Wooden Shoe Slippers

Grammy and Grandpa sent a special Easter package in the mail. They gave the kids candy and slippers from their recent trip to Amsterdam. The kids LOVE their new slippers and wear them all the time.

Nora's Artwork

A month ago Nora refused to draw pictures or right letters. Now it's the only thing she does. This is the first real picture she drew. I'm so proud! She also wrote her first thank you letter.

Tulip Festival

On Saturday we went to the Tulip Festival. It was such a nice day and the flowers were so beautiful. I took about a million pictures.

Of course if you only see this blog, you probably think I'm raising two very charming children. Don't get me wrong, they are charming...just not always. Here's a picture of things falling apart. I'm insisting that I get a picture because the tractor says "Russell" even though the universe is telling me to get over it.

They were so excited to crawl into the wooden shoes.

The kids went on a ride. They are in a "shared cow" and we were pretty nervous to send Ronan out on his own. Jeff ran behind just in case one of the kids decided to abort mission.

Ronan was so proud of himself for poking his head out of the flower hole.

Cuteness

Nora and her dress up necklaces. I'm worried she's going to strangle herself with all this jewelry!

Nora and Ronan snuggling before bedtime. Why do they like each other so much?

Picnic

We had our first picnic! Nora was so excited and kept asking when we can have picnics at the zoo for the zoo concerts.

Ronan was showing off Nora's Grinch. His face is greasy from sunscreen. Can you believe we're already putting on sunscreen???

Wonderful Weather

Spring has brought us wonderful weather. We had temperatures near 70 for a few days last week and took advantage of the warm weather and spent most of our days outside. These are a few of the pictures we took of the kids playing outside.

Nora painting outside. I beg her to use paint brushes, but she can't help herself and has to use her fingers.

We had a special treat: ice cream cones! Ronan kept saying, "Yum, yum."

We also let Nora go for a bike ride around the pond. She loves riding her bike and is getting better at it each time she goes for a ride.

And the water table too!

The kids love swinging in the back yard. I have to push them over and over and over again. I can't wait until they learn to pump.

Sneak Peak

Once we sold our house we had to find a new one for us! Luckily, a house that we had seen a month earlier and really liked was still on the market and we decided it was the perfect house for us. The house is in the Terra Linda neighborhood and is right behind the elementary school. If everything goes according to plan, we should be moving in on April 28!

St. Patrick's Day at the Zoo

The Monday before St. Patrick's Day I decided to take the kids to the zoo. We packed a snack and piled into the car. Once we arrived at the zoo and were all packed into the stroller I got a phone call from our agent asking if our house could be shown in an hour. I almost said no, but decided it was worth heading home, cleaning up and leaving the house again. CRAZY. Of course we got a phone call the next morning with an offer for our house! It was so worth leaving the zoo to actually sell the house!
But now I owed the kids another trip to the zoo, so two days later, on St. Patrick's Day, we headed back to the zoo...and had a wonderful day.

Nora and Ronan watching the animals.

Nora loves her zoo key and always has to stay to listen to the description of the animal.

We had to see the new mongoose at the zoo.

Ronan has taken after his sister and calls alligators "Tick, Tock." So cute, yet so strange.

St. Patrick's Day

The Olsons love celebrating St. Patrick's Day! We decided not to have a party this year because our house is for sale. We also couldn't bring down our holiday box from the attic because there is so much stuff up there right now. But....we did manage to have a great day! Up Tipp!

Eric came over after work and brought Guinness for the big boys, and cupcakes for the rest of us. The kids really enjoyed the green frosting.

The kids loved playing with the green mess throughout the house.

The leprechauns came and messed up the kids room. Nora searched for all the gold coins and gathered them up. She was really excited for Ronan to wake up and see the mess.

Big Girl Bike

The great debate (of many currently going on in our house) has been about Nora getting a "big girl bike." We've talked and talked and talked about it and ultimately decided that we should wait until we are in a new house. But then came Bike Day at Nora's preschool, and suddenly the pressure to find a bike was renewed. We knew that in order for Nora to actually take any interest in the bike, it was going to have to be a Princess bike, and that it better have Ariel on it. After a pretty extensive search and no Little Mermaid bike, we were about to give up hope. Fortunately, I found one and bought it just in time for Bike Day. Nora was so excited and even helped her dad put the bike together.

We've taken the bike every where with us, including our local recreation center that has a bike path. Ronan loved hanging out there underneath the basketball hoops.

Of course we had to take Ronan out on a trike when Nora was riding her bike. He's not much of a fan would would rather run through the streets.

Our big girl in action! She really hates wearing her helmet, but knows that it's the most important rule about riding her bike. She's learning how to use the brakes, but has already mastered the bell. She tells us that if she sees a car she will ring her bell and they will know to get out of her way.

Preschool Pick Up

It has gotten harder to drop off and pick up Nora from preschool lately. Ronan hates to leave his sister and desperately wants to explore her classroom. While she's at school, he is always asking for her- especially in the car. He loves when we pull up to her school and always starts calling out her name. Once we have Nora and are heading out the door, both kids run as fast as they can down the sidewalk to the stairs, sit down, and wait for me. I actually grabbed my camera to capture a shot of the two of them waiting for me. Ronan is always so excited to have his sister back, and Nora is always so excited to beat him to the step.

Goat Playdate

Ronan tried to play a game with the big kids. I took him to Nora's play group even though she was in preschool and could go!

One of the families in our playgroup hired goats to weed their black berry bushes. I had never heard of this and didn't want to miss out on a chance to see the goats roaming a suburban backyard. Ronan loved the goats and tried to catch a little feisty one a couple of times.

Is This Safe?

Ronan is obsessed with being on top of our table. It is a constant battle to keep him on the ground!

Spring Video

Hope you enjoy this video Jeff made. It's one of my favorites.

Birthday Party!

We went to Aubrey's birthday party on Sunday. It was a princess themed party and Nora was really excited to wear her Princess Ariel costume. It was a lot of fun because almost every family there has two (or more) kids and the older kids played together independently and the younger ones had fun playing together too.

Ice Cream

On our last day of swim lessons they gave out free ice cream coupons. We waited less than a day to use ours! I think Ronan might have had a brain freeze!

Edgefield

We had an early morning showing on Saturday and once we had the house clean we decided to stay out of it for the day. We went to Edgefield for the Irish Festival and had a great time. Although it wasn't raining, it was freezing cold outside.

Nora loved watching the Irish dancers. She would've joined them if we had allowed her on the stage. Maybe we should look into lessons?

Nora and Ronan watching the Irish dancers. Nora is clapping her hands to the music. When we got home we practiced our new Irish dance moves. Nora can move those legs soooo quick.

We also had front row seats for the bag pipes. Ronan was shocked into silence. I think he really liked the big drum.

Ronan hanging out on a rocking chair.

My little tree huggers.