Home with Mommy...

Giddy up horse!!

That's not the right way sister!!

...on her day off! Although, I did work most of the day, I was able to stop and get some good shots of Miss Olivia playing on her horse! She has recently expressed interest in this again....which seems to be the case for a lot of her toys lately! We should probably hide most of them, and then get them out again in a few months! We may save a lot of money that way!

Dinner with Gma and Gpa

What a big cheese grin Miss Olivia!

Kisses for Grandpa

The aftermath....notice we have to put the table upside down, considering the last time they ended up on top of it!

Silly Kaleigh was a human bridge for the babies...

For some reason, I haven't been bringing my camera to Gma and Gpa's on Wednesdays, so I have been missing a few opportunities of getting the kids...and you know how I hate that! So, I remembered to bring in tonight, and happened to catch the silliness on camera once again!!

Swap N' Shop

Of course, being her miss independent self, she had to try it out on her own first before letting Daddy help her!

We had another Swap N' Shop today at Sandy's, and brought home quite a bit of great stuff! I will have to admit it was as good as others, but we certainly never need an excuse to get together with the girls! So, for that reason, it was wonderful! Not much else happening today, and Mommy needed to stay home with Olivia on Monday because Michaela was running a fever. I'm not sure if Olivia passed it along to the Brady household, but you never know. Daddy ended up staying home with her Tuesday, so they were able to get some bonding time in too!!! I think after a few practice casts, she finally got the hang of it!

Cleaning Day!

Taking a break to read a book!

Well, we certainly need to do this more often, but today was an all day cleaning day! Olivia was not much help as you can see. I changed her sheets, so I had her mattress on the floor, which she proceeded to think was for her!!

Back to work..

Apparently the sun was getting in her eyes while she was coloring....inside!

Not quite sure about this lunch Mommy, but I'll give it a try!

Just because she is sick, doesn't mean she still cannot go to the corner! I know, I'm a mean Mommy, but really, I couldn't give in!

I made it back to work on Thursday, but just barely. It is terrible to miss any days lately because we've all been so busy. So, I attempted to get back to work to stay ahead, but then was home again with Olivia on Friday. I feel so much better, but got a call from Kathy at work saying Olivia wasn't feeling well. You can always tell when something is wrong, cause she is just not her happy self. So, rather than keep her there fore Kathy's kids to get it, I went to pick her up and worked from home. She seemed okay most of the day, but you could tell she just wasn't 100%!

And so it begins...

Olivia was doing everything she could to eat right and not get sick!! :-)

We went to dinner with the girls tonight, and had a great time as usual...however, towards the end of dinner, I started not feeling the greatest! And, come to find out, that was an understatement. I ended up coming down with the flu and spent the entire rest of the evening awake (and I won't go into the rest of the details). It hit me extremely hard, and I was down for the count for the next few days! So, Daddy had to take Olivia to Kathy's in the morning and picked her up in the evenings to help me out. He did a great job taking care of me while I was sick, and I was just hopeful that they didn't get it either.

Play Time...

Can't you see the look of victory on Olivia's face here!?

Uh oh, spoke too soon!

...for the boys and the kids! We went to Aunt Shell and Uncle Tim's again today. The main reason was so the boys could go bowling again!! Apparently they didn't get enough in the night before...considering the babies were there too. So, they took Kaleigh and Aunt Shell and I stayed home with the babies this time! As you can see, the kids still had a great time at home!!

Our first bowling adventure!

Well, tonight was a first. We thought it would be fun to take the kids to the local Eureka bowling alley to see what they thought of the whole experience. There were only eight lanes total in the entire place, so it was actually not bad....in other words, we didn't have far to run after them! They were somewhat interested in the whole thing, and actually wanted to see what was going on...for a little while anyway! We took turns with the adults (and babies) on one lane, and Kaleigh got a lane all to herself. She went through three games to our one, and had a blast! Uncle Tim and Daddy did not really want any "help" with their game, so Mommy and Aunt Shell took turns having the kids help! They were really excited to push it together and then watch it ever so slowly crawl down the lane to the pins! It was pretty funny to watch, but when it wasn't thier turn...off they went! They were getting a little restless towards the end of the game, so we knew we were only going to be able to play one, but we kind of knew that going in! Overall it was a fun night and quite an experience...just ask the little old couple playing right next to us!! :-) Pictures to follow!!!

So Much Fun!!!

Patiently waiting our turn...or so it seems! Can you imagine how fast I had to grab the camera to get this picture...they didn't sit for long!

Is it our turn yet Daddy!?

How many times do you think we had to stop little fingers from getting smashed in the balls??

My turn Mommy!!!

Kaleigh had a ball! She did so good and started to eventually not even need the bumpers!! In fact, I think she beat Mommy and Aunt Missy (although we had some help with our scores)!

