The Wheel

We don't typically watch The Wheel of Fortune in our house, but it is on from time to time following the news if we happen to have it on.

Ollie seems to enjoy it and pays such close attention to it.

Perhaps it will help him with his letter identification :)

Man Camping

There is nothing like your first time camping and this past weekend, Ollie got to experience it.

Riley, Ollie, Shelby, Jim, Steve, Bob, Tyson, Avery, and Asher all went out to the Wahle farm on Saturday for a fun camping trip.  Asher was thrilled about going "man camping."

While they were camping Marcia, Jaime, Paisley and I did some shopping.  We began with an outdoor vintage market in Abilene followed by some shopping in downtown Salina. 

From the updates and photos that I received, Oliver seemed to have the time of his life.

He lasted all night in the tent which surprised us all.  I expected him to end up back at Jaime and Shelby's house or in the camper.

Funny story (not so funny at the time):  When they came back from camping Ollie was filthy dirty and smelt like campfire so I gave him a bath at Shelby and Jaime's before coming home.  Pais was sitting on the floor next to the bathtub because she was being a bit of a mama's girl.  I was only a few feet away looking under the cabinet for a cup under the sink when Ollie decided that he needed to pee.  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the sight of a rainbow of pee streaming from Ollie who is sitting in the tub right onto Paisley on the floor!  I yell to get him to stop which resulted in him crying and Paisley too starts crying as she is drenched in his pee.  I called for backup and we got things cleaned up and everyone settled down.

As I was washing Ollie I reminded him that if he needs to go potty that he should tell mommy.  He replies, "I peed on grandpa's tire when I was camping, but we don't pee on our sister."

Oh, the lessons we learn camping...

K-State Baby

Tractor Time with Daddy

Ollie got a little time in the tractor today.  Riley came home to eat supper and then was headed back out to the field behind the store to work the ground for planting.  

He was excited to go, but when I called to check in on them Riley said he was pretty bored.  I asked Ollie if he was having fun and he responded with a hard "No."

Puzzles

My parents have recently caught a puzzle bug and every time we go to their house, they've got a puzzle spread out that they are working on.  Admittedly, I do like to do them while I'm there.

I took a personal day and stayed home with the kiddos today.  Daycare was closed as our provider was taking her daughter on a college visit.  This meant that we got to stay in our jammies and enjoy time at home together.  I spent some time putting our closet back together (Riley painted and redid all the shelving, more on that another time) and the kids played together nicely in the playroom.

I was shocked at how long they played with puzzles.  Every once in a while I was called in to retrieve a new puzzle off the shelf that is too high, but other than that, they were quiet as little church mice.

Perhaps they have caught a little puzzle bug too!

School Carnival

My school has a carnival each spring and this was Ollie's first year to come.  Since he is three now we figured he would really enjoy it and boy, did he ever.

I had to work a carnival game so while I was busy working, Riley took the kids to eat and around to play games.  I hated missing out on all the fun, but loved that they were able to spend some quality time together.

Riley didn't get many pics which is understandable trying to juggle two kiddos.  When I finished up, I joined them for a few games before we headed home.

 Ollie loves this bouncy house with a slide.  So much so, that he even had a mini meltdown when his time was up and he had to get out. 

The cotton candy that we had promised him sure cheered him up fast though.

Sitting Up is Rough

Sometimes you just need a break from sitting up.  Talk about Saturday morning comfort.

A Trip to Town

Before kiddos, I used to run to Manhattan on a Friday after school.  I'd go to store after store getting the best deal on things.  Sometimes I would go into 10+ stores and still be home at a decent time.  Not anymore.  Those days are long gone with two little cuties to haul around.

Today we only made it to three places, one of which was to eat, and it took up 4 hours.  Having these faces smiling back at me makes it all worth it. 

And thank goodness that Aldi has two seats in their carts now.  Life. Saver.

ABCs

We've been working with Ollie on his alphabet.  He likes to watch a LeapFrog video and he will say "D for Daddy, H for Hudson, M for Mommy, O for Ollie, and P for Paisley" as they show each of the respective letters.  Ollie also has foam letters in the bathtub and is starting to identify some of them.  He is pretty good with D, H, M, O, P, and X.  Depending on the day, he can also identify some of the letters in his name, but it isn't consistent.  We will have to keep working, but he is interested and that is half the battle!

Here is his rendition of the alphabet song:

Riley's Birthday

Riley's birthday was on Tuesday so I made one of his favorites for supper, beef enchiladas.  Of course, no Mexican meal is complete without chips and salsa/queso and margaritas.  When Ollie saw the margarita glasses that Riley and I were using, he just had to have one too (with flavored water!)

