Olivia Update

This post isn't about pictures....it's just about remembering what Olivia was doing at this time in her life. Since I quit writing regular "monthly updates", I feel like I'm going to forget all of the cute little things she says/does!

With that being said...here are a few thing I want to remember about Olivia at approximately 27 months old!

· COLORS: knows the regular colors…pink, red, black, white, blue, green, orange, purple. I think purple is her favorite. Her vitamins are red, orange & purple. Every night I ask which color she wants and she says purple. Well, we’ve ran out of purple, so tonight I asked “red or orange” and she said “hmmm….PURPLE!”

· NUMBERS: Can definitely count to at least 9. I assume she could count to ten if she wanted to though! Ha.

· ABC’s: I’ve only heard her get to “D”, but Jason said she got to “G” the other day when they were singing it.

A few of her most popular phrases...

· “Come on guys! Follow me!”

· “It’s my turn now!”….or “It’s Mommy’s turn now”….or Daddy’s turn… She’s just very big into taking turns at the moment!

· “It’s too heaby” (Heavy). Apparently everything is really heavy these days. The other day she brought her sippy cup to me and said “It too heaby mommy!” in her most pitiful voice.

· “I did it!!!” – straight from Dora I’m sure!

· “I don’t want ______”. This is a very popular phrase lately. Earlier this week, I told her we were going to Target, and she mumbled “I don’t wanna go to Target”. I’ve also heard “I don’t want that cereal”….or “I don’t wanna go night night”. Just pretty much anything I ask of her, she says she doesn’t want to do it! I’m guessing this is typical of a 2 year old!

· About a week ago, she began calling Jason and I “MOM” and “DAD”….not all the time, but fairly often. I’m NOT ready for that! I remind her every time that it’s either Mommy or Mama…NOT MOM!

· Called the Easter bunny “Hop Hop”. My mom also gave her a little baby that is dressed in a bunny outfit….or it’s a bunny with a baby doll face….either way, she named her “Baby Hop Hop”. So sweet!

I'm sure there's a MILLION more things I don't want to forget, but it's hard when you are sitting here just trying to think of things!

Easter Sunday 2011

Happy Easter All!

Olivia woke up this morning to find that the Easter bunny had left her a few little gifts in her Easter bucket, although I think she's aware that the Easter bunny is actually mommy! Last night I was explaining that the Easter bunny would come and bring her gifts, and she immediately walked to the closet where I had her stuff, opened it and said "My presents!!!". Oh well! She was still excited to get stuff!

The bunny left money in her eggs, so we had to put it in her bank. This girl loves money.

Here are a few pictures I took before church this morning.

After church, we went to my in-laws for our egg hunt and lunch. The Easter bunny had left a few things at their house too!

Every year, there is an egg hunt for the adult children.

I must admit that I was hesitant the first year, and then I realized that it's a fairly profitable egg hunt, so I'm not quite as hesitant any longer! We each hunt for our own color (I'm purple, Jason's green, etc.). The person who finds all of their eggs first wins a prize egg. I'm proud to say that I typically win this prize, and this year was no exception! Ha.

While the eggs are hidden within 2 rooms, it's still difficult to find all of your eggs. I almost gave up on my last one today, but found it just in time to win!

We use Target sacks as our "baskets". Hey - it's works!

Mike (or Babo as Olivia has been calling him) kept Olivia entertained in the corner while we hunted. I'm sure she thought we were all a little crazy.

My beautiful princess!

Hope you all had a great Easter!

We had 15 people accept Jesus today in just the one service we attended! God is definitely working in our little church! (and I say little, as my friend Nicole's church is ENORMOUS!)

Have a good week!

Another Egg Hunt...

This morning we went to my in-law's country club for their Easter gathering. There was an egg hunt, the Easter bunny, face painting, arts & crafts, cookie decorating, pony rides, petting zoo, bounce houses, a magic show and lots more! There were also LOTS of people!

We got there early and had to wait about 15 minutes or so for the "hunt" to begin. I've decided Olivia isn't a fan of big crowds like that. And to be honest, neither am I! It was slightly scary! These people were SERIOUS about that egg hunt! Once we finally got to go, Olivia just stood and cried, as she was about trampled on by the overbearing adults! We hunted in the 0-3 year age group, but you would have thought it was the 10 year old age group!

Looking out at all the eggs!

(since we were early, we did manage to get up front, which really only meant that many more people behind us RUNNING in to get the eggs)

Gram E & Olivia

After the hunt....a little shocked I think!

Running away....get me out of here!

She managed to get a few.

