Mo' Cousinz, Mo' Zoo

Aunt Kate and Noah were not the only relatives to spend time with Vivi while I was incapacitated!  Aunt Maria, Uncle Paul, Eva, and Charlie swung into town to celebrate Eva's birthday!  Eva turned 5 this year, which totally blows my mind.  I can't believe my beautiful little god-daughter is already 5!  Wowza.  

Of course, the cousin visit involved the requisite zoo visit as well.

And the requisite turtle photo.  Eva, at least, takes a nice photo, as opposed to Vivi O'Shock and Noah the Mad Finger-Nibbler.

Vivi also got to RIDE A HORSE ALL BY HER SELF.

We heard about this a lot.  For the next week or so.  It was a white horse.  She remembered.  She rode all by herself.  And pointed this out quite a bit in her recollections.

She also recovered from her butterfly fears from earlier in the summer.

This may be one of my favorite photos from the entire summer, actually.

And found time for more cousin pictures.

Why is it that a group of children will never look in the same direction at the same time?  Why?  This would have been perfect except for Little Miss Scowl.

...and we were still grumpy on the train.

Thoughts as to why Vivi refuses to take a HAPPY train photo?  Many.  Thanks to my sisters for helping out with home girl?  Many  as well!  And, I promise, that concludes our zoo photos for the year.  Next year?  OMAHA!

Back in Black (and Blue)!

So, I got hit by a truck.

I know it's not really a great excuse for ignoring the blog for a month, but I do feel somewhat justified.  As this blog is all about Vivi's life, and I have, until the past week, been somewhat absent from Vivi's major doings.  

This is the worst part of the whole accident.  I cannot do a lot of the Mom things that I love to do, and Russ is (an awesome) full time house runner/dad.  Vivi, with her natural tenacity, has been amazing about the whole thing.  She was SUPER IMPRESSED that I got to ride in a "Clambulence", and likes to come over to me and tell me that I have "owies on my legs," and "a BIG CAST."  True and true.

She has also been spending some time with the ever-patient Aunt Kate and Noah, who were so kind as to give Russ the occasional break so he could do fun things like mow the lawn (whee!).

She had a lot of fun with them.

As you can see.

I think Noah occasionally had his fill of Vivi.  Here he makes a valiant attempt to escape yet another cousin photo op...

And neither one of them seem thrilled about the cousin-train photo op...

It's okay.  Ice cream after the zoo cures all.

And Vivi's reaction is a little frightening in its intensity.

Then it was off to the park!  Where Vivi displayed inspiration from her recent zoo visit.

Monkey a-go-go!

I have been to this park many times, and know she is totally safe.  However, when Kate showed me these pictures after they came home, my heart still flip-flopped.

Thankfully, she did stop playing monkey long enough to play "America's Next Top Model--Playground Shoot."

Thank you, Aunt Kate and Noah, for all the help you gave us (and still give us!) during my recovery!  We love you very much!

A.M. Ottos

We had a really fun weekend!

Grandma and Grandpa Otto came to visit, and Grandma Otto and I ran a booth at the Farmer's Market on Saturday!  We did pretty well, and had some nice family time, too.  But all the hard work and fun resulted in some sleepy Ottos on Sunday morning.  We found out that Vivi is without question the most picturesque early morning Otto.

And we all posed with her to prove it.

With Grandpa...

...and with Grandma...

...Daddy puts in a pretty good showing, possibly AM Otto #2...

...Mommy not so much.

Ollie looks pretty good though, I have to say.

Depot Diva

We're getting a new front door.

I'll wait for all of your cheers to subside.

If you have never attempted to exit our house through the front door, let me tell you that it is a process.  Our front door acts like the front desk of the Hotel California--you can enter, but you can never leave.  At least not without a lot of banging and tugging and swearing.  Russ and I HAVE discussed the benefits of keeping such a door until Vivi graduates from high school, but have decided that the benefits were not worth the 16 years of swearing and not being able to get out of our house.  Thus, the new door.  Which means a lot of time at home improvement stores.  With our two year old.

Lowes is my fave when it comes to taking Vivi, because they have the sweet race-car carts, and she can drive all over the store yelling, "Go faster, Daddy!" and "Look out, people!"  That's right, casual shoppers.  Beware.

Alas, not even the sweetest of race-cars can hold Vivi's attention for more than 20 mts or so, which means Russ and I race to whichever section we are visiting that day, quickly discuss our options, and make a decision.  Then Russ gets to go through all the particulars with the salespeople and Vivi and I shop around and entertain ourselves.

We both really like the lighting section.

I like to look at the different chandeliers and fixtures, imagining where in the house I would put them.  

Vivi likes to pretend that she is at a New Years Eve party circa 1989.

Really, a glass of bubbly would really complete this look in my opinion.

On a side note, I wound up liking that lampshade so much that I think I am going to go back and purchase it when we order our door.

I am a bit worried I will have a tough time keeping off of Vivi's head though.  Hm.

Fancy Footware

One of the rules of Vivi's new daycare is that they don't wear shoes in the house.  Which is fine.  However, Jean also asked that each child bring a pair of slippers.  ?!?  Any ideas how hard it is to find slippers for a size five foot in the middle of summer in Lincoln Nebraska?  Pretty dang hard, let me tell you.  Unless you want to pay something along the lines of TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS.  Um, no.

My solution?  Ballet slippers (thank you, Target!).

Vivi was REALLY excited about them.  She wanted to wear them all over the place when we brought them home.  Strangely, on the same day, she also perfected climbing into her chair, which makes me so terribly nervous I cannot articulate it.  She climbs EVERYTHING now.

I am considering getting a second pair of ballet slippers for when it turns cold (which had better be a long, long time from now).  They are just too cute!

Fancy feet!

Arts and Crafts

Vivi has been adjusting to her new daycare, and it's been going really well.  Jean, our new daycare lady is really into projects and activities, and Vivi seems to be enjoying it very much.  

And the fruits of her labor?

At first glance, you would think this was a simple paper bag puppet of a bird.  And technically, you would be right.

However, according to Vivi, this is her "Poo-Pet."

Or, sometimes it is "My Poo-Pet Derek."  As we have a very good friend named Derek, I get more than just a little giggle out of this.  Awesome. (Just FYI, "Derek" is also the name of the ghost Vivi constantly tells Jean she sees in the kitchen of the daycare.  Hm.)

I can't wait to see what else comes home!

School's In Session!

The other day while I was getting ready to head to work, Vivi was playing quietly in the living room.  All of a sudden, I heard, "Okay, Jack!  We're ready to learn!"  I peeked around the corner and found this.

Apparently, Jack was in need of some cash-handling lessons.  Vivi was giving some instructions in numbers ("This is number three, Jack), and demonstrating how to open and close the cash drawer.  However, Jack seems to be a quick learner, because they quickly moved on.

Science must come after accounting, because Jack was getting schooled in jungle-animal recognition.  It's handy to have a desk and two chairs!  (But I must say, Vivi is a very bossy teacher.  Look out, world.)