Life Lately

We just keep movin' and groovin' through the holiday season.:)

Dinner with my friends at Massa's.  I rarely leave my kids (it's a problem that I need to work on) but I do love catching up with everyone!  While I was at dinner Eric and Elle went to a soccer game and Ollie spent some time with Grandma Chris. 

The boys came to our house for a few hours one night so Mary and Nick could go shopping for Henry's birthday. 

Mustache madness!!

Laying this sweet girl down for a nap. 

She decided to put on her mustache and actually fell asleep like this. 

Oliver found this doll baby bottle in Elle's room and was slightly confused. :)

I love watching these two together.  They both just adore each other. If Oliver is ever crying in the car Elle will start singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to him.  It melts my hear every time. I was so worried she wasn't ready to be a big sister and I was so so wrong. She is so amazing with him.

I love this time of year and I love love love looking through all the catalogs that are we receive in the mail. This right here is my happy place.

Naked baby on the loose!

Oliver is officially on the move!  Crawling, pulling up (just to his knees), grabbing at anything he can get his little hands on.  Elle is my other set of eyes when it comes to him!  

He also hates diaper changes and getting dressed now.  He immediately rolls over and tries to crawl away...or crawl into my lap because he is crying to be held. He now will say "mama" when he is crying and I can't resist that!! 

So...I've been meaning to paint our front door for...oh, the last 6 years. :)  I finally decided to just do it one Tuesday since I figured it would be our last semi-nice day for awhile.  I was home by myself with both babies, front door wide open all day, putting on a new coat of paint every hour. #crazylady

I'm so impatient, once I get an idea in my head I want it done an hour ago. 

We went from black to a deep blue-gray called "Denim".

Don't mind our overflowing shoe basket. :)

Elle wanted to help all day so she "painted" a wall in the dining room while I worked on this.  Girlfriend wants to do everything I do. Everything!

Crazy hair, don't care!

We have been seeing some curls on this little guy. ;)

My Ollie boy is obsessed with the stairs, much to my dismay.  I hate when he is around them so I'm constantly redirecting him. 

Seriously Oliver Russell, could you be any cuter??!?!?!?

Eleanor came in Oliver's room and told me she had a new foot.  When I asked where she got it she told me Costco. :)

At Nora's 1st birthday party, I love this picture of Mary and Roni!!

And Doodle is just munching away on his puffs. :)

Mary and her boys. :)

Run baby run. 

A quick stop at Uncle Bob's house after Nora's birthday party and these babies got out to run.  Everyone made fun of me because I was yelling for Elle to stop. #toofarfrommama

Henry's program at his school, this was adorable!!! 

Last year I told Elle she could have a Christmas tree in her room after she watched The Grinch and noticed the little girl in the movie has one. Well, Elle has an amazing memory and remembered my promise. :)

Oliver is at the age where he can play with Elle now.  She is mid story in the picture...always always telling a story.  Usually about something Bink, Boke or Jesus has done. #imaginaryfriends

Oliver's 9 month checkup where we learned he has his first ear infection. :(

but he's still all smiles.

I never want to forget this chubby baby toes.

We've been slowly getting out our Christmas decorations! This is the first year with their personalized stockings.  I never wanted to order Elle one until I knew who would be completing our family because I wanted to them to somewhat match. These will be the stockings hanging in my house when they are adults...as long as I don't change my mind on the look of them in a few years. haha :)

Oliver now sits up in his bed when he wakes up.  I love coming in his room and seeing him sitting up rubbing his eyes. 

Eric was at work earlier this week and I found a spider (huge) in the bathroom.  Once I killed it I felt the only logical thing to do was seal off the bathroom until Eric could spray for spiders.  

I heard Elle in the kitchen talking to these two snowmen (which she set up next to each other) one night. She was trying to convince the one on the right to share his coat. I love her imagination!! 

Tonight we are planning on putting up our big tree in the living room. Not sure who is more excited, Elle or me!!

Mini Kickers

We signed Elle up for a little Fall soccer program called the Mini Kickers.  She was so excited on her first day.

Here she is at home before we left.  On the drive to her first day of soccer we listened to "Let It Go" really really loud (per her request) to get her pumped up. 

Once we got there she received her uniform and ball.  She looked so cute!!!

She did great the first day, was so excited to run and kick the ball. She kicked, dribbled and ran her little heart out!  She actually ran her diaper off (for reals). 

Well....she peaked on the first day. :)

Every session after was a struggle to get her to participate.  She wanted nothing to do with her coaches (they were guys and she later informed me she prefers a girl coach). Instead of focusing on all the things that didn't go super smoothly her first go around with soccer, these are the things she loved:

Wearing her uniform
she loved loved loved getting to wear her uniform every Tuesday.  She would have worn it every day of the week if I had let her!

