Mooooove on Over, We're 2

This past weekend we celebrated Reese and Will's 2nd birthday.  It was a farm animal theme because they love animals!  They had such a great party, playing with family and friends. Here are some pictures from the party.

They loved the cards Olivia picked out for them!

The cake turned out great!  Here are some pictures.

Will didn't seem very happy to blow out the candles!

Pat, Pat, Pat, Blast Off!

They loved playing with the race track.

2 Year Pictures

This morning we went to the mall to get Reese and Will's 2 year pictures taken. My goal was to get individual shots of Reese and Will, a picture of them together, and one of all three kids. Will did a great job posing and what not - although over half of the pictures he didn't smile. Reese was scared of the photographer and said "NO" about a trillion times!  All she wanted to do was sit in the stroller.  She finally warmed up a little when another photographer came in to help and started blowing bubbles. Trying to get a picture of all three kids proved to be even more difficult. Sometimes I think that I get better shots myself by just using the digital camera!  Oh well!!  Here are the pictures we ended up getting today.

Reese

Will

Reese and Will playing with bubbles

Will, Olivia, and Reese

Big Kid Cups

With 2 days until the big 2nd birthday, I decided to try big kid cups.  I was a little nervous because they are still into the "throwing of the sippy cup" stage and I didn't want milk thrown all over the floor!  But to my surprise, Will was a pro!  He took right to it and had really no problems.  He loved drinking out of a big kid cup (even if it had a fairy princess on it!).  Reese, on the other hand, seemed clueless on the whole concept.  I was really surprised that she didn't get how to do it.  She seems like a pro in the bath - trying to drink the bath water from the play cups!  Hopefully after a couple more tries she'll love drinking out of the big kid cup. 

Will loving his new cup!

Reese is not real sure of this.

Reese and Will love to share food. Well, I should say, Will loves giving food to Reese!

So, Reese and Will love to tell the cat to "shoo" when we are coming down the stairs.  Really anytime the cat is in the way - they yell "shoo".  I guess that has rubbed off on Reese so much so that she is starting to tell me to "shoo"!

Favorite Things Swap

Recently I participated in the "My Favorite Things Swap" hosted by Wendi. I was so excited to see that my swap partner was Laural from Mamasphere.  When I started blogging a couple of months ago, her blog was one of the firsts that I began reading.  When my box arrived, I couldn't have been happier!  

Olivia has already confiscated the shell and crayons - I had to hide the candy from her or that would have been gone too!  As many of you know, the kitchen and I don't always see eye to eye. But, I am super excited to use the chocolate chips to make HOMEMADE cookies with Olivia. (Yes, I said homemade, not store bought!!)  I love chocolate and hope that the cookies turn out OK!! Anyway, Laurel - thank you for sending me some of your favorite things and Wendi - thank you for organizing the swap.  I really had fun participating.

Ahhh, The Life!

This past week Greg had business meetings in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. I was very fortunate to be able to go with him.  I had such a relaxing time.  The weather was beautiful. We stayed at a golf resort called  The Sanctuary.  It was so amazing - right on the beach. Thursday afternoon we went on a tour into Charleston to see Fort Sumter.  We had visited it before several years ago, but this time we had a tour guide and learned so much more.  Friday I had the whole day to myself since Greg golfed after his meetings.  I sat on the beach all morning and had a massage in the afternoon.  I can't remember the last time I was so relaxed!  Today, as Reese is crying for what ever reason, I am closing my eyes trying to put myself back on the beach!  Here are a few pics that I took - mostly with my phone.  

The Sanctuary

I love the beach!

Here I am relaxing in my beach chair as the waves roll in!  Pure Bliss!!!

Oh yeah, did I mention it was mating week for the Lovebugs??  They were everywhere!

All Aboard The Choo Choo Train

Oh, the Disney channel. Like Noggin, it is on from time to time in the mornings to calm everyone down (stop the fighting).  Since their shows last only 25ish minutes, they play random bits before the next show begins.  Choo Choo Soul is one of those bits that we'll see from time to time.  It is a short music video with a girl who sings on or around a train.  Catchy songs - not that annoying, or so I thought. 

About a month ago I was playing around itunes checking out the podcasts, looking at new music, and I saw the Choo Choo Soul album.  I clicked on it and saw that if you downloaded the album you would get all of the songs AND all of the short videos. Well I thought I had hit the jackpot. I (of course) downloaded it on the spot and copied it to our ipod for the car.  The next time we were in the car, I hit play and the kids were able to watch all of the videos.  Reese at once fell in love.  She wasn't a big "show" watcher in the car, but since the introduction of the videos, that is all I hear. "Show, show, show mommy, SHOW"  or "Choo choo, choo choo, choo choo mommy, CHOO CHOO".  

