Happy Anniversary

Today is our 5th Anniversary! I can't believe how time flys and what an amazing life we have together, with so many blessings. I thank God everyday for bringing such a wonderful man into my life.

My cousin Kelly is a fantastic photographer!(http://kvvphoto.blogspot.com/) No exaggeration, even if I am biased. She was gracious enough to take some fantastic shots of all of us. Getting pictures taken of Olivia and Ethan is always a challenge, especially Olivia. She just clams up and getting a smile is all but impossible. But not with Kelly, she had Olivia eating out of her hand. Olivia even asked the following week if cousin Kelly was coming back to take her picture! Here are some of the photos she took.

Happy Halloween

Olivia and Ethan had a great time trick-or-treating! Olivia has been so excited. She was really into it this year. Ethan was also excited but didn't quite understand the whole concept. To my shock and amazement my usually shy daughter went up to every house (sometimes trying twice) and would knock on the door, say trick-or-treat, Happy Halloween and Thank-you!!!! I couldn't believe it! She even made sure that Ethan wasn't forgotten. Ethan thought that he should carry all of his candy instead of putting it in his basket! He would walk up to a house put the piece of candy he had in his hand into the person's basket and take a new piece. More than once did someone not only give him back his original piece but several others as well!

Aren't they just adorable! I plan to show them this picture when they are older and don't want to be anywhere near each other!

Busy Fall

We have had a really busy fall. Olivia is still enjoying school and seems to be settling in finally. She has actually started to talk to the teachers! We have been to the zoo, where I think the goats and sheep in the petting zoo are at least Ethan's favorite. We went to the family day at Springton Manor Farm where Ethan demanded that he try out every tractor they had there on display!
My friend Teresa has 2 miniature horses that are the perfect size for little ones. Olivia had a great time leading Scrappy around the small paddock, she even rode her briefly. Ethan also rode Scrappy and thought that it was great!
Olivia had the opportunity to be a flower girl in my friend Kari's wedding(I did manage to finish the dresses for the flower girls in time). She had a great time. She walked down the asile without any hesitation with her basket of flowers. The highlight of the evening was dancing. She was a dancing queen! She didn't leave the dance floor from the time we told her she could start until we carried her out to Pop-pop's car at 9pm crying because she didn't want to go! The girl has some moves!!

First Day of School

Olivia started preschool this week. We have been talking about it for awhile, to get her ready and she has gone back and forth as to whether or not she wanted to go. We got new sneakers and a very stylish "My Little Pony" backpack. Monday she told me that she was nervous about school. I assured her that being nervous was perfectly okay and that she would have fun at school and she would make lots of friends. She then wanted to know if Ethan could go to school with her and talk to the teachers for her. (I am not exactly sure how long this wanting her little brother tagging along will last!) Needless to say she wasn't very enthused about my response that Ethan would not be going to school with her. Her first day was tuesday. The parents stayed with them. She was her usual shy self but seemed to enjoy herself. Today however was her first day by herself. I am soooo glad I was not the one who had to take her (Thank you Mom-mom)!!!! She was apparently excited about school, UNTIL... she got there. Poor Mom-mom had to walk away while she screamed. Thank you again Mom-mom, you're the best!! When I spoke to her after school she told me she had a good time at school and she got to play. She did say that she talked to Ms. Mary, but not Ms. Cathy, her teachers.

We have a toy basket that has wheels on it. I have no idea where all the toys went but they were having great time pushing each other up and down the hallway.

I promised pictures of my future Angus showman. Here they are.

Olivia helping to clean and put new mulch in the trailer before going to the show.

I'm ready to clean some heifers (young,female cows)

Olivia's heifer Sassafrass getting a bath after her class. Olivia is doing a great job with Pop-Pop's help.

Olivia helping to walk Sassafrass back the barn.

Wait for me!

Cleaning up after the show. Don't trust her with a hose!!!