Her soccer ball
as part of the package she received a ball with Lenny the Lion (their mascot) on it.  She got to decorate the ball and add her name to it and she loved all of this. 

Running around with mommy
some kids were ok on their own without parents but a good chunk participated with parents.  Elle was obviously in the latter category. Many drills they did were with a parent but Elle's favorite and the one she most easily participated in was running around chasing me at the beginning of practice to warm up.  On the days Eric was there I tried to warm her up to idea of daddy going on the field with her but she insisted on mommy. :)

Going to the bathroom
this soccer program was right in the middle of potty training for us.  Whenever she didn't want to participate...she had to go to the bathroom...and I always felt like I had to take her even if I thought she was fibbing!  We started the program in diapers and ended it in undies!!

Her number one fan, Oliver!  
Some weeks I would take both kids by myself and Ollie would just hang out on the sides in his stroller while Elle and I played.  Lucky for me he is a very easy baby!  And Elle loved running over to check on him...in the middle of a drill. ;)

The last day
by the end we were both ready for it to be over!  The last day the coaches invited all family and friends to participate so Mary (who happened to be off that day), the boys, my mom and dad and Eric and Ollie all came to watch.  Elle did so great with the drills because she was able to do them with Henry and Charlie!  Seriously, this made a world of difference. 

Overall I am so glad we did this.  Elle isn't around other kids (besides Hens, Bear and Ollie) too much so she needs things like this.  She still loves playing soccer in the backyard and I think we will sign her up for an actual team next year (fingers crossed for a female coach!). 

Oliver Russell's Baptism

On Sunday, September  at Assumption Catholic Church (the same church we were married in and Elle was Baptized in) our Oliver Russell was Baptized. 

At our church the Baptism is done with several other children after noon mass.  The babies are in diapers only throughout the Baptism and once they have taken a dip in the holy water they put on their Baptismal outfit. Oliver's outfit was the same one worn by his Uncle Will and cousins Henry and Charlie. 

I love that Elle and Henry are front and center to watch Ollie take a dip in the water. 

The priest kept commenting on his big blue eyes. :)

Ollie and his Godparents. 

I LOVED this little hat on him!

  

After the Baptism we had everyone over to our house for lunch.  Such a fun day celebrating our sweet boy. 

 I am so thankful God blessed us with our Ollie. 

Halloween 2015

Mary and I decided on Elle's first Halloween to rotate back and forth between our houses every year for Halloween. This year it was our turn to host!

I decided awhile ago that Oliver would be an Italian Chef for Halloween. It was a really easy costume to put together and he looked adorable in it!

This was the first year Elle truly picked her costume by herself.  Last year I gave her 3 options and shoe choose but this year it was all her.  Although I did try by darndest to convince her to be the bide of Frankenstein and Ollie could be Frankenstein but no luck.  I think her idea turned out much better than mine anyway. :)

For the longest time she wanted to be Buzz Lightyear.  Then randomly one day when driving to my parents house she asked to be a "beautiful bird" for Halloween and never turned back after that. I knew we would be going to Boo at the Zoo and Henry had an old Buzz costume that would fit her so she was still able to dress up as Buzz.  I even thought she may change her mind Halloween night and go with the Buzz costume but she was all about the "beautiful bird".

For the record she was NOT an Owl and she couldn't understand why anyone was referring to her as such. One ladies house we trick or treated at even told her an owl joke and Elle was so confused. She was a beautiful bird, people! haha

Eric's parents, my mom and dad, Mary, Nick and the boys all came over to celebrate, eat and hand out candy.  Mary, Mom and I took the kids trick or treating (Ollie stayed back at the house).  Elle and Henry started by arguing over who got to ring the doorbell and thank God no one ended up being at home at the first house because between the 2 of them the doorbell was probably rang no less than 5 times. :) Once we got through to them that they would take turns at each house they did great the rest of the night.  And if someone was sitting in their driveway handing out candy you better believe whoever's turn it was to ring the doorbell would let everyone know they didn't get a turn at that house. :)

Bear was always in the back of the group with Mary, he was a little slower than the big kids.  At one house after someone put candy in his bag he reached out his little hand and said "more". Cutest baby Bear ever!

One thing that I thought was really neat - an ambulance parked on my street and paramedics were handing out glowsticks to trick or treaters. Help keep those kids shining bright in the dark!

Mary, Nick and the boys stayed over late and the babes had fun running in and out of the house (onto the deck) and eating waaaay too much candy. Baby Bear had to borrow a coat from Elle...a little peek at what a baby girl Voss would have looked like. :)

All in all it was a great Halloween!