Olivia is very comfortable in the pool and loves putting her head in the water and holding her breath. She's actually gotten quite good at getting around in the few weeks we've started swimming regularly. She really loves jumping off the edge of the hot tub into the pool and wants to do it over and over. She plummets to the bottom and then kicks and grabs for our hands and comes up with a huge smile on her face! She also loves swimming from the steps to either Papa or me and then swimming back. She mainly coasts right now but is getting better at kicking her legs and moving her arms and is very good at holding her breath. Here she is practicing with CK.
Click on this link to go to the video....
Olivia+Swims+6/30/2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Buckaroo Camp
Sofia enjoyed an entire week at Ride with Pride this past week which ran from 9am through 1pm everyday. She loved every minute of it and came home telling us all about her day - which horse she rode (usually Dolly), what craft they worked on, holding the chicken Pop Star, what flavor snow cone she enjoyed, and what she and her new friend Ainsley got up to that day. We decided this would be part of her birthday present and it's so great that she loves it so much. Now, instead of playing with dinosaurs in the afternoon, she plays with her horses although sometimes her dinosaurs get mixed in with the story. During the week she painted a horse barn, made a horseshoe picture frame with a photo of herself and made a tie-dye t-shirt. She had so much fun and we love that she gets a chance to spend time with animals and play in the dirt and learn how to raise and care for horses, chickens, etc.
On Friday evening the kids rode in the Ride for Pride rodeo to show the parents how comfortable they were on their horses. It's very sweet and gave me a chance to really see the facility. CK came last year while I stayed home with Olivia and so this was my first time really. It was really fun and Sofia was the first kid to make her horse trot the course! She looked so comfortable up on Dolly and was so excited after. At the awards ceremony there was a cut up watermelon and cold water and lemonade for all to enjoy and the parents sat on the grass and clapped for each kid. What a fun way to end an exciting week for Sofia.
All ready for the rodeo - she's wearing the tie-dye shirt she made
Olivia wants to stand like sister too!
Petting the goats
Sofia introduced us to all the horses in the barn
Getting ready for the rodeo
Sofia and her friends
Crossing the arena to get to their horses
Sofia and Dolly trotting the course!
Walking around the barrel
And trotting back!
Olivia had fun watching all the horses (and playing in the dirt)
At the awards ceremony
Watermelon
Sofia's trophy
Such a proud girl
Sofia was second in her ride. It took her 31 seconds to ride the course.
The week's Buckaroos
Sofia and her friend Ainsley
Sofia and her instructor, Kim.
On Friday evening the kids rode in the Ride for Pride rodeo to show the parents how comfortable they were on their horses. It's very sweet and gave me a chance to really see the facility. CK came last year while I stayed home with Olivia and so this was my first time really. It was really fun and Sofia was the first kid to make her horse trot the course! She looked so comfortable up on Dolly and was so excited after. At the awards ceremony there was a cut up watermelon and cold water and lemonade for all to enjoy and the parents sat on the grass and clapped for each kid. What a fun way to end an exciting week for Sofia.
All ready for the rodeo - she's wearing the tie-dye shirt she made
Olivia wants to stand like sister too!
Petting the goats
Sofia introduced us to all the horses in the barn
Getting ready for the rodeo
Sofia and her friends
Crossing the arena to get to their horses
Sofia and Dolly trotting the course!
Walking around the barrel
And trotting back!
Olivia had fun watching all the horses (and playing in the dirt)
At the awards ceremony
Watermelon
Sofia's trophy
Such a proud girl
Sofia was second in her ride. It took her 31 seconds to ride the course.
The week's Buckaroos
Sofia and her friend Ainsley
Sofia and her instructor, Kim.
Sofia the Buckaroo
On Friday evening, we returned to Ride with Pride to watch Sofia in her rodeo! Each kid rides out and goes around the far barrel on their horse. Sofia went after five or so kids and she was the first one to trot nearly the entire way. Until she rode, all the previous kids walked the course VERY slowly and we were thinking we might be at the rodeo all night, but after Sofia trotted more of the kids went faster. She did such a great job and looked so comfortable up on her horse! She loved every second of it!
