Oh I love this little girl. She keeps me very very busy but her smile is contagious and I know exactly where that mischievous spirit comes from - so I can't hold it against her. I am fairly certain her "two's" will be harder than Abra's but that's ok - I'm pretty sure she's worth it. The girl has personality coming out of her ears.
brand new
1 year
2 yrs old!
Loved the cake.
Hambone.
Gifts! She'll have the unwrapping thing down by
Happy 6 months Oliver! We started non-rice solids the other day. Oliver is not so sure about pears. I'm not worried. He is a Mullenix.
Abra loves to dress up during "rest" time. This is her
I took these a month ago or so and am actually impressed with myself for posting them so quickly. :-)
I was blow drying my hair the other morning while Oliver was napping and the girls were "playing" in their room. It was eerily quiet when I turned off the blow dryer so I went in search of the younger daughter. As soon as I walked into the bedroom the smell of nail polish hit me like a ton of bricks. In that moment I remembered that I had left some nail polish on my bedside table the night before.
There she was, frozen in the corner with the nail polish in her hands. I ran over to find one set of toes (the entirety of her toes) already painted and drying. She had moved on to her fingers and only gotten a couple done before I arrived.
That girl is good with her hands. I don't think Abra could have twisted the top off that nail polish. I don't know if she has a future in nail painting though. I just hope she doesn't try cutting her hair next.
We had alot of fun halloween weekend. On Saturday night we went to our neighborhood party and met some new neighbors with little ones. Sunday we hit up the reformation day party at church then met a few neighbors we had been wanting to meet afterward. Thank goodness Jama came to stay with Oliver so I could enjoy some adult interaction!
Abra has been on a dress-up kick ever since. Most days, during her "rest time" she ends up in some sort of costume. A few times I have gone in her room to find a "tinkerbell" asleep under her covers.
For the neighborhood party, I tried to put Neiv in Abra's old
It has been a blast to watch the little siblings interact already. I know it is just going to get better and better.
Ah the Pumpkin Patch. Abra had been asking for a year when we were going to go back.
So many good memories from last year. We had planned to go on a Sunday night in October - about a week after we moved to Marietta. I had been feeling that something wasn't quite right for several days so that Sunday in the afternoon, I went to Wally world to pick up some house things, along with the good ole pregnancy test (without telling Alan of course - no need to alarm anyone). I was so worked up about it that I almost passed out walking around in the store. I thought that might be a bad sign. I got home, waited for Alan to get distracted with something, and went to take the test. It read positive within 30 seconds, of course. I walked out of the bedroom, threw the test at him, and burst into tears.
So after a good cry (and a good laugh on Alan's part - not sure how he takes these things so well), we headed to the pumpkin patch with the girls as planned. It was actually an encouraging experience as we encountered several other families who looked to be in the same situation as we suddenly found ourselves in. They looked tired but not out of control. Apparently 3 kids under 4 was not the end of the world.
And where would we be today if little Oliver had not come into our lives at the exact moment he did? Life would be much less challenging, I could not have conned Alan into getting me a 4 bedroom house so soon, we would be getting WAY too much sleep, Abra would already know how to read, Neiv would be potty-trained, we would be attending "biblical counseling" seminars at our church, I would be crafting and couponing left and right, we would be downright prideful of our mad family-planning skills, I would be a much better cook, we'd keep a clean house, every day would be "predictable," and Alan would be ready to run that marathon he always talks about.
Ok maybe that is a bit optimistic. Yet even with all that, life would be much less satisfying. I look back and laugh at last years' pre-pumpkin-patch-pity-party. I could not imagine life without little O. His smile melts my heart every time and makes each exhausting day worth it.
So with that said, here are the pictures from THIS year's trip to the pumpkin patch. We are so thankful that the Lord, in His graciousness, gave us Oliver.
And with or without him, our chances of taking a good family picture were pretty bad anyways.
This makes me feel old.
Neiv, typically destructive, liked to throw the pumpkins.
Neiv and the ugly gourd (sp?) she picked out.
Attempt to get all three in a picture. Yes he fell over right afterwards but Daddy caught him.
Two out of five smiling ain't bad. :-)
This eased my guilt a bit for never letting the girls paint (Neiv with paint inside is a terrifying idea). I figured she couldn't do that much damage with washable paints on the porch.
They had a blast. It rained a few days later so now the pumpkins are ready to be painted again. Cheap fun. That's what I'm talking about.
Neiv loves some Uncle Ben.
Handsome boy. He is gonna love all the tractors next year.
The girls try to be very helpful. They always feel the need to give Oliver things to entertain himself- a toy, book ect - even though he still can't really grip anything. The other day I turned around to see "Judy" staring Oliver down under the little playgym. It was slightly creepy. O does not seemed phased.
It will be funny to see what these girls try to get him to play with in a couple years...
This is aunt Beth and her baby belly. I wrote "Beth" on a piece of paper and let her copy it - she decided to throw in a backward "e" just for kicks. 
Strange looking characters but isn't she cute? 
"a carousel" 
Aunt Nora gave us these super cute onesies although I feel as though I need to clarify that it isn't completely true. I would put Oliver at about 30% fun at this point. A bit of a crab most of the day. But it is getting better (or I have learned to better manage it). Regardless, this stage does not last long and before I know it, he will be running and playing and trying to keep up with his sisters. I am trying to enjoy him at this age despite his neediness. He is rather cute of course.
Self portrait
One day several weeks ago, Abra was looking through the viewfinder at some slides of snow white and the 7 dwarfs. She tells me that she is having a hard time seeing the images. I explained how she needs to point it toward the light and it will make the pictures much easier to see. She did this and was very impressed. A few minutes later she put the viewfinder underneath a blanket that was sitting next to her on the couch. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm letting them go to sleep." :-)
