Olivia's 4th Birthday Party

After a full week of swim lessons, we ended the week celebrating Olivia's 4th Birthday! We invited all of her friends to a cute little tea room in Plano where the girls, and Luken (lucky little man!) got to be "big" for a morning. The kids enjoyed "pink lady tea" (aka pink lemonade), pigs in a blanket, chocolate chip mini-muffins and fruit kabobs! And of course there was cake, presents, and in the end they made bracelets to take home! It was definitely a calm birthday party, but I hope all the kids enjoyed it! :) The tea room took care of everything so all we had to do was show up, how nice is that!?

Here is one side of the table, Kennedy, Macy, Bella, and Ayva
And here is the other side... Luken, Sawyer, Emma, Finley and Maci
I love the way she held her teacup! It looks like something her daddy taught her!
Blowing out the candles!!!!

Swim Lessons

Last week Olivia took swim lessons with Kennedy! We completely lucked out and they were the only 2 in the class, so it was really more like a semi-private lesson! Olivia loved the first two days, but on Wednesday her teacher was "helping" her dunk her head under water and Olivia got a little frightened. She got upset in the pool and wanted out, but she stayed in and finished her lesson. On Thursday morning she was upset and crying that she didn't want to go. I really didn't want to push her, but wanted her to go back and at least try one more day. So after some coaxing from Denny and I she was game! Her hang up is getting her entire face in the water. She definitely wants to be in control and do it at her own pace. Which to me is understandable. Thankfully her instructor was very patient and understanding and didn't force her to do anything she wasn't willing to try. She said that Olivia had good body position, if she could just hurdle her fear of putting her face in the water she'd be off! So that will give us something to work on! All in all I thought the lessons went well! I don't think we'll be seeing Olivia swim across the pool or jumping off any diving boards anytime soon, but she does have more confidence and skill in the water!

I think Olivia's favorite part of swim lessons was doing the alligator crawl on the tanning ledge! My little thrill seeker! :)

And her least favorite thing was the back float! This is as relaxed as she got!

The 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July! We spent the day together as a family and then after Olivia's nap (yea!) we went over to the Smith's house for a cookout and some fun! Kennedy and Olivia had a lot of fun playing outside in Kennedy's pool, which is super cool and has a slide on it! They then had a picnic and went on playing on Kennedy's swingset! It was all fun and games and then Olivia got stung by a wasp or hornet or something! I heard her scream from inside the house and thought she was just being over-dramatic about a bug or something, her newest fear! But I was wrong, she had every reason to be upset! Denny ran and got her down from the playset and her left ear was bright red!!! After looking around her ear and asking her where it hurt, we found a small spot where it looked as though she had been stung. Thanks to the quick thinking of Matt and Julie, we quickly had an antidote! Baking soda and water mixed together was supposed to take out the sting! Just a little FYI to all of you out there, it really worked! Within minutes she was up and playing again... although this time, indoors! Which I'm sure the guys were thankful for as they had been stuck with them outside all afternoon!

After all had settled down, I was able to get a picture of

Olivia with the baking soda and water remedy!

After lots of playing the girls took a bath and got into their pj's!
Then we took them to check out the fireworks closeby! Olivia loves fireworks and was disappointed they started a little earlier than planned so we missed the very beginning! But she had a great time and was sad when the show was over!

We had a wonderful 4th and even survived our first wasp sting! I hope everyone else enjoyed their holiday and extended time with their family! It is always so hard to see Denny go back to work after a holiday!

Jack's Baby Shower

Again, I am a little behind, so today will be catch-up day! But I only have 2 posts, not 6 like last time!!!

A couple of weeks ago some of my sweetest friends were kind enough to throw a shower for us! It was so much fun and we really got some cute, cute stuff!!! It totally got me in the mood for this new little bundle of joy (who will be here in 4 short weeks!!!). I came home and started nesting and haven't stopped since! It's been so much fun, at least for me! Denny is probably cursing his ever growing honey-do list! :)

Olivia and I before the shower - she really wanted to come with us, but I thought it would be best to keep it a mommy day and she got some good quality time with her daddy!

