Discovery Kids

Olivia and Cooper LOVE this cartoon, "Grossology" that comes on the Discovery Kids channel. And yeah, the concept of the cartoon is about GROSS things. Ha! For example, the episode tonight is about Abby having IBS (which I think Michele will find hilarious when she reads this since she knows me) so now Olivia is asking me to look up IBS on the computer (how does she know you can do that?) so I can tell her about it. Hmmmm.....no thanks Baby Girl!

Seriously, this cartoon grosses me out. Pun intended. =)

http://kids.discovery.com/fansites/grossology/grossology.html

Trip to the Beach

I had a bad day Thursday.....I mean, a REALLY, REALLY bad day so I decided Friday afternoon that I wanted to go to the beach and have a nice, fun weekend to get me out of my funk. And it WORKED. Al and I had ssssooo much fun with the kids this weekend. We left on Saturday afternoon and went down to the beach and stayed at the Landmark Restort on the Blvd. It's an older hotel, but it has tons of indoor pool things for the kids to do. We walked down on the beach a few times, but the water was ssssoooo cold that we spent 99% of the time in the hotel pools. Olivia and Cooper LOVE the beach and really didn't want to leave!

I'm glad we went down - it really put things back into perspective for me.....things go wrong, but there's always someone out there in worst shape than you. So my advice - I highly recommend BEACH THERAPY. =) It worked for me. Ha! Here's some pictures from the weekend.

Olivia on the beach - she was so happy to be there....she now says she wants to live at the beach this summer. Uh oh!

I LOVE this pic of Olivia.....

Olivia insisted on sitting in the elevator......every single time we went on it. Which was a lot and trust me, it got annoying when Cooper started doing it too. LOL

Cooper in the lazy river with Daddy. He loved the water just as much as his Sissy.

Cooper aka Beach Baby 2008

Olivia playing with Daddy in the pool at the hotel.

Olivia in the lazy river.

My three favorite people in the whole wide world......

My two beach bums......

Cooper and Daddy playing in the pool.

Cooper kept getting out the pool to dry off and then would jump back in the pool....don't ask, I have no idea!

It was a really nice quick trip - our friends Michele and Chris came down with their crew too so it was a lot of fun. I wish we had went down on Friday night and stayed longer! We don't normally do trips like this, but it was well worth it! I definitely want to do it again SOON!

Bragging Post.....

And I sure hope I don't jinx things but Cooper is doing WONDERFULLY with potty training! He had NO accidents yesterday! He still hasn't gone more than a day or two without accidents, but he's so close. He's pretty much averaging one accident a day now. =) Al and I are sssooo proud of our little guy!

Makes me want to run up to the doctor's office and tell that good-for-nothing-young-newbie doctor "Ha, in your face! I told you there was nothing wrong with my son!" =)

Skating and the Park

Wow what a day we've had! We got up bright and early and went to Shoney's for breakfast. Man, that place was CROWDED, but the buffet was good. Then, we headed out to Lawton Park to let the kids play. Lawton Park was just renovated and it looks sssooo nice - new playground equipment, a new deck overlooking Prestwood Lake and the Big White House was remodeled as well. I've been waiting for it to be re-opened to let the kids play out there. I use to love going there as a kid. =)

Cooper in deep thought on the swings.

Olivia swinging on the "big kids" swings. =)

Cooper loved the slide!

Olivia loved the slide too!

Cooper enjoyed the new pier too. He cried when I told him we needed to leave. He made me nervous though, I had to keep telling him to stop running on the pier!

Olivia's friend at school, Tiffany, had a skating party the other weekend. Olivia had SO MUCH fun. She told me and Al that she wants her party there next year. Geez, didn't she JUST have a birthday party? =)

She insisted that Al walk beside her to keep her from falling.

Cooper even put skates on - he didn't care for them too much though. He preferred the "turtle" thingies there that he could roll around on.

It took her a few minutes but she got the hang of it pretty quick.

Olivia and Daddy on the pier at Prestwood. Isn't it a sweet pic? =)

Right now my babies are in the bath and have been outside playing all day long.....they should sleep really good tonight. =)

The things she says.....

