Yes...even more!!!

Grandma ordered Olivia this little bear that says the Lord's Prayer.  Now, no offense to Gram, she couldn't have known when she ordered it, but, it is the cheapest stuffdie that Olivia owns.  You know how soft the fur is on stuffdies these days?  This is not that...its the old school kind and instead of having separate jammies that are removable, its jammies are actually part of the body and its that weird material that kind of catches on your skin, know what I mean?  That being said, Olivia has ADORED this thing since Grandma gave it to her, she doesn't even make it talk, she just loves on it...it's so funny!  Anyway, these shots were taken after a nap in which she insisted we take him out of the crib and bring him with us. 

 This shot scares me, I can see her at 16 doing a similar pose here...

This is kisses...

Olivia LOVES this bird so much, but, he still does not have a warm feeling for her...its so funny...you can just hear her say to him, "come here bird, I will LOVE you and hold you REAL tight"....we couldn't keep him away from Owen when he was Olivia's age.  In fact, Owen did get a hold of him a few times and held him "real tight"! ;O)

This was Olivia mad because I wouldn't let her have the camera, but, I loved her eyes in the natural light!

I thought it made a good black/white shot too...

This is one of many beautiful Mother's Day gifts from Owen.  He put red dye in the water to color the flower for me, so sweet!

Since the weather warmed up, we've been taking Olivia out to play some.  She would much rather be outside 24/7 than play indoors.  In fact, it's getting to be a problem, especially when there's a limited amount of activities outside for a little girl who would rather scoot than walk!!  Although, she is walking more and more without any instigation!!

This is a terrible pick, but, i thought it was cute anyway.  I have some video of it that's no doubt better.

On May 17th, after several weeks of spring like weather and after the last of the snow had FINALLY melted from the yard, it started snowing!!!  It snowed for TWO days straight!!  I believe it made for our longest snow season on record...so not a record I had hoped to break!!!

Believe it or not, the daffodil above is under that snow somewhere and survived and is still blooming!!  Talk about small miracles!!

More Catching Up...

This is Olivia's new chair from her Grandma Gail/Grampa Will.  She's thrilled beyond belief.   Mom thought there might be a fight over the new one and I assured her that Olivia wouldn't know the difference...boy was I wrong!!  Olivia very definitely knows whos is whos and often gets in her chair (which is right next to brother's) then puts her finger in his seat and does that annoying grunting thing babies her age do to get him to sit by her...I have pics, just have to find them!  She's holding her piggy from Aunt Amy/Uncle Bill along with a personalized Easter Bunny!  

I'm always taking pics of Olivia to get her pretty blue eyes, but, Owen has amazing brown eyes with those same long lashes.  This was just me goofing around and forcing him to humor me, but, I love this picture, it's so him!

I like the brown in his eyes in this one better, it's more true to life, but, that GOOFY grin!!  Little turd! ;O)

We went to the park and Olivia flipped for the slides!!  I have video...LOTS of videos in fact...but, those will be another post.

Olivia does everything brother does...

Olivia's gotten super proficient at feeding herself, but, her all time favorite is spaghetti...I make "butterfly noodles" to make for a more successful meal! ;O)  Owen likes to have "snake noodles" mixed in with his "butterflies".  What did I call this stuff before I had kids!!!

Some meals are more successful than others...but, she did eventually eat that entire container of yogurt all by herself while I cleaned the kitchen!

She may have missed the mark a time or two in the process...

Grandma hit the big 92 this month!!  We surprised her by meeting at the Chinese restaurant in town that we all like.  She seemed to appreciate us taking the time, it's hard to get everyone together all at the same time!

Owen ran the zoo run again this year...too bad it was in the SNOW!!  Yuck!!  We were so wet and miserable by the time he was done!

This year I was smarter and ran ahead of the kids and took pictures along the trail instead of trying to photograph them at the finish line.  I was so glad I did...all the parents cheering stirred up the wolves who came to the fence and howled for all of the runners.  So cute!!!!  Owen was towards the back of the pack at the beginning....

but, had passed more than half of the kids on a steep hill and was in the front 25% or so on the home stretch.  He was in running club last summer and will start again in the next couple weeks.  It was amazing the difference in his speed after that...its 2x a week for an hour and a half!!!

