aka Mario and Luigi
I think that my big kids are getting ready for a little table and chairs of their own. They are tired of seating in these "baby" seats and always want to sit at the big table, but really can't reach. And I thought that it could be a fun color. Well, after today's ravioli lunch I have made a decision about the color - red! Definitely red!!
since we're in a different ward and they haven't seen it yet and Ollie already wore it. And seeing how Oliver loves Curious George and monkeys so much right now, I thought that he would want to wear the monkey costume that Hollianne bought big for him on sale after last Halloween. I put Ollie in the one-piece moneky suite and he instantly wanted it off. We've had him wear it once before and he was fine, but this time he just kept pulling on it and saying, "off, off" over and over. All he would wear was the Dopey shirt and belt. He wouldn't even keep the hat on. So, Oliver was Dopey (kind of) again and Dex got to be something new. We had gotten this skunk costume with the ones that Marie passed down to us and it turns out that he made a great skunk! Maybe we'll convince Ollie on acutal Halloween to get into the spirit of things and wear a costume and let me actually take a picture. We'll see. But for now, let's just all enjoy Dexy's amazing cuteness!
that with everyone so well rested the remainder of the evening was quite pleasant. When they first got up we played
to play for a few hours in the morning while Brian was working at the Woods. They had their big bin of Halloween costumes out and were all getting dressed up. Aunt Marie knows of Oliver's love for The Backyardigans, so she dug this costume out just special for him and helped him put it on. He thought it was pretty fun. Unfortunately, it was too big. We had to take it off eventually when the arms and legs that we had rolled up several times kept coming unrolled and he kept tripping on them. He looked really cute, though! Maybe we'll be Pablo for Halloween next year.
OK, so this is kind of snotty for me to post about my own birthday, but the boys enjoyed the cake and the pictures of them eating it are great. Plus, we actually did a couple of things that were fun. My b-day was on Sunday. My parents came up on Friday and Saturday and stayed with Marie. They took all of the adults out to lunch on Saturday for their part of the b-day celebration. Brian's sisters, Amanda and Angela, were so nice to follow us down to Lehi and watch all 6 boys (my 2 and Marie's 4) so that we could go to Texas Roadhouse child free. They even brought me ice cream and told me to "saddle up" while they shouted a kind of yee-haw happy birthday. Then on my actual birthday, we went to the Bowles house for our usual Sunday dinner and they had made me a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles, probably because I told Angela that more chocolatey was better. It was yummy and chocolatey! They sang 'Happy Birthday' (Oliver hates that song, by the way; he cries every time he hears it) and then we all dug into the cake. Even the boys got it on the action. Ollie had chocolate all over his face and shirt and Grandpa Bowles succumbed to Dexy's pleas so even he got a little bit of cake. It was a typical "adult birthday", but at least there were a couple of fun things. Thanks to all my adult family members who know what it's like to have an "adult birthday" and therefore tried to make it as special as they could!
My boys both just seem to be growing up really fast at this particular moment in time. Oliver says at least 3 or 4 new words everyday. And now that he is learning almost every second, he loves the See and Say more than ever. He'll just sit there and pull the handle down over and over. He is getting so that now he knows and says many of the animal names and sounds - a new love on top of his letter fasinaction that has led to him knowing the entire alphabet as a 19 month old. What a smartie pants! Dex is bound and determined to catch up to him. As a 5 month old, he already rolls any direction that you can think of, gets upset if he doesn't get fed his "big baby" food at least once a day (mostly just rice cereal now, but we're starting to introduce fruit and veg), and has decided that he can even sit up all by himself on a hard, flat surface (he mastered the soft bed with give a little while ago)! He didn't ever feel like he was my new, teeny, tiny baby. Mommy missed out on the little baby phase with Dexy. He was born big and never looked back! I wish that they would just slow it up at least a little bit. If they keep up at this rate, Oliver will be off to Kindergarton before I know it, with Dexter just behind him.
and he's working on it (nursery is helping with that - now if he'd just stay without me having to be there). But for now, he is super nice to and fun with his 2 best friends, Dex and Brooklyn. He loves his little brother and I can tell that he just can't wait until they can play together. And eventhough he and Brooklyn certainly have their toddler tiffs, on a whole they play extermely well together. Here is Ollie and Dexy hamming up their friendship for the camera and Ollie and Brooklyn cuddling in our bed together early one morning (they, of course, had to have their stuffed friends, too)!
Brian likes to drink right out of the carton or pitcher. I keep telling him that he needs to use a glass. I remind him that I'm not really a germaphobe, but other people might eventually come to our house to visit and want to drink liquid that hasn't been "contaminated." Then he reminds me that he "doesn't put his mouth on it." Then I say, "My number one reason is that the kids love you and will want to be just like you and if they see you drinking out of the milk jug, then they'll think that they can do it, too!" And that's where this picture comes into play. The other day, I left the milk on the table for a few seconds and when I came back I found this. Low and behold, my "prophecy" came true - Oliver taking a big swig from the milk jug! Fortunately, there wasn't very much milk left. Unfortunately, it was still enough for him to get it all over himself and the table bench.
Ollie loves to turn his dinner into an opportunity for making concoctions. He is always dumping all the food onto his tray, putting it back into a different container than where it started and then mixing, dipping, stirring and pouring it. If I let him have an open cup of water to drink, then there is water all over the tray and soggy food in his cup. He likes to eat food that has been, what Brian and I are calling, "wetted." These are pics from yesterday's "spagehtti-o peach cheese bread goolosh" dinner. Today for dinner he had beef and applesauce ramon noodles. Who knows what it will be tomorrow! 
Oliver's spikey hair picture is so cute that I just had to try and get a cute one of Dex with spikey hair, too. Here it is. He's a little younger than Ollie was when I did his, but since he has so much hair and can lift his head I said to myself, "why wait?" I just love babies boys with spikey hair!
It was so cute and fun! Today we also had some wonderful breakthroughs that will hopefully help to ease the stress of my 3 babies under 2 years old days. Brooklyn's mom doesn't really let her feed herself. I guess because she doesn't want a mess. But with 3 little ones, a mess is a sure thing, so I would much rather have her be self suficient. So we have been working hard to have Brooklyn feed herself when she is at our house and today she finally really got it! She made a huge mess on her tray every time she ate (which was a lot today), but that was exactly what I wanted to see! It meant that she was doing it herself! Yay, Brooklyn! Way to go! The other thing that I have been working on with both Ollie and Brooklyn is having them clean up the mess strewn all over the living room before nap time. I have been doing hand over hand clean up with them to no avail for a few weeks. Today I started singing the clean up song, which I have been using to teach them, and putting toys into the plastic bin. Without me doing anything other than that, Oliver started running around, grabbing toys and books and balls and throwing them all into the bin with me! Some of it ended up in the bin instead of where I would have put it, but who cares, right? Actual help while cleaning up the mess is worth it! Yay, Oliver! Again, I was so elated! What a couple of great moments! I started watching Brooklyn in January and to think back on how little they were then and how big they are now is just crazy. They are growing into bonified toddlers right before my eyes. You both deserve like 10 stickers on your good choice charts!