I had been practicing the birthday song with Oliver so he could sing it to Riley.  As we were practicing he kept repeating "Happy Birthday to Daddy" over and over again before he would end the song.  During the actual time to sing it to Riley he forgot to say "daddy" all together.

With my dad's birthday being the 13th and Riley's on the 10th, we usually end up celebrating them together.  (Somehow I didn't get a photo of the two birthday boys together!)  We had several birthday celebrations, first on Saturday night at my parents.

Then we celebrated again at Riley's parents' house.

Eight Months Old

They say time flies when you are having fun.  We sure are having fun, but unfortunately the time is flying and our little girl is growing up too fast.  Pais is 8 months old today!

She now has two bottom teeth.  The second one came in much easier than the first.  She did have a rough week with sleep when that second one came in, but no terrible diaper rash like the first.

Now that her second tooth is through, she is back into a good sleep routine.  She is sleeping through the night or waking only once around 3:00.  A full night's sleep is much needed on everyone's part so I am very grateful for this.

Pais loves to sit up and play with her toys.  Her current favorites are her banana toothbrush, keys, and anything with that noisy, crinkly paper inside of it.  She's getting better with tummy time and uses rolling as her primarily means of movement.  She's not interested in army crawling or scooting of any kind.  Paisley would rather just fuss if a toy is out of her reach rather than try to get it.  What can I say, she's a bit of a princess.

She's in 3-6 month clothing and is looking forward to spring and summer so she can wear less clothing. 
Paisley loves being naked!

She is a good little eater.  Typically she eats a large container of baby food at lunch and supper.  She's a very scheduled eater too.  Once meal time gets close, get that girl some food before she has a meltdown.  Most times, the food can't be shoveled in fast enough for her.  Paisley will eat anything that isn't green.  Peas and green beans get spit out as soon as she tastes them.  She likes rice rusks and has started eating those lil crunchies which are cheeto-like, but made with veggies.  She's working on her hand-eye coordination still so she struggles to get them in her mouth at times.

Sunday Morning Smiles

There are few things that make my heart as happy as these two little munchkins.  

Nothing better than big 'ol smiles on a Sunday morning.

Easter 2018

Easter Sunday was freezing cold and we even got a bit of sleet/snow mix.  With the anticipation of the poor weather on Sunday, I decided I should snap some outside photos of the kids on Friday while I had the chance.

Easter was pretty laid back this year.  It seemed that all of our siblings had other things going on and nothing much was happening for Easter.  Plus, Riley had to work on Saturday.  We just decided that it would be easier to just have a little Easter celebration at our house.  Both sets of our parents were able to join us as well as Grammy.

Ollie was all smiles after church when he discovered the Easter Bunny had been there to visit.  He got a new spring/summer outfit, sunglasses, and candy.

Paisley, on the other hand, was not amused at all!  She was hot, tired, hungry, and ready for some comfy clothes.

The Easter Bunny brought her two rompers, sunglasses, and some headbands.  Despite her loot, she still was not pleased.  (Side note - you can see her teeth really well in this photo.  One is all the way through and the second one is working its way up.)

Family photos are always a must when everyone is dressed up.

We didn't get a photo of my parents with the kids because Pais had enough by that point...

Easter Weekend

 My parents came for the weekend since my dad has been away in El Paso for so long and hadn't seen the kids in a while.  We had a busy, fun weekend.

My mom and I took the kids to an Easter egg hunt in Leonardville.  Paisley ended up falling asleep in the car so my mom sat with her while I took Ollie over to hunt eggs.

 He got a ton of eggs and I had to convince him to stop since his bucket was full.

Meanwhile back at home, Riley and my dad were burning some brush.  As soon as we got home from the Easter egg hunt, Oliver had to join in too.

 He was a master at collecting sticks... now throwing them far enough to actually go into the fire, well that was a whole other story.

On Saturday morning, my parents and I took the kids downtown to visit the Easter Bunny while Riley was at work.

They also had an Easter egg hunt, but this one wasn't nearly as successful as the one the previous day.  Behind us was a firetruck and they blew the horn on it to start the hunt.  The horn scared Ollie half to death and he just froze.  By the time he got started there were kids all around.  If another child was close by, he would just let them pick up the eggs in the area.  Polite yes, but not very good strategy for egg collecting.

I told him that we were are all done and his response to me was, "But my basket isn't full."

Disappointment about an unsuccessful Easter egg hunt was soon forgotten as he helped me make brownies at home.