Just hanging out at the park...

I love the weather here, and we all love exploring the many different parks around our home. Olivia is a little tricky because she likes to put the wood chips in her mouth, but otherwise it's a very enjoyable experience for all.

Yes, this time Olivia did discover the slide.  I helped show her how to go down on her tummy (feet first though) and she LOVED it and giggled all the way down as she did it over and over again.  It's so fun to experience joy in the simple things by spending times like these with my kids.  I'm so grateful.

Eden's Art

Eden still LOVES to do arts and crafts.  She spends tons of time in at her craft table working on all kinds of projects.  She is so creative and surprises me all the time with really cool things that she makes, or ideas that she comes up with.

Lately she has been more into drawing which is new for her.  I like finding her cute pictures all over the house.

This was her palm tree.  So cute and creative.

But then sometimes I find really weird things, like this jar full of water and dirt, and a plastic spoon.  I'm not sure where she was going with this one, but it needed to be disposed of promptly!

Eden's School Project

For the 100th day of school, Eden was given a project to do a t-shirt or a necklace or something with 100 on it.  When we talked about what she would like to do, she said she wanted to do a t-shirt with 100 spirals.  As a couple weeks passed, I thought maybe she would change her mind, but when it came time to work on the project she was still sure she wanted a shirt with 100 spirals. 

We invited Avery Haslam over (her friend from her school class and church class) and they decorated their shirts together.  They had a blast. 

The first couple spirals she did were a little tough as she got used to the right pressure to squirt out the paint, but then her spirals got really good!

When it came time for the 100th day, she was supposed to wear her t-shirt, but they were also told they were supposed to dress up like a 100 year old.  I talked to Eden about doing rollers in her hair and she was excited about it until she realized they weren't coming out before school.  I showed her a bunch of pictures online of old ladies with rollers in their hair in my attempts to persuade her about how good they looked.  She still wasn't convinced. I just wasn't sure what else to do to make her look like an old lady so I persuaded her to leave them in.  She agreed, but I could tell she wasn't very happy about it. 

She looks adorable, but after dropping her off at school I felt so bad like I shouldn't have pushed her to wear them if it made her uncomfortable.  I knew that Avery would have them in her hair too though so I knew Eden wouldn't be alone.  Sure enough though, when she came home she said "when I was walking to lunch some big kids were pointing and laughing at me because of my hair."  I felt so horrible!  Total mom fail right there - I shouldn't have pushed it when she was uncomfortable.  I know she isn't scarred for life, but it was a good lesson for me to learn! Oh well.. she was still the cutest old lady with the coolest spiral t-shirt. :)

Hoot's

We love getting our energy out at Hoot's!  We sure miss having Eden around with us...

We took Grace along with us one afternoon.  Despite Bentley's face, they had lots of fun together.

The baby + the doggy door = trouble!

Bentley and Eden were outside on the trampoline with the Harding boys, and poor Olivia was standing at the door yelling to go out there.  She wanted to be out there with the kids so bad and it was really frustrating her!  I just happened to be watching her when I saw her notice the doggie door and I swear, based on the look on her face I could totally see that light bulb turning on above her head.  She promptly sat down and started pushing on that door. First her hands, then her arms, and then she went for it.

Right about the time I took this picture, she was starting to yell a little because she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do and she was getting stuck!  I wanted to reach over and help her, but it was also so adorable watching her figure this out so I had my video camera on and just let her go.  

She got stuck a couple times, and would start hollering, but pretty quickly she made her way completely out and she was giggling and so proud of herself as she booked it towards the trampoline.

I proceeded to follow her out and watched as she then tried to figure out the ladder, but fortunately for me, she wasn't quite so lucky there.

She is so adorable and she is growing up so fast!

I absolutely LOVE watching my kids learn new things and I get so inspired by their persistence and determination.  Being a parent is the best.

Cousins!!

I love that we live near family and that my kids can have such fun memories growing up with their cousins.  We just don't get together often enough! 

London and Olivia enjoying the conjoined swings. :)

I love NM winters when we can enjoy some beautiful weather at the park.

Eden and Lincoln are such cute little buddies.  He takes care of her.

Bentley was a good helper when it came to pushing.  Olivia thought it was so funny.

Who knows what kind of game they were playing, but it looks intriguing.

Kally's boys were out of school for the day so we met up at Hoot's.  Unfortunately Eden did have school so she missed out. 

Olivia was NOT a fan of the slide.  It totally terrified her.

Baby Olivia and Baby London.

Happy meals all around! Except for Jaxon who made sure we knew first thing that he needed to order off the adult menu - a #2 with two cheeseburgers.  ha ha

You know Brad has found the perfect video game when he gets to play the whole time and all the kids are completely entertained just watching.

Olivia - 10 months old!

Oh baby Olive, you are such a joy.  You've always been so happy and funny, but lately you have really shown another side of yourself! In the last month, your personality has really come out like crazy!  You know what you want, and you will usually slap my face and yell when I'm not moving fast enough. You know what I mean when I say soft because sometimes you will follow up by being soft, but most times you disregard that request and slap away. Then you get really mad if I put you down.  Also, if one of your siblings take something from you, you will furiously crawl after them yelling. You don't talk yet, but you are very good at communicating when you're feeling playful, tired, hungry, or frustrated. You make me laugh constantly.  I love you to pieces.

If anyone lays down on the floor, it's an instant target for Olivia.  She loves to go on the attack and giggles like crazy as she crawls all over you.

She is extremely curious and very much into learning about cause and effect.  She makes messes wherever she goes, but her wheels are constantly spinning and she is learning fast!

This completely caught me off guard.  This girl can't even walk, but I guess she can crawl onto a chair in order to reach Eden's art project, which scared the heck out of me when I come walking around the corner!

She loves to walk around the house with this thing but she gets so frustrated and yells when she gets stuck on something and can't move forward anymore.

She LOVES water!

She is so cuddly and precious.  The snuggles never last very long, but they happen frequently and melt my heart every time.

Some more random things about Olivia:

• she knows how to take the lids off of markers which is a very dangerous thing 
• she still has 8 teeth and eats like a champ (regular people food, NOT pureed baby food)
• she says, "mom" "dada" "uh oh"
• she hums while sucking her fingers and relaxing, it's adorable
• she is busy! Church is tricky because she refuses to sit on my lap.  She must be constantly moving and exploring
• she discovered that she can reach the light switch while standing in her crib.  I had to move the crib out from the wall a bit because it was way too distracting.
• she cruises along furniture or if we are holding her hands.  She can stand for a second at a time by herself but only when she doesn't realize she is doing it.

I love you Olive!  You really add so much joy and spice into each and every day.