Dads

I'm lucky to have lots of great dads in my life.

First of all, my dad... He is such an excited grandpa. It has been so fun to see him with Olivia. He plays with her, bathes her, brushes her hair, takes her ice skating even when she had only been walking for like a year. He's kinda crazy like that. He also works incredibly hard. Something I didn't appreciate as a kid. He does construction and can build anything, seriously. Like a life size jack-in-the-box for my sister for a haunted house thing she was doing. Anyway I could say a lot about my dad, but my brain is all mushy and I'm not sure what I'm saying anymore, but he is a great grandpa and my kids are lucky to have him. I know they'll grow up with lots of fun memories.

Then there's my grandpa, affectionately known as "Poppy" to almost all who know him. He served his country first in the Navy, but when that proved to be "boring" he joined the Marines. He fought in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. He still suffers from the frostbite he got there. They were going to amputate his feet, but they day they were supposed to the color started to come back. Did you know a mule will work and work until it is too tired. Then it will stop, and there is nothing you can do to get that mule to work again, until it has rested. Which is different than its cousin the horse because a horse will work and work until it dies from a heart attack. I'm afraid my Poppy is like the horse. Last year he was out in freezing temperatures shoveling snow like a mad man. He worked so hard he collapsed his lung. This led to his fist doctor visit in years. Which also led to him quitting smoking, which he had done for over 50 years. Cold turkey. He has always been like a machine. On family vacations to Washington DC he would lead us around, and we were all trying to keep up with him. He is a teacher. Not formally, but he has taught me so much. From making the perfect gravy, to shooting hoops. I also remember him telling me about his experience in the Marines. How he learned to push himself. When he felt like he couldn't walk one more step, and they made him go 10 more miles. I think of that often, when I feel like I can't do anymore, I imagine Poppy, and I keep going. He gardens. He is in the minority of conservatives in NJ. He is a man of values and integrity. And he cooks the best sloppy joes. Forreal they're awesome.

Then there's my husband. Oh how I love this man. He is the best father. As I type he is bathing the girls. He never leaves for work without hugs and kisses for all his girls. He tries his best to stay close to the Spirit, and follows its promptings. He comforts me, and supports me. He is always first to say "I'm sorry". We've been married for almost 5 years, and he's never been asked to sleep on the couch. My biggest and only complaint is the amount of Diet Coke he consumes on a daily basis (seriously, it can't be healthy). But if that's all I can complain about I think we're doing alright. I don't remember the last time a day went by and he didn't tell me I was beautiful. He takes our girls on dates. He sets limits and sticks to them. I'm so glad to be raising children with him.

Pictures

This is how I found Olivia asleep last night. Reading the Encyclopedia. With her Barbie's.

So this is the flower from her sister's head... she put it around her waist.... This just cracked me up {bad pun intended}. It's impossible to keep clothes on "nature girl", but accessories, that's a different story.

Olivia wanted in Abigail's crib, and was feeding her this apple juice bottle. I thought it was a cute moment.

No caption needed for this cuteness...

This is her, "Save me from my sister" face. Notice she's still our toothless wonder. I'm pretty sure Olivia had 4 teeth by now. But I love that gummy smile, I'm in no hurry.

I just looked at this picture of Abigail zoomed in, and I have no clue what that is on her forehead. I thought it was some kind of reflection... but when its zoomed in, I think it's some chewed up paper, or who knows what.

Funny stuff

So we got this Netflix thing that allows us to watch movies/tv shows instantly through the Wii. We've never had cable our entire marriage, so this has been fun for me to see some shows I've heard about, but have only watched at my parents or something. Anyway, I was watching Disney's Sonny With A Chance, and Olivia was in the same room, not really watching it, but I guess she was listening, because the next day she was standing on a stool and did something (I can't even remember what now) and yelled to me and Aaron, "Check it out dudes!" I was cracking up, so she kept saying, "Check it out! Check it out!" The episode of Sonny With A Chance featured the "check it out girls" and they said a lot on the episode. Good grief better monitor what I watch, who knows what she'll be repeating next. Last night she also took off all of her clothes and announced, "I'm NATURE GIRL!" Where does she come up with this stuff? I have no idea where that one came from.

She also told me that she doesn't want to be Mommy when she grows up, she wants to be Aunt Rachel. Good luck with that, Liv.

Olivia.

Olivia has been turning into a little girl. She loves to play with her Barbie's. She got hooked on Spongebob while we were in NJ. While we were shopping she saw a pair of shoes and squealed out loud, "OoOOh! Those are SO CUTE!" When her dad was trying on pants and he came out of the fitting room she told him, "Daddy you look so pretty." As I type, she's giving a bath to her robot, and telling it to close its eyes so no soap gets in it. She has the best imagination.

Abigail is 7 months now. She started a new trick of pulling herself up in her crib. This has been detrimental to nap times. I used to let her cry for few a minutes then she'd fall right to sleep... now she pulls herself up and screams until someone rescues her. Aaron lowered it, that seems to be helping for now. She's crawling everywhere. She's pretty much the cutest. How can you argue with this?

Diners Drive-Ins and Dives

My sister and I always say we are going to go to a diner from Guy Fieri's Diner Drive-In's and Dives. So far we've never done it. Until this time! We went to the Tick Tock Diner. You can see the clip from TV here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy-tQyhmrp4 .

I have to say I was slightly disappointed. My food was really good, but they didn't have the Cajun shrimp that was shown on the show. And that's what I wanted. And Aaron didn't like his burger. My sister got chicken parm, which she said was good, but it wasn't great. And I've def had better disco fries... or maybe it was because she brought them out after our food, and I was already so stuffed, but felt like I had to eat them... anyway, I did try and take lots of pictures, despite the ridicule of my husband and sister.

But Abigail seemed happy with her roll.

Hatched

My dad found a robin's nest in the backyard with a bunch of little newly hatched baby birds. Olivia was pretty much obsessed with them. And then she found some round white rocks from my dads truck, and she quickly said, "They're going to hatch!" And she made a nest for them, and waited for them to hatch. She checked every day until we left... but those rocks never hatched. Go figure.

I'll break this up into a few posts...

Okay so I just published a post I started in NJ. Abigail did end up crashing our trip to Erie. Which was nice, but got off to a very rocky start. Like breaking my dad's GPS before we even left Middletown. Nearly missing hitting a deer that def would have jacked up the rental car. But we made it in one piece. It was so nice to see Aaron's cousin Jamie and her family. She also cooked us a yummy dinner, and then we plotted out some places to see. Still haven't made up our minds 100% about where we'll live yet. Rest of the trip was fun. Mainly shopping, eating and hanging out. I'll add a few more posts with some highlights and pictures.