Cracker Barrel

I'm a bit late posting some of these, these are actually from last Sunday, we went over to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Livey and Dave love that cool stacking game they have outside along with all the rocking chairs. Dave is already showing a lot of potential as a rocking chair tester. He always tries to sit in as many as he can there.



This is a good one of Livey and John. I know, looks just like him :-) so does the other one :-)



Of course I 'get' to sit with you know who :-) I think we won because our stack was higher.

Sci Quest

Sci Quest is a very cool science museum shown to us over the weekend by Stacy and her husband Stephen. My sisters and I knew Stacy in high school and it turns out she's been living here in Huntsville for awhile. I can't tell you how great it's been coming into town and already having a friend with kids to help show us around. They have two little girls, Anna who is a little older than Olivia and Sara who is soon to be 1.

The museum has all sorts of hands on things to see and do. The kids had a ball and completely wore themselves out. I was actually a bit disappointed that I had to watch them and couldn't play with all the exhibits myself! I didn't actually catch the point of the one below but you could stand on it and spin around (kinda like the old sit-n-spins!). Anna and Olivia did it for a bit and then of course Dave had to get in on the action too.

He was sooooo funny when he got off, took him two or three minutes to walk straight! The next one is a park bench that you sit on and they simulate an Earthquake. I got to ride this one with Anna myself. Pretty cool!


The next one was neat, a life size Operation Game with rubber life sized body parts that you pull out with metal tongs just like the game!



I thought Olivia was doing really good until I found out she raided Anna's bin of parts too and put them all in hers. :-)

While there were actually quite a few of activities that Dave could do he decided it would just be more fun to run.
They had a big bubble table with some really big rings to make bubbles with.


Dave's still running :-)

Sara had to stay in the stroller most of the time but she is very good natured and didn't really seem to mind too much.
You can't see it from the picture angle but this one had a series of lights on a pole that you could light up by pedaling from the bench where the girls are sitting.

I didn't get any pictures of the part that the kids liked the best, a life sized yellow house that had a tree house (with slide) attached and was filled with giant Lego blocks, a fully stocked play kitchen and other things for them to do. I was too busy playing then and running after Dave :-) Like I said though it was a great find. We went ahead and got a membership it wasn't much and it pays for itself in two visits. It's definitely a place I can see us going back to on these really hot or rainy days when you just want to get out of the house and do something different and fun.

Baby you can drive my car...

I told Livey and Dave to go get in the car last Friday morning so we could leave for work and school and this is what I found...

I was running a bit late and asked them to go ahead and get in the car. Don't worry, the 'key' was with me and it won't start without it. When I got there I looked in the back first and there's Livey all buckled in ready to go. I go to put my stuff in the passenger side and there's Dave grinning from ear to ear and working the steering wheel up and down. It was so funny. All I could think was 'Great, it's starting already!' He also managed to honk the horn and made all 3 of us jump.

The photos below are from them riding their bikes. Dave hasn't quite mastered pedaling and mostly just walks around but Olivia is doing great on her 'big girl Barbie bike'.

John and Olivia actually took these pictures while I was out getting my hair cut Saturday morning. She had to get a closeup of herself before she was ready to quit :-) Also, I found that shirt Dave has on in the car at Target. It's got 3 little monkey heads on it and says 'Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Get In Trouble Too'. Just fits doesn't it!

Dublin Park

There's a great park about 10 minutes down the road from us. It's got a kids area with swings, slides, etc., running/bike trails, a ton of soccer fields and both an indoor and outdoor pool. John took the kids there Sunday for a bit. It's their favorite park. Unfortunately I had to stay home and eat waffles :-)

Miss Livey either spends her time on the swings or playing hide and seek. There's lots of places for her to hide which she loves.

There's no obstacle too big for Doctor Destructo!!!

Here Dave, I'll help you look at the camera!

The Princess on her pony.

It is a great park, no shortage of things for them to climb on, and fall off of :-)

And of course Dave likes the Engine. They have a blast there and as always run until they drop.

Here's the 'Rosey Red' shoes we got yesterday, don't know why the long face for the picture she was all smiles the rest of the morning. Dave decided he needed to take his Cars pillow in with him this morning.


