10 Things I Love About Kevin

1. He sleeps like a mummy--with his hands crossed over his chest. He claims he has to do this because I take up the rest of the bed.

2. He is so helpful with the kids and around the house--and I don't even have to ask him! He seems to have a 6th sense about when I need help or what needs to be done.

3. He loves projects! However, most of them are in his head trying to come out. He'll spend hours drawing out his project in AutoCAD, only to realize that, between working full-time, going to school, and being a dad and hubby, he just doesn't have time to do much else.

4. Kevin has a very soft heart. He rejoices in other people's happiness and cries with them in their pain. I learned this very early on in our friendship.

5. Kevin secretly wants to be a superhero. What he doesn't realize is that he already is.



6. Kevin has an infinite amount of patience. He has never raised his voice at me or the kids. He'll teach me to do the same thing over and over again without any sign of irritation.

7. Kevin likes things tidy and organized. Everything has a place, and it should be in that place.

8. He considers himself a nerd, but I know a little boy and a baby girl who think he's the coolest person that ever walked the earth.

9. Kevin can lose 15 lbs in two days when he is sick. That, in turn, makes me sick. :)

10. Kevin often sacrifices what he wants for those he loves. And he does it with a smile on his face.

Wait!! There's another thing I love about Kevin:

11. He has the cutest freckles on his nose that you really don't notice until you get up close. Lucky me, I get to be up close pretty often. :)

Alright Already Mom!!

All I was trying to do was get a picture of Daddy feeding Myla a chunk of banana. This little eight month old would stop and pose for me with this squinty-eyed smile she does. Everytime I took the picture she was squintily smiling. It was so funny. I took at least eight pictures.

Finally she just gave me this look like, "Come on Mommy, I'm tired of the flashing. Please let me eat in peace." So I did. This little girl has so much personality. She makes all of us laugh. It's safe to say she has Kevin, Cade and me wrapped around her chubby little finger.

Myla's New Ride

Aunt Nicki loaned Myla a walker. At first Myla didn't like to hang out in it, because that meant that Mommy or Daddy wasn't holding her. But now she digs it. Yesterday she hung out in it and watched Caders go up and down the slide. She giggled and laughed. She thinks her brother is the coolest person in the world.

Sweet Siena is Here!

The happy Olson family!
Grandma Janine, Mommy Michelle, Baby Siena
Uncle Kevin singing to Baby Sienna

Siena Michelle Olson was born on February 14th, 2007--a Valentine baby! Last night we met Baby Siena for the first time. The Olsons are very good friends of ours. Well, actually, Michelle and Kevin are cousins, and we got to be good friends with them when they moved down to AZ so Jared could go to Midwestern University in Glendale. They are awesome! We were so excited to meet little Siena. She is adorable! Michelle and Jared are very happy. Kevin's Aunt Janine (Michelle's mom) was down, so it was great to visit with her too. Congrats Michelle and Jared on the sweet addition to your family!

Valentine's Day Fun

Today Cade and Mommy made heart cookies together. Cade LOVED using the cookie cutters. But he also liked taking turns. He would use the cookie cutter a couple of times, then hand it to Mommy and say, "Your turn Mommy." He was very sweet. He was so excited to see the cookies go on the pan, then come out of the oven.
He also LOVED spreading flour everywhere and using the roller. In fact, I had a hard time getting him to stop spreading flour everywhere, even after we were finished making the cookies. :)
Cade's ultimate favorite, though, was eating his creations. There is a method to it. First, he licks all the icing off.
Second, he shoves as much of the cookie in his mouth as his can.
And lastly, he gives Mommy a big satisfied smile and says, "Shank Shoo Mommy." Translation: "Thank you Mommy." What a perfect Valentine's day treat!

Where's Cade?

So today Kevin and I were putting groceries away and we turn around and there is Cade climbing into the cupboard. We were surprised at how far he had gotten in.

We didn't know what he was doing until...
Kevin opened the other cupboard and saw Cade playing with his car.

Cade loves to "zoom zoom" his car anywhere he can.
What an adorable kid!

