Fancy Ladies!

Last week, we went to dinner with some family and Liv got all dressed up. She looked so cute in her new outfit! She even had little leggings with lace on them. She is just such a little fashionista!

more of Olivia!

Since I'm not working, I have been way too busy to blog. So sorry! We have such busy schedules! :) Anyway, I wanted to update with some photos of Liv over the last week.
This picture is Travis showing Liv her "birth book". These are photos of her first hours and days.
Here is Liv on her birthday for her "mini-party" that we had here at home on the actual day!
Olivia is showing off her new kitchen to Aunt Nichole! Liv loves this kitchen and we can't hardly get her away from it!
Here is Liv on the phone with her Daddy! She loves to "talk" on the phone when her Daddy calls, she laughs and smiles as he talks to her. This time she took my phone and walked off with it. She's also got food in her mouth...we'll work on the manners - talking with your mouth full.
And here is some cheese! :)

Olivia playing with some of her new toys!

Here is Olivia enjoying some of her new toys! Olivia got a kitchen from Grandpa Fred & Grandma Sue. Olivia has spent so much time playing with this! She is really enjoying this!
Olivia got her new scooter from Chris & Mel...as you can see my little stunt queen is already trying to find new ways to ride the scooter!
Olivia putting away the dishes after feeding her baby! She loves the baby too, she got her first baby at her party from Chris & Mel. She must have seen Meris play with her babies so much that she knew just what to do! She loves her!
Putting away the groceries! Lots to do when you have a new fancy kitchen.
And the newest addition came yesterday, Olivia got two more babies...twins! They are from Uncle Joel, Aunt Amy & cousin Brooke! As you can see she cares for her babies and can't decide which ones to hold. She usually tries to carry them all! :)

Olivia's birthday party!

On Saturday we had a great party here for Olivia. Of course my dad brought Noah (the miniature horse) and we had face painting and the pool was open. The weather could not have been more perfect! We had a tent that kept everyone out of the shade, and everyone had a great time! Here are a few pictures of the festivities!Olivia's "smash cake" that my sister made. It looked like a little wedding cake!

Julia got her face painted! She had a heart on one side and a castle on the other!

Olivia reading her new books! She got so many books, we can read a new one every day for at least a couple of weeks!

Olivia's new chair from Grandma & Grandpa C and Uncle Kurt & Aunt Kate (cousins Julia and Jimmy too). You can't see, but it has giraffes on it, Grandma wouldn't have it any other way!

Olivia loved her new stuffed white lion! She held it the rest of the afternoon!A birthday plate the neighbor girl made for Olivia.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Today was Olivia's first birthday! It was low-key and we enjoyed it. I've attached Liv's final installment of the "monthly" photos! I will update later this week with pictures of her party!

Where is Olivia?

Today was a good day. I think that Liv might be getting a few new teeth, we'll see. Today, I was going through clothes that she had outgrown to put away, and get out the new clothes that she has yet to grow into. Yes, she already has bins upon bins in the basement of clothes that she has yet to grow into. This is partly due to a very fashionable cousin (Julia) and the other part due to the fact that my mom and I can't turn down a good sale. We buy for upcoming seasons when we see things on sale.

As I was making my pile of what needed to be washed, Liv decided to cuddle up into it. She really likes the pink striped velour outfit (near her head). It is very soft! So, I started to pile clothes on top of her, and she would crawl out of them to play peek-a-boo with me! She thought this was great!


The below photo is of dinner tonight. We made tacos and Spanish rice. I didn't really think that Liv would like the rice....she has always spit rice out before. But we continue to try things over and over and over again! Well..she must just love the flavor in Spanish rice, because that little girl ate more rice than I did! She was just shoveling it in! As you can see...she wasn't wearing a bib. I decided it was probably easier to just strip her than clean off a bib! As much of a mess as this is, I'm betting that we'll have an even bigger "mess" in the morning. :) We'll see how Liv does with Mexican food!

Our Little Mover

I announced a few weeks ago that Olivia had taken her first steps. Then it dawned on me that I had not gotten a photo of it. I got video, but not a single photo. So, here are a few pictures of Liv getting around. The above photo is one of Liv's preferred methods for getting around. She doesn't just crawl, but she will just crawl around just on her knees. She is very silly!
Here is Liv walking to the door. She has the "drunken sailor" walk right now, a little stagger and the hands up for balance. It's fun to watch! Every day she takes more and more steps. Tonight, when she heard her bath, she walked into the bathroom and up to the tub...she was ready!

Below are just a few pictures of our cute little girl! She is so full of personality and talks about her "Dada" a lot! We are really enjoying our little hiatus together!

Need a hug?

Olivia has been big into giving hugs lately....especially to Rusty! Of course Rusty loves the attention, but it is the cutest thing. She just loves to go up to him and hug him! She's also into hugging other babies and little kids. I think that at times she scares them, but she's a hugger.

She also likes to try to hug Shadow. But those of you who know Shadow well, know that Shadow isn't the huggly, snuggly type. She doesn't like to be held to be pet, she'd much rather run circles around you and have you pet her as she passes. Shadow has gotten smart, and when she sees Liv coming, she will politely just move out of her way.
Below, Shadow is hiding from potential hugs! :)

Fun in the Summer Sun!

Last weekend, we had a cookout at our house! The weather was perfect! Here are a few pictures from the day. Julia and Olivia playing in the water table (shaded by our tree from Grammie).
Grammie, Poppi and Jimmy fell asleep outside!
Travis and Kurt enjoyed the pool!

Our Lil' Fire Cracker!

Here are a few pictures of Olivia from this week. My mom bought her a shirt for the 4th that says "Lil' Fire Cracker". Everyone loved it! She wore it to daycare on Tuesday. So, here are a few pictures of this little girl just being silly! Below, Liv is giving kisses (Travis taught her this). She thinks the noise it makes is pretty funny. She loves playing with her little books. Especially when cousin Julia isn't around, she gets to play with the Cinderella and Snow White books. It's almost like she's excited to see those books are there for her to play with....if only cousin Julia knew!
The below shot is a little blurry, but it was her reaction after blowing kisses!
And here she is with her beloved Rusty. She sits on him, crawls on him, tugs on him and he just takes it! He loves the attention. (Yes, that's Travis laying on the floor next to them).
Now the below shot is funny. You'll notice that her hands are a bit blurry, that's because she is hitting Travis in the face with her little books (rather quickly I might add). You'll see that Travis is trying to throw a block....but this round goes to the Lil' Fire Cracker!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUSTY!!!

Our oldest "child" turned 5 today! Yes, our boy Rusty is getting up there in age! I remember when he was just a scrawny little pup from a dirty farm in Ohio. We almost didn't take him because he wasn't "friendly" enough! I must have cuddled him a bit too much, because now he is overly friendly!


He has been so great with Olivia. I've put in a few photos of them together over the last year. He just took to her right when she came home and has just loved on her ever since! I think that they will be great friends!

Rusty was treated this evening to a can of "meaty" dog food...as apposed to his regular diet of dry Science Diet! And since it was his birthday, Shadow wasn't left out, and she also dined on the "birthday dinner".

Olivia must have known that it was his birthday today too because she also fed him a few goldfish, some graham crackers and part of her grilled cheese.