Who’d have thought? The kids loved their first iceskating trip. LOVED it! I expected some tears or at least begging to go home after 30 mins or so, but nope. Oliver was determined as I’ve ever seen him to conquer and Nabby didn’t actually move forward on her own, but grinned the whole hour and 1/2.
They used the walkers at first and then Jas took turns with each going hands free.
Oliver’s hard work earned him a blister and it hurt, but he asked to go skating again asap.
After a rainy and cold week, we weren’t sure that we would have good enough weather to do an Easter egg hunt. We were pleasantly surprised when Saturday turned out to be sunny and warm! We had a fun time coloring Easter eggs. Oliver loved using the tongs to put his egg in the cup and get it out again. He was so careful to be gentle. After we finished dying eggs, Oliver helped Abby hide in the house so that they wouldn’t see where Mom hid the eggs. Kay had green and blue eggs for Oliver to find, purple and pink eggs for Abby to find, and yellow and orange eggs that were free for all. The kids had a great time finding eggs.
Abby recently turned 3 years old and we had a great party to celebrate. Kay made this beautiful birthday cake; Abby requested that her cake look like “Abby in her dress”. We had homemade pizza and IBC rootbeer for dinner.
Kay decorated our dinning room with handmade pompoms; it looked spectacular. When Abby walked in the room for dinner, she paused and in a hushed voice exclaimed, “Wow!”
Abby loved opening her presents. Oliver really wanted to get her something for her birthday, so he asked me if he could make her a present. He decided to make her a pair of “binoculars” made out of paper taped together. He made them all by himself and then I helped him wrap the present. It was fun to see him doing something so nice for his sister. We got her a Pigeon that had a matching game inside of it (the Pigeon comes from a series of children’s books illustrated by Mo Willems that Abby loves). Grandma Kotter sent her a barbie in a Volkswagen Beetle and Grandma James sent her a bumblebee pillow pet. Abby went to bed a happy girl.
This video shows Abby blowing out her birthday candles. We had a minor technical difficulty with the candles the first time through, so we had to try a second take.
These next two videos are a bit long and not too exciting, but I’m including them mainly for the benefit of Grandmas. This one shows Abby opening Grandma James’ present.
This one shows Abby opening Grandma Kotter’s present.
One of Oliver’s favorite songs: Praise to the Man
We love decorating our Christmas tree. Our cheap Walmart tree is beginning to show its age, but it still decorates up nicely. This year the top half of our pre-lit tree had stopped lighting up. I spent a long time trying to fix the strand of lights, but I finally gave up and just put a new strand on top of the broken lights.
Abby and Oliver were both super excited to help decorate, and between the two of them it didn’t take long to get all of our ornaments on the tree. Unlike previous years, they were really good to spread the ornaments out. I sort of miss having one branch with all of the ornaments on it!
The best part of decorating our tree is that the kids get to redecorate it each day. They love to move the ornaments around each morning and find a new spot for their favorites. Overall, I think our tree looks pretty good.
After decorating our tree, we turned off all of the lights and gathered together to sing a few Christmas carols. Oliver is a great singer and he sang out loud and clear, even when he was unsure of the words. Abby danced along beside him.
This video shows Oliver reciting his part for the primary sacrament meeting program. He had it memorized and he did a great job. In addition to his part, the music leader asked Oliver and another boy to sing a duet. They sang The Fourth Article of Faith. It was so cute to watch them. The music started and both boys simultaneously started singing the words of the The Fourth Article of Faith to the tune of Praise to the Man. The previous song was Praise to the Man, and this has been one of Oliver’s favorite songs recently, so maybe it was just stuck in their head. The music leader quickly stopped them and they restarted the song (this time with the correct tune). Oliver wasn’t at all scared of singing a duet; he knew all of the words and sang out loud and clear. His enunciation was particularly precise and made all of us smile. We are very proud of Oliver.
The other day Oliver told me that he likes four things: dinosaurs, robots, machines, and elephants. He really likes machines, and he often draws pictures of new machines or makes a machine with his legos or trios. Sometimes, he even turns assorted household items into a giant machine.
Rackham Graduate School sponsored a summer activity at Gallup Park for graduate students and their families. We were excited to go canoeing together.
It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time. Oliver and Abby loved helping us paddle.
After our river trip, we went over to the park to get ice cream. Rackham paid for an ice cream truck to come to the park; we got to pick out whatever we wanted from the truck for free. Oliver was in heaven!