New Car!

Olivia really likes it!!

I got a new car today! It was a surprise that my dad and Ben went and picked up :) I knew my dad was looking for me an Element, but I didn't know he had found one!


I love love Elements. They are very practical, roomy inside, and get GREAT gas mileage. The backseats are huge too so that will be good for Olivia's monster carseat!

I am a little sad though that I am getting rid of my Accord because it holds tons of memories! It was the car I got when I turned 16 and I have loved having it. It is the most comfortable car I have ever ridden in, but it's just not working for us anymore since I have to cart Olivia around and all her stuff. Also Ben doesn't fit in my Accord! He is way too big for it!

New car!

Now I just need a name for my new ride!

2 year check up

We had our two year check up with Dr. Davis today. He is just amazing and we love him to pieces. Olivia always sits still for him and never whines or cries. She acts like such a big girl. The minute he walked in she goes, "I gottaaaa boo-boo! I gottaaaa boo-boo! I gottaaa boo-boo!" She kept saying it louder and louder until he checked out her head from where she fell over a week ago! It was soo funny :) It was like she knew doctors are for when you get hurt. He thought it was funny too.

He said she looked great and she was perfect & pretty! She weighed 25 lbs. putting her in the 25th percentile (yay! - up from the 10th!) and she is 33 inches tall putting her in the 50th for height :) She had one shot and cried for maybe 30 seconds. She was still whining after a minute and so I said, "Olivia, does your shot still hurt??" She whined, "Noooooo!" So I told her to quit whining and she did. By the time we left the exam room, she had totally forgotten about it.

Outside Photo Shoot

I took these the other day when it was actually warm enough to play outside! :) The first 3 are at the Lakesite Park and the other 3 were at our house.

Boogers

So lately Olivia has gotten into picking her nose - like most kids do. The other night I was lying on the couch watching TV and it was kinda dark in the living room. She ran in and said, "Look!" and was trying to hand me something. I took it from her and realized it was a huge, snotty booger. It was disgusting. Ever since then, she has tried to hand us her boogers! It's so gross, but she will pick her nose and then run over and go, "Here!" Sometimes she just runs up and wipes them on Ben, which I think is funny, but she hasn't done it to me yet. I think she knows she would be in serious trouble! Eww for boogers.

Jackpot!

Well... I have not been shopping in a very long time for myself. (Olivia is just so much more fun to buy for!) Also, we did actually go to the mall looking for Olivia some new tennis shoes... which we got! Nike Shox - they are adorable!! (& a great price too at Finish Line!) These are them... :)BUT, after we bought the shoes, I went into Aeropostle and shopped for myself! (70% off sale guys....) Ok I have been shopping at Aeropostle since I was in 7th grade, and I feel like I should really be too old to shop there considering every person that came in while I was shopping was ohhh 12 or 13 and had their moms with them! LOL

HOWEVER, I can always find Aero jeans that fit me just right and their clothes fit me really well too. I'm like a pole basically. haha. While I was in there, I discovered a new line of jeans they have called "Curvy". They fit PERFECTLY! Since I had O, my hips are bigger and my waist is basically the same size, so I've been wearing jeans that are really too big in the waist. So I was very excited that I fit into a size 3/4 CURVY LONG - So I got both pairs they had and EVEN BETTER - they were on the clearance rack for $10 a piece! I also got another pair of jeans for $10 and 2 shirts for $2 a piece.

These are my new curvy jeans!

After Aero, I picked up Olivia's pictures at Sears which by chance is right next to Colony 13 where they sell my Department 56 Christmas in the City village. They were having a sidewalk sale that said 10% (or so I thought), but I went closer just to take a look.... OH NO! The sign said 10.00 not 10%! They had a huge table of Dept 56 stuff for $10 each all because they were "defective". I grabbed up the only two they had that were Christmas in the City and took them in and this sweet sweet guy took them out of the box and showed me exactly what was wrong with them. (Note also: They are both retired... so they aren't making any more of them!)