You only have to use a word once for Olivia Grace to pick up on it!

Apparently Mrs. Chure has told Olivia that she is "impulsive" at times because the other night when Olivia and I were making *Mrs. Chure* (notice how it's not Mommy!) a necklace out of a bead set she got for her birthday, she blurted out "Mommy, you sure are impulsive tonight!" I WISH I had the memory on me that this kid has! She remembers things that happened a year or longer ago....she forgets NOTHING. Which usually ends up biting me in the butt. =) BTW, I was ssssooo not being impulsive....she just wanted to show off a new word. Ha!

Oh, and she insisted that I post this pic on the blog so everyone out there can see that was indeed a Queen for a day! So here you go Olivia!

In Cooper news - he is doing very well with potty training. He's in undies at the daycare now and has very few accidents. Al and I are very proud of our little guy! I think in a few more weeks, he'll really have the hang of it. Potty training this kid has definitely been an experience. Boys are definitely harder in my opinion!

The weather is warming up and we're spending a ton of time outside so hopefully I'll have some cute pictures to post soon!

Guilty Pleasures

What really defines a guilty pleasure? Something that makes you happy and you don't always want to admit it? I have a few of those! =)

Guilty Pleasure #1

I LOVE Olivia and Cooper's Laurie B. (I can't think of her last name) CD. The songs are so catchy and upbeat that I find myself jamming out to them in the minivan. =) Our favorite song to sing is "Who's That" - if you have kids, I highly recommend any of her CD's.

Guilty Pleasure #2

I know my son and daughter should be sleeping alone, but I LOVE that I get to cuddle with Cooper at night. He's my baby and I just want to hold on to that just a little longer. I love how Olivia wants her Daddy to sleep with her until she falls asleep at night too. I think it's ssssooo sweet. It's probably a bad habit that we've started but hey, they are only kids ONCE.

Guilty Pleasure #3

Someone has to eat that one chicken nugget left right? I mean, we shouldn't let food go to waste now should we? =)

Guilty Pleasure #4

Dressing Olivia up in girlie, foo-foo clothes and putting giant, twirly bows in her hair. Even if they don't stay in there very long! =)

I'm sure I have more, but those are my top ones. Oh, and here's a random thought. Have you ever noticed that no matter what time of day it is, you will ALWAYS find a re-run of America's Funniest Home Videos on some channel?

Too Cute Not to Share....

I just wanted to share these pics....they are cute and you know I love to show off my cute kids. =)

Poppy and Cooper at FunDayGo. He wanted Poppy to get in and jump ssssssooo bad.

Olivia and her new ink. Oh yeah, she's hard core baby. =)

When I grow up....

I love asking little kids what they are going to be when they grow up - you never know what kind of answer you will get. Especially when that kid is one of mine. =)

Yesterday when Nana picked Olivia up from THA they had this conversation:

O: What do you do?

Nana: I'm a nurse.

O: Why?

Nana: Because I wanted too.

*O in deep thought and a few minutes pass*

Nana: What do you want to be when you grow up?

O: Mermaid!

Nana said it was so funny because Olivia didn't miss a beat. She said she tried to explain to Olivia that mermaid weren't real but Olivia just doesn't believe her because she sees Ariel on TV all the time. =)

Oh, and someone tell me that potty training will get easier!!!

Words to Live By

My friend Beth posted a few days what her philosophy on life was and tagged a few of her friends to give theirs. I wasn't one of those peeps *mean look in Beth's direction* but I'll give mine anyways. =)

Life is how you live it.

I came to conclusion a long time ago that I wasn't going to try to have the biggest house, the newest car, and all the top of the line gadgets. Al and I live in a comfy, modest home, have decent cars (although Al's is borderline on the decent scale these days), great jobs, and two happy, healthy kids. We may not be rich, but the memories we make with our kids (even the ones we DON'T want to make like dinner at Pizza Hut when both kids are on the verge of having spontaneous meltdowns) that make us fill like the richest people in the world!!!!

Ok, so let me hear yours. =)

Party Like a Rock Star!