Summer was kind enough to host the shower at her home... again! What a wonderful friend!
Sheryl and Stacy, 2 other gracious hostesses!
The cute "all boy" table - the food was so yummy!
Mimi checking out the ever-expanding belly! Her hand looks so small in comparison!
Aunt Shar (or La-la as Liv would say)
Aunt Cheryl and Liz
Some of our great friends from church - Carrie, Me, Julie, Emily and Noel

My friend Ronda, way back from AT&T Wireless! We realized it's been almost 6 years since we worked together! I can't believe it's been that long, it seems like yesterday!

Kelli, another great friend from our church, and Rebecca, an old friend from our days in Grayhawk!

I am so disappointed I did not get a picture of myself with the photographer for the day, Mollie! She was another hostess for the shower and we did not get a picture together! But she does great work doesn't she! :) She took so many pictures and was sure to get a picture of me with all of the guests! Not to mention one of me opening every gift, but I will spare you that torture! :)

As you can see, it was a fun time and Denny and I are so blessed to have such amazing and loving family and friends!

I was sure to bring a cupcake home for Olivia as I knew she would love it! They were huge with bright blue icing, what kid wouldn't want to jump right in! On Sunday after church she sat down to tackle it! Needless to say I think she enjoyed it!

Name and Date Please....

Okay, so I must have set some record in postings today! This is like my 6th post today! I had a lot to catch-up on!!!!

Many of you already know the name we have chosen for baby #2. But I wanted to make it official and announce it on our blog!!!!

It really didn't take us long to come to a decision, but we wanted to try it out before we committed to it. Anywho... his name will be Jack Michael! Jack is in honor of my dad, John, as Jack is a nickname for John. And Michael is in honor of Denny's brother Kevin, Michael was his middle name! Since this sweet boy will never get to personally know his grandfather or uncle, we wanted to be sure he always carried them with him! He has a lot to live up to! :)

We also wanted everyone to know that Jack will make his appearance into this world on August 7th! We finally have a date for our c-section! We had been planning on this date, but my doctor is a little conservative and wanted to make sure we had the "right date" before setting it in stone!

Yesterday we went to the doctor and had a sonogram and a well visit and everything went great! The sonogram was good, but we literally got zero pictures! The little stinker was facing my back so we didn't really get to see his sweet face! But we did get an estimate on his size, and he is looking pretty large! Thank goodness for c-sections!!!! :) He is already measuring almost 5 lbs! 4 lbs. 13 oz, to be exact. That is almost 2 weeks ahead of schedule! I guess that gave my dr. the confidence he needed to book our date! So in less than 7 weeks we will be "real" parents and have 2 little ones to contend with!!!! Denny and I are thrilled and just cannot wait to meet him! Please help us in praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy! I'll be sure to keep you posted!!!!

Father's Day

I have to say that Denny and I were both blessed with amazing dads! Denny shares a very close relationship with his dad and I love him as a father as well! He has been there not only for Denny, but for me as well, and loves me despite my flaws, just like a real dad! :) We have been blessed to spend the last 2 Father's Days with him!!!

Although Father's Day has become a tough holiday for myself, I am so thankful for the time I had with my dad and the wonderful memories that I will forever cherish! He was one of the most caring and selfless humans I have ever known. Anyone who knew me when my dad was alive knows how close we were. We had a very special relationship that I pray Olivia will one day share with Denny! A father and daughter's relationship can be one of the most important in a girl's life. After all, it was my dad's wonderful example that led me to find love with a wonderful husband! If that trend continues I should have no worries about Olivia's future husband!

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from Father's Day of Olivia with Denny. I was not feeling very well, and poor Denny, I really laid on the sofa all day! Some Father's Day for him! :) I vowed to make it up to him though!!!!

I did however get a very sweet picture of Olivia with her beloved Bumpa! I can't tell you how much this girl loves her Bumpa! He is so amazingly patient with her and will get down on the floor, or go outside and do just about anything with, and for her! She is so blessed by his love!

Here they are already outside, playing in the fort of her playset! As you can see, it is still early, as they are both in their pj's!

I hope that all of you dad's out there enjoyed your day!!!!!!

The New Playset!

