Missing In Action

Auntie Tiny and Taylor at Legoland

Tay's temper tantrum...after a long day at Legoland

Tyler at Legoland

Taylor at Legoland

If anyone is still out there, just wanted to let you know my blog is/will be MIA for a while, we seem to have a virus on our computer at it is not allowing me to access google or my blog from my home computer...so, until we get this cleared up, the blog will be on hold...thanks for your patience.

Ava is a Superstar! See her with Dr. Jay Adlersberg on ABC-TV NY News!

Ava is a Superstar! See her with Dr. Jay Adlersberg on ABC-TV NY News!

This post is dedicated to a dear little girl with Autism...watch this video!

Knock, Knock...Who's There?

Well, I've been doing this blog thing for about 2 months now...it's hard to believe! I really enjoy it and wish I could post blogs more often...but, I have to admit I am curious to ask the following question:

"Knock, Knock...Who's There?

I would love to know who, if anyone, is out there checking on this blog. There are a few ways you can let me know you are out there...here they are:

1. Become a Follower (do this by clicking on the link on the right hand side of this blog)
2. Leave a Comment, even just to say Hi! (do this by going to the bottom of a post and entering your comment, it will then ask you to sign in...it will give you several options, then you will type in a word that is presented and voila, you've posted a comment!)

So, if you are so inclined to answer my "question" please do one of the above, because it will make this Mommy very happy : )

And, if you want to be notified when I post something new, click on the link on the right hand side and you will be alerted of any new posts : )

Thanks!

Cupcakes, Swimming and BBQ's

A little snack before swimming : )

I had a nice surprise today! Papa Rick and Grandma Nancy stopped by today to deliver some home grown veggies: zucchini and tomatoes...they know how I love the to stuff the giant zucchini's they are mmm mmmm good! I also got a souvenir from their vacation up north...a special tshirt from "Kara's Cupcakes" in San Francisco...www.karascupcakes.com (click on the title of this blog to see their website)! It is such a cute shirt, brown with pink lettering. After visiting we headed off to Grandma Kris's house for swimming and a bbq. This is our 2nd weekend in a row of going swimming at Grandma's...Tyler absolutely loves it! He is like a fish in the water...it is almost impossible to get him out of the water. Taylor isn't too sure about the swimming pool...I ended up going on a "chase" when she got away from me today...I had to hold her to get her in, but once there, she thoroughly enjoyed it! I showed her how to blow bubbles in the water, and how to hold onto the side of the pool. I then decided to see if she would sit on the side and fall into my arms...well she learned that one quick, and soon she was standing on the side and falling into my arms!!! We have to get some of Grandma Kris's pictures to post later. After all that swimming we were ready for a bbq. Daddy grilled up some hot dogs and we had some fresh zucchini marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper and seasoned salt...yummy! Tyler followed his bbq lunch with more swimming (in the shallow end). Grandma Kris and Taylor went on a walk to see some "wild animals"...rabbits, birds and lizards (the big hit)! Once Tyler heard about the adventure, he decided he and Daddy needed to go on another walk with Grandma and Sissy, so off they went! After the walk, Tyler decided to follow his Auntie Tiny and her dog Murphy back to their house...when we went to pick him up, he decided he wanted to have Murphy spend the night!!! So, we are having a doggy slumber party...Sadie, Rhoney and Murphy!!! Complete with treats/toys from Petsmart on the way home!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Summer Pics

Taylor tearing through a birthday gift...paper flying!

Alec and Taylor in the birthday jumpy


Auntie Nella, Cousins Kim and Jennifer

Tyler measuring up to a bear at La Brea Tarpits

" Guy Guy" posing with bear at La Brea Tarpits

Staycation Updates & Picture Parade : )

A week has gone by since the Staycation ended, so I thought I would update everyone on what we were able to achieve from the "list". We did pretty good, and the remaining items WILL be done before the summer ends.

