Happy Holidays

Today, Olivia got to go see Santa! We were a little apprehensive on how it would go, since on Thursday she saw Santa at her Christmas program and she got scared. Well, she didn't do too bad, a little scared, but at least she sat with him. She was able to tell him that she wanted a purple bike and managed to tell Santa that Daddy has been "naughty"! She finally changed her mind and told him that Daddy has been a good boy.

Halloween

Olivia FINALLY understands Halloween. Trick or treating was the day before Halloween for us, because there was concern that on Halloween Day, we would be having a home playoff football game. So, we hurried home from work, got Olivia and decided to practice what to do. So I held the candy basket and had O say trick or treat and I would then place a piece of candy in her pumpkin...well apparently I did not give her enough candy...or she picked up on the concept really well because when I turned my back, both hands were in the basket and her pumpkin was half full! She was not happy when she had to return the candy, but was excited to go out and get some of her own. She was even more excited when her "boyfriend" Julian's parents invited us to their house for Halloween and she got to go trick or treating with him on Halloween Day! As you can see...O really likes Julian...especially when he is singing to her. We will really have to keep an eye on the two of them as they get older!!!

Fall Fun

I cannot believe that it is already the end of October! Where has this year gone to! Here are a few pics of a trip we made to East Lansing with Olivia...she LOVES Sparty! We also went to Boo at the Zoo this past week. Olivia liked seeing the animals...but LOVED the treat bag she got from the zoo. Will post more pics after Halloween!

Walk Now For Autism

Hi all!

As many of you may know, I work for Positive Education Program, a non-profit organization that serves individuals with Autism. Day in and day out, I work to teach not only the students with Autism in my classroom, but educate their families and the community in which we live.

This Sunday, September 28th, I will be participating in Walk Now For Autism to help raise awareness of Autism, as well as raise funds to further research on Autism. Autism is becoming more readily diagnosed and at some point in our lives, we will all be blessed to experience an interaction with someone with Autism.

I encourage you to visit: www.walknowforautism.org to increase your awareness. If you are able to donate, that too would be greatly appreciated, I will be walking for Positive Education Program in the Cleveland, OH event. I will be most greatful if you just take a moment of your time to educate yourself on Autism, as there are many people in society that are unaware of this and do not give individuals with Autism the respect they too deserve.

Love Nicole

Green Beans & more

Every two days, GiGi and I have been out picking and snipping green beans. Today we had a little bit more help snipping them. Bumpa, Alex, & Olivia joined in the fun. We got those beans done in no time. Alex & Olivia were both possessive of "their" piles of beans to break in half.

We also had chores for this kids to do. They would actually get excited when we told them it was time to vacuum and swiffer. Go figure...I am sure this excitement will wear off:(

Sanford & Daughter

Why pay money to go to the gym when you can work out for free with Sanford? Bumpa has been "cleaning" out the barn...well trying to make a dent in it, which for those of you who know is easier said than done. I decided to go out and work with Bumpa for a few hours. I learned a lot about separating the "junk" and learned about a lot of different car parts, etc. I also got a very good workout in...and I didn't even have to pay for a membership.

Hot Dog Roast

Many say three times is a charm, however, for us it only took two attempts.  We tried to have a hot dog roast on Sunday, however, it was too windy, so Monday it was.  We packed up the food and just a few minutes later, we were at the pond for our hot dog roast.  The kids (minus Alex for a while) loved running around while the food was cooking...Alex...well he loved sitting at the table waiting for the food. 

Chicken BBQ

This past weekend was the churches annual chicken BBQ. So, GiGi and Bumpa got to the church early to help prepare the food...Bumpa was on chicken duty...and GiGi, well she was on "everything" duty. The food was delicious and the kids had a really good time. Alex ate really fast because he wanted to get into the bounce house. There was a polka band...and I know it may come as a surprise, but Olivia was the most interested in the music. She danced and danced...as a matter of fact, she got her cousins to come out and dance with her, and GiGi well, she was not that far behind. At the end of the afternoon, both Alex and Olivia were just so tired that they "crashed" together.

Fun at the Farm

We continue to stay busy at the farm. The kids enjoy their daily golf cart rides "over the bridge" to look for berries, swimming in the pool, and playing on the swing set. Today, Alex and Olivia helped break the green beans in half after Ali, GiGi and I picked and snipped the ends of the green beans. Bumpa and I tried to get Alex and Olivia to stand in the tractor wheel so we could get their pictures, but they wouldn't, so Bumpa had to do it himself. Well, I guess I should get back to helping Bumpa...we are going through scrap. Until tomorrow...

