It's a Jolly Holiday!

We had Olivia's 3rd birthday party last weekend at our house. It was a fairly small event as several people weren't able to come this year.

Our theme: Mary Poppins. Olivia has loved her for the last few months, so I felt it was only appropriate; however, there's not a lot out there for Mary Poppins-themed birthdays, so I had to try and get creative! One positive thing about Mary Poppins not being very commercialized is that I ended up not spending much money at all on the decor! I made the invitations, cupcake toppers, labels, etc. all on my computer. I'm calling this our "birthday on a budget"!

Welcome to 17 Cherry Tree Lane.

I am NOT a cake decorator. I found this porcelain figurine of Mary and decided to use it as a cake topper. I actually liked the way it turned out. Simple...which I like!


We had Spoonfuls of Sugar (cool whip with sprinkles). I think Mary would approve!

Umbrella cookies.

I incorporated the singing/dancing penguins on the menu cards.

Party Favors: Sidewalk Chalk.

I was originally going to let the kids do sidewalk drawings but decided against it since it was on the chilly side.

More party favors: Feed the Birds

(I must say that probably only 1/3 of our guests actually got any of the references. I told them they needed to brush up on their Mary Poppins knowledge before they came!)

The birthday girl! She was SO excited about her party.

Never did get a picture with everyone in it....I'm not sure where Hudson was!

Miss Priss Maggie (and Turner in the back)

I had a coloring station set up where they could color kites. Original plan was to make kites...then I decided they are only 3 and coloring would be much easier!

Pin the Tail on the Kite

Maggie was the winner!

Family Picture

Present Time!

Thanks everyone for all the great gifts! She got a MobiGo and games, princess dress, doctor kit, a charm bracelet, a movie, a swimsuit/cover up, an umbrella...and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things! Thanks everybody! While she doesn't need a thing, we appreciate it!

Time for Cake!

Olivia had a great party and we appreciate all those that came to celebrate with us!

January 20, 2012

We had a busy day planned on Olivia's actual birthday.

The day began with me singing "Happy Birthday" to her while she was still in bed. She was hiding under her pillow and all of a sudden got real excited and said "it's my birthday NOW?!?!". She had been so patient all week!

She had pancakes, waffles & blueberries for breakfast.

And a little cupcake for breakfast dessert!



She had her doctor's appointment early that morning. Luckily no shots, but they did do a finger prick to test her iron. She didn't budge at the prick...until she saw the blood. Then she panicked just a little!

After the doctor's office, I took her to daycare where she had a little Dora birthday party. After nap, Gram E picked her up for an afternoon TCBY treat before bringing her home.

I think it's fair to say she had a SWEET 3rd birthday! I'm pretty certain we gave her another cupcake after dinner. Sugar overload! But hey...you only turn three once!

Olivia is Three

Stats: 31 Pounds (50th percentile); 36 inches (50th percentile); Wearing mostly 2T clothes, but starting to wear more 3T, particularly in tops.

Potty: You were potty trained at 2 years 5 months. I can barely remember changing diapers and am very thankful (and a little richer) for that!


Food: We stick to milk and water to quench your thirst. I never give you juice, as I don’t see the need for the added sugar to your diet. You’ll thank me one day! I promise! You love yogurt, cheese, blueberries & avocados. You love to snack on cheerios and goldfish. You love it when daddy brings home pizza…and sometimes you’ll actually eat it. You always request hamburgers if we have to eat fast food, but you rarely eat more than 2-3 bites. I would say you are a pretty picky eater, but you do LOVE your sweets when you get to have them! Daddy and I eat dinner much later than you, as you are starving when we get home every night. You always as me “what are you having for dinner?”. I’ll respond, and then you ask “what’s in it?” and I have to proceed with listing the ingredients. After each thing, you either say “yuck, what else?” or you say “oh, I like that! Now what else?”. So funny. You are a character.



Speech: You talk NONSTOP lately. If you are awake, you are talking. You are very inquisitive and ask why a lot. Some phrases you say regularly:

• "Now, wait a minute!!!”


• “My daddy tell me I can”…or “My mommy tell me I can" when she's trying to convince the other parent that she should be able to do something.


