Fort

Stevie and Lilly made their own fort with my rocking chair. So cute! He is reading a story to her! When they are sweet with each other it is darling...of course Lilly just turned two and we are entering the "don't touch me" phase! This is why we bought the hated mini van...put one kid in the back and one kid in the middle seat.

Play Dough!

These two love play dough. This is Stevie's new table he got for Christmas from his Nana and Papa...and the kids love doing projects on it. Go Nana! Go Nana...it was a perfect gift! Anyway, Stevie is into creating different stuff and then acting something out...like a snake that goes down a slide (that's what he is doing here) and Lilly is into eating it. So, the conversation sounded like this..."Stevie, what an awesome snake...Lilly take the play dough out of your mouth...Stevie that snake loves to slide...Lilly spit it out...Stevie what other animals are you going to make?...Lilly don't put the play dough in your mouth again...Stevie that is an wonderful bird...Lilly if you put it in your mouth again, you won't be able to play any more...Stevie, you just squished your bird and snake together...Lilly that's it you are done...Stevie I have to take your sister and wipe the play dough off and out of her mouth."

Anyway, you can see we had a good time. And really Lilly did get to play for like 20 minutes before I just gave up.

She is so intent on what she is doing. So serious and dang cute!

This kid has an incredible imagination and he loves to use it. I can't wait to read the stories he will create!

Halloween

Halloween week was nuts. It actually started on Saturday night. I took Stevie and Lilly "trunk or treating" at Stevie's school. I got the cutest picture of them and then deleted by accident. I was pissed... needless to say! Anyway, we had a great time. We didn't need to worry about any of the candy or people that we were around because they were all Stevie's classmates. We made the loop once and then headed inside for hot coco and goodies. It was a lot of fun. All of the kids Stevie's age stripped off their costumes and were just running back and forth in the gym. No toys, just running... and they loved it. We decided to go to dinner afterward with 2 other families and had a good time getting to know some new people. It really made Stevie and I miss Steve. It was such a family outing that it was only fitting Steve be there. And, I'm not writing this to make Steve feel bad or guilty, just that there are times when we miss Dad more than other and this was one of them!

On a happier note, Stevie was dressed as a knight in shining armor and our friend Gabe was dressed as spider man. Gabe's mom was dressed as a kitty and at dinner, Stevie and Gabe crawled to another booth and pretended to be kitties. It was the funniest and cutest thing.

On Wednesday, Halloween, Nana and I went to Stevie's school to watch the leaf parade. Stevie had made a leaf mask and they were singing songs and marching up and down the hall. So cute. I took video of this but no pictures.

That night we decided to go to "Boo at the Zoo" instead of trick or treating. I thought we might get in both but the kids were sick. I don't think Stevie even wanted to go to Boo at the Zoo very badly but we suffered through it. He didn't even want the candy they handed out. Poor kid...that tells you how sick he was! And if that didn't, take a look at these sad pictures.

Lilly is an Angle if you couldn't tell!

It was one of the coolest trips to the zoo because all the animals were out. The sun was going down and we saw all of the cats. Tigers, Lions, Bob cats and even a snow leopard. Nana and I had a good time seeing the animals. The very next day at 4:30 in the morning we headed out to Nana Karen's and Papa Charlie's house. We had a fabulous time with them and I will post the pictures from that trip later!

Feeding the Birds!

This is one of Stevie's favorite activities. He loves to chase the birds back into the water. We have actually received a couple of dirty looks from people who think that it is cruel to chase the birds so we try and go to an uncrowded area. Oh for crying out loud....it doesn't hurt the birds...just gives them a little excitement. We had a ton of old bread with us from the house. One sack had old bagels Nana had made. She makes the best bagels ever!!! But we didn't get this batch eaten. A rarity...believe me! Anyway, the bagels were so hard that the birds couldn't break them apart. I couldn't even break them into pieces. The poor birds had to let them soak first and then enjoy them. Nana and I were dieing laughing, watching the birds try and peck those hard bagels.




A lot of people go feed the birds in the summer but not many go once it gets cold. So, we had a ton of birds come right up to us. Stevie even fed a few from right out of his hands. It was a nice afternoon!

