Museums And Big Boy Beds

We have had a great week off!  We have been spending a lot of quality time together as a family.  We have really enjoyed just relaxing and being together.  We have also had some big changes over here.  Oliver is now in a BIG BOY BED!

The other day we were all napping during nap time and Mark and I heard a loud thud.  I ran into Oliver's room and there he was on the floor!  The poor guy looked at me and started to cry and said "I feew out!  I feew out!!!"  Mark and I just looked at each other and we knew.....it was time for a big boy bed.  Now I will admit, I fought this decision a bit.  I fought it because there was NO WAY that my baby was ready for a toddler bed!

Here is Oliver playing in his crib for the last time.  He LOVES his crib!!  Claire and I went to dancing and when we got home, the crib was no more (and I did cry a little).

Here is Oliver's big boy bed.  Of course, I made Mark move EVERYTHING around in his room but we were happy with the end result.  I thought Oliver would have a hard time not having his crib because he loved it so much but he was totally in love with his new bed!  He stays in his bed until someone comes to get him and he wants to stay in his bed!  We have to give some books so he can hang out for a while.  Throughout the day if you aren't sure where Oliver is, there is a pretty good chance he is hanging out in his bed.  Claire also loves his bed.  They play in there all the time, they call it their boat :)

Aside from Oliver growing up way to quickly we have been hanging out at museums.  We went to Buffalo Science Museum the other day.  The kids had a blast!

I love watching their little minds work.  Especially when they work together.  My kids love to go to museums.  They are so busy the whole time we are there.  Mark and I love to watch them play together.  They stick together and help each other out.  Oliver is learning so much from Claire and I love it!

They loved putting together the "People Puzzle".  Claire needs to know how everything works and Oliver just takes it all in.

Today we went to the Strong Museum.  The kids loved the Sesame Street exhibit!  And a special thank you to Nana for letting me use her point and shoot camera while my camera is being repaired.

Oliver was blown away with the section where Elmo does "the news" with you.  And there is Mark otherwise known as "Photobomb".  Mark always finds a way to get into a shot.

Oliver loved all of the cars that he could "drive".

The kids had a blast shopping at Wegmans.

They both felt so grown up.  And Oliver is always thrilled when something is his size.

Claire was a pro at checking out.  She is still carrying around her receipt.

Oliver loved checking out too (with a little help from Daddy).

Just chilling in Big Bird's nest.  Oliver kept asking me "This is Big Bird's nest?!?  I sit in Big Bird's nest?!?!  Where Big Bird?!?!"

The Superhero exhibit was a hit.  Oliver doesn't even really know all the superheroes (besides Superman) but he LOVES them!  The kids had a blast "climbing the wall". Of course Claire is dragging Oliver along.

The Berenstain bear exhibit was also a hit.  My kids love their books and they love to watch the cartoon.

Claire had to get a picture with Papa Bear.

Oliver fell in love in the sandbox.  He found this little girl and played with her for 45 minutes.  He kept bringing her toys, it was ADORABLE!  I sat with the little girl's mom and her and I giggled the whole time,  it was so sweet.

Claire had a blast too but I think she felt a little left out because Oliver was with his new girlfriend.

We have had a great break! I am sad that is it already almost over!  Just being together and spending this time together has been great!  I just kept thinking today that my babies are getting so old and I will really miss these days.  Mark and I were saying today that we can't even believe the kids are this old and they are gonna be teenagers before we know it!  I truly have cherished EVERY second of this break, even the days when we just hang out in our jammies!

The Winter House

Last night we had a great time spending the night with our family at the Winter House!

Everyone loved going skiing and relaxing!

Oliver had a blast reading Aunt Sara some books.

It is always so great to spend this time together.  We all enjoy visiting and relaxing.

The kids LOVE the winter house (click HERE to see our past visit to the winter house.  Oliver and I couldn't go last year because he was sick so there are no pictures of Mark and Claire from last year)!  They had a blast going in the hot tub.  Claire thought it was amazing to be outside in the snow "swimming".  Claire and Oliver got to sleep in the closet and they thought that was the greatest thing ever.  Aunt Irene set up a big air mattress for Claire and Oliver had his pack and play.  They were just thrilled to hang out in the closet and sleep in there.

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday and enjoyed three cakes!  After the kids went to bed (in the closet) the adults stayed up and played games.  We had a BLAST!  It was so nice to just be together and hang out.

Thank you Irene and Bryan for such a great night!  The kids had a blast and the adults did too!

On a sad note my camera is broke and I am a mess about it!  I was so sad that I didn't have a camera to take pictures of our great night but my mother let me borrow her camera so I did get some pictures.  I was going to send my camera out to fix it but it was going to take 4-8 WEEKS!  I cannot stand the thought of not having my camera for that long!!  So Mark ordered a new part for my camera and he is going to fix it soon, so say a prayer all goes well because I am DYING without my baby!!!

Winter Waterpark

Last night we spent the night at a local hotel and waterpark.  Grandma and Grandpa bought us all a package for Christmas and we had a blast!  Claire was beyond excited to spend the night in a hotel and Oliver was amazed by everything he saw!

Claire insisted on wearing her vest while we were there.  She is a total rule follower.  She was directing all the kids on the water slides and was always making sure that everyone was safe.

Oliver was a little hesitant about the water slides but he loved swimming!  Swimming and playing with Owen (or even just being by him) was Oliver's favorite part! Poor Oliver tries so hard to keep up with Claire and Owen!

Grandma loved playing in the water with the kids.

We couldn't keep Grandma off the water slides.

