Monday, October 11, 2010 Happy Birthday Nana!

Happy Birthday Nana!


HIGH:  Nana and Papa took Claire on a fun trip today :) AND We had a nice family party for Nana's birthday :)
LOW: I had to clean my house :(

Today Nana and Papa picked Claire up early and took her to Hidden Valley Animal Adventure.  It is this super great place where you go on a tour through their park and feed over 30 species of animals right from your hands!! They have a nice trolley that takes you on a ride and the animals are super friendly!!  Needless to say, Claire had a blast!  

 

After their super fun trip we had a nice dinner for Nana's birthday!  Mark used our apples from apple picking and a special pumpkin that he bought to make homemade apple and pumpkin pies.

 

Here is his apple pie, not too shabby!  It was delicious!

 

Here is the pumpkin pie.  This one was my favorite!  It was awesome!!! I also helped with this one.  See those fluted edges...yep that was  all me!!

Take a closer look.  Man, that is some good fluting :)

 

So of course we used the pumpkin pie as Nana's birthday cake.

Claire was right there to help Nana blow out her candles.

And Papa always needs a smooch from his favorite girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!!!

Sunday, October 10, 2010 How Do You Like Them Apples

How Do You Like Them Apples??


HIGH: It was a beautiful day to go apple picking :)
LOW:  There was not enough time in the day to do everything that we wanted to do :(

Today was a gorgeous day and Claire was feeling MUCH better so we decided to go apple picking!!  

This was our first time apple picking so we had no idea what we were doing.  But people were very friendly and helpful.  Everything was kinda picked over but we found one super good tree and went to town!!  Claire loved every second of this trip!

This was Oliver's contribution to the trip!  I forgot the chip for my camera but after calming down Mark pointed out that my super cool new phone takes pictures too!  This picture was taken with my phone, not too shabby.

 

 Oliver loves the baby carrier, he really felt like he was a part of things.

This place was adorable.  Claire was pumped that there were cows just hanging out.

 

 You could feed the cows apples.  They loved it!!!  It was kinda scary though!  The cows were really friendly and they didn't bite the apples out of your hand they kinda licked them out (which felt really weird).

 

 There were goats too.  They were kinda boring but Claire loved them just the same.

 

 The turkeys were fun.  They reminded me of little old men with their wrinkly faces.  I was nervous for Claire though because when I was a kid a turkey grabbed my lip through the wire at the zoo and wouldn't let go (jerk turkey).

 

Claire loved the little hay maze.  

Claire got some great apples.

 

She loved the idea that she could just eat them right off the tree (although I felt a little funny about it, I am not sure how clean those apples are but...when in roam...).

 

Oliver loved relaxing in his stroller and just taking it all in.

 

Until we kicked him and Claire out of the stroller so that we could load it up with our loot.

Claire was so proud to help her Daddy today.

She loved sorting through the apples and putting them in the bag.

 

I told her that she could pick out any 6 gourds that she wanted (they were 6 for a dollar) and she took this VERY seriously.  We were at this bin for like 20 minutes and she sorted through a billion gourds finding the perfect 6.

Overall, it was just a perfect day.  We had a great time!!  I can't wait until Oliver can join in with us next year :)

Saturday, October 9, 2010 Puppet Show

HIGH:  Claire is feeling better :)
LOW:  Claire bumped her mouth on her dresser :(

Claire is finally feeling better and we were all dying to get out of the house so we stopped at our local library to get some new Halloween books.  We had a really nice time!!

Claire had a blast putting on a puppet show for us (don't worry there was a lot of hand washing before and after the show :).

Then Daddy put on a puppet show that was informative about the effects of global warming.

Can you tell that Oliver enjoyed the show?

We even had time to stop for Claire's Halloween costume.  She is determined to be a bunny, so we got some of the stuff for that.  Then we got home and the poor thing hit her mouth on her dresser.  Poor girl, the inside of her mouth is finally better and she smacks the outside.  Tomorrow...apple picking!!!!

Friday, October 8, 2010 It's A Boy Celebration!