SO BEHIND!!!

Olivia has been cutting teeth since the beginning of March and has been up at least once every night since.  I keep thinking we've made progress, but, after trying to put some stuff on her gums tonight, realized she's still cutting 4 molars and 2 of the front lower teeth as we speak.  She went from 5 1/2 teeth to at least 12 since her first birthday just 7 weeks ago.  Her gums have been so swollen, I can't really distinguish one surfacing tooth from another.

Add on top of that stress at work and both my grandmother and uncle in the hospital for heart surgeries in March, I'm honestly just ready for the year to be over.  Of course, don't forget that we have snow in the forecast this week with lows in the teens...what month is this again?  Is it too early to say this summer just sucks? ;O)

O.k., where do I start!!!

I took part of these with my phone and part with the camera, so, ignore the weird quality of some of them.  Although, I have to say, it was kind of hard to tell which was which until I started editing them in Photoshop...gotta give it to those apple people!

These were all taken on March 15th, Olivia has been such a little mimic, she'd been "talking" on the phone for quite a while before I ever took these photos.  In fact, she has quite a few apps on our phones and the ipad, just for her.

At just shy of one year, she had 6 teeth above the gum line, 2 up top and 3 and a half on the bottom (the fourth one had barely broken the surface).

The teeth were so new to her she'd make this face and bite her upper lip with those two prominent teeth on bottom.  She would actually wear a sore into that top lip she did it so often!  Thankfully, with all the other teeth that have been working their way through, she's quit doing that!

My cousin Geoff took part in the Iron Dog with his brother-in-law (who also happens to be his best friend) this February.  As rookies, they took 11th place.  Darn near unbelievable considering the 2000+ mile race takes 6 days to run with temperatures hovering around -40 F!  In fact, of the 40 teams that started this year, only 20 finished.  If Owen didn't think Geoff was the most amazing guy ever before, he sure does now!  In fact, he was so proud of his cousin, he talked about racing when he grows up for weeks.  So, Geoff did a little looking around and found a race for 120s and on March 16th, Owen got his first chance....that was eye opening!!  It was unbelievable how many kids had machines and participate in these races.  More shocking was how many parents had spent thousands modifying their kids' machines!!!  Owen was in the stock race, but, there was a whole group of modified that raced separately.  The machines were so fast in the modified group, most kids couldn't even stay on them when they took the corners...can we say freakin' ridiculous!!!!  Owen did great for his first race, although he didn't place, and was super pumped to do it again.  This is what I get for letting him hang around Geoff! ;O)

It was NOT a warm day, but, Olivia was a trooper...her mother was not, I was SO sick and miserable!!

Olivia ADORES this brother of hers and loves to be in the middle of anything he's doing.  Owen is not always pleased, but, tolerates her EXTREMELY well.  As you can see, Olivia loves cars just as much as her brother does...

If brother says cars fly through the air...it must be true...

Olivia loves Owen's train table too.  I think it's super cute to watch her play, she had to stand on her tip-toes here, but, not any more!

Olivia does nothing like she should.  I've never met a baby that would eat ice cream...until now!  I think Owen was almost 3 before he'd eat it.  But, Olivia can't get enough.  I gave her a bowl of her own the other day and was letting her try to feed herself.  I got sidetracked doing something for Owen and when I looked back, this is what I found!  Apparently, she just couldn't get it in her mouth with the spoon fast enough...;O)  This was the one and only time I've ever seen her lick the bowl!!

I attempted birthday pictures, but, they were really counter productive.  Olivia has figured out that her face shows up on the back of the camera every time she gets her pic taken.  So, she'll sit still for about a 1/10th of a second then scoot like crazy to look at her own picture.  She's been cutting nine teeth ever since and not pleasant.  I may be taking 2 year pictures at this rate!!