Zoo Day!

Today was Zoo day! The kids spent the morning in the pool (it is so muggy here!) and we got ready to head to the zoo after Ollie woke up from his afternoon nap around 3. Great idea in theory, but by the time we got there it was close to 4 and the zoo closes at 4:30! Isn't that the weirdest thing? 4:30? In the summer? When it doesn't get dark until close to 9? The only good part was that we didn't have to pay. We got to see some animals during our half hour. They loved the penguins, Tatiana the tiger, and a leopard. They loved taking pictures of the animals, and Kyle is actually pretty good! Uncle Jason would be proud. We couldn't find the elephants, unfortunately. Since I was fully prepared to drop 10 bucks on a hot dog there, we decided to hit McDonald's. It was a perfect end to the day...climbing up that ladder/slide thing left them both exhausted!!

P.S. The picture of me and Ollie in front of the flowers is for Gram K..she loves those flower backdrops!

Sprinkler Fun!

Aunt Tiffer came home today, and the kids were psyched! We went to the park for a bit and they happened upon this sprinkler. I don't know what it is about kids and sprinklers, but they couldn't wait to get soaked! Ollie on the other hand, is extremely cranky because his one eye tooth is ready to pop through. Ugh. Not fun stuff. Poor little guy. We are going to the zoo tomorrow, so I hope Ollie-Man feels up to it.

Paighty & Kyle

On Sunday, I met my sister-in-law, Kerri, in Albany to pick up the kids. Paighton & Kyle will be staying the whole week! Ollie loves having them around. Here is a picture of the three of them husking corn because Uncle William told them if they wanted to stay, they would have to "do chores!" Paighty did a good job, but I think Kyle only managed to get 2 done! It should be a fun (and exhausting!!) week!

Fun with Little William!

I attended a baby shower today for an old childhood friend, Sondra. It was a beautiful shower, but I left the camera with William, so no pics! It happened to be at Belhurst, in Geneva, so William took Ollie over to play with little William. For those of you who don't remember, Scott was William's (mine-it gets confusing now with the two!) college roommate, and both he and Aly were in our wedding. So, of course it worked out perfectly that we had kids at the same time! Little William is 10 days older than Ollie. He looks so much smaller, but he can move! Poor Ollie...all of his friends can just trample him! Both William and Avery can hit the stairs, are taking steps, etc! They had so much fun.....we can't wait to get them together again!

Sneak Peek

Kelli and I took the kids to get pictures taken today. It was so fun! Little Miss Avery is all over the place so trying to keep her still took teamwork! Here is a sneak peek at a couple of the pics of them together. I love both of these! More to come!

Thinking Chair

Ok, I know you must be sick of me talking about the toys we get from Aunt Linda's friends, Rose and Andy. But seriously, they must have had one happy kid! Ollie LOVES everything they give us! Here he is playing with the Blues Clues Chair. He loves to bang on things and when you hit the little light, it talks to you. ("The green light is on. The light is off...and on and on) Fun Stuff! I put the bottom pic in so you could see him messing around with his tongue, which he does so often now days.

P.S. Aunt Linda: Can you send me Rose and Andy's address...I should mail them something!

Cruisin'

This is another fun toy we got from Aunt Linda's friend, Rose. Not only can you ride it, but it sings, talks, and has a place to drop in shapes. What could be cooler? We were practicing the idea of putting the shapes in the holes. He mostly liked to bang them on the hood, rather than actually let go. Plus, he especially liked using Daddy's golf ball. Ollie is a little cranky today because his eye teeth are getting ready to pop through. So, Daddy took him for a ride on this little guy (not quite sure if one would call it a car, bike, or what..).

Ambition

Even when I think he is in a nice safe spot, where he can't get into any trouble....I am proved wrong! Interestingly enough, I sat there and watched him pull himself closer (while in the exosaucer!) and get his little hands on as much as he could. Sometimes you just have to admire the ambition!

First Haircut!

Here is the pic and video from the other day. Ollie had his first haircut today from Aunt Tiffer. He has soo much hair (clearly not from me!) and it was getting a little crazy, so she trimmed it a little. Big happenings! William had his Member-Guest Golf Tournament this weekend so we are going out tonight to the party! A night out..alone?? Yeah for Aunt Tiffer!