HIGH:  Jenn's It's A Boy Celebration :)
LOW: Claire is still sick :(

Well, Claire is still sick.  She is on the upswing but still under the weather.  I did notice a small spot inside Oliver's mouth so let's pray that it's nothing!!!  On a happy note, tonight was Jenn's It's A Boy Celebration.  It was so nice to get together with the girls and relax (away from sickie kids :).

Jenn got a lot of great stuff to get her started with her new little man.

Nothing better than a night with the ladies.

It's always nice to see Jenn's in laws.

Gettin' cozy.

Jessica did a great job as the hostess (as usual).

Pretty Ladies.

 

Jenn's mother is patiently awaiting the arrival of her new grandson. 

And poor Heidi, I bothered her for all kinds of medical advice :)

Overall, it was a great shower.  Now we just wait for baby no name to come into this world (although we did have some great suggestions for names).  

Can't wait to meet him!!!!

Today is also Nana's birthday!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA, WE LOVE YOU!!!!

PS It was also one year ago today that I found out that I was pregnant with Oliver :)

Thursday, October 7, 2010 Still Sick

HIGH: I discovered the magic of Children's Motrin :)
LOW:  Claire is still sick :(

My poor baby, she is still sick.  Claire basically laid around all day long and was not herself.  Turns out that it is not her throat that hurts, it is her cheek.  Just like she told us.  Claire has Hand Foot and Mouth.  Ok, relax everyone.  It sounds DISGUSTING but it really isn't that bad.  Basically, it's a virus (have I mentioned how I feel about the "virus") and it causes fever and canker sores in the mouth and blisters on the hands and feet.  Claire got this at school and she has a really mild case.  No fever and just two canker sores in mouth and a blister on her finger.  Before bed we gave her Motrin and she was feeling much better so let's hope we are on the upswing!!!

Notice Claire is in the exact same spot as the day before :(

Again, please pray that Oliver does not get this.  I have washed EVERYTHING in this house!!  My hands are gonna peel off because I have washed them so much.  A toddler who can't eat is hard enough, I cannot even imagine an infant having this!!!!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Back To The Doctor

HIGH:  Mark brought home dinner :)
LOW: Claire is sick :(

 

 Poor Claire.  Last night at dinner told me that her throat hurt when she was eating.  But then she seemed fine and went on playing.  I thought nothing of it until later when I was talking to her and she had sick breath.  We gave her some tylenol and then put her to bed.  Well, about 4 hours later Claire woke up and was NOT happy.  She kept saying her throat was itchy.  Now, Claire is three years old has not woken up in during the night since she was 2 weeks old (once she woke up because she had a fever but that was it).  So I knew something was up.  I took her to the dr. and it's not strep just a virus.  Oh the dreaded virus, a virus equals no antibiotic just waiting.  The poor baby can't swallow anything.  She is soo hungry but EVERYTHING hurts.  The poor baby.  She keeps saying that her cheeks hurt. This is the first time that Claire has been really sick.  She has had fevers and a few colds but never sick sick so she has no idea what is going on.  Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

PS Please say a prayer that Oliver DOES NOT get this!!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 SHOTS!!

HIGH:  Jessica and Giada came over for dinner :)
LOW: Oliver got his shots :(

Today was Oliver's 4 month appointment.  We all go to a family doctor and we LOVE LOVE LOVE him.  BUT we hate shots day.  Shots never bothered Claire, she would cry for a minute and then be fine.  Last time Oliver got shots he was grumpy the whole night so I assumed we were in for a grumpy man.

Here's the juice happy as a clam in the waiting room.  Oh, if he only knew what he was waiting for.

He just got weighed.  Still happy as can be, blowing raspberries all over the place.

Here is Oliver after his shots.  If he could talk we would probably have yelled, "SWEET MOTHER OF GOD WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!!!"  Poor kid.  He settled down pretty quick but was very uncomfortable for the rest of the evening. He just wanted to be snuggled and loved.

Overall, Oliver is a doing great!  He weighs 13 pds 4 oz (Claire weighed that much at 7 months old).  He is 16 3/4 inches long and his head is 24 1/4 inches.  He strong and healthy!!

PS This is what happens when you try to do too many things at once.  While multitasking I tried to sterilize some of Oliver's binkies.  Yeah, well I forgot about them for so long that the water all boiled out and the binkie's started to melt.  Awesome.

