Happy 2nd Birthday, Olivia Marie!

Two, too cute! I can't believe it has been two years since this beautiful bundle of energy came into our lives. I can still remember the day she was born so vividly (and we'll always know exactly how old our heat pump is!). She blessed me with a short labor and was only two days past her due date. Since then time has flown by so quickly and she has taught us just how much you can love something so small. Each day she does something new that makes me laugh and my heart sing. We love you with all of our hearts Olivia Marie!

We went with an Olivia the Pig theme.  In case you don't have a two-year-old in your house, author Ian Falconer created Olivia the Pig book series after being inspired by his niece.  Nickelodeon then turned the character into a cartoon series complete with a theme song.  Olivia is a precocious six-year-old, with a vivid imagination and wonderful sense of adventure.  An excellent role model for our own Olivia! 

As with any party, it's all about the dress.  I was super excited when I found someone on Etsy who had designed this gem.  Livi was also very happy to have a dress with her favorite girl "YaYa" on it.

Olivia was very excited to have two of her very best girl friends, Isabella and Isabelle, come and celebrate with her.  They all played very well together and were troopers with the games!

Time for cake!  Lucky for us, my friend Elizabeth is a baker on top of being a school psychologist.  Not only are her cakes delicious, she is awesome with a theme.  Oddly enough, Olivia didn't really like being the center of attention when it was time to sing.  When everyone gathered around, she became very shy!

We were so lucky to have so many friends and family with us to celebrate! Unfortunately by the end, Livi was tired of having her picture taken!

She was also blessed with many, many wonderful gifts! Clothes, toys, books, a zoo membership, and $$$ for future...what more could a girl ask for?!? Although, her reaction to the princess panties from Cheryl was priceless!  I've never seen a kid so excited about underwear.

23 Months, Week 4

Just another day in the neighborhood!  We took Livi to story time at the library so she would have the chance to meet some of the 500 Festival Princesses.  She wanted absolutely nothing to do with having her picture taken with those ladies!  Instead she found matching fireman's helmets for the three of us to wear and we had the princesses take a picture of us.  Sigh, the thinks we wouldn't do for this girl!

Our girlie still loves to go out to eat!  Sometimes she eats more than we do!  She and Josh still have their Saturday morning tradition of going to get donuts at Taylor's.  She's started to hit the "Chandler phase" when it comes to smiling on cue.  It actually is kinda cute.

And look at the prep that went into my fabulous Mother's Day presents!  The last few years, Josh has planted all the annuals outside for me for Mother's Day.  This year, Livi went with him to help pick the flowers.  I'd say she has a pretty good eye! And Josh did an awesome job executing this Pinterest find (anyone who has ever attempted a Pinterest project knows they can be pretty tricky!)

This girl loves animals!  Every time she the mascot at Old Navy she runs in and want to give hugs and pats on the head.  I bet that dog would be a lot easier to take care of!

After another long day at work, it was nice to have some special visitors.  Livi also volunteered to help fill in for one of the open secretary positions.  That might get a little tricky around nap time!

Livi has started taking art class at Gymboree in addition to Play Gym.  She loves it!  She has so much painting and creating.  I love it because the mess stays at Gymboree






I just love this face! Even when she says "yuck" and "gross" during diaper changes.  Or when she's running down the hall after bath time yelling "I nakey!!!"

23 Months, Week 3

Another year and we're still racing for a cure! We've been participating in the annual Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure" since Olivia was born and for several years before that.  Although, the weather RARELY cooperates with us!  Thankfully, there was no rain this year but it was very cold!  But, we race to raise money, so that hopefully more women and families can have outcomes as happy as Grandma Sue's. 










Livi was excited because we got her a new pink hat to wear for the race.  She also decided to catch up on her reading before we left.  Her favorite book of the moment is Shoe-La-La by Karen Beaumont.  I think it's my dramatic reading that she loves the most, but whatever it is she has started to memorize various parts of the book and will proudly call out the words she knows.  She also loves to tell you the colors of the dresses the girls in the story are wearing!  She is also getting really good at counting.  She's been able to count to three for the last few months or so.  But then we were counting the green beans on her plate the other night and after we got to three she just kept going!

We went to Toys R us this week to try and get some ideas for things Olivia might like for her birthday.  I'm not sure if she picked these out or Daddy did.  Either way, she seemed to love them!  And it's probably the only time she will be behind the wheel of an Audi or Porsche until of course she's running her own Fortune 500 company.  On the flipside, let's hope if she's ever in a police car it's as an officer!

Livi also had a photo session with PaPa last weekend.  We were hoping to get a good one for her birthday invites.  It's always a good "problem" when you have so many to choose from!