Fun at the berry park last week when the sun was shining! The kids love this little carousel, and I love it when they play on it together because they are both happy, and I am happy that I am not sitting on it getting motion sick!
Exploring the bushes for treasures. Elora always explores in the trees and calls for Oliver to follow her. I am not sure he understands what he is supposed to be looking for, but he sure loves following his sister around and playing in the bushes.
I always bring bubbles to the park, and Elora for some reason was trying to lick them this day. Ew. These ones taste very soapy, they are not the edible bubbles you can get sometimes. Oliver thought this was pretty funny and decided to try it too.
My beautiful princess crouching on the ground looking at bugs. I have been thinking I should write down some of the things the kids are interested in for those who are curious, and also so I can remember years from now what they were like at this age! So here goes. Elora loves:
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Anything she considers fancy – lace, glitter, ribbons, hair clips, jewelry, purses
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The color pink! Although she says she loves all the colors
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Picking out fancy clothes and hair clips to wear everyday
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Princesses, knights, castles, dragons and all the battles that go with them
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Pirates
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Hello Kitty
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Gardening and eating fresh green beans!
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Bugs, except daddy long legs spiders (she thinks those are scary) and she likes ants unless they crawl on her
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Sticks, rocks, flowers, leaves
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She loves animals and wants to be an animal doctor at the Schonbrunn Zoo when she grows up
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Books! More and more books! And also, making up her own stories, or having anyone who is nearby make up stories
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Favorite book: Either the illustrated Book of Mormon or Fancy Nancy. It might be a tie.
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Primary – she loves to talk about what she learns at church, and tell us about the songs she sings
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Music and dancing
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Swimming and the beach
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Dirty Teddy (he probably should have gone higher up on the list!), Clean Teddy, and Tina (one of the Teddys’ children)
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Museums – any kind! Trains, art, natural history, the armory, whatever. She loves to learn.
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Drawing, painting, making bracelets, and crafts of any kind
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Helping
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Praying and reading the scriptures – and she probably knows the scripture stories better than I do, she remembers everything!
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Favorite foods are cookies, popsicles, chocolate, gummy bears, pasta, bananas, cereal (and more cereal), cucumbers, ham, cheese, and most vegetables. She cheered when I bought broccoli the other day, and hugged it. Although, I will admit it, she also thinks McDonalds is the greatest place on earth…
I don’t know how to sum up Elora, she is such a funny little person. She is very smart, loves learning and reading, is learning her letters and lots of German words, loves helping and taking care of people, loves to laugh and be silly, and adores being outside. She is afraid of the vacuum and other loud noises! She is the sweetest little girl I have ever met, and is very sensitive and kind, but also very high spirited and independent! She know what she wants, and needs to understand exactly WHY if you are trying to explain why she should or shouldn’t do something. She is full of questions and curiousity, and most of all she loves being a part of a family and tells us all how much she loves us and gives hugs to everyone. We are so lucky that she is the big sister! 
And my sweet little boy practising for his High School Senior picture apparently. What a way to strike a pose! So here is all about Oliver. He loves:
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Music, singing, and dancing – He really likes the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and often sings us “Come Ye Children of the Lord”, which is super cute.
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Riding trains and buses – if he even hears a bus go by or the sound of the train doors closing and we are not on board, he says, “Oh no!” at which point we reassure him that we will catch the next one and he says, “Okay! Ride bus? Ride choo choo?”
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Playing in the shower
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Brushing his teeth (because he likes the taste of the toothpaste!)
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Taking baths
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Reading his stories
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Cooking! And pretending to cook and feed everyone in the house.
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Favorite books: Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. And I am sure there are more… He actually reads his daddy’s copy of Green Eggs and Ham from when he was small.
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Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood (both our kids like it, but he asks every day if he can watch it, even though it is a rare thing in our house…)
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Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Yoda, Thomas the Train, Winnie the Pooh, Batman, Curious George, Superman, and Spiderman
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Pirates and cannons!
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Bubbles – the kind you play with, the ones in his milk, the ones in the bath, the ones that can be made with your spit…
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Babies! He loves to look at them and talk about them, and say “baby sad!” when he hears one crying.
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Bugs as long as they stay away from his shoes. When they crawl toward him, he backs away saying “No shoes, no shoes!” He especially loves bumble bees and butterflies
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Running!
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Swings and slides – really the park in general.
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The train museum (Technisches Museum)
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Favorite Foods: Candy of any sort, especially lollypops and gummy bears, noodles, plain yogurt, cucumbers, peanuts, peanut butter, cereal, and he tried boxed mac and cheese recently, and now hugs the other box we have and asks to eat it every day. It even joins his favorite toys in the shower… He also thinks McDonalds is great, and I am starting to wonder, is there any child who doesn’t recognize the yellow M from a mile away? It really is impressive how young they learn considering we rarely eat there!
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He wants to be a bus driver when he grows up. But sometimes he also says he is a frog. Or Yoda.
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His blankie.
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Swimming and the beach
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Nursery at church. As soon as we tell him we are going to church, he says, “Play?”
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Praying – he and Elora fight over who gets to pray at the dinner table. So funny, I don’t remember that being a problem in my family when we were young…
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Clothes and shoes. And he is very particular about what he wants to wear. More so than Elora was until she was four…
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Bracelets – Elora made him his own so he would stop stealing hers. Now he wants a purse, so I let him know he could get a backpack…
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The ABCs. He is learning the ABC song, and his numbers, very cute to hear him attempt counting when playing hide and go seek with Elora: 1,2,3,8,9,10! Halfway there buddy!
This is super hard as it turns out because there is so much I could say about my kids. Oliver is super snuggly, and loves being with mommy, daddy, and Elora. Especially daddy right now because daddy is super busy working on his thesis. He loves to sit on Chris’ lap while he works, sit on his stomach while he does situps, and sit on his back while he does pushups. He carries his favorite books around the house, and stocks both the shower and his favorite “train” cardboard box with his favorite toys. He always wants to sit on the counter while we cook, pull his own food out of the fridge, and sweep the kitchen floor. He is learning how to talk really well, and always entertains us by singing super loud, and asking every morning if he can go ride the bus. He is very curious, loves climbing and exploring, and when he finds something interesting he intently studies it. He also loves to laugh. He has a super cute smile, and is actually learning to be pretty good at sharing, if Elora asks him nice! He likes anything that belongs to his sister, but is amazingly good at getting her to follow him on his own adventures, no matter how much Elora insists that she is the teacher…Elora and Oliver always try to take care of each other, and love to hug and play together. I hope they stay friends as they grow older, it has been amazing to watch them bond and grow so close. Elora says Oliver is her best friend, and I hope it stays that way! So I hope you found this somewhat interesting if you chose to read the whole thing… I just always want to remember what this phase is like, it has been a real interesting journey living here in Vienna, and once in awhile I look at my amazing kids and think how lucky I am to be their mom! I hope I can be the mom they deserve, because they are awesome little people.
And to end out visit to the park, Elora decided to bask in the sun. That is literally what she said. In the lovely completely wet sand, because how can it dry out when it has been raining for a month! I love that she wears her pretty clothes and then crawls around in the sand! Time for darker colored tights… Going to the park is fast becoming my favorite activity with the kids. I love all the great things we do in Vienna, but it is wonderful to relax at the park and enjoy watching the kids play together.