Monday, October 4, 2010 Thanks Harold

HIGH:  Claire did awesome at dance class today :)
LOW: Oliver is going through a "needy" phase :(

It has been said that little boys love their mommies.  It has been said that little boys are more snugly than little girls.  It has been said that little boys are more needy than little girls.  Well, in my experience all of this is true.  Oliver loves me!!  Oliver loves to snuggle!!  And Oliver is needy!!  Boys are definitely different than girls.  While it's exhausting at times, I love this kid and I wouldn't change it for the world!  So when he is 15 and wants nothing to do with me and I embarrass him I will show him this post and remind him that there was a time when he loved me more than anything in the world.

I did discover that Oliver loves TV!!  Judge me if you will but TV has saved my sanity many times and I am ok with puttin the TV on the regroup and keep my sanity!

 

Claire and Oliver watching Harold and the Purple Crayon.  Thank god for Harold. Claire would watch him forever but Oliver even watched it for about 20 minutes, giving me some time to relax. 

This weather needs to stop being so dreary, we are getting lazy!

Sunday, October 3, 2010 Hangin' Out

HIGH: Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's :)
LOW: I was very grumpy today :(

Today was a nice lazy day.  I think I may have ruined it though because I was pretty grumpy today.  Yes, it's true I get grumpy and I HATE when I am grumpy.  I blame the hormones.  I am pretty sure it's their fault do to the hot flashes and hair loss. 

Thank god Grandma and Grandpa invited us over for dinner!!  It was perfect timing.

Claire loved watching her video from the blog yesterday.

 

We watched it a few times!!

Claire loved showing Grandma her Halloween books from the library.

 Then Blaire showed up and we knew it was time to go.

Saturday, October 2, 2010 Green Beans and The Exerciser

HIGH:  Nothing to do all day :) AND Daddy was home all day :)
LOW:  The weather was yucky so we couldn't play outside :(

Today we just laid around all day (Oliver never even got out of his pjs).  We played games, read our Halloween books, and relaxed.  Claire and I did take a trip to the candle store to get some fall scented candles.  She was hilarious the whole time we were there.  She took choosing the right scent very seriously.  Claire also talked me into getting a new Halloween decoration :)

Oliver had a big day today.  Today he started having green beans.  He LOVED them!!!  Not only did Oliver start green beans today, Daddy also set up his exersaucer or exerciser as Claire calls it.  And, of course Claire was right there to help her Daddy.

Oliver lovin' his green beans :)  I swear this kid is starving!  I cannot feed him enough!!!!

Claire helping her Daddy put together the exerciser.

Every step of the way Claire was there to lend a hand.

Don't you just love my cupboards?

The moment of truth.  Will Oliver like it?  Or won't he?

Yes, Claire is dressed like a witch.  I told you she is taking this Halloween stuff very seriously.

 

SUCCESS!!!!

 

He loves it!!!

 

And of course Pete is not too far away from the action.

Remember when I said Claire was really into Halloween?  Here is a quick video of her explaining (in her witch costume) how she wants to scare us.  Can you see why we call her Sheri O'terri??

Friday, October 1, 2010 Kissin' Buffaloes

HIGH:  It was a gorgeous fall day :)
LOW: We didn't have enough time to make it to the playground :(

Today was a gorgeous fall day.  The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect!  Today was also perfect because it was one of those days where the kids were just good and adorable all day long.   We spent the morning on my bed reading books and playing with Oliver's new toys.  Claire loved reading to Oliver and he seemed pretty into it so we decided we should go to the library.  Claire was really into Halloween today so she wanted to get Halloween books.  So, I packed up the chickens and we headed out!  We went to the library (I forgot my camera in the car) and got our books.  Claire was super cute inside,  she just kept yelling "DID YOU EVEN SEE ALL OF THESE HALLOWEEN BOOKS MOM!  CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT!!"  It was precious.

After the library we headed to visit Nana at work and show her Claire's new books.  Now... my mother's boss collects Buffaloes and just recently purchased a 6 foot tall Buffalo for in front of their office.  Claire thought this was the coolest thing ever.

 

Claire and her Buffalo :)

 

Wouldn't be a Friday without kissin' a Buffalo.

Did you kiss anyone special today?