Summer Time Fun

The summer has gone by very fast. It was filled with a lot of fun days and time with family. We were able to have Ali & Anna with us for a week, and toward the end of the week, the rest of their family joined us. GiGi & Bumpa were able to join us for a Tigers game in Cleveland...to bad the Tigers couldn't even score a run. At least we got to see Pudge in one of his last games as a Tiger. Now we are spending a week on the farm with Alex & Liz...keeping GiGi and Bumpa on their toes. The two girls have been helping GiGi cook & pick green beans, and all three kids have been doing their "jobs" cleaning the back room. I am sure we will have many more adventures to write about during this week at the farm.

Disney Family Vacation

This year we decided to take a family vacation to Disney. We went there with Dale's sister Debbie and her family and were able to spend a week in the land of magic...and it was truly magical! We left on July 5th to begin our adventures and had a week full of fun planned for the kids. We were able to dine with characters each day we were there which was a pretty cool treat. We hit Donald's safari breakfast, Cinderella's Royal Table, Princess Storybook dining at Akershaus, Chef Mickey's, and The Crystal Palace. Olivia LOVED spotting and pointing at the characters and princesses, however, once they got close or it was time to get her picture taken...she got shy! Then they would leave and she would talk all about them. By far, her favorite characters were Goofy and Pluto, and her favorite princess was Ariel!
Her favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear at Magic Kingdom, Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios, but the best for her....Cinderella's Carousel (we did this ride at least 20 times and each time she just had to have a purple horse) and each time it was over we heard...AGAIN, AGAIN! She also liked the Tea Cups, but again, she needed a purple tea cup and if one wasn't available, she would get mad.
She really got excited about the parades, especially the SpectroMagic parade at Magic Kingdom, we saw it three times and each time was just as magical for her as the first.
She also really enjoyed swimming, especially once we got her a lifevest to wear in the "big" pool. She was very independent and wanted to do the swimming all by herself. She even went down a waterslide that was at the pool all on her own!
I could ramble on more and more about our trip since we had such a great time, but I won't bore all of you with all of the details.
Sorry there are soooo many pictures, but I promise that that is only a fraction of the 550+ pictures that we took.

Memorial Day Parade

Each year, Avon Lake has a Memorial Day Parade on the street behind our house. It has been a tradition going over to our friends house, drinking coffee, eating doughnuts and watching the parade. This is the first year that Olivia did not cry when the band played. She really enjoyed the candy that was thrown at her...she opened and ate SEVERAL pieces. After the parade, there is an honoring event at Veteran's Park just down the street on the lake. This year there was a fly over by military planes...which was really neat to see. It was such a nice day that Buddy got to go into the water which made him very happy.

Memorial Day Party

This year we decided with our good friends Sandra and Craig to begin a tradition of getting together every Memorial Day weekend. This year we had it at our house. We had a great day and decided to have a cookout. Lots and lots of food and fun was had by all. Dale tried to start a bonfire...but the wood we had was not dry enough and the only thing we got was a lot of smoke. We can't wait for next years gathering.

50th Anniversary Party

On May 24, 2008, Dale's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We had a celebration with them first at church for mass, where Father Dave did a blessing for their marriage which was absolutely beautiful, followed by a reception and dance. Dale's brothers band played music, with his nephew rockin it on the drums. Dale's dad got up to sing a few times and several of Dale's cousins joined the band playing many different instruments. It was a beautiful day, a great celebration, and it was wonderful seeing family. Congrats Frank & Dorothy on 50 wonderful years of marriage!

Spring Updates

It has been a while since I have posted, so I apologize. We have stayed very busy this spring, with Olivia continuing to have gym classes on Saturday mornings (which she loves), visiting the farm for Anna Marie's First Communion, planning Dale's parents 50th wedding anniversary party with his siblings, and oh yeah...GRADUATING from Cleveland State with my Masters of Education degree!!!
Olivia continues to grow very fast...picking up on all kinds of silly things. She really keeps us on our toes. She loves to be outside in the fresh air, but most of all she loves to go on bike rides with her mama! She makes sure she tells me to go ZOOM-ZOOM, I can never go fast enough for her.
I hope all is well with friends and family, but most important to all of the mothers today "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!"

What Was I Thinking!!!

