Cousin Peter

We are so very happy to welcome a new cousin: Charles Peter Stokes.  Lucky Aunt Jen got to snuggle with the sweet plump little guy this morning. He is blessed to have such a wonderful mommy, daddy and big sister. :)  Here's a little footage for family not so close to enjoy.

Isaac works with Birthday drill

Aunt Heather gave Isaac a hand-powered drill which he got to open tonight. He used it to drill pilot holes on a coat rack.

Lucy Dances!

Here is Lucy dancing to one of her favorite songs, "Procession of the Nobles". Matt & I played this song together long ago in middle school band with Mr. Washburn, but that is a rabbit trail I don't have time for now. :)

Since our little girl is having a birthday in a few days, perhaps there will be two posts this week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmLxip0JFd4&feature=youtu.be

Merry Christmas from Isaac and Lucy

Wishing all of you the merriest Christmas and a blessed new year!

The Olsons

Lucy creepy crawling

So, Mom, here is finally a clip of Lucy. Maybe now that my computer situation at home is a bit improved I'll keep you a little better updated! Isaac may or may not have on underwear, so watcher be aware. All I know is that my nearly perfectly potty trained son was having so much fun putting stickers from Aunt Crissie onto a box that he forgot how urgently he needed to pee (that part is not in the video-just the lack of clothing)!

Here's the link:

http://youtu.be/2pfh0Nb271w

Thanks, Mom!

Spring is such a hopeful time in the garden--the earth is warming up, pests are scarce, plants are small but promising.

Mom, here are a few pics (now a bit outdated--everything's an inch or two taller, the carrots are even up, and the spinach picture is not cooperating). Thanks for helping me get it started.

lettuce

sugar snap and snow peas

barely visible beets and swiss chard

onions

An update

Well, despite the lack of posts we are still here...more in love with our little Lucy than ever!

Isaac continues to be gentle with his "little goose." No doubt we'll see some sibling roughness at some point, but we are enjoying the sweetness while it lasts.

Lucy (5 wks) going to church for the first time. What cute leggings--thanks Aunt Caroline. :)

Grandparents

Lucy and Isaac have been enjoying some grandparent time!

Isaac & Lucy

Thankful!

I am so thankful for...

a sweet new daughter, Lucy. Thanks to all of you who prayed for her safe arrival!



a loving husband who has taken excellent care of me (and Isaac and all the housework) in and out of the hospital.



wonderful friends (the Pfeifers and Bibos) who watched Isaac during our hospital stay.

a flexible big brother who is quick to give his new little "worm" and "sprinkle" (his pet nicknames for her) kisses. Pictures of Isaac and Lucy to come...

a kind mother in law and mother here/and soon to be here to help take care of us.

and a recovery that seems to be going more smoothly the second time around!

Fall & Christmas

Isaac loved the leaves this fall! The first time I took him out to rake the leaves into piles he would stand in the middle of one and say "more will come!" until I had them raked up to his chest. Of course as soon as I started trying to bag them he realized the joy of running through piles and scattering leaves!



The first snow was also a hit!


And there's nothing better than the wonder and excitement of Christmas through the eyes of a two year old! We got a few good laughs from his ideas. Having just had his birthday, he understood that Christmas was Jesus' birthday. While we were out one day, he piped up and said, "Jesus is flying through the sky, coming down to blow out birthday candles." And Christmas morning, Isaac crawled into bed with Aunt Caroline, and when she told him, "Christmas is here!" He asked, "Getting out of the car? Coming inside?"

"Happy to You"!

Lucky little boy got to celebrate his birthday with his grandparents and his friends!








Thanks to Tim for these photos.

For those of you not in our family (and maybe those who are ;), this video is a bit long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6SEoApsTQY&hd=1

A sister for Isaac

Third ultrasound was a charm; the baby finally cooperated! It looks like Isaac will be getting a little sister in late February. :)

Isaac at dinner

We had a good laugh at Isaac talking/playing with his food at dinner last night!

"Brocoli biking" as he pushed it back on forth on his tray.

"Skin off eggie" as he peeled the crusty part off of his fried egg.

"Hi, fishy" when offered a bite of my fish. He proceeded to ask for several more bites and had this conversation with himself while eating the bites:

"Fish swimming!"

To a big chunk--"Duda (Daddy) fish! Give kisses!"

To a stringy piece--"Fish with long tail! Be so gentle!"

Petting Zoo at the Apple Orchard

On Saturday we took a visit to the apple orchard and made lots of apple sauce with our friends, the Bibos. Isaac ate an unseemly amount of apples, enjoyed chasing his little friend Anna up and down the rows of apple trees, and had a blast at the petting zoo. He especially loved the little bridge you'll see him on in the picture below (that is until he fell off and landed face first in the mud--quite horrific to the pride as he's just now going through the stage of understanding being "dirty.")

Thanks to Tim for the pics.

Isaac and the Giraffe

Isaac recently had his first trip to the Baltimore Zoo--courtesy of Matt's work. It was raining that day, but the rain actually made the animals more interesting to watch especially the big cats; none of them were sleeping! I think this is the first zoo trip where Isaac was old enough to really get it! He's been asking to go back everyday since then and obsessed with the gorilla fleece you'll see him wearing in the video. Here is Isaac feeding the Giraffe.

Isaac and most of his Aunties (on the Conner side)

Isaac loves his Aunts!

 

 

Isaac and Grandma Conner

Isaac had a wonderful visit from Grandma and lots of his aunties this summer!

 

 

 

 

Catechism

Pastor Paul gave Isaac a copy of the First Catechism put to music for us to listen to and think about for Sunday school. Isaac especially loves the first song that goes "Who-oo-oo-oo made you?" and the children answer "God!". We are going to have to work on the message though cause Isaac asks for it as the "owl song." :)

Grandmother's Two Coo Apricot Preserves

15 minutes at Larriland farms yielded 16 lbs of apricots. We did have the help of two expert pickers: Caroline Conner and Meredith Toering.



Caroline called Grandmother Conner (Isaac's Great Grandmother) to get her apricot preserve recipe: apricots, sugar, and patience. Grandmother's preserves are the best!

Here we are washing, pitting and cutting.



Matt almost got himself kicked out of the kitchen for wanting to take too scientific of an approach with something that was clearly an art. :)



One of the two pots...


When Isaac eats something he loves or is excited about he coos. His first taste of the preserves earned two coos!



Yummy!


And as a bonus: Isaac's first (and I'm sure not last) marker disaster.