Gigi Clause

Quick sidenote: Blogger is seriously irritating me these days! It continues to post my pictures in complete reverse order. I figure if I try to be one step ahead and load them in reverse it will be the time it finally posts them in the order I upload them. :) Just a small disclaimer!

Anywho.... Olivia (and Jack too) has been incredibly spoiled by Gigi lately! Gigi and one of her good friends made Olivia tons of different pillowcases for her bed a few months ago and every now and then she will send one or two in the mail as a surprise to Olivia! We have everything from hearts, ballerinas, and Disney Princesses to witches and turkeys! They are so fun and Olivia just loves them!!!

Well, yesterday we received a package from Gigi Clause and Liv was the lucky recipient of 2 advent calendars, a Cinderella ornament, and her personal favorite, Santa's Workshop!

Yes, you do see correctly. My difficult picture taker is actually LOOKING AT the camera AND smiling!!!! This just might be the best picture she's taken in months!!!! So it just had to make the post!

Jack also got an ornament for Baby's First Christmas! He was busy eating and thus did not make the photo session! But he was very excited none the less!

Once Olivia had opened all of her goodies she said, in her most adult voice, "That sure was sweet of Gigi wasn't it?" And it definitely was! Thank you, thank you, thank you Gigi for all of the gifts! You are so thoughtful to always think of Olivia! We can't wait to see you in 5 days!

3 Months and 90 Years!

Jack is sharing his three month birthday with his great-grandmother today! His sweet Mimi is 90 years old! I don't know which one is more remarkable. I can't believe it's been 3 months since we welcomed this sweet and happy boy into our lives. Nor can I believe that my grandmother has walked this earth 90 years! She has seen so much change in her life. It is crazy to me that when she was born, 1918, their main method of transportation was still the horse and buggy!

I have posted some random pictures of Jack from the last few weeks, and a special one of him and his Mimi!

Snuggling on his Daddy's chest and making that precious kissy face!!!! Mimi came out to visit a couple of weeks ago and Jack got himself some good lovin'!
A couple of Sundays ago I had picked out this outfit for Jack to wear to church. I was rushing around as usual and had Denny get him dressed. When I went in to check on them, I found this cute 0-3 month outfit was just a tad too small for him! He had never worn it before and Denny snapped the tags off before seeing if it would actually fit! The funniest part is Denny thought it was supposed to be capri pants!!! I don't know if I'm more scared that he thought it looked good, or that he thought I would really dress my boy in capri pants???

Tummy time on his Aquarium gym, he loves this thing! Which means I do too!

And lastly, in his bouncy! Give him a few more weeks and his feet will literally be hanging off of it!

Jack is still in that "easy" phase (don't worry, I know as soon as he is mobile I'll be in trouble, so I am relishing this phase!)! He sleeps alot still it seems like, and he is easily entertained! It makes it so much fun! When he isn't sleeping or eating he is usually smiling, laughing, squealing, and talking! I think he has his daddy's personality! Just content doing anything, anywhere!

He is blowing raspberries all the time now and loves to be tickled! He is most talkative right before he falls asleep, or after his bath. For a baby that hated to be naked when he was a newborn, he sure does love it now! He is getting squirmy during his diaper changes and grabbing onto everything... the toy on his carseat, my hair, my necklace, my shirt, his diaper cloth... you name it! And he is desperately trying to find his thumb, or really anything to suck on. Presently his fist seems to be doing the job just fine! It is so funny to watch him try and control his hand. It looks like he is trying to will it to where he wants it.

So, Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!!!!

Trick-or-Treating

We all had so much fun trick-or-treating this year! Of all the neighborhoods we have lived in, I have never seen any of them celebrate Halloween like this one! Not only were there so many families out, but almost every house had their lights on awaiting trick-or-treaters! It was just a bustle of activity and it was so much fun! And the weather could not have been better! It was just perfect outside!
We started out at our block party and had dinner there. We were excited to meet a lot of new people! There seem to be a lot of little girls around here that are very close in age to Olivia, which will be so nice when she starts school next year! However, much as Denny and I were enjoying ourselves, talking to new neighbors, Olivia was beyond bored and ready to get down to business!

