Catching Up + Some Teasers

So, a lot has happened since I left off.  Here's my feeble attempt at catching you all up rather quickly.

+  I made 4 trips to the airport in 6 days and my parents made 2.  David left on a work trip and my awesomest friend, Michele, came in to visit and help out with the girls.  My brother also made a trip out to celebrate a certain special someone's first birthday.

+ This precious thing started PRE-SCHOOL last Tuesday.  She will get her very own blog post on that, but Oh My Word, how is that possible?!

+  Michele and I took the girls to the children's museum and had so much fun.  Olivia did much better this time with sharing - probably because she was promised an ice cream cone for good behavior.  Or because Michele was there to help.  Or a little of both.  Probably a little of both.

This face!!!

Could NOT love her more.

One of the best pictures I have of the two of them.

In the lunch room of all places.

Sydney LOVED the grocery store part of the museum. 

We went in the afternoon and besides one other kid, we were the only ones in this area.  And, it's usually a madhouse in there!

Handsomely rewarded for good behavior.  

There is no shame in my game.

+  Four adults and no kids got to enjoy dinner out at an Irish pub.  'Nuff said.

Such a high quality picture!  But, it's got two of my loves in it right there.  

Three, if you count the Blue Moon.

This was cool.  Until it wasn't.  One song was plenty, boys.

+  This one turned ONE on Saturday.  Another, HUH? HOW?  Stay tuned for an onslaught of birthday party pictures.  The girl is definitely loved.

Is your head spinning?

Mine is.

Could be the wine.

{I'm weeeeannning.}

Shark Week

Seriously, when I take a week off from blogging, you would think that I could just forget about a couple of the events that happened and not put them up here.  I'm not talking life-changing events here, like birthdays or first days of school.  I mean, those both happened in the last week and they for sure will get their own blog post.  I'm talking little playdates or family outings that I have some sort of compulsion to post about.  Even if the pictures are far from high quality.  Can't. Stop. Blogging.

So, prepare yourself for a bunch of grainy aquarium pictures.  Because, yeah.

So, I have 3 children.

{Most} sea creatures freak me out.

True story.

Dressed alike in sea life shirts.

Is your life not complete now that you've seen those?

You can thank me later.

DMB LoVE

If you know me very well, you will know that the Dave Matthews Band has played a significant part in my life...from forming friendships to encouraging a love of discovering new music and making lots of memories along the way.  Yesterday marked four years since the beloved DMB saxophonist, LeRoi Moore passed away.  And, almost four years ago, Olivia {sort of} attended her first DMB concert in Berkeley.  I was only a few weeks pregnant with her when David and I attended the show and coupling my hormones with the first show without LeRoi that I had ever been to, it certainly was an emotional one.  As corny as it sounds, I couldn't help but think back on that day as well as feel for the members of the band yesterday as it was surely a tough day for them all.

Maybe I was sending out some LeRoi vibes, or maybe there is a little LeRoi in all of us, because Olivia put together this outfit all on her own yesterday.  LoVE this girl.  {Don't know the significance of the LoVE sign?  Check it out here.}

Happy 40 Month Birthday, Olivia

You sure do look like your Poppy!!

But a whole lot cuter.

Love ya, girl.

Our Lives, In Pictures

I've been staying up until almost midnight every night for the last several nights working on a couple different projects, all related to pictures.  I could seriously use a week of 9-5, kid-free laptop time to organize all of my pictures and put together various photo albums.  This staying up late and getting up early business is kicking my butt.  I'm exhausted.

My bestie, Michele, is coming to visit next week {expect a little blog break from me as I will be enjoying her company} and so I have been trying to get Sydney's birthday slideshow done before she gets here.  Can you believe my baby is turning one?! 

Needless to say, I've neglected the blog this last week.  So, here are some pictures to catch you all up on what's been happenin'!

+  David took Olivia to her Meet the Creature class on Saturday while Sydney and I went to pick up Nana and Poppy from the airport.  Here are a few of the creatures they met.

Ginormous rabbit

I don't even know what that is.  But, it's gross.  And we are never getting one for a pet.

Disgusting.  I can't believe I am posting this picture.

Phew.  Some cuteness.  Olivia feeding a baby jackrabbit.

+  Sydney took a late morning nap the other day and Olivia and I enjoyed a little indoor picnic.  Love being able to spend one-on-one time with each of my girls.  