• "Oh my goodness!"

Bedtime: We start your bedtime routine between 7:30-7:45 most nights. You ride the train (aka as Daddy's back) to your bed and then roll off his back onto the bed. As you roll from his back to the bed, you say "Mind the gap!" (apparently your daddy..who taught you this...thinks we live in London, as this is what they say when you enter/exit the tube). After you get on your bed, you want me to hold you and sing to you. We typically since the following songs...in the same order. If I decide to get crazy and sing out of order, you quickly remind me of which song I should be singing.

1. Chim Chimney (from Mary Poppins)


2. ABC's


3. Jesus Loves Me


4. Jesus Loves the Little Children (this one has recently replaced the Dora theme song. I'm happy about that!)

Unfortunatly, you do have nightmares frequently. I hate this for you and hope you'll grow out of it very soon. You typically wake up in the mornings around 7:30-8:00.

Pretend Play: You are very imaginative and always have been. I hear you carrying on big conversations with your baby dolls all the time. You love to play with your kitchen and serve us all dinner. Gracie and Bentley usually get some too. You and your friend Evan at school have an ongoing role-playing game. You are the mommy and he is the baby. When I pick you up, he will tell you “Bye Mommy!” and you say “Bye baby!”. This has been going on for a few weeks. Your teacher says you guys do it all day long. One day I told Evan that he was a big boy, not a baby. He said “No! I’m a baby and she the mommy!”. Well, ok then! We live very close to your school. On the weekends when we drive by, you will say “I’m coming baby, ok?! I almost there! I’m coming!”. I’m glad you love your friends and your school!

Educational Stuff:

• ABC's & Letter Recognition: You've been able to verbally recite your ABC's for several months. The only part I know you miss is you say "B" instead of "V", but I wouldn't could off for that one! :) You are starting letter recognition and know several letters. You usually get to daycare after they've done the main lessons, so I know it's important that I work on it with you at night. I must admit that I don't do it enough, so hopefully you won't be too far behind! I've recently started to try to really make a point about saying "C" for cat and so on.


• Numbers: You can count to at least 15...not sure about past that or not. You will rarely count on command for me. You aren't much of a "performer" upon request....never have been!

I just cannot believe that you are THREE! It seems like yesterday you were a "tiny" 9 1/2 pound newborn! We are so thankful for you and only want the best life has to offer for you! We are looking forward to what the next year has to offer, although I sure hope it slows down a little! You are growing too fast! We love you!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to our baby girl!

You are THREE today!
(how is that even possible?!?!)

I have so much I'd like to say, but no time to do it! I have to get ready for our birthday party tomorrow! It's sure to be a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day, and I'll be back in a day or two to tell you all about it! :)

Playhouse

Olivia's birthday isn't until Friday, but she's gotten one gift early. Gram E and I decided she needed a playhouse. We also thought a little wooden one would be great. We didn't consult with Jason. It was more of a "oh, your mom bought a playhouse. You'll have to put it together". I'm pretty certain he's permanently irritated with us since it took him about 8-10 hours to put it together!

While he was building it, Olivia kept saying it was "for the horsies". No clue what horses she is referring to! I'm positive I haven't given anyone permission to give her a horse! Once it was together Monday evening, we took her out and showed it to her and let her play a while. She loved it. There is a little stove in there and she immediately said "what you want? what's for dinner?". LOL.

Sick (again)

Olivia was sick from last Tuesday night thru sometime Sunday when she began to feel better and FINALLY got rid of this stinking fever. She had an upper respiratory infection and later developed an ear infection, which all resulted in about 5 days of fever, many sleepless nights, two trips to the doctor and two missed birthday parties for two very special boys (*tears*).

But we did manage to play dress up while beating the drum.

And draw a sun with many, many rays....it's a really bright sun! HA. She was so proud.

And last, but never least, she managed to put Mardi Gras beads on Gracie, who just sits still and takes it. They're both good girls!

3 Year Old Pictures (picture overload)

Last weekend I had Olivia's 3 year old pictures made. She's not technically 3 until January 20th, but that was just the only time I could work out with the photographer....and let's face it, she isn't going to change that much in 2 weeks!

