Busy as a bee..

This photo has absolutely nothing to do with tonight's post, it's just precious. Olivia was decorating her Halloween cookies on Sunday night.

We are busy, busy around here! I am throwing my sister's baby shower is Saturday- and I have sooo much to do. But I promised my sweet friend Dana that I would try to post nightly; and since I can't think of anything other than my checklist- that's what I'm going to share.

• Hobby Lobby shopping trip to get card stock & ribbon.
• Grocery store for shower.
• Make diaper cake for gift table.
• Make diaper cake for welcome table.
• Make and freeze punch.
• Jordan's Market shopping trip to get Wind and Willow dips and pepper jelly.
• Make these hurricanes. Tutorial found here.
• Write a quick tutorial for them.
• Make dinner for some sweet friends. {Their son is having surgery on Friday.}
• Laundry, lots of laundry.
• Clean the bedrooms and the bathroom.
• Menu plan for my family.
• Grocery store for my family.
• Make baby gift.
• Prepare Wind and Willow dips.
• Set up for baby shower.
• Make t-shirt for Olivia to wear to the shower.
• Decide what I'm going to wear to the shower.
• Take dress to Lindsay to wear Saturday.
• Pick up ultra-sound pictures.
• Gather all necessary recipes for shower menu.
• Breathe.
• Call church to get entry code for Saturday.
• Catch up on our DVR. Which is currently 82% full.
• Digitally create cupcake toppers.
• Print cupcake toppers.
• Cut out cupcake toppers.
• Print these "wishes for baby" cards.
• Cut out the "wishes for baby" cards.
• Gather serving dishes.
• Bake cupcakes.
• Lay out clothes for Saturday.
• Pack overnight bag for Olivia and me for a Saturday night slumber party with Dana and Adley.
• Make chicken salad.

I'll let you know how it goes.

on my heart tonight..

Olivia at 28 weeks.

 Life

is the right of

every child.

Not a

special privilage

for

the fortunate,

the planned,

and the perfect.

Sweet like sugar..

This post is filled with random pictures that don't really fit into any other post- but too cute not to share..

There is just something magical about being a little girl. I've always said that I was so grateful to the Lord that He chose me to be Olivia's momma. She is such a special child, with such a sweet soul. I love getting to share in tender moments like the ones in these pictures- dress up days, tea parties and silly faces are certainly the sweet spots that get you through the tough ones. But what I most look forward to as Olivia's momma is watching as she grows "into her own." I know that the Lord has wonderful things planned for her, and I can't wait to see how he uses her sweet, strong nature to bring Him glory!

Another First

October 7, 2011

First's aren't a frequent in our house any more. Olivia has really settled into her own and is figuring life out as a toddler. She's running around and talking up a storm. {seriously- the vocabulary she has is insane!}
So I was super excited when we got to experience another first the other day.

Her first hair cut. Kind of.

Her bangs had been hanging in her eyes for a couple of weeks, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and have them trimmed. So we popped into a local salon and had a family friend fix Olivia up. Thanks Ms. Wanda!!

Olivia did great, as always. She sat so still. I did pretty well too. I somehow managed to avoid tears.

 

Doesn't she just look all grown up? So bittersweet.

 

I didn't manage to get a good "after" shot. She was too worried about getting those Smarties opened.

Meow!

I'm taking a break from the "what we've been up to" posts today to share about the Bendel Halloween.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret- I am a bit of a holiday/special occasion person. Actually I'm a huge holiday/special occasion person. I just love sharing all the fun and traditions with Olivia!
I make her a goody basket for each holiday.

First thing this morning she opened her Halloween basket...

And naturally, she gets a card at every possible opportunity!

I worked during the day, but couldn't wait to get home and get our girl all gussied up! She was a precious little black kitty cat. She was saying "meow" all night!! It was so sweet.

We were sad that my mom and grandmother weren't able to make it trick or treating with us; but so happy that Dee Dee {my sweet mother-in-law} joined in the fun! That girl loves her Dee Dee!!

Liv was so excited to get started she could hardly contain herself while we waited for Daddy to join us.

Thankfully, he didn't keep her waiting long!

This is Olivia receiving her first 'treat' at Trunk or Treat. She was awesome. She figured out the whole 'Trick or Treating' thing very early on- saying "twick-er-twee" at every car, and "dank oooo" once she'd scored the goods. She's such a big girl now!

