To Crawl Or Not To Crawl

So Oliver is still not crawling.  He is almost 9 months old and is NOT crawling!  He will scoot around but has no interest in actually crawling.  Soooo being the teachers that we are, Mark and I have devoted much of our time to tummy time.  We have been setting up toys to try to lure Oliver to crawl towards them.

 Here was today's set up.  Now, there are multiple things to attract Oliver's attention.  The first one being his beloved playmat.

 Then his favorite teething frog set up on his other favorite toy...his maraca.

He tried the playmat.  He grabbed a toy and then looked at me like, seriously....just push it towards me.

Upon realizing that I was not going to push anything towards him he gave up on the playmat and his attention was soon drawn towards the frog/maraca. "Hmmmm...can I get it without having to crawl towards it?"

Just as he was about to get his fanny up in the air, his eyes have strayed away from the frog to another object.

"OHHH A TAG!!!"  Not one of the items that I strategically set up but whatever works.  Come on, come on...just a little closer now.

"Hang on....this is harder than I thought.  What to do?  What to do?  Is the frog closer?  Or the tag?  Which one will take the least amount of movement to get into my mouth?"

"The tag.  MMMM!  Definitely, the tag!"

And Oliver still didn't crawl.

And Pete watched the whole thing thinking "I wish I had thumbs so that I could finish this bottle off!"

Great Friends

 There is nothing better than a nice night out with great friends.  Happy birthday Nick ;)

Pearly Whites

Today was Claire's first visit to the dentist.  I was very nervous about this trip because this could make or break Claire's feelings on the dentist forever.

She was sooo brave.  She hopped right up onto her seat and was ready to go! 

 While the woman was setting up Claire waiting patiently like this.  And didn't move an inch until she was told to do so.

Even when she brought out the drill Claire was calm and cool.

Pretty sure that Claire's favorite part was rinsing at the little sink and spitting.

When Claire was finished the woman let Claire see all the instruments.

Then she got to pick a prize from the "Treasure Chest".

Claire was very proud to show off her freshly cleaned pearly whites!

Oliver on the other hand, seems to be getting more teeth.  Mark gave him Claire's half eaten apple to gnaw on and he was PUMPED!  He loved just gumming away at the apple.  He seriously smiled like this the entire time he had it.

The Winter House

This weekend we were invited to spend the evening with Mark's family at his aunt and uncle's ski house.  This house is AMAZING!!  It is a gorgeous home set in a perfect spot in "ski country".  Claire refers to it as the "Winter House".  The whole family met up there to ski, relax, catch up, and spend the night.  Needless to say, we had a great time!!

This is the view from their family room.  Those are the "slopes".  It is absolutely gorgeous!

Besides the place being gorgeous, it was so great to get the family together.  The kids had a blast playing together.

But the "big kids" (apparently I am loving the quotes today) had the most fun being crazy :)

While the big kids did big kid stuff, Oliver hung out with Grandpa.

Could Oliver be any cuter?!

The girls had fun getting dinner ready.

And drinking some wine :)

Everyone brought a dish to pass and everything was DELICIOUS!

After dinner Erin and I decided to take advantage of those big jacuzzi tubs!  We threw on the kids bathing suits and let them GO TO TOWN!

 As you can see, they had a blast!

I kinda wish I was in there with them!

Two squeaky clean big kids.

After we got the kids nice and clean it was THEN decided to bring out the cake for Grandpa's birthday.

And some doritos.  Hey, anything goes at the winter house.

The rest of the night was spent playing games and chatting.  It was really a great time.  It would have been even better if Oliver did not wake up everytime anyone laughed.  I have a feeling he is NOT going to want to miss a trick.  Claire on the other hand, slept like an angel all night long.

Owen and Claire played so hard that Owen had to sneak in a quick morning nap after breakfast.

And Oliver was so beat from his multiple attempts to join the party the night before that we just put him in his carseat to nap while we packed everything up.

THANK YOU SO MUCH BRYAN AND IRENE!!  WE HAD A BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week In Review

Week In Review

Since my plan of blogging twice a week seems to be out the window, I am just going to do a week in review.  This week was a great week.  I am settling into my new classroom very well.  I LOVE MY JOB!!  How many people can really say that?!?!  

Claire is adjusting pretty well to her new routine.  We are dealing with a few "issues" but she is trying very hard to work through them.  Oliver is adjusting well too.  He is sick again this week but he is getting better and hopefully he will be back to normal soon.

Teaching Kindergarten has given me sooo many ideas of fun things to do with Claire.  Her new favorite thing is to listen to Robert Munsch read his books out loud on his website (click here to check it out).  Aunt Jacqie let us borrow a big book of his stories and Claire will sit there for hours listening to them and laughing.  It is adorable!!

On Saturday the weather was yucky so we decided to skip swim lessons and let Oliver sleep in.  While he was sleeping we made all of Claire's Valentines for her friends and teachers.

It is kind of hard to see this pic but Oliver's new thing is that he LOVES to pick up his rings and then put them on his feet.  Then he laughs as if to say "Check this out!!  That is HILARIOUS!!" it is super adorable!

Grandma and Grandpa stopped over on Saturday to give the kids their Valentines.  One of Oliver's treats was a new book.  Claire and Oliver loved sitting with Grandma while she read to them.

After they left we headed over to Nana and Papa's so that Claire could make V-day cookies with Nana.  She loves to bake with Nana, which is good because I do not bake AT ALL!!

Oliver is getting so big!!!  His head is growing pretty rapidly too!  He is wearing Claire's hats at this point!  So either my 3 year old has a small head or my 8 month old has a huge head.  We haven't decided yet!!!!

Double Tubble

Double Tubble
HIGH: The kids love taking their bath together :)
LOW: We are still working out our new routine :(

We can FINALLY give the kids their baths together now!!  YAY!!  This saves me a good 30 minutes at bedtime.  Plus, the kids love playing together!

Claire is such a good big sister.  She loves helping us wash Oliver's hair.

He is such a big boy in the tub!

He loves his bath but apparently DOES NOT like it when you place letters on his head.  This usually lets me know that bathtime is over.

Then it's time for lotion and jammies.  And some Jersey Shore hair :)

 Awesome.

 Then it's time for cozy jammies and books.

And of course, some kisses from Claire.

Claire had her dancing pictures today.  Let me just say this, I was NOT cut out to be a pageant Mom.  Claire on the other hand, loves getting dressed up and putting on makeup.  

Poor Oliver takes a looonnnggg nap everyday when we get home.  We have been having to wake him up just to feed him and get him ready for bed.  It will be sooo nice when we get this whole routine all worked out!