Girls weekend!!

This weekend was great!! It was an all-girl's weekend. Larry and Spence spent the weekend in Indianapolis on a soccer trip while Olive and I spent some quality time together. It was so nice to spend the weekend with my girl!! I think she enjoyed it too. Saturday, we spent the whole day just playing outside together. We ran a few errands and took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. That afternoon, my friend Sarah came over with her girls Laura and Claire, and had a nice visit. Olive loved it. Laura is nearly 3 and little Claire (a fiery red-head) is 6 months younger than Olive. They played on the swingset for most of the visit.

Sunday was spent at Mom & Dad's. Adam and his family were also there and we grilled out for lunch and had a great afternoon. Little Miss Olive was a busy little bee, taking wagon rides, eating ice cream cones and running in the tall grass. It is great to see her experience new things!

She slept the entire way home......While I had a wonderful time with my sweet girl....I couldn't help but miss Spence...

Spring, and Why it's Super!!!

Spring has finally arrived and I, for one am celebrating. One more day of freezing cold weather could've possibly finished me mentally. It's so nice to be able to go out and sit on the deck and watch the kids play in the evenings. They love it too. Spencer is back to playing with his buddies that live behind us, and Olive wakes up and brings me her shoes first thing in the morning, indicating she would like to go outside. I can wear short sleeves again and have the excuse to get frequent pedicures.

So many things happen and I think, OH..I need to post this on the blog, but I never get around to it. Like, Spencer's newest obsession....the PBS show "Superwhy"!! Yep, we are moving on from the Backyardigans finally. It's been fun Uniqua, but 2 1/2 years is enough. He hasn't quit them altogether, but he doesn't care to watch their shows that much anymore. I can't complain really, Superwhy facilitates reading, letter recognition and problem solving. The superheros have the powers to read, spell, write, etc. Olive enjoys it too, she dances to the intro music, then goes on about her business. In fact, if she's upset, I will start one of the episodes and the music calms her and she's happy again, dancing around. Here is Spencer in his homemade Superwhy costume....look for more superwhy at birthdays, Halloween, etc.....



Olive talks more and more everyday. She will walk into the kitchen, raise her shirt, rub her belly and say "hungy". She's a girl with no shame. Some new words are "Bob", "Cheese", "Moo", and "ow". She took a fall yesterday and smashed her fingers. This morning she woke up and pointed to them and said "ow". Poor thing. Here is Olive this morning...her typical response to my question of "where are you going sweet Olive?" See that look of defiance....we are in big trouble here, She is Little Miss Mean-ness.... On a more positive note, she has a new favorite book called "quack quack, who's that?". It's one of the lift the flap books and she loves it. I believe she received it for her birthday, don't remember who gave it to her, but THANK YOU!!! She loves it so much!!! She will hand you the book and hop in your lap and gesture for you to read it over and over. That's where she started saying "moo". Her favorite page is of the rooster, but she just can't quite form the phrase "cockadoodledoo". But I know it's coming!! She is so smart, and can follow just about any directive you give her, within reason of course.
Poor little neighbor girl down the street who is a few months older than her tried to get in her "cozy coupe" car outside a few weeks ago, and I thought Olive was going to hurt her. She gave her the "look" and then went for the kill (biting). What do you expect though, with a brother and 2 wild boys living behind us...the girl has to be tough....Oh, how I envy her sometimes...I was always so squeamish.... Oh, and this was also Olive this morning...she gets into my lingerie drawer and pulls out my bras and tries to wear them....clever girl even knows that it hooks together, but just can't quite figure it out....all in due time my dear, let's get past diapers first...

Olive's first haircut!

Well, it finally happened. I didn't want to admit it, but the girl desperately needed some shaping up. She was sporting a mullet and I couldn't take it anymore. Her hair was long but stringy. I knew I didn't want to get bangs cut since I'd (she'd) worked so hard on letting them grow out. At this point, she can tuck them behind her ears..but of course, she doesn't understand or know how to do that, so we end up pulling it back in a bow or ponytail holder. But eventually, she will understand, and since I don't like bangs, she doesn't really have a choice. Just like her Meme', she has a short forehead and looks better without them.

Before:

During:

After:

She did great at the salon. I took her to my hairdresser, who also does Spencer's hair. She sat in my lap and did just fine. It's the first of many (hopefully) trips to the salon/spa together. Meme' came to help out which made it even more special. 3 generations of beauties!!!

Easter 2008

We had a nice Easter! The weather wasn't the greatest, but the kids were able to have a few Easter egg hunts nonetheless. The Easter bunny delivered some yummy goodies and a few toys too. We had lunch with the Raibles at Larry's aunt Karen's house. Spencer and his cousins had Easter baskets waiting on them and had fun playing with new games and racing hot wheels cars. The afternoon/evening was spent at our house with Mom, Adam and family. Dad was in Mobile :( We tried to have an egg hunt and while hiding the eggs, it started snowing. The kids did the egg hunt anyway (very quickly). Crazy weather around here. Here is a collage of the kids throughout Easter weekend,

Updates after a Very busy month!

