A few weeks ago we decided that we should get Oliver a walker so that when we are outside he doesn’t have to crawl on the cement and skin up his knees. We have been using it inside mostly and he gets frustrated with it because he is always running it into something. He loved being outside in it because he could just go. I had to walk next to him to make sure he didn’t go down into the street.
Piper’s bike finally showed up! We told her that her bike was in Idaho waiting for her when we getting ready to move from Virginia. This way we didn’t have another thing to truck across the U.S. Well, a local bike shop that we wanted to get it from didn’t have one so we ordered it. Well, since the economy has been struggling the bike companies decided to cut back on production and as a result, there was a huge shortage this year. We waited weeks and finally last week it showed up. Actually it wasn’t the one we had originally ordered (it was pink) but I guess we got the next years model. We had to go helmet shopping on Saturday so that she would be all ready for when Grandma and Grandpa came on Sunday to deliver it. She picked it out and we were very surprised that it wasn’t pink.
It didn’t take her long to figure out pedaling and steering. We are so proud of her and she loves it. We go around the cul de sac a few times.

So this one is really late. I just haven’t taken the time to post pictures on here. Please look past the mess but we are still trying to get things in their spots.

That’s the inside of our house. It may look really big but that’s because we don’t have much furniture to fill it (that made moving easier). It is also about twice the size of anything we have lived in before. We are really enjoying it but honestly I can’t wait until I can call a house MINE!

We went to my parents house for the weekend. I really wanted to go fishing so that’s what the plan was for Saturday. We went to our usual spot because you are pretty much guaranteed to catch a fish. We caught around 15 and kept 7 to eat that night for dinner. It was so much fun and Piper had a good time as well. She got very excited whenever we had a fish on our line and would help reel it in. I was pretty surprised that she would hold them as well.
We got a few sparklers to let off. Things started out pretty well and then it all went down very quickly right after the picture was taken. Something happened and spooked her and a spark fell onto her foot (yeah bad parenting – wearing flip flops) and then she wouldn’t let go of it and brought it up to her face. She was screaming and eventually dropped it with some assistance from Ben and my sister. She had smoke inhalation and couldn’t breath and was gasping for air which then caused her to throw up a couple of times. After that she said she was ready to go to bed and didn’t want to watch anymore fireworks. We probably scarred her for life – poor girl.
Oliver is a very mischievous little boy. He figured out how to get down two stairs to a planter and was having a great time playing in the dirt. I was very surprised that none of it ended up in his mouth. He loved the elk head on my parents wall. He would just laugh every time he would look at it.

We made the move over Father’s Day weekend. My parents were wonderful to fly out and then make the long drive with us. We left Friday afternoon and eight hours later we had only made it to Cleveland. With traffic on our way out of Virginia and a bogus detour in Pennsylvania that took us on a mountain road that we could only go 30 mph at most, we lost some time. Well, Saturday we made up for it and wiped out 16 hours. We made it to Kearney, NB and apparently that is a happening place on a Saturday night that we finally found a room at a Ramada after passing 4 other full hotels. Wouldn’t recommend that Ramada! Sunday we had about 12 hours to go to get to Ben’s parents house for that night, I thought that would be cake since the day before we had done four more. Nope! I about died 60 miles left of Wyoming. That state would not end and I knew we were so close that it was just killing me. We made it after about 14 hours (long stops, construction, and big hills that the truck struggled over). Oh it was good to be in Idaho. Monday we went on to Boise and moved into our house that we are renting.
We love the place so far (pictures will come soon). The kids are loving the space and we are loving the fenced backyard and garage. We are spoiled and I think, “how in the world did we manage in small, top story apartments for so long?” I hope I don’t have to do that again. Brooklin- not sure how you stayed sane!
Yesterday the weather was hot and beautiful and I found a sprinkler in the garage and set it up for the kids. They had a good time and this morning shortly after breakfast, Piper was asking to go out again. We are really enjoying life but I am missing my VA friends! Miss you guys!

Oliver’s right hand motor skills seems to be developing a little slower than the left and so we are constantly trying to get him to use it. We will put all of his toys on his right side but he know that he can just lean over with the left hand and get them. Sometimes we will just hold the left arm so that he has to use the right. That’s what I was doing while he was eating a little snack – this way he would be forced to try to pick up the food with his fingers and put it in his mouth. Well, after a couple of tries with failed attempts, he came up with a different way to get the food into his mouth. Silly kid. (Click on the link and it may take a few moments to load.)