Click on the link to see the video....
Sofia+the+Buckaroo+6/28/2013
Click on the link to see the video....
Sofia+the+Buckaroo+6/28/2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Olivia at 22 Months
Our big girl is 22 months and growing up fast! She's still 35 inches tall but is now 31.2 lbs (up from 30.2 last month)! She's getting harder to carry around for any length of time, even though I love to hold her and she still runs to me with her arms up wanting up. She also claps her hands when she wants/needs me. She's coordinated for her age and loves to run everywhere she goes, especially in the house. She's still working on shaking her head up and down for "yes" and does it about half the time, although she'll often say "no" for something when she really means "yes." Her hair is finally growing and we've been able to pull it into pigtails in the past week! We still do the "fountain of hair" more often than not because it's easy and when her hair is in pigtails, it tends to fall and get in her eyes still.
Her words are coming along, but I'm pretty sure we are the only ones who can understand her. Her very first three word sentence was very fitting. It was "I want my shoes" She sure does love her shoes and often raids our closet for CK's and my shoes to parade around the house in. She can say "I want more" or will say "more, more, more" for anything she wants to do again or food she wants. If you ask a question like "Where's Buddy?" she'll say "I don't know." She can also say "I want mine" (usually snack time). She still uses animal noises for animals, except for a dog is a "puppy" and all bugs are "bee"s. She loves watching bugs, ants, lizards, bees and I try to encourage her to notice and watch these little guys.
In the past few weeks she's gotten into saying "Go pee pee" and running to the bathroom. There, I'm to strip her bottoms off (including any shoes) and set her on the toilet. She then usually packs a "peeee" sound (without any actual pee) and then wants to wipe, flush and get dressed. I love that she's getting used to sitting on the potty and the initiative she shows, but she often does it five or more times a day! It will click at some point and we are hoping it's soon!
She adores Sofia and Sofia is a great big sister. They have their issues, especially when Sofia is playing with her horses and Olivia walks up and snatches one of them. Sofia gets very annoyed with her and we are still working on the "give her another toy" but usually Olivia wants nothing to do with another toy. Otherwise, Sofia is great at playing hide-and-seek, giving Olivia horse rides on her back, and making silly faces at her to get her to laugh. Olivia loves to be part of it all and Sofia is great at including her. We are pretty sure we have the two best girls in the world!
Pigtails and cute shoes...what else does a girl need?
Our sweet 22 month old! She's wearing one of Mimi's tops
Her smile!
Such a big girl....and ready to get down and play (she picked out the tights....)
Smile!
She loves her thumb almost as much as Sofia loves hers
Love the detail of this top!
Yep, that's the look..."I want up! Hold me!"
Her words are coming along, but I'm pretty sure we are the only ones who can understand her. Her very first three word sentence was very fitting. It was "I want my shoes" She sure does love her shoes and often raids our closet for CK's and my shoes to parade around the house in. She can say "I want more" or will say "more, more, more" for anything she wants to do again or food she wants. If you ask a question like "Where's Buddy?" she'll say "I don't know." She can also say "I want mine" (usually snack time). She still uses animal noises for animals, except for a dog is a "puppy" and all bugs are "bee"s. She loves watching bugs, ants, lizards, bees and I try to encourage her to notice and watch these little guys.
In the past few weeks she's gotten into saying "Go pee pee" and running to the bathroom. There, I'm to strip her bottoms off (including any shoes) and set her on the toilet. She then usually packs a "peeee" sound (without any actual pee) and then wants to wipe, flush and get dressed. I love that she's getting used to sitting on the potty and the initiative she shows, but she often does it five or more times a day! It will click at some point and we are hoping it's soon!
She adores Sofia and Sofia is a great big sister. They have their issues, especially when Sofia is playing with her horses and Olivia walks up and snatches one of them. Sofia gets very annoyed with her and we are still working on the "give her another toy" but usually Olivia wants nothing to do with another toy. Otherwise, Sofia is great at playing hide-and-seek, giving Olivia horse rides on her back, and making silly faces at her to get her to laugh. Olivia loves to be part of it all and Sofia is great at including her. We are pretty sure we have the two best girls in the world!
