Jogging Crew

I am trying to get back in shape. I had a bit of a hiatus from exercising after I injured my foot and went back to work. I took the kids for a walk and jog, now that Lily is old enough. The first picture is from April and they were all bundled up for a walk. The second picture is from last Friday. I can't believe how big Lily has gotten! She can pretty much sit up on her own. She has quite the caboose to support her. ha!

Phillip has been saying really funny things lately. We were eating dinner and he said, "It's HOT, you have to be careful. It's dangerous. Remember?" and "I ate it all gone like a shark."

He is very good with his comparisons, "Lily is cute like Mommy." Or, "I'm a big boy like Daddy."

I've had a really long week with work so hopefully I can catch up all of our Summer events soon!

The Exersaucers

Phillip

We got the exersaucer for Phillip when he was about 4 months old. It's funny how even though everyone says that Phillip and Lily look alike they are already so different. Phillip was always wanting to look around. He didn't mind if I had to get stuff done as long as he was entertained. I think it took him until he was about four months old to crack a smile.

Lily

We pulled out the exersaucer for Lily. She is getting so good with her hand coordination. She loves to be part of the group. Her new trick is to do rasberries and she thinks it is the funniest thing in the world. She loves to be held. She gets really offended and will cry real tears if you make eye contact and don't go pick her up.

Bountiful Play Date

We had a fun play date at our house for my family.  My sister Bina was in town so it was fun to get everyone together.

As you can see all the kids got something from my dress up box.  Originally Pete grouped the halloween decorations with the costumes.  I told him that we need dress ups in a more convenient location.  I'd say we use the costumes at least once a month.  

We had fun doing the chicken dance while the chickens were hiding in the bushes.  We had some good food and good times.  

With so much family it's hard to make it to all of the events.  I should start a website:  Ratemyfamilyfunction.com.  You can anonymously rate a family function and leave feedback.  e.g.  "great food, but make sure the Little Cesears is fresh next time."  Ha!

This way I can advertise any future events...

Come to Phillips birthday party which will be held at Cathy's house, rated "Best of Davis County" from Ratemyfamilyfunction.com.

Chicken update:  We had to get rid of Checkers.  It turns out that he is a rooster.  He started doing his "cock-a-doodle-doo" at six in he morning.  And no, we did NOT eat checkers.  We found him a good home ... Chick-Fil-A.  JUST KIDDING!!   

I Feel Young Again!

I got braces today.  It was a little bit of an ordeal, but it didn't hurt as much as I thought.  We'll wait and see until tonight.

I feel like I can't eat ANYTHING.  I tried to eat a granola bar and it felt like my teeth were going to pop off.

Well, hopefully I'll have them off in 18 to 24 months.  Just in time for Phillip to go to Kindergarten.  WEIRD!

I've already had a few 'work' phone calls and had to consciously not spit out my 'S's.  Maybe if I try hard enough I can finally have good diction.

alalallalalalalaaaeeeeeeh!!!

Fun in California!

California

We did it!

Day 1 - Fly in - Our flight was delayed and had to wait for the pilot.  Phillip was pretty good under the circumstances.  We got to Rick's 

house around 10:30 PM and left the kids in their dirt clothes asleep.

Day 2 - Santa Monica - We went to breakfast with Rick and Gemina in Brentwood.  We had some of the best french toast.

We went down to the pier to ride the ferris wheel and go to the beach.  The ferris wheel was a little bit tricky with two kids.  They shot us up really quick and stopped at the very top.  The ride was shaking and Pete was freaking out because Phillip was climbing up the seat.  Good Times!

It was fun to hang out with Rick and Gemina in Cali again!

Day 3 - Pasadena Swap Meet - Garage sales of all garage sales.  People were selling all of the junk that my mom has for $100.  I got a cute cookie jar for $5.  

Day 4 - We went to Downtown L.A.: The Santee alley and  Olvera Street.  We got some good toys for Phillip and a puffy dress for Lily.  

We went to a Sushi place with Pete's Aunt Connie.  She is friends with the owner.  It was the BEST sushi of my life!  She kept making some really neat creations.  I've never been that full from Sushi.

Pete & I went to ... MEDIEVAL TIMES!!!  IT WAS AWESOME.  More on this later ... it deserves its own entry.

