Thanksgiving and Tree Trimming!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends Yarelys and Steve, their little boy (Caden), and Steve's parents. I'm happy to report my dishes turned out much better this year. Last year my sides were a disaster! Well, my sweet potato casserole was a disaster again this year, but it tasted OK!
Just for fun- Thanksgivng 2008- so small!



Olivia had a great time playing with Caden:



Caden even stole a few hugs:





Olivia left lots of fingerprints on their glass table:



Playing Peek a boo with each other:



We had a great time!



Lots of new toys to play with at Caden's house:



I started putting away leftovers when we got home that night and noticed that Olivia was missing. She had been playing in her playroom, so I called for her and heard a giggle from the direction of the laundry room. She had found the container of marshmallows I had given her earlier (healthy, right? I had to give her something to keep her occupied so I could finish cooking!). I'm not sure if she hid them before we left or what, but for whatever reason, she thought she had to hide in the laudry room (with the light off) to eat them. Isn't she a bit young to be "hiding" when she knows she's doing something wrong?! I love how she brought her paci and cell phone with her:





Yarelys and I went to the Moonlight Madness Sale at the Outlets in Castle Rock (about 15 minutes South) that night. Talk about Madness- WOW. We only made it to one store (Gymboree, of course!). We got there right at 10:00 p.m. (when the sale started) and it was packed. We had to wait in line for an hour and 20 minutes just to check out, but I got some great deals and cute clothes for next year (and this year!). The lines were long in every store, so we headed home after Gymboree.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we're moving right along to Christmas! I found a 7 1/2 foot pre-lit Christmas tree on Craigslist for $50. LOVE Craigslist! Olivia was more interested in taking off each ornament as I put them on:





She lost interest before we finished, but seems to like the tree. We ended up putting the baby gate around it, though. I'm afraid she'll knock it over!





It was fun to decorate with her and I'm excited for Christmas. We have another busy week planned!



This is usually what her hair looks like in the morning:



And I have to share this video. Avry was with us Wednesday and they were playing together really well. Avry was pushing Olivia in the stroller around the island in the kitchen. I was working on a pumpkin pie when I heard them open a drawer in the island. Every cabinet in our kitchen has a baby latch, but not the drawers in the island. I use them frequently and can usually keep them away pretty easily. I could have stopped this, but I grabbed the camera instead. So glad we bought the jumbo box of sandwich bags at Costco!



They are so funny! Have a good week!

Things I said I would never do as a parent...

We've all said them. Or I have, at least. "When I have kids, I'll never ______ (fill in the blank)." I have a whole list of them, so here you have it. Things I said I wouldn't do:

1) "I'll never..." Co-sleep. Yes, Olivia is still sleeping in our bed. She was starting out in her crib for a few hours, but that went downhill when I started working at night. She knows Daddy won't let her cry too long!
2) "I'll never..." Google every "symptom" I think she has, self-diagnose her, and call her pediatrician to confirm.
3) "I'll never..." Have the pediatrician on speed dial.
4) "I'll never..." Have a house over-run with toys. Ha!
5) "I'll never..." compare my child to another. This one became a little too hard when I started watching Avry. They're only 2 days apart, of course I compare them!
6) "I'll never..." let my child make a mess while eating, then take pictures and share them on the internet...

*****************WARNING************************
Pictures of kids covered in food below! I used to think these pictures were gross, until I took some of Olivia. I honestly never thought I would let her get this messy, but with spaghetti, what else can you do? Avry was here, too, so I stripped them down to their diapers and let them go.



Not too bad starting out...



This pic is blurry, but I had to post it. I gave them spoons, but they quickly gave up on them and Olivia decided the noodles were too slippery for her fingers, so she just stuck her face in the pile of spaghetti. I probably won't be telling her to eat with her hands too many more times!



Since they were a mess anyway, I gave them a Zumerz (yogurt), too.





Olivia made a much bigger mess than Avry, although Avry held her own!



The last picture is me trying to keep them corraled in the kitchen while I made a path to the bathroom. Not easy with 2 toddlers! I finally sacrificed my clothes and picked both of them up and dumped them in the tub. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I can't wait to try finger painting when it warms up!

Things have been a little busy around here! So busy, I didn't take many pictures this week. Shocking, I know. I did manage to snap a few yesterday. We went to a playdate with Yarelys and Caden. Caden outgrew this little horse and they gave it to Olivia:



She loves anything she can ride or push. See?






Watching Bodine out the window:



One reason we've been so busy, is I started a part time job at Target. I work nights and weekends and asked for 15-20 hours a week. A stress free, easy job, except they scheduled me for around 30 hours this week and next. It will be perfect as soon as my hours are cut (probably after Christmas!). We've been trying to get a new routine down. Usually, it involves Michael getting home from work and me leaving for work! I still have Avry here and there, so things are working out well.

