Life in Tennessee

Wow, hard to believe we've been here 3 weeks! Life is starting to settle somewhat into a routine. We found a house we love and are moving (again) the last week of October! I knew there was a reason not to unpack all these boxes!
We took Olivia to the Chattanooga Zoo last weekend. We really like Chattanooga (we like Dayton, too. Chattanooga seems to be our go-to place for entertainment, though!). Olivia was super excited when we told her where we were going. We have been a little spoiled by the Denver Zoo (which is awesome), so she was confused when there weren't any elephants, giraffes, lions, and a few other of her favorite animals. She did love the monkeys:





This one interacted with her for a few minutes:



We got to brush some goats:



And ride a carousel:



We had fun! Plus we found a pool with a splash pad right next to the zoo. Hopefully, we can visit it before it closes this summer.

Last Thursday, her "school" had a water day and parents were invited. Funny, these pools never entertain her for long at home, but add a few friends and it's a blast!





Michael went with me to pick her up last Tuesday (she goes Tues/Thurs) and her teacher was laughing as she shared this with us. She apparently had all the girls in a circle (her class has 8 girls, purely by coincident!) and asked them to tell her something God has made. She went around the circle and got to Olivia. Her answer? Boobies. Geez, can't wait for all her new little friends to go home and share that with their parents!

She had her first ballet class last night. My heart was bursting. She was sooooo excited and sooooo happy about ballet class. She asked me at least 20 times if it was time to go. Here she is right before we left:



And a few pictures I took outside:



The panties showing really make the outfit, don't you think?



This is what she did when I asked her to do a ballet move:



She was literally jumping up and down with excitement, waiting on class to start. There isn't a window to watch the dancers, but the teacher left the door open for the parents to peek. I snagged a chair right by the door and she ran over to me twice to (loudly) whisper: "Mommy! I'm doing ballet!" Pretty sure I was the only parent sobbing in the waiting area, ha!







And a little video:



She can't wait for her next class!

Daddy has been showing her how to make funny faces:



And we finally picked up her hand print plate for her 3rd birthday:



We could only fit one hand this year! She is definitely not a baby anymore!

Last Days in CO/ First Days in TN!

Well, we have arrived! It wasn't easy, but really is moving ever easy? Here's the highlights of the past 2 weeks:

Avry wasn't able to make it to Olivia's birthday party, so we met them at a local splash park a few days before. Can you believe they still fit in a swing together?



Loving the splash pad:



A few more pics from her birthday party:





I went a little theme crazy- notice the crown attached to the frog pinata:



Monday and Tuesday were crazy. This arrived at our house around 8:30 Monday morning:



Monday was spent packing. Boxes were everywhere!



Tuesday, they started loading. Pretty neat how they protected the house:



Olivia spent some time with her old baby equipment:



Unfortunately, all of our "items" (aka "stuff") wouldn't fit in one truck. Another truck had to be called to pick up the remaining boxes (and bicycles, grill, patio furniture, etc.). They also sent a car hauler to pick up my car:



We were hopeful that everything would be packed and gone by Tuesday and we would have time to do some fun things around Denver before we left Friday. It didn't quite work out that way. The house was a mess after they loaded everything and we had to find someone to clean it for an open house the realtor scheduled for the next weekend. The other truck didn't show up until sometime on Wednesday and there were a million little details that we had to finish. Not much time for fun stuff, but I did get a chance to go to dinner with some friends:



Olivia and I spent some time at Ms. Lindsay's house, letting her get some play time in with her friends:





We left Friday afternoon, after a quick trip to Colorado Springs for the last time. Our flight landed in Knoxville around 9:30 pm. By the time we got our luggage, found Michael's car and drove to Dayton, it was midnight. We pulled into the hotel, only to find they had given our room away. The world's longest yard sale just happened to be that week-end and the entire place was full. They finally found a room at another hotel, but the accommodations were less than stellar. We found our way back to the original hotel by 7am and sat in the lobby until they had a room for us. Surprisingly, it didn't take too long. :) That just happened to be Olivia's birthday, so we got her a little cake:



The truck arrived Monday and we started unpacking right away! Thankfully, Michael's mom (Mamaw) came down and helped with Olivia and the unpacking. Last Tuesday, Olivia started "school."



It's actually a Mother's Day Out program at a local church. They do some schoolwork, playtime, music, and rest time. She seems to really like it, although she was apprehensive at first. It's 2 days a week.



My mom had a knee replacement right before we left Colorado, so Olivia and I drove up this past weekend to visit. She had yet another (small) birthday party:



It is so nice to be close to family!





Sunday, we drove to my dad's house for yet another birthday dinner. That made 4 birthday "parties." She's going to be mighty disappointed next year, ha! She loved picking tomatoes out of Dad's garden. We're looking forward to having our own garden next year!

So, that's the update! We are missing Colorado and loving Tennessee at the same time!

The Birthday Party

We had Olivia a birthday/going away party yesterday at a local park (I only teared up twice!). This particular park has a splash pad, an actual park area, and a little wading river. Some of her little friends stayed in the water almost the entire time! It turned out great- not one drop of rain (like last year), although we did have some wind. Here's Olivia walking towards the wading river:



Her theme was Frog Princess:





Her cake turned out really cute (aside from mis-spelling her name!):



The wind was blowing a little too hard to get a good picture of her banner:



Blowing out the candles:



Everybody loves presents!





This is when I got a little teary eyed- first when Olivia opened the sweetest card from Liza (next door) and then when she opened this:



Lindsay made this for her- hand prints from all her daycare friends! It is so cute! As excited as we are to be moving closer to family, we are leaving friends here that have been like our family. It's hard to say good-bye!

We moved on to the pinata. In hindsight, a pinata probably wasn't the best idea for a 3 year old's birthday:



We made it through almost all the kids before Rohen got whacked with the stick. Poor guy had a red knot on the side of his head, but no serious trauma (luckily!). Michael finally broke it open and the kids dived onto the candy.

Sarah and I:



Liza, Landon, and Olivia:



Lindsay and I (we're laughing, because Rohen had just came over crying. It seems our entire friendship we have been surrounded by crying children!):



Her friend Reygan:



Trying to get a family photo (practically impossible):



I have a few more pictures from her party that I will share later. The movers arrived bright and early this morning and I'm typing this from our hotel room! We thought we would be able to stay at our house tonight, but you can't really walk through it with all the boxes. We ended up checking in a night early. We fly to TN Friday, hard to believe!