Settling In

We are slowly but surely getting settled into life in Maryland.  Unpacking takes about twice as long with a toddler, but we are almost done!  We've needed a few breaks, so we went to the mall on Saturday and checked out the kids play area.  It was crazy crowded, but Olivia had fun running around.

Afterwards, she and Jon took a little break and made some wishes in the fountain.

Then, they had fun on the carousel.

We went to the library on Tuesday for story time. That afternoon, we unpacked Olivia's toys and turned the basement into a playroom

Yesterday, we went to the nearby nature center for a toddler class that included a puppet show, craft, nature walk, snack, and singing.

We are looking forward to exploring more in the upcoming weeks! I'll try to take my camera, so you don't have to look at blurry cell pics next time :).

Moving... Again!

I don't think I've mentioned on here that we are moving again.  Next week! Jon got a promotion at work that is taking us to the Baltimore/ Washington DC area.  We will be living in Savage, MD, which is 10-15 miles from both Baltimore and DC.  Jon actually left a couple of weeks ago.  He was supposed to be back today to help with the actual move, but the weather had other plans so it looks like it will be tomorrow :(.  The movers come on Tuesday and we will be in our new place one week from today.  Wish us luck!

For those of you who don't know... this will be our 8th house and 6th state in 8 years of marriage... WOW!!! We probably have one more move after this one, but we plan to be settled somewhere when Olivia starts school.  (Fingers crossed...)

Tea Party with Friends

My Little Superhero

Disney on Ice

We took Olivia to Disney on Ice last weekend.  I was a little unsure of how much she would like it since she has only seen the Cinderella movie.  Well, she LOVED it!  She clapped and danced the entire time!  She loved seeing Mickey and Minnie, she's still talking about the monster who became a prince (Beauty and the Beast), and Flounder (from Little Mermaid) was her absolute favorite!

Jon and I both agreed that it was well worth the trip and better than we expected!

Go Irish!

Olivia was so excited to wear her Notre Dame dress on the day of the National Championship game.  We even took a video of her singing the fight song. I will try to post it later because it's on Jon's phone.

Notice the football under her arm... She loves to run the length of the living room, get a "touchdown", spike the ball, and do a touchdown dance :).  Unfortunately, the Irish needed a few more touchdown dances...

New Year's in Chicago

We had planned to stop in Chicago on the way home from Wisconsin to break up the trip a little.  We ended up staying longer than expected because Jon had to go to Grand Rapids, MI for work and it made more sense for him to leave Olivia and I in Chicago than to drive us to Cleveland first.  So, long story short, we stayed in Chicago for the week.

We got to Chicago on New Year's Eve and went to a friend's house for a family party.  We only stayed a couple of hours and were back at Sandy and Luke's around 8.  We let Ady and Olivia have a little apple juice "Cheers" before putting them to bed:

The girls had so much fun playing together!!  Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few.

Feeding Ady's baby:

Dancing:

Taking a bath with Greta and Ady:

BFFs:

Princesses:

Dancing with Ady and Calvin:

The Three Muskateers Reunited (Ady, Carter, and Olivia):

One last playtime (just before they started playing school together for the first time):

Having a donut at Dinkel's before hitting the road:

It was so much fun seeing our friends!