School's out for summer!!!I

I took my last final for this semester a few hours ago and it feels great to be off for a few months! It's crazy to think that I'm already done with a semester of school and I seriously wonder why I hard such a hard time seeing a semester through the last time I was in school! I've got a lost more drive now and while it was a crazy semester, I'm looking forward to the next one. I've got TONS of room for improvement, but I'm still so proud of myself for finishing the semester and not getting discouraged or wanting to quit. It was a good start and I can only go up from here!!



This is the Quad, where all of my classes were. It's such a beautiful building!



This is the outside of the library. I didn't get to spend much time there but hopefully I will next semester!

All is Well (Pictureless post)

Nothing much has really been going on here. Just the same old school and work routine. Oliver is getting so big and talking so much more every day! I love having conversations with him, even though they don't really get anywhere it's still adorable and brightens my day. He has a hard time with "s" and "r" so "Dora" comes out "Dowa", "Boots" comes out "Bootf" and "snake" is "nake". He LOVES Dora the Explorer and is starting to understand what she's saying more and more. He now will say "map!" and "backpack!"when Dora asks for help and the other day pointed at the stars on the tv and said "estrella" (Spanish for star). He can't quite get the "l" sound yet, but since estrella is pronounced "es-trey-a" it is easier for him. Too cute!
We're looking forward to a fun summer full of trips and beach days!

Oliver's Birthday

This guy...



turned 2 in March! We celebrated with frosting taste testing...



Lessons on how to be patient...



and lots of hugs and love!





His piñata was as tall as he was. It was awesome!



The boloches (party favors)



This is how interested Oliver was in the piñata! Once the candy came out, though, he sure got interested again!



Wait, why am I hitting this bear?



I TRIED to make him a bear cake. I learned that I'm not a great decorator!



Blowing out the candles!











Nana and Poppie Rencher bought Oliver the cutest push along motorcycle so I sat down and figured out how to put it together and he loves it!




We had so much fun celebrating his birthday! He is such a joy to have around and is such a good kiddo!

Oliver at 2 years (Well, 2 years and 2 months):
* He has a great vocabulary. He is starting to put sentences together and can understand SO much now, which is great!
* He LOVES water! There's a toddler "swimming" class at the community center during the summers so I'm going to try and enroll him this summer!
* He's turned into such a boy! He makes everything growl, even my hair when I'm playing with it. He loves cars and balls and one of his favorite things is wrestling with Uly while Mommy's at work.
* He's 37 inches, which is really tall for his age! We're hoping he continues to be tall for his age.
* He's started being a lot more lovey, and gives hugs, loves, and kisses when you ask for them.
* He knows how to "pound it" and gives high-5's, and Uly taught him to give wet willies, which they're both very proud of.

That's all I can think of for now! :)

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day was pretty fun, with a lot of adventure mixed in! Uly had the awesome idea of going whale watching in Long Beach and then to the aquarium. GREAT ideas, but they did not mix with almost 2 year old Oliver! Whale watching was fun, but he just wanted to run around the whole time and I just was terrified that he would some how run off of the boat, haha. We saw a few whales which was cool, but then on our way back in we were SURROUNDED by what had to be 3 or 4 pods of dolphins, just hundreds of them swimming alongside our boat, it was SO COOL. I tried to get some pictures but my camera was just too slow. :( The aquarium was really neat, and Oliver was captivated by the fish! Uly and I got to pet a few sting rays, and some other fish, and got to see some pretty cool tide pools with huge starfish in them! Here's some pictures from our day!



This is the weirdest picture to date of Oliver and it cracks Uly up every time he sees it. It's a combination between him just waking up and a weird angle which equals awesomeness!



"Helping" in the kitchen



What's Valentine's Day without pink waffles??



Waiting to board the boat. Uly was such a good sport! He was sick, but still insisted that we go and put up with my crazy hyper kid the whole boat ride!





This is right about where we realized this was not going to be the idyllic, romantic whale watching trip we had imagined, lol.



We still manged to get some really cute pictures, though.



And of course, gave lots of sympathy to poor, poor Oliver who wasn't allowed to run around the boat. What mean parents!



This is the best-ish picture I got of the dolphins.



Yup, we're mean.

Christmas!

Unfortunately enough time has passed that I don't quite remember exactly what I going on in some of these pictures, but oh well! Christmas was so much fun, I was a little anxious about being away from my family for the first time but it really was a wonderful Christmas full of new traditions and memories! :)



This is what happens when you turn your back on Oliver and a full pack of tortillas even for a minute. Silly boy!



I think I snapped this right after we took Oliver's picture with Santa at Bass Pro shop...



...And this is 5 minutes later! He didn't get into much of a nap either day!



Opening Christmas jammies from Nana and Poppie










Santa managed to find Oliver at Uly's parent's house, thank goodness!! :)



Love at first sight!



He didn't even care that there was stuff IN the cart, just that it had wheels and he could push it!



Yasmine, Abby, and Eddie



PRESENTS!



Oliver had such a fun time tearing open all the presents!



Uly opening the quilt I made him for Christmas. Keeping this a secret was SO HARD, but it was SO worth the surprise on his face!





Uly was the happiest man ever, all cuddled up with his new book and new quilt!





This is about five minutes after the first picture of Uly in his chair! :) We had a wonderful Christmas and got thoroughly spoiled by everyone!