Goodbye night night

We are officially finished with "night nights!!!" I should clarify that "night night" is what Oliver called his pacifier. We had planned on getting rid of it before his 2nd birthday and we were just a little late but I needed a few days off work to accomplish this. 

The first day was nap time and he screamed for 25 minutes straight without it and was so worked up he vomited. So, I gave in and gave it back to him. It took about another 30 minutes to get him calmed down after that before he fell asleep with his pacifier. I took that time to research on the internet what other parents had done to get rid of it. A lot of the mom's took it to Build A Bear and stuffed it into a bear. Well, we don't live close to one of those so the other popular answer was to cut the tip of the pacifier off. So that is what I did. That night for bedtime he put it in his mouth and took it out handing it to me and said "it break." To that we said "oh yes it did break we better throw it away." Well we didn't throw it away in case he forgot that it was broken.  That night was about 10 minutes of screaming that it was broken until he fell asleep with it laying right beside him in bed. 

He's had 3 nights and naps now without it and hopefully I can say it is gone forever! He just needs a little reminding that it is broken when he asks for it but doesn't scream anymore. We've gotten rid of all of them even the "broken" one now. I'd say that this method was successful for us. 

Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

Since the weather turned hot again, or maybe I should just say that we were spoiled by cooler temps for a few days, it was time to make popsicles. Strawberry yogurt popsicles that is. 

You may know that I am Cara Lea but I am no Sara Lee so cooking/baking isn't my thing.  This is a simple recipe, and easy for me to follow. These are the ingredients: frozen strawberries, strawberry yogurt, and popsicle containers with lids.  

First take your strawberries with a splash of water and cook over low heat and mash them up a bit. The recipe said to use a immersion blender but I don't have one of those but I do have a potato masher and that worked fine. 

Next with your adorable helper mix the yogurt and strawberries together 

Fill the popsicle containers, apply lids, and freeze. See, not very hard to follow. No special measuring or anything just whatever you think will fill up all 4 areas. The left overs aren't too bad either after a bit of refrigeration. The hardest part was waiting for them to freeze. 

But it was worth the wait! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Oliver

I cannot believe that Oliver is 2 already! We celebrated again yesterday on his birthday with family. By the end of the day Oliver was saying "Happy to you" but still couldn't get the birthday part put in there. I don't think he quite understood what all the excitement was about. We grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs for lunch but Oliver could have cared less about that he wanted cake and cream (ice cream) 

When he turned 1 I took a picture of him sleeping and I think it will be a tradition so here he is the morning of his birthday before he awoke. 

And here's the birthday boy after just waking up 

Grandpa Chuck made Oliver a toy chest and inside was the first Mickey he would receive today, a Mickey Mouse backpack. He won't wear the backpack on his back though, it has to go on his chest so he can see Mickey. 

All the presents 

A Mickey Mouse fireman cake made by one of my coworkers 

Blowing out the candles, he needed a little help from Mommy to get them out. He would try to blow them but would say "hot, too hot." He wouldn't let go of his new Thomas choo choo either he got for a present

Yummy cake, he didn't get very messy compared to last year

Opening presents, notice, his 2nd Mickey Mouse

And his 3rd and last Mickey from Mommy and Daddy. I think everyone knew that he was obsessed with Mickey Mouse.  

He loves all his Mickey's and carries them around in his choo choo wagon.  

Most of the presents had to come out of the boxes immediately so he could play with them. He really only unwrapped 2 presents because he wanted to get them all out to play with then instead  of opening more presents so I did most of the unwrapping. 

It was a great party and day. We went to see some of the neighbors that night where they wished him Happy Birthday too and he was able to ride his tractor and swing, 2 of his other favorites. 

Happy Birthday Oliver, love you! 

Mickey wishes Oliver a Happy 2nd Birthday

Oliver is obsessed with Mickey Mouse and Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel so Mickey wanted to wish Oliver a happy 2nd birthday.

Vacation Day 3

Saturday we went to a State Park near Gretna to feed the fish since Oliver missed out on that the day before at the Zoo and do a little hiking. 

The fish were at a Fish Hatchery out there just like we have close to our house. Oliver loved throwing the fish food and actually made it into the water most of the time so that the fish could reach it to eat. I guess we'll be visiting our Fish Hatchery at home soon to help feed the fish.

We thought about going to a water park/splash pad on this day but the temps were cooler so we opted for hiking instead. This is how our day started. 

And this is how is ended going between Shawn's, Uncle Darrin's and my shoulders. I don't think we knew going into this hike that it was a total of 3 miles! That is a lot of an almost 2 year old, a 2.5 year old and a 5.5 year old but everyone did quite well making the slow trek.  

Oliver took a nap in the car on the way back from the park which was only about 30 minutes so we hoped he would sleep more when we got back to my sister's house but that didn't happen. Mom and I went and did some shopping then and the boys played outside in the sand.  

Oliver learned to play frisbee

And hit a ball off the tee which most of time when he wasn't helped he just threw the bat into the tee to knock the ball off. Either way I think he had fun being outside with his cousins and we had a blast watching them.  

Darrin grilled burgers that night on the grill and it was another early bedtime after much needed baths. The adults enjoyed a game of Wits and Wagers and a few adult beverages including homemade strawberry daiquiris my sister had made.

Sunday we ate breakfast and loaded up the van jam pack for the long trip home. I love being out there and seeing my family but it sure is nice to be home and back on track for naps and sleep schedules. 

Vacation Day 2

Friday we headed to the Omaha Zoo and started off in the Desert where it was hot and stinky.

We didn't have to tell Oliver what these were, he just started saying "oink oink." I guess in his almost 2 year head they looked a lot like pigs.

A lizard (it wasn't real, mommy wouldn't have let him touch that if it were)  

The orangatangs were very noisy, you could hear them all over the park

The aquarium is amazing at this zoo. The penguins were a big hit with all 3 of them. Oliver loved to watch them jump and fly into the air the dive into the water. 

The big aquarium is a tunnel you walk through, Oliver had the biggest amazed look on his face when we entered it. 

More monkeys

We were so thankful that around 11:00 Oliver fell asleep in the stroller so at least he would have a small nap. It lasted only about 40 minutes but it was well needed.  

He missed feeding the fish though when he was napping so Shawn made up for it and fed them instead.  

We went on a train ride around the park after a picnic lunch to see some animals that weren't visible when walking. 

There was a petting zoo with farm animals that I think besides the choo choo was his favorite part. He had to pet each and every goat. Those goats are so well trained, just sit there and let kids pull on them and step on them and hit their faces.  

He thought the donkey was so funny when it bucked and heehawed

Posing with some animal statues

  

We headed back to Colleen and Darrin's house for a short rest before going out to eat for supper. The kids had no trouble going to bed this night and neither did the adults.