Here's what I get to see in the rear view mirror in the morning. It makes my ride to work! Don't worry, we were at a stop light :-)

Ok, I don't have a picture of this but it is a memory I will keep in my heart forever. I was putting Livey to bed and we did our usual books and banter then she turned out the lights. I had my eyes closed almost as soon as they were out but she was being her usual giggly self for a few more minutes. Then I told her to have a good sleep one more time to quieten her down and I opened my eyes and there she was trying to flip her hair up over the pillow above her head like I do (so my neck is on the cool pillow) and then she folded her little hands and ankles just the same as mine. It's so funny to see the things that you do (some of them unconsciously) being done by this tiny little person. Man I love that girl! It also makes you want to be the best person you could possibly be since you know someone is watching that close.

I picked her up early today and took her shoe shopping just the two of us. I felt kind of bad for leaving Dave at daycare but shoe shopping for Livia is just no place for Dr. Destructo. I would do it again in a heart beat just to see her smile when I woke her up at daycare and she asked if I was there to take her to get some shoes. We ended up with three pairs of those little embellished ballet like shoes which were in her words - pink, rosey red and glittery. Heck, they're just ten bucks a piece and most important she likes them. It was pretty funny, I would point out some tennis shoes or brown/black ones and for all my picks she would say "I'll like those one day Momma and wear them then but just not now" :-) Actually I liked her picks and would have died to have them when I was little too!

Dave and Chloe's Brithday Party

First off, thanks to the Chris's for a great party and I love your new house!

I do believe it was a great party, I think everyone had fun, there was great food, cake, presents, balloons, kids running around half naked and who doesn't need a toy dog that poops??? I got a good shot of the kids eating lunch at their little table. Of course you know Livey and Dave and then the redheads are my sister Christina's little girls Emma, who is 3 and a half and Chloe who turned 2 on Saturday.



This next one's not a very good picture but I had to include it for the irony factor. I've told you how David is afraid of the vacuum cleaner at home and is convinced that I just use it to torture him. He also manages to run right in my chosen path so it seems like I'm just chasing him from room to room with it. Well, what does he like most at Christina's house to play with? Yep, toy vacuum. Must have drug it up and down the stairs 20 times, had it all over the house.


It was killing the older girls that there was cake on the table and it was not being served yet. That's one thing they take after their Mamas, they love cake! As soon as it was brought out they planted themselves in front of it and proceeded to give all instructions on what to do and how to do it quickly so they could have some cake.

"Hey, we know there's take up there. How bout it sister? Cut that thing! LET'S HAVE SOME TAKE!"

Here is the cake (or take as Dave would say he also likes tookies a lot) which was actually very good.

The master of ceremonies herself with baby Lydia still under wraps. She put 2 candles on each side for Chloe and Dave.

"No, we're not doing anything, we're just waiting patiently for cake!"

Dave did pretty good on blowing out the candles, got 'em in two tries.

Chloe did good as well but I think she had a bit of help from Emma on the side :-)

"I still want cake and no, I am not going to smile for you."

As you can see below Grandma's make good booster seats! That's my Mom holding Dave and that is Christopher's Mom holding Chloe. Everyone's attention is focused on Christina cutting the cake. Looks like Dave is already licking his lips in anticipation.

"Good grief it takes a long time to cut cake, I've gotta stand up now!"

And of course I can do it myself! These shots are quite different from the first birthday shots of them bathing in the cake.

Unfortunately that's all I got. I've been having so much fun taking pictures with the new camera I forgot all about charging it. Typical, I know. I must admit I didn't mind all that much. You know I'd much rather be in the fray enjoying the moment than standing back and taking pictures anyway. So that's exactly what I did for the rest of the day. Presents came next and Dave cleaned up with toy cars and a rug with streets and a railway to play with them on. Got a bunch of new books too which we've already ready three or four times :-) After that the kids and I ran upstairs and they all conned me into taking their clothes off so they could get into the dress up clothes. Emma found a pink tutu, Olivia found a Snow White dress and of course Dave and Chloe just ran off in their diapers. Yep, I fell for that one again!

Oh, and I don't know what I did but Chloe wanted me to play with her and hold her! She barely even acknowledged I existed before now but Saturday she couldn't get enough of me, it was great! I love all those babies more than anything and that made my day!

Again, thanks to the Chris's (sorry don't know how to properly make that plural!) we all had a great time!