Olivia's First Time Sledding!!!

As of late St. Louis has turned inot a winter wonderland! We get snow, but it usally doesn't amount to much or stay around for that long...not the case this year!

This past week we probably got around 10" of snow total...probably about 8"+ still on the ground....so, we decided we would bundle Olivia up as best we could and head out for a little fun in the snow!

Olivia LOVED it! Chad ran around the backyard pulling her and then pushing her down the little hill we share with our neighbor...She was laughing and giggling most of the time (no, you don't really see that in the pics because Olivia is a little tired of the camera as of late! ha!).

The sled that Olivia has is my sled (30 years old) and it's in GREAT shape...my dad was so worried when he got it out that it might not be in very good shape, but to his surprise it's superb!

Bath Time Fun --- Bubble Baths!

Olivia LOVES bubble baths and bubbles during bath time! It's hard to get her out of the tub with all the fun she has!

Update --- Who's BEHIND!

So, I've been out of the blogging world for awhile...things got a little busy and I just didn't have time!

Since my last post on Olivia's birthday we've had lots going on!

1. Olivia had her checkup...she's still in the 95% for height and 65% for weight...she's long and lean which makes finding pants that stay up nearly impossible! She's "sagging" most of the time ;)

2. Olivia turned 1 with 8 teeth...2 weeks later 6 more teeth decided to come...ALL AT ONE TIME! Needless to say, things were a little hairy for awhile...they're all coming in nicely and I don't think she has any new ones (only has a few left to get!).

3. We're "toddling"...I had no idea what that meant until I got my updates via email...she's not walking, but not cruising...I think in another week we'll be completely walking...today she's toddling all over the place (5-6 steps or more at a time, just can't move fast enough to go where she wants, so she starts to crawl).

4. "talking" non-stop! Some things that come out are words, others are just LOUD babbling!

5. She LOVES my dog Jack! LOVES HIM! She runs around the house yelling "hi Jack, hi Jack!"...in fact, she thinks dogs are called "jack"...need to work on that! ha!

I'm sure there are many other things, but these are the highlights...Olivia is a SUPER happy, on the go little toddler and we're loving every minute! Still a little tired from waking up in the night with her, but that's our next battle (we have nap time and bed times down to a "t"...it's the putting ourself back to sleep that we need to figure out now...I'm sure this will happen sooner or later).

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!