Oliver Said...

Oliver excited:" Uncle Birney will be here in 8 days!"
Grandpa: "If Uncle Birney will be here in 8 days, how many days till Santa comes?"
Oliver, shrugging ,uncaring: " I don't know."
Uncle Birney trumps Santa, when he visits once a year for Christmas from Seattle.

Shopping lists and compliments

Today I went to Walmart with the two younger boys to buy the things on the shopping list Oliver had made. He told me we needed to go specifically to Walmart and buy:

• guinea pig food
• light bulbs for his room
• cough drops that were cherry flavored for his "cough"

While we were picking up his essentials, a man at the end of the aisle paid me the sweetest compliment as we passed by. He looked me right in the eyes, smiled, and said in a very sincere and non-creepy way, " I just wanted to tell you that you are very cute." I said, "Thank you." and went on my way.

It made me smile though and feel very good about myself. I kind of want to go around Walmart and just compliment random people now. 

Well just thought I would share.

Ta-Ta for now!  I am exhausted tonight because I ran around all afternoon with 3 yr old niece and my two younger boys in tow. I am now going to lay down with a book and try to obtain a zen- like state.

Oliver loves frogs

Oliver made this frog craft and is so proud of it.

Man-speak

Overheard from downstairs-

Oliver (6) walks into room where his Dad is folding laundry.
Oliver says, "Your names Bob and I'm Joe."
Levi replies, "OK."
Oliver pauses and then says in a cool deep voice, " Hey Bob."
Levi replies, " Hey Joe."

Have A Heart?

Me: "Kaleb and Oliver please clean the table off. "
Kaleb(7): " It's not my turn!"
Me: " On Sundays no one has assigned chores you just do what you are asked and help out from the kindness of your heart."
Oliver(6): " I don't think I have a heart."

Rite of Passage

" When I grow up- like you... I'm gonna buy me a house... and get all these (furniture)... and then I'll get a Facebook."
~Oliver age 5

Flying high while eating french fries at the Library with bologna in our pockets and horse manure on our shoes.

....yes that is the kind of Saturday we have had.

8:45 am

Took cub scout Ian to the Nampa airport for a cub scout activity-The Young Eagles Program. I was thinking he would be looking at airplanes and maybe get to taxi around in one. Nope, they were gonna actually take them up flying. I really should read those permission slips more carefully. My baby high above the ground in a bitty-bitty plane...make that two babies because they said Kaleb could go too.

Waiting patiently in the freezing cold hanger for their turn to FLY.

WAITING *read in an ominous tone (I'm foreshadowing)

The guy in charge tells us one of the pilots was very experienced and he flew in WWII. I thought for a moment. Didn't Levi's Grandpa fly in WWII and he is now deaf and blind. Not reassuring to parents AT ALL!

Their pilot in above picture( he looks like a capable guy....right?) and the boys about to board.

 

 Yes, that is the little plane they flew in and they loved every minute of it! While down on the ground, I tried not to worry and Oliver whined that he was cold and hungry and wanted to go home (After all HE wasn't going in the airplane so why should he suffer needlessly?)

noonish 

LUNCH @McD's

 and a

visit to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's to pick up Josef. 

( I know they are so evil...but SO good) 



1:30 pm

Trip to library

2:30 pm Call from Tanya (my bff) and invite to watch Kelsi show her horse @ the Canyon County Fairgrounds. After being lost 3 times trying to find it from the freeway we FINALLY arrived then we waited, and waited, and waited. 

We went outside in the grass to let the boys run around a bit. Tanya and I were talking and Oliver walked up and had a slice of Bologna in his hands and was eating it. I asked him where he got it and he pointed down and I freaked because I thought he had found it on the ground. I made him drop it and was telling him how we NEVER eat things off the ground, when he explained it had been in his pocket. Then I was almost even more grossed out, because I had taken those pants from the dryer that morning. So it must have been in his pocket though the whole wash and dry cycle  and come to think of it I haven't bought Bologna in months and months. He could have taken it from Levi's parent house...that it what I am choosing for the official origin. He shoved a slice of Bologna in his pants pocket to take home and eat later. Really none of these sound all that great. Yuck!