Decisions, decisions.

+ THIS is Sydney's new facial expression. Cracks me up.

+  Sweet girl has not been feeling well this week.  The snot is literally pouring from her nose non-stop.  We take like 3 baths a day sometimes because she is at least happy and comfortable there.

+  I've been playing with Olivia's food again.  She requested a Strawberry Shortcake quesadilla.  There's room for improvement...

+  Nana and Poppy met us for lunch after Olivia's dance class today.  Sydney's pulling her stank face here.  

+  And, last but not least, I am SO proud of Olivia and how far she has come with her swimming.  As I looked back through pictures, I realized that she's been taking swimming lessons since the middle of January.  The first few months of lessons were just one day a week, but for the duration of the summer, she has gone every Monday-Thursday.  That's A HUGE commitment for her {and for her daddy who has taken her to the majority of lessons} and it has really paid off.  When we first moved here last summer and would get in the pool, I would be a nervous wreck with her walking anywhere near the water, but now I am less anxious and we really enjoy being in the pool.  She is now able to swim the length of our pool {under water and coming up for air}, she can tread water, she can float, she can dive to the bottom {even in the deep end} to go after toys, and she is fearless when it comes to jumping in off the sides.  We will continue with the lessons, but are switching to Saturday classes for a few months.  {I'll be glad to free up our evenings a bit!} To celebrate her last daily class of the summer, we got her an Ariel costume because, hello, mermaid.  She was so excited to get it when she got home. 

Phew, I think we are mostly caught up!  Now, I'm just going to stay home tomorrow and do laundry so there won't be anything to blog about.  

Except for the fact that it's Olivia's 40th Month birthday.

Life goes on...

Cheer'ens Museum

So, Wednesday was the first time I had taken both girls to the Children's Museum when it would just be the three of us there the whole time.  Despite the {very ugly} ending, I think I will do it again.  Most of the area schools are back in session, so it wasn't as crowded as it has been this summer and both girls really enjoyed themselves.  I love how our museum has a little baby area in each of the rooms that allows Sydney to have a protected place to play too.  Of course, half the time she wanted to be out with the big kids.  Take after her sister much?

There were two things that Olivia talked about doing on our way there - the bikes in the bike wash and the dinosaurs in the egg.  First stop was to the bikes.  Mercy sakes, when did she get so grown up?

The room right next to the bikes has a bunch of areas for forts as well as tons of sheets and clips so the kids can build their own.  Olivia spent a lot of time in this room and Sydney had a lot of fun crawling all over the place.

Oh how this picture gives me hope!

After this, we took a little pit stop in the snack/lunch room.  It was after the lunch rush, so the room was empty.  I took a little video of Sydney gabbing up a storm - she loved to hear the echo.  You can watch it here.  

I love how their expressions are almost the same here...

...and here.

But, here Sydney clearly has no clue what Olivia is doing!

After lunch, we hit the sand table, the craft room {where despite me bringing an art shirt, Olivia managed to get paint in her hair and all over me AND she cut a hole in her shirt} and then to the calm of the 3 and Under room.  Well, it was calm for most of it....

Olivia LOVES those dinosaurs and when she stepped away for 20 seconds to see what Sydney and I were doing, another little girl came in and took two of them from her pile.  I saw it happening behind Olivia's back and immediately tried said, "Hey, let's go to the room with the grocery carts!!" before she could figure out what happened.  Unfortunately, the mom of the other girl said to her daughter, "Oh, look, you got some dinosaurs!!" and that was all she wrote.  Olivia literally leapt over wall of seats to try to get to the girl and I had to scoop her up along with my Ergo, my diaper bag, and my 11 1/2 month old baby.  She literally screamed the entire way down the echoing stairwell saying things like, "I don't want to share!! I took Jesus out of my heart!  I want those dinosaurrrrrs!" It was not pretty and it was not fun.  It took 20 minutes of crying in the car before I was able to get her in her car seat.  Sydney and I just sat in the front seat playing while she threw a fit.  

So, am I scared to go back to the museum?  Umm, yeah.  Am I thinking I may have to dye and cut my hair before I go again?  Possibly.  But, do I think Olivia may have learned a lesson?  I sure hope so.  I know I did:  When a child is throwing a tantrum and you can't take your eyes away from watching it, at least make sure those eyes show some empathy towards the parent.