This one is the Radio City building. Normally it would be about $95 new and I got it for $10!! All because the lightbulb doesn't work. So all I have to do is buy a new lightbulb... crazy awesome huh!?

This one is the Regal Ballroom which is a Limited Edition... only 7,000 ever made! And I got one! AHH! This retails for $130 new, and all that's wrong it that the people do not rotate on the top... they are supposed to look like they are "dancing". My dad said he was going to take a look at it and see if he could fix it.

Therefore, I hit JACKPOT and definitely had an awesome day! (Despite the fact I am recovering from a nasty virus.)

6 Random Things :)

I got tagged by Courtney!

1. I love planning, but rarely follow through! Which is bad! I will plan work out schedules, food menus, Olivia's daily & weekly schedules, my school studying schedule... etc. but hardly EVER stick with them! I think that means I need to be a planner... for OTHER people! haha

2. I love love love Mexican food. & Italian. I could live on beef enchiladas and spanish rice - or stuffed pasta. I love love it! It is delicious.

3. I can't wait to graduate college... however, I don't really want to have to get a full time job in the Finance or Business world even tho my degree will be in Finance. I would love to work for the school system (just for the schedule) or just work part time... or better yet, have 3 more kids and be a full time stay at home mom! I wish! I would have been the PERFECT mom back in the 50's because I have NO desire at all to work outside the home and would rather perfect the art of being a homemaker. :)

4. I love to travel! I have been to 22 states so far and fully intend to hit all 50 before I kick the bucket! I also want to set foot on every continent... my dream traveling trip would be a cruise in the Mediterranean seeing Italy, Greece, France, Spain.... it would be amazing! I also would like to visit Australia.

5. I love photography! I am really getting into it and can't wait to get a DSLR. I really love photographing Olivia. We have photo shoots where I basically just take her outside and follow her around snapping hundreds of pictures. Usually I only get 10-20 great ones, but that's what it takes. :)

6. I love houses. I could be a professional house buyer for people. Growing up with my dad, I can point out everything that's wrong in a house in ohhh 10 minutes or so. And it's detailed stuff too like is square footage wasted or is there a perfect "triagle" in the kitchen or even if the light switches are in an efficient location. Ha! I love it!

Hairbows and Videos

Olivia's new hairbows! Aren't they adorable?? They are Disney Princesses (& Tinkerbelle) totally made from ribbon... I can't wait for her to wear them on our Disney cruise!

This video is of Olivia dancing to her new CD she got for her birthday.

This is from her birthday... we were unsuccessfully trying to get her to say "two on my birthday!"

What a DAY!

So yesterday we had a bit of a scare. Olivia was running towards the front door at Nana & Pop's house and tripped, smacking her head against the door hinge. By the time Ben picked her up (like 5 SECONDS after it happened) she had a huge purple pump knot forming on her forehead and she was sobbing and really upset and hurt. So we took her to TC Thompson's to the ER where they checked her out and took an x-ray of her skull to make sure it wasn't fractured. They were concerned about it because the knot and bruise had come up so fast. She ended up being fine and we spent 3 hours of our day in the ER with a bunch of children with RSV. Ahhh... not a great way to spend the day.

Therefore, last night we let her fall asleep in bed with us because she was still feeling bad. She was not tired and did not want to go to sleep so she kept talking to us and making us laugh! She was HILARIOUS. Ben said that bump must have knocked her silly. We were in stitches for nearly an hour before we made her go to sleep. I don't remember everything she said but one time she was rubbing her feet on Ben's head (which was funny in itself).

O: (rubbing her feet on Daddy's head) "Ewwww..... Ewwww....! Daddy Ewww!"
Ben: "What is ewww Olivia?"
O: "Poo Poo!!"
Ben: "What???!! Did you poo poo?"
O: "Noooo.... poo poo on Daddy's head!" (She was telling Ben that she was rubbing poo poo in his hair with his feet)
Me: "Olivia, did Daddy poo poo??"
O: "Yeeeeaaahhhh...." (Then she tried to "smell" his diaper to see if he had pooped.)

