Busy Day

Olivia is still a little taller, but not by much!

A sentimental moment of them hugging. Had to catch it on camera cause it doesn't happen too often!

Of course, they are not supposed to be jumping on the bed, but they were having so much fun!

Say cheese!

Someone shut the door on Olivia, so she was calling for help through the cat's door!

Someone let me out!!!

Thrilled to be getting their pictures taken!

Poor Winston. Our morning started out by taking Winston first to the groomer, and then to the vet. It was all about Winston today, although I'm sure he wasn't feeling it! As he was at the groomers, we went to breakfast which has turned in to our normal routine. Then, after we took him to the vet, it was back home so he could relax. We went to Aunt Shell and Uncle Tim's to play. Some friends from out of town were coming over, so we wanted to visit as well. It was a fun night and great to see them. Mommy ended up drinking a little much, but it had been so long, so it was fun! We all had a great time, inlcuding the kids as you can see in the pictures!

Time for lessons...

Olivia made us laugh so hard tonight as we were watching the Oscars. Penelope Cruz was on the stage and accepting her award and out of nowhere, Olivia said, "Mommy, what is she saying!?" She was having a hard time understanding her speech, and towards the very end, she actually spoke in Spanish. It was hilarious, but I guess it is time to start some lessons....she obviously isn't learning too much from Dora after all! :-)

Three Year Pictures

We started off our morning by getting ready for our pictures at Portrait Innovations. I can hardly believe she is getting close to three years old! But, she certainly did look three in her cute little dress this morning. She did great the entire time, and did exactly what the photographers told her to do...which is a far cry from where she was a short time ago. She actually seemed to be enjoying herself...unlike her Daddy! He hated every minute of it! But, somehow we convinced him to do it and the pictures turned out great!

Wishful Thinking

This evening, Olivia was playing with my calculator, as she does quite often. And this was our conversation:

Olivia: Mommy, What would you like to buy?

Mommy: I would like to buy a new house.

Olivia: OK, would you like all of them?

Mommy: Yes I would!

If only she had the power to make that decision and buy me whatever house I wanted! And, if she only knew what type of conversation this sparked with Shane later that night! :-)

Such a smarty pants!

Look at me Mommy!

Olivia never ceases to amaze us with how smart she is. She got a new VSmile - VMotion game from Grandpa and Linda for Christmas and loves to play. She is just now getting to the point where she can use the joystick properly and actually knows what to do. She has a Dora game that she plays and she can move her where she needs to go by jumping and walking forward. It is amazing to see her play and how well she does!!! Such a big girl!

Pretty, pretty princess!

The girls had our monthly dinner tonight, so it was Olivia and Daddy bonding time. They always seem to have a great time, and tonight was no exception! Of course, Olivia was having a princess evening as usual, and had to have one of her pretty dresses on!

Winston seems to like cartoons too!

It was hilarious tonight as we were at home just hanging out. Olivia was watching her cartoons for a little bit before dinner and Winston must have seen something to catch his eye too! All of a sudden, he sat down in the middle of the living room and just started watching. He actually sat there for a few minutes and truly was watching the TV. It was so funny, and Olivia couldn't stop laughing at him!! Silly Winston!

Follow up/Next Appointment??

You cannot see it too well in these pictures, but you get the idea!

Daddy was in Iowa for a few days, so Mommy worked from home today in order to take Olivia to her follow up doctor appointment with Dr. Baety. He wanted to see how her ear was healing and if we would need to go in and fix it if it wasn't healing on its own. The good news is it is healing perfectly and there won't be a need to do anything more! He said it looked great, which was great news!! In addition to the follow up, we went ahead and completed her thre year check up since it was so close to her birthday! So, all was well with that too! According to Dr. Baety, she is doing a lot more than is recommended at her age regarding her speech, comprehension, activities, etc. So, she is doing great and is very healthy! I couldn't believe we were actually there for her three year check up, so that was more hard than anything for Mommy! Other than the fact that we almost had to schedule another appointment for her cause she took a nose dive in the parking lot. On our way out of the doctor's office to the car, she wanted to walk by herself, so I simply told her to hurry up cause there were cars coming. Well, she took that as a need to start running and took a spill right there in the parking lot. After ensuring she was okay, my first thought was how many people might be watching us from the window?? And, not to mention, she was bleeding so I couldn't help but think maybe I should take her right back in?? But, she seemed to be doing okay and I think it scared her pretty bad, considering it seemed like she caught herself with her face cause she had her hands full with the stickers they gave her, as well as the coloring picture. So, she wouldn't dare let go of those in order to catch herself. Once we got her cleaned up, she seemed to be doing okay. We put ice on her lip as soon as we got home, but it did look pretty nasty!! And, the best part was we were getting her three year pictures taken in a few days!! :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Sweet Olivia was all smiles with her goodies in hand!