Here's the list:
(1) Take Taylor to have her pictures taken - DONE
(2) Take the kids to the Discovery Science Center - DONE
(3) Go to a water park - not yet : (
(4) Go to the beach - DONE
(5) Go to the La Brea Tar pits - DONE (also Natural History Museum)
(6) Go to a theme park - not yet : (
(7) Have Taylor's 2nd Birthday party...including picking out a Tinkerbell cake and Tinkerbell bouncy - DONE
(8) Take the kids to the park - DONE

Now for the picture parade! Over this past week, I was getting sentimental about Taylor being 2 years old, I was going back and looking at pictures of when she was first born. Many of you know our journey to our daughter was a long one. Fortunately for us we were chosen by wonderful birth parents/birth family, who we remain in contact with through emails, pictures, letters, phone calls and even facebook. I cannot explain how amazing this has been... I guess you have to be there, or walk in our shoes to really understand the relationship, emotions and feelings I have about this. So, in honor of our beautiful, perfect Taylor, I thought I would share some "then and now" pictures. I think it is amazing how much Taylor has changed over just 2 years.

2 Years Ago

My first time holding Taylor in NICU

One of Jeff's first times holding Taylor

Closeup with Binky

Tyler's first time seeing his Baby Sister (looks like true love)

Now

Hide and Seek

Chillin with Nana's Tea

At the Beach

Yummy Chocolate

Happy Birthday & Vacation Pics

This is a very late and unfortunately short post (started on 7/9 and finally posted 7/14)...I'm so behind due to our "Staycation" and catching up with work : ( Anyway, I will be doing a post in the theme of a "Wordless Wednesday". This is where it will be mostly pictures of recent events...enjoy : )

Tay in her Tinkerbell Dress bouncing

Chey Chey and Kirsten...too cute!

Our highest ticket total at Chuck e cheese



Tay eating Birthday Pizza


Tay having a tea party (eggies) with her new Dolly

Nana & Tyler at La Brea Tarpits

Nana and Tyler at Natural History Museum

Tyler at Dino Lab @ NH Museum

"Guy Guy" (aka Chey Chey) & Taylor @ NHM

Tay's "disgusting" face

Tay & Ty at NHM

Tay, Ty and Guy Guy @ NHM

Mommy and Tay trying to pull out of tar at LB Tarpits

Tay & Ty outside LB Tarpits

The "Staycation" List

Yesterday started the first day of my 9 day "Staycation"! WOOOHOOO!!

So in my preparation, I made a list of things I would like to do during these 9 days with my family...I think it is fun to make a list like this...fun things we want to do, but may not always find the time to do...summer is the best time for these kind of lists, it seems like more things are possible in the summertime...for us, the Olson's, sometimes our "Olson Time" can get in the way of achieving our lists...what do I mean by Olson Time? Well, we sometimes have a " tendency" to be a little bit late...sometimes I think it is because we have great intentions, but the planning and executing of those intentions usually takes a bit longer than we anticipate...so here's hoping our "Staycation" allows us to achieve everything on our list!

Here's the list:
(1) Take Taylor to have her pictures taken
(2) Take the kids to the Discovery Science Center
(3) Go to a water park
(4) Go to the beach
(5) Go to the La Brea Tar pits
(6) Go to a theme park
(7) Have Taylor's 2nd Birthday party...including picking out a Tinkerbell cake and Tinkerbell bouncy
(8) Take the kids to the park

So, here on day 2 we've done pretty good! Taylor had her pictures taken yesterday in a special Harley Davidson outfit (especially for someone special out there)! And, today we went to the Discovery Science Center. I wish I had pictures of today, but this Momma forgot the camera!

I will tell you that the Discovery Center has changed a lot, since the last time we were there...which was over 2 years ago! Both Taylor and Tyler were able to keep themselves amused for 2 hours! That was no small feat, Taylor actually fell asleep in the car on the way there, but she perked up right away and was on the go, go, go! Daddy partnered up with Tyler, and I partnered up with Taylor. It was fun to let the kids go wild...off in different directions...spending as little or as much time as they wanted in the different displays/attractions.

Taylor was a little dare devil! She went on an activity where we sat in a small room and experienced what an earthquake feels like...it was pretty strong! People were amazed that she was brave enough to do it! She also sat in a simulated rocket blast off!!! It was loud and windy and she loved it! Again she amazed everyone! The most brave thing she did was go in a wind tunnel (tornado simulator) with me! The wind tunnel goes fast...she held on for a while, but this Momma eventually stepped out of the booth, it was just to powerful for her...but she did not complain one bit!!!

