And we're back.

Well the cold spell didn't last long. All 7 inches of snow are gone. I guess that's what happens when it's 65 degrees! So today we went for a walk, played outside, and let Ollie play with his new bubble mower from Grandma and Grandpa Smith.


You can see that our porch is finished, we just need to stain and paint it. It's so nice to have! And with this board in front, Ollie can play out there a while without us being RIGHT there. Very nice.

Happy Birthday Ollie!

Two years ago tonight we went to the hospital to have Ollie. Tomorrow our little boy turns 2! It's so hard to believe. Although the first year seemed to crawl by, this one has FLOWN! And I'm afraid it only gets faster as they grow.

We sure love this guy!
Yesterday we got to celebrate with 6 of his friends.
Eli and Ollie are only 5 days apart--it's been so fun to watch them grow together! They have so much fun with each other.

Shoe Bikes

Ollie has a painting book from his Hooton cousins in Indiana. We love that book, by the way! He asks to paint 2 or 3 times a week, and since it's just water, I usually let him. He still tries to suck on the paintbrush or drink the water...so it doesn't last long.
Here's a cute little picture he was working on yesterday. (If you notice, he usually doesn't get very far on the painting.)

He dipped his brush and painted their shoes as he said...
"Shoe bikes!"

Why, of course they are.

Blizzard

Yep. We've been under a blizzard warning since Thursday night. We got quite a bit of ice yesterday afternoon and evening, and then it started snowing this morning. HUGE flakes coming down! It's beautiful! (but it IS the end of March...)

This picture doesn't even BEGIN to show the HUGE flakes that are falling. I drove to a hair appointment this morning, and you could only see about 2 blocks ahead of the car!

Family Pictures

When Karla was down, she took family pictures for us. We don't have all of them yet, but here are a few favorites from her blog:

Ollie's Sticker Chart

Some of you have heard of our (and by 'our' I mean 'Ollie's') little diaper issue. I'll give you the short story, if you haven't heard. Ollie, since he was maybe a year old, "digs" in his diaper. He has, on many occasions, "rearranged things" so that when he DOES go, it's not in his diaper, if you know what I mean. So anyway, we thought this was just a phase, that within a few months, he'd outgrow it.

Well, a year later, we're still dealing with it.

And he's wetting through his clothes during his naps. We now ALWAYS dress him in pj's anytime he sleeps to avoid this. But not just ANY pj's: full zip-up sleepers with a pin (so he can't unzip it). So, you see that this is becoming quite frustrating (especially with him going to daycare again.)

So we've come up with a plan:

"Ollie's Sticker Chart"
If he goes one hour without digging, (you heard me right, folks!) then he gets a sticker. After 4 stickers, he earns a prize (like a penny for his bank, candy, something little like that). Hopefully this will be motivation enough to break the habit. As you can see, he already earned his first tonight!

Wish us luck!

And here's a video of Ollie helping me make his "sticker charger", as he calls it.

therapy

Wow. What a BEAUTIFUL day here in Kansas! Little wind, 70 degrees, and a Saturday! We enjoyed it so much. I did many things that just feel therapeutic to me: cleaning, working on a couple sewing projects, playing outside and working in the garden...it was so good.

The first project was making Ollie's birthday shirt. I've seen this from Amanda and Megan, so I decided that it'd be a fun tradition to start. This is what he'll wear to his (2) parties.

I also have been meaning to make a curtain for our bathroom window that we finished two years ago...honestly--I hadn't even sewn for almost a year and a half! So it was good to get this one done, too.
Here's the before:
Here's the after:
We also spent a good amount of time outside. Joel mowed, while we played on the (new!) porch.

And then we went to the garden and planted a few more things--so far we have spinach, lettuce, red and yellow onions, radishes, raspberries and asparagus. We'll wait until the nights are warmer to plant the rest.

It's days like this, I'm SO thankful to live in Kansas!!!

Check out...

This great article about Joel and Jess!

Children

It's been kind of a sobering week for me, for several reasons. I won't get into those. But it's caused me to really reflect on stuff.

One thing that has been amazing though, is watching Ollie grow and learn. He is such a sponge! I know that's not unusual for this age. But it's crazy to see.

It makes me realize more why Jesus was so fond of children, and challenged his disciples to believe like a child would. Pure faith.

Ollie picks up any song so quickly, and how sweet it is to hear him sing songs praising the Lord. I just think God must listen so closely to those. His heart must melt to hear him sing, "Jesus loves me" or "hallelujah" or "hosanna" or "Jesus conquered the grave"...

He also picks up on stories so quickly, like any child would. The other day, we were with Joel's family. Ollie started talking about Daniel (from the lion's den) and I asked him, "What about Daniel?" Ollie said, "saved Jesus" (as in, Jesus saved Daniel). He knows about Moses, and David, and Noah and Jesus.

On the way to the zoo Sunday, Ollie said he wanted to go to heaven. When I asked him why, he said, "See Jesus". Although I don't know how much he gets yet, it is just so humbling to hear him talk like this, and realize the gift God has given us. We are SO inadequate to raise these little ones in a godly way without the wisdom, patience, and love of Christ doing it through us.

How important for me to pray for that DAILY!

Fun with the Banks...

Joel's sister Karla, (the amazing photographer!) and her daughter came down from Ohio to visit and help us run our photobooth at our first official PAID gig.

Brooklyn and Ollie had so much fun together!

They played in the bathtub...

Brooklyn loved holding her newest cousin...
Friday morning, before storytime at the library, we met Joel's aunt and uncle at Druber's for donuts.
Aunt Marge and Karla

Joel and Uncle Ed
Ollie, Brooklyn and their dolls eating lunch

Cookies we made...basketballs and princess cookies
Then, Sunday it was so nice, so we went to the zoo. Here they are on the 'horse'...
Watching the penguins
He's getting taller!
Monkeying with the monkeys
Just like his daddy and grandpa...

Thanks for coming Karla and Brooke--we had so much fun!

My Turn!

Hello Everyone. It's Lily. Since I officially turned 9 weeks 2 days today, mom let me post a blog. It's about time!

Let's start with the most important things around here first...Me!
I turned 2 months old last Thursday. Here's my chair picture. I'm just over 10 1/2 pounds now. I am SUPER happy during my awake times, but sometimes I like to scream bloody murder when mom puts me down for a nap. It sure keeps her hopping!

Next, my brother. I'm beginning to like that kid. Sometimes he's a little intense, but for the most part he entertains me. I smile at him a lot. Except this morning, he bit my hand. I SCREAMED at him! One thing he likes to do is sing. Here are two videos mom took of him singing. Our cousin Addy just turned 2 this week, so he's been singing to her a lot.



Here's Ollie's not-so-silent version of "Silent Night"...


He also enjoys helping mom. He's getting pretty good at putting silverware away, if I do say so myself.

Now for mom and dad. Their photobooth business is getting off to a good start! Their first wedding is this weekend. Last weekend, we got to bring the booth to a family fun night at church! And boy was it a FUN night! I got to lay in my car seat, eat, and stare at kids. (did you note my sarcasm?) But there were a couple boys that I especially liked to watch--Ike (one week older than me) and Riley (2 months older). I'll have to keep my eye on them!

Oh yeah, but here are a few pictures from the fun night. There were LOTS of kids and families there! And, we had our first tornado warning of the season. I'm especially excited about learning all this weather stuff that my mom talks about. Oh boy.
Well, as you can see, things are usually pretty entertaining around here. Stop by and see me during one of my wake times! I'll melt your heart with my pretty smile!

Lily Mae