A fun morning at the park...

Yesterday morning the 4 of us strolled down the road to our little park and had a great morning! It was a beautiful day, and it was Sullivan's first time on a swing. He loved it, and don't worry, there are about 5,000 pictures to prove it :)

Instead of trying to figure out which pics to post, I just thought I'd let you look at all the park pics here.




Fun with Family

Last weekend Papa and M'laine decided to come up to join the rest of our family, so we had some fun get-togethers while they were here! Uncle Tony and Aunt Shannon gave Oliver a kite for his birthday, so he was pretty pumped to try that out. Sunday we all gathered at Seth's sister Stacey's house, and Papa and Seth got Oliver all hooked up with flying his kite. It was drizzly and there wasn't much wind, but he still did pretty well! And loved it - that was the important part :)
Seth's other sister Shannon stayed in town for the week, so M'laine decided to stay as well, and we got the joy of having her here with us, which the boys of course love! Books were read, songs were sung, games were played...it was a great week.


On Thursday Aunt Shannon delivered some belated birthday presents from Oliver's cousins Holland and Payton, so Oliver dug right in...
First came a little decorated box from Payton......with some fruit snacks......some crayons......chalk for Oliver's chalkboard......and some great books! Oliver has been using and loving it all! Thank you, Payt!!
Next came Holland's gift... she hand-painted him a special tile at a ceramics paint shop in town - she did a fabulous job, and such a sweet gift! Thanks Holland!!
And last came a little snuggle and reading time before Auntie Shannon and M'laine had to leave to make their long trek home. We so enjoyed having you both here!
This picture just cracked me up... the other day I laid Sullivan on the blanket, and a minute later looked over there and saw this (he doesn't crawl yet, mind you...yet he still gets around so good!) Bella had taken over the newly-vacant blanket :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Oliver!!!

I can't believe I have a 3-year-old!! We had a GREAT day celebrating Oliver today, and he lived it up! 3 was a fun birthday because he's really old enough to "get it" all, and we had a lot of fun processing through the day with him.

Oliver came into our room this morning around 6:45, happy as a clam, with his usual "good morning, Mommy and Daddy!" sweet voice...made me smile :) I pulled him into bed with us and told him Happy Birthday and realized his head was burning up. I hoped it was just cause he was hot...but the rest of his body was burning up as well. So I got out the trusty thermometer, and the poor kid had a 101.4 temp. On his birthday :( You wouldn't have known it by looking at him, though. Happy boy. So I gave him some Tylenol and called my brother and fam who were coming over at 9:00 for the boys' long-awaited Lightning McQueen party. The word from my sister-in-law, Karyn, was "as long as he's not throwing up, we're coming!" So we were able to have the cousin-Lightning-McQueen-party after all, and the boys had so much fun! They played for a little bit; then we sang Happy Birthday, did cupcakes and juice, and opened presents; then went outside to play with the new presents for the rest of the time. A super-fun time was had by all!!








After he opened his presents from Mommy and Daddy and his awesome Bear book from Jamey and Jack, it was time for the big box from Grandpa Jere and Grandma Lou! And oh, was Oliver in for a treat. It was a power tool set and work bench! This boy loves tools and has never had any. So.much.fun!!

They also got him a super cool/cute outfit and some Lightning McQueen swim trunks! Here Oliver is, saying "Thank you Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere!"
After Jamey and Jack left, Daddy and Oliver got busy putting together the tool table.Oliver showing Dad how it's done :)The almost finished product...so neat!Sullivan got a hold of the bubble-wrap that the present was wrapped in and was having fun getting caught up in that! Oliver joined in on the fun.

Then it was time for lunch and naps...we had to rest up for party #2!! Most of Oliver's Primm Aunts/Uncles/Cousins came over for a birthday gathering this afternoon/evening, and we had a great time celebrating with them! We grilled burgers and hot dogs, I made a chocolate buttermilk sheet cake with chocolate buttermilk frosting (all from scratch...sooo yummy!), and we had a fun time singing to Oliver, and he got to open more presents. He loves playing with those sweet and fun girl cousins of his, and another great time was had by all!
Uncle Scott and Sullivan having some sweet time...
...turned into this a few minutes later :) The kids table is always the best place to be!Blowing out the candles!"Let's open up the party," Oliver said immediately after he blew out his candles and went straight for the presents :)And later, Uncle Scott sacked out and it was time for some sweet time with Uncle Dave :) Thank you so much to all our awesome family for coming over and celebrating Oliver's special 3rd birthday with us!! From Lightning McQueen to grilling - it was a GREAT day!!
Oliver Franklin, I can't imagine life without you!! You say the sweetest and cutest things every day, all while keeping us on our toes with your strong will. Your spirit is SWEET, and we love you so so much! I am so thankful to God for letting me be your Mommy - you are the best little buddy ever.

Pre-Birthday Events

Yesterday evening we had some preparing to do. Preparing for Oliver's big day, that is! We had some fun birthday festivities happen today, so yesterday was gettin' ready time. Oliver helped me make his birthday cupcakes - he even cracked an egg by himself (and did a great job with no shells in the batter, I might add!)
Sullivan munched on a new snack while we baked...
Oliver got to lick the spatula after we were done - I'm not sure he's done that before, and he was a fan!
Yesterday around noon a big package arrived for Oliver - his present from Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere! He had to wait until today to open it, so sitting on it had to suffice for yesterday...
And after the cupcakes were done baking, Oliver needed a taste-test. They got a thumbs up!
Sullivan didn't get to taste-test anything, but he was a trooper about it :)

Playing outside is so much more fun than inside!

Daddy and Oliver playing with the SuperFort on the porch a few nights ago. They made a boat with a sail and a steering wheel!
Oliver showing us the sail :)
Sullivan is trying REALLY hard to crawl these days! He has now gotten to the point where pretty much anytime we have him sitting up, he begins to do this...

Then he finally lands down on his tummy, and it's scooting backwards, spinning around, and "swimming" from there. Working so hard on the up-on-the-knees-forward-motion, but just not quite there yet. Will be before we know it! Totally freaking me out with having a 3-year-olds little toys lying around...
Sullivan is also trying to pull up on things! I put the other two legs in the piano table for it to stand up, and he grabbed onto it and pulled up (with just a little bit of help from Mommy). He's working so hard to be mobile!
Today is another gorgeous day, so we decided to have lunch outside! Life is generally a little bit sweeter for Oliver when lived outside...
And I cannot believe Oliver will be 3 on Saturday!! Where has the time gone? He seems like such a big boy these days. He's looking forward to having a little McQueen party with his cousins Jamey and Jack and tells everyone he sees all about it :)