Our own beauty!

I love this picture... Olivia just looks so small! I am usually remarking at how big she looks. So it's nice to see that she really still is just a little girl! I know I will one day look back at this picture and not be able to imagine her being this small.

Jack was dressed in his Halloween pj's/costume! And in his carrier of course! He seemed to enjoy the fresh air as much as we did!

After much trick-or-treating we decided to head home and try to pass out some of our candy. Olivia was SO excited to hand out candy... her excitement was just precious!

(If you look carefully you can see our UT flag in the background... the wind had turned it upside down. I think it was a sign of what was to come the following evening!) :)

My baby girl snuggled in my arms... that does not happen near often enough! And look at my sweet boy smiling in the background! I am such a proud mommy!

We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Halloween Parade and Party

So... back to Halloween! I can't seem to keep up with blogging these days! This is such a busy time of year and there are so many fun, picture worthy activities! So, forgive my tardiness!!!

Olivia had her Halloween parade and party at school last Friday. The parade is fun and really cute. All the kids are dressed up in their costume, and their classes walk around the outside of the buildings and they get treats along their route. They also get to stop and pose for all of us loving parents who patiently await our child's class!

After the parade we went back up to Olivia's classroom for her Halloween party! They had donuts and juice and made a Halloween visor!

Again, I'm not sure why, but blogger is uploading my photos in reverse... This is getting really frustrating!!!! But here they are...

Maci and Olivia enjoying their Pumpkin donuts!

Olivia's class

Maci, Olivia and Matthew during the parade, and their wonderful teacher, Mrs. Casey

Olivia attempting to pose for me!

The Seven Year Itch

On Monday Denny and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! Way back in 2001 we got hitched at Park Cities Baptist Church and then danced the night away at City Club. I can remember every detail of that day so clearly! I specifically remember not being one bit nervous, which is very unlike me! I also remember Denny's best man, his brother, Kevin's face being battered, bruised, and covered with make-up! As well as Denny's dad's beautiful prayer, my dance with my dad, and of course Denny and I sharing our first dance! What wonderful memories! In the last seven years we have had our share of heartache, but we have also been tremendously blessed and shared much joy! There is no one else in the world I would have rather gone through all of it with other than Denny!

We didn't really get a chance to celebrate on Monday, so last night, our friends, Matt and Julie were kind enough to watch Olivia so we could grab a bite to eat at TruFire, a relatively new restaurant in Frisco. (They have the best mac and cheese! I urge all of you Frisco-ites to try it!) It was so nice to have a complete conversation without being interrupted once! A big thank you to Matt and Julie, we definitely owe you!

My 4th picture in my 4th folder!

I was recently tagged to post my 6th picture in my 6th folder. How fun! However, I went to do just that and realized that I only have 4 folders. Since my computer crashed 2 months ago and I had to kind of start over, I am short on folders! So, I have decided to change the rules of engagement! Whoever I tag, has to post their 4th picture in their 4th folder! :)

I found it very funny that this was the picture I was to post, given that I have been complaining about bad pictures of Olivia and having slim to none of Jack and Olivia together! This is from September and Jack was only 3 weeks old!

So, Julie, Carrie, Noel, Emily, Rebecca, Allison, Meredith, consider yourselves tagged!

The Pumpkin Farm

Last Saturday we made our annual trip up to the Pumpkin Farm in Celina. Olivia had really been looking forward to it! She loves to feed the animals, go on the hayride, have her hot dog picnic lunch, etc... We usually walk away with some really fun pictures. And although I have heard there are better farms in the area we have been to this one every year since Olivia was 3 months old, so we really enjoy going back each year!
This year was a little different! :) She wasn't quite as eager to feed the animals, for some reason she was timid at first. In years past she went through all 3 of our cups of feed in record time. But this year we actually had to throw some away because once she did warm up, she just wasn't very into it! So, a little discouraged, we headed out to take some pictures of her and Jack in the pumpkins. And this is where the day really went downhill. Lately Olivia will NOT cooperate at all when it comes to having her picture made! (Which should make tomorrow's school pictures interesting!) She would not look at the camera to save her life. And if she did, she wouldn't smile. Needless to say we didn't get any cute pictures of her..., or Jack, with the pumpkins! Oh well, maybe next year will be better!
The highlight of the day for her was most likely when she got to bounce in the bounce house for 3 minutes! We paid $1 for that, and they really did time her! Denny and I laughed, but thought that was a little ridiculous seeing as how we had already paid $21 to get all of us in! :)

