Fun on the 4th!

We enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July! A great (annual)
pool party, BBQ with the neighbors and a visit from
Grand-Mom and Pop-Pop. What could be better?

Lil' Roni swimming with Christian.

Mmmmm...chips!

Sibling love!

Happy Birthday USA!

Hanging with the Reinwald's

Hello again everyone! We made a last minute trip to Aunt Mary and Uncle Shawn's beach house on Emerald Isle in N.C. last week. After an absolutely brutal 9 hour car ride with the kids (We pulled over three times to correct a behavioral problem which culminated with Olivia asking for "more time out Daddy" probably time for a different approach with the time outs) we arrived to the ultimate in hospitality from the Reinwalds. The house is gorgeous and the beach was great. Anyway - here's the pics!

The Reinwalds with Pearce and Olivia.

The girls with Pearce and Olivia.

Olivia applying sunblock to Uncle Shawn's nose.

Ms. O and Pearce taking a break.

Olivia and Pearce at Aunt Mary's place.

The girls Posing with Pearce and Olivia.

Emily and Olivia.

Pearce and Aunt Mary checking out the fun ball thing.

O with Mom and Dad in the pool.

Pearce and Aunt Mary.

Kelly and Pearce.

Beach girl

Momma and Olivia.

Here's Olivia checking out the surf.


We could not get her out of the water once she got the hang of it.

Momma and Olivia.

Here's O chasing her shadow.

Ready for the water!


Of course the family beach shot.

We had a great time at the beach - thanks again to Aunt Mary, Uncle Shawn and the girls for watching the kids and letting us hang out at the beach. One unfortunate side effect of the weekend (besides my nuclear sunburn) is that Pearce is so used to being held constantly he cries whenever he's left alone for longer than two minutes. I overheard Mary talking to a Marine Recon unit planning to kidnap Pearce in the middle of the night. We'll be on guard....

A Girl And Her Grill

Check out my new grill/kitchen AND apron
(apron courtesy of Aunt Deen Deen).

My grill talks! I LOVE IT!!! Now I can go
"cookin'" whenever I want.

"Wanna pepper Momma?" Actually, she initially
called it an apple. But hey, close enough.

"Order up!"

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday Aunt Mimzi!

Blog-o-riffic update

Apologies for the late updates but we're going through a terrible two stage right now. Two things you tend to gloss over when warned about it before becoming a parent: the sleepless nights of newborns and two year old tantrums. I should have listened to those stories a little closer. I don't know if I'm an idiot for trying to reason with a two year old or she's incredibly stubborn. Maybe a lot of both.

Olivia's vocabulary is growing on a daily basis hence the need for us to watch our mouths even closer. She's offering advice on parenting, "he's hungry Daddy.." Disciplining the dogs, "Momma said go outside Nina!" She's even noticing if I drive past our street, "Turn here Daddy!" Pearce is even warming up - I've been practicing Dada with him and he's saying something very similar to that on a regular basis. Anyway, here's the pics! Until next time.



Peas!


Pearce and O.


Playing with big sis.


More with Olivia.

Kisses!

Olivia is also a neat freak. Here she is picking up trash off of the playground. She also likes to pick up pieces of the dog's fur and put it back on them.

Pearce!

Bubble time with the world's crappiest bottle of bubbles.

Monkey face

Practicing our photo face.

Here's Kate and Olivia at her friend Walker's birthday party. She threw a fit over the dress.

Pearce-a-roni - disregard that awful hat. Luckily the logo's not showing.

More of Spanky, I mean Pearce.

Ms. Flyer & Baby Bro

After a few months of hearing about her serious

"bike obsession," we decided to buy Olivia a pink

Radio Flyer trike. As you can see, it is adorable.

This is not her Momma's Radio Flyer either. The

so-called "traditional" model came with a horn,

music, and turn signals. My "traditional" Radio

Flyer was a red wagon. Enough said.

I didn't have to wear a helmet to ride in my Radio

Flyer either. My, how times have changed. I have

to admit I felt that Olivia looked ridiculous wearing a

helmet to ride a trike. In fact, I think the helmet purchase

was made because we feared being ridiculed by our neighbors,

moreso that it was out of fear that Ms. O would actually

be seriously injured falling off a trike that is a foot off

the ground.

At any rate, Olivia selected her own helmet. She was thrilled

to find one with a pattern that had an Eric Carle theme.

She loves her "Ca-er-pilllll-er" helmet.

Ready, set, ride!

Once she adjusted her helmet, she was ready
for take-off.

Here she is, getting ready to pedal away. She seemed

so excited to finally have her very own "bike." The

big excitement lasted all of five minutes. Once our little

princess saw a family with two children heading to the

local playground, she quickly forgot about her bike and

scurried off in an attempt to hit the slide. Too bad for

her that Mommy and Daddy didn't feel like socializing

on the playground. She had to settle for a trip to the

ice cream parlor instead.

What a princess we have!

All the while Olivia was "princessing" around

on her bike, Pearce was chillin' in his car seat.

Check him out as he bides his time biting

his lip.

As you can see, his face has changed considerably

over the last few months. He has really begun to

fill out (no thanks to four daily feedings of solids!).

Master P's eyes have gone from grey to chocolate brown.

Fortunately, his luscious lips and super-chill

attitude have remained intact!

And finally, the latest and greatest happening in

lil' P's world....TEETH. Pearce has TWO bottom

teeth! He is drooling all over the place and constantly

chewing on anything and everything. The funny thing

is that he is so laid-back that you would never know

he was teething. This kid takes everything in stride.

We are praying his smooth personality stays with him

(at least until he is out of the house).

Until next time....

Pearce Laughing

We've been talking about getting this on video for a couple of months so we finally did it. Here's Kate making Pearce laugh like a crazy baby. Kate acknowledges that she sounds like a fool. We all have our moments and well worth it for the result: