Fabulous Four!

A much longer (and mushier) post to follow on our fancy little FOUR year old, but here is the obligatory video of the most recent trip around the sun!

Funny girl

So, I don't think I really understand toddler humor. While "funny" is really important to Matt and I, and we really appreciate her effort, we aren't quite sure if Olivia's funny bone is fully developed. However, she finds herself (and all her friends) simply hilarious. A few examples:

1. One day while driving home, she told me this big long story about how she was so happy in music class bc she got a purple shaker (“finally!”) but Cate didn’t. Cate got white. I asked her if Cate was okay with white. She said no, Cate was sad but then said that she was happy bc she got purple. So I started to launch into a lesson about being happy when our friends are sad, empathy, etc. When she interrupts me and yells “Tricked ya!! Cate didn’t get white! They don’t even have white! Me and Cate both got blue.”  Then she laughs so hard she can barely contain herself.

2.  Knock knock.  Who's there?  Random noises, silly faces, nonsensical words....uncontrollable laughter

3.  

Olivia: Mommy, do you want to know something hilarious?  

Me: Of course.  

Olivia: (snickering as she says it) Adios achacho!  

Me:  Oh...yeah that's Spanish, right?  Did you learn that at Spanish class?  Do you know what it means?  And I think its "muchacho"...

Olivia:  (now the smile is gone and a look of frustration/anger is starting to appear).  Its not Spanish!  Cate made it up.  Its just what we say when we're outside with our babies!

And, just a random dump of phone pictures...

Eating ice cream if always fun....although this one has a strange pallet.  Her favorite flavor is orange sherbet.  If she has that, she can probably eat most of the bowl.  Otherwise, she really just likes the idea of ice cream more than actually consuming it.  The vanilla ice cream cone pic below involved her taking about 4 licks and then asking me to dump it in the trash so she could just eat the cone. And then she took 1 bite of the cone and said she was ready to go.

Pedicures and then princess dress-up (with a princess pile on Matt)

Her beloved HEB fell a little in the rankings once she discovered that Whole Foods has kid carts

We randomly ended up matching one day and I'm pretty sure it made both our lives.  She now insists that we try to coordinate our outfits on a daily basis.  No arm-twisting necessary to get me to agree to that!

Baby doll seflies have taken over my phone

Obviously, pretending to sleep is hilarious.  This is one of her go-to moves.  She will ask us a question and then start snoring but with the huge smile on her face, as shown in the picture.

Olivia and I have developed an obsession with Smoothie King.  Like we have a problem and need to invest in a good blender stat because we go at least 2x a week before work now! (Because Olivia rejects all my smoothies and told me I'm "not very good" at making smoothies, I have determined that it can't possibly be my lack of skill and must be my blender!   Alternatively, if anyone has any good smoothie recipes, send them my way!).

We met Cameron for dinner one night and they both got out of the car in matching sunglasses, a fact they both loved and talked about constantly.  The best part was when Olivia told him "I just knew you would have blue sunglasses." and he responded with "I just knew you would have purple ones!"

BFF weekend

As Olivia gets older, Matt and I are realizing that the conversations we have and the lessons we have to teach continue to get more and more difficult. Part of the body, animal sounds, the alphabet? Easy peasy. But, lately we have dealt with difficult topics like dying, bullying, and how to be a friend. These are some of the parenting moments that I love/hate the most! Friendship has been a constant topic this year and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. The idea of "best friends" and that you can only have one "best friend" is something that I know I struggled with when I was younger, so I am really trying to help her figure that out.  We try to show her that we have lots of "best friends" that all help us in different ways and we try to teach her what it means to be a friend.

And, we started this weekend off with a great example of what it looks like to be a "best friend" - we met up with the McGuires at “our ranch” (as Olivia calls it) on Friday. The weather was perfect, so the kids had a great time running around outside, enjoying Uncle Lloyd’s bbq, and just generally being crazy kiddos.

A few stories for the memory book –

We were all taking a golf cart ride and Olivia was commenting on how much she loved “our ranch.” Matt mentioned to her that it wasn’t technically hers but if she married Harris then maybe it could be. She replied “Well, I won’t marry him, but I will go on some dates with him.” When we asked her what a date was, she responded “It’s when you go out places.” We then asked her where they would go, she replied “India….London…..Japan.” So, clearly poor Harris has his work cut out for him. (And apparently Olivia was paying attention to all my travels at ExxonMobil!) But, sadly he will never get to marry her as apparently that spot is reserved for her friend Cate!

Olivia and Harris have really started to play well together. There were several stretches of time where the 2 of them were off playing together quietly and nicely. Well, they were in the “kids room” where there are some bunk beds that have some pretty high, steep stairs on them. We told the kids that they could not climb up them without a grown up. All of a sudden we hear Olivia scream “Aunt Jennie!! Harris needs you.” We come in to see Olivia on the top bunk and Harris at the top of the stairs, scared and unsure how to get up or down. He asked Jennie to get him down and she told him that he could do it and urged him to turn on his belly and get down, while she stood right there. He looked at her, considered the option, and then looked at me and said “Aunt Persis, can you help me?”  Parent shopping at its finest!

The kids were arguing over some coveted orange golf balls. We suggested they figure out a way to work it out on their own. I didn’t think they would be able to find a better solution than the one we previously offered (they each get 2 of the 4 balls) but, they really tried to figure it out. They went into the barn, told us to leave, and talked about it. If you’re thinking this story ends with a genius, kid-generated solution, you’d be wrong. They came out 2 minutes later and informed us they still weren’t ready to share.