Day 5 - Knotts Berry Farm - Phillip kept saying "Not Dairy Barn!"  Pete's parents watched the kids and Pete and I got to run around like teenagers and ride the big rides.  We even convinced Pete's Mom and Aunt to ride some big rides.

Day 6 - We drove down south and got to see Bina.  We had a BIG burger from Red Robin.  We went to the outlets at Carlsbad.  My favorite outlet mall ever.

Day 7 - Sea World!  We got to see Shamu, Sharks & Dolphins galore!

Day 8 - We drove to Cornado and went to the beach by the Del.  Very pretty beach.  I even got in the water!  We went to Sea World again and got some great seats for the Shamu show!

Day 9 - Flew home and did 6 loads of laundry.

In all, the kids were good even though Lily was sick and Phillip missed some naps.  Good to go away and good to come back.

The apple doesn't fall far from the Tree

This is a funny picture of Phillip watching TV.  He LOVES watching TV and any time I complain, Pete says, "I wonder where he could have got that from."   

His favorite shows are Dora, Diego, Thomas and The Backyardigans.  However, I think he does enjoy the food network as well.  When I'm watching my cooking shows and turn it off or pause in the middle of it, Phillip says, "Turn it on!" as if he was really interested to see how the recipes turned out.  

We have been trying to gradually get Phillip to sleep in his bunk bed.  He sleeps in the lower bunk and calls it his 'cave bed.'  The problem is that he gets up  in the middle of the night and wakes me up.  

Also, with the 'cave bed' night routine Phillip likes us to tell him countless 'Silly Stories.'  They all are about a boy named 'Phillip' and his sister 'Lily.'  His favorite story is about the giant green M&M (Phillip calls them 'Happies') who comes and leaves m&ms under kids pillows if they are good.  I did put m&ms under his pillow one night.  Ha!

 

Chubba-dub dub!

Lily has definitely been growing! She is smiling a lot more and holding up her head. She has rolls everywhere. It makes me feel better about nursing. Phillip didn't gain weight very well nursing, but did fine once he switched to formula. Right now I have the opposite problem. Lily is having a hard time taking a bottle. She is definitely a 'Mama's girl.'

Her hair is coming in slowly but surely. It sometimes look likes red or strawberry blond hair.

She's sitting in one of Al's garage sale finds. Someone had twins and had two of these cool little seats. Lily is going to give it to Henry in a few months. Jonathan is using his now. We'll have to see how many babies get to benefit from this great find.

Got 'er Done!

Well, the most common comment about our house from neighbors is, "I never noticed that house before." The old owner was a little bit of a recluse and the way they had their yard and porch definitely was not very inviting.

1. Remove trellis (Pete's dad did this right as the old owner was packing up).

2. Paint the door black (it was Maroon before)

3. Make black shutters for large and small window

4. Paint Porch. They had a green and black marble effect which was really ugly.

5. Dig up Bed and get some rocks. We saved all of the perennials and had a rock company come in and excavate the dirt, place the rocks, and dig up some really big root balls.

6. Re-plant all of the perennials before they died! I was getting stressed about where to plant things. There is so much to think about .. how big will this get, when will it flower .. WHAT IS IT?! Pete wanted to clean up the mess so I GOT 'ER DONE :-)
I started with the big plants and gradually went to the smaller plants. My strategy was to fill the empty spots. We'll see how it goes.

I also planted my vegetable garden. I didn't have a tiller, so I dug up some dirt with a shovel, and mixed it in with the compost. I still need to cover the dirt with dead leaves and newspaper to prevent weeds and get stakes for all of the tomatoes. But at least I GOT 'ER DONE!

First trip to Hogle Zoo

Phillip was excited to see all of the animals. He was really glad to hold "the map!" (He is obsessed with Dora lately).

We went with my brother John and Al's older kids. It was me John and 7 kids under 8. It was a little crazy but still fun!

We went on a trip!

I am such a home body and with a new baby it's hard to get me to go anywhere. But I'm glad that we went to Becca's house in St. George. It was a great vacation because it wasn't too far to travel, and we had all of the comforts of home and strip mall shopping. We even had 'In and Out!'

We swam in the pool a lot. Phillip is getting a lot more comfortable swimming on his own with the ring. Lily liked the pool, but I tried to keep her out of the sun.