Summer Fun

I can't believe it is the end of August! Where did the time go. We have had a great summer. We celebrated Olivia's 3rd birthday. I feel old, not because I am *#$!, because my baby girl is 3 and starting preschool in 2 short weeks. Okay so enough weeping and moaning. Olivia had a great birthday. We had a family party, which is always great, but we also had a pool party with all of her friends. It was a beautiful day.
We just returned from the beach last week. We had a wonderful time inspite of the uncooperative weather. It was cold and rainy most of the week. We didn't let that stop us from going to the beach, eating ice cream, and enjoying the boardwalk. We had a great time. The sun did come out Thursday afternoon, so we were able to soak up some sun all day friday before heading for home.

Notice the sweat shirts! It was really windy and chilly a few of the days the kids didn't want to walk because of being hit with sand!

Hmm! Ice Cream! I thought Ethan and I would be able to share an ice cream cone. Uh no way!

4th of July fun

We celebrated the 4th of July in the rain. Olivia tried her hand at roasting marshmellows, in the rain of course!

I had forgotten how much fun roasting marshmellows was! Olivia had a blast, even in the rain!

Sooo BIG!!

Such a ham!

We just returned from a cattle show, in which we showed Olivia's heifer. The animals were great, the kids were great and the great-parents seemed to have a blast. I think if we show next year Olivia might try her hand at Pee-wee showmanship. I will try to post pictures from the show soon.

I can't believe we will be celebrating Olivia's 3rd birthday in a few short weeks. It seems like yesterday that we brought her home. Although there are some days I have to remind myself that she is only 2. Especially when she tells me she has a compromise for me!

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer!

We have been enjoying our summer so far. We went to Hershey Park for Daddy's work and had a great time. Olivia and Ethan really had fun on the rides. They were quite the dare devils.

Ethan had his first serious big boy hair cut. He had had a trim around his first birthday, but when the weather got warm so did he. So he got a short hair cut. He was pretty funny, he leaned into the clippers

Handsome boy after his haircut!

It's been awhile

It has been entirely to long since I have updated this. I apologize!

I don't know if any of you have to use the time-out spot, but Olivia spends her fair share of time on it. I don't remember why she was on it this particular day, but imagine my surprise when I came around the corner to check on her and found Ethan sitting there with her. I just had to get my camera. Ethan has really been mimicking all of us, but especially Olivia. He constantly wants to be right where she is and copies what she is doing. He has started dancing with her in the car when the radio is playing. It is pretty funny!

Olivia really likes the tractor, but usually it is to noisy for her, but this day she is actually helping to drive.

Somewhere in our family photo archives there is a similar picture of me and my Dad on the pool building roof. Pop-pop about gave Earl a heart-attack when he brought Olivia up onto the roof to help. She was really into it. She was even hammering in nails

Olivia and Ethan visited Scrappy and Geronimo. Two miniature horses that belong to a friend of mine. Ethan is proving to be just like his sister as an animal lover. He has absolutely no fear of them. Olivia is also becoming braver especially at my parents . I have had to stop her from just unhooking the gate into the barn yard and going in by herself!

Happy Birthday

We celebrated Ethan's first birthday and boy was he into the cake! He really tore into it. There was nothing left but crumbs and was looking for more. I don't think I have ever seen a toddler that into their first cake!

Ethan seemed to really enjoy his birthday party. Olivia had fun, she keeps asking when it is her turn.

We have been enjoying the really nice weather. Both Olivia and Ethan have been having fun outside playing

Ethan had his 1 year well visit. He weighs in at 22.7 pounds and is 33inches long. We are also in the process of getting another tooth.

Olivia is doing well and becoming very adventurous. She likes to climb trees. Pop-pop apparently sat her in the tree and to his surprise she was quickly scampering up the tree almost out of his reach. I am not sure about this. While I think every child should get to climb a tree, I don't know that we need to be doing at 2 1/2!!