The last 4 weeks have been very busy for us. It's been a hard month and some good things and some bad things have occurred. We took a weekend trip to Nashville the last part of February and Olive took a fall and knocked her front teeth loose, and eventually they both had to come out. It was a horrible experience, and although not life-threatening, still very upsetting for all of us...especially me, I still have a hard time dealing with it. Luckily, her permanent front teeth were not damaged and should come in fine....eventually. Until then, we have the option of just letting her go without or having some porcelain partials made. I have chosen to go with the partials, for both aesthetic purposes as well as to help with her speech. The last thing I want is for her to have a "tongue thrust" or a lazy tongue that just hangs there in the spot where the teeth are missing. I also want to help her with the correct pronunciation of the "th", "f", and "v" sounds. The dentist said when her 2-year molars are completely in, they can attach the partial to them. So, it won't be long. Here is a picture of her before the tooth fairy came..

Something good that has happened this month has been the start up of our newest business venture: Mariposa Place. It has been very hard work...much harder than I imagined, but hopefully it will pay off in the long run. We have had 2 successful open houses and have another one scheduled for this coming Friday evening. Our Grand Opening is still scheduled for next Monday!! I don't know the status of how many clients we have signed up and ready to start, but I should find out more from the marketing team tonight. If you are interested in checking us out, our website is http://www.princecaregroup.com/.

Mariposa Place has kept us all busy this past month, even the kids put their own sweat equity in on many occasions. Spencer really enjoyed going there and would play with the other owner's children. Olive enjoyed scribbling on the walls with chalk (before they were painted). We basically gave the place a complete makeover. It was a huge transformation, and I am glad I was a part of that process. I didn't realize all that goes into starting a business, and even with 10 people working simultaneously, it is still quite a task. We also did this on a shoestring budget in a very short time period. It has been quite a ride and hopefully it is just the beginning!!

During the process of creating Mariposa Place, we were hit with one of the largest snowstorms we have had in a few years. A foot of snow fell on Louisville and even though it made the restoration process tough on us, the kids absolutely loved it. Spence and his neighborhood buddies had a blast sledding down hills and I must say, it was beautiful. Here is a picture of Spence on our deck the morning of the snow..

Sunday Dinner

Larry started a Pot Roast on the slow cooker this morning and I thought it would be nice to invite Adam and family over for dinner tonight. It was such a nice afternoon that the kids were able to play outside some. Olive was beyond tired and was running around like a little wild child, but she loves when Isabelle comes over and follows her everywhere. I think she knows she's a girl like herself. When she goes to the Raible's, she is surrounded by all boys, and only having a brother to hang out with, she enjoys being around girls. Somehow I don't count though,as she prefers Daddy over me any day.

I was able to get some cute shots of the kids. Lucien slept like an angel the entire time he was here. In fact, I had let him use Olive's old bouncy seat and Adam and Bev took it home with them. Evidently, he hasn't slept well in quite some time and the seat may be the cure. When your desperate, sleep deprived, you will try anything. I remember putting my kids in car seat carriers in the bed, in the crib, a bouncy in the bed. There comes a point when you are so tired, that you will do anything out of desperation in order to get the kid to sleep for just 2, maybe 3 hrs. straight. I remember with Spencer, I finally put him in another room, put earplugs in and said screw it.

Oh the good old days. I don't miss that part one bit, but I do miss having a sweet little baby to cudde with, but not enough to revisit those days again ;) I'm content with my 2 and thankful that they are good sleepers. And..Spence is my "best snuggler" after all, as he calls it. In fact, when he is upset about something, he uses it as leverage. He will say "well then I'll never be your best snuggler again...." It's his trump card....and it works. Normally he says it through tears, and it just breaks my heart. It breaks his heart too b/c he loves that more than anything. I will cry my eyes out the day he decides he's too big to snuggle with me anymore....unless he's like 15 obviously.

My Funny Valentines !!

When I woke up on Thursday, I had the best intentions of getting the kids dressed in their Valentine's outfits and getting some pictures. But, as usual, I was rushing, and it didn't happen. By the time I arrived home from work, the kids were already eating dinner....and spaghetti at that. Olive, who had on an adorable red/purple dress was covered in tomato sauce despite being a double bibber...Spence was at least salvageable.

Determined to get pictures for albums/videos (that I never finish), I cleaned them up as best as I could and took some snapshots. The one at the bottom left is of Spencer after going to sleep with wet hair the night before...this is a usual look for him on mornings after bath night and requires much hair gel to look halfway decent/presentable for school. The one of Olive in the box shows her favorite place to be...she climbs in, then out, then in, then out, then in,......

Recently, Spencer and I had been reading the book Charlie Brown's Valentine. In the story, Pigpen makes a special Crunchy Munchy Valentine Snack for the Peanuts' Gang. Spencer decided that he wanted to make the snack on V-day, so I picked up the ingredients for the crunchy munchies and we made them as soon as I got home. The main ingredient was marshmallows, which were a big hit with Olive (as seen above). I was also showered with wonderful Valentine gifts and cards from Larry and the kids. I received a Diamond heart necklace, a flower windchime and a cool ceramic wall clock/thermometer for the deck area..oh, and a whole bag of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolates. I can't wait until Spring to put out the clock and windchime!