Then Kelsi got a turn to show her horse in a trail ride event. It was tough. I was on the edge of my seat as each rider did their thing. Kelsi did really well for it being her first time doing this particular event. She had no training and her horse had also never done this event. Her horse was also being a pain and rearing up a bit. I think she did as good as she could have. Look at me trying to sounding all knowledgeable when I have no idea about showing horses. I learned a great deal about waiting today...I mean showing horses. They even have their own horse show fashions and if you are not wearing the 'in' thing you can loose points. It's brutal.

7:00 pm

( I told you we waited FOREVER)
So dusty, tired, and our shoes surely covered in manure we took everyone to Primo's for dinner. 

That place is amazing. Where else can you feed a kid till he is literally oozing pizza and salad for only $3.75?
We do not leave hungry that is for sure.

10 pm

 I'm exhausted. Goodnight! 

 

Love Rocks!

 Ah Love! It comes in all shapes and sizes...and minerals.

Today I was asked to be a witness at the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Blue Rock.

It was a lovely wedding officiated over by Oliver.

They are now on their honeymoon in Oliver's pocket.

We expect Little Blue Rocks to be added to the new family within the year.

Oliver's Corner of the World

Image by
http://www.flickr.com/photos/exfordy/ / CC BY 2.0

Oliver's Corner of the World

A true story by April M Mitchell 

© January 2010

Oliver busied himself gathering the supplies he would need, dragging them behind the couch to the corner of the living room. He took his box, the one he'd salvaged from the package his mother had received in the mail yesterday, and ripped open one side of it. He then unfolded it making a long flat piece of cardboard. He got out his markers and began to draw and color. He added splashes of blue and green and large red circles all over the cardboard sheet. Then he set the cardboard on it's edges like a wall, using it's flaps to support it. He arranged it as to partition off the corner where the two walls met. He arranged his pillow, blanket, and large zoo of stuffed animals within the cardboard walls. He stepped gingerly over and into his newly created space.

He sat for sometime, leaning back on the pillows, admiring the view from his special place. He watching as his slippers waved at him from his feet until he got bored. Then he hopped up and made a run to the room he shared with his three older brothers and retrieved some books and a small box bucket full of Lego's. He stopped by the kitchen to sneak a brownie from the counter and an apple from the fruit bowl. He neatly arranged these new items within the small corner behind the box walls.

He sat quietly eating his snacks while he turned the pages of his books looking at his favorite pictures remembering the stories. Froggy, his most favorite stuffed frog sat next to him, looking at the pages as Oliver flipped them one by one. Oliver felt warm and cozy in this spot he had made for he and Froggy to share.

Oliver looked over the top of his cardboard fortress, out into the large room where his family mulled about. His mother teaching his brother Ian math. His brother Josef on the largest couch reading a book. Kaleb rounding the other side of the couch, spied him and his little home. He came around and tried to step over the wall. Oliver yelled and it sounded to him like a great protective roar. His mother looked up from her lesson and told Kaleb to leave Oliver alone. The trespasser moved away reluctantly. Oliver lay back again victorious in having defended his own little corner of the world.

Big Helper

Oliver reading to his cousin Charley.

Not all Superheros Wear Pants

What they said today-

Kaleb age 5 "Don't say you are cooking chicken so loud, the chicks will hear you!"

Oliver age 4, walks into the kitchen, says "I'm a robot!" Straightens his back, swings his arms and legs alternately and marches out of the kitchen chanting in his best mechanical voice "Robot, robot, robot."

Just Like Daddy

"I'm Dad." said Oliver.

Cuddling Kitty

Oliver found Chubs napping on my bed peacefully. He proceeded to make Chubs more comforable during his nap, by surronding him in blankets and pillows. Chubs was so tired he didn't even care.

 

The Artist at Work

 

 

Awesome Oliver!

 

Ok!Oliver is so awesome today. He built a duplo model of our dog Shooter and he used the POTTY all by himself today!!! The POTTY thing is a huge breakthrough, he has been the worst to potty train, but I think he is finally getting it. WOHOO!

Oliver Potty Training

 

Oliver is starting to make progress on his potty training...finally! We printed out a train track potty chart from www.childavenue.com . He gets a star sticker on his chart if he sits on the potty. Today even Ian's lion AmMeMe sat on the potty and got a star.