Going on 16

She wanted to get a "maternity bra".................oh my!

Rollerskates

The Recital

The last day was the recital. Sorry about the sideways video taping, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the video. It was so cute that I still wanted to post it. She did really awesome on stage doing her best with all the dance movements. I am going to sign her up for dance again in the fall.

Princess Dance Camp

Here is her group waiting to go up and sing the Birthday Cake Song. She was in the group with Ms. Kelly her favorite dance teacher. Everyday they broke into several groups with the same dance captain each day with only 2 other children. Her captain's name was Ciara.

Here she is with Ms. Kelly. I highly recommend this dance program called, Traveling Tutus. She is also the dance coordinator at the YMCA. Here is the website

http://www.travelingtutus.com

I wanted to sneak in a phtoto of us

The lighting in the church was so bad that my pictures didn't turn out good. She is in the front in the middle if you can see her.

Olivia Margaret

Olivia has been so excited to turn 4. She has asked me several times a week for the last few months "am I four now Mama?" I kept saying not until July 16th, well the anticipation of that day has come and gone so quickly; kind of like how the last 4 years of her little life have gone by for me. I can't help but think that next year when she turns 5 that about 3 weeks later she will be starting kindergarten. Wow, now that is nearly impossible for me to comprehend. Sometimes it seems like our days are slow..playing barbies, my little ponies, her and I playing pre-school, coloring..but really when I stop and think about it time has gone by so fast. She is my side kick always there willing to be my helper or my mess maker either way staying at home with her has been very fulfilling to say the least. Being a parent surely has taught me a lot about my strengths and weaknesses, but mostly it has taught me how to love selflessly. In her book there are no record of wrongs.......sometimes I learn what giving "grace" looks like in situations more from her than anyone. I think one of the neatest/hardest things about being a parent is being able to kneel down to their level and see things thru their eyes with as much imagination and whole heartedness as they are capable of doing. You have to act like you have never seen a yellow bird before...b/c to them it's incredible. Sometimes that's hard to do..but we try. We have been telling her for months that when she turns 4 her taggie has to stay in her room; she has done great with that. Sometimes she disappears and goes into her room..for what she says is to have a few "sucks". Brad and I thought that was going to be a lot more difficult. I pray that God gives me more patience this year, and the wisdom to Shepherd her little heart in away that proves to be uplifting and encouraging to God. Parenting is not for Cowards....I need to read that book! Happy Birthday, Olivia!

She is officially 4!!

Giggles the balloon lady came and did face painting and made some really cool balloons for the kids.

Monica and Olivia

She is getting so tall

Olivia got so many nice gifts...she of course wanted me to wear the Hello Kitty party hat!

She got a huge piece of cake, I think she really only ate the icing.

Happy Birthday to me

Brad got a sitter and took me to Bonefish Grill. I love the bang, bang shrimp! Then we went to a park in Fishers and listened to a nice concert. Thanks honey for a great 32nd Birthday!

Olivia got me a pink lemonade candle, orange balloon and some straws. She was so excited to give me these gifts.

Brad got me a little birthday cake and had everyone sing to me after we celebrated Olivia's birthday with the family.

Super Swimmer 2

Since February Olivia has been swimming on Wednesday evenings. Two weeks ago she got moved up to the Super Swimmers 2 class. She is really progressing nicely, she can stay under way longer than me. She is quite a fish. I know these pictures aren't the best but they were taken thru the glass window. We are very proud of her.

Forest Park Camp: Videos and Pictures

Her age group that day got to hold the flag and put it on the pole

This was box turtle day

This past week Olivia and I went to Forest Park for there "mommy and me" camp week. I wasn't ready for her to attend yet all by herself, so this was a great alternative. We both had a great week and overall the weather was really nice. On the last day we went to the water spray park. I didn't even wear my bathing suit because I had no intention of getting in...well after 30 minutes I was in fully clothed with my belly sticking out..It was fun and rather refreshing. Brad got to come join us for a few hours on Friday too. Every day had a different them: Possum day, Salmon day...etc. We went on hikes, did crafts, played lots of silly games, learned new songs and just had plain ol' fun. I remember going to camp as a child and I loved it. You can only do certain things at camp..drink "bug juice" etc. Maybe next year I'll let her go alone? MAYBE!

Banana Salute Video

All the kids loved this Banana Salute Song

Mommy and Me Camp

Finding twigs and leaves for our birds nest

Making a Robin craft

Parachute games

She enjoyed camp a lot...loved the crafts, songs and games a lot

Mommy and Me Camp

They enjoyed watching the flag go up each morning

Story time and snack after hike

Playing drip, drip, drop...cute water game

Jacob, Olivia and Morgan

Aging gracefully

The play gym is finally up and running. Thanks honey for putting in so much time and effort into assembling this. Also, a special thanks to Todd who put in a lot of hours over at our house and away from his family to help Brad!

I took Jackson in for his annual vet visit. He is aging gracefully other than the fact he is getting cataracts and needs to be put under to have his teeth cleaned because they are rotting in the back. Poor guy. He goes in August to have his teeth cleaned. The tech said "nothing to eat or drink after midnight"! You'll be OK buddy!

Happy 4th of July

She enjoyed watching the different colors appear. I think next year we are going to head to an amusement park.

I know these pictures are lame but I felt like we were making a u-tube video. Here Brad is lighting some cool smoke bombs and snakes for Olivia to hear and see. She of course thought the snakes looked like...poop.

As you can see by the pictures we had a very uneventful 4th of July. It rained most of the day until about 10 pm when we all got in the car and watched the fireworks from our car across the street from the high school. Olivia wore Brad's shooting range ear protectors and for the most part enjoyed watching them. (way more than last year)

We went to Trader's Point Creamery for "Dinner on the Deck". Everything on the menu was organic..little did we know that the hamburgers were going to be $15.00. It was still fun and the weather and surroundings were great. We rang in the 4th early with the Wooten Family.

Blueberry Picking

We went Blueberry picking with Amanda and Lillian this week at Spencer Farm. Our intent was to pick strawberries but we missed the season by one week. We got some really good blueberries. I got a black raspberry pie and Amanda bought a strawberry rhubarb pie from the bakery. We attempted to pick raspberries and blackberries but it was to thorny for the girls.

Lake Michigan and Lobsters

We went to Red Lobster for dinner with my Dad, Michelle and Olivia. She actually got to touch one of the lobsters, she thought that was pretty neat. She knows Lobster is her mama's very favorite food. She did try crab legs in Florida, and liked them.

While we were in town her and I went to Lake Michigan for a few hours. The water was quite cold. Just as I was getting equipped to get under she had to pee...and well afterwards she was too tired to walk back and didn't want the sand bothering her feet, so I never did get to fully get in. Thankfully she met a few kids and we were able to borrow their sand toys.

A nice day with CieAna

CieAna was in town for the week from Scottsdale, Arizona visiting her family. Olivia and I drove up to Michigan City on a Wednesday and got to hang out the majority of the afternoon and into the evening. We had a great time catching up and reminiscing as we always do. My dad and Michelle watched Olivia while we had a nice dinner in New Buffalo, called Brewsters. The food was so good. We stayed there and talked until the restaurant closed. The Monday prior Amanda and her 3 children were in town from North Carolina and she stopped by my house and we got to visit and take the kids to Taco Bell...yahoo! For some reason the pictures of our visit have been lost? Nonetheless it was a real special treat to see both of them!