More lights Pops!

Every year my parents take Ben to Rhema Bible College in Tulsa, OK to look at Christmas lights.  My son LOVES doing this.  Like any young child, he loves walking or driving around and looking at all the wonderful colors of lights.

Last year Ben, who was not quite two years old, held onto my dad's hand as they walked through the display.  He kept repeating, "more wights, Pops (what he calls my dad), more wights."  This thrilled my dad to no end and has stuck with him as one of his favorite moments of a grandfather.  

"More wights Pops!"

Now that Ben is a year older, they were even more excited to take Ben, and now Olivia, to see "more wights" this Christmas.  We made the trek to Tulsa, paired it with a dinner at a local Mexican food joint, and indulged in a freezing walk through Rhema.  Garrett joined in the fun this year; he's never seen the lights at Rhema and was pleasantly surprised, yet concerned for their electric bill. 

If you've never been to see the Rhema lights, and are in the Tulsa area, I highly recommend it.  

Rhema 2012, Ben's first trip. Look how small he is!

            

Rhema 2013

It was so much fun seeing him so excited

   

         

Rhema 2014. Not a great pic, bummer.

"I just want to touch the lights, mama"

                          

Ladybug Princess

My daughter is a ladybug, but not just any ladybug; she's a ladybug princess.  The ladybug came about when Olivia received a ladybug backpack from Meme (my mom) for all her important things. I love it; it makes me smile whenever I see it.

Super cute from Skip Hop.  They have an entire line of ladybug stuff.  Olivia will need it all.

To her daddy, Olivia is a beautiful princess, fair and true.  She must be protected and fought for.  Garrett makes sure Ben knows that protecting our princess is part of his job as a big brother.

THUS, with that logic, she's a ladybug princess.  We love calling her this, and hearing Ben say it is a little joy.

Ben is a BIG reader, and has a couple of characters that are his favorites (basically characters that I fell in love with when I was shopping for books for him) like Little Blue Truck and Duck & Goose.  So, when we deemed Olivia to be a ladybug princess, I remembered coming across the Ladybug Girl series in my children's book search.  I was super excited to find a series for my little miss that was really cute with great stories.

This is the original Ladybug Girl book. Olivia got this book along with a more baby-friendly, board book.

She got her first couple of Ladybug Girl books this Christmas, and she loved them!  It's funny because Olivia does not sit still very often, but when I showed her the book, she sat very still and studied each page.  So sweet, my ladybug.

I know it's a little cliche, but we also decided to introduce Olivia to the Olivia books.  After finding out that my little girl was feisty and full of energy, I just knew that Olivia the pig was a good partner for her.  It's another cute series that I hope my little princess will love.

Olivia exploring her new books

Holiday Traveling

Early early this morning we set out to Arkansas for the holidays. Garrett got up at 2:45am, slid Ben in the car, and began the 12 hour trek. Olivia decided that she didn't want to do that drive again, so she and I got up at 4:30am to catch a flight out of Denver to Oklahoma City (seriously cheap flights for those that want to come visit!).

Garrett and Ben had some good daddy/son bonding. 

Olivia taking a much needed play break at Grand Meme's house. 

I am happy to say that Olivia did surprisingly well on her first flight. I was so afraid that she was going to melt down for no reason at all, but she didn't! She just flirted with everyone around us and wiggled around enough to make sure I got my arm workout in for the day. It was still a stressful process, flying on my own with a baby, but overall a success. 

Because we flew, Olivia got to hang out with her Aunt Kimmy and Grand Meme before driving with my parents to Arkansas. It was nice getting to see them since we didn't get to come to the big family gathering this year. Hopefully we can next year. 

Now let the holidaying (that's a word, right?) begin!! 

My Experiment Failed...In Other News

Since my Luxurious Locks post, A LOT has happened.  Most of you reading this know that we moved from Ohio back to Arkansas after my son was born (his story here, I know I left you all hanging).  I was all too happy to leave Ohio, mostly because having a new baby and no friends or family isn't fun.  As soon as we were back in Arkansas, we started on a journey to plant a church in Boulder, Colorado. This journey flourished then came to a screeching hault summer 2013.  Let's just say God was, and is, happy to change our plans.

We found out we were having baby number two last September.  Olivia was a bright spot in what was a crazy, stressful year.  We were in limbo for a while, when the blessing floodgates opened, and the University of Colorado in Boulder called Garrett--out of the blue--offering him a teaching position.  So now we're here in Longmont.  Garrett LOVES teaching at CU, and Brittney just accepted a position in financial aid at Front Range Community College; I'm so happy for her.

A great place to throw rocks, Ben's favorite new activity.

My kids are also loving the move; well, Ben is as Olivia could care less about where she's at as long as she's being paid attention to. My little girl (whom I love dearly) is, shall we say... spirited.  She is the definition of high-maintenance!  If you know my son, you know that he was a super chill baby.  Olivia, on the other hand, prefers others to know 100% that she's there and has something to say.  Athough she's trying at times, I love her spunk.  She is so expressive; a smile and laugh from her makes all the screaming seem like a distant memory.

My little girl. She's a Ladybug Princess

Ben, now almost three, is a ball of energy; one day a switch just got flipped in him and he hasn't stopped moving since.  Even though he's "Mr. Crazy Toddler" now, he still has the quiet focus and concentration of his baby months. Give Ben a puzzle and he won't hear a word you say; he goes into studying, problem solving mode. He and Olivia currently couldn't be more different, but they sure do love each other.  Each of their faces lights up when the other comes into a room.  I'm so happy that they're good together.

Look at my boy all grown up! NO! I refuse! He's still a little, bitty, tiny man...so there.

One of my favorites of the two of them laughing and playing. They really do love each other.

Beautiful, Beautiful...Wish You Were Here!

One of my favorite movies, one that I could watch over and over again, is French Kiss.  It's a typical Meg Ryan (pre-face alteration, why Meg why) romantic comedy flick.  It has tons of quotable gems that make me happy just thinking about them.  One memorable quote occurs when Meg and Kevin Kline are walking through a quaint French village; she exclaims, "Beautiful, beautiful...Wish you were here!" She's basically wallowing in the fact that she's in an amazing, beautiful place with an annoying frenchman (Kline) and not her former fiancé (Timothy Hutton).

Despite the reason Meg had for this exclamation, I like the quote and how it relates to where I'm at in my life.  We recently moved to Colorado and are loving it.  AND I wish all my friends and family could move here with me.  It's so beautiful in Colorado, and I wish everyone else was here.  I wish my parents could come over whenever they wanted, play with the kids, sit on the back porch, chat, and enjoy the view as much as I do.  I wish my best friend Lacee lived a couple of houses down and came over for play dates and coffee every week.  Even though I love living in Colorado, I miss my friends and family in Arkansas. Sigh...

Watch it and Love it.  You're welcome