We went to Zions National Park. This was our first family hike. It took about an hour and half to hike 1 mile. If you watch the video you can figure out why. Phillip seems to have my skill for walking, which is kind of scary when hiking.

Bring Spring Inside!

I think I'm trying to recover from spring fever!  It's almost through april and we still get snow every couple of days!  

Anywho this was my 15 minute project to have some spring inside in case it snows again this weekend.  It's a good way to prune the Forsythia bushes and looks pretty inside :-)

Girls are fun to dress!

One of my co-workers got us this really cute silk dress. Today was my first day back to church and I got to show off the baby! She got a lot of compliments on the dress :-) I think it's only appropriate that I have a picture of the baby in a cute puffy dress with Phillip in a diaper.

Lily's getting so big and is holding up her head pretty good.

The chickens are getting bigger too. We are working on our chicken coupe tomorrow so they will be outside from now on.

They Grow up so Fast!

Lily is six weeks old and we've had the chickens for two weeks!

Lily's milestones:
She can hold up her head on her own

She smiles a lot more

She has adult-like burps and toots

The chickens:

They are starting to get their hard feathers.

They run a lot faster and they can do flying jumps

My Hillary Clinton Haircut

Well, I wanted a short haircut for spring. It ended up being a really short haircut. When I had all of the styling product in my hair, I asked Pete if my hair kind of looked like Hillary Clinton's haircut. He just started cracking up! So, now I'm in my workout clothes with bright lipstick and a blazer with my thumbs up.

Who do you want to answer the call on the first day??! Me! I may mumble on the phone, and I may not answer if I lost the phone, but I'll be there with a smile :-)

This message was approved by Cathy Olsen. Cathy for President!

Our New 5 Additions to the Family

I was going to surprise Pete with baby chicks for Easter. Pete came home today with baby chicks! Ha! We have a extra shed outback that we can convert to a chicken coup. We have 2 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Americana chickens. Phillip is excited for the new chickens. We'll have to name them soon.

Our new "Back Hall"

Pete was on a mission this weekend.  This was a small space by our back door.  We were thinking of lockers, with and without doors, but decided because of the traffic flow, we'd keep it open.  We were out on errands yesterday and found baskets that fill the cubbies perfectly.  (at World Market).  The pillows we had in storage from our california house.  I still need to make a pad for the bench, but for now I think it looks pretty spiffy :-)

Pete's new Dental Assisstant

My Dad had a tooth that broke.  Luckily Pete could squeeze him into his schedule.  Phillip and I stopped by the office to see Oma and Opa.  Phillip saw the x-ray of my Dad's tooth.  He kept saying.  "Daddy's fixing Opa's Tooth."

The best was the eating frenzy at the Costco food court.  :-)  

Spring Fever

I think everyone in Utah is ready for spring.  Phillip is especially ready to start playing outside.  After living in California for a year, this has been a long cold winter.  Like the quote from the movie Ground Hogs Day, "It's going to cold. It's going to be dark and it's going to last the rest of your life!"  ha!  Good thing spring is just around the corner :-)

And then there were two ...

Everyone has been asking me how Phillip is coping with the change. He's actually doing really good. He loves to give the baby kisses and hold her, but for the most part he still likes to play with his trains, watch shows, and and make up stories about lions. (Yesterday he told me that the Lion ate the chicken and the Lion was Sorry).

The two 'Babies' wrapped up in blankets.




Phillip rocking in the baby's carseat.




Phillip sharing his lions with baby Lily.

Lily Marie

Me and the little Girl!  It was EASY!

Phillip meeting Lily for the  first time

Well, our little girl finally decided to come! Our doctor started a slow induction Wednesday night. By Thursday, Lily Marie was born!!

The labor wasn't too bad because I asked for my epidural about an hour into the induction. (I'm a whimp!). During the induction, there was a freak earthquake in Nevada. I noticed the tremers as my bed started shaking. I didn't know what to think, maybe a really big contraction. ha! I'd say the worst part of the labor was the last few hours and it was during local news and Dr. Phil. Not very good TV.

Everything went well with the delivery and I didn't have to have another C-Section. Yay!

Here are the key facts:

Born: February 5:45 PM MST
Name: Lily Marie Olsen
Weight: 7 lbs, 7 oz
Length: 20.5 inches

Phillip has been really sweet to the little girl. So far so good!