Oh Ollie!

Oh Oliver. How many times a day do I say that? He gives me a great big hug when he gets up, Oh Ollie, so cute I love you. He throws his breakfast onto the floor making a huge mess, Oh Oliver, really... It is so crazy how many things bring out those two little words.

Oliver is in the stage of being a picky eater and he can be very stubborn. Yesterday he came up to Corey with his cup asking for some juice. There was a bottle of un-opened grape juice on the table that he was pointing at, so Corey opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of grape juice that had already been opened and filled his cup. Oliver started freaking out and threw his cup on the floor. Corey, being confused, asked me what was wrong. Figuring out that he wanted the one on the table, I pretended to pour some into his cup. Now satisfied, he drank his juice. Oh Oliver!  

This last week the weather has been so nice we have gone on lots of walks, as we are walking Oliver will say "slide" and "wee" which is his way of saying he wants to go to the park. So we go. He loves playing on the playground and going down the slide, he loves running around with all the other kids and doing what they are doing. It is so fun for me to watch him grow and interact with other children. When it's time to go Oliver climbs into the stroller and as we are walking away he starts waiving and says "bye slide" and "bye kids". Oh Oliver, your so cute!

After Oliver wakes up from his nap and has his snack, he has so much energy. He rides his toy truck, plays tag/hide and seek with mommy or dances to his singing farm toy. He also really loves to run around the house dragging a ribbon around behind him, with our cat Rex chasing it. Oliver loves playing with his Rexy. Sometimes when he plays with him he can get rough, he tries to pick him up, or he lays down and put his head on Rexy's belly or just lays down on him. I say "Oh Ollie, be soft" or "Oh Oliver, don't do that". That poor kitty, but he is so good with Oliver! Those two are so cute together and always have been!

Having Oliver has made our lives so busy and has made our home so full of life. The good and the bad, the fun and the frustrating. So the number of times that I say "Oh Oliver" add up to make a great day, sometimes frustrating but still great!

Cooking

Continuing with my challange to improve, I want to work on my cooking skills. I enjoy cooking and baking and would love to get better. This will require me to get out of my comfort zone and start making more then my 25ish dinner recipes that I make over and over again and stop making desserts that come in a box. 

Food just makes people more happy. For me cooking is relaxing and satisfying, especially when everyone loves the food and are vocal about it! :) The smell of something cooking brightens a home and makes it more of a welcoming and inviting place. Eating yummy food satisfies the hunger and the soul. 

Along with cooking, I love hosting. Having friends and family over, eating my cooking, playing games and laughing around the table. Eating together is a great way to bond, strengthen relationships and get to know new people. 

I want to strengthen relationships and make new friends eating yummy food and enjoying each others company. So I am on the look out for new recipes. I have a goal to make at least 5 new recipes a month, to grow my recipe book and better my cooking. 

If you have a great recipe that you would like to share, I would love that. 

A New Skill

So my last post I talked about needing more hobbies, to gain more skills and to better myself. So this post is about that. I want to have something I can do when Ollie is sleeping and the house is quiet. So this new skill is Sewing. I would love to be able to make curtains for my windows, Halloween costumes for my family, and other fun projects. I think this is a great new hobby for me. It will give me time for myself but it will also better my home and family. So I now have a sewing machine.

I grew up around sewers, my sister Jenessa is very crafty and is pretty amazing! If I ever need help with my projects it is her that I call (she has already helped me in getting started with my first project). I took some sewing classes in high school and learned to do the basics and how to read a pattern, so I have some basic knowledge on this topic. It's been about 7 years since I have done any sewing and don't really remember much, but I am hopeful that once I start it will all come back to me pretty quick.

I have a few fun projects that I think will be great starters for me and I really hope that I can pick it up. I am most nervous with reading the patterns and getting it right. I remember struggling with patterns when I was learning and now I am not sure that I really remember anything about it. This is the one I picked to do first, it's a sewing machine cover and organize pockets. I thought that if I did this first, then I would have them for the other projects that I do.

So wish me luck and hope that I don't ruin the lots of fabric needed for this project. I will keep you in the loop on how this all turns out and show you the finished works.