There was a cute Easter bunny there, and Olivia acted like she was going to sit in his lap (which is more than she did for the mall bunny). Once it was our turn, she completely changed her mind. She was NOT going to sit or even stand next to that bunny!

Weekend of Firsts

This weekend, Olivia had her

- First Easter Egg Hunt &

- First Pony Ride

Our church had their annual EGGstravaganza this weekend. This was our first year to go, as the minimum age to hunt eggs is 2, so Olivia has always been too young. They had a petting zoo, bounce houses, pony rides & face painting. She had a great time!

There were 2-3 of these little pigs. SO CUTE!

TIME TO "HUNT" EGGS!

I wasn't sure she fully understood the concept, but once it was time to hunt the eggs, I realized that she fully understood! She would sit her bucket down & gather as many eggs as she could as quickly as she could before returning them to the bucket. She seemed to know it was a race and that those other children were going after the same eggs as she was!

She has her arms full of eggs...

Are there anymore???? I think they are gone!

We stood in line at LEAST 30 minutes for the pony ride. They only had 2 ponies there and lots of children, so it was a decent wait. I was concerned that she wouldn't actually ride once we got up there, but she kept telling me she was going to ride it, so we decided to wait in line.

She didn't hesitate at all with getting on it. She loved it and didn't want to get off when her ride was over.

My big girl!!!

We are planning on attending the Egg Hunt at the country club next weekend. The Easter Bunny is suppose to be there too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll like that Easter Bunny better than the Mall Easter Bunny!!! Every time I ask her if she wants to go back and see him again, she is very insistant that she does NOT want to. Stay tuned...

Recent Phone Pics

Here are a few recent iPhone pics.

I just wanted to share and make sure they are saved for future reference!

All dressed up with no place to go....

New York City

I had to be in New York this week for work. Luckily, I was traveling with a friend/co-worker Deborah. We decided to go a couple of days early to get some sightseeing in. I've never been to NYC (never thought I'd really care for it much). Turns out, I really liked it! I'd definitely go back...hopefully with Jason next time! He was a good man to stay home and be Mr. Dad for 6 days/5 nights......not that he had much of a choice..ha.

Pics will probably be out of order for the way we did things, as some were from cell phone and some were camera...nonetheless, here's our trip!

The weather was usually in the 50's-60's and windy, but there was one day of around 80 degrees. It did rain a couple of days, but they were days we were having to work, so it worked out well!

This is where the twin towers were. It's just a large construction site now. We toured a little museum next door that showed what the memorial will look like when it's completed. It was a very sombering experience.

Night One: Times Square

Now this is a place to people watch!

We took a water taxi tour one day. It was a great way to see some of the sites without having to actually go to them (for example: The Statue of Liberty....I wanted to see her, but really didn't have a desire to spend half a day to do it). World Financial Center

After the water taxi, we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was completed in the 1800's. You can't help but wonder "is this the day it's going to collapse?" when walking across! I had to google to find out, but it is only a little over 1/4 of a mile long. It sure feels longer than that! It's fairly steep.

At the ice rink - Rockefeller Center

(I've never had my picture made alone so many times! Awkward! But I also wanted proof I was there and not JUST scenery pics!)

We didn't see The Donald. He must have been sleeping. I'm sure had he known we were there, he totally would have come down to see us! Ha. We did visit the Trump Store (in the lobby) and the Starbucks on the 2nd floor.

Fun place!

I think I have a better picture of this, but I just wanted to show how enormous Central Park is (and this is about 1/4 of it). It's HUGE. It is crazy how there are all of these trees and grass and ponds in the middle of such craziness!

We decided to do "Top of the Rock" instead of the Empire State Bldg. Jason's cousin told me she's done both and preferred Top of the Rock. After reviewing some comparisons online, we decided to go with her suggestion and loved it! Absolutely worth the $20 for the tickets. You get a designated time and there are no lines when you return (as opposed to the 2-4 hour lines we heard of for the Empire State Bldg.). PLUS, you get pictures of the Empire State Bldg. in your photographs, which you obviously wouldn't get if you were inside of it!

We were able to see in both day and night. We had to hang out up there for quite a while, but we managed to do it! It's amazing how slowly the sun sets when you are waiting for it to set!

On our last night, we went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. It was a great show! I've always had a soft spot for Mary, but I think it would be good even if you weren't already a fan!

All in all, we had a great trip (and yes, we managed to work too)!!!

While I had fun, I DESPERATELY missed Olivia and Jason. At least with Jason, I could speak to him and know that he knew I was for sure returning! Ha. I talked to Olivia daily, but I'd cry nearly every time we would hang up the phone! I swear my heart literally hurt! I missed her SO much and am so glad to be home and feel complete again!