Pre Thanksgiving Party at the Lu House

We had a pre-Thanksgiving party at our house on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Our friends, The Burchards, were in town from Austin so we thought it was a good excuse to get all of our friends together.

It was a super fun night with lots of funny memories to share:
- As I was finishing getting dinner ready, I looked outside and almost every toy from the playroom had been moved to our driveway!?! I asked what was going on and the kids excitedly told me "We are having a garage sale!!!" HUH?! LOL. Too funny! (I made them put all of the toys back into the playroom shortly after)

- Uncle Kevin came over and the kids could not get enough of him! He chased them around the house pretending he was a monster and the kids had great fun (my ears are still ringing from their loud shrieks!) A bit later in the night, Kevin found some duct tape and stared taping up the kids. LOL. Of course this was all in the name of fun, but some of the parents weren't too thrilled about the idea of their kids being taped up/tied up with duct tape. LOL. Only Uncle Kevin would have come up with that one! In the end, the kids had cool wrist bands made out of tape.

- The kids then decided to have a little party in Oliver's crib (all while eating string cheese). They were all jumping up and down and I was wondering when I would need to go online to get Oliver's big boy bed because his crib would break. Alas, the crib survived and the kids had fun.



- Towards the end of the night, Miss Monica offered to read all of the kids a book on the guest room bed. Shortly after all of the kids went to the guest room, a few of the kids ran out of the room and said "Miss Monica fell off the bed!" LOL. She claims she lost her balance, but we can't help but wonder if she was over-served. :)

Middle of the night bugger

Mr. Miles is going through some middle of the night wake up madness that is about to drive me bonkers! Of course, I feel bad for the little guy but it's hard at 3am.

This morning, the little bugger tried to out smart me!

Last night at 3am, he came to my room saying that the cup of water in his room had spilled. HUH? I made him repeat himself because I was half asleep and I had to figure out how to proceed. So, we went into his room and his water wasn't spilled.
I told him to drink his water and go back to sleep.

This morning, when I asked him about what happened he said, "I didn't say that my water spilled, I said it MIGHT have spilled. "

Are you kidding me?!? He's only 4 and he's already trying to work me.

Oliver's 2 year stats...

Oliver had his 2 year check up on Wednesday and the appointment went great. The best part of the appointment was that Oliver no longer gets hysterical when he sees nurse Michelle or Dr. Lan. As Dr. Lan promised (with both Miles and Oliver) - the insane fear/stranger anxiety that kids have really goes away right about when they turn 2 and it's amazing how accurate that is. Oliver actually seems to have FUN at the doctor's office. Such a nice change.

Stats:
He's 31.5 pounds and 35.5 inches tall -- 75th percentile for both
Although, contrary to what I said above, he wasn't very thrilled about being weighed or measured (LOL), but both went quickly thankfully. Oliver is doing great and got a clean bill of health. We are so blessed to have 2 healthy happy boys.

Happy 2nd birthday, sweet Oliver

My sweet pea Oliver turned two today. We had a wonderful day celebrating ...

In the morning, we had a joint birthday party at Pump it Up, Jr. with Lily Logan. Oliver and Lily are two days apart and since we have a lot of common friends, it made a lot of sense to combine parties. Oliver and Lily had a great time with friends and family on the mini bouncy houses and slides - I am so glad that we booked the "junior" version of Pump it up so that they could run around fearlessly!

{Lily and Oliver gazing into each other's eyes (hilarious)}

{Oliver while we are singing Happy Birthday (notice the piece of pizza crust in his hand... the kid LOVES to have something, anything in his hand at all times!}

A few pics going back in time with Oliver and Lily...

{Lily and Oliver on their first date, November 2007, 3 weeks old}

{Lily and Oliver seeing who can sit up better, October 2008, 11 months old}

We spend the rest of the day at home with Goo Goo and my mom. We opened birthday gifts, played outside, and then grandma had a dance party with the boys in the playroom. They were having a ball dancing up a storm and busting some moves.

Gosh, I just cannot believe Oliver is two. It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating his first birthday. It goes by SO much faster with the second child and every day the boys just seem bigger and older to me. I try to remind myself to forget about the dishes that need to be done and just cherish this time with them. It's so much easier said than done but it's very true.

My sweet friend, Christina (CC), shares the same birthday as Oliver. Happy birthday, CC! She is having her first baby boy any day now and I am just SO excited for her and Justin to start their family. They are both so down to earth and loving people - their little guy couldn't be born into a better set of parents. :)

No more mimi

My sweet little Oliver no longer calls me "mimi" (his version of mommy)

He's been calling me "mimi" for months...

And now he's officially made the shift to "mOmmmy".

Even if I ask him to say "mimi," he says "mOmmmy"

And while the way he says mommy is so sweet and precious ...

I am kinda sad that my mimi name is all gone.

He's growing up. His speech is improving every day.

They grow up way too fast and it makes me sad. :(

Sigh

Waiting...

Last night, we picked up the boys from school in two cars. Miles and I went to swim lessons while Derek and Oliver drove home to hang out.

When Derek and Oliver got home at 5:00, Oliver didn't want to get out of the car. He said, "I wait Milzah get home." "I wait mommy get home."

Derek asked if he wanted to get out of his car seat. Oliver replied "NO!"

Derek tried playing games with him from the front seat. Oliver replied "NO, daddy!"

So, they sat there... listening to music for at least 45 minutes in a hot car... waiting for Miles and I to get home.

Miles and I got home and there they were... sitting in the Honda... waiting for us.

That's some serious patience that Derek has. There is pretty much NO way that I would have sat there that long. Well, I am positive I would not have sat there for longer than 5 minutes, no matter what kind of fit Oliver threw.

And, it's very sweet (and kinda sad) that Oliver just sat in the car, waiting for his big brother and his mommy. I could eat that kid up. And I cannot believe he will be TWO on Sunday!

Spook-tacular Halloween 2009

{Mateo, Brent, Miles, Morgan, Anya, Oliver, and Carter}

We had a really fun Halloween this year! We invited several families from the neighborhood and other friends for a Halloween pre-party. We had lots of pizza, homemade chili, cornbread, and lots of other yummy treats.

The kids got comfortable with each other, we took some group pics, and then we headed out to trick or treat.

Oliver and I got separated from the rest of the group because he was very slow going - but it was fun watching him get familiar with Halloween. At about 7:30, we started to head home and I told Oliver that we could hit one more house before. The older kids were out in full force at this time and Oliver got accidentally tripped by a boy who was at least 7 or 8. The boy quickly turned around to say sorry to Oliver and make sure he was ok... but the boy was wearing a werewolf mask which scared the CRAP out of Oliver. Oliver screamed at the top of his lungs!!! It was HILARIOUS and all of the other parents around me were cracking up! The kid who tripped him immediately pulled off his mask to let him know it was just a mask (very sweet kid). Then, in typical Oliver fashion, he kept screaming because he realized it made people laugh. Silly boy.

Miles and Derek made it home around 9:00 and Miles was wiped out! He had a HUGE pumpkin full of candy and wanted to immediately count it.

The next morning, the first words that came out of Oliver's mouth when he woke up was "Elmo bag"! LOL. He wanted nothing but his Elmo bag of candy!

Oh the joys of Halloween! :) Good times!