First Day of School 2012

Last Monday was the first day of school!  And oh, what a difference a year makes!  Last year was a bit of a struggle in the beginning, but she walked in and started playing this year.  I am so thankful that she is more comfortable and confident this year!  It is hard to believe that next year she could start Pre-k! Holy Moly!  Where is the time going?

Happy First Day of School!

Back to School Night

Olive's school had Back to School night the week before school started.  She was so excited to get to meet her three year old teacher! 

 I love this picture of the two of them!  So sweet!

Her teacher was so sweet and there is a train table in her classroom, so we know it is going to be a great year!

The Many Names of Olive...

At the beginning of the summer, Olive suddenly announced that her name was "Emily". (one of her favorite engines on Thomas) Daddy's name was Thomas, my name was Flora and Wrigley's name was Percy.  She referred to herself as Emily full time and corrected us if we accidentally called her Olive.  This went on for at least a month.  Then suddenly one day, she started choosing new names daily.  She really believes that is her name and insists on being called whatever it is that day.  We go to at least one class at the library each week and at these classes, they give out name tags.  Olive started giving a new name each time for her name tag.  Bless the librarians hearts, they trust her and write down whatever she says! This is absolutely hysterical to me, so everytime she gets a new name tag, I have taken a picture!  

Music class: Angelina

 Storytime: Princess Dora

 Music class: Rosie

 Storytime: Gabriella (on this day a sweet lady I used to teach with at Ike was in class with us.  At the end of class, she came over and said "Danee', I thought your daughter's name was Olive" ha!)

 Storytime: Dora

I am so thankful she has such a vivid imagination!  I can't wait to see who she is next week!

Olive's Birthday day

I still can't get over the fact that our little Olive turned 3 on Monday! It really doesn't seem possible that three entire years have gone by! She is so full of life and every moment we have with her is so fun! On her actual birthday, Stephen took the day off so we could spend time all together as a family! Thanks to Pinterest, I had seen the idea to fill your child's room with balloons for their birthday.  After a raving review from my friend Misty on how much her daughter loved it, after she went to bed Sunday night, we started blowing up balloons!  When she woke up, she came to her door and said, "Mommy, who did this?"  When I told her that Daddy and I did, she turned around and ran into the balloons and yelled "this is SO FUN!" followed by a little squeal! 

 She couldn't get enough of the balloons!  She burrowed through balloon tunnels for awhile.

 Even Wrigley got in on the balloon action!

Next up was her special birthday breakfast "wif free candles, because I am so big and free!"

 Family picture time!

 And a silly one, for good measure!

 We headed up to the Science museum for a day of fun!  Olive loves it there!  We had so much fun!

 Her favorite part is the room with the model trains, I swear she would spend the entire day in that area watching the trains!

 Someone decided that they were really brave, now that they are "free" and that she wanted to go on the enormous tree house slide!  She went once by herself and then insisted that Mommy went with her the other four times, in a short dress, on a slide where you have to basically curl up in a ball to go down it...

 At the end of our day, she got to meet Otto the museum mascot!  She was okay with him, but needed to keep her eye on him.  Just in case.

 Final family pic attempt! CHEESE!

 After supper, she got to blow out candles again, because that is what happens on your birthday! 

Happy Birthday precious girl!  Our lives are so much better because you are in them.  We love and adore you and can't wait to watch you continue to grow (only you can slow down a little if you want to, okay?) We love you the most!

Olive is 3!

All Aboard The Birthday Train!

Our sweet Olive turned 3 and we had to have a train themed celebration!  She could not have been more excited!

 We found an amazing little train that the kids could ride on! If you know of anyone in need of a train, contact the Okie Dokie Express! I love Olive's reaction when she saw it coming down the street!

 She could not wait to climb aboard!

 When her friends started to arrive, she began selling "tickets" to get on.  Sweet Caden loved his hat and wore it most of the party!

 All Aboard for the first ride of the day!

 Olive rode every single time for an hour!  She would half get off and say "I want to do it again!"

 Ryder preferred the "non-moving" train!

 And Liam enjoyed watching from the grass!

 After the train rides, they all tumbled into the bounce house for a few minutes before cupcakes!

 Sweet girl was so excited to have 3 candles!

 She has such thoughtful friends and received lots of great gifts that she can't play with enough!

 Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate our sweet Olive! 

 Olive and Honey

 Olive and Pop

 After we got inside, she switched to Rapunzel for her picture with Auntie Mica and Uncle Isaac!

Happy Birthday Party Day, Olive!