We even got to see our sweet friends Dana and Adley {the sweet little lady bug.} Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks? She's a doll baby, and we love her. Olivia and I are so blessed to have these girls so close. They live just a couple of miles down the road- so we're able to get the girls together often. I so hope that their little friendship continues through school and that they are able to really be there for each other as they get older.

I think it is so important to have strong ties with friends. Up until this point in my life I've been blessed with 4 wonderful friends, who I couldn't imagine my life without. Dana is quickly joining that group! We've known each other since middle school, and graduated high school together- though we didn't become friends until just this year. She has been such a blessing to me.

I'll end this post with a sweet snap shot of me and Olivia the cat. She just loved all the festivities.. I think she's a bit more like me than we thought.

Date with Daddy

One of my favorite movies from childhood was the Lion King. So naturally, I was a excited to learn that Disney was not only "releasing it from the vault" but also showing it in theaters!

{via}

So we got all dolled up. 

And Daddy toke us out on a special date.

We had a very fancy dinner at McAlister's Deli. {Sorry, no pictures from that}

After dinner we headed to the theater. We only paid for two tickets, gotta love children's rates!

 Olivia did much better than expected. I was so sure we would have to leave that we sat on the bottom row and close to the exit! But all of that was unnecessary. Olivia was a bit fidgety, but she was quiet and sat pretty well through the whole movie. {Except for the times she was making lion sounds}

I can't wait to take her to another movie. Now just to get Disney to re-release 101 Dalmatians. That one would be awesome in 3D!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

{Our littlest blue fairy last year.}

We're looking forward to all the festivities tonight. I've got some major scheduling to do, I have the night planned down to the very last minute- in my head. Time to put it on paper, I'm praying we don't have to skip anything. We are so blessed to have so many people who love Olivia. We cherish each and every one of them. I would hate for any one to not get to see our little black cat this year!

Be safe tonight.. and try not to eat too much candy. It'll rot your teeth out.

p.s. I'll be posting again at 10, as promised, with another update as to what we've been up to the past 2 months.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

October 9, 2011

Fall is my favorite season.

And every October a local farm has a pumpkin patch- complete with hay rides and a petting zoo.

We took Olivia last year and of course it was something I wanted to make a tradition.

So, last Sunday we got the families together and took Olivia to the farm.

And let me tell you- our girl loves the outdoors!

She played in those mums for like 30 minutes.

Sweet, sweet girl.

I even managed to capture a picture similar to one I got last year.

It's so crazy to see the difference a year makes!

I love having our big girl running around; but sometimes I truly miss those baby days.

She had a blast searching for her perfect pumpkin.

I couldn't get her to sit still to get an accurate picture with the growth chart.

Imagine that.

She was so excited all day- running, playing and talking to all the people.

Whether they wanted her to or not!

The petting zoo is owned by one of my high school friend's family.

So we were lucky enough to test the waters with the horse ride, before we paid.

I was so worried that Olivia would freak out, but in fact she loved it!

Movin' on up..

September 17, 2011

To a big girl bed!

Yes, happily, the time has come to move our girl to a big girl bed.
We made the move just before her 18 month birthday.
18 months!?
Where does time go?

Some of these pictures are pretty fuzzy. I just couldn't wait to show Liv her bed. Not even long enough to find the camera. Therefore we have pictures from the ole' iPhone.

Seeing her big girl bed for the first time.

In a big girl bed you can really stretch out..

relax with a good book..

maybe do a little day-dreaming..

Give your Mommy kisses.. {All the "Thank You" I'll ever need.}

have tickle time..

play peek-a-boo through your side rail..

get tucked in..

and sleep the night away.

Olivia was a rock star! She slept the whole night in her new bed. I couldn't keep myself from checking on her every couple of hours. I just couldn't believe she didn't wake up!

The next morning was full of special treats..

watching Veggietales in bed..

Teddy Grahams and money from Dee Dee..

and determined to not be out-done; Papa gave her his entire coin jar.

{Yes it took both piggy banks. The polka dotted one is now full and weighs in at about 15 lbs.}

We are so proud of our girl. She is growing and developing so fast. It is such a blessing to watch her learn and grow!

Playing Catch-up

Well, as my dear friend Dana {Hi Dana!!} so sweetly pointed out to me last night during our Olivia & Adley's play date- I have not updated this sweet blog in over a month. My apologies. 
So I'm updating. The next week or so will be full of daily updates about what we've been doing this past couple of months.

{photo via}

Meanwhile, my sweet girl and I are going to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

Oh how I love traditions. And hearing Olivia say "punkin" over and over again.