Winery picnic

This get-together was way overdue! But we were finally able to coordinate our schedules and what better way to do it than by taking a picnic to a great winery. Katie and I finally got to meet each others babies in person!

The weather was gorgeous and after our tasting we bought a bottle of our favorite white to share and went out to the grounds for a picnic. The babies were so cute together and Owen had a ball blowing bubbles and running up and down the hills.

It was such a nice way to spend the afternoon. We had so much fun catching up with Katie, Grady and Graham and look forward to doing it again sometime real soon. We're already thinking about which winery to go to next time!

Owen can swim!

Owen had his second to last ISR swim lesson today and he did GREAT! (We had a minor setback two weeks ago when his instructor attempted to do fall-ins with him and it scared him. So after taking two days plus spring break week off, he got right back into it this week and was again swimming like a champ after taking the first two days back a little easy.)

He did his test yesterday with clothes and shoes on, and of course I forgot the good camera and only had my phone to take videos with. Unfortunately they all were too big to email to myself in order to try to post, so I will have to go out to the AT&T store at some point to get the USB cable that will allow me to download the pictures and videos that have been accumulating on my phone's memory card. I'll get to that some day.

All in all, his swimming skills went from about nothing (other than being able to hold his breath under water) to being able to swim, float, swim in a matter of 5 weeks. It's a pretty amazing program and we are so fortunate to have been able to enroll Owen. Maybe we have a future backstroker or water polo player on our hands? Only time will tell!

I was sure to put the camera in my purse and charge its battery while I was at work so that I would be able to tape Owen's lesson today. We are so proud of how far he has come in such a short amount of time!

(Sorry for my crummy camera skills - I was trying to watch him at the same time as I was filming which clearly wasn't the best idea. Notice as he gets into his float in the middle of the pool he looks up and over at my and smiles then gets all excited and squeals before swimming to the side. Funnyman.)

Tomorrow is his final lesson with Miss Nancy and I'll be getting in the water with him so that she can show me how to practice with him. Then on Sunday morning he starts lessons at Carlile Swimming, so we'll see how he does in a class with three other preschoolers. :)

Vivian rolls from back to tummy

Vivian rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a video until the next day. (Mommy is a little impatient in the clip, but this is only because I had been filming for over 5 minutes before she actually was able to do the roll. I spared you all the failed attempts.) :)

Happy Easter!

Sunday we celebrated Easter by going to an early mass (8:45am) but apparently not early enough as it was so crowded that we had to stand. When Owen first woke up we took him downstairs and he found the Easter basket that the Easter bunny left for him. He LOVED the special soccer ball fan toy that my mom and dad sent him and it served as great entertainment during church since it was quiet.
After church we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Marshall's for an Easter egg hunt and lunch. The Easter bunny had a lot of help from Aunt Hillary, who filled and hid 40 plastic eggs for Owen to find. He had a ball! He would find one, pick it up and say, "I wonder what's in this Easter egg Mommy!" and would make us open it and show him before he went on to the next egg saying he would "save that for tomorrow" as he dropped it in his basket. (That was what we told him to do so that he wouldn't ruin his appetite for dinner and it worked like a charm!). We got to play with Aunt Hillary's new puppy Maggie who is such a sweet pup. By the end of the afternoon Owen was feeding her out of his hand.


The weather was gorgeous, so we hung out outside while Owen searched for all the eggs, then headed inside for a yummy lunch/dinner that they had prepared. Everything was delicious and then there were two cakes for dessert! Easter bunny coconut cake that Hillary made and a chocolate tea biscuit cake (a Royal treat in celebration of the Royal wedding!) which Curt made. Both were amazing. Owen especially liked the green coconut grass. :)
Grandma, Aunt Hillary and Grandpa spoiled the kids with lots of Easter gifts and the Easter bunny left Owen his very own Easter basket at their house too! They made it a very special day for us all and we thank them very much.

They look SO alike!

Vivian's 4-month check-up

Today was Vivi's 4-month check-up. A little past her 4-month birthday, but that was only because we wanted to see our favorite doctor at the practice and that was when she was available. She got one oral vaccine and two shots - not fun at all. She did her fair share of screaming, and then once I got her in her car seat, popped her paci in, the crying stopped and she promptly fell asleep. It's rough being a baby.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 16 pounds, 14 oz (95%)

Height: 25 inches (75%)

Head: 17" (90-95%)

Because her head size is at the top of the growth curve, her doctor wants us to come back in a month to have it checked again. If at that point it has grown significantly again, they'll have us go for a CAT scan. She said it's just a precaution because when heads grow large like that, they worry about fluid on the brain. She said that most of the time everything is fine, and that will probably be the case, but wanted to inform us so we know what to expect.

Looking back at Owen's 4-month stats, his head was also 17", but we didn't have the size re-check with him. I guess girls are supposed to have smaller heads?

Pretty girl

Mommy found this adorable little outfit at Carter's and this was the perfect day to wear it. The temp hit 86 today!

Owen shares with Vivi

Tonight when we were playing with the kids before dinner, Owen said, "I'm going to get my jeep for Vivi!" and he went over to get it for her. She seemed to know that Owen was trying to play with her. It was so cute.

Water table!

It was really warm today, so when we got home from work, Ben set up Owen's water table on the deck so he could play before dinner. Vivi enjoyed hanging out with Mommy. All was wonderful until we had to get Owen inside for dinner. Let's just say that there were lots of tears but in the end his hunger won over and he eventually joined us for some chicken tacos that Daddy cooked up.
(I never realized it, but it's pretty obvious in this picture - I guess Owen got his dimple from me.) :)

Weeping cherry

Our tree is in full bloom! Sneezing and runny noses are going crazy in our house from all the pollen, but it sure is pretty.