Denny and Olivia have both been wanting a playset for our backyard for some time now. I have always been opposed because I forsaw Olivia begging me to play outside with her all day every day! I know, I am a bad and lazy mommy! But now, she can do so much on her own, like swing, most importantly, I thought it might not be a bad idea to have some sort of entertainment right outside our door! So, we took the plunge and bought one! Lucky for Olivia, it was delivered last Saturday and was set-up when we arrived home from her dance recital and lunch! Naturally that is the first thing she asked to do upon our walking in the door! She changed into her swimsuit and we filled up the wading pool, and off we went (except for Bumpa... he took a post-recital snooze... see entry below!)! :)

I made pina coladas for us to enjoy and Olivia wanted to drink hers appropriately out of her coconut cup!

Trying out the rock climbing wall
And of course the slide!

Of course, Olivia loves being outside on her new playset. And it has become a great way for her and her daddy to spend some QT together in the evenings! It is nice and shaded by that time of day! :) I have to say that I have really enjoyed having it out there too! We go out in the mornings sometimes before it gets dreadfully hot!

Olivia's Dance Recital

After Olivia's exciting week at VBS she was pooped come Saturday morning. Although it was wonderful she slept in for a change, we were a little rushed getting ready. But thankfully Gigi was there to help out!!! She really was a huge help and I know there is no way we would have been on time if it weren't for her being there!

Eating her breakfast while her hair "set"

Gigi aiding the process! One of the many ways she helped out!
Olivia had an especially big day last Saturday. Not only did she get to dance on-stage, we had a playset delivered! They arrived to set it up before we left, so she spent a lot of time in front of the windows watching it all come together and wishing she could go out there already and play on it!

BEWARE... Picture of a big pregnant lady ahead.... Why is it that dresses make pregnant women look like they are wearing tents?

Gigi and Bumpa with their girl!

Olivia did great at her recital! We were all very proud of her! And she was proud of the flowers that her daddy gave her and the unicorn ballerina Bumpa and Gigi gave her afterwards! Unfortunately that Kodak moment escaped me for some reason!!!!

After the recital we headed to Olivia's restaurant of choice... Chili's. She absolutely loves that place!


Apparently the recital was more taxing on Bumpa than it was the actual performer... While Olivia was outside playing on the playset, he decided to listen to her Disney Princess MyPod and take a snooze! I could not resist the photo op here! He really is alseep! Oh - and he is covered with a Hello Kitty blanket!

Dance Rehearsal

I took just a few pictures of Olivia's dance rehearsal last week. I didn't video it since I was buying the DVD of the actual recital (and I'm just lazy!) And the pictures aren't too good, they aren't very close, but you can get a general idea of what she looked like up there on recital day!

Liv is in the middle, if you squint real hard, you can see her! :)

2nd from left
Finishing pose! There are 2 other girls on stage... I don't know where they disappeared to?

The rehearsal was great, they were so organized, we were in and out in about 30 minutes! Recital pictures to come....

Vacation Bible School

Last week Olivia and I spent all week at VBS at our church! I was a teacher for 2nd grade and so Olivia got to go too! Since VBS is usually only open to school age children she was technically in childcare, but her age group really got to participate in a lot of the activities! I would see her every morning and afternoon in our rallies and it was the cutest and most inspiring thing ever! Just to see her get SO into it was moving, I actually had tears in my eyes the first day! (I know pregnancy hormones!!!!) But, she was singing, dancing, yelling and doing all the motions to the songs! It was great to see all of the kids get into it, but particularly exciting to see Olivia! The theme of VBS was Outrigger Island, so everything was island/beach themed, which is right up Liv's alley!

On our first day

Here is our best at crazy hair day... not very crazy I know... but it was the best I could do with the time we had and a somewhat unwilling child. She's not one to go too crazy with anything, much less her hair! :) By the way I just realized I up loaded a very boring picture of her hair... it was a little more exciting than the picture shows! Liv also thought it appropriate to make a silly face to go with her "crazy" hair!
On our last day I tried to capture her excitement and moves on the camera, but was not very successful... Her best friend Kennedy is taking a rest it appears! VBS can really wear a girl (and a mom) out!!!
Here is a decent picture of Olivia getting down!

Although it was a long and tiring week we both had a great time! It was my first time to ever work, much less "teach" at VBS, and I found it very rewarding! I had some really great kids in my class and will remember them forever! And Olivia absolutely loved it! I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the fact that Kennedy was in her class so they were together all day! But she had a lot of fun and keeps asking to go back! We are so thankful to be a part of such an amazing church and have met such wonderful friends!