Olivia is still fighting her nap some days. Frustrating, because she NEEDS a nap to avoid a grumpy afternoon/evening. We got home from the daycare Tuesday a little after noon. She was almost asleep in the car, so I turned on one of her movies and she snuggled up in her chair. I sat with her a little while and her eyes drifted shut. She looked fast asleep, so I headed to her playroom to start picking up. 15 minutes later, I went to check on her and found this (note the yawn):
This kid loves any kind of lotion. She looked at me quite proud and said, "Hi, Mommy!"
Sheesh. Straight to the bathtub! Luckily, she only got a little on the carpet. Even more luckily, our couch is leather and it wiped off really easily!
She is also really into band-aids right now. I bought a box and it was gone in 2 days. Mainly, she puts them up her leg:
They were looking for the frogs in the pond. We had 3 goldfish that had grown fairly big, but they met an unfortunate end when Michael filled the pond with tap water and forgot to put in the neutralizer. Chlorine is not their friend.
We headed to a BBQ for our church at a local corn maze last night. They had a little kids corn maze and Olivia loved it! Most of my pictures are of her back, because she was running as fast as she could (trying to keep up with the other kids!)
Michael got out of his chair for something and Olivia hopped right in and wouldn't get out. She thought it was really funny that Daddy had to stand!
It has been unseasonably warm here the last week. Not that I'm complaining! It had already snowed by this point last year. It's cool at night and the morning and gets into the 80's during the day. We drove with our neighbors to Squaw Pass (close to Mount Evans) last weekend to try and get some Fall pictures. I got much better pictures of our neighbors than Olivia!
I'm not too worried, because we have company coming next week and we're planning to hit a few places with great photo ops! Hope you have a great week!
PTing, as in Potty Training. We were pretty much waiting on Olivia to show us she was ready to start potty training. When Avry showed up wearing panties this week, Olivia decided she was ready! We currently have 5 (yes, FIVE) kiddos potty training at the daycare right now. She's doing OK. The first day I pushed it, she used the potty 5 times. Today, she stood right beside the potty and peed in the floor. Definitely a work in progress! We still use diapers when we're not at home, but we're getting there!
Over Labor Day weekend, we drove up to Mount Evans. It's rated the #2 attraction in Denver right now and it's only open Memorial day through Labor Day, so this was really our last chance for this year! Olivia has almost given up her afternoon nap (although I'm fighting it!), but she still falls asleep in the car. She slept almost the whole way there and was a little grumpy when we arrived at the lake halfway up the mountain. I was soooooo excited! Look at this scenery:
I had great visions of Olivia leaning on that fence with a sweet smile. However, after her nap, this is what I got:
Ha! She was extremely attached to Daddy that day, so we walked around the lake and tried to get her in a better mood.
She perked up when she noticed some ducks and I got a few good shots:
Michael's friend at work got her a Power Wheels for her birthday. She and Avry love it! Like most toys they both love, they fight over it. They hit on this today all by themselves:
Olivia even switched and let Avry drive, too! She's doing much better with sharing. Hope you're having a great week!
Olivia and I are back from our quick TN weekend! Dad and Tammie picked us up in Greeneville, SC at 2:00pm Friday, we got to Brett and Rachel's house at 4:30pm. I had to be at the church for rehearsal at 5:00, so we cut it close! I barely saw Olivia, but she was (apparently) very well behaved for everyone that watched her for me (thanks so much!).
A few wedding pictures. Jane Anne got us these cute robes to wear while getting ready and I (naturally) forgot to bring mine!
Had to throw this one in: Bridesmaids again! Me, Megan, Jane Anne, Mary Ellen, and Kristin (and Mom and Rachel!) at our wedding:
Love it!
With my friend Megan. The girls that did our hair put buns on opposite sides of our heads. We couldn't decide if we looked more like Princess Leia or if we had earmuffs when our heads were together (we stood next to each other, too!).
That was my Saturday! Lots of fun to have some girl time and reconnect. Olivia spent the day in Greeneville. I'm sure there are pictures of her visit, but I don't have them!
Sunday we headed to Elizabethton for some family time:
Aiden already outweighs Olivia, but she still has about an inch on him in height. I'm guessing he'll be bigger than her by Christmas:
We headed to Dad's and the kids were enamored with this tractor:
One of my favorite things from our visit- watching Maggie practice her round off back handspring (and eventually doing it by herself!):
Olivia is a little under the weather right now, so not much going on at our house! Hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day weekend!
Last week I took Olivia to Arts on Fire, the pottery painting studio we went to last year for her birthday. Remember this?
Yea, she did somewhat better this year, although I had to move her to the head of the table after she painted the wall.
At least she didn't eat any paint this year! Here's the finished plate:
And a side by side with the plate from last year:
Amazing! We also went to her 2 year well visit last week. She weighed in at 20 pounds and 4 ounces! I never though the day would come that she would be 20 pounds! Still not on the charts, but she stayed on her curve. She was 32 1/4 inches tall, which was the 9th percentile (yay!). Her pediatrician dropped us back to 6 month weight checks, which is great! She was on monthly weight checks until 18 months, then we were on every 3 months, and now every 6. I was pretty excited, because she has been sooooo active this summer, it's amazing she's gained weight!
I haven't updated the blog in a few days, because I was getting ready for a craft show our church had last weekend. It was my first show and although the turn-out wasn't as good as we had hoped, it was fun! Here's my table:
It was right after Olivia's gymnastics class, so she "helped" me set up by eating the majority of the tootsie rolls for the table:
She modeled a hat for a little while, then Michael picked her up. I'm going to list the items that didn't sell in my (empty) Etsy shop!
Her new favorite thing is hiding in the dryer:
If you notice in that picture and the at the craft show, she has a Minnie Mouse doll. We were at Wal Mart and she found a dog toy. Not a cheapo dog toy- it was $10! It was a long ferret looking stuffed animal with a squeaker. The worst part was it smelled- as in they sprayed something on it to attract dogs. So, she's dragging around this smelly dog toy and in desperation (she screamed every time I tried to take it away), I took her down the toy aisle. It worked. She found something she liked better- the Minnie Mouse doll. Only problem was there were 3 of them and she wanted.all.three. I let her carry them around in the buggy while we finished shopping, explaining that 2 Minnie Mouse dolls had to stay there for another boy or girl. She kept saying "OK, Mommy." However, when we got to the checkout, she threw the mother of all tantrums. As in shrieking (I really can't describe her screams- it sounds like glass could shatter), throwing herself on the floor, kicking her legs. It was so bad that a teller from the bank at the front of the store came over and tried to give her a sucker. She took it and threw it at her. It.was.bad. I paid as quickly as I could and carried her out, kicking, screaming, scratching, the whole way. And I used to wonder why parents didn't like taking their 2 year olds in public! Minnie has become one of her newest "loveys." I just wish she would drop the blanket. She drags it EVERYWHERE and I can hardly get it away from her to wash it. It's turning a lovely shade of gray...
Here are some short videos of her gymnastics class. She's doing somewhat better at listening and following directions. The trampoline is by far her favorite. They jump down it, crawl over the yellow mat at the end, then bounce back on the bouncy thing (what are those things called?!):
She really gets into jumping off the end:
Here they were supposed to chase after the ring and try to catch it before it fell. The first time she did it right. The next time (the one I videoed), she waited until it fell to get it:
Stinker. She wasn't going to run after it when she knew it would fall on its own! We're leaving Friday for a quick wedding weekend in TN! Hope to see some of you soon!
Olivia got lots of gifts in the mail from friends and family in TN, so we let her open most of them on her actual birthday. She was a little excited:
She's only in a diaper, because she smeared chocolate frosting all over her shirt. She was pretty happy with all her "pwesents!" We started a new gymnastics class Saturday and she's doing pretty well. The first class we took was at our local rec center, but I signed her up at an actual gymnastics center now. She loves the trampoline and she can do a front roll (Maggie and Aubrey taught her that at the beach!). I'm curious to see how she does the next few months.
Her birthday party was the first "party" we've had at our house since we moved to Colorado. We were obviously a little rusty; from buying way too much food (anyone need a bag of onions or macaroni salad?), to not knowing what to do when a huge thunderstorm rolled in 10 minutes after the party started, to me freaking out on Michael for giving Olivia a Flinstone vitamin 10 minutes before the party started (if you're out of the Flinstone vitamin loop, they are a lovely red color that Olivia immediately drooled on her birthday shirt). Yeah, a little rusty! However, I think things turned out pretty well. Everyone seemed to have a good time! Luckily, Harold (who works with Michael) and his wife, Missy, have cook-outs pretty frequently and they helped us out tremendously- Harold actually grilled all the food! It wasn't just Harold and Missy- everyone was willing to jump in and help or ask if I needed help, which was awesome. We may not have family close, but we are blessed with great friends! My friend Lindsay let us borrow her jump house, which was a huge hit:
This was right before the thunderstorm- I can tell, because the balloons are still floating! (By the way, doesn't the deck look great?!)
We've had brief thunderstorms in the afternoons the past week or so. They don't last long, but being an optimist, I convinced myself it wouldn't rain Saturday. I was wrong. Maybe half our guests had arrived and we had just blown up the bounce house when we heard the first clap of thunder. We quickly deflated the bounce house and rolled it under the tent, hoping it would stay dry, then grabbed the appetizers and headed inside. More guests arrived and we watched the rain pound the balloons and the wind rip off the tablecloths. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry- we had about 10 kids ages 2-6 and their parents crammed into the playroom. Luckily, the rain only lasted 10-15 minutes, then the sun came out. We lost some chips and crackers, no big deal! The sandbox was a hit, too:
I love this next picture. This was right after Avry dumped a shovel full of sand in Olivia's hair. They're looking at her dad, who was telling Avry not to put sand in Olivia's hair. I love the look on Olivia's face- "no, really- it's OK. I'll dump sand in Avry's hair as soon as you're not looking."
We did a little eating:
And blowing out candles:
Michael caught on video my favorite moment of the whole party. I called all the kids over to sing and they gathered around Olivia. This is what happened next- watch Landon (the bottom right corner of the video):
Hilarious! Sweet, sweet Landon, our neighbor who has loved Olivia since the day she was born (and now has his very own baby brother to love on!). It's really hard for kids at a birthday party! We encourage sharing and taking turns, but there's only one birthday girl/boy and they get all the presents, attention, and blowing out the candles. Those blazing candles right in front of him proved to be too much! Olivia didn't mind and I re-lit them for her.
Moving on to presents!
I wanted just one picture with my girl at her birthday party, but she wasn't having it:
Overall, we had a great time! This was the aftermath- our kitchen after the party:
Wow, that was some work! We went to Avry's birthday party Sunday afternoon, which made for a busy weekend (and lots of cake and sugar for a little girl!). She was a little grumpy today and went to bed early, so hopefully tomorrow will be better!
Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our little girl!!