On the way out, I asked Tyler what his favorite thing was and he couldn't name just one thing! I know he and Daddy explored as much as they could fit into 3 hours! They spent a lot of time up on the 2nd floor, it has changed a lot! Tyler pretty much tried everything!!! He seemed to really like the Grossology section, the hockey area and the rocket area.

That's all for now! Here's a sneak peek at Taylor's photo shoot...compliments of GuyGuy (cousin CheyChey)...thanks for taking this pic with your cell phone...wish we could have gotten more without being too obvious : )

70+ Words of a Baby Cakes Toddler

Riding the carousel at South Coast Plaza in December

Cute toesies in the grass


My Diva look in Auntie LaLa's sunglasses

Taking a snack break at the Long Beach Aquarium

Well this post is dedicated to my Baby Cakes, scrumptious little girl...soon she will be 2 years old and I thought I would share her words with you...my friend Julie, who is a Speech Therapist, told me she should be speaking at least 50 words by the age of 2 and Taylor is well on her way at 70 words and counting! Her vocabulary increases every day. And on top of her growing vocabulary, she just spent her first night in a big girl bed last night!!! Aunti LaLa (my sis) brought over a princes toddler bed for her yesterday evening. She was so excited about it until she was placed there at "night night" time. Within minutes she was crying (broke mommy's heart), and made her escape. I put her back in the bed and she wasn't having it! Fortunately Auntie LaLa was still here and she did the dirty work of getting her to stay in the bed...I have to say LaLa was an expert, because after LaLa went in there ONE time, Taylor decided to stay in the bed and she slept there ALL night!!! She did not get up until 8 am...I think she would have slept longer, but Nana insists she was up when she peeked in on her...

Well, now the long awaited list of words that Baby Cakes is saying! Here they are: baby, mommy, daddy, dada, nonie (dogs name, Rhoney), Sadie (dogs name), bruder (brother), bacco (tabasco), agua (spanish for water), cookie, baba (bottle), LaLa (auntie), Bichel (Michael), Auntie, Nana, apple, ongie (orange), Lita (her daycare, Olga...short for Abuelita - spanish for grandma), Tiny (Jeff's sister), Ganma (Grandma), racias (gracias, spanish for thank you), por favor (spanish for thank you), tank you (thank you), eggies (scrambled eggs), leggy (leg), No, Yes, pretty, pato (zapato, spanish for shoe), rella (umbrella), peas (please), night night, I do, poo poo, pee pee, yummy, pink, doggie, cat, cake, offee (coffee), bubbles, coke, tea, nana (banana), ball, mas (spanish for more), down (can mean up or down), duck, blankie, moon, book, shoe, bear, mine, bye bye, side (can mean inside or outside), slide, chair, sit, no no, kitty, mmm, eat, cheese, ucky (yucky), ewww (something yucky), money and whoa!

Doggy School

This week we had a big event, Sadie's first day at doggy school...beginning obedience classes. This is a Mommy/Tyler date every Thursday at 5:30 pm for 8 weeks. I was so excited to share this "project" with Tyler. We were suppossed to have our first class last week, but they delayed the start of the class for one week to get more doggies signed up. We arrived promptly at 5:30 for our one hour class. I knew this might be a little iffy since Tyler is used to eating dinner as soon as we get home but we gave it a shot! There were only 2 other doggies in the class and they were both rescue dogs, with little socialization...so Sadie fit right in, and she was the old lady of the class, being about 1 year old.

In our first class we had introductions of the owners and doggies. There was one dog, about 7 months, who was a real barker...more so than Sadie. I expected some embarrassing moments with Sadie, because she barks at other dogs, not because she is being ferocious, but quite the opposite...she wants to introduce herself and play. Well the couple with this noisy dog had to get up and escort their doggy outside the training area every time it barked! That poor man must have taken his doggy "out" about 20 times. We were able to use a different technique, a spray bottle with water. If Sadie barked, we simply spritzed her with water in the face. She learned pretty quick and she only needed 4 or 5 squirts in the face before she got with the program!

Before we started our learning, we started with calming music and a massage. No, we didn't GET a massage, we GAVE a massage to Sadie! She thoroughly enjoyed that! After that, we learned 3 techniques with Sadie, each using a "clicker". We taught her to look for a treat when she hears the click. She learned to respond to her name with a click, and she learned to "watch me" with a click. After we practiced these techniques a few times we learned some do's and don'ts. Like what they can/cannot eat...did you know that grapes and raisins are deadly? And, the seeds of most fruits are deadly as well. Just that information alone was worth the price of admission!!