Pigtails and cute shoes...what else does a girl need?
Our sweet 22 month old! She's wearing one of Mimi's tops
Her smile!
Such a big girl....and ready to get down and play (she picked out the tights....)
Smile!
She loves her thumb almost as much as Sofia loves hers
Love the detail of this top!
Yep, that's the look..."I want up! Hold me!"
Monday, June 17, 2013
Dinosaurs!
So, this wasn't officially on our "Summer Fun List" but should have been. With Sofia suddenly getting very interested in dinosaurs in the past few weeks, I mentioned to her during our return trip in the Baron on Sunday that there is a place called Dinosaur World that isn't too far from us. She immediately wanted to go, and I figured today was probably the best day given the weather and our schedule. I checked on their website to be sure that they would be open and noticed that dogs on leashes are allowed, so we decided to pack a lunch and take Buddy with us.
We got an early start and hit the grocery store around 8am to pick up some sandwich supplies and fruit before we headed to Glen Rose. It was in the 70s and raining pretty steady, which made me second guess our decision, but we pressed on. It rained for most of our drive, but cleared up completely and became a beautiful day when we were about 30 minutes away from Dinosaur World! I couldn't have planned it better if I tried! We got organized with all of our water bottles, Buddy on his leash, dog water, doggy bags, Olivia in her stroller, etc and went inside. Dinosaur World starts in the gift shop, so Sofia disappeared immediately to explore every aisle. We bought our tickets and made it to the Dinosaur Dig which they offer every hour. Sofia and Olivia dug around in the sand looking for "fossils" and they could keep three pieces each. Sofia found three shark teeth and also helped Olivia decide to pick out two pieces of what looked like a part of a stone worm or something. The third piece Olivia decided on her own - a shiny round brown rock. She carried it around for a long time after we were done with the dinosaur fossil dig.
Once done, we headed out and walked around looking at each dinosaur. Each dinosaur was set back in the trees with a write-up about their name, what they ate, something special about them and where their fossils have been found in the world. It was really well done. In the middle of the park is a pond full of koi that were going crazy trying to eat all the food other visitors were throwing their way. Buddy enjoyed the walk, although a few times I think he thought the dinosaur might be real! He then spent his time walking from shady spot to shady spot. After we finished visiting all the dinosaurs, the girls went to the "boneyard" were they dusted off a dinosaur fossil buried in the sand. Then we hit the playground for a few minutes before heading out. Once in the gift shop, I told Sofia she could buy one thing, but she couldn't decide so I told her we would return after lunch and she could decide.
We loaded back up into the car and headed the short distance to Dinosaur Tracks State Park where we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit and water. The girls played for a little while at a little playground there, then we drove down to one of the trailheads that leads to some dinosaur tracks. CK, Sofia and I hiked in along the river a few years back and only saw two or three dinosaur tracks, but now that the Brazos River is low this time of year, we only had to walk a short distance before we saw a lot of dinosaur foot prints! Of course the girls were in the water immediately (even though we didn't have swimsuits or a change of clothes with us) and even Buddy was swimming around as soon as he could. It was hot standing out in the open in the early afternoon. We actually ran into a friend of mine and her family and Sofia loved swimming with her two kids. They had a great time and I enjoyed meeting Cathy's husband and catching up with Cathy while the kids swam. Unfortunately, I think we spent a little too much time hanging out and by the time it was clear that Olivia needed to get in the car and take a nap, I felt like we'd be in an oven! Olivia was wearing nothing but her last clean diaper and Sofia was soaked in her clothes, so she stripped out of them by the car and drove home naked!
It was a super fun, long day and we all had a great time!
Sofia got eaten by a dinosaur!
Our walk begins
Checking out another dinosaur
Oh no! T Rex!
Stegosaurs - Sofia's current favorites
Run for your life, Sofia!