Eating

What do we seem to do most summers? Move! This will be move number seven in seven years. I can now make the announcement as our parents now know. We are leaving the East and heading west – to Idaho!

What a trip! Piper was super excited to see Cinderella’s Castle and all the princesses. We left Saturday morning the 2nd at 2 am and drove all the way down to Orlando. It took about 14 hours to get down there. Needless to say, it was a long day but it actually was nice because we felt like we accomplished so much driving by 10 am. We got to our townhouse and unpacked and Piper played in the pool with Ben. The next day we went to church and then went to Cocoa Beach. It was pretty busy but the kids had a good time. The parents were less enthused about the sand and its mess but we got through it. We learned the hard way that spray on sunscreen doesn’t work in the wind. We were all burnt and it was only day number one!
The girls kept asking when they were going to see Cinderella’s Castle and we were going to wait to do that until Tuesday so that we could get another park in, but we couldn’t hold off there anticipation any longer. So Monday we went to Magic Kingdom. Everyone had a good time even though it was crazy busy with people. It was nice that most of the rides were also infant friendly so we could enjoy the rides as a family. The best was the Barnstormer kid roller-coaster that Piper absolutely loved. She pointed it out to us and said she wanted to ride it and so Ben went with her the first time and then she came running to me right after and said, “Mom, I want to do it again with you!” I was excited that she had such a good time and wanted to do it again. We got on and as we were going up the hill Piper says, “Mom, I will tell you when you need to put up your hands!” I just started laughing because it was like she had been doing this for years. Funny girl! She met Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle that day.
Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom. The girls loved the animals and the Safari we went on was pretty neat. Piper had a good time finding the animals and meeting Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. That day we ended a little earlier so we took a little drive to the most wonderful seafood restaurant, Dixie Crossroads (that’s the picture with the shrimp). I will just say that when our server came back to our table to give us the bill she said, “you sure are such skinny people to have eaten so much.” Sigh. It was good.
Wednesday we went back to Magic Kingdom because the girls had such a good time the first day. As soon as we walked into the park, we saw Snow White. This was the princess that was the most important find. Piper is obsessed with her and was very excited about seeing her. She gave all the kids kisses and Piper was stoked! There weren’t as many people that day so we got a lot accomplished! We rode many of the rides multiple times and Oliver really enjoyed It’s a Small World.
Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom in the morning to do a little more and then went home for the afternoon and played in the pool. We went back in the evening so that we could watch the SpectroMagic Parade and the fireworks. We also found Alice and the White Rabbit. Piper was very excited and once again Oliver got another kiss. That was pretty fun. Friday we got the car all loaded up and went to Hollywood Studios for a few hours to get our last wiggles out before we started our journey home. It was such a nice vacation and Piper had a “magical time”.

Oliver is really starting to get mobile. For a little while he would just spin around in circles, then he started pushing off on his toes and reaching as far out as he could for the toy he wanted, next he started to get up on his hands and knees and then fall down to his stomach when he started to move, then he figured that if he reached and pushed really hard with his feet sticking his bum in the air he could really get places. That’s what I like to call the inchworm crawl.

Inchworm

We thought we would try and have a little flower garden on our patio to look at. Piper is really into flowers and wants to pick all that she sees but we remind her that if she picks them then no one else can enjoy looking at them as well. We let her pick out a few flowers for our box. She wanted all pink but told her we needed some variety to make it prettier. The flowers probably don’t fit together but this is what we came up with. There is basil on the end that will hopefully aide in some yummy meals! You may notice that there is a big break in timing with the pictures between kind of the beginning of the planting process and the final product, that’s because Piper was throwing dirt and I put her in time out and that just exploded into about an hour long tantrum. She was beyond tired and kept fighting to take a little nap, so Ben finished it up by himself. Piper has enjoyed the flowers and keeps asking if they have grown yet. Oliver was having a good time observing and Piper refused to look up at the camera.

Piper was such a clean eater and still is. She has anything on her hands and she starts shaking uncontrollably until she gets a napkin to wipe them off. Also, she will wipe her face clean just about after every bite but this kid – no such thing as clean! He is so messy. He likes to jump around in the high chair while he is eating so it’s like trying to feed a moving mouth target – quite difficult. Baby food ends up all over the place and he hasn’t figured out how to feed himself the little snacks so I gave him a big cookie biscuit thing and this is what happened.

This boy is such a cheeser when he sees the camera. It’s like he knows exactly what to do – Smile!