Life is good when your at Grandma's

This has become the ritual when we get to grandma's house. The kids sit on the porch swing and enjoy a bag of "cheeps" as Liv calls them, and throw back a cold one...don't worry it's just a capri sun. My mother's house has pretty much turned into Disneyland since I had kids. They have a sand box, a bouncy house, pool complete with inflatable slide, a play house and a little climby thing with a slide. And that's just the outdoor stuff.  It's a wonderland compared to when I was a kid. Back then it was like, "mom, can I have some toys to play with?" And she would be like, "here, play with this plastic bottle."  It's just not fair, but I am over it.

I got some live action nature shots of a killer whale in action the last time I was at my parent's house. I warn you these shots are not for the faint of heart.

Ferocious killer whale. Those are his fins behind his back in case you were wondering.

 

 

Killer whale at play

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mighty killer whale spots a pink dolphin....lunch time!

Pink Dolphins are no match for killer whales!

This dolphin won't go down without a fight

And the fight is over. It's all fun and games until someone gets water in their eyes. The safety glasses were left at home. 

In case you were wondering yes, it looks like killer whales are the next phase. It really is quite funny to see him act like a killer whale on dry land. So if you see my son thrashing on the ground with his arm behind him and his finger poking off his back, no, he is not having a seizure, he is just being a whale.

Do other kids do this too?

Sometimes I look at my children and I wonder to myself, "are my kids strange or do other kids do that stuff too?" It seems the most often time I ask myself this is when they decide to play sleep. Yes, they like to play like they are sleeping, and this pretty much happens everyday. They will drag their blankets, pillows, favorite stuffed animals and babies of every shape and size and lay on the living room floor and pretend like they are sleeping. They just lay there with their eyes closed and a smile on their face like it's the most fun in the world.  I most often find this strange when they decide that the grand fort I just built in the living room for them to play in would make a really great place to sleep, and out come the before mentioned sleeping accessories. It kind of bothers me because I did not spend all that time finding blankets and dragging the dining room table into the living room and listening to Connor tell me the best way to make the fort, so they could sleep. This also happens when I bring the Thomas the train tent and the princess castle tent  into the living room. Everything is a bed for them.

Sometimes they will be in Livvie's room and I will wonder why it's so quiet back there and think that they must be doing something they shouldn't be doing, but no, they are laying on the floor, pretending to sleep. I just don't get it. I don't think I ever played "sleep" when I was little. This has to be my fault because they must hear me talk about how much I love to sleep and how I treasure my naps. They probably think that if mom loves to sleep so much then it must be the thing to do. I guess I should just be happy that they aren't terrorizing my house.

The big girl bed

Monday night we said goodbye to the crib and hello to the big girl bed.

 I was unsure how the transition would go, but after only about 2 hours of crying, Olivia finally adjusted and things have been going smoothly. She was very excited that she could get in and out of her bed all by herself, which made me wonder if we were going to have escaping issues,  but so far she has stayed in her bed until she is told she can get up.

Room time has been a little bit interesting though. She is no longer behind bars for room time and can freely roam her room. She tends to forget that room time means she has to stay in her room and play, and is often found wandering into the living room, or being pushed out of her brother's room, by said brother. I also have had to go over and over again that room time is for playing with her toys, not pulling all of her clothes out of her dresser and trying them on. The package of diapers is also now out of reach, those aren't toys either. Since the dresser was off limits she decided just to try on the clothes in her dirty clothes basket. I let her have that one. But she mostly spends her time trying on her 14 pairs of shoes. She is such a girl, and I love it!

Connor was feeling a bit left out I think so he asked me to take a picture of him in his really big, big boy bed. I am warning you that again, he is only wearing his underwear.

My baby girl is all grown up

Okay, maybe not completely grown up, but she did just turn two. It seems just like yesterday that she looked like this :

 And now look at her:

 Gone is the little baby and in her place is a little girly girl that loves to have her mommy make her hair pretty and dress her in pretty dresses. She also already has a shoe fetish. Her favorite thing to do now is fill up her play shopping cart with her shoes and bring them into the living room and try them all on. And might I add she has 14 pairs of shoes, which is more than I have. Yes, I am jealous. If only we wore the same size. She also loves her hats, you will rarely ever see her without one on. She has about 10 different ones and sometimes has trouble deciding which one to wear, so she will just wear two at a time. She would sleep in them if I let her. And take my advice and don't ever try to remove her hat...she is very protective of them and can tear you to shreds if provoked, just ask Connor. Moving on.

Her birthday party was great fun even if she didn't really understand what was going on. The day of her birthday she kept saying, "happy birday mom!" Connor felt his purpose that day was to keep reminding Olivia that since she is two now we will be throwing her pacifier away. She seemed very confused about that and kept reassuring Connor that her pacifier was safe and sound and not in the garbage like he kept saying. 

Even though half of her presents weren't wrapped (this would be because she has a phlagmatic mom and grandma) and there were no candles to blow out (this would also be because of the phlagmatic mom who is not good with details) she seemed to have a lot of fun at her party.There was a bouncy house and fun friends to play with. Here is the birthday girl jumping with her very grown up 7 year old friend Grace, or "grapes" as Olivia calls her. She just loves to play with her and copied almost everything Grace did the whole time they were together.  And Grace was so sweet to play with Olivia and let her tag along.

And we can't leave out the most important part of any birthday party....the cake. Thank you to my wonderful mother for making the fabulous cupcakes!

 Tomorrow Scott is going to get the toddler bed out of the attic so she can move out of the crib and into her big girl bed. And then the next step will be potty training and before I know it she will be wanting to wear makeup and will like boys and will want to drive and then she will want to get married and leave me. Well, I already have Connor convinced that moms get to go to college with their kid so the mommies don't get sad about their babies being gone, so I guess I better start working on Olivia now. They aren't getting away from me that easy.