More bowling pix!

They did so good when they were actually interested in it! They even look as if they were sharing in this shot!!

Look at Parker's stance...yeah, we did it!!

Olivia thought if she guided the ball down the aisle with her arms, it might go the way she wanted!!

Here is another try...let's see how many we get....

...waiting, waiting! It takes quite a while to finally get to the pins! :-)

All right! Nice job...we got some down Aunt Shell!! High Five!

Favorite Saturday activity...lately anyway!

Since Daddy has been working in the basement so much, we have definitely had our share of trips to Lowe's. Today was no exception, and we made a pit stop to Walmart too and happened to get Olivia a new pair of sunglasses!! Superstar!!!

I love my babies!!

Of course we had to wear our new hat!!

Olivia has definitely proven to be a little miss independent lately, which is some instances means she is the mother of her little babies. She absolutely loves taking them for walks still, and is exactly what she did when she was home with Mommy on Friday. She was so sweet and there are times when her independence is very cute...but more often than not, it simply means she is being a crabby appleton!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Either Daddy was trying to outshine Mommy, or he just had to buy the biggest card in the store!

Although Mommy's card came with stickers!!! :-)

That's a lot of loot sister!

This thing was pretty cute...the wings flutter when she sings!

...and she got a new outfit with this cute hat!!

Shane and I went a little overboard for Olivia this year for some reason. Rather than coordinate together, we each went out and bought our own things for her. Granted she is not even two, but we sure had fun! Shane also spent too much on me, and got me a gift card to Victoria Secret...I told him I needed new perfume, so now I can buy that and more! He is always easy, so I got him a gift card to Dick's Sproting Goods...he is saving them for a new driver! We did the easy thing with gift cards, and stayed in and cooked dinner ourselves. No need in getting out to deal with the crazy people and stand in long lines with a two year old!! It was very nice and still special!!

Timeouts!

When Miss Olivia was getting herself in a little trouble in the past, we put her on the timeout rug. This worked great for quite a while...at our house and at Kathy's. However, when it started to lose its impact, we had to try something else...standing in the corner. This has become extremely effective, and she will stand there until you tell her to turn around. She won't take her eyes off the corner she's in, and it is pretty hard not to laugh. She looks pretty cute in there, and the pictures certainly don't do it justice. I hate to get a laugh out of her punishment, but she definitely knows what it means, and it is truly working for now. You knew I would have to take a picture at some point, so here it is.

No more worries...

There for a while, I started to get a little worried that she wasn't talking as much as she should...but be careful what you wish for! She has become a talking machine, and has finally started putting two and three words together! And, she is starting to be so smart and can count to 10, she knows the majority of her colors and some shapes, all her animals and their sounds, and is really turning into a parrot with her words! Some of the most common you will hear around the house lately are:

I fall down

Where daddy/mommy/buddy go?

Mommy open please

Buddy go outside

Good boy buddy

My seat/Mommy's seat/Daddy's seat

Upstairs/downstairs

Snack please

Color book

Fork...doesn't quite come out with an 'o'

More lessons!

Keep your eyes on the ball...

...scoot it a little closer.

Daddy left for Iowa for a few days to work, but when he got back, it was back to work for Olivia too. Apparently, he is getting her ready for the warm weather, and anticipating she needs some practice.

A new friend!

Visiting with Grandpa...such a fun converation happening here!

And...watching some cartoons in the garage!

This is something the kids always look forward to when they go to Gma and Gpa's. They buy nuts to feed the squirrels, so they are always right up to the back door, which the kids think is fantastic!

In order to allow Daddy more free time in the basement, Olivia and I got out of the house today. We did a little shopping and then went to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Today we went arrived, Gpa was doing some work in the basement himself, which included several trips to the garage. Well, Miss Olivia thought she needed to help him out, so made her way in there with him and managed to talk him into getting a chair down for her. It was so sweet, cause they sat in the garage for a little while, just visiting and eatching TV. After our visit here, Olivia went to Grandma's (Dina) for another visit. She watched her for a few hours so I could help Daddy a little. I'm not sure how much help I actually was, but it was nice to have some time to get a few things done around the house as well...without a little helper on my ankles at all times! :-)

What a big helper!

Poor Winston is scared to come down the stairs, so all he is could do is watch from the top!

Not quite sure Daddy was able to see his mark with all of Olivia's extra marks, but I'm sure it was okay!


Here Daddy...you might need this!

We didn't have anything on the agenda this evening, other than working in the basement. Shane has done a fantastic job of making progress in the basement, so I am certainly not going to stop him. Although, he did have a big helper tonight! She wanted to go down there to see what was happening, and I couldn't get her to leave. She really, really, really wanted to stay and help. Who am I to stop more progress!? :-)