Elf's...

Well, Dale has had some "time" on his hands at work lately and this is what he has done with his free time. Please view the link below...enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1223011337

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had a great time this year for Halloween, although I am still not sure that Olivia grasped the entire concept. On Saturday, we went to Boo at the Zoo. It rained on and off, but it didn't stop us from dancing to the Monster Mash, looking at the animals, and taking the train ride. We also went through a straw maze which Olivia really liked. The only problem we had was what we should have called her for Halloween...she dressed up as a frog, but she could have been the character from the Peanuts who carried his blanket around everywhere, because that is all she wanted to do. She even danced with it at the music tent!

On Halloween day, she had a party at school in which she dressed up in her frog costume and was involved in the school parade. She was so proud of her costume that she wouldn't take it off. We worked really hard to get her to say ribbit ribbit and trick or treat...she was getting really good, until trick or treating started. She was really shy and had a hard time getting words out. But, she LOVED having the candy put into her pumpkin. She loved even more taking the candy out and carrying it around in her hands. She even said her first full sentence...need more candy! She is too much like her Bumpa & Grandpa & cousin Lizzy (chocolate freaks:)) After trick or treating, she sat on our front porch and helped hand out candy. She was sad when it was finished and she had to take a bath because she was a mess from the candy she ate.

The following day, she kept looking out the window while carrying her pumpkin around saying trick or treat...I guess she wanted Halloween to be more than one day!

Fall Fun

Fall fun

Things have been very busy around here as of late. Olivia is growing up faster than we would like. At daycare, she make the move from the baby room to the toddler room. Although Dale and I were not thrilled, Olivia was and she has not looked back since. We have started to work on potty training. We are letting her sit at her own leisure and she has successfully gone 3 times. Now we are going to start putting her on more of a schedule.

We had a very busy weekend this past weekend. We started out Saturday morning by going to the homecoming parade. Olivia loved waving at all of the people, but she didn't care for the loud sirens. After the parade, we made our way to a fruit farm where she played in the hay, went on a wagon ride, and tried apple cider for her first time (she loves it)! We also went on a small hike. On Sunday, we participated in a Walk for Autism. It was amazing to see how many people came out to support the cause.

Dale has been very busy with work and has been traveling a lot! I continue to be busy with work and grad school...only 1 more class after this semester and I will have finally completed my masters! Olivia started swim classes for the fall and in early winter is going to start gymnastics/climbing/tumbling classes since she loves to climb and do summersaults.

We hope everyone is doing well and we will try to be better at updating this more regularly.

Dog Days of Summer

Dog Days of Summer

Olivia continues to grow and do silly things each and every day. This post however is more about our dog Buddy. At the end of every summer, our community pool closes the pool with the Dog Days of Summer. This is the time when dog owners can take their dogs swimming in the pool. Dale, Olivia, and I, along with our friends Craig, Sandra, and their dog Sammy joined in the fun. Buddy loves to swim and this year he even learned that he can stand on his hind two legs in the shallow end and rest his front legs and head on the side of the pool. Olivia was pretty upset that Buddy was in the pool and she wasn't...but mommy was glad that she wasn't in the pool because it was pretty gross with all of the dog hair.

Summer Music Fest A.K.A. Polka Fest

Polka Fest

This past weekend, Dale, Olivia, & I traveled to Frankenmuth to go to the Summer Music Fest. Our journey started on Friday when we went to Deb & Erik's house. It was so great seeing them and the girls. Olivia was excited to be there because Allison had balloons left from her birthday...she loves balloons. On Saturday, we all traveled up to Frankenmuth to check into our hotel. We all had fun swimming...but again Olivia ventured more towards the hot tub (smart girl)! After swimming, we met up with Grandma & Grandpa at the Summer Music Fest for some Polka Dancing. Olivia liked hearing music, but as you will see from the photos, she got very sleepy (it was a late night for her). Allison and Sara also liked the dancing and Sara always wanted me to dance more with her...I think I lost at least 2 lbs. from all of the dancing:) On Sunday, we were able to see Uncle Dave's band play at the River Place for a short time before heading back home. It was fun watching the girls play together and great seeing family! This is our last trip for the summer, not sure where the time went. But our next adventure will be the Dog Day's of Summer at the community pool. This is when the city opens the pool up to dogs...Buddy loves it and I am sure Olivia will not stay out of the water with him...Stay tuned!

