Summer colds :(

Oliver and I had so much planned last week but we ended up spending Monday through Wednesday at home as Oliver got a cold and he wasn't very well. It was a long few days and it was very warm out as well so we didn't get to enjoy the sunshine until the end of the week. And to top it all off the poor little thing fell all the way down the stairs and got a nice bruise on his forehead :( But by Thursday he was feeling better and we managed to get outside to the splash pad in St Louis Park. Oliver enjoyed playing with a bucket - just filling it with water and throwing it over his head :) And on Friday morning we headed over to a friend's house for a play date.

Sunday was Father's Day so Jon got to stay in bed and be spoiled! Oliver shared breakfast with daddy and enjoyed helping him open his present (a homebrew kit!).

We've had a quiet week so far but we're off out to the zoo again tomorrow morning and a play date in the afternoon. We are going to another splash pad on Friday morning assuming the weather stays nice. It's a holiday weekend so Jon gets Friday off this week - yey :)

Oliver's new word (phrase?) this week is "ta da"!! I said it one night and he just copied thinking he was very clever. Now he likes to hide a toy behind his back and say "ta da" when he shows it to me :)

I got a new video this week of Oliver helping me do the cleaning again :)

Oliver got to have a bath with 3 girls last week after we stayed for dinner at the ice cream play date - lucky boy :)

Sharing daddy's scrambled egg

Mmm - beer!! The first attempt should be ready in a month or so!

A bit warmer than the -20 photo I took over winter :)


Having fun at the splash pad

Rowen desperately wanted to get in the car with Oliver :)

But he managed to get it to himself eventually!

Enjoying an ice cream on a hot day

Out and about

It's been a busy week in the Jozwiak household and another one to come - so many play dates and family events :) We love it though!!

I have to first mention the turtle because it made a return one morning this week. Jon spotted it at the end of our driveway and it had a stroll around the cul-de-sac and was last spotted on the neighbour's driveway. Was it the same one - who knows?? Sadly I saw another one upside down in the road but I didn't get close enough to identify it :)

Last Thursday Oliver and I went to the Rose Garden in St Paul and met up with some other mums and kids. It's a really beautiful place and we were sitting near a fountain which the kids just loved. Obviously Oliver was the one who managed to get the wettest and was intent on climbing in there but he was unsuccessful!

On Friday it was haircut day for Oliver which was much more successful than last time. He had a lollipop and bear blankie and he was more than happy - even let the stylist use the trimmers!

On Saturday Grandpa Ray had his 60th birthday celebration which was lots of fun. Oliver and Mikayla entertained themselves by playing with a train and a car up and down the driveway! Oliver disappointed Jon by eating my veggie burger instead of any of the meaty food that had been brought in :) He did the same the next day when we had a BBQ at home.

On Monday we went to a play date at Andrea and Ezra's house. They happen to live in a part of Minneapolis that is on the flight path - noisy, yes but so entertaining for Oliver. Every time one flew over he pointed up at it and was quite excited!!

And yesterday we spent the morning at Como Zoo and went to Matt and Jennifer's in the evening. Aunt Pauline and Uncle Keith have been in town from Canada so we all had dinner over there which was lovely. I risked going around the zoo without the stroller and Oliver did really well pretty much walking the whole way. After dinner I had a mum's night out at a friend's house playing Bananagrams - lots of fun!!

This afternoon is an ice cream social at someone else's house and another play date tomorrow morning. And of course it's father's day this weekend so Jon gets to be pampered - just like every other day then - ha ha!!!

I love this pic of my gorgeous boy - he looks very pensive but actually has a mouthful of goldfish crackers!

Getting wet by the fountain

This is an M&M cookie ice cream which I didn't realise was so big! Oliver picked off the M&Ms and gave them to me :)

Very grown up hair cut! Playing in Grandpa's garden

The fire pit was cold - I promise!!

Wearing my new muscle t-shirt and shorts from Grandpa and Grandma

Showing the other kids how to play with a wagon....

