Daddy Time

Jon had a couple of days off this week, so he and Olivia had lots of daddy-daughter time! He even went with us to Gymboree class:



Reading:

Other than that, we've just been keeping busy! I don't think I've mentioned it before, but our schedule is pretty hectic these days. We have Gymboree on Monday mornings, Mom and Tot Interaction on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (through the park district), and our regular playgroup on Wednesdays. We usually meet friends at the park and/or an indoor play space on Fridays and also on occasional afternoons. All of that has been keeping us busy!

Olivia's Newest Cousin

Jon's sister, Jenny, gave birth to a healthy baby boy today. Here's our newest nephew and Olivia's baby cousin, Jake:

Congrats Jeff and Jenny... We can't wait to meet him!

Happy Anniversary!

Jon and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary today! It's hard to believe it's been 7 years, but at the same time it feels like we have experienced so much in our time together. We've lived in 6 places in 4 different states, traveled extensively in and out of the country, and most importantly, started our own family. I couldn't ask for a better person to be sharing my life with.

Jon- I love you more and more every day! Thank you for everything you do for Olivia and I. I feel so blessed to be your wife and I look forward to many more years together! Forever and a day...

(And, Happy Anniversary to my mom! She and my dad would have celebrated 45 years together today. I love you!)

Our Girl

Even though it's our anniversary, I know most of you reading this are only interested in pictures of Olivia. So, here you go... :)

Fall is Here

And we are enjoying every minute of it!

Sweet and Silly

I'm sure I've mentioned this on here before, but just to reiterate... Olivia is so sweet! Lately, she has started wanting to sit on my lap a lot more. Anytime I'm in the floor with her, she wants to be in my lap, whether we're reading books, doing puzzles, or just bouncing up and down. She has also started showing her sweet side with her dolls lately. She likes to put diapers on them, swaddle them, sing "rock-a-bye" while rocking them, and put them to bed (on their cookie sheet, of course! Ha!)

Rocking her baby is hard work:

She also has a really silly side. When she isn't putting a bowl on her head, she is opening the coffee table drawer and standing/ sitting in it. Over the weekend, she thought it would be funny to sit in the colander:

And, this morning I was cooking breakfast and looked over to see this:


There is never a dull moment around here!

Special Chair

Last time we were in Wausau, Jon's parents gave Olivia this little rocking chair that belonged to Jon when he was a kid. At the time, Olivia couldn't quite get in it by herself. Well, now she can... and she gets in and out of that chair a hundred times a day! She will even try standing in it if I'm not watching closely. She loves rocking in it, and I love that Jon did the same thing in the same chair.

Garage Sales, New Wheels, and Bobby Jack Sooie

The highlight of our weekend was our garage sale finds! (Does that make us lame?!?) Let me preface this by saying that garage sales in Chicago are typically not good. In fact, we have stopped by many in our time here, and I don't know that we've ever bought anything. In fact, we never go out of our way to stop at them anymore. If we walk by one, occasionally we will browse.

Well, this weekend we got Olivia a pair of shoes (for $5 that cost $50 new!), a Columbia jacket, a Janie and Jack sweater and several books. We also got Jon a (new) Banana Republic wool coat... for $4!! We were pretty proud of ourselves! :)

Speaking of good deals, we also got Olivia a tricycle on craigslist last week and she LOVES it:

Speaking of things that Olivia loves, she received a surprise in the mail from my friend Mandy last week. As Mandy put it, "everybody needs a Razorback sock monkey." Mandy's daughter named the monkey before sending it. What did she name him? Bobby Jack Sooie! It makes us laugh every time we call him Bobby Jack! And, I think you can tell that Olivia is crazy about him:

Labor Day Weekend

Wow-- isn't it amazing what an extra day on the weekend can do for your spirits?!? We had such a great weekend just spending time together. Jon has been traveling quite a bit for work lately, which is rare for him, so it was nice to not have plans and just relax.

I was finally able to capture a little bit of Olivia's mean face. She does it much better than this, but you get the idea:

We started the weekend with a little pool party on Friday. I didn't take my camera, but Olivia had so much fun playing in the sprinkler and running around the yard. It was so hot, though, so we didn't stay long. This is how she looked when we got home:

Saturday meant opening weekend for college football! I have to say, Olivia makes a pretty cute cheerleader:


On Sunday, we went to the Brookfield Zoo. It was a perfect day! We couldn't have asked for better weather and Olivia really got into it this time.

First Carousel Ride:

Watching the sea lions with daddy:

Watching the dolphins:

Her favorite part of the day was seeing the goats in the petting zoo. We put her down in the goat pen with about 20 goats. She had SO much fun!! She was running around saying, "Goat, goat!", laughing and squealing! Jon and I laughed about it all day! Ha!



She also really likes birds. When you ask her what a parrot says, she says "cracker". Here she is with daddy and the parrots:

Watching the birds fly:

Finishing up a fun day at the zoo:

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!