Trees

A few weeks ago we had three dead ash trees cut down. The trees had succumbed to the Emerald Ash Bore before we moved in and one of them was in between the power and telephone line. Not a DIY project for us. We watched 'man' whom had to be part flying squirrel because of the way he scurried up the trees and then leaped from tree to tree. With a chainsaw.
The boys were eager to pick up the logs left for us as firewood and stack them. Clara was excited the wagon was out and she could hitch a free ride. She did however end up helping with the extra small logs and tried to stack them.
All three helping. It was a strange day for sure!

Busy Bees

This past weekend, Craig had Monday off from class for Veteran's Day. We drove down to North Carolina to visit Craig's brother and family. Joel, his brother, and family are packing up and moving to England for the next few years for his job. A crazy move considering they are about to have their third child any day now. Joel was kind enough to sell some workshop tools to Craig and also let him borrow some while they will be out of the country. We rented a moving truck and the boys loaded it up with the contents of Joel's garage. Susan, his wife was ecstatic to be able to park her van in the garage now. Susan and I sat around and watched the kids play and have fun since it was a beautiful weekend of sunshine! Something we had been lacking in Ohio since Superstorm Sandy. Plus they took us to an awesome ice cream joint, my waffle cone was filled with half mocha chip and half caramel swirl, Landon was less eager to try something new and got chocolate, Oliver got sugar cookie flavor, and Craig got peanut butter fudge. Yum, yum!
It was a short visit but nice to spend time with them before the move across the ocean.

Ollie

At the beginning of this week Ollie hit me in the face with a baby. Yes it was intentional. Yes he was mad at me. My glasses were in two pieces. The leg broke off and there is a hairline crack in the lens. It hurt.
Fast forward a few days. The rest of the week pretty similar just no more broken things. I decided Ollie and I needed to go on a date. I gave him two choices ice cream or pie. He replied that he did not want chicken pot pie, we had just had that for dinner the night before. He wanted ice cream.

On the way home I asked him if he had fun with just mommy and Ollie.
His response, no, I had fun with the other girl
What girl?
The other girl in a dress.
(There was a table of three college girls sitting behind us eating ice cream. One of them was wearing a dress.)
Ollie needs to learn date etiquette.
Thanks for a fun date Ollie! Even if you had more fun with the other girl.

Clara Margaret

Clara's birthday party was this past weekend. I chose a whale theme for the party. It may have gone a little too far but I had fun planning it.
We had a Whale of a pizza, which I forgot to take a picture of but take my word for it. It was huge. Shark teeth, triangle shaped mozzarella cheese. Goldfish crackers. Skewered grapes to look like coral. Fishing rods, pretzel rods. Octo-dogs, hot dogs cut to look like octopus. Seaweed salad, regular salad with a fun name. Fish bowls, blue jello in a clear cup with a Swedish fish floating in the jello. Starfish cookies, cutout star cookies. Cupcakes with blue icing to look like waves.
We borrowed a bouncy house for the kids and it was a huge hit!
Then some balloons were blown up and all the kids attacked Uncle Craig, Craig's brother-in-law.
Clara had some help opening gifts as she had no interest in that part. All of her toys have now been taken over by her brothers. Especially these two baby dolls that giggle.
We had a blast and are so thankful to have such great families to help us celebrate.

Snow

Hurricane Sandy brought some snow our way last week. Not much but enough to excite the boys for a good snowfall.
Ollie woke up and looked out the windows and asked "what's that yucky stuff out there, Mommy?"
They had to get out ASAP and catch a snowflake!

Family

My Mom, sister and her two girls came for a visit. It was Halloween weekend and we had planned a trip to pumpkinfest but Mother Nature decided to dump rain and halt our trip. We were stuck inside but the kids had fun together playing house and Mr. Fixit. We also made slime for Emma and they all played that for part of the afternoon.
Ollie loves Baby Anna Banana and helping to feed her. He's totally enthralled with her. Clara on the other hand was obsessed with my sister and anytime Anna was not in her arms she was begging Kate to pick her up.
I got a few things made for Clara's birthday party.
Fun times with family.

