May 2015

As I look back at our pictures from May, I realize that we got a whole lot done in 31 days! A Disneyland trip, Foster celebrated his 2nd Birthday, a vacation in Vegas and New York, Joy School graduation and James the Brave ended up on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. So many good things happened in May. But us Olsons believe very strongly in balance so we also experienced three cases of pink eye, 2 viruses and 1 flu. May was a perfectly balanced month.

May the 4th Be With You

We decided to celebrate Star Wars Day at Disneyland amongst all the Storm Troopers and comicon enthusiasts. It was packed. Star Wars fanatics came in throngs and we were happy to get in on the action. James and Foster were in heaven and just when we thought it couldn't get any better, James had a real life encounter with a Storm Trooper. He was so nervous/excited that the best he could do was stick out his tongue for the camera. We talked about it for weeks and I'm pretty sure it's something he'll never forget. But just in case, here's the picture.

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Showing off their Star Wars paraphernalia

Foster Turns 2!

Our little Foster is 2 and I make him promise everyday they he will stay my little baby forever. I can't stand the fact that he is growing up so fast! We had grandma and grandpa over for a very humble birthday party but Foster does not require much, all he needs is a set of gloves and a hat and he's a happy boy. And it just so happens, that's exactly what he got. We have since had to hide the gloves so that he will not throw a fit at bedtime when we have to take them off. We're the best kind of parents, we give presents and then make sure the kids never find them again. Evil. 

He also got Goin' Fishin' but shortly after stuck gum in the holes and now it not work so good.

Making a Wish

Olson Vegas Vacation

We spent 5 days in Vegas with the Olson clan celebrating the blessing of our new nephew Elliot. It was great to see everyone and get some much needed cousin time. Elliot is perfect and Paul and Christine are mighty proud parents. 

The first day in Vegas, we were on our own and spent the night at the Luxor. The boys were beyond excited to stay in a pyramid hotel. We ended up spending most of our time (and money 😢) at the Excalibur arcade. We really did have so much fun and here are the pics to prove it!

We really struggled to get a decent picture at the M&M Store.  This was our best.

Family Photo at the New York New York

Game Time

Mandalay Bay Aquarium

Bellagio Gardens

Star Wars and Salvador Dali meet at last.

The Sprinkles cupcake/ice cream shop was one of the highlights of the day.  Nevermind that we were sitting outside in the rain while we were eating our treats.  We didn't even care.  

A Sunday stroll on the strip.  Because that's what you do on Sundays...right?

The Hardy and Olson families after the blessing of baby Elliot.  

Scott goes to NYC

It was good fortune that Scott's doctors appointment with a parasite specialists happened to be the same weekend his mom and dad were in New York. Not only did he get to spend some time with Peter, eating their way through the city, he also got to go to Connecticut for Ellie's baby blessing. He had a wonderful time touring the city for the first time, with his family. He even got to see a Broadway show, I was so jealous! And the doctor he saw found parasites that he has had since he served his mission in Nicaragua, 13 years ago! He is on three separate antibiotics now to get rid of them. We're hoping that once he is free from the parasites he will begin to feel much better. 

In typical boy fashion, there are no people in any of the photos he took while in New York. But I can't complain, he took photos of the food which was his only assignment.

This bakery, Dough, was featured on Unique Sweets so I made Scott get a donut there.  I want to lick this picture.  I may have.

James Graduates from Joy School

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful joy school was for James. I watched him become a completely different boy over the course of a year. He has grown socially by leaps and bounds. And his three best friends Berkeley, Hudson and Annalise, mean the world to him. Here are some photos of our most memorable joy school moments. 

Courtney taught them all about how lungs work and they made these amazing crafts.  They basically made artificial lungs. They're doctors now.  Thank you Courtney!!!

Sugar cookie making, always a favorite!

Sizzor skills.  Berkeley may have cut off about three inches of her hair but look at how much she has....no one even noticed!

James' first dance with one of his best girls, Annalise.

The crew plus Leah.  They are the cutest bunch.

Making Oobleck, this was one of our science days and it was so much fun.

They just finished their binoculars for lady bug hunting.  This was my favorite day of joy school.

James the Brave at Barnes and Noble

It was such a shock when my friend Courtney called me to tell me they just saw my book in the featured picture book section of Barnes and Noble. After recovering from shock and getting over two weeks of illness, I finally made it over to the store to check it out. They were almost sold out of their copies so they ordered 10 more which I came in to sign. It was such a magnificent surprise, even my publisher was surprised! 

I know this is the longest blog post of my life but May was so wonderful that I have to add a few more "honorable mentions".

• We actually got rain more than once in May! You know what they say, "May showers bring"...wait, I don't think that's what they say. But we're in a drought so we will take rain any month we can get it! 

Poor James, he had to wear my raincoat.  He probably didn't mind since it vaguely resembled a Storm Trooper costume.

