Family Fun Festival

As I mentioned in my last post, we went downtown to the Family Fun Festival today. Olivia had such a good time! We got there a few minutes early, so we took a few pictures near the "Bean"



Then, we headed into the festival, where we met a couple of friends. There was a huge tent set up with lots of different "stations". We started at Wiggleworms (put on by the place where we took the class). Olivia had a good time dancing to the songs and she even ventured away from me on several occasions, and I had to go and get her. I don't know where this independence came from... I can't even walk into another room at home without her losing it! Ha!

After Wiggleworms, we went to the Reading Station for storytime. This only held her attention for a few minutes before she was off again. Next, we played with the hula hoops.

This is Olivia and her friend, Leah. Leah and her mom, Carrie, are the ones who host our playgroup on Wednesdays. When I look at this picture, I just think that it won't be long until they both are in a hula hoop contest for field day at school!

They also had a coloring area. Olivia spent a lot of time "drawing" pictures. Although, if she's going to be the next Picasso, she is going to have to stop eating the crayons! Here she is working on one of her masterpieces:

Before we headed home, we had a picnic lunch with Carrie and Leah, as well as Emily and her son, Jack. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Olivia and Jack because they were always running in different directions.

Olivia had such a good time. She played SO hard and was exhausted when we left. Here she is before we even got out of the parking garage:

I'm so excited that we gave this a try. I can't believe they do this every day all summer and it's free! We will definitely go back!

We've Been Busy...

This little girl has been keeping me busy! She is quite a handful these days (but I wouldn't have it any other way!) She is walking everywhere and talks jibberish all day. She walks nonstop and is into everything! She loves opening the cabinets, climbing into the closet, pulling everything out of the drawers, etc. She definitely keeps me on my toes. We have such a great time, though!

Her newest thing is saying, "No". Anytime I ask her a question, especially, "Do you need a diaper change?", she shakes her head and says, "No". It's really cute, but I have to make Jon not laugh. The last thing I want is her walking around saying "No No No" all the time! Ha!

She is still so happy. She loves giving kisses and big hugs. One of my favorite things is when she gets a toy or book and runs it over to me and puts her arms around me with the biggest smile on her face. She gets excited over the smallest things and it makes me see things in a whole new perspective as well.

We finally had a nice weekend weather-wise! In fact, we couldn't have asked for it to be any better. We spent a good portion of the weekend outside. We took Olivia to her first baseball game on Saturday. Jon's work gave him tickets (great seats!) to the White Sox vs Nationals game, so that's where we went. Olivia hadn't had an afternoon nap, so she was tired, but she did really well! We stayed for over half of the game. Once she got over the initial shock of so many people, she even had a good time, clapping and dancing!

White Sox game:


This is what happened tonight when I gave her a spoon and a bowl of yogurt. I don't think she's quite mastered the spoon yet:


We are heading downtown tomorrow to go to the Family Fun Festival. They have Wiggleworms and Story Time at Millennium Park every day during the summer, so we are going to meet some friends down there. I'll try to remember the camera :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Jon! I cannot begin to put into words how much you mean to me and how thankful I am to have you as my husband and Olivia's daddy. When I think about my idea of a perfect father, you exceed all expectations! And, seeing the excitement in Olivia's eyes and hearing it in her voice when you walk in the door every night, I have no doubt that she agrees. You are a blessing to both of us and I appreciate all that you do to make my "job" easier. We love you!!!

Giving Daddy kisses:

I'd also like to wish my father-in-law a Happy Father's Day! Dennis- you are so special to all of us and we are looking forward to seeing you and spending time together in a few weeks! We love you!

And, to my brother Glen- Happy Father's Day to you! I love you and I am so proud of the dad that you are to Abby and Mason. They are lucky to have you and I couldn't ask for a better friend/ brother.

Last, buy certainly not least, Happy Father's Day to my dad in heaven. I know he is watching over us, but that doesn't make me miss him any less.

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend! We have spent it hanging out together as a family. We visited friends, walked to lunch, spent time at the playground and park, and rested. Life doesn't get much better... :)

Arkansas Visit

Olivia and I had a wonderful time in Arkansas!! We were only supposed to be there 5 days, but we ended up staying for 10 because we didn't want to leave. I only took my small camera (which I still can't find the cord for), so I didn't take many pictures. The ones I'm posting are from my cell phone, so please excuse the quality!

We spent the majority of our trip just spending time with family. We arrived on Wednesday and had a few visitors stop by Wednesday and Thursday and Thursday night was Olivia's first trip to the ballpark (for Mason's game). She loved it!


On Friday, when mom got home from work, she kept Olivia and I went to Amy's house. We spent about 8 hours making Olivia's birthday cake and cupcakes for her party, as well as decorating cookies to send home with the guests.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but here is the cake we (mostly Amy) made:


Olivia's birthday party was on Saturday. It was SO much fun!! About 25 people came to celebrate with us. I don't have any pictures (they are on the camera with the missing cord). We had sandwiches, fruit, chips and dips, as well as the desserts Amy and I made. Thank you to everyone who came and made the day special for us!

The rest of our visit was very laid back. It was so hot that we could only go outside early in the morning or late in the evening. Olivia spent a lot of time like this:

Her walking improved so much while we were there. When we went to Mason's first ballgame, I didn't let her down on the concrete for fear of her falling. By the last game, she was walking around the entire complex and having the best time. I know that would have made my dad happy!

With cousin Abby at the ballpark:

Exhausted:

Olivia (and I) had such a great time! Her favorite part of the day, by far, was first thing in the morning. As soon as she would wake up, my mom would take her and they would go outside. If she didn't want to go to my mom first thing (which was very rare), mom could ask her if she wanted to go outside and she would get so excited and go right to her. I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed the time more! :) My mom will also want everyone to know that Olivia wanted to go to her instead of me on multiple occasions. Ha! I'm so thankful that she loves her Gram so much!

And, I can't finish this post without thanking Amy. When I started talking about staying a few extra days, I looked into changing our flight. It was going to be quite expensive, so that was out of the question. Amy immediately offered to drive us halfway if Jon would be willing to meet us. So, THANK YOU Amy (and Jon!) for making it possible for us to stay a little longer!!

It was great to see everyone again and we are already looking forward to the next visit!

One Year Pictures

Memorial Day Zoo Visit

I have a little catching up to do, so I'm going to go in order.

On Memorial Day, we had Olivia's one year pictures taken (I will post some of those shortly). Unfortunately, she woke up with a bit of a cold and wasn't feeling her best. However, Audrey (our photographer) was able to capture some good ones.

Afterwards, Jon, Olivia, and I headed to the Brookfield Zoo. It was an unusually hot day here and really crowded, so we didn't stay long, but we had fun!

Watching the monkeys:

Talking to the monkeys:

"What is it?"

Looking at the giraffes with daddy:

A great day at the zoo: