around the house and a rap

oakley has just started to really get into doing artwork.  he's loving painting, cutting, drawing with chalk and colored pencils/pens and gluing.  it's fun to come up with new activities for him to do now that he's more interested in this stuff.  here, he is painting a picture...which led to painting three pictures.  he is so proud of his work and always wants to hang it on the refrigerator and screams with excitement when brian gets home so he can show it off.  it's so cute!

 

it was a huge mess, but we had fun!

so, kelly and i started a new thing (well, for us).  it's a toy exchange.  every couple weeks, we give each other a few toys from our own home.  this way, the boys have "new" toys to play with and we don't have to buy them. :)  we decided this is the best thing ever!  greyson and oakley are really enjoying the variety of toys.  as you can see, oakley is having fun playing the instruments here.  after much practice, he's gotten really good at "tooting" different beats.  tonight, he was tooting like this:  "toot toot tooooot.  toot toot tooooot."  we started singing "we will rock you."  he thought it was pretty cool. :)  lately, he's showing a big interest in music/singing songs.  brian and i both grew up playing instruments and love music, so it's neat to see oakley into it, too.

according to the box, this is the "one man band" setup.  haha!

we have created a new tradition on sunday afternoons:  the family nap.  oakley has started to look forward to it and it's nice to have time to relax as a family, after a busy week of go-go-going.  i took a couple of pictures last sunday just because i thought it was cute.  brian is usually the first to pass out...poor guy is worn.out. by sunday after getting up before 6 everyday for work.  (i'm a little jealous of how quickly he can fall asleep, too.)

sleepy heads

oakley mastered pedaling his bike a couple months ago, but would always get frustrated (and usually quit trying) when attempting to go up the hill on our driveway.  i've been working with him on perseverance with this task and he finally conquered the hill today!  i was so excited for him.  he's been working hard and tried over and over before getting to the top without my help.  after he did it once, there was no stopping him and he did it about 50 times again.  the best part was going fast on the way down.  i'm so proud of you, monkey!!

you can do it!

"woo-hoo!  i did it mommy!"

the more i look at these pictures, i feel like he's almost grown out of this trike.  my boy is getting so big.

some things this little man has said recently:

brian:  "she just made a peep."  (talking about beanie, our dog, after i said something about being annoyed by her)

a few minutes later:  oakley says, "i want to see a peep."

brian:  "what?"

oakley:  "beanie.  i want to see her peep."

laughing, we tried to explain to him that she didn't actually "make" a (tangible) peep. :)

today, we were watching a friend's baby.  oakley said, "mommy take her fireplace out please."

me:  "what?"  (that seems to be our response to a lot of things he says lately!)

oakley:  "take her fireplace out of her mouth."

me:  trying not to laugh, "oh!  her paciFIRE?"

at night, when i was putting him to bed, starting to sing a song, oakley said, "no mommy!  i want to say my prayers first!"

me:  "ok, great!"

oakley:  "dear God, thank you for vivian and vincent's house.  please help me have happy dreams.  in jesus name, amen."  (he spent the day at vivian and vincent's house that day.)

lately, every time we ask him a question, like, "did you have fun at..."  he replies, "yes i did/no i did not" instead of just yes/no.  it's the cutest thing ever.

things i'm thankful for:

new opportunities for me

a new arrangement with a friend to trade childcare

my MOPS group, especially the wonderful women at my table

the friendships from my MOPS group

oakley's reaction to having a baby in the house today (makes me feel like we need to add to our family!)

finally, here is a video of oakley rapping "twinkle twinkle"  he actually was singing it before i got the camera out, but then it turned into a rap.  too funny!