Happy Cow Appreciation Day!!

Happy Cow Appreciation Day! 

This is my favorite food holiday! We went with a group of friends and got our free breakfasts then went with Michael for dinner. It was a great day! 

After dinner we went and played at the park. Michael is such a cute dad! I love watching him with Olivia. Olivia absolutely loves Michael! I'm so grateful to be married to such an awesome guy and that we get to work together to raise some pretty awesome kids! 

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a great Fourth of July. Michael went golfing at 7 and has been enjoying golfing a lot this summer. We had a yummy skillet breakfast and enjoyed our lazy morning. When Michael got home we put Walt down for a nap and Olivia, Michael and I played outside. We did the slip n' slide, played in the tiny blow up pool and listened to American music. After our fun time outside we had lunch, took naps and got ready for the melaleuca firework show.

This year we paid to go to the melaleuca show. When we were first married and while we were single we would go to the show and sit by the river on the other side where all the street vendors are and the temple is. So last year we went to the actual melaleuca show. You pay for a nice table in the shade, a yummy dinner, you are up close and personal with the fireworks, the Idaho Falls symphony is playing while we wait, and a parking space. You don't have to get there till 7 which is better than walking around the green belt all day to find a spot and you are relaxed and can enjoy the night a lot better. We love spending the fourth this way.

Olivia wasn't a fan of the fireworks this year. At the huntsman show last Saturday she hid her face under her blanket and would occasionally look up to see what was going on. On the fourth she did the same thing then fell asleep half way through the show.  Walt slept through it too. It was a great show and Michael and I both enjoyed it! 

I love the fourth and the opportunity it gives me to remember my freedoms. I am truly grateful for what that means. I need to remember it more often. 

Happy Fourth of July!! 

6 months

The last 6 months have been the quickest 6 months of my life!! How on earth can this yummy little boy be 6 months already!!!? Time needs to slow down or freeze because he is the perfect age right now! 

He is really good at getting around. He pivots in a circle then rolls then pivots then rolls and can get anywhere he wants that way.

He is really good at sitting up and is working on making the smooth transition from siting to getting on his tummy.

He loves to eat! Yay! With Olivia no one told me what to do. Then when I mentioned on Facebook that she didn't like veggies after feeding her fruit everyone told me what to do. So I have been slow at feeding Walt. I waited till he turned 5 1/2 months and did rice cereal for 2 weeks and he liked it a lot. Then I gave him peas. He hated them and when I tried feeding him rice cereal again he hated it. He hated anything! Even if I put an empty spoon to his mouth he made a face like I fed him the worse thing ever. I took him to his 6 month check up and the doctor was surprised that he wasn't sleeping through the night and I wasn't feeding him food more than once a day. I told him he hated food and he told me to feed him fruit and graham crackers and put a veggie in after every fruit I tried. It has made a world of difference!! He eats 3 big meals a day and has a cracker or two and has slept through the night 3 times!!! 

The first night he slept through the night Olivia was awake from 11:30-4:00! I wanted to cry! Then the next time he did it I didn't go to bed till 2 because I was folding 1000 loads of laundry. Then last night I enjoyed 7 hours of  uninterrupted sleep!! That is a first in 6 months!!!! I hope this continues!

*** I bragged... I know I shouldn't have but I did... 5 nights of sleeping through the night were too good to be true... Now he wakes up at 1:30am and 4:30am again. Ugh!! I know I will so there is no need to tell me one day I will sleep through the night again but... WILL I EVER GET TO SLEEP AGAIN!!!? Right now I don't think so... And that makes me cry. 

This little boy is the happiest kid. When I am stressed or overwhelmed I always love to look Walt in the eyes and he uses his calming magic to make everything better. He brings a peace in our home. 

One thing Walter absolutely hates is being walked away from. He always want to be held which makes things hard when I want to get things done around the house. But I sure do love cuddling him and making him laugh.

He loves Olivia. He could watch her for a long time. She can get some really great laughs out of him. She also is just starting to want to play with him. It's so fun!

He is getting really close to crawling. I bet it happens in the next few weeks. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth.

I think he is teething but I thought that about Olivia for 11 months... So I'm not the best judge of teething.