The training of Oliver continues - this week he learned how to put the rubber gloves on but he isn't tall enough to reach into the sink - soon :))


Jon entertaining Oliver and Mikayla

Turtle!

So this morning I was looking out of the window and I saw a turtle making it's way across our lawn which I thought was a bit strange! I took some pictures of it from inside then later I took Oliver out to have a look. He was very keen to touch it but I didn't let him - he just said hello and waved :) Later in the afternoon we took Scoop out on her walk and some other people alerted us to the turtle on the middle of the bridge. I managed to get past it without alerting Scoop and the other people told me it was a snapping turtle and could bite! They must have got hold of someone to come and move it as it was gone by the time we finished the walk. Pretty interesting though!!

Last Monday we hosted a play date in our garden. About 8 kids were here running around and playing on the swing and in the playhouse. It was great fun. We also went to a park and to someone else's house last week. And on Thursday Oliver and Mikayla had a play date at the park in Hopkins. The weather was just lovely until the weekend came and then it felt like the middle of winter again! It was still dull today but should be cheering up over the coming few days.

Our poor Scoopy has been concerning us this week. I saw her have a seizure on Monday morning which is the second one we know she's had (Jon saw the first). I took her to the vet later in the day and it seems likely she has epilepsy so we have some medication to give her if she has another seizure and if they become more frequent she will have to go on other medication full time. It's very scary and upsetting to see but 99% of the time she is our usual silly, happy dog :)

Today I took Oliver to the Eagle's Nest which is an indoor play area about 25mins away from home. He loved it!! He ran around like crazy and was ready to go home after 1.5hrs (he got his shoes and brought them over to me!!). Oliver also has a favourite song by the All American Rejects called "Gives You Hell" (not sure if that's popular anywhere else!). Anyway, every time it comes on he starts dancing so I managed to get a video of that today although he seemed more interested in bear blankie towards the end!!

I'll sign off by wishing my mum and Jon's dad very happy birthdays for today - hope you both had a great day :))


Having fun at our play date last week

Playing in the park at Lake Hiawatha



Spot which child wouldn't look at the camera for a picture....!

Turtle :))

Hanging out with Rowen on the fire truck

Playing with Ezra on the slide

Memorial Day weekend and more

Last Monday was Memorial Day so Jon had the day off and he took the Friday before off work as well so we had a nice long weekend. On the Friday we took Oliver swimming - we haven't been for ages so it was great to see that he still loved the water. But he has become a little (dare)devil!! He was determined to run into the deeper water without a second thought so Jon had to be there to catch him! It scared us just a little so we tried to keep him in the shallow part as much as possible. Hopefully we can get him back into swimming lessons sometime soon :)

On the Sunday we went over to Grandpa Ray's and Grandma Sandy's for a BBQ (well, Jon helped Ray move some wood and then we had a BBQ!!). I have never seen Oliver eat so much food! He had a hot dog, a brat, corn on the cob, baked beans and strawberry shortcake!! Of course he would never eat so much at our house if we had a BBQ as he proved last night :) Mikayla ate well too and really enjoyed devouring a chunk of watermelon!                    

I am so proud of Oliver's achievement of the week. For the first time he pointed at his nappy and went running to his changing mat and indeed he needed a change!! Now whenever he does a number 2 he invariably points at his nappy. The first stage in the long road of getting rid of nappies altogether!

Oliver and I have been to a couple of playdates this week. On Tuesday morning he threw his most major tantrum to date after I wouldn't let him play with toys he kept throwing around. It's so hard to know what to do when they get in such a state but he got over it. Thankfully I was at someone's house with other mum's who understand!

Yesterday we went out shopping and Oliver got some new books. I found a set of two book that have wheels and they are his new favourites I think! The car craziness carries on!! He loves seeing motorbikes, school buses, trucks, diggers, trains and pretty much anything else with wheels and an engine :) So today we couldn't resist buying a "Cars" t-shirt in the sale for him! Before bed tonight we read him a dinosaur book and he kissed all the dinosaurs and roared at the T-Rex on the last page - love it!