Backup Pic

Well, I did take pics today-cute ones in fact, but when I tried to download them, it said there was no room available. Hmm. Is it possible to use up an entire computer's memory with pictures? My mom would certainly know :) Anyways, Ollie-Man is army crawling it all over the place (still not using those knees) and I got a great picture and video of him chasing after the Bender Ball throughout the house (Hey, at least someone uses it..unlike the big sucker whom I won't mention). I also got a great pic of him reading a book, all on his own! Of course, I didn't take the pic 2 minutes later when he realized he could eat the pop up people! So look for those to come, hopefully. Until then, here is just a backup pic from the park a couple of weeks ago. Ollie likes to play with pretty much anything!

Big Muscles!

Ollie & I went swimming today, but Daddy has been at work all day getting ready for his big tournament tomorrow (that he is in charge of) and Aunt Tiffer had to go to work. So, there was nobody to take any pics of us in the pool! This pic is from last weekend in Albany. Daddy & Ollie were showing off some muscles!

BFFs

Ollie went to see his friends at Patti's today, but Kelli and I try to get the munchkins together weekly since I am home for the summer. These pics are from last week after a long, lounging day in the pool. I don't know if you can see what is going on in the bottom picture, but Avery was walking and pushing this car (until she fell). Seriously, I am not sure what they put in that formula..she is a machine! Meanwhile, my little man army crawls it all over the place. I love seeing how different they are since they are so close in age. (We constantly get asked if they are twins...but not sure what that would make me & Kelli???) Ollie is just starting to really move with his army crawling and Avery took two steps outside that afternoon. He looks so much smaller than her, but is actually longer and heavier. Crazy.

Baby Drew

We spent this weekend in Albany visiting our friends Lynne and Shawn. We also got to meet their newest addition, Drew! It was great to finally meet him in person. It is so amazing how fast the first year goes, and that Ollie was that small. Oooh and those baby noises. Love it. Ollie was very interested in Drew, especially when he cried. He is still learning the term "gentle" as I think he may have blinded poor Drew at one point! We can't wait to see him again!

Movies, anyone?

William yells at me for posting pics like this because it makes us look like we don't watch our child. I keep telling him that we would need to do WWAAYY more than this for CPS to get involved. Hello...I work with seriously troubled kids, remember?? Anyways, I find it remarkable that he is playing happily one minute and the next he is God knows where, doing God knows what! (i.e. yanking DVDs off the shelf) We can't wait for him to crawl, but I have basically decided that since he gets into stuff so much now, that when he does we are screwed!

Family Fun in the Park!

Just a little family fun in the park. We have to take it when we can get it these days since it has rained basically for the last two weeks straight! We like to take Hogie to the park so he can play ball. As you can see by his tongue, he's already had a few rounds! :)

Pool Time!

Grandpa Kamery bought Ollie this car at the end of summer last year so he would be ready to go this year. He loves water, but wasn't quite sure what to make of this at first! Here he is in his floaty for the first time!

When Mommy's Not Looking...

For someone who isn't crawling...he sure is a mover and a shaker! I turned my head for about 5 minutes while I was on the computer, all the while hearing him playing happily...or so I thought. I turned around to this! (He was originally sitting on the blue blanket) I about had a heart attack, but he was having a grand ol' time playing with the vacuum cleaner cord.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! We went and visited with our old friends, Ryan and Emily. Ollie got to meet their daughter, Audrey for the first time. He had so much fun, especially playing with the beads. Hmm, maybe I should dig out my old ones.... We also had Alissa, Michelle, and Todd over for a BBQ. It was a great time. Oh, for those of you keeping track, he started a little army crawling today. William caught it on video so look for that in a later post :)

Who Needs Crawling?

I keep forgetting that I have started taking more video lately. At Lauren's graduation party, we watched a movie she had my brother help her put together. It was a munch of old videos of her growing up. I take pictures daily, but realized that I needed to take more video to capture even daily events. Everyone records birthdays or other holidays, but some of my favorite ones on her video were just everyday things-so cute (Plus, we have this great video camera from Gram K!). So....here is a video I took yesterday. Ollie has yet to crawl, but manages to get what he wants his own way! Dr. Joseph said some babies never crawl and not to worry. I guess as long as he is content, I should be too! Oh, we went to his 9 month appt. today! The big boy is now 18.11 pounds, and 29.5 in long! She said he will be tall (no idea how that is possible...) since he is in the 90th perct. for height.