Spoiled?

To say Olivia is a little spoiled might be a slight understatement! She gets presents in the mail pretty regularly from both grandmas, as well as others. A couple of weeks ago, Grandma Gilge sent a box FULL of summer clothes. I think Olivia will be the best dressed girl in Cleveland, and I won't have to buy her anything!

Last week, Olivia's Uncle Norman, Aunt Tina, and cousins sent her a "sunshine package". It was so sweet and thoughtful! It included an apron, a teddy bear, a couple of toast stampers, and some bowls. She LOVED it! In fact, I'm pretty sure she has put the apron on every day since!

On Saturday, she received another box from Grandma Gilge. This one had several new books, as well as a coat in it. She absolutely loves unwrapping presents, so she was excited to have a few more to open. I took lots of pictures, but my camera messed up and only one of them turned out. You'll have to take my word on how much she loved it. We read all 4 books right then... several times!

That same afternoon, I took a lot of pictures of her playing outside. I thought I had some really cute ones, but only one of those turned out as well:

Off the subject of gifts, Olivia made it through the entire church service in the nursery today!! She gets so excited when we talk about going to church now and she always says, "Talk about Jesus" or "Sing about Jesus". (And, by the way, she loves singing 'Jesus Loves Me' and she makes sure we say her night night prayers every night before bed.) We visited a new church this week. She cried when I dropped her off. I went back to check on her after about 15 minutes. She was still pretty upset, so I stayed and played for a little while. I snuck out when she was distracted and they said she did well the rest of the time... whew!

Playing in her kitchen before church:

We are going to Chicago this week to visit friends, so I should have lots to post about when we return! Hope you all have a great week! xoxo

"Aunt" Amy Visits!

Amy came to Cleveland last week to visit for a few days. She flew in on Monday morning and Olivia and I picked her up at the airport. We had lunch and then came home for Olivia to take a little nap. When she woke up, she wanted "Aunt" Amy to read to her:


On Tuesday, we took Amy to see Lake Erie and then headed downtown for lunch and the market. Unfortunately, the market was closed, so we had to settle for just lunch.


Jon babysat Olivia Tuesday night so that Amy and I could go downtown and have dinner. We were home by 9:30, but we still had a great time! Ha!

On Wednesday, we went to the West Side Market. Afterwards, we explored the art museum and then the grounds outside. Unfortunately, my camera messed up and most of my pictures didn't turn out. Here are a couple:


Olivia definitely enjoyed Amy's visit and hated to see her have to leave (as did I!)


After we dropped Amy off at the airport, Olivia kept saying, "Amy, Where are you? Come back and see me". So, Amy, I hope you come back soon! :) Thanks for making the trip to see us! We had a great time!!

Church

Today we tried a new church. We dropped Olivia off in the nursery and she seemed ok. Just before we got out the door, another parent dropped off their daughter who was crying hysterically. It made Olivia cry. She settled down and we left her there. After about 15 minutes, Jon went to check on her. The nursery worker told him that she probably would have been fine, but the other little girl was upsetting everyone. So, Jon brought her into church. She did really well, except for a few slightly embarrassing moments. As soon as each song finished, she would yell "Yay!!!". And, every time the pastor said "Jesus", Olivia would say, "Jesus!". She also repeated a few lines of the pastor's prayer (as he continued to pray). Overall, she did pretty well... Let's just hope the nursery works out better next time! Ha!

Univeristy Circle

We had a great weekend hanging out as a family and enjoying Cleveland! Yesterday, we had a delicious breakfast at Lucky's and then went to the Children's Museum.


They had a room set up like a beach:



After playing for a little while, we took a walk outside around University Circle. It's where the museums are and it is beautiful!



Saturday night, Jon and I had Date Night. We had a delicious dinner at Mallorca.

I hope you all had a great day as well!

Outdoor Fun

After my family left last week, it was too quiet around the house. So, Olivia and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the zoo on Wednesday. The only picture I took was of her eating a pretzel:

Later that afternoon, we played outside and she practiced her soccer skills.



Then, she got more interested in the grass, rocks, and leaves:







We played outside until Jon got home. She was so excited to see him, and ran up to hug him. (I think that may have made his day!) :)


On Thursday, we went to story time at the library and then played outside most of the afternoon. This time, we focused on basketball!



We got the soccer ball back out just before Jon got home, since that is his sport of choice. As you can see, she wasn't up for practicing any more:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our First Visitors

Glen brought Abby and Mason to Cleveland to spend Spring Break! They arrived Saturday afternoon and stayed until Wednesday.

When they got here, we drove over to Lake Erie because they were desperate to see something, but nothing that required too much car time since they had just spent 12 hours in the car!

Mason:

Abby:

Climbing on the rocks:

Olivia even went on a walk with Uncle Glen! (But, she wouldn't go near him the rest of the trip and yelled "Mommy" every time he came near.)


Glen and I with the kids:

Abby and Olivia:

On Sunday, we drove 4 hours up to Niagara Falls.



Cousins (They were swinging her while they were walking and she was laughing so hard, I can still hear it!!)

Monday was Abby's birthday... the big 11! After locking my keys in the car at the mall, we were finally able to pick up her cake and then I took her, Mason, and Olivia to the Lake Eric Nature Center.





After an ice cream snack and dinner at Olive Garden (birthday girl's choice), we came home to have cake and open presents.

She was most excited about the Nook Tablet from her dad:

We went to the Science Museum on Tuesday, but I didn't take many pictures.


Overall, we had such a great time! I'm so glad they decided to spend Spring Break with us. It was hard to see them leave Wednesday, and we miss them already!