Ollie turns 2!!!

Ahhhh, July 20th, 2011--105 degrees....in them middle of a crazy Texas heat wave, Oliver turned 2. On the agenda? I had to have my 3 hour glucose test. While Mommy did that, the boys played in the backyard pool/slide with daddy. We dont go out too much in the 100 plus weather {which has been ALL MONTH!!} but they had fun for a little while before they were more than ready to come in to the nice cool house! I made a vegan yellow birthday cake and Briggy decorated it while Ollie was taking a nap. "Ollie wants Orange, Purple and Blue" Briggy told me....apparently they discussed this :) Ollie also got to pick out dinner---his favorite: McDonalds chicken nuggets and french fries. Poor kid, thats pretty much all he can eat anyway.
We opened up presents, and played with Buzz Lightyear for the rest of the night before bed. It was pretty low-key, but they boys had a fun night.

Popsicle Party Playgroup!

Our ward has been scheduling fun playgroup activities EVERY DAY this summer! Bummer I can never go to any of them, but hopefully next year when I have a car things will be different.....

Anyway, I jumped at the chance to host a playgroup at our house so the boys could participate and Ollie could have an un-official birthday party. Since popsicles are a sweet summer treat Ollie can actually EAT we went with that theme. And of course, when I was at the store and they saw water balloons---they had to have them! Lots of fun, but those dang things took me hours to fill up, and seconds to destroy and splatter all over the yard!

I have a feeling that Oliver will want a dinosaur birthday for his party next year, but you never know--he may have a brand new interest by then! {Briggy says he cant wait for his birthday in February because he's going to be 21 and very old----when I told him Mommy was going to be 27 next month he gave me a look like I was an ancient ruin.....geesh! When I told him, No, Brigs--actually, you'll be 4--he said: No way, maybe I'll just be 7!. Im not sure why he wants to be older, but I want him to stay this fun age forever---3 has been a fun year, Im hoping Ollie will halt any terrible two nonsense {even though it seems like we've been battling it since he was 18 months old....} and give mom and dad a break....he is fiesty as all get out and STUBBORNNNNNNNNNNNN! He really is lucky that he is sooooooo stinkin' cute that he gets away with just about everything. Little rascal!

Henry's Baby Shower!

I am so blessed to have the most amazing 'ward family' down here in texas. they really are more than friends....i can't even imagine what other people do when they move away from family....the church and its people are amazing!

anyway--sarah, lindsey and traci threw me a super cute shower. They incorporated henry's color scheme with the decor: bright orange, green, brown and polka dots! They also included my favorite little man features: mustaches and bowties! how proper :)








Isn't this pacifier corsage so cute?! sarah always makes the cutest party accessories!



the favors in the cute bags with ties had chocolate mustaches on a stick---and oops! i ate mine before I remembered to take a picture!

I recieve so many thoughtful and useful gifts---it was a wonderful night!! lindsey is having a little boy {actually, he was born yesterday!} and she had a lot of baby boy clothes that wouldnt work seasonaly with the new baby, so Henry got a lot of cute boy clothes from her and an awesome cozy quilt. Sarah made a homemade quilt for lindsey and I, you can see the masterpiece on her blog:
http://alittleofthis---alittleofthat.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-baby-monogram-quilt.html

ps- if you want to throw a cute 'little man' shower for a new baby boy in your life, check out http://remarkable-home.blogspot.com/2011/05/little-man-baby-shower-party.html for the scoop and downloads!!! :)

Our First Family Vacation!

Tom and I honeymooned in Marco Island 4 years ago. We celebrated our anniversary on the island again--but with this time, 2 spunky toddler boys and a spunky baby-in-the-belly. Let me tell you, Henry IS SPUNKY! He kicks, punches and wiggles with such FORCE! Way more than Briggy and Ollie did. And Ollie was a toughie!

We stayed at my parents condo on the island for 10 days! {plus another four days of driving!} so we had a long time to relax and hang out in the sun. The boys loved being in the pool, especially Briggy. With floaties or his little vest he was able to have freedom to swim and he thought he was BIG MAN ON ISLAND! In fact, he referred to Marco as "Briggy's Island" He is such a character! Ollie had one of those super hero-foam suits, but he didnt like it--he had to be in a floaty boat in order to be happy....which was fine with me, it seemed a lot safer.














If we werent at the pool, the boys were napping, at the beach or at the beach playground. It was very low-key, and I loved it. Im not one to visit and have a million mini trips planned in a vacation. That just seems so stressful to me. When they get a little bit older, we'll drive up to Disney, but for now---the pool and beach was heaven on earth for them!














The day we planned on leaving, Tom's brother and his family were actually FLYING INTO MARCO! what a crazy coincidence! So of course we stayed an extra day to visit with their fun family. It was Briggy and Ollie's first time meeting their cousins and Auntie Devon {although Briggy has been refering to her as Auntie Daisy since we've been home!} And it was our first time to meet cute little Dominic!
The boys had such a fun time with them, its a shame we all live so far away. Ah! It breaks my heart. Families should be on the same street as far as I'm concerned! I know Devon got some great shots of the kids, I got a few at the pool. Briggy has been talking about his "friends: Marcus, Sariah and Dominic" A LOT! in fact, the entire drive home he kept telling me he wanted his friends over at "2019" {our address}

Here are all the fun pics!