Olivia and Grandma!

Here is a picture of Tess, such a cutie!!

She will have to get used to the pictures being taken of her, and of course Olivia getting right in her face!!

We had a great day today, which started out with giving Olivia her Valentine's Day gifts! She absolutely loved everything and of course needed to play with everything immediately. After we got ready, we met Grandma and Dave for lunch in Peoria, cause she was going to watch Olivia so Daddy could take Mommy car shopping!!! Lunch was fun and all the girls got roses from the restaurant, which was nice and Olivia thought was pretty neat. After we test drove a few vehicles, we met Grandma and Olivia at Aunt Jenny's to see the new puppy. Her name is Tess and she is a wire-haired Fox Terrier and so adorable. Olivia of course wanted to get right in her face, which this poor thing will just need to get used to, but today she wasn't feeling it. She was still a little scared, so just needed some time. It won't take her long though, as long as Olivia is around and has anything to say about it! Later that afternoon, the three of us stopped at The Galley and had a nice dinner for Valentine's Day! So, we had a great day and was nice to spend the day together!! By the way, no vehicle was purchased, but I will still keep trying! :-)

Bath Time!

I have more than likely posted several of these same pictures, but I absolutely love when the kids take their baths together! They have a great time and I love to see them in their bare bellies together! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have seen so many of these pictures of myself as a little kid?? Regardless, they are stinkin' cute! Other than the nice rope burn Olivia has next to her left eye...war wound from yesterday when all the kids were playing jump rope!

Such a girlie girl!

One of Olivia's favortie things since Christmas has been her play-doh from Aunt Jenny. And tonight, she decided that she wanted to "paint" her finger nails. :-)

Helping with the progress!

Miss Olivia and Stella taking stopping for a pose!

Parker's turn!

Monkey see, monkey do!

Parker and Olivia always seem to end up inside the toy box??

Taking some time for a little reading with Aunt Shell!

This one is hard to explain...Olivia had to get in her pricess dress with her jeans, and Stella needed to put Olivia's hat and gloves on before they played jump rope!? Who knows??

While the boys were busy in the bathroom, the girls did what we could to keep the kids occupied and out of the way! They played so well together all day, so it was pretty easy! And, it was fairly nice outside, so we did get them out as well, which they loved!

Playing outside...

Olivia and Stella taking a turn on the swings!

Aunt Shell had to get in on the fun too!

Miss Olivia with her scooter...she is very coordinated on this thing and does great!

A little competition, of course they seemed to be taking turns winning!

Sweet Kaleigh took turns pushing all the little kids on the swings!

Not quite done yet...

I think Shane is supervising in this picture!?

Three heads are better than one, right??

Derrick and Uncle Tim came over to help Shane with the bathroom today, while the girls and kids played all day! It was so nice to have the help and they were able to get the floor in pretty quickly! It looks great!!!

What a surprise!

I got home from Jacksonville this evening, and Miss Olivia was able to stay up late to give me a big hug when I walked in the door! It was so great to see them!! I missed them like crazy and even though Olivia didn't go to bed until 10:30 this evening, I was sure glad I could see her before we went to bed! Also, to my complete surprise, Shane had worked all week on our upstairs bathroom. He tore up the floor in order to put ceremic tile down, he painted the walls, and he bought all new fixtures and put those in too, as well as painted the doors! I couldn't believe it, not to mention he did this all with Olivia by himself all week. I was very impressed and excited!! And, he had help coming over on Saturday to finish up! I will take some pictures of the final reveal as soon as it is done!!

Jacksonville - Work Trip

Unfortunately, I did not take a walk on the pier...but I thought about it!

I left this morning for Jacksonville, FL for another work trip. This time, I did have a chance one evening when I first arrived to go to the beach. It was a little cloudy and cool that evening, so I didn't stay too long. But, just thought I would share the pictures I did manage to get!