Monday with Emily

Olivia's Birthday Week Kickoff! (Hence the birthday background)

Ben and I kept our niece Emily today and had a great time! Ben went and picked her up around 8:30 and Olivia was sooo excited when she woke up and I told her Emily was coming! It was so funny because I was getting Olivia dressed and pulling a shirt out for her to wear when Ben got home with Em and Emily was wearing the exact same shirt I was about to put on Olivia! So they got to be twins today and had fun telling everyone that they matched.

We hung out around the house and played for a few hours, then went to the mall and ate Chick-Fil-A and played in the play area at the mall. After we played, we took the girls to get strawberry milkshakes (more like bribed them with them so they would leave the play area!)

Here are some pictures from the day.
They thought it was hilarious riding in the car together.
Playing at the mall

Olivia is fearless... she will jump off that stump no matter who was (or wasn't) around. Emily would go, "Atalie! Catch me!" but wouldn't jump until I was right there.

They helicopter was their favorite... this time at least!

Ok Emily drives. And Olivia rides on the top like a CRAZY person!

O also wanted to jump off this.

Emily had fun on the slide! She would get up in there and O couldn't see her so O would go, "Where minimy go at???" AKA Emily.

Driving the hot dog mobile. After this, it got a little ugly. Neither of them wanted to leave! HAHA - Luckily I had Emily and Ben was stuck dragging O out by her arm.

Nathan

My friend Nathan's birthday is today. He passed away a year and a half ago, due to a freak accident while traveling in Paris. I found this old picture of us and wanted to share it with everyone :)

He was one of the smartest people I knew and very kind and generous. He didn't care what people thought of him. I always thought I was so cool when I hung out with him in high school, because he would leave his upperclassmen buddies to come say I to my little freshman self (which is how this picture was taken). LOL He gave the best hugs and I really just miss him so much.

So... Happy Birthday Nathan :) I love and miss you!

Two Funnies

We were at Ben's parents house for the evening. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had dropped Emily (my niece) off for a little while so we took O up to play and hang out. They were having a blast running around and being crazy and Nik the dog even got in on the fun. At one point Nik is lying on his back and Ben is rubbing his stomach and his ummm little male dog part was showing. Olivia looked at it for a second and then goes "Uh-oh! A boo-boo!!" It was pretty funny.

Another thing was her and Emily both had pink princess sippy cups. The only difference was that O had Snow White and Em had Cinderella. Olivia kept bringing a cup to me and saying, "This mine???" It was so cute, and for the life of her could not tell the two cups apart! (I also didn't know that she cared whether or not the cup was hers. I figured she would have just drank out of whichever one...) She really is getting big!

Throw & Catch

This video was from New Year's Eve... it is cute. She is saying "throw" "catch" and "set" (for ready, set, go)

She is saying even more now than she was then a little over a week ago. She is starting to speak in more sentences (4 or 5 words). It's crazy to see how much she is growing up and how fast! O will also be moving up at school to the Trainers I class on Tuesday, where she will start potty training, and also they start eating in the Cafe instead of their classrooms. She spent part of the day Tuesday in there and had a lot of fun!

Oh yeah, and one funny thing is that she still calls me Na-yee... which is hilarious. She'll say, "Hey! Hey! Na-yee! Hey!" to get my attention or she'll say, "Hole me Na-yee!" (over & over, like 50 times) if she wants me to hold her. It's adorable.

White Balance

Playing with the white balance on my camera. I didn't use the flash... so it made for some interesting lighting. I like it. I got some great shots of O playing outside... since it was actually a decent morning. (like 50's) LOL

I want DOWN!
Watch out world. Here she comes.

Here Comes Trouble!

Riding the roller coaster

Say CHEESE Olivia!!

Silly face

"Why are you lookin at me???"

I like this one a lot.

Playtime

I took these of Olivia last night playing with some of her new Christmas toys.

I love this... just excuse the messy mouth. LOL

This was taken this morning... It reminds me a little of Ben.

New Year's Eve

We went over to my parents house and my grandparents came over. We had snack foods and watched the ball drop.

I made Blueberry Biscuits and Ham & Cheese Calzones
My grandmother brought toffee and caramel squares
I made the red "sparkling punch"
I even put sugar on the rims :))

The blueberry biscuits were AMAZING. I will be making those again soon.

Olivia!

Pushing the bears in the sled... so sweet.

Bye Bye 2008!!!

Watch out 2009... Olivia's coming!!!

She was making me laugh so I look goofy in this pic haha