Halloween should always be on a Sunday

Last weekend was so much fun.

Saturday morning we went to the Denver Children's Museum, where they had some great activity for the kids:

Later that night Grandma and Grandpa came up to carve some pumpkins. Alex had a ton of fun with the seeds:

Sunday Morning Grandpa and Olivia made us some waffles:

We trick or treated on Main Street and in the neighborhood. Olivia was a pro:

It's going to take us a while to eat all of this sugar!

Berry Farm Field Trip

Last month Olivia's class took their first field trip. The entire family decided to go along for the fun!

First they let the kids get lost in a maze followed by picking a pumpkin:

(not sure why she decided to wear orange sunglasses the entire day)

(some of Olivia's mom's group friends - Aeva & Brynleigh)

(Alex navigating the maze)

Later, they allowed us to pick the best tasting raspberries we have ever had.

The girls worked hard to fill up their boxes,

while Alex worked hard to fill up his belly.

Birthday Month

As many of you know, August is a big month for birthdays in the Nau house. In the beginning of the month we celebrated Alex's first birthday:

First candle.

Adriane's new fun project is making candy bouquets. Both Olivia and Alex received one for their birthday. Alex quickly discovered that the bouquet = sugar. The second he saw it, he wouldn't eat anything else. We had to find hiding places where it was out of his sight (you would be amazed how many places we had to try).

As a little brother, Alex has developed the "you need the jaws of life to get this away from me" grasp. He only uses it on special toys. The Elmo phone that Olivia picked out for him is definitely one of those toys.

Grandma and Grandpa bought the coolest gift of all... a ball pit. It's been a hit!

Since Jamie is out of town this week, we celebrated Olivia's 3rd birthday on Sunday:

We had some of Olivia's favorite summer-themed foods for lunch: Hot dogs, corn, peaches and ketchup!



Olivia's candy bouquet.

Olivia wore her new blue fancy dress to open up her presents... she got some great new toys!

Lastly, Olivia had her first day of preschool last week (she is just going one day a week). Here she is with her back pack and new outfit (you can see little brother looking on behind the door):

Make sure to check out Adriane's Photography Blog for updated 3 year and 1 year pictures!

The Vacation Blog

Yes, we are finally getting to the vacation blog.....

On June 30th we packed up our car and headed off for a 10 day road trip and vacation. Since we did spend nearly half this trip in the car, this blog wouldn't give you a true taste of the vacation without some commentary on the time spent in our minivan. Each kid presented a different worry when it came to the car ride.

For Olivia it was bathroom breaks. We knew that she would stay entertained with DVDs and the simple fact that she spends hours a day sitting and looking at books. A couple days prior to leaving it appeared that Olivia was on the verge of being completely potty trained. We weren't sure how the vacation would effect that. Lucky for us, it moved her into the completely potty trained category. She did a great job telling us when she had to go and letting us know how long she could hold it. We went the entire vacation without an accident, and haven't had one since.

With Alex, we weren't sure how he could stay entertained and if he would sleep. Alex has always used pacifiers just for sleeping and we didn't want this to be the start of a full time habit. He turned out to be a road trip stud. He kept his normal nap schedule and was entertained by books, toys and Adriane sitting in the back and talking to him.

Olivia's great sense of humor made the car trip much easier for everyone.

Our first stop was Tucson, Arizona where Adriane's brother and his family live. We all had a good time, but no one as much as Olivia. It's been 6 months since Olivia and Alanis last hung out but you never would have guessed that... within minutes of arrival they were singing songs, reading books, playing games, and pretty much attached at the hips. Alanis was also so good with Alex. She shared toys with him and gave him plenty of hugs and kisses!

The girls - catching up.

The girls - watching cartoons.

Alex enjoying the couple of minutes that Tucson fell below 90 while we were there.

The kids - after a nice dinner out.

After a couple of days in Tucson we jumped back in the car for a 6 hour drive to San Diego. While in San Diego, we tried to find a balance between relaxing and sight seeing. Unfortunately it never got warmer than 70 degrees so our plan of just sitting and relaxing on the beach never happened. We did get to spend the 4th of July having a bbq with some friends and catching up. We will let the pictures tell you about the rest.

Beach Days: Adriane sharing her favorite beach activity with Olivia - finding seashells.

Alex's first ocean crawl.