Sledding

So it literally snowed all day. Stevie played outside all morning and then we ran some errands. We are trying to put together a package for Steve and, as a side note, are having a little bit of trouble finding all the parts. Anyway, as we were driving home we saw a bunch of kids sledding and, believe it or not, Stevie has never been sledding. I know, I know the situation had to be rectified asap me being from Idaho and all! So we got home, dressed and back on the road in a record 10 minutes. The snow was melting fast at this point and it was raining on us but we decided to go for it anyway!

Stevie is usually fairly timid at trying new things. Not today. This was his first trip down and he had no fear. This wasn't a tiny hill either. We tried to put him with is butt in the whole but he is so stinkin' skinny that his butt dragged and he didn't go anywhere. So I threw him on face down and away he went. He loved every minute of it!

Rolling down the hill!

He couldn't get on the tube alone so I had to put him on, and get him stopped. Then I ran/slid to the bottom of the hill to take this picture. He kind of had a hard time getting the tube to slide down but after enough wiggling he got it moving!

I asked a lady that was taking pics of her kids to take one of Stevie and I as we came down the hill. She did but we were still at the top and it is kind of hard to see. Oh well!

Stevie and I don't get much alone time - just the two of us. This was a wonderful day where we played and talked and just got to hang out. I love this kid of mine with all my heart!

!!!!!!SNOW!!!!!!!

Here are the promised pictures of our adventures in the snow. Stevie stayed out the entire day and I think would have slept in his new snow suit if I would have let him. This beautiful snow suit is from our friends in Savannah GA, Jennifer and Nathaniel. They didn't need such a warm suit for the south so they gave it to us. And it is so nice. Stevie didn't get cold all day. The gloves are from me from last winter and the boots are from Wendy and Brenden, friends of ours here in Idaho Falls. I was sure the boots would be too small but Stevie swears they still fit. We will see for how long. He is growing. Anyway, we woke up to about 3 to 4 inches of snow and it snowed/rained all day.



This is Stevie's snow suit from when he was a baby and I can't remember who gave us the cute hat that Lilly is wearing. She loved the snow and was fascinated by her brother playing in it!



This is the sled that Papa uses to feed the sheep hay in the winter. He put a blanket in the bottom and Stevie pulled Lilly, until he jerked too hard and she started to cry.

This is Stevie and I trying to build a snow man. We got it all put together but the ground wasn't level and the snowman crumbled. We also made a few snow angels...well I should say that I made a snow angle, Stevie didn't like it because when he lied down on his back to do it, snow fell in his face. So, maybe next time.

Lilly, watching from the window. If you look closely you can see Papa in the reflection taking Lilly's picture. He looks almost ghostly!

Eating snow! I told him to be careful and only eat the white stuff. This snow storm was the perfect stuff to eat. Really wet and heavy. Yumm!!

I think Stevie played in the snow this morning for about 2 hours. He had a ball!

Growing up!

She is getting so big. She is pulling up and standing on her own. She is still pretty wobbly but getting more and more steady every day! The best part is that she gets so excited about standing up. She takes a big breath and says "whooowhooa!" It is so cute and she will grin and laugh!

She likes it the best when Stevie plays with her!

She is my best snuggler. She likes to play a game where she will put her head on my shoulder and snuggle into the corner of my neck and then she will pop up-right, suck in a large breath so it makes a high pitched noise and laugh. She thinks it is a great game!

The Idaho State Fair

Sometimes this blogger is a pain in the butt. Not only has it not allowed me to post in a while but I can't get this picture anywhere else but right at the top of this post. So here it is. Stevie playing in the dune-buggy. I thought this pic would make his Daddy proud!

We had such a great time at the fair this year. It was just Stevie, Lilly and I that went and it was fun!!! We went early in the morning so we didn't have to worry about parking. I think that is the worst part about fairs. We spent the morning looking at animals. Stevie was most impressed with the huge work horses and birds. We have been reading a story about a little duck named Henry and we saw a duck just like Henry. It was fun. We also went into a petting zoo and Stevie touched an Emu, goats, baby pig, and a turtle. Lilly just sat up in her stroller and looked at everything. The rides didn't open up until 1 so we had quite a bit of time to look at the different displays. We went into the 4-H building and looked at all the projects as well as the art work.

Stevie was pretty patient but he really wanted to ride the rides. So we had some lunch, got some tickets and headed over to the rides.