Other than that we have had lots of playtime outside in the fab weather and you will see a video of Oliver enjoying the garden and playhouse :)


Enjoying his biggest meal to date!

Mmmm - watermelon :)

Oliver in his friend's playhouse on Friday

Oliver pointing at the stairs - probably desperate to share Daddy's breakfast this morning!

Hello everyone!!

Fun in the sun!

The crazy Minnesota weather continues! On Sunday morning there was frost on the ground. Yesterday it was 97F and today it's going to be 95F (record highs). Just a bit warmer than the mid 80s that was predicted :) So yesterday I got Oliver's water table out and he had fun splashing around and generally getting soaked! He's outside on the deck playing at the moment - well, coming in and out to say hello to me and Scoop!! I have to say he looks so cute in his shorts and sandals. He's been wanting to wear the sandals for ages and kept trying to put them on :) He just looks very grown up - as he does in his new pajamas! But I swear it takes me as long if not longer to get him ready to go out what with sunglasses, hat and sunscreen (not that the first two stay on for long!).

Scoop didn't quite know what to make of the weather yesterday. We got back from our walk and she lay down on the driveway before I could open the garage - tired doggy!!

On Saturday we babysat Mikayla for the day and the kids had a great day playing together. Nap time wasn't so successful but that's what you get from putting them in the same room (we figured as it had a blackout curtain it was the best place....). Anyway, despite that they were in good spirits. Matt, Ray, Sandy and Sandy's granddaughter Alex came over later and we had a BBQ - Oliver managed to eat corn on the cob without assistance and seemed to like it!

Today Oliver turns 21 months old. His talking is coming on quite well at the moment - he talks a lot but in his own Oliver language most of the time. We are just waiting for the day when we also understand what he's saying :) Enjoy the new pics!

This toy had needed new batteries for ages. I finally got some and look at the reaction :)

Mikayla growing up fast!

Reading to the kids

Jon didn't believe me when I said I'd put this on the blog.....

Cousins playing happily on the train together

Mmmm - corn (and Scoop in her usual position)

My new PJs with cars on them (of course!)

Maybe socks with the sandals was a fashion error but the shoes are still a bit big on him :)

Why is a camera case so fascinating??

I just love this super cute pic!

I had to get a picture of Oliver wearing this t-shirt covered with cars (a hand-me-down from Morgan and Rowan) - he got so excited when I found it in the cupboard this morning. Now it's in the wash after he got soaked again!!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day here in the US - time for Mum to be spoiled :) On Saturday Jon and Oliver went out and came back with the flowers pictured above. Oliver handed them to me when they came in! Apparently he chose them himself - I nearly got a sunflower but he changed his mind :)

On the actual day I had breakfast in bed and I got a card and some pressies - chocolates, sweets and a cookbook I wanted. Oliver is helping me with the sweets so we are on a ration of two a day! After nap time we went off to Ridgedale Mall and Oliver had some play time. Then in the evening Jon and I had one of our favourite meals of risotto and we watched the Grand Prix :) All in all a very good day!

Oliver can now walk down the stairs on his own without holding on to anything! He did it for the first time last week and now does it most of the time although on occasion he loses confidence and wants to hold someone's hand. He also likes to drink his water from a proper water bottle like Mummy and Daddy. This is great because he drinks more water but he also tends to spill quite a lot :) This morning we went to a play date and the plan is to head to the zoo on Wednesday but that may not happen as rain is forecast :( Oh well, we'll find something to keep us amused I'm sure!

Playing at Lake Calhoun

Oliver just had to wear a hat :)

On the verge of tears??


Playing peek-a-boo in the kitchen cabinet

Mummy and Oliver on Mother's Day

Oliver's first go on an amusement ride