Birthday at the Park

Four generation shot, Marianne, Myla, Eunice, Christie
Uncle Richard and Uncle David playing with Cade. Breck, Uncle Jared and Jared looking on.
Emma, the Birthday Girl! Isn't she the cutest?!

Saturday we went to the park to celebrate Emma's fourth birthday. She is such a sweet girl and is growing up so fast. She got lots of princess and Barbie stuff for her birthday. Everyone had a good time playing on the toys. Uncle Richard and Uncle David did a great job entertaining all the little ones. It was a nice, sunny day--perfect for a party!

Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired!

The past week the flu bug has circulated among our family. We're not quite sure where it began, but we are hoping it ends with us. Many of our extended family are sick as well. Kevin missed two days of work this week and the kids have been feeling icky. This picture of Daddy and Myla camping out on the couch was too sweet to pass up, both of them comforting each other. Kevin went back to work today and the kids' flu has turned into a cold, so they are dripping like little faucets. I feel so bad for them. It seems like they have been sick the entire winter. But according to the doctor, it's normal for this time of year. I know that they are sure sick and tired of feeling sick and tired!

The Digital Camera Age

Getting ready for bed, Cade's shirt got stuck on his head!
At such a young age Myla is practicing her posture by balancing a frisbee on her head. :)

Thank goodness for digital cameras. If I were still using my 35mm camera I would be saving the film for the perfect shot, not wanting to waste the money on film and developing. This weekend alone I took 54 pictures. Cade has gotten to the point now where he smiles for the camera, then rushes around to see the final shot. Maybe we have a budding photographer (or model...can we say Blue Magnum?). Of course not all of my pics are masterpieces. Well...none of them are (one of my goals this year is to take a photography class), but I sure think the subject matter is. There are plenty of red-eye or closed-eye or funky face shots, but I love even those, and I can develop what I want. Although I'm not too great at taking pictures (or being in pictures) I love looking at them. They are treasured. The camera is almost a part of the family, at every special occasion, but more importantly at just ordinary occasions. We should give the camera a name...I'll have to discuss one with Kevin. We named our laptop Copernicus (isn't that such a fun name to say?) and our PC is Galileo. What would be a suitable name for our camera?

Is January almost over already?!

Who's the cutest girl in town?

Can we say busy?! The first month of 2007 has just flown by. Everyday it seems there is something going on. As I look back I can't even remember what we did or what I accomplished. Kevin is taking two courses online at Rio Salado. Even though it is online it seems to be more time consuming than going to a campus and sitting in class. He is doing great and is enjoying learning about the human body. He and Jared (my bro-in-law) are taking the same classes and love to talk in "anatomy" talk to Nicki and I. We like that they are smarty-pants, but also like to understand what they are saying. :)

The kids are doing great. Cade is cute as ever and Myla is growing like a weed, although she is thinning out. I recently started cloth diapering Myla. Not only is it economical, it is better for her poor eczema-covered little body. She rashes so quickly and has actually been harder and harder to keep under control. So we are trying a new avenue. She seems to rash around the diaper area. Cloth diapering isn't as hard as I was anticipating. There are so many more options out there these days. In fact, it's almost addicting trying to find a new cute cloth diaper cover online.

Nicki, Jared, Mom H., and I are having a Biggest Loser contest. We have about 9 weeks left to see who loses the most percentage of weight. I have to admit the fat is not melting off as fast as I'd like, but I do feel healthy and more energetic. Kevin and I have worked out together a couple of times between commercials of Smallville and Supernatural. So that's good for us.

Well, I have tons to do for Enrichment night tomorrow. We are looking foward to a great February!

Hello 2007!

We rung in the New Year by having some fun at McCormick's Train Park in Scottsdale. We rode the merry-go-round, took and train ride and played on the playground. Cade discovered a little rock wall area and he loved climbing it and then taking the tallest slide down. It amazes me how athletic that kid is. He is so active and isn't afraid of anything. The weather was great, the park was fun, and the company was the best! We are looking forward to a successful and exciting new year!