I was very pleased with how they turned out! We went out to a park that had TONS of leaves. It was a new experience for her to play in that environment, so I think it helped loosen her up some.

I put together this pink outfit about 20 minutes before we left the house. I'm so happy I took it because she was such a priss wearing it!

If we are facebook friends, then you've seen most of these, although I think there might be a few new ones for you!

Her party is going to be black, white and red.

I was hoping for some better pics with her "3". Maybe next year...with a "4"!

Love this. She would run really far, then come back to us. On her way back, she got all tangled up in the balloons.

Probably my favorite for sure: love her!

Future Orthopedic

Ok, so if I talk to you regularly, then you already know Olivia's new obsession....but if it doesn't go on the blog, then it never existed, right?! Ha.

One night, Olivia was rubbing my back and felt my shoulder blade poking out. She said "WHAT is that????"
Me: My shoulder blade
O: (looks confused)
Me: It's a bone
O: What's a bone?
Me: Ummmm, they're hard. They hold your body together. You can't see them.
O: Oh.

A couple minutes later, she goes to bed and hits her head. She immediately said "ouch! Is my head a bone?"
Me: Yes, there is a bone in your head
O: And my elbow?
Me: Yes. And your knee. And your arm....etc. etc.
We do our bedtime ritual and move on.

The next day I pick her up from school and she asks "Does your nose have a bone?"
Me: Yes (thinking: have you seriously been obsessing about bones all day???)
O: It's hiding?
Me: Yes, it's hiding.

We've since had a discussion about teeth and how teeth are bones too. She says "but they don't hide". No my dear, they don't hide. She has advised the Walmart cashier that she has bones in her head (yet the Walmart cashier thought she was talking about her new weave..LOL). She's told our hairdresser all about bones. She will randomly tell anyone that will listen all about their bones.

She's told me before that she's going to be a doctor when she grows up.

I bet she doesn't know that bone doctors exist!

Another Day at the Zoo

We spent about an hour at the zoo Monday morning. Hey, we have season passes (includes free parking), so why not?! It was pretty chilly (40 and windy), so there weren't too many people there. It was really nice (other than the wind).

As I mentioned before, we had not ever spent any time in the Texas Wild area, so that's where we went....right after MOLA (Museum of Living Art...mainly the amphibians, snakes, etc.) Are snakes amphibians??? I digress.

I've decided Texas Wild is might be my favorite part of the zoo. We could have spent 2-3 hours alone in just that area. Besides the animals, there are a lot of activities for them to do as well. So...my Rockwall/Rowlett friends need to head this way and come to the zoo with us one day! Last time we all went we didn't see Texas either!

This was in an aquariam where otters will swim right up to you. I think they enjoyed putting on a show. Olivia enjoyed pretending to sleep!

When we saw the jaguar, Olivia asked what it was. I said "a jaguar". She said "ohhh, I see those on tv" (referring to the jaguar on Diego). This is such a fun age! I love it when she connects things like that!

Morning at the Zoo

One of the things we received for Christmas was season passes to the zoo, so we took advantage and went this past Friday. We only stayed maybe 1 1/2 hours, but we were all hungry and ready for lunch! We're actually considering going back for a little bit tomorrow and exploring some "new" territory. As many times as I've been to the Fort Worth zoo, I don't think I've ever made it to any of the animals in Texas Wild! Olivia is usually ready to go by the time we get over there, so we just skip it. Who knows what else we've also never seen!

See the baby chimp? We watched them for a long time. Olivia was really interested in determining who was the mommy & daddy.

There is a little bit of water with Koi and ducks around the area that houses the giraffes. Olivia is ALWAYS way more interested in the Koi that are in the water than she is interested in the giraffes.

I just LOVE the beautiful white tigers, although this pic is terrible!

It was apparently naptime for the kangaroos. They were all sleeping!

And the best part of all...riding the train.

Only one more day of vacation. I'm SO SAD! It's going to be really hard going back after 10 days off, but I definitely need to get back in my routine, get away from all these sweets and get back to the gym!