Halloween

Clara and I handed out candy to trick or treaters while Craig took the boys door to door. The boys stepped outside just as a big group of families were walking up to the house and joined them down the road.
Landon was Spider-Man. Ollie was Woody. And Clara was a ballerina.

Slacker

It's not like I've been sitting around eating Bon bons and putting up my feet. I still have to post pictures from the Grimes Invasion 2012. It will happen soon(ish).
Here's the simplified version of what we've been doing for the past two months.
Grimes invasion occurred. All Craig's siblings spent part of the weekend here in September.
We found a massive group of boxelder bugs living on the side of the road on one of our routine walks. They are impressive. We had to find them everyday for about a week.
We made a Pinterest project. Melted crayon art.
I've been trying to get Ollie to bond with Clara instead of him being annoyed by his little swiping sister so we've been going to the park while Landon is at school and finding things for them to do together.
Clara out-smarted me and my DIY baby gate project for the upstairs. Landon graciously taught his sister to open the gate.
We reclaimed carpet from the basement and put it in the boys closet. They now use it as a reading/play nook.
Those are the random things. More in depth posts to follow.

Halloween part one

Landon's school had a Halloween party today. All the kids dressed up and paraded through the building and got a lot of goodies. Too many goodies for the first of four trick or treating events this year!
Then after the parade there was a party! The parents were asked to help with the food. I was the lame Mom and brought fruit. However, I did make the fruit somewhat festive. There were homemade caramel apples, Cookie Monster cupcakes, cupcakes with candy pumpkins and witches hat cookies. Fun times! Ollie even got some treats just for being Ollie.
More to come for the next Halloween events.

Little things

Ollie is starting to grasp the concept of asking for a toy and not just grabbing it from someone else. Reinforce. Reinforce. Reinforce.
He mimics Landon and says he will have a dairy farm when he grows up. He will also have horses and sheep and pigs. He is very knowledgable about why he will need specific equipment.
His language has shot off since we moved. We have been working on speaking about how a situation makes him feel and the hitting and pushing has really decreased. I think it's adorable when he tells me he's frustrated at something.

Clara seeks me out and grabs my hand to take me to what she wants. She's gotten good at grunting to speak her mind. She turns your face when you aren't paying attention to the book she just plopped into your lap. She is desperate to make constant eye contact with Craig at dinner for affirmation that she is adorable and sweet.

Landon is adjusting to life in Ohio. Most days are good. He has made good boy friends at school. Griffin makes his Grandmother wait at pickup to leave until Landon is walking out the door with him. He is still going to marry Amelia. However, she will have to move to Ohio to live on his dairy farm. (Last conversation with Amelia's Mom, Carmen, she said Amelia is all for the idea of moving to Ohio.)

My View

All three. Happy. Playing together. Happy Momma.

Explore

Ollie went right up to the fireman's pole at the park and didn't even hesitate with thought about how to accomplish it. He grabbed ahold and went right in down! The boy is determined to not let anything stand in his way.

New town

We discovered a new park within a park we have already frequented. It has big rocks and sweet gum trees placed in a star pattern. The boys were pretending the rocks were ships and they were pirates on board. Can you guess which 'mate was ordered to walk the plank? He then crewed his own pirate ship.

Clara Margaret

Clara is all over the place these days. She is very independent, plays by herself as long as she can her noise from another room knowing she wasn't abandoned. She loves to help with laundry, she's gotten into trying the clean clothes on. She trusts Landon unconditionally. She loves to laugh at Ollie. Will wave at anyone even if they don't notice it. She is starting to feel the groove to music and dances. She went to her first bobcat volleyball game last night and LOVED it, the cheering, the game, and the pep band. She is standing independently and very proud of it. She waves at us with both hands when she wants picked up.

I can't believe she is almost 11 months old!