Here are the pictures from Olivia's birthday party at FunDayGo on Thursday. You would think since I have been blogging for so long, that I know how to put pictures in ORDER, but alas, I don't. So, they are all mixed up.

The kids had a BLAST. My only complaint is that the a/c should have been on full blast....those poor kids were *sweating* they were playing so hard. I definitely plan on taking the kids back up there.

Olivia taking my picture....that's new!

Olivia opening her gifts....see how sweaty and red her little face is? I could NOT get her to sit still and cool off for anything.

Olivia and her BFF Raeva from Thomas Hart.

Cooper's little buddy Chandler.

This is Hunter. He gave Olivia a really sweet little note that said Happy Birthday. Awwww......

Gracie and Loren.....they make up the other two thirds (is that right) of the "The Girls" group.

Kyan and Bailee.

I think the shirt says it all. =)

Olivia playing.

Bailee after she went down the big slide.

Coop in the big jumpy thingie.....I don't even know what you call those things!

Aunt Mary and Gamma going down the double slide.....you know this place is for KIDS right? =)

All in all, it was a blast. We probably could have gotten away without serving pizza but since it was dinner time for most of us, I had it. I think only a handful of kids actually ate pizza. Now the cake was a total different story. LOL I still can't believe that Olivia is five!!!!!

Baby Girl is FIVE!

Olivia at 3 months.

I can't honestly believe that Olivia Grace is FIVE years old today! (Well, officially at 2:52pm - ha ha). She's grown up so much in the last few years. She was so funny this morning because I asked her how did it feel to be another year older and she said "well, I'm not any bigger" and of course I told her that she had indeed grown a few centimeters since last night. =)

We had her party at FunDayGo last night and it was AWESOME. I highly recommend that place to anyone that has one near them. Parents can slide and play too and I think *that* made it even better. =) Olivia got way too much stuff.....it honestly looks like Christmas morning in my house right now. UGH. That's the one thing I hate about birthdays and Christmas....all the trash that ends up having to be thrown away!

She had a great turnout and I will post pictures of it later tonight (hopefully).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!!

Olivia got Daddy!

I told you I hated April Fool's Day! Olivia came home from school on Tuesday and handed me a piece of paper saying "Mom (MOM, since when did I become MOM?), you have to read my April Fool's letter! - April Fool's Day!" Poor thing just doesn't have good timing......not to mention that the paper she gave me was the WRONG paper. Ha ha!

I saved Ms. Olivia though....I went and got the "letter" and in my very serious mommy voice told Al to read it. He almost lost it! He was getting all huffy, telling Olivia that they needed to talk when he noticed I was laughing. You have no idea how long it took me to convince him that it was a joke. Too funny. I was glad someone got one over on Al. =) Leave it to Olivia Grace!

Olivia laying on our bed. She was supposed sick this day....whatever!

How cute is my little guy in his undies? Potty training is going ok.....Cooper has good days and bad days. He hasn't been accident free YET but I feel that it won't be long. Daycare isn't helping so he's wearing diapers there and then undies at home. I honestly think he'll be trained in the next few weeks. At least I hope so!

Look at those cute, long eyelashes!

This is my new "trick" to get Cooper on the potty. It seems to work, believe it or not. He will sit on the potty FOREVER playing with my make up bag. It's too funny. The first day, he would tell me every 5 minutes that he had to go potty JUST SO he could play with the makeup. Hey, Al and I will take WHATEVER we can to get him trained! =)

April Fools Day

I hate April Fool's Day. So far, I have been "fooled" free. Woo Hoo! I was thinking of playing a prank on my super sweet hubby but that wouldn't be nice would it? =)

Anyways, Cooper is feeling much better. He went back to daycare today....and acted like he didn't want me to leave him! UGH. I guess being attached to my hip for the last 4 days didn't help any. I'm sure he did ok once I was out of there though.

Only 3 more days until Olivia Grace turns 5! I can't believe my little baby girl is already five. Time flies! She's having her party at FunDayGo (http://www.fundaygo.com/) and I think it'll be really fun. She's been there once and LOVED it and it's really neat because even the parents can slide and jump on the stuff. Very cool. I'll be sure to take lots of pics and post them.