I've still been knitting like crazy:





















There is a method to my madness, which I will tell you about soon...

Michael got Olivia a baby doll stroller while I was working one night. She likes pushing it around, but she especially likes sitting in it. Avry was here Tuesday and they were having problems sharing the stroller. I finally sat Olivia in it and Avry pushed her. Two happy toddlers!





Since there were only (gasp!) 2 pictures of Olivia on this post, I'll leave you with a picture I found a few days ago. Not sure how I missed it (maybe because we have around 4000?...). She's 8 months old here and we had just gotten the new camera:



LOVE that expression! Have a good week!

Grandparents are fun!

Olivia's Mamaw and Papaw (Michael's parents) visited this week. We were busy, busy! They arrived last Wednesday night and left this morning. Thursday, Olivia actually stayed with them most of the day and let Mommy get a haircut and Daddy go to the eye doctor. She's doing much better with the clinginess, actually not screaming when Michael and I aren't in her sight. Fingers crossed it stays that way!
Friday, Olivia had her 15 month appointment. She weighed in at 16 pounds even, but we think she weighed a little on the heavy side. I'll spare the details, we'll just say she was a little stopped up that morning... ;) She's right on track developmentally, with around 12 words she uses regularly and appropriately. She knows 4 animal sounds and can point to most of her body parts. We discussed a few things and finally decided to go ahead with the blood work we had been thinking about doing since her 9 month appointment. Talk about torture. Try holding down your 15 month old while a nurse tries to get 3 vials of blood from her teeny tiny arm. Not fun.

Luckily, we got the results today and they were all normal. She's just a petite little girl! And we're fine with that. :)
We hit Estes Park after her doctor's appointment and this was Olivia when she got out of the car (after being in it an hour and a half):



She was literally squealing, running down the walkway. Estes Park is another place we take most of our visitors. It has an entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park and you are pretty much guaranteed to see elk roaming around.





It's a shame she never gets any attention! Ha! All eyes on her:



We only saw 2 elk in the park and were somewhat disappointed; until we turned a corner and saw this behind the grocery store:



That's more like it! We kept pointing them out to Olivia; she would nod and say "Doggie!"
We stopped at The Stanley Hotel on the way home. It's the hotel where Steven King wrote "The Shining" and the TV mini-series was filmed there. It's supposedly haunted and we wanted to take the tour, but they don't allow children under 5. So, we wandered around and stared at the people that were there for the Paranormal Events conference. Lots of people carrying around books titled "The Ghost Hunters Survival Guide," and "How to Catch a Ghost." Interesting...





The hotel had an ice cream/coffee shop and we stopped for a snack:



Smart people stocked that little shop. They put the stuffed animals on the shelf closest to the floor. You know, the shelf all the kids can reach?



That's Olivia, after she grabbed a bear and headed out the door. Needless to say, he made the trip home with us:



Saturday we headed to the casinos in Blackhawk. It's about 45 minutes from our house. We ended up spending the night and swapping out staying with Olivia. Michael's luck was in check that night and we actually won some money! David won a little and I think Pat broke even. It was a nice little trip and Olivia enjoyed running the halls of the hotel.
We spent the rest of the week around town, visiting different places. Like Little Monkey Bizness:





Going down the slide:



Avry came to play with us Tuesday and we took them to a new kiddie place called The Hop. Look at this place:



Olivia squealed with excitement when we walked in. However, I took her down the "big" slide first. Avry had loved it and she likes slides, so I thought she would be fine. She WAS fine going up and about the first six inches down, then we picked up speed and she was terrified. She left claw marks on my arm, she was holding on so tight. Poor thing. This is what she did the rest of the time we were there:



She loved that car, but I felt really bad she was scared! I got her into one of the bouncy houses with Avry and she did OK:



Mental note: start with the small slides first!
We went to the aquarium Monday, where Olivia sported her first official pigtails:





Does this picture look familiar?



We took a picture in the exact same spot back in May when Mom was in town (and Olivia was sporting her first official half pigtails):



6 months makes a big difference! Michael and David went to the Broncos game that night and seemed to have a great time! I'll post some pics of the game when I get them off of Michael's phone.
Olivia spent many afternoons going on walks with Mamaw (while Mommy and Daddy napped, ha!):



We had a great visit and were sad to see them go this morning. So nice to have a built in babysitter's for a week!

I have to add this video from Halloween. She was being so cute, sharing her candy with Mommy and Daddy: