We're back!

We've been back for a few days, but it's taken me a little while to get these pictures edited! We learned some valuable lessons on this trip:
1) Traveling to visit family during the "separation anxiety" phase is not a great idea.
2) An empty seat beside you on the plane is a blessing.
3) Olivia does much better when people come to visit us. She's not exactly a happy camper when she's away from home.

She did pretty well on the flight to TN. We had an empty seat beside us and she was pretty content to watch Elmo:



She even took a little nap. We had time for a quick lunch in Atlanta before our flight to Tennessee. We made it and even got to watch Maggie's cheerleading practice that night!

Friday we headed to Hands-On Museum with Mom and Aubrey (Maggie was in school). Olivia showed her graceful nature by tripping over a small indention in the carpet and running into a few things. She comes by it natural.















The bubbles and grocery store were the favorites! The museum wore her out:



Friday night we had more company! Dad, Tammie, Pal, Pat, and Janet came over for dinner. Pat and Janet are my uncle and aunt that live in Louisville. This was their first time meeting Olivia (and Aiden!).



This little guy makes everyone smile:







Brett, Maggie, and Aubrey entertained us with a cheer:



We tried to get a picture with Pat and Janet:



That picture pretty much sums up the entire trip. She wouldn't let anyone hold her, play with her, even touch her. If I walked out of the room, she lost it. I've never seen her behave quite so badly. She was definitely out of her element!

Saturday morning Megan and Kristin came to visit, but I neglected to take any pictures. We then headed to Greeneville. Olivia was happy to open some presents:



And let Mamaw pull her in a wagon:



It was nice to visit, even though Olivia didn't seem to happy!
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Sunday we went to church with Mom and she actually did really well. We didn't try the nursery. She loved the singing. We then went to Lilo's for dinner and a visit. We tried to get a group shot:



That was by far the best one (out of 40 or so!). Trying to get one with Papaw and Lilo:



Monday we went to breakfast and Fun Expedition with Mamaw Pat, Rachel, Maggie, Aubrey, and Aiden. She seemed to like it! At least she played without me right beside her!





I didn't take as many pictures as usual, mainly because I was holding Olivia most of the time! I did manage to get some shots of sweet Aiden. Look at these cheeks!!













He is such a good baby!
I woke Olivia up early Tuesday, so she could say good-bye to Maggie and Aubrey before they went to school. I jumped in the shower when they left and she was playing in the bathroom. I heard her kind of whining, but then it stopped. When I got out, this is what I found:



She's asleep on top of my pajamas! Maybe I woke her up a little too early?
The flight home was a disaster and I'd rather forget about it. Suffice to say, I was apologizing to everyone sitting around us. Poor baby, she just wasn't up to it!
It's taken a few days, but she's back to her happy self. Life is back to normal!
So good to see everyone! Sorry she wasn't in the best mood- maybe next time!!

The Breakfast Food Playground

Olivia, Avry, and I went to an indoor playground at Cherry Creek Mall (about 20 minutes from our house) this week. I had heard of this particular playground, but this was our first time. It was really neat! Everything is shaped like breakfast food and made out of a "squishy" material. Even the floor was "squishy," which is good, since there are quite a few falls!

Here's Olivia on a waffle:



Olivia and Avry playing on some sausage links:



Checking out the bacon:



Olivia liked watching the other kids more than anything:



Leg lifts on a banana slice:



Avry played hard! Look at these red cheeks:



Fun! They napped really well when we got home!

In other news, Olivia has become obsessed with an Elmo movie and I'm the one to blame! She hadn't really shown much interest in television, aside from her signing videos (which are short). She looooooves Elmo and Target had an Elmo movie on sale for $5, so I got it. Wow. I have never seen a child become so attached to a movie! If the TV is on and it's not Elmo, she grabs the remote, hands it to one of us and demands, "Melmo!" It was funny the first day or two, but I'm singing the songs from the movie in my sleep now! Shew. Luckily, she doesn't zone out and sit in front of the TV for 35 minutes. She watches a few minutes, wanders into the playroom for a few minutes, gets a drink of water, watches a few minutes, etc. I guess she likes to have it in the background!









Olivia and I are leaving bright and early in the morning for a long weekend in TN. I'm hoping this flight goes better than the last one! We got a portable DVD player today, so the Elmo movie will make the trip with us. We'll be back Tuesday with lots of pictures and new adventures! :)

Happy New Year! (And first haircut)

Well, our New Year was pretty uneventful. We watched the Vols play, complete with a real UT cheerleader:







Despite Olivia's best cheering efforts, they lost. And we went to bed before the New Year, although we watched the ball drop in Times Square. That counts for something, right? Sometimes it's nice to be on Mountain Time!
We had a pretty quite week. Avry came over 2 days and they were so excited to see each other! Avry was sick before Christmas, so we hadn't seen her in over a week. They stood in the foyer, squealing and saying "Hi!" for 10 minutes. Too cute! Here they are watching a signing video with their snack:



We've been debating getting Olivia a haircut for a few weeks. I don't want to cut bangs, but her hair was looking stringy in the back. This picture is what convinced me. We'll call this "before:"



Yikes! Here's during:





Can't believe how still she sat!

After:







Soooooo much better! We went to a place called Lollilocks, which caters to young children. Very kid friendly!
Her new favorite activity? Pulling wipes out of the box:



On another note, she is cutting FOUR molars right now. She apparently cuts at least 4 teeth at once. She cut all 4 front teeth at the same time in August and now all 4 molars. She's been running a fever and not sleeping very well. The tips have finally broke through and given her some relief. Poor baby, I know that's painful!
Have a good week!

Christmas 2009

By Olivia:

Mommy said I should tell you about my Christmas, so here goes! Mommy has been really excited for a few weeks about Christmas. She put up a big tree right in the middle of my playroom! It looks really neat and I like everything hanging off of it, but Mommy didn't like for me to take all those things off. She put a gate around it so I couldn't get to it! Not very nice, Mom.
When I woke up Thursday, Mommy said it was Christmas Eve. She and Daddy took me to a place called The Wildlife Experience. Mommy said I had been there before with my cousins Maggie and Aubrey, but I don't remember. It was really neat! Daddy kept telling me the animals weren't real, but they sure looked real!




Daddy helping me get a closer look at some vultures:



We were walking thru where the fish live, when I saw fish on the ground, swimming right beside my feet! I thought it was really neat and I chased them around for awhile. You can't see the fish in the pictures, though. Daddy said the flash on the camera makes them disappear? I think they're hiding, because Mommy was taking so many pictures!





We had a really fun time! When we got home, Mommy made a big ham dinner. My favorite part was the mac and cheese. Mommy loves it when I hold my fork in one hand and eat with the fingers on my other hand. Anything to make Mommy happy!



Mommy let me open one present that night and it was crayons for my bathtub! I wanted to use them right away, so Mommy let me take a bath. It was so much fun, I made the bathtub look beautiful.
I woke up the next morning and when I got downstairs, there were presents everywhere! It was really neat, but I was hungry! I didn't want to open any presents until after I ate. Mommy said that would change soon. A girls gotta eat! Mommy made Monkey Bread for breakfast and it was delicious! She said it would be our tradition on Christmas. Then a few hours later, she said I maybe shouldn't have so much sugar first thing in the morning. Hmmmm.



Here I am checking out my presents:



Pretty neat, huh?





After breakfast, it was time to open!





I wanted to play with all the toys when I opened them, but Mommy wanted to open all our gifts first. Shew, that was a little frustrating for me, but I finally agreed. Every time I opened a gift, Mommy would tell me what it was, then say "Yay!" So, I started saying it when I opened gifts. Mommy and Daddy thought it was funny.



Daddy loved taking all my toys out of boxes and putting them together for me. Mommy thought it was funny for some reason.



I got sooooo many nice things from my family in Tennessee! I can't wait to see them in January to thank them:





Mommy let me wear my pajamas ALL DAY. It was awesome! We had a nice day playing with my toys and hanging out in our pajamas. Mommy finished another hat for me:



Seems like I have alot of hats....
I got to wear this cute dress to church yesterday:



And that was our Christmas! How was yours?