The girls and dinosaurs
Clearing off dinosaur bones
Playing in the Dinosaur World Playground
Crossing the Brazos and both girls are already in the water
Little Olivia
Sofia standing next to one of the dinosaur soropod prints
Another soropod print
Sofia in her element
Sofia having fun upstream
We got an early start and hit the grocery store around 8am to pick up some sandwich supplies and fruit before we headed to Glen Rose. It was in the 70s and raining pretty steady, which made me second guess our decision, but we pressed on. It rained for most of our drive, but cleared up completely and became a beautiful day when we were about 30 minutes away from Dinosaur World! I couldn't have planned it better if I tried! We got organized with all of our water bottles, Buddy on his leash, dog water, doggy bags, Olivia in her stroller, etc and went inside. Dinosaur World starts in the gift shop, so Sofia disappeared immediately to explore every aisle. We bought our tickets and made it to the Dinosaur Dig which they offer every hour. Sofia and Olivia dug around in the sand looking for "fossils" and they could keep three pieces each. Sofia found three shark teeth and also helped Olivia decide to pick out two pieces of what looked like a part of a stone worm or something. The third piece Olivia decided on her own - a shiny round brown rock. She carried it around for a long time after we were done with the dinosaur fossil dig.
Once done, we headed out and walked around looking at each dinosaur. Each dinosaur was set back in the trees with a write-up about their name, what they ate, something special about them and where their fossils have been found in the world. It was really well done. In the middle of the park is a pond full of koi that were going crazy trying to eat all the food other visitors were throwing their way. Buddy enjoyed the walk, although a few times I think he thought the dinosaur might be real! He then spent his time walking from shady spot to shady spot. After we finished visiting all the dinosaurs, the girls went to the "boneyard" were they dusted off a dinosaur fossil buried in the sand. Then we hit the playground for a few minutes before heading out. Once in the gift shop, I told Sofia she could buy one thing, but she couldn't decide so I told her we would return after lunch and she could decide.
We loaded back up into the car and headed the short distance to Dinosaur Tracks State Park where we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit and water. The girls played for a little while at a little playground there, then we drove down to one of the trailheads that leads to some dinosaur tracks. CK, Sofia and I hiked in along the river a few years back and only saw two or three dinosaur tracks, but now that the Brazos River is low this time of year, we only had to walk a short distance before we saw a lot of dinosaur foot prints! Of course the girls were in the water immediately (even though we didn't have swimsuits or a change of clothes with us) and even Buddy was swimming around as soon as he could. It was hot standing out in the open in the early afternoon. We actually ran into a friend of mine and her family and Sofia loved swimming with her two kids. They had a great time and I enjoyed meeting Cathy's husband and catching up with Cathy while the kids swam. Unfortunately, I think we spent a little too much time hanging out and by the time it was clear that Olivia needed to get in the car and take a nap, I felt like we'd be in an oven! Olivia was wearing nothing but her last clean diaper and Sofia was soaked in her clothes, so she stripped out of them by the car and drove home naked!
It was a super fun, long day and we all had a great time!
Sofia got eaten by a dinosaur!
Our walk begins
Checking out another dinosaur
Oh no! T Rex!
Stegosaurs - Sofia's current favorites
Run for your life, Sofia!
The girls and dinosaurs
Clearing off dinosaur bones
Playing in the Dinosaur World Playground
Crossing the Brazos and both girls are already in the water
Little Olivia
Sofia standing next to one of the dinosaur soropod prints
Another soropod print
Sofia in her element
Sofia having fun upstream
Happy Father's Day 2013
We spent Father's Day at Lee Farms, however, since we were leaving on Sunday to return to Texas, we decided to celebrate on Saturday instead. I feel like I always struggle to find good gifts for CK, but now that Sofia is older and able to write, I love the idea of kid-made gifts. So, about a week before we headed to Florida, Sofia and I worked on a "Why we love our Papa..." book and I had her tell me the top ten reasons. It was interesting to hear what she said and she did a great job! Here are her ten reasons:
1. Because he works for us and makes money so we can do fun stuff (CK has talked to Sofia about this a lot so it's great to see she hears it)
2. He flies us fun places in the Baron
3. He buys us milkshakes
4. He is super duper silly
5. He reads me stories at nighttime
6. He takes us out to lunch
7. He loves us so we love him
8. He swims in the pool with me
9. He puts me to bed
10. He is #1!
I couldn't wait to give it to him, plus Sofia kept telling him that she made something special for him while we were in Key West. She couldn't wait for him to open his gifts, especially her surprise from the past few days and she wouldn't even tell me what it was! I promised not to tell him, but she didn't trust me! Ha!