Stevie is too short to ride a lot of the rides and because I didn't dare leave Lilly alone or with a stranger, I just asked different people to take Stevie on some of the rides. This car ride in the picture above was kind of a wild ride. I think he loved it and the girl in the front seat with him was really cute about making sure he was ok and having a good time. I just wish I could have gone with him! Maybe next year!

Lilly had a good time watching and sleeping. She is too cute. I can't believe how much she has grown!

Anything that had to do with Cars, Stevie was all over. This one just went round and round. I don't think he was too impressed. He was expecting to be able to turn the wheel and drive where he wanted too. But I think he had a good time.

This was another one where he was too short to go alone. This large kid was pretty nice and cute to take Stevie... maybe a little old for this kiddie ride? Stevie really wanted to go on this ride because we have been watching Dumbo and he was excited to ride on Dumbo's back!

This green jeep was supposed to be a "Mater" jeep from the movie Cars. Stevie loved it just because it was from the movie. He loved that he got to drive too.

This is inside a train and a very nice Dad took the picture for me. He went on this ride twice! He loves trains.

At the Park

We went to Community Park on Saturday. It looked like it was going to be kind of cool outside, but when we got there, it was hot hot hot. Like 90 degree hot. So we only stayed for about 45 minutes. The kids had a great time. Lilly and Stevie both love to swing. Stevie wanted to help push Lilly and did, until he realized that it would be more fun to swing in his own swing.


This is one of Lilly's baby hats...I didn't realize she had grown out of it. She is growing up so fast. This thing barley stayed perched on top of her head.

Stevie's favorite thing is for me to do an under-dog for him. He loves to go as high as I can get him.

Stevie kept telling me to give Lilly an under-dog too. He was sure she would love it as much as he does.

Stevie did take Lilly down the slide. Not this one because it was too big in my opinion but a littler one. She had a great time. I had to help Stevie hold her at first. He kept wanting to put his arms around her neck and squeeze. Once we got his arms under hers, they went down together about 3 times. After 3, Stevie figured he could go faster without Lilly and didn't want to take her anymore.
They are pretty good together and I am only just beginning to see the ugly green giant come out of Stevie. He is usually pretty sweet and gentile with her. And Lilly will put up with anything Stevie does to her because she loves the attention from him. She adores him! Cute cute kids.

Lilly's First Real Bath

This is always a monumental occasion when the baby can sit up in the bath tub. It means no more getting in he tub with the child, or bathing in the little plastic tub, or attempting to get them clean in the sink. This was Lilly's first official tub experience. She still needs quite a bit of help and only swallowed bath water once. (that's better than Stevie who tipped over twice.) She had a ball with Stevie in the tub. Didn't even complain when Stevie dumped water over her head...in fact she laughed. I can't wait till she can sit up on her own...on the other hand they grow up too fast and I wish she would stay little.

The joys of mother-hood!

Canoe Trip!

Stevie, Lilly, Nana, Sandy and I went canoeing up to big springs in Hermione Park. We had a great time. The weather was perfect and kids were happy...what more can you ask for?


Ad and Stevie taking a swim to cool off. Although, I don't think Stevie really got wet.

The water is from a natural spring and it is exceptionally cold. I think Stevie got his toes wet and then wanted Ad to carry him. It is a perfect place to take kids because it is very shallow and clear. In fact we get high centered a lot on sand bars.

Can you see Lilly peaking out from under the blanket? I'm in the canoe alone because Ad got hot and went for a swim. It is a lot easier to steer with 2 people! At one point I was nursing Lilly and we got stuck on a sand bar. I couldn't get off and nurse at the same time. I had to wait till Ad could rescue us! Kind of funny...at least to me it was!

Stevie just enjoying the ride!

Lilly had a good time too. Really... don't think I'm a bad mom for not having her in a life-vest, the water only comes up to your knees.

Lilly playing with a blade of grass and fascinated by it!

Ad took his fishing pole along and caught 3 fish. It was fun and interesting to fish in the canoe. A little tippy! I tried my hand a it for a minute, but Ad is a lefty (left handed) and I couldn't get the line reeled in.

Lilly is posing for the camera. I should get props for this float...at one point, I paddled, nursed, took pictures, and kept the boat upright all at the same time!