Well here is the big news!!! I decided after many months of consideration to donate my hair to Locks of Love! I had today off from work, so I decided to do it! I had so much hair that I was able to donate 2- 14 inch ponytails for wigs! I was really nervous, but once she got the first cut done, I knew that I had made the right decision and am very excited about my "short" do! When I picked up Liv from daycare...she wasn't sure what to think and hesitated coming to me. Once she figured out that it was still "mommy" then she gave me a big hug.

Winter & Birthday

Well it has been a while since we have posted, so I guess it is time to catch up. We have had a very busy winter so far this year. We had a welcomed visit from Uncle Steve, where Liv got to go swimming with him and show him just how "silly" she can be. GiGi & Bumpa came for a visit for Valentine's Day, she was so excited to see them and we all enjoyed our visit. GiGi got to come to gym class with us and see how brave Liv is. The following weekend was Olivia's 2nd birthday. Grandma & Grandpa came to visit and celebrate her birthday. She had a lot of fun with them at gym class. She LOVED opening her presents and played with all that she received. The big hit was the tea set she got from her cousins Alex & Elizabeth. She slept with the teapot for 3 days!!!

And now to the present...this week! It has been a CRAZY week in the weather for us. On Tuesday we had a beautiful 60 degree day....but never fear, by Tuesday night, we had 4 inches of sleet on our driveway. When we woke up on Wednesday morning, we had an additional 5 inches of snow! Needless to say, I had a snowday. On Friday (yesterday) they spoke of a storm that was coming in...how bad could it be...well as of the writing of this blog (Saturday evening) we have received about 15 inches of snow and it is still coming down pretty good! Thanks to Kath and Kirk for letting us "store" your snowblower! Dale was out yesterday, and already twice today.

Hope everyone stays warm!!!! And be on the look out for a SURPRISE post next weekend! And NO....it's not an addition to the family!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas with Dufon Family

After spending time with the Slivinski's, we headed up to the farm to spend time with Bumpa for his birthday (Happy Birthday Bumpa!) and then to celebrate Christmas with the Dufon Family. We were really lucky because everyone was able to make it to the farm....it was so nice seeing everyone. We had a white Christmas and Alex, Elizabeth, and Olivia built a snowman with Kirk. They also enjoyed snowmobiling with Bumpa...and Bumpa...he enjoyed his "little girls". We had a bowling trip which was a lot of fun. There are a lot of pics...sorry! We finally headed home on the 30th...it was a long trip, but well worth every minute of it for seeing our families. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Christmas with The Slivinski's

After our Christmas at our house, we headed up to Michigan. Our first stop was in Flint at the Redwood Lodge to celebrate Dale's sister Debbie's birthday (we won't say how old she is, but Happy Birthday Deb!) Our next celebration was Christmas on the 23th with the Slivinski's at Dave and Sue's house. Sue made a great dinner, Dale and Deb had a great ping-pong battle, and everyone had an enjoyable time. Olivia got some really cool gifts...like a Dora the Explorer hot wheel/tricycle, a baby doll with high chair, bed, and stroller, and a Leap Pad Letters Magnet set (which she is quite fond of and plays with as I make dinner). We were able to spend a few more days with Grandma & Grandpa and we got to learn the secret to making Peanut Brittle from them which was a lot of fun.

Christmas at Our House

We were going to be on the road for the holidays, but we still wanted to get a tree and make things festive around our house. So, we took Olivia to the "Ludington" tree lot. It is a tree lot we found our first year here that is about 2 miles from our house and the trees actually come from Ludington, MI. So we have gone there every year and have always had a lot of luck getting good trees. Olivia loved looking at the trees and helped us pick out the "perfect" tree. She enjoyed decorating it, Tigger the cat loved hiding underneath it, and Buddy...well he was just good at knocking the ornaments off from it. What Olivia loved the most was sitting in her rocking chair everynight looking at the tree while I cooked dinner. She always wanted the lights on and made sure that she said goodnight to the tree each night when she went to bed. We opened a few presents before we left for Michigan and as you can see she got an art easel (this was from GiGi and Bumpa) and she loved it...so much so that she had to kiss it. She is quite the performer.

Thanksgiving

Well, it has been a while since we have posted. Here are a few updates since Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving at the farm and as you can see from the pics, we had a little snow. We learned a few things about Olivia this weekend, first...she will find her thumb no matter what she has on it, second...she LOVES the snow. We tried her in "big girl" pants for the first time this weekend....Olivia 10, potty training 0! We will try again another time!