Oliver

My Oliver growing up so fast.  He cracks me up on a daily basis.  Every night when we put him to bed he promises me "I not gonna get out of my bed.  I go right to sleep."  Then we go in to check on him and we see this....

Oliver clearly has gotten out of his bed and grabbed his favorite bin of dinosaurs to bring in his bed.  He goes right to sleep but he definitely gets out of his bed to grab at least one toy (sometimes more) to bring in his bed.  He also wants a pillow to be placed over his face to go to sleep.

Here is Oliver at 5 months old.  He would always fall asleep with his silky on his face.  I guess some things never change.  I love this little goofball.

The other day Oliver wanted me to wave goodbye to him.  When I pulled out this is what I saw.  There is my son....mooning the neighborhood.  That's my boy.  I love this kid.

A Good Old Fahsioned Hoedown

Last Friday we went to a good old fashioned hoedown at Claire's school!  We had a blast!

 Claire gets so excited when she has events at her school.  She loves to show off her school and introduce us to all of her friends.   And how cute does she look in her cowgirl gear?!

Oliver loved getting dressed up too!

Even Mark got into it!  A friend of mine is from Alabama and she gave us some great stuff to wear!

My ranch hands.

I love a good theme day!!!

Claire and one of her best buddies Mia. Claire and Mia are besties at school and she is sooo sweet! 

Claire and Mia showing off their dance moves.

Oliver on the other, fell in love.  He kept saying "I dance wif her.  I dance wif the big girl."  So Mark told him, "Well go ask her to dance!"  And that he did.  He marched across the dance floor of big kids and walked right up to Ally, tugged on her pant leg and asked her to dance.  Mark and I held our breath thinking "Oh no!  This little girl is going to want to hang out with her friends and blow him off and he is going to be DEVASTATED!"  Well, that was NOT the case.  She scooped him up and danced with him ALL NIGHT LONG!  It was so sweet!

She took him to do the limbo and do a craft in the library (with Mark or myself trailing behind, at a safe distance of course.  We didn't want to ruin his game).  I kept asking Oliver if he needed to go potty and he kept telling me no.  Then he had an accident, because he refused to leave Ally's side!  So Mark ran him home to change him (the ONE time I don't bring extra pants with me, he has an accident) and he told Mark in the car "Now I go find my big girl and if you talk to me I will push you away.  Will you miss me?"  He is really something else.

Claire tried to join him at one point (I think she was a little jealous) but Oliver wanted nothing to do with her.  It was all about Ally.  The next morning he kept talking about her and saying "She not my fwend, she my girlfwend.  She carry me all night."  I swear I am in trouble with him!  I do not know where he gets this from!!!!!!!

Overall, it was another great family night at Claire's school.  I am really happy with how great her school is.  They do so much for the families and it just makes Claire love school even more!

A Night At The Circus

We spent tonight at the circus!  The kids had a blast!!

Here is Claire waiting for the show to start.  We didn't go last year so I was surprised at how much Claire remembered from the circus!

My chickens waiting for their turn on the pony ride.

Mama Hen made sure Oliver was ok while they went on their pony cart ride.

We all had a great time! Oliver LOVED the circus!  He was amazed by every single thing that was going on.

Claire was a pro at the pony rides.

This was the highlight of Oliver's night.  We saw a pony when we first got there and for the rest of the show Oliver just kept asking, "Where da pony go?!"

We had a great time at the circus!  Claire loved all the costumes and the trapeze artists.  While Oliver loved the trapeze artists and the animals.  

And when they rolled out Mater, he about lost his mind!  

And we all loved the elephants!  I have no idea how they train those elephants to stand ON A BALL!  But it was amazing!!!!   

Playing Around And Being Sentimental

My camera is home.  Home and fixed.  I have really missed having my camera but while she was away I had some time to really look into some new ways to use her.  As soon as I got her back I was ready to really practice and do a lot of different things.

I really played around with my lighting.  While I was doing this I got some different pictures of the kids.  I love this picture.  Claire's face is priceless.  She was getting really sick of me asking her to sit in different spots around the house while I took 3,000 pictures of her while I changed my settings and played with my flash.

My lighting was good here but Claire was yawning :)

The weather was gorgeous this weekend so I got to play around with some great natural light.  Claire is a great little model.  She does anything I ask her to.  I love this kid.

Oliver doesn't pose very well but he is always fun and a good sport.

And seriously....look at this face. I have a hard time not kissing and biting him constantly.

I asked him to show me something.  So here he is showing me his boo boo.

My babies.

Later on we went to the playground.  We grabbed some McDonalds and ate at the playground so we could enjoy this weather.  Oliver just kept saying "We eat at the playground....that's exciting!"

He loves the swings :)

Claire loves to help Oliver do everything.  She had a blast pushing on the swing.

Claire loved being sassy for the camera.

The kids loved running around in the warm weather.  Here they are chasing a squirrel.  Oh to be a kid again and have this be the most exciting thing that has happened all day.

My babies checking out the frozen lake.

The day before I went to the cemetery to practice taking some pictures.  I know it sounds morbid but I have always loved cemeteries.  When I was a kid my Poppy would take me for walks in the cemetery and tell me stories of all the people that have passed away.  He made the cemetery seem so peaceful and relaxing.  I used to love to listen all of his stories.  So to this day I find the cemetery so relaxing.  It's creepy I know, but I love it there.  So when I was doing one of my "assignments" from my photography book and the first assignment was to go somewhere tranquil and take pictures of the architecture, the cemetery was the first place that came to mind.  Here are a couple of pictures that I took.

This is one of my family's stones.  

This is a stone that my Poppy used to tell me was father and son.  He had some huge back story to it that I used to make him tell me over and over.  I stood there for what seemed like hours and it saddens me to say that I cannot remember any of the story.  I just remember that I loved it.  While I was there it really made me sad that I can't remember many of the stories he told me.  They were so detailed and beautiful and they never changed.  It kills me that I cannot remember any of them.  I guess I will have to make up my own stories and just remember they way they made me feel.

Big Things

We have had some big things going on here lately!  For one, my camera is broken.  This is awful.  It has been two full weeks without my camera and I have been devastated!  Thankfully my mother let me borrow her point and shoot but still, I miss my baby!!!  

Enough of my whining, now onto the good news!!!!
 

Yep!  That's right!  Claire has been chosen to be a part of a "Challenge reading group"!  I cried when this came home.  I am so proud of my girl!!  We have really enjoyed the books that have come home.  It has been a little extra work but we are all loving it!  Oliver loves when Claire reads her new books to us each night!

Also, Claire recently came home with this little award!  SHE CAN TIE HER SHOES!!!!!!!  The poor thing has been working on this since the summer with her tiny little fingers.  I am so proud of her for not giving up and keeping at it!  Again, I cried when this came home!  Claire is growing up so fast and she makes me so proud EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!

Claire isn't the only one growing up.  Oliver is off the binkie (since the fall), in a big boy bed, totally potty trained, and moving to the big 3 year old room at school.  I am so proud of him!!

OK, they can both take a break and stop growing up so fast now!!!  At night I have been getting teary (I seem to cry a lot these days)  and telling Claire all kinds of stories of when she was a baby.  She loves to hear these stories but cannot understand why I am crying.  I asked her to stop growing please and she told me, "I will try Mom but it is going to be hard.  I don't think it is going to work!"  I know everyone says this but MY KIDS REALLY ARE THE BEST!!!!!!