Connor Prairie pictures and Videos

A weekend with Choo and Gram

We had a nice weekend with "Choo and Gram". For some reason Olivia has been shortening their names?!We went to Connor Prairie and Chick-Fil-A. Grandma and Olivia did a lot of special baking and from what I heard Choo-Choo read a lot of books that night before putting her down to sleep! Thanks for coming down to visit with us and for watching her while we went out for a date. I have to say we went and saw Slum Dog Millionaire; it was outstanding! Our sunroon still smells likes grapes too, an instant deodorizer, ha!

Forgiveness just like that

For some reason today I seemed to be grumpy and not patient with Olivia. After she woke up from her nap I told her that I wanted to tell her something. I sat her down on my lap and said that I was sorry for not being patient with her and for being grumpy. She quickly gave me a hug and said "I forgive you", and then went and lined her dolls up on the stairs to play wheels on the bus or something. Just that quickly she forgave me, she isn't going to hold any grudges or think of ways to make me feel guilty..I especially needed that from her today. Thanks Olivia for giving me some Grace. It also reminded me of God's love for his children and how when we say we are sorry; we are forgiven just like that. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Meet Flounder Videos

Olivia was so excited to pick her pet fish. I was thinking we would buy a couple of gold fish at Meijer for 19 cents each. I was quickly warned by a friend at church that gold fish die and that beta fish are the best thing for a first pet. They are better looking, only cost a few bucks and are hard to kill. Olivia and I first went to Meijer to find a fish. The Betas they had were pretty ugly looking (almost looked sick), so we just picked out a fish tank and some plants. We then went to Pet Smart. Olivia was pretty set on a yellow fish because that's the color of Ariel's fish friend, Flounder. Pet Smart actually had hundreds of Betas and even had yellow ones. I took about 10 of them and lined them up in the Pet Smart aisle and let Livie pick from them. She decided on a really nice blue and red Beta and said it looked like a Walrus Fish. We brought it home and named it Flounder. He seems to be happy so far. Love, Daddy

Paula Deen (not) and Little Deen picture and video

Unfortunately, our heart rice crispy treats turned out yellow instead of red. I accidentally used yellow food coloring..I tell ya if anyone can mess up an easy recipe, it's ME. We still had fun making them; we actually ate them for our lunch. She was confused by how the marshmallows melted in the pan.

Happy Valentine's Day

We made this heart necklace for Brad. He wasn't sure at first what it was...funny!

She got home and was so excited to look at all her candy from her friends.

She is getting ready for her Valentine's Day party at pre-school.

Genesis Art Studio pictures and video

Here is a video of Olivia making a Calabash or bottle gourd. (It is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe) She is going to finish this project next week. The first part is Paper Mache onto a balloon. This really kept her interest. She also made a wish pillow. We are sad that next Friday is her last class.

Olivia's sayings!

There have been a few things lately that Olivia will say and I keep telling myself I need to journal them; so here goes. She says " Mom you are a genius", yesterday she asked me if she could have "some lovins" while I was making dinner. Of course I stopped and held her for a good 5 minutes, it was great! When we play tag she says " Tag Here it". Whenever we do anything she says "Is it going to take awhile longer". In fact last night Brad went and used the restroom, so she stood on the outside of the door and kept asking "Dad, will it take for long"? I should just keeping adding her cute phrases on here.

Introducing Joe Buck

Olivia has taken a very special liking to Joe Buck. This was Brad's doll when he was little. She takes care of him and he even gets to sleep in a crib right by Bitty Baby. And as you know Bitty Baby goes everywhere.

Herbs

Brad and Olivia are going to try and grow some Herbs. I hope the cilantro turns out.

Happy Birthday Papa Dave!

We had a nice lunch at P.F. Chang's on Sunday to celebrate Dave's birthday. Brad wanted him to try his favorite, mongolian beef! That place is always sure to please our stomachs!

On the road to recovery video

Olivia is sick

We battled a 103 fever, Croup and then a Sinus infection for about 8 days. It was a long week. Olivia missed school the entire week and one Art class. We made her a "sick bed" in our living room for the first 2 days. She enjoyed that, we watched A LOT OF DORA! In the midst of this minor illness I was constantly reminded and felt blessed that this was a "curable health issue". We have some friends from church who lost their son to Leukemia 2 years ago. Everytime I see them at church I am reminded that our children are on loan to us from God. Jackson stayed by her side the entire week.

Here are some more fun snow pictures!

Our neighbors across the street enjoy playing with Olivia. Hailey is 12 and Hannah is 10; they are wonderful and have so much energy. They probably took her up and down our little backyard hill 50 times. I just watched, it was great! Needless to say after spending the majority of the day outside the next morning she woke up sick!