(For some reason blogger is randomly placing photos when I upload them, so they are in no order, not that it really matters!)

Jack's 2 Month Well Visit

Well, it's official, my sweet little baby is not so "little"! :) I don't know why, but I love it when my kids weigh-in at each well visit appointment. It is so much fun to me. Maybe because I am an analytical, numbers type of person! But, whatever the reason, lil Jack did not disappoint! I thought he was looking pretty big, but it's nice to have it validated! Here are his stats:

Weight - 13 lbs. 10.5 oz. = 90th percentile

Height - 25.25" = over 97th percentile; basically off the charts!

Head - 55th percentile (can't remember the measurment)

He's a big baby and we are just so proud! Although, I really thought his head would measure bigger, that was a surprise. Here are Olivia's stats at 2 months, just to compare for fun:

Weight - 12 lbs. 2 oz = 80th percentile

Height - 23" = 75th percentile

Head = 76th percentile

Everything else looked great! And of course there were the 4 shots, which were not so much fun! Poor little guy! It was so cute, funny and sad all at the same time. Those needles are so long Denny thought it was going to come out the other side of his leg! Jack's reaction was so funny though. I wish I had it recorded! As soon as he felt the needle, he didn't scream. Rather his face turned bright red, his mouth opened big enough to eat a basketball, and he just took this huge breath in. It was a good 5-10 seconds before we heard a peep out of him! Then he really let loose! But nothing a big hug from mommy couldn't help! So, we all survived! And thank you to Stacy who took Liv at the last minute for us! Naturally she did not want to go see Dr. B no matter who's appointment it was. Guess the pain is just still too fresh from her 4 shots in July!

So we will go back in 2 months, barring no illnesses (Lord willing), and do it all over again!

Liv's New "Do"

Olivia was in desparate need of a haircut. We hadn't had it cut since May!!!! Yikes! So on Thursday we went up to Sweet and Sassy, one of her favorite places, to have it trimmed, or so I thought. Olivia had other plans! Many of her friends are sporting short haircuts, and being the sweet follower that Olivia is, she decided she wanted her hair cut short as well. I decided to compromise with Liv as I just hated to part with her hair! :) Olivia wanted her hair to her chin! I was definitely not ready to go there! I still wanted to do ponytails, pigtails, etc.... So, I asked the stylist to cut off 2 inches... no more! I thought that would be a good in-between length. But either her idea of 2 inches is more than mine or I need to look at a ruler! I know you all will probably look at it and think, what's the big deal. But to me, it seems chopped! Don't get me wrong it's a precious haircut, but it makes my baby look like a big girl!!!!! :( I am definitely mourning the loss of her hair! Thankfully with time it will grow back, and in the meantime we get to experiment with new, fun ways to do short hair!


Disclaimer: Please excuse the Mr. T necklace! Olivia is really into wearing necklaces these days and will not accept my opinion of whether or not they match her outfit or are cute! Rather than the sweet pearls (the ones that match the bracelet she's wearing!), she chose a fake gold necklace that will turn her neck hideous shades of green and blue! Ah, the joys of a 4 yr. old!

Jack's New Trick

The other night Denny was putting Jack to bed Jack started to play. He started blowing raspberries, or a beginning form of them! So Denny would do it back to him and Jack would just smile and squeal!

I was able to get a short video of him copying me blowing raspberries. It's a short one, he was doing them so much better before I busted out the camera... of course. But it is still so cute!!!!