After our lessons were done, we were given some handouts, a folder and additional info. Then came the part I wasn't expecting. Since these lessons were at Petsmart, they took the "opportunity" for us to walk our dogs through the store. I thought this was just to practice walking our dogs....wouldn't you? Well, it wasn't for that reason. We were being "introduced" to products recommended by our trainer. I almost made it through the store, but I saw a great deal on doggy bones, the real kind but they were sterilized with some meat still attached. Well, I just knew Sadie would enjoy chewing on those, so I just had to get a bag. Then, we got to an aisle where the food dishes were and they had a portable water dish. It is canvas and it fold for "easy" storage. Well, I had to get that too...afterall, we were just told to bring a bowl for water when we come to training next week! This one was great! So I ended up dropping about $23 dollars before I left the store!!! But, before that we had an opportunity to put our dogs on the scale to see how much they weighed....Sadie weighed a whopping 53 pounds! I bet she has gained at least 8 of those pounds since we got her.

All in all, it was a fun time, even if they wouldn't let Tyler hold the leash during training...they said he had to be 16, oh well...I hope it can keep his interest, because it was a great Mommy/Son activity!

Have a great weekend, I hope to post again about Taylor's vocabulary.

Hugs to all!

The Olson's

Father's Day

Starting with some pictures of Jeff at his Daddy finest moments:

Helping Taylor on the playground

Playing with Tyler at park

Helping Taylor at park



Giving Taylor a "lift" while waiting in line at "It's a Small World"

Another close up of Daddy and Taylor

I have to take this time to tell everyone what a great Daddy Jeff is!!! This is from Tyler's Father's Day card:

Top 10 Reasons I Love My Dad!

10: I love my Dad because he reads me hard books.

9: I love my Dad because he helps me get to bed.

8: I love my Dad when he makes me laugh by tickling me.

7: I love my Dad because he taught me how to play a computer game.

6: I love to hear my Dad sing "take me out to the ball game"

5: I love my Dad because he finds time to play with me.

4: I know my Dad cares because he is smart.

3: I know my Dad is smart because he went to school.

2: I love my Dad because he works so hard at his job.

1: I love my Dad because he's the BEST DAD EVER!

And on the back of the card it says: You Rock!

"Dad you are nice. I like when you play with me. I love you when we go on the bed and play. Thank you for getting ice cream for me. Oh Dad, you rock my world! His gift was a rock dressed up like Dad!!!"

Miscellaneous Pictures (test)

Auntie Tiny and Taylor with Grandma's Bunny cake on Easter

Tyler and Taylor looking for Easter Eggs

Tyler and Taylor posing in their Easter outfits

Taylor on Easter

Grandma Kris with the kids

Summer is Here

Today is Tyler's last day of 2nd grade...I can't even believe it!!! And in just a few weeks my baby girl will be 2 years old! How can that be??? Time flies so fast...it seems just like yesterday that I was driving home with our beautiful daughter...my baby cakes! Our kids bring such joy to our lives each and every day...it doesn't matter how bad of a day I have, as soon as I see one of my kids, all is good! They are pure innocence and joy! The loves of our lives.

Nana (my Momma) is in town and is staying with us for a week! We are certain to get very attached and spoiled by her presence...I don't want the week to end...the only thing that could make it better is if I was able to take this week off of work to spend more time with her...but she will get to spend lots of time with Taylor because my sister is watching Taylor for two weeks while her regular daycare is on vacation.

Taylor has a way of charming everyone she meets and her Nana is no exception...she has already impressed her with how mature and grown up she is since her last visit in May...her words are increasing every day and she has become a little "parrot", trying to repeat almost everything she hears "rella" = umbrella, "tank u" = Thank you, "rasias" = gracias, "agua" = spanish for water, "peas" = please. Those are just a few of my faves!

Well, it is time to rescue Tay from her nap as she is chatting with herself in her crib, and Nana is pronouncing she "has a Mommy diaper"...will post again soon, I hope and will try posting pictures!

Hugs to all!