It was hilarious! Another time Ben was pretending like he was asleep and fake snoring and O starting copying him... we were laughing so hard we were both crying and she was belly laughing which is adorable.

2nd Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Olivia!
Last night we celebrated Olivia's birthday at Ben's parents house with a Dora Mexican Fiesta! We had it catered by Moe's (which was delicious) and also had a cookie cake. Other than that we just hung out and played :) Olivia had so much fun! I unfortunately didn't get pictures of everyone who was there so I will just list them,

Paul, Nancy, & Becca
Jim, Beverly, & Allison
My gramma & grampa
Jeremy, Lesleigh, & Emily
Amira & Ben
Burdine (Chris)
Ted, Deanne, Carson, & Easton

Thank you all for coming! It was a lot of fun! :)

Olivia with her "loot" She got so many great gifts! Thanks everyone!

Olivia with Carson :) He kept everyone laughing the whole night!

She was a little surprised that EVERYONE was singing for her!

Blowing out the candle! I love this pic!

Chuck E Cheese & Cheeses

Friday, my mom and I took Olivia to Chuck E Cheese's and I think she had a good time, despite being a little too young for some games (ski-ball for instance). She would throw the balls overhand up the ramp and they just kept rolling back down to her. Yet, she wanted to play it, over and over and over. She ended up with 63 tickets... not bad for a first timer! She turned her tickets in for a couple lollipops and was quite satisfied. :)


Chuck E Cheese
In her cute outfit that Nana bought
She like this one... even tho I couldn't figure out what we were supposed to be doing LOL

Dreaded ski-ball. Luckily I am amazing at this, because I bowled for so long. :)

Cruising with Chuck

& Cheeses!

Peekaboo!

She is so cute :)

11 degrees with a windchill of -5, southerners

is too cold!!

AHH!

I don't think I even remember it being this cold in my entire life!

This is me in 11 degree weather. I thought it was downright cold.

Ben on the other hand.......

did not think it was that cold. I swear that boy could live in an igloo. And of course wear his adidas sandels and be fine. What a weirdo.

Olivia's Birthday Day

I really cannot even begin to believe my baby is 2 years old! It is hard to explain... but it feels like yesterday she was born, yet it feels like she's been here forever too! I guess all moms feel that way about their kids :) Olivia is such a sweet little girl, with a spirited personality! She is on the go all the time and never slows down for anything. Her new favorite thing to say is, "I ont yike tat!" (I don't like that... if you couldn't figure it out!) It is the CUTEST think ever! She says all her "L" sounds with a "Y" sound, which is absolutely precious and I wish she could do it until she's 12 without getting made fun of! We are so glad to have Olivia in our lives and can't imagine it any other way :)

Olivia had a GREAT birthday! She went to school and had fun with her friends and then I took everyone cupcakes in the afternoon. They were all excited to get cupcakes!

Olivia at her school party
Some of Olivia's friends The rest of Olivia's friends... minus Jonah who hasn't moved up yet :( Olivia is so sad about that.

Her card from her teachers which was taped to her cubby :)

Big birthday girl!

After the party, Olivia and I went home and played before eating Brunswick stew for her birthday dinner. Then we opened presents from Mommy & Daddy and ate cake!

Olivia got a Minnie Mouse baby doll which she already LOVES! She got a baby doll set that came with a stroller, swing, bouncer... and a lot of other accessories! We also gave her a Dora book set, three fairy books, and some fun dress up clothes and shoes.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

"Two on my birthday!!!" is what she keeps telling us :)

Trying on her new dress up clothes!

Olivia and her baby dressed up

2 Year Pictures :)

We had them made at Sears this morning, and I think they turned out pretty cute... despite the fact she was acting like a total 2 year old!

This is my favorite!! I got ohhh 5 or 6 sheets of this one! (Including a 10x13 to hang on the wall!)
"Old man pose" LOL She posed herself

Fun! She loved that canopy thing... I guess we will be getting her one for her room :)

Ben's favorite

This one is so sweet :)

Total Ben face haha

By the time we changed clothes... she was done so this is the only good picture in this outfit... oh well :) it's cute!