Family Reunion!

        A few weekends ago the kids and I went to California for a short but sweet Dela Cruz family reunion. The siblings all arrived on the same day, one right after the other. First it was the stylish Michael, then me the mommy, and the sporty and new dad Mitch with his awesome wife, Valeria, and the almost cutest baby in the world (my babies are the cutest ~_^ lol). It was really fun that we landed one right after the other.

My parents picked us up and it was just a fun filled weekend. Ate a lot of Filipino food, of course. We all ate at Max's Filipino restaurant. Later we made some doughnuts and a s'more cookie bar. MMMMmmmm. Always a food fest when we go home. We also attended my cousin's wedding which was gorgeous, so we got to see even more family. I wish I had a picture of it because it was absolutely breathtaking. The reception was of course just as beautiful but once the party got started it got loud. Oliver and the two little babies were getting a little overwhelmed. Oliver kept running up to me asking me to cover his ears but I was holding/feeding Madeline so he went and found Uncle Mitch instead.

Our almost complete first family portrait. Thank you Russel and Joy for getting us together! It was a beautiful wedding!

Family was getting their party on but Oliver wasn't feelin' it.

        The only thing missing from this reunion was our most wonderful Weston Beck. Next time, we'll have everyone there. I just want to let whoever reads this to know how much I love my family and I can't imagine my life without them. It's just like food. I need them to survive. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! I just hope that moments like these will never be forgotten.

Oliverisms

Oliver, is the funniest, most loving, sweetest, pull-your-hair-out crazy boy you'll ever meet. I love HIM! So here are some of my favorite "isms" from my one and only Oliver.

When he gets frustrated and wants something his way he'll say whatever it is he wants at that moment then ends it with "that's the deeeaaallll"!

 Oliver loves to play with his toys so when we need to do something else like eat or go out he'll say "noooo, not yet. put on timer, few more minutes"

When I'm having a hard day and my patience is running a little low, he seems to be able to sense it so he'll call me "mmmaaaaammmm, mmaaaammmm...." then softly say "...i love you!" and then gives me a big hug. If that doesn't melt your heart, you have none, joke joke...except not really. 

Oliver has gotten the pooping down as well. It took us a while to get him want to sit down on his potty, but his basket of poopy toys helped a lot. So much so that he doesn't like to get off his potty. Let me just add that when he sits on his potty he wants to be naked. This is what he looked like one night on the potty which he now does more often.

 Oliver has moved up to the potty to an adapter seat onto the toilet. It has done wonders for our noses!
     2/4/12: We have, since this post, moved the potty back on to the floor so he can go pee pee by himself. There has been a few accidents but overall he has consistently been doing his business in the potty! GO OLIVER!! wahoo!
          

Fun Oliver phrases:
      - "that's the proooblleemm!"
      - "that's cool huh?"
2/4/2012
      - every morning rain or shine he will walk into our bedroom and say "it's a beautiful day!" he has been doing this for a few months now.
      - "that's not the truth" he doesn't really use it in the right context but its funny hearing him use it.
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There's more but I can't remember them right now so I'll add more when I do. ^_^