Hello?...HI!

That is all we have to say to Carter and he has his "phone" up to his "ear." I don't know where he has learned this from because I NEVER talk on the phone.

Sorry about the lack of posts. We have been pretty busy with house stuff. We just had a big evergreen tree taken out of our front yard today and so it's probably about time we move from fixing up the inside of the house to fixing up the outside. Does it ever end?

Carter talking on the phone.

You would think that Carter is holding the phone too far back, but in fact, Carter can also hear with his shoulder blades.

I know, so many of my posts have pictures dealing with food. What can I say? We love to EAT!

We did fondue for family home evening last week. Carter was diggin' the chocolate! That's my boy!

Olivia at least got a serving of fruit with her fondue dipping!

Olivia has a boyfriend

I asked Olivia this week if she had a boyfriend and she replied that Carter was her boyfriend. How sweet! Carter is learning so much lately. He pulls up to everything - the blinds, tables, computer desk, lamps. Anything and nearly everything that he shouldn't be allowed to touch. He definitely keeps me more on my toes than Olivia ever did. I sometimes feel like I'm a first time mom again. Carter even learned his first (well, second if you count him waving "bye, bye") sign yesterday. He can now sign "more" when he wants more food (usually cheerios). After he signs it, he immediately has to cheer for himself.

Carter trying out Olivia's new crayons.

Olivia is growing up too! She loves to do worksheets in her learning books.

Nothing on Olivia's blue table is safe anymore. Just last night he snatched Olivia's scissors off the table and took off with them. Of course, Olivia was quick to chase him down and make him very upset when she snatched them back.

Olivia and her boyfriend.

I don't know that Carter has the same feelings for Olivia though.

Olivia must have learned this from an old friend (Robyn:). She covered the fireplace with blankets and pillows "so that Carter wouldn't scratch his fingers."

Olivia had her first swim lessons this week. She loved it!

I learned something from and old friend too...my kids aren't too young for corn on the cob! It was such a new and fun thing to try. Olivia had almost two whole cobs for dinner that night.

Carter wanted to just eat the entire cob.

You may want to have a doggie bag close...

This is so GROSS! So...Aaron had the project on Saturday of changing our light switches and plates (putting in nice, clean, white, rocker switches to replace the old, very dirty ones). He got to the kitchen and was having a difficult time pulling out one of the switches. I told him that I thought there was possibly an old hornet's nest behind the switch because I could see something with a honeycomb look to it. Well, Aaron pulled hard enough and out came THIS...........

Yes, folks, that is the skeleton and a few fringed feathers of a dead BIRD! You can see the beak now, can't you? What in the world? Aaron and I came to the conclusion that the only way a bird could get back there is for someone to purposely put it in there. So I guess some pretty crazy things went on in this house that we now own. Hmmm? Okay, I need to move on to some better subjects because I am still feeling the need to GAG!

My beautiful family. Olivia has been going to nursery (the children's class at our church) all by herself and it's a miracle. Never in 24 months has she willingly done that. We are on a 3 week roll and I don't want to jinx it.

Olivia is somewhere way down in the covers sleeping. This is how she sleeps at night and boy does she wake up sweaty! This was a coversation with her on Saturday morning:
Aaron: "Why do you sleep with the covers over your head?"
Olivia: "So I don't get hit."
Aaron: "By what?"
Olivia: "By the wall."

Poor thing...she thinks the wall has been hitting HER this entire time. I wonder when she'll realize that it's actually the wall that suffers from hard blows every night.

Olivia was so excited to have her hair done in pig tails for the first time. She kept saying, "It's bumpy."

Olivia got into the pop-its this Memorial Day. She had a hard time getting many of them to pop by throwing them though. She was excited when I showed her how to stomp on them with her foot to make them pop.

Olivia's friend (the one on the right side of the picture) had the most fun with the pop-its though.