For dinner we went to our favorite - Sonny's BBQ and had a delicious BBQ meal (or second or third of the week). After we headed home to ice cream and Father's Day gift opening! The girls and I had gone to CK's favorite store, Orvis and picked out a shirt for him and for Grandpa and Sofia also picked out a cologne for her Papa. I loved that she took such interest in deciding what to get them and she has good taste (although you can't go wrong in that store). Finally, it was time for CK to open his gifts from Sofia and she was so excited! She sat on his lap and hovered over him while he opened! She'd made a card and a picture of his work and him flying the Baron over his work building and was super proud of it! It was so cute to watch her. CK and his Dad opened their shirts and also a book I'd ordered for both of them that is superb, "Unbroken." I hope they both enjoy it. It was a fun day and a great way to celebrate a terrific, loving, fun, silly Papa!
The next morning, we packed up the Baron and said our goodbyes before Meeting started. What a fun week and it really flew by! Sofia was sad to go and we love how much fun she has on the farm and how free she is to just run around. Hoping to get back soon!
Sofia with her Grandpa
CK reads the "Why we love our Papa..." book that Sofia made him
CK and his girl
Showing Papa the card that she made him while we were in Key West
The picture she made for him
So proud of it! CK with his girls!
Grandpa and his girls
Saying our goodbyes before loading up in the Baron
CK and his Papa - Happy Father's Day!
Sofia reading in the Baron
She's totally focused!
Olivia "reading" too
Our beautiful big girl!
1. Because he works for us and makes money so we can do fun stuff (CK has talked to Sofia about this a lot so it's great to see she hears it)
2. He flies us fun places in the Baron
3. He buys us milkshakes
4. He is super duper silly
5. He reads me stories at nighttime
6. He takes us out to lunch
7. He loves us so we love him
8. He swims in the pool with me
9. He puts me to bed
10. He is #1!
I couldn't wait to give it to him, plus Sofia kept telling him that she made something special for him while we were in Key West. She couldn't wait for him to open his gifts, especially her surprise from the past few days and she wouldn't even tell me what it was! I promised not to tell him, but she didn't trust me! Ha!
For dinner we went to our favorite - Sonny's BBQ and had a delicious BBQ meal (or second or third of the week). After we headed home to ice cream and Father's Day gift opening! The girls and I had gone to CK's favorite store, Orvis and picked out a shirt for him and for Grandpa and Sofia also picked out a cologne for her Papa. I loved that she took such interest in deciding what to get them and she has good taste (although you can't go wrong in that store). Finally, it was time for CK to open his gifts from Sofia and she was so excited! She sat on his lap and hovered over him while he opened! She'd made a card and a picture of his work and him flying the Baron over his work building and was super proud of it! It was so cute to watch her. CK and his Dad opened their shirts and also a book I'd ordered for both of them that is superb, "Unbroken." I hope they both enjoy it. It was a fun day and a great way to celebrate a terrific, loving, fun, silly Papa!
The next morning, we packed up the Baron and said our goodbyes before Meeting started. What a fun week and it really flew by! Sofia was sad to go and we love how much fun she has on the farm and how free she is to just run around. Hoping to get back soon!
Sofia with her Grandpa
CK reads the "Why we love our Papa..." book that Sofia made him
CK and his girl
Showing Papa the card that she made him while we were in Key West
The picture she made for him
So proud of it! CK with his girls!
Grandpa and his girls
Saying our goodbyes before loading up in the Baron
CK and his Papa - Happy Father's Day!
Sofia reading in the Baron
She's totally focused!
Olivia "reading" too
Our beautiful big girl!
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