Dirt!

Grace loves dirt. Just this afternoon she even told us that she loves dirt. She loves to play in dirt piles. She loves to dig in the sand. We finally got her a sandbox last weekend at the post wide yard sales. We had planned on waiting until Christmas but we were driving by a house that a big green turtle in the front yard and couldn't pass it up.

And it didn't take long to figure out that she is not the only child who loves sand and dirt. I think Olivia is learning from her big sister quickly!

(and, yes, that is a sprinkler and we have been watering our dirt. We are slowly growing grass in the area that wasn't sodded. We even watered the weeds and then pulled them!)

Seven!

I am late posting this but Olivia is 7 months old now! She turned seven months about a week and a half ago. I took these pictures that day but just got around to putting them on the computer and then getting them on here.

We didn't get as many smiles from her this time because all she wanted to do was play with EVERYTHING. She is starting to not stay still long enough to get a good picture. Or at least when there are things (such as her blocks or teddy bear) around to play with.

She is my little grabber. And everything goes to her mouth. She loves my hair and necklaces the best I think. If Grace wants to get her to laugh she will scream "boogers." It works every time! And Grace loves to tell Olivia not to smile or laugh, or that "it's not funny" The more Grace says it the harder Olivia laughs!

She is growing up too fast! I am already putting her in a lot of 9 months and even some 12 month clothes. But she is still my cuddly little baby!

Picking Pears

During our first week of school we were looking for an apple tree. We never found one. The Saturday of that week we were coming home and saw a tree with fruit! Dustin went and asked the people who owned the land if we could pick some of the apples off their tree. The guy told him they were actually pears but to take as many as we wanted. The next evening we took a walk to the pear tree. Dustin went to let the people know we were there to pick the pears. He talked to a lady this time who told him that is was an apple tree!

After finding some we decided they were really pears.

On the way back home the girls enjoyed their pears!

Pictures of Olivia

I thought I would post a few pictures of Olivia.

Olivia loves to play on the floor. And Grace loves to cover her in toys, blankets, and loveys.

This was a dress I wore when I was a baby (well, I think 1 year old). Grace wore it when she was 5 months, and here is Olivia at 6 months in it.

Olivia is a grabber! If she sees something she wants she reaches for it. She loves reaching for our food so one morning we shared our muffins with her.

She loved it!!

Here she is sitting in Grace's squeaky chair with a baby doll Grace gave her. Grace loves to share her things with her sister. She even shares her little lamb which has been her favorite lovey since we bought it while in New Zealand!

Over Labor day weekend we went to OKC to check out the new outlets and go to Babies R Us. Olivia rode in the cart for the first time!

Week 1 of Homeschool

We decided to start a little preschool program for Grace this year. She is almost 3 and knows her letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. so we thought a little structured learning would be good for her. And we were completely right. She loves doing her schoolwork! We started right after Labor day and plan to go until Memorial day.

We started by learning about the letter "A." She practiced writing, cutting, gluing, matching, counting, read about Johnny Appleseed, and learned how apples grow. We wanted to pick apples at the end of the week but couldn't find a tree that produced fruit this year (the buds got hit with a freeze) so we improvised. My Mom hot glued apples to her tree in the front yard!

As soon as Grace could see the tree she was excited! She immediately started picking the apples when we got out of the car. Later we found a pear tree so last night we took a walk and picked a bunch of pears. Grace and Olivia both enjoyed eating pears on our walk home (I will try to get those pictures up later this week... or probably more like next!)

This first week of school was pretty busy for us. We try to take a walk around the neighborhood at 8. When we make it home it is almost time for Olivia's morning nap and that is when Grace starts school. On the first day she told me she wanted to go to school in her pajamas. I didn't let her that day (I wanted some cute pictures but she ran from the camera) but later during the week she got to wear pajamas to school. We are also going to the library on Wednesday mornings (after naptime) for their story time. We listen to a story and then do a craft. Afterwards I pick out books for the following week of school.

And probably the biggest accomplishment of the week was Grace learning her memory verse. She had it memorized word for word by day 3!

"All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Romans 3:23"

6 Months!

On Thursday Olivia turned 6 months. Half a year has gone by since she was born. Now less than half a year left until she turns 1.

I love taking her picture each month with these blocks that our friends Chelsea and Elly got us.
She is growing so fast! I pulled out both of the girls' baby books and last month Olivia was already taller than Grace was at this age. I am not sure how big she is now but I know she is taller than she was a month ago. I just had to move her jumperoo and excersaucer to the second height position.

She loves to hold onto things. She grabs at everything! And, of course, if she can get her hands on it she puts it in her mouth. She isn't too crazy about baby food though. We have given her some here and there and she normally just spits it out. Tonight we gave her a sweet potato fry and she loved it. I think she likes to be able to hold her food and chew it.

She was kicking the block in this picture!

And she always gives us BIG smiles.
She is just the happiest baby ever!

Wordless Wednesday