We saw an entire beach filled with Seals!

Olivia the Explorer, right before tide pooling.

Wild Animal Park

It's too bad this bird didn't have the same bladder control as Olivia... shorlty after this picture, he let loose on my shirt!

Disney Land

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

The princess lunch at Ariel's Groto.

Each princess autographed Olivia's crown!

This moment is still discussed daily at the Nau house.

The Nau Clan after surviving Disney Land.

After 5 days in California we headed back to Tucson for one night and then made our way home!One last story in Alanis's play house.

Overall, our first vacation as a family of four was a good one. Even if it did take us nearly a month to recover and post this blog!

Bee Swarm

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in the family room reading some things for work and repeatedly thought I was hearing rain. I asked Adriane over and over if she heard it, but she just laughed because it was 80 degrees and sunny outside. I then went to check upstairs for a dripping faucet or pipe and was shocked when I got into the guest shower and saw hundreds of bees outside the window. I went outside and saw thousands of bees going into a hole outside our family room.

We called some beekeepers and each said they wouldn't be able to come out until at least Friday. So we figured we would just wait it out until then.

Then today I was outside trimming our grass. I had my IPOD and wasn't paying much attention. About half way through I noticed a large shadow and looked up and saw millions of honey bees. I ran inside to call some more beekeepers.
Now they considered the situation more urgent. When they came out they said the bees were hanging out with their huge honeycomb in the walls of our house. We had two separate beekeepers tell us they couldn't be saved. They both recommended calling an exterminator. This devestated Adriane because of the current honeybee shortage. So that's what we did. We still need to call someone to take off more dry wall and take out the honeycomb.

Music Blog

Like most kids, Olivia and Alex love music! Enjoy the videos below:

As we mentioned in the last blog, Alex loves to mimic all noises. Recently he learned to whistle. You can hear Adriane and I but eventually Alex lets out a little one:

Nana and Pop-pop bought Olivia a kazoo. She loves it. Here is her rendention of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". You can also hear her back up singers Bart and Alex.

Getting to Know Olivia and Alex, Version 2.0

Last year at this time we posted a blog with some of Olivia's favorite things and other tidbits we wanted to remember. We thought it was a good time for an update.

Olivia

Favorite outdoor activities:

Jumping in puddles

Watering flowers

Favorite indoor activities:

Legos

Books (having us read to her, reciting stories by memory, making up stories)

Funny Phrases:

"I have a tummy headache!'

Take rid of it"

Favorite Books:

"Lady Bug Girl and Bumble Bee Boy"

The Olivia books

Berenstain Bears

Favorite Movies:

Beauty and the Beast

Elmo's Springtime

Clifford

Parent Brag Moments:

Olivia loves to list the instruments she hears in every song on the radio

Counting is very natural to Olivia. She can recognize a group of up to five items by just looking.

Olivia is the best big sister. She is a great at sharing and is very aware of Alex's emotions and what she can do to help.

Alex

Favorite Toys:

Puppets (guaranteed laugh)

Balls

Jump-a-roo
Whatever toy Olivia has

Favorite Foods:

Yogurt

Peas

Banana-cado

Words:

Dada

Mama

Hi

A-WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (like a coyote)

Bed time:
Alex rubs his ear to comfort himself.
He needs 10 pacifiers in his crib, because he loves to throw them out of the crib during the night.

Parent brag moments:
Alex is a natural with his ball. From his first time seeing it, he knew exactly what to do with it.
His sense of humor. He loves to mimic all sounds and will just laugh at himself. He mimics Franni's heavy breathing and all of the noises Olivia makes.
Alex is so cuddly. He loves to nuzzle close and won't let go.

Since it's been a month since our last post, here are some photos of our most recent adventures:

(We watched five caterpillars turn into butterflies over these last couple of weeks. We read books about the process as well as "The Hungry Caterpillar".)

Nana's visit

This last week Nana came to visit from Rhode Island. Nana had Olivia make a list of things they could do during her visit. Here was Olivia's list:

1. Go to the park

2. Do a craft

3. Sing songs

4. Read books

5. Eat dinner

For #2, Nana brought a bird house they could paint together. Here are some pictures of the project:

On Nana's last night in town we went to Casa Bonita to check off #5 in Olivia's list. Olivia and Alex really loved watching the divers!

I think Nana and the kids really enjoyed her visit.