being a super busy day. The girl who ran the party had all kinds of craft stations set up for the kids to keep them busy (which totally worked) including face painting. Olivia's friend from dance class had hearts on her face, so Olivia had to have them too! And Luke spent a good portion of the day entertaining his friend Sofia under the table. He must have eaten 6 cookies (without frosting or sprinkles...how boring!)

Ikea fun

On the way home from NJ today I thought it would be fun to stop at Ikea and "play" (really shop) for a bit to stretch and get some exercise (for the kids, not me!). That was a real silly idea. We got right into the kids section where Luke and Olivia proceeded to run every which way but the same so I couldn't find them. Luckily I've been a few times and know their favorite spots. They have this great little spinny chair with an accordian cover that comes down and "hides" the kid inside...that's where Olivia hangs out. Luke likes the doorway with the fringe hanging down. He likes to run in and out of the fringe as much as he can. And today he was playing with the tea set...I had to buy that, it was so cute.
As usual, Luke paid no attention to me and did his own thing (argh!!) while Olivia acutally responded to her name (a rarity these days). Luke played with every fake computer in the place..."I'm just checking my email" he said.
Then, as I'm paying...for stuff for THEM, Luke sets off the alarm in one of the aisles. Oh the embarassment! He is such a pistol to shop with. I really need to get him a leash...

I'm back!

I know, I know... it's been a while!!
Here are a few pictures from the past few months. We had a lot going on. Christmas, and other NJ stops as well as Olivia's fourth B-day!! She wanted a Wall e theme. It worked out great, but the cake took me four hours!!!

We did Christmas at home again with my mom and then headed to NJ for the next few stops! Here are the kids in their Christmas outfits (I made Olivia's dress) they were really excited to see what Santa was going to bring them the next day!

Olivia started dance lessons (though we've only had one due to bad weather the past two weeks) she LOVED it and feels the need to practice her moves all the time. I'm hoping she learns some gracefulness at these classes because she is a clutz (like her mommy).

We were really sad to lose Mabel Douglass (brad's grandmother) in January. She was such a great lady. This is our last picture of her. She got all done up for our visit. The kids got to visit with her one more time too, which was really nice.

Whoops, Luke is 2!

Yep, totally haven't been blogging lately. I finally got my editing program working, so I've been busy making a family movie of our trip to Disney!! Yay! I miss editing...sigh.

So, last weekend Luke turned 2! Wow, I know some people don't believe it since he's technically the size of an 18 month old, but he is definitely 2 now. He still insists he's one, but I'm sure he'll catch up soon.

We made him a DJ Lance cake (from Yo Gabba Gabba, his favorite show), it turned out great, but it felt a bit weird cutting into it. We never ate his eyes, that felt strange!

This truck was his favorite gift, until he opened his Geo Trax...big hit there! And the drum we bought him at Disney World finally made it out of hiding for him to enjoy. He has been playing his instruments (he got a band bag from Grandmom) and making music a lot. He even makes music on his wooden toolbench that Grandmama gave him...that hammer can get loud!

Leaves, lots of leaves

In the past few days we've been gathering up the leaves to put at the curb for collection. I tried to keep the kids busy by raking a huge pile for them to play in while I ran in to wash the floor and vaccuum. On Halloween they played in their costumes.

Today we had the aid of the leaf blower, which really made the job SO much easier! Since it helped so much, we thought it deserved a photo. The kids were crazy in the leaves, flip flopping and hiding in them. I think they were sad to bring them down to the curb.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year, and made good use out of our costumes. We had a Halloween playgroup, went to a nursing home for a Halloween Parade (and we weren't very afraid of the old people, just maybe a little shy when the old men asked if they could give a hug), had Trunk or Treating (trick or treating from the trunks of cars in a parking lot...) and of course the big day! Luke loved his cow costume (probably because it kept him warm!) and Olivia was a great little bee.

Halloween night had us out at 6 (pretty early around here) and we hit up just our side of the street. The kids had a great time and Luke was very excited to tell people the most random things. Like when we were at house number 36 and he decided to take that moment to tell everyone that he knew his numbers. "I see 6!! I see 6!" "Oh! I see 3, number 3!"...we were very proud. He then thought someone's porch was a bridge and jumped on it for a few minutes until I told him a troll was coming...ha ha, he got off pretty fast.

I'm enjoying these years when we get to take them around and only hit a few houses. I know in a few years we'll have to do the other end of the street as well as a few others. I know 20 houses won't be good enough!