Walt loves Michael! He always searches for him and could stare at him for a long time. I'm excited to watch their relationship grow.

Walt learned to shake his head no. I don't think he knows what it means but it sure is cute. If Olivia shakes her head Walt will copy her. I love watching them interact. 

On his 7 month birthday he decided to be a professional at sitting up from laying down. I put him down on his back because he was crying, I turned around then turned back around to check on him and he was sitting up. He did it 10 more times that day and now he does it all day long. He gets on his tummy then sits up then gets on his hands and knees then sits up. 

I seriously love him so much! I'm so glad he is part of our family! He completes us!!! (For now)

When I hold him...

When I don't hold him...

When a 2 year old takes a picture!

The table

For our wedding my moms friend gave us her old kitchen table. It is a good solid table but needed a new paint job. So, four years ago we stripped the black paint off as much as we could then never finished it. Four years later I was tired of washing 5 table cloths a week so I bought some paint and got to work. 

It took all day to sand off all the remaining black pain and by the time I finished sanding it was 11pm. I wanted to get the project done and the table in my house so I started painting and finished around 1. Well, the next morning I went to see how it turned out and wanted to cry! The black sponge brush left black dots in the white paint and the clear coat I put on top was brown from the dust from sanding. It looked aweful. So two weeks later I started sanding again. This time I asked for advice and was patient. I sanded then painted then sanded then painted then sanded and painted again and again. After 3 days of sanding and painting the table was done and back in the kitchen and I love it so much! Now we need new chairs! It was a big project but worth the effort. 

 

Family time

Almost the whole Woolley family was together this past week. All we were missing was John and JD. It was such a fun week. Olivia had fun with her cousins last time we saw them but it was totally different this time. Spencer and Olivia actually played together and Charlotte and Olivia played a little. It was so fun to see them have fun together. 

Marcia and Leah brought their dogs and Olivia loved it. Leah's dog is a small 11 month old puppy mix names Delphia and Marcia's dog is a border collie poodle mix named jack and he is 6 months old. Jack scared Olivia after he knocked her down a few times but that didn't stop her from giving him lots of attention when he was in his kennel. She loved feeding him food and talking to him.

Our big event was the Hubtsman Springs 4th of July celebration we have gone to the last 3 years. We stopped to get square ice cream on our way to driggs.

It was really cold this year and windy like always. 

The beach boys were the main show again and I loved it!! Olivia and I danced to all their songs. We brought food this year which made things a lot easier and we also brought fun games to play with glow sticks.

On Sunday I had us all matching in nautical blue and white for the 4th. We didn't get a full picture of our outfits because we were all a little tired. 

Sunday was Rachel's 14th birthday and we had a big celebration! We had lots of family over for a big dinner.

On Monday we went to BYU Idaho to show Lizzy and Leah all the changes. We were wondering around the bookstore and I saw this cute book called "I love my mom". I thought it was a cute book then I read the first page "my name is Ollie" and I knew I had to get it. I had to feed Walter so while I was she sat down on a chair and started flipping through her book. I sat there wondering how my baby turned into a grown up toddler!? I love her so much! She is such a blessing in my life!

Then we went to the Rexburg splash pad. We had fun being outside even though it was breeze.

We rode the carousel but we had to sit on the benches since Olivia is afraid of the whole thing but begs to go on it. Silly girl!

We had all the kids matching in crab outfits and tried to take pictures but it was extremely hard!! They were not in the mood for pictures.

We went to Big Jud's 

Spencer and Walt were cute together. 

I already posted about how cute these two are! They are going to be great friends!!

This is the greatest picture of these two!!

We played outside a lot this trip but saved the best for last. We got a water table and a small pool and brought out the slip n slide for a water party!

This is our new beach tent and I'm so excited to put it to use when we go to Rigby lake this summer!

We are sad to see all our family go. Every time we put Olivia down for a nap or bed she cried for auntie ray ray. She loved playing with her and was by her side the whole week. She loved waking up and having spencer and Charlotte to play with even if it was at 6 in the morning!!! Grandma spoiled us and helped us out so much! And auntie Leah and Lizzy are the best! We have had fun playing games and eating treat. It was a great week. It's going to be really quitet around our house now. We are sad it's over but home to have another reunion soon!!