The Most Wonderful Time of Year

Christmas morning was so much fun. After the hecticness of the season, we woke up Christmas morning relaxed and ready to enjoy the day. Kevin built a fire, we put on Christmas music, read Luke 2 and opened gifts. Cade was fun to watch. Although after a while he got tired of opening new gifts, he wanted to play with the ones he already opened. One of Cade's favorite gifts was a choo-choo train. He loves to push the train and chant, "schoo schoo." Its super-cute. Myla just watched the whole gift-opening scene with wide, blue eyes and even chuckled every now and then. It was great celebrating Christmas together. We are so grateful for our little family and the joy that feel from each other and from the faith we have in Jesus Christ. We are so blessed.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was tons of fun this year. Caders was Blue, from Blue's Clues. Yes, we know Blue is a girl, but that's okay. Cade loves Blue so we thought he'd love to BE Blue for a day. He did. Myla was a pretty, little flower. She didn't love her costume so much. The headpiece bugged her, but she was a good sport. They both looked adorable!! We took Cade trick-or-treating and he was scared at first. But he saw that he was getting suckers and started loving it. He even started blowing them kisses bye-bye. All in all, it was fun!

One Sweet Kid

Cade is so sweet and his personality is blooming. Yesterday Myla was crying and crying and crying (which is unusual for her). I was in the middle of making dinner and couldn't hold her at the time...I didn't want to burn her. She suddenly stopped crying so I look back and Cade is kneeling by her bouncer stroking her hair and talking to her. She just looked up at him adoringly and was smiling. It's amazing the nurturing personality he has at the age of 2!

Later on, I made some hot chocolate and Cade and I were sharing it. Cade had a spoon and was spooning it into his mouth. It was dripping everywhere so I put it on his little table to let him have it. I started nursing Myla and Cade spooned up some hot chocolate, carried it over to me, climbed up on the couch, and fed it to me. Afterward he said, "Mmmm, nummy." He did that over and over again, at least 10 times. It was so sweet to me that he made the effort to feed me the hot chocolate. It wasn't easy climbing up on the couch with a spoon full of chocolate. Yes, it got everywhere, but the effort meant more to me than cleaning up the couch. I just love him to pieces!!

Our Little Thumbsucker

Myla is our little thumbsucker. She soothes herself easily this way. It's so cute to watch. She is such a delightful little girl. She is so happy and sweet. She recently started laughing. She mostly laughs at Cade. Cade loves making her laugh and will try almost anything to do so. The first time she laughed was when Cade fell down. Now he tries all kinds of stunts just to hear a giggle. It is such a joy to watch them together.

Happy 2nd Birthday Cade!

Cade's 2nd birthday was a lot of fun. First, Cade and Mommy went Build-a-Bear where Cade got to choose his very own stuffed animal. He chose the doggie. Then he got to give him a bath in the bathtub (really is was air, but it was his favorite part) and then he got to dress him. He picked out a Superman outfit--of course Mom helped him out a bit. Then we named him Paws. Cade sleeps with him every night. It's really cute. Cade also got a lawnmower from his Grandma that he LOVES to play with. We also had a Blue's Clues birthday party for Cade's friends and cousins. Cade loves to watch Blue's Clues. He calls it "doosh doosh." Kevin was Joe and played a game with them. We played Pin the Paw on Blue as well. It was a lot of fun. We can't believe our little boy is 2! He's such a blessing. He brings such joy to our house. We love him to pieces!!

Like Father Like Son

Cade is most definitely his father's son. He loves to color and paint and use sidewalk chalk outside. When we use sidewalk chalk he makes sure to mark every surface. He is very enthusiastic about anything to do with art.

Finger painting with pudding! A messy, but yummy activity.
Coloring is always a favorite.

This was our latest activity, water colors. I wasn't sure if he was old enough, but he loved it. He was very upset when I had to put the stuff away.

Happy 27th Birthday Kevin!

Today is Kevin's 27th birthday. I, for one, am grateful to celebrate this day every year because Kevin is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He is such a wonderful father and husband and person. He has accomplished so much and works so hard to make a better life for us. These pictures are of Kevin most recent accomplishment of riding the mechanical bull at Rawhide earlier this month. He didn't get bucked off the bull, the operator had to kick him off! He's a bull riding legend in his time. :) Love ya Kevy!

Myla and Cade

Our most recent family picture. This was taken on the day Myla was blessed.