Daddy's Girl

While Olive has been sick, she has been a big time Momma's girl. Poor Stephen was so patient with her and would love on her even though she wasn't being very nice to him. Finally this weekend, she returned to being her typical "Daddy's girl". I couldn't resist getting some pictures of the two of them while she was getting ready to take a bath. She thinks he is so funny. And he thinks that she hung the moon. (And she did, right?)

Daddy!! You are so funny!

Olive is so lucky to have such an incredible Daddy. Thank you Stephen for all that you do for me and Olive. We love you the most.

Look Mom! I Can Help!

So far Olive is a great eater AND helper. She loves grabbing the spoon and shoving it in her mouth and then holding onto it. It definetly makes meals a bit more messy, but it is so funny to watch her. Here she is enjoying some cereal and carrots. And getting it EVERYWHERE! I am just thankful she is eating veggies! :)

Steam-It Does Wonders For Your Hair!

Since Olive was sick this weekend, we made her spend a lot of time in the steamy bathroom to help "get the gross out". We had a great time writing her name on the mirror and playing in her Bumbo seat on the counter where she could see herself! We discovered that just like her Mama, if humidity hits her hair, it curls! Daddy had so much fun making it stick up! Here is Daddy hanging out in the steam with Olive.

Proudly showing off her curly locks.

She has started blinking everytime the flash goes, but I love the expression on her face in this picture! And you can really see the curls up top!

We may have a Curly Sue on our hands!

Held

Sweet little Olive has had a cold and just has not been herself the last few days. This weekend, she has wanted to be held anytime she was not sleeping. I have really enjoyed getting to snuggle with her, I just wish she felt better. Today as I was holding her, I realized how comforting it was for her as she was able to relax and fall asleep. We are so lucky that we have someone to hold us when we need it too. Our heavenly father steps in everytime he sees that we need it and holds us when we can't hold ourselves. And he holds us for as long as we need him to. Even a couple of years!
It makes me think of the lyrics from Natalie Grant's song "Held". They say:

"This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.

This is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we'd be held."

The next few weeks I know that God will be holding our entire family in his arms as we face the trial. It is such a comforting feeling to know that when all else fails, we will be held.

Surprise!!

I have the most incredible family and friends. Saturday night, I thought we were going to dinner with the Beverages and the Thompsons. When we got to the restaurant, I discovered we were actually having dinner with all of our closest friends as a surprise for my birthday. And then everyone was coming over for cake and ice cream. It started to make sense why Stephen had been so insistent about cleaning the house on Saturday! I thought he was just really on top of things that day. :) My wonderful husband had the idea to surprise me and with the help of a few birthday fairies, they pulled off a great surprise.
The Beverages came over before we went to the restaurant to bring Olive the cool rain forest jumper. I had no idea the real reason we took the time to put it together, put in new batteries and watching Olive play was because we couldn't get to BJ's until a certain time. I just thought no one else was as hungry as I was. Here is Olive playing in her fun new jumper.

Surprise Mom!!

I am so blessed to have such incredible friends!

Ava and Alden helped me blow out the candles.

Pop took care of the decorations while we were at the restaurant. He even blew up over 50 balloons all by himself! The decorations looked incredible and Olive had fun loving on Pop.

Olive saying goodbye to Dano and Honey.

Thank you Stephen for making my birthday so special by planning this surprise. Thank you to all of our amazing friends for being there to celebrate with us. I am so grateful for each of you!

Lend Me An Ear

Olive received a very special present in the mail from Uncle Lanny and Aunt Sharon. They had taken a trip with their grandkids to Disney World and they found these super fancy princess Minnie Mouse ears! Olive loved posing in them. I know these ears will be a favorite dress up piece for years to come.

I love my ears!

Happy 5 Month Birthday Olive!

Our little Olive turned 5 months yesterday. I tried so hard to get a good picture and someone would not cooperate. We can't believe she is already 5 months old! She is growing so fast. Some of her new "tricks" include screaming (not because she is mad, just for kicks), chewing on her toes, rolling over constantly, laughing, fake coughing, making the "b" sound and the "m" sound, grasping everything, smiling constantly and just being pretty darn fabulous. This is such a great age and everyone says it only gets better, we can't wait. This video shows her doing 3 of her new tricks all at once! Chewing on toes, laughing and screaming. Enjoy!

Here are a few pictures I was able to get, but no smiles.

Looking so sweet and innocent...

and then she proves she is her Daddy's daughter.

Clearly she is mad about something...holy moly!

Happy 5 month birthday little one, we love you!

Olive Helps Dano

Today Dano came down to deliver the shelves he made for my newly converted craft room. Olive was ready to help with the special project and wore her home depot project apron to prove it! After installing the shelves, we went to Home Depot for her first time! We were looking for light fixtures to go in the new craft room. She liked being on the light fixture aisle because she could see all of the lights. She fell asleep before we left. This is probably just her first trip of many to Home Depot with Dano.
Dano has worked on a lot of different special projects for us. He custom built all of the shelves in her closet. It started with just one hanging bar, now it has enough space for all of her clothes and gear!

He custom built the window seat that is in her bedroom. The top opens up like a toy chest. Right now we use it for diaper storage. Stephen had the idea for this seat when I was pregnant and Dano took our ideas and created exactly what we wanted.
For Christmas, he made this step stool for little miss. He even took an Olive in to the paint store to make sure it was the correct color. We are so lucky that Dano is so good at creating things. We definetly keep him busy with all of our ideas! :)