New Shoes! New Car Seat!

Yes, that's crying to see.... and I'm taking the pic through the door because it's only worse when I'm inside.

Week 2 in the toddler room was a little better, but Olivia still cries every morning when she is dropped off.  When we pick her up right around 5pm, we get to see all the cute little kiddos gathered around their toddler-sized table in their toddler-sized chair having a snicky-snack.  Sometimes it's a graham cracker and water, or maybe a cookie - but it's so cute to see all these little ones sitting together quietly eating their treats!







 Last weekend we had a fabulous time joining little Maddy up in Santa Rosa for her 2nd birthday!  The house looks good with their new grass installed in the back, and Olivia was a good little girl.  On the way home we dropped by a salvage wood yard and saw a few possible hand-hewn beams for our fireplace mantel.  Nothing really stood out though, so we didn't make a purchase.  Next stop, Stride Rite Shoe store in San Francisco street where Olivia picked out her first real shoes!!!!  Daycare kept mentioning that the ones I bought her from Target aren't quite right, so we had Olivia's dainty little foot measured at the store - size 3 - and bought two pairs.  One fits her now, the second will fit her in a month or so.  Ridiculously cute!!!

This past week, Kevin was in town but in very busy meetings so we didn't see a lot of him.  Kevin was supposed to travel to Florida on Thursday, his birthday, but that trip was canceled at the very last second (Wed night) and yay, Kevin was home for his bday!  Charlie and Delores came over in the evening and babysat so we could go out to dinner for Kev's bday.  We tried a Mexican place that used to be good, then went to Chili's for a better drink afterwards.

Friday's big task was ordering the pergola lumber.  The materials will be delivered in a couple weeks and then the clock starts ticking to put it up!  Kevin's been researching stainless steel bolts - my are they expensive!!!  But I guess the advantage is that they won't stain the wood over time.  We bought cedar STK (small tight knot) lumber - light and strong.

Hmmm, Daddy, I think I like these 'shoe' thingies!

Thanks Pop-Pops for the new Sophie!  I needed her for my sore gums!

Pretty soon, I'll be OUT this door!  No one will hold me back...

New favorite game - take all the blocks out, then put a few back in.

Annie and Walter spent the night Friday night because Joel was out of town for a conference and it sounded like fun!  Originally, Kevin was going to be gone in FL that night too, but this way we were all able to sing a Happy Birthday song to Kevin together!  I made him a cake which turned out as good as can be expected from a box mix.... next time I'll try making it from scratch!  That will be an adventure!

The cousins had fun playing outside on the patio.  We had a more active Friday Night Dance Night together, and at one point Walter entertained Olivia by running up and down the hallway while Olivia was strapped into her high chair.  They were both laughing so hard!  Too much cuteness.  During the Saturday afternoon nap time, Annie hung out at home and Kevin and I drove out to LA Nursery in Sunol to purchase two crepe myrtle (Muskogee) trees for along the back fence.  When everyone was awake, we harvested tomatoes!  Very productive day.  Big milestone:  Olivia learned out to crawl in and out of the backyard door!  We're in trouble now!  We also played with crayons out back, and Rodi, and the tricycle.  So much fun to have in the backyard!

Cake Overload!

 Sunday, we all went to Home Depot for supplies, and I helped Kevin plant the two new trees when Olivia went down for her (very long, thank goodness) nap.  I also trimmed a number of the neighbor's tree branches that were encroaching on our yard.  The fence line looks much cleaner now.  It was hot out!  When Olivia awoke, I whisked her away to a secret errand, and then the grocery store.  The secret errand was to purchase biking shoes for Kevin... his current pair is WAY too small!  We want to go on some rides together with Olivia soon - I have so many positive memories riding bikes with my family that I want to make sure Olivia's into it too!  We are currently debating between a trailer for Olivia, or the seat that goes on the back of one of our bikes.  I vote seat, Kevin is stubborn about a trailer.  And he calls me stubborn.  Sigh.  Kev and I sat on the back patio in the evening enjoying a beer and our backyard.  We find that since we do all the maintenance, it's sometimes hard to sit and enjoy the good parts because all we see are the chores that need to be done.

I'm so cute... when I'm about to eat this shopping cart

After this trip to Home Depot, I set out a little tub of water for Olivia to play with and she was 'soaking' wet in 3 seconds.  So much fun!  I loved having the time to play with her one-on-one. :)


Today, Labor Day, we took Olivia for a walk at Lake Chabot.  Sadly, she bonked her head pretty hard on a door hinge right before leaving, so she has a blue bump on her forehead, poor thing.  We resorted to cartoons to help her calm down - first time.  Lake Chabot was bopping!  Multitudes of people dogs, bikes around.  Lots of smoke from all the BBQs, but one big party!  We didn't get too far before Olivia was done with being in the stroller.  She missed a good nap today.  Eventually, we went out an purchased a new car seat - the Graco 4ever seat.  Theoretically, it'll last us 8-9 years and will grow with her.  I still cannot believe how long kids are supposed to sit in car seats these days - 10 years!!!  100 lbs!!!!  If these safety people had their way, even adults would be rear-facing!  Olivia sure seemed to like the new seat when we strapped her in at the store!  Our salesman, Kevin, sure knew what he was talking about as he led us around the seats.  We bought two - one for each car.  That gave us a 10% discount (they call it the 'twins' discount) and there is a mail in rebate.  I'm happy to have the purchase over with and know that we won't need to do it again for a long time!

Tomorrow, Kevin heads to FL for a few days.  I'll be scrambling to get my hours in at work and minimize the vacation time I take on Friday when we head up the coast to Gualala Point Regional Park to camp.  Natalie & Steve & family will meet us there for Saturday night.  I intend to hit up the grocery store during the week.  We will have to work quickly to pull out all the camping gear and pack the car as early as possible on Friday so we can hit the road for our long drive.  I'm hoping we'll leave around 12:30 - pick up Olivia from daycare a naptime and hit the road!

Nighty Night time!