Buzz Buzz for Carter

Aaron got back from vacation last week. Oh, I mean WORK (it just happened to be in Florida, at the Hard Rock Hotel). My only adventure at being on my own for a week with two kiddies was that the power went out one night as I was getting ready to go to bed. Carter and Olivia ended up in bed with me because there was a good summer storm going on outside. Well, Carter didn't last long in my bed. As soon as Heavenly Father heard my prayers for help in getting the battery back up to work in his sound machine, he went straight back to his crib. After a few hours, the thunder stopped and power came back on. Olivia was then ready to go back to her bed too. We are definitely not a family that enjoys sleeping in Mommy & Daddy's bed. I am fine with that (I would never get a good night's rest otherwise)! Another panic that came along with the storm was that I couldn't find a flashlight or any candles before the power went out. So, the day after Aaron got home, we went and stocked up on flashlights (6 new ones to be exact). It was a wake up call to get my 72 hour kits ready for use.

While Daddy was in Florida, I decided it was time to bathe the kids together. It's much easier than trying to keep an eye on Carter while I bathe Olivia separately.

We got Carter out of his high chair and as he was crawling away, I noticed peas stuck in his toes!

We had a warm day yesterday and so we got the pool out...and the bubble machine.

Unfortunately the smile didn't last as long as I had hoped. Carter was ready to get out after a few minutes. (Note his longer hair...)

Olivia had more fun watering our weed patch than swimming t00.

Haircut #3

I just cannot pay $$ every month to get his haircut and I quickly realized I am no good at cutting a infant's hair with scissors, so he got the clippers taken to it.

A very exciting moment for Aaron - we can finally park two cars in the garage. Aaron was happy this morning to have no dew on the windshield.

Seeing the grime.

Hello! Well, we are finally moved into our own house. It's been a very busy couple of weeks. We painted the entire main level of the house and had new carpet put in too. And after being in the house for a few weeks while painting, we learned just how filthy it was. Luckily my mom did most of the dirty work while we got set up in the new house. It's only been a week since we officially moved in, but we are able to function now on the main floor. The basement still needs a good scrub down. Beware of the pictures...they still make me want to gag.

A before look at inside the oven. Luckily the self-cleaning portion of it worked good. There aren't any after pictures, but it now sparkles and I don't hesitate to bake things in it.

This is a before look at part of the oven. Yes, that is dog hair combined with grease and grime. GROSS!

My mom spent many late nights with her Lestoil and toothpicks. Thanks for doing the dirty work for me Mom.

Olivia not only got a new bedroom, but also a new coop car.

Carter loves the coop car too.

It was an exhausting move for Olivia. She fell asleep in my mom's arms on the couch at 6:30pm and slept through the night. She even slept through getting her pajama's on.

Carter has discoved a little jungle gym, right in our own dining room.

Olivia's first twinkie. She dug out the filling from all three holes and left the cake for the garbage.

Carter snoozing on the couch.

We got out of the house yesterday and had some fun at a birthday party for our friend, Dylan.

Hello big toe.

My handsome dudes.

Olivia loved the paint boards at the party.

Once the other children left the moon bounce, Olivia loved bouncing around in it.

Carter and Mommy did too.

No nap, nap, no nap, nap...

Ever since Olivia turned 3, her naps have become nearly extinct. There are the occasional times where she just can't make it the whole day though. And on those days, it takes a lot to wake her up...

A move from the carseat to the couch...still sleeping.

Outside for a walk, up the front porch step and into the living room...still catching some zzz's!

Carter woke up too early, and so I brought him in bed with me to see if he would sleep again. I don't know if this will ever happen again, but it worked this time! I finally had to slide my way out of the bed so I could tend to Olivia.

Oh the joys of the first time in the swing at the park!


Sorry for my lack of updating for two weeks! I suspect that it might happen again though as we are painting our house this week and then moving next weekend.

Easter Celebrations

Olivia really got into Easter this year. We kicked the day off with an Easter lesson in nursery (at church). Olivia and the other children in her nursery class liked being able to hold their very own picture of Christ after he was resurrected during the lesson.
When we got home from church, the Easter bunny had been to our house and left her the following...

Forgot to mention that Olivia got to see the Easter Bunny in person the day before. Thank you Kroger.

Our Easter day was not filled with beautiful spring weather. It was very chilly! So a sweater and tights were required.

The chilly weather also required that we have our Easter Egg hunt indoors. We had a great time and a great ham with the Bradley family!

Gathering eggs during 'the hunt.'

Carter was satisfied with just one egg.

All of her findings.

Now it's time to DIG IN!

One last picture - didn't turn out very good and I don't know why...Olivia in her dance class.