Well, I guess we have watched it way to much because Reese - not yet 2 years old - has one of the songs memorized and sings it over and over.  The song is etched into my brain and I am finding myself singing it at the most random times.  Oh well - I went through this with Olivia when she loved The Wiggles and now I guess with Reese it is Choo Choo Soul!  I wonder what Will is going to love??!!

Calling all fancy girls!

Olivia and I had so much fun this morning.  Our local library had a Fancy Nancy party and I was able to get us tickets for the event.  If you remember, Olivia LOVES Fancy Nancy.  Her 4th birthday was themed "Fancy Nancy"! Olivia has been talking about this party for a week now and even came into our room early this morning because she was so excited.  I had her help me pick out a fancy outfit to wear and then we put on her costume.  She decided that she even wanted to take her Fancy Nancy doll and her dog "Frenchy".  When we arrived, the girls were given bead necklaces and they listened to the original Fancy Nancy story.  After the story was over it was cupcake decorating time.  Of course they could choose from light pink frosting or hot pink frosting. Olivia loved decorating the cupcake and she loved eating it even more.  Next it was time for the fashion show!  All the girls and their moms and/or dads were able to walk the runway showing off their fancy outfits.  It was so much fun seeing all of the costumes the girls were wearing.  Finally, there was time for one more story and then it was over!  We had a lot of fun - here are a few pictures of us!

Uggh, the dentist!

Yesterday all 3 kids had a dentist appointment.  Olivia has been to the dentist before and is an old pro, but this was Reese and Will's first time.  I was very nervous for this appointment mostly because we aren't the greatest at remembering to brush teeth and I thought I'd hear it from the dentist!!  Also, I knew Will would flip out.  Here are a few pictures of Will and Reese brushing their teeth (and playing with the water) from a few weeks ago.

Reese went first and looked like she would be fine.  They gave her cute little sunglasses to wear and a hand held mirror to hold.  When they started poking around in her mouth she began to cry.  Luckily she didn't move at all and continued to let them do their work.  She cried and cried and said over and over "I wanna go bye-bye"!  Not to stressful on my part.  Then it was Will's turn.  Just like Reese, he loved the glasses and mirror.  The exception was when they began to look in his mouth, he flipped out. Screaming, crying, kicking - the works.  He kept trying to put his thumb in his mouth but obviously he couldn't do that.  It broke my heart trying to hold him still.  The dentist was great though, and worked super fast so it was over before I knew it.  They both had great looking teeth and there is nothing to worry about.  Here they are before they knew what was happening!

Pasta Anyone?

Ummm, No Mommy

Oh how Olivia is growing up. For someone who just turned 4 this summer, she thinks she is older than dirt.  I have fast learned this weekend that I can no longer correct her on any bits of information, because she knows it all.  For example...

Olivia - Mommy, I love Hannah Montana!

Me - (thinking first, how does she know who Hannah Montana is???) - Oh wow, she is great ;)

Olivia - Yeah, I also love Miley Cyrus!

Me - (again thinking, how do you even know this name???) - Well yeah, they are the same person

Olivia - Ummm, no they aren't Mommy.

Me - Ummm, yes they are Olivia.  They are the same person.  She just puts on a wig and pretends to be Hannah Montana.

Olivia - Mama, they are NOT the same person.

Me - (Definitely not going to win this battle)  - Oh, OK honey.

Example number 2 (again around the topic of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus)...

Olivia picked out my birthday card this weekend and boy was I surprised when I opened it and saw a Hannah Montana card.  The best part was when you opened it, it sang part of the song "Best of Both Worlds". (I know you are all jealous!!)

So, Olivia opened the card about 100 times singing the little snippet of song and she wanted me to sing with her. I started to sing - and here is the rest...

Olivia - Mommy, you're not singing it right.

Me - Ummm, yes I am

Olivia - Ummm, no your not - it goes like this, "You've got the bag at boat world..."

Me - (Laughing really hard) - Olivia, it's "You've got the best of both worlds"

Olivia - Ummm, no it isn't Mommy.  You've got the bag at boat world...

Me - (after Greg (also laughing) tells me how it is funny that I am arguing with a 4 year old) - Oh, OK honey.

Yes, the girl has a mind of her own!

Farewell Swimming Pools

Monday marked the unofficial end of summer with the last day for the pools to be open. The forecast called for a hot, sunny, 90 degree day, so we took the kids to the outdoor swim park. Olivia has gone several times and always had tons of fun.  Reese and Will, on the other hand, have never been - partly for my fear of them drowning!  Well, if you have read some of my previous posts about Will and water (here and here), you will remember that he takes forever to get wet. You can imagine my surprise when he was the first one in and loved every minute of it!  He absolutely loved the kiddy slide and went down about 100 times (Reese only went down once!) I could not believe my eyes.  He had so much fun - I'm just sorry that it took him all summer long to really enjoy the water. Here he is on the water slide.