Oliver loved hanging out with Grandpa.

They had two big water slides.  One was slow and the other was fast.  And when I say fast, I  mean FAST!  Us adults were a little freaked out by it!  But the slow slide was perfect for Claire.  She was so happy that she was just tall enough to go on it.  And I mean she was JUST tall enough.  Here she is coming down the slide.  Notice she is backwards.  I think the poor thing just whipped all over the place in that tube!!

Here is Mark coming down the water slide!  Like I said, even the adults loved them!

The hotel itself was exciting for the kids.  They loved running in the long hallways, riding the elevators, and playing on the luggage carts.

We all had adjoining rooms and that worked out perfectly.  We were able to put the kids to bed in our rooms and then we could hang out and have adult time in Kevin and Sara's room.  Grandma loved reading to the kids before bed.

Then the next morning we had a delicious breakfast and then we were back at the waterpark!

Claire told us "This is the best day of my life!!!!" about 78 times.

The kids LOVE playing together and to put them all together anywhere is a blast.  But to put them in a waterpark was heaven!

Even when they were just swimming in the water, they had a blast.

Notice Claire has her vest on.  Yeah...she is only in 1 foot of water.  I love my little rule follower.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a great Christmas present!  We all had a blast!!!  We love you!!!!

Kiddo Update

I decided that an update on the kids is long overdue!  My kids are growing so quickly and doing so many wonderful things that I want to make sure that I write some of it down.

Claire

My sweet little 5 year old is growing so quickly.  If I had to use two words to describe her they would be kind and curious.  She is always thinking of others and loves to take care of her little brother.  Claire told us tonight that she tries to help with Oliver and she often tells him "You have to listen to me like I am your mother so that you don't get hurt."  

She loves school and really enjoys doing her homework.  I LOVE doing her homework with her.  I really enjoy watching her little brain work.  She has no idea that I have waited for these days of us sitting at the kitchen table working on her homework since the day she was born.

Claire is in love with music.  And after Santa replaced her MP3 player twice, he finally got her a pink Nano (here she is with her first MP3 player) that she takes everywhere with her.  She can often be found dancing and singing dramatically somewhere in our house. 

Claire is curious and is always craving more knowledge.  She has a love of Science and reading.  She loves to read to us every night and I love to listen to her read.  She continues to amaze me on a daily basis.  She is also getting to be very sensitive!  She takes everything very seriously and takes everything to heart!!  

While Claire still likes to have fun and be silly, she is really starting to be self-conscious and can sometimes be shy.  My advice to Claire as she grows is to continue to be curious and learn as much as can.  I would also tell her to try not to take life so seriously and not to take everything to heart.  While some things are important, your happiness is the most important thing and YOU are the one in control of how happy you can be.  And I will ALWAYS be there to help make you happy, no matter what it takes.  Oh yeah one more thing, I love your hair!  I know you will try to make it straight at some point but please don't.  It is amazing!!!!!

Oliver

My hilarious little two year old is growing so quickly.  If I had to use two words to describe him they would funny and loving.  He is always smiling and loves to make other people laugh.  He also loves to snuggle and make people happy.  He is always asking "You happy Mama??"

Also, Oliver LOVES to read!  He tries to mimic Claire and read just like she does.  It is adorable. 

Oliver LOVES dinosaurs!  He has always loved trains and trucks of every kind but now he has added Dinosaurs to his list of things that he loves.  He knows most of them by name and cannot get enough of them.  Here he is with his face painted.  When asked what he wanted he immediately answered "A DINOSAUR!"

Then he was thrilled that the mouth of the dinosaur was his mouth.  He was roaring away all night!

Oliver also loves babies!  If there is a baby anywhere around Oliver is all over them!

He also loves to be naked :)  Being a boy he is always trying to figure things out. Here he is with a key that he is trying to fit into this door, naked of course.

Oliver is doing great with the potty!  "Number two" is taking a little practice but he knows how to entertain himself while he goes.  You never really know what he is up to.  If he is too quiet for a while you can pretty much be sure he is doing something like this.

Oliver loves going to school everyday.  He can't wait to go and loves his teachers and friends.  Here he is waiting patiently (as he does every morning) for Daddy so that he can go to his favorite place.

Oliver is very outgoing!  He has no fear of being the center of attention and tries to make everyone laugh whenever possible.  Here he is at an event at Mark's school.  In this session they asked the adults a question and of course Oliver raised his hand and was ready with an answer, even if he was not really sure what they were talking about.

 Oliver does NOT like playing outside in the snow.  He repeatedly tells me, "It too cold Mama.  It too cold."  

Oliver loves music and loves to sing!  His last favorite song was "Born To Be Wild".  Although he can be found singing "Doooogggiiieee Wooowww".  My advice to Oliver would be use his humor to make others happy!  He has a great sense of humor and he can really brighten a person's day and make them happy.  I would also tell him to keep reading (even if he really doesn't know how) some day it will click and he love it even more.  I would also tell him to keep being so loving!  Finally, I would tell him to be patient with Claire.  I would let him know that she mothers him so much because she loves him and someday she will need him to take care of her and protect her.

As for the both of them, I would tell them that they need to stick together.  They are a team and they will always have each other.  They will need to lean on each other and help each other out.  Oliver can help Claire be silly and just have fun sometimes.  And Claire can help Oliver be a little more serious at times. Oh yeah and they should always remember to take care of their mother and father :)

These two make me so happy EVERY DAY!  Watching them grow over the last five and half years has been truly amazing and I have loved every second!!!  Thank you Claire and Oliver for being mine and making my life perfect!