Christmas With The Vasel's

Christmas with the Vasel's lasted for 2 days...Christmas day with my Mom, Dad, Kyle and Mel and the day after with my grandparents and my Uncle Mark's family...good times!

On Christmas day we went from one party to another...just around lunch time we ended up in Greenville where we were welcomed by lots of snow...unfortunately I didn't have a snow outfit for Olivia and it was quite windy so we opted not to go sledding wth O...darn! Instead, we had lots of fun indoors!

Daddy thinks something's pretty funny - Olivia, not so much!

We have a musician on our hands...she LOVES the piano!

Olivia was slept most of the way, so she was ready to go when we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma Vasel's house...it was just about gift time when things got a little rough, but she did great!

Olivia watching Daddy open her gift!

Olivia LOVES her new toy from Uncle Kyle and Auntie Mel!

Mel was SUPER excited about her hat and gloves!

Sunday it was off to my Grandma and Grandpa Vasel's...we had such a nice time with everyone and we were able to get this great family pic!

Unlce Kyle and Anutie Mel with a squirmy little worm!

Chad and Olivia played Santa...it was too cute!

Unlce Mark and the girls!

Olivia's rocking horse from Great Grandma and Grandpa Vasel

Christmas With The Wrinkles!

This past Christmas weekend we were all over the place and I can officially say that I am exhausted (who knew a 1 year old birthday party and Christmas the very next week could take so much out of you?!). First stop on the list was Lebanon where we celebrated with Chad's family.

Since Landon and Anny live so far away they weren't able to be with us on Olivia's first birthday, but thanks to Aunt Anny Olivia now has her first rocking chair that was made just for her...she LOVES it!

And...notice Adelayna sitting in the rocking chair??? Yes, Anny and Landon are expecting and Ade's new little brother/sister will be here towards the end of July! How exciting for all of them!
Not only did we get to celebrate Christmas with the Wrinkles, but Tyler's birthday as well! Tyler gets two big days back-to-back...birthday on Christmas Eve and then a Christmas celebration!

And, Chad and I were able to catch up with a few friends we hadn't seen in awhile --- Doug and Jared and Jamie --- wish we all lived closer, miss you guys!

Grandma and Grandpa Wrinkle went above and beyond with all of the gifts for Olivia...she loves them all! In fact, she rarely puts "Scout" down and I usually have to turn him off at night to tell her he's going to sleep. :)

After Christmas morning with the Wrinkles we headed off to Greenville to see my parents where we enjoyed a VERY white Christmas with them!

Somebody's 1 --- Happy Birthday Olivia (Only a Week Late In Posting!)

Who knew how fast the first year would fly by! I didn't feel like it was that long ago that Olivia arrived and our family of 2 became a family of 3!

What better way to celebrate Olivia's big day than with our wonderful friends and family! Olivia had quite the turnout for her party.

Olivia's favors for her guests!


Auntie Carrie and Olivia --- Yes, Olivia has found the hole in her nose

The fear that Olivia might not take a nap pretty much came true...45 minutes before the party was to start she went down and only slept for 40 minutes! NOT GOOD! BUT, after a little meltdown she was really getting into the party and was good to go!

I was really hoping that Olivia would just dig right into her cake, but that didn't happen...she really doesn't like her hands to be messy, sooo she very delicately picked at the cake. I even cut a big hunk off for her and she just looked at me and handed it back...she doesn't get a whole lot of sugar, so she was a little taken aback by the taste, I think.





Olivia was picking the little dots off her cake and throwing them over the edge at this point


She got so many wonderful gifts and we can't say thank you enough to everyone. Everyone was so creative and came up with so many things that she really needed and loves!

I would have to say that this gift is great for a 1 year old...we got this for Adelayna as well and she loved it too!

Thanks again to everyone for coming and to everyone who helped out...we couldn't have celebrated Olivia's birthday in the "style" we did without you all!

The "big" people's cake!

Great Grandma Vasel and Olivia

Although you can't see her, Great Grandma Kamman is holding Olivia here...thank you Grandma for Olivia's beautiful outfit!

Both of Olivia's Grandmas!

Strollin' Along!

Olivia is really getting the hang of pushing her stroller around WITH baby in tow...rarely is the seat open when she's pushing it...she just loves to have her peeps with her! Although we're not officially walking by ourself, we really good at cruising, pushing the stroller, and find many other ways to get around... i.e. holding onto the side of Daddy's mesh shorts seems to work really well too...just enough security to keep her going.

Yes, we have quite the little "ham" on our hands! She loves the camera!


Today the "peep" of choice was her bunny!

Wild Lights

This past Friday (ummm...I started this post about 2.5 weeks ago, yes, I'm behind...just a little!) was our last "warm" day...well, for now at least. So, Chad and I were trying to figure out what to do and we decided to call up Justin and Sarah to see if they'd be up for taking Alex to Wild Lights at the zoo since we'd all been talking about it. And, the Stiehrs were in!

Since Alex was going with Olivia wanted to make sure she looked extra cute! ;)

Although I mentioned "warm", we still all had to bundle up...It was in the 40's, but that was MUCH warmer than the weather we had been having.

Daddy and Olivia all bundled up!

The Zoo actually did an AWESOME job with Wild Lights...I was VERY impressed and think that this will become an annual stop during the holiday season. They set up a little trail that takes you through one portion of the Zoo...the penguin house was open, so Olivia had to make a little stop in there. Who knew penguins slept resting on the back on their heels with the rest of their foot up in the air - it was a little weird.

The little penguin family in front of the penguin house

Olivia did pretty well, but she was hungry and it became a challenge to keep her occupied with other things other than the thought of being hungry.

After the Zoo we grabbed some food and headed back to our house so Alex and Olivia could play while we ate. They are both finally mobile and play pretty well together...it makes it so much easier when we all get together!

Who's going to get to the ball first?!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Yes, I'm behind again...as is busy time of year is in full force I'm forced to catch up all because....Olivia's turning 1 on Saturday and I want to make sure I'm all up to date before then.

About two weekends ago we decorated the house...not sure how it would go with Olivia being very mobile, but so far so good...she just didn't like waiting to see what the tree was going to look like.

Chad is very particular about his ornaments, but he let her help...until she really started throwing them out of the box!


Everyone had told me how excited she would get with the lights all up on the tree...she could care less! That was a little disappointing, BUT Sarah said Alex did the same thing.

The tree is still all in tact and she does really well with not bothering it...we'll see if this lasts through New Year's!