•We had a lot of dr.s appointments in May. While waiting with James in the examination room, James turned to me and said "how long before this human gets here." I reminded him that he too was human and that we always have to wait for doctors. Two very important lessons if I do say so myself. He'll probably skip a grade now. 

• And last but certainly not least, Scott and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on May 24th. I had the flu so instead of going out like we had planned, we stayed home with these two helmet heads. It was real life perfect. 

April 2015

April was all about two things, Easter and ladybugs. So let's get right to it.

Easter

We were invited to a fun Easter egg hunt with friends the Friday before Easter. The kids had a blast and of course ate all their candy before we even made it to the car. 

Easter Sunday also fell on general conference Sunday so we spent the morning watching conference and searching for Easter baskets. The Easter bunny mistakenly included giant blow pops in the Easter baskets so the rest of the morning was spent trying to wipe up red blow pop from the furniture and Foster's face. Next year the Easter bunny will know better. 

In the afternoon we headed over to Mi Ani's house for another Easter egg hunt and dinner. It was a really lovely day spent with family. 

Ladybugs

So we decided to study ladybugs in joyschool this month. We even had ladybug eggs shipped to us and we grew about a dozen of our very own ladybugs. We learned all about the four stages of the ladybug life cycle and when they were ready, we released them into the garden so they could feast on all of the aphids. It was so fun to watch all the kids get into it, especially James and Foster who woke up every morning to check the status of our ladybugs. We were a little bit sad when we released our last ladybug. But even now the boys get so excited when they see one out on our walks that I think we instilled a lifelong love for the ladybug. 

Our ladybug lesson also inspired me to write a new story called The Little Blue Slug. It may be my favorite story yet. 

Going on a ladybug hunt

Releasing the last ladybug into the garden.

Other great April moments:

We went on a beautiful hike this month. And although it was especially hot that day, we took some photos that pretty much capture what heaven will be like for me. 

March 2015

March was a wonderful month.  We purchased a trampoline in February and it has gotten a lot of use this month.  If the boys aren't in the house, they are on the trampoline!  And it is a lifesaver during joy school, so basically the trampoline is the new babysitter around here and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
We managed to visit Disneyland this month because, why wouldn't we?  We also started our spring garden and did some spring cleaning too.  Is spring cleaning, blog worthy?  The answer is yes, yes it is.
James started swim lessons that will last 12 weeks so I'm hoping at the end of THREE MONTHS, he'll be able to swim.  Did I mention that he has swim lessons for three months at the most inconvenient time of day?  Oh who set the time you ask? Me.
But most of March was spent playing with friends, hanging at our pool and spending time with family.  All of our favorite things.

Disneyland

I knew that having passes this year would be a blast because Foster is at the age where he is really starting to enjoy it and James, well he's obsessed.  Last year we spent most of our time in Cars Land with Lightening McQueen but this year Cars Land is kid's stuff.  The second we get to Disneyland we head straight to Tomorrowland.  And if it were left up to James we would never leave.  Between Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear and Jedi Training School, there is a lot to entertain my boys.  A fun fact about Tomorrowland, all of the plants are edible.  They have peppers, lettuce, grapefruit trees etc.  This is why I like Tomorrowland.  And no, I've never picked anything.

For my sister and I, it is all about the treats.  From ice cream at Clarabella's in California Adventure to sour gummy candy, we take our treats seriously.  And sometimes all I want at Disney is a churro and an ice-filled cup of Diet Coke.  I'm getting hungry/thirsty just thinking about it.  For Scott, it's all about the Dole Whip, which when we can handle the extreme line length, we get one.  I could really go on and on about just the treats but it might start to get weird. Should I keep going? No? Yes?  Okay, I'll move on.

Basically, every visit we make to Disney is magical, as it should be.  These memories we are making are some of my most favorite. 

Around the House

We were able to purchase a new kitchen table this month which means we can actually have people over for dinner and everyone has a chair.  It was a great Craigslist find and I'm loving our new table for six.  I was however sad to see the old one go.  We had it for seven years and there were a lot of good memories around that table.  Luckily, I was able to sell it to a friend so it found a good home.

Scott planted our summer garden this month with the help of Foster and James.  Foster is the little helper around the house.  Sometimes what he thinks is helping is actually digging up the plants we just planted but he means well....right?  It has been great to be outdoors working in the yard with the boys.  We give them little chores to do and we all work alongside each other.  It's my favorite thing.

This year I plan on spending many of our days at the community pool which is right up the path from where we live.  The past few times that we have been there it has been completely empty.  I lay on a lounger while the boys swim in the pool.  It makes for an easy and relaxing afternoon.  The hardest part is getting the boys to leave the pool.  It takes bribing and popsicles are my bribe of choice.  I think back to all those parenting books I read before I had my first baby and never looked at again.  They all said that you shouldn't bribe your children to get them to do what you want.  Here's an idea, bribe your children because then they will do what you want.  I feel like a genius. Okay, enough of "easy way out parenting".  It's my next book.