But, one thing these 2 both agree on is that "screen time" is a wonderful time. Olivia likes to share her love of all TV shows with Harris and Daniel Tiger is one they both love. The daddies took the kids on an early morning golf cart ride on Saturday morning and apparently when Harris started singing the theme song, Olivia quickly joined in and they serenaded the dads the rest of the trip.

After being outside all day, all 3 of them desperately needed a bath. Baby Win got in and out of the line of fire pretty quickly, but Harris and Olivia enjoyed a longer bathtime. I was in the room supervising, but they were in their own world playing and talking. The conversation came around to them realizing their different “parts.” I won’t go into all the specifics but the discussion included this little gem by Olivia: “Harris. Repeat after me. Peeeee. Niiiissss. Now you say it.”

For some reason they were trying to pick each other up. It didn’t go well, but they both thought it was hilarious.

Then on Sunday afternoon, we had more "best friend" time when we went to see the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid with Cate and Emma. Cate’s mom did a special “Little Mermaid” lunch for the girls beforehand that was absolutely adorable.  

All dressed up in our fanciest clothes

When did these girls get so big?!

Despite these antics after the show, they were all pretty well behaved during it

As these pictures make clear, it is apparently an impossible task to get 5 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time...

I’m exhausted but couldn’t have asked for a better weekend!

Goodbye to Summer

I would say that the Deans made the most of Summer 2015!

And we sent Summer off in style with a trip up to Kingland, TX to stay at this awesome lake house with my parents, sisters and their husbands, kids/dogs.  The lake house was such a perfect house for Olivia - there was a huge basement with two beds in it that had its own separate door to the outside.  So, Matt, Olivia and I could all sleep in the same room (a fact which Olivia repeatedly claimed to be the "best part of the trip") and we could take her outside in the mornings when she woke up at the crack of dawn!  It also had a huge back yard that backed up right onto Lake LBJ which was perfect for both kids in the family - Olivia and Crosby.

For Matt and I, one of our favorite parts of the trip were the mornings.  We would sit outside with our coffee, watch the sun come up over the lake, and visit with my parents (who Olivia wakes up as soon as she does) and Aunt Yazzie (who was up bc of Crosby) while Olivia played in this huge, open backyard.  Pretty perfect.

This picture I caught of Olivia and Yazzie hugging.  I mean.  I can't even.

 

Since this was vacation, I loosened up on the rules - Olivia ate tons of junk food, stayed up way too late, and wore either this outfit or her bathing suit the entire weekend.  And just a little story for the memory book - I ordered this dress off Zulily a few weeks ago.  She's obsessed with tutus and dark purple, so I thought maybe we could create some sort of fairy princess ballerina type thing for Halloween.  Well, as soon as I took it out of the package, it has pretty much been on her body.  She wears it as soon as she gets home from school and sleeps in it most nights.  Then she yells at me in the morning about why she can't wear it to school.  But, on vacation, she can wear the same thing as much as she wants!

The backyard had this little angel statute that Olivia was obsessed with.  She carried it around like a babydoll, played school with it, played doctor with it, and made us take pictures of her with the angel.

As soon as Aunt Naz woke up in the morning, Olivia was ready to play her new favorite game "Pull the girls" where she pulls Yasmin and Nazreen around and laughs hysterically.  This game originated  night before (about an hour past bedtime when she was in the delirious stage - that one is right before mega meltdown!) and could barely breathe she was laughing so hard.

Another fun game - decorate the aunts with stickers....

The yard also had this great climbing structure

She was anxious to explore the lake.  First was Grandpa's turn to take her.

And then Aunt Yazzie

And, once the sun came out a bit more, we all headed down for some lake fun.

Grant is a big fisher and let Olivia help him reel in a fish - she loved it!

Another perk that we enjoyed was no schedule and no plans.  We filled the days with...

Puzzles

Got our hair braided

Cuddled with Crosby

Played some ping pong (pretty sure this was Matt's favorite part of the weekend, and was so glad my dad played with him!)

Took some selfies (I'm guessing this was one of Naz's favorite parts of the weekend)

Enjoyed some slipping and sliding

And made homemade whipped cream

For the past 2 years, we have also included an early birthday celebration for Matt at this annual Mehta vacation.  At Casa Dean, September is a crazy month between the annual Mehta vacation, Olivia's birthday and Matt's birthday, so being able to enjoy Matt's birthday celebration while on vacation is a great luxury for us and helps me by leaving a little bit of free time in September - a precious commodity!  We love these "Mehta" birthday celebrations that my mom has instituted and being able to celebrate with the whole family together (even if it is a few weeks early) is a great treat for us!

And when we got back home on Monday, we said good-bye to summer with a trip to our neighborhood pool for a few more dives off the board.

On Monday evening back at home in Houston, we sat down together and ate a healthy dinner (with no dessert), took a bath, put on a real nightgown, and did our normal bedtime routine before we got in bed for our normal bedtime.  As I was cuddling with her, she asked me "Mommy, why is everything regular?"  When I inquired deeper she said "Well, like why did we have healthy dinner?  And why am I going to bed at 'eight zero zero'?"  Hard to explain vacation rules to a 3 year old! ;)  But I assured her that we have plenty of fun weekends coming up when we can break the rules a little!  This was such a fun summer, but I think we are all ready for some cooler weather and Fall activities!