random catchup

We often leave the house and forget our camera but Drake has an iphone that takes some good pics. I finally downloaded them and got quite a random sampling. Anyway, thought I would post a few. I also put together a few other posts so there will be one a week for the next couple of weeks! As for us right now, we are just getting through the depths of winter. Its snowing right now for the 3rd or fourth straight day. It makes for a relatively uninteresting time as there isn't a whole lot to do. We spend a lot of time at home and having playdates and dinners with friends. Which is pretty fun itself. Looking forward to some warmer days ahead (though probably not for another month or two) Olivia is growing up so fast now. Quite a little girl. She talks a lot and loves to sing. She is learning her colors-she now has yellow(lellow), pink, orange and sometimes red and green. She is counting and can usually count to 6 or 7, without too much trouble. She sings A LOT. She is even learning her ABC song. She loves to color, paint or do anything crafty. She definitely gets that from Drake and not me! She is a joy to be around and the light of our life!

Christmas Season 2009

By now its become apparent I am not the best blogger in the world. Hopwever, I refuse to give up trying :) Our Christmas Season brought more change. We moved from our cramped, run down house we were renting to an apartment that is almost twice the size and in very nice shape! It was a busy time as we set up our tree in our old house only to find a great apartment we had to jump on. SO we packed it all up took down the tree 5 days before Christmas we moved, set up our tree again and worked on getting settled in our new digs. We spent Christmas alone but really enjoyed our day. Christmas Eve we went to our friends Jayme and Corey's house. They have a daughter Olivia's age and it was a lovely evening! Christmas morning was so exciting! Olivia loved opening gifts and we had just as much fun watching her. We spent a quiet Christmas Day and had a wonderful time together. Leading up to Christmas was busy but full of cookie decorating, a trip to Breckenridge with my parents who came for Thanksgiving and Holiday parties. It is so nice to spend Christmas and our New Year in our new place!

Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween was so much fun this year. Olivia really got into it and she loved the trick or treating. We carved some pumpkins a few days before which I think we enjoyed more than Liv did. She wasn't into touching the slimy seeds and was too young to carve so she mostly watched but she did love the outcome! A bee seemed a fitting choice for a little one that stays so bzzzzy! She actually picked out her costume. We pulled out a few choices and she chose the bee. Probably because she really likes insects. We went to Drake's office the day before Halloween so the kids could dress up and get treats. She loved seeing Daddy's desk at work. She also had a party at her school and they dressed all the kids up decorated mini pumpkins and had pizza and cupcakes. Before we went out trick or treating, we "skyped" with Grandma and Grandpa so they could see her in her costume. She loved seeing them on the computer and was jabbering away with them. It was a fun filled couple of days!

Pretty Princess

Lately,Olivia is starting to get into dress up a little more. She is still somewhat tentative about it. She used to never want to play dress up but she is starting to explore it a little more. Her Aunt Angela sent her cousin Tatum's old clothes and in there was one of her old dress up outfits. Liv also got a few things for her birthday from her friend Scout. So the other night I started dressing Elmo up in some of her things and she immediately wanted in on the action. She wore her princess clothes and carried Elmo around for quite awhile. She is not much of a ham for the camera (more so for people) so the pics are so-so, but she and Elmo did look good!

Celebrating Fall!

We had a great weekend celebrating Fall. On Saturday Olivia and I made Halloween cookies, while Drake went to a bike expo for the morning. Things are just getting even more fun with Olivia. She really gets into projects now that she can pay attention for longer than a few minutes. She also can do a lot more now. She helped make the dough(mixing in flour, eggs, etc.) and roll it out. She was best at doing the cutouts and putting them on the cookie sheets. Then she would carry a little tray and I would carry a big one to the oven. I would put them in, while she would say "its HOT!" She especially loved the flour, sprinkling it on the table and the cookies. At one point I took a batch to the oven and mistakenly left the lid off the flour, I came back to a huge mess on the table, but thats part of the fun for her. So after they were cooked and she was stripped down to a diaper because her other clothes were covered in flour, we decorated them. I would put on the icing and she did the sprinkles. Again, a huge mess but nothing the vaccum couldn't handle. We brought cookies to nieghbors and friends and ate a few ourselves. Olivia actually ate 3 cookies while we were baking and never had lunch,I flet like a bad mom but I guess once in a while won't hurt.
On Sunday, since we usually go to church in the evening now, we went to the farmers market down the street from our house. We dressed up Hayla in her costume since they were having a dog costume contest. We picked out a couple of pumpkins to bring home and stopped for a coffee at the coffee shop. It was lightly snowing the whole time, it was a lovely morning! Olivia also found some time to unwind before nap and spent some time coloring, which she has really been enjoying lately. Coloring and play-doh are so fun with her. She will sit for an hour or more with someone doing play-doh and coloring. Its always good quality time. I continually feel blessed to have a beautiful family and a beautiful life.