Here's a little bit of Kate throughout the past couple of months. She is a wonderful baby. So easy going. Here she is eating a Mother's Oatmeal Cookie which is one of my favorites. Good thing she was in a bathing suit. She got rinsed of in Lake Travis to get this mess off. She makes this silly face, scrunching her nose up and breathing loudly through it. The next picture is just too cute.

This is a picture of the first fish Nick has ever caught. I gave Dan a fishing pole last Christmas instead of a video game that he wanted. He REALLY wanted Call of Duty! The fishing pole has come in really handy. We have a pond in the neighborhood that is very convienent to fish in. (Today the water level in very low due to the drought) Dan has even been able to make a few fishing trips to the Gulf of Mexico with some co-workers. Pictured here is a "biggie" that Dan caught when he went to gulf in July. He was so excited. Too bad the meat wasn't good enough to eat.

Easter

Easter 2009

Easter dinner was with my brother's family. Since the children were still in their Easter outfits I thought it would be nice to get pictures of them, the boys in blue and the girls in their white dresses. I love white dresses! In the picture of all the children are Mike's girls, Addie and Elyse and our friends the Yorbrough's.

More pictures of Easter. Auntie Mylie shared some of her chocolate cake with Kate. Her first chocolate cake at 6 months and in a white dress. I wasn't so sure about this.

More and more yard work

Dan is on vacation this week and I have been keeping him busy. When we moved here 2 years ago our yard was just grass (beautiful grass with no weeds). My dad suggested we join the Arbor Day Foundation and get free trees. We joined and got 5 free Crape Myrtles. They came in a long box which was a surprise. Even a bigger surprise was what was inside. Five sticks! Dan laughed. He said he would have nothing to do with the trees. I planted them in the corner of the yard to protect the from the wind as they grow up stronger. Well, the trees have grown and Dan is surprised. It was time to move the trees out of the corner so they could grow better. We barrowed a wheel barrow from one neighbor and barrowed and large post used for digging from another neighbor. Yesterday we planted one tree and today we transplanted the remaining 4. It was quite a job but they do look nice. I would love to take a picture but our camera needs to be repaired first. Now the next step is the vegetable garden which will be another project. It is full of weeds. We have also been working on removing large weeds from the grass by digging them up and putting dirt back in the hole left behind. Seems to be neverending. The yard looks green but that is because the weeds are so plentiful. My front yard looks great and has just a few weeds. I love to garden! Spring time seems to be so busy. The inside of my house gets neglected and I fall behind on the cleaning. I think the reason why I enjoy gardening is because I did it a lot as a child. We prunned trees, shaped bushes, planted flowers, picked fruit and vegetables all together. I want my own family to work together in the yard. Dan takes pride in the grass and the nice lines the mower leaves behind. Today he was such a help moving the trees and he is so happy to have that checked off his list!

$.05 Plants!

I love a good deal! I went to Lowes the other day and had to check the discounted plants. I picked out 4 Geranium plants to put in my hanging pots in the back yard. I get to the checkout and the lady says my total is $.22. What?! I told her I would be back. I had to get more! There was a lot of plants marked down because they were hit by frost or they were just not blooming anymore. I was so excited! The adrenaline was pumping and more and more people were around me shopping for the best looking plants. The word was out that each plant was $.05. What a steal! There was a lady who filled her whole cart and it totaled just over $3.00. Mine came to $1.04. I could have bought more but all I could think about was where are these going to go?
I have a pretty flower bed in front already with boxwood, Mexican Heather, Daffodils (which have not bloomed yet), a few struggling Geraniums and Mums that have come back and taken over. I have rings around my small Oak trees that have mums and some other flower I can't remember right now. I also have a strip of dirt running along the back of the house which has Agapanthus and Daylily's which I planted as bulbs 2 years ago. They are finally getting leaves and I hope to get some flowers this year. My finds were 2 Hydrangea's, 6 Geraniums, 3/6 packs of Marigolds, 3 daisy bushes, and a few other plants that I know will grow well. I planted the Marigolds and a few others but I really need to find some other dirt to plant in. I have plenty of space I just need to dig up the lawn which sure takes a lot of energy to do. I am hoping that Dan will help me next week when he is on vacation:). Dan takes pride in the lawn and I take pride in the beautiful flowers. Oh ya and the vegetable garden still needs to get planted real soon. Maybe next week?

Our new swing set

Dan is on top of our new swing set. To get this picture he used a latter and had me take it away so it was out of the picture. I took 3 pictures and he seemed to be a bit anxious to get down. Dan built this all by himself! I am so proud of him! It holds 3 swings and a glider. Plenty of room for the cousins to come over and play. It stands 10' tall. The kids sure catch some 'air'. We hope that this stands many years. We would love to add to it in time.

Chloe Elsbeth Olson

Chloe was born September 17, 2004. She enjoys helping us around the house. Her favorite job is cleaning glass. She loves glass cleaner! She likes changing Kate's diapers. She likes to help feed Kate her rice cereal. She likes to be funny. She likes to be kept up to date as to what day of the week it is and what we will doing that day and the next.

Nicholas Konrad Olson

Nicholas was born April 2, 2002. He is in the 1st grade and is really making real progress! He loves him bike, Geotrax and Hotwheels. Nick and Chloe are best friends. Nick is very helpful with Kate. He too likes diaper changes and holding Kate when I need a free hand.

Kate Nicole Olson
Baby Kate was born September 16, 2008. She was 6.13 lbs and 18 1/2". She is a slow grower which is a change for us. She loves to be carried around by her brother and sister.