Olivia Is So Silly

Well...we were finally able to truly capture Olivia's silliness. She loves the song Bad Boys and she goes crazy when she hears it. I hope this doesn't have any future indications...if it does...it's all Dale's fault:) Enjoy the silliness!

Minnesota Trip

Minnesota

We took a family trip to Minnesota this summer to meet baby Natalie. It was so nice having the entire family together. Steve set up a bounce house for the kids...which they absolutely LOVED! Even Bumpa & GiGi got into the bounce house. They also had a lot of other activities going on which kepts us all very busy. This was Olivia's first airplane ride and she did very well. Olivia loved swimming in the pool and lounging in the hot tub at the hotel. She also liked being back with cousin Alex. The weekend went by very fast, but it was great seeing everyone. Our next adventure will be going to the Frankenmuth Summer Music Fest....so look for more posts to come soon!

Trip To The Zoo

Zoo

After many, many readings of Brown Bear, Brown Bear & Polar Bear, Polar Bear, we decided to take Olivia to the Zoo. Ironically enough, the very first animal that we saw was the Polar Bear. She squeeled with delight! She spent much of our time there walking around vs. riding in her stroller. She is becoming quite independent. At the zoo, they have an exibit called Touch. This is where you can touch stingrays and sharks. Since Olivia likes water so much, we decided to check this exibit out. It is very popular and we had to wait in line for about 30 minutes...she was not so cool with this. But once she saw the water, she was very excited. When it was finally our turn, she loved splashing in the water...she even tried to drink the water. (which I thought was pretty gross). She liked seeing the fish, but because she was splashing so much, many of them did not want to come near her.

Olivia was very silly this past weekend. She got a new sun hat and she felt it necessary to wear that, along with her sunglasses. She also thought it would be cool to walk around in mommy's sweatshirt. When Dale put the sunglasses on Buddy, she thought that was the funniest thing. Boy does she love that dog!

We hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend as we did!

New to Blogging

Summer Fun

Welcome to our blog! Be patient...we are new to this. We have had a very busy summer so far. Nicole's sister Kathryn and her two children Liz and Alex made the journey from China at the end of June. We were able to have Liz and Alex at our house for a week while she worked in Troy. It was great seeing all of them and Olivia loved playing with Liz and Alex. Gigi and Nicole's nephew Jake came down for the week to help watch all of the kids. They had a very busy week playing outside. Even Jake got into swimming in the kids pool. Buddy loved having Alex around...Alex would get "walked" by Buddy when he would grab ahold of Buddy's tail. At the end of the week, Gigi and Jake took Olivia up to the farm with Kath, Liz and Alex. Buddy was very sad when Olivia was gone and he spent the weekend moping around and wouldn't leave the entry way to her bedroom. We met them at the farm a few days later for the 4th of July. We got to go to the parade and we scored ice cream from the House of Flavors and lots of popsicles. Afterwards, Dale and Olivia went to Uncle Dave's house for a night and Nicole went to Sheila's house to help her prepare for her wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was great seeing her and Andy, as well as Wendy & Ed and Leslie & Jim. We finally made it home after our vacation...it was nice to be home...but Buddy was sad that he was no longer with Alex. But don't fear...Olivia picked up where Alex left off.

Our next vacation is quickly approaching, as we are going to visit Uncle Steve, Aunt Kim, Nathan, Sarah, & new baby Natalie in Minnesota. Suzanne and her family, as well as Kathryn and her family, & GiGi & Bumpa will all be making the trip. We can't wait to see everyone!!!

Please click on the picture...as it is a link to other pictures.