The Day Olive Became A Normal Child

Five years ago yesterday, Stephen's Mom, Grandma and Aunt were brutally murdered in Stephen's parents home at the hand of his uncle.  That day seems like yesterday but also seems so far away.  It is a day that changed the path of our lives forever.  Stephen was working in the back yard at the time of the murders and came into the scene.  He was given the opportunity to be with his Grandmother in her very last moments, but also had to experience the worst possible thing you could ever see.  These things stick with him daily.  We lost three wonderful women that day, but we also lost a piece of Stephen and his Dad.  A piece of them that we will never ever get back because of the horror they experienced.  Over the last 5 years, it has been a roller coaster to say the least.  His uncle was in the Cleveland County jail that just happens to be a few miles from our home for several years.  Finally in February of 2010, his trial took place.  We were so blessed to have the most amazing District Attorney and team who were able to prove that not only was he guilty but that he deserved the death penalty for his actions. The jury found him guilty on 3 counts of murder and sentenced him to death.  We breathed a sigh of relief.  Not only was he being held accountable for what he did, he would be moved to prison in McAlester and would no longer be in our town so close to us.  This was the best feeling.  We really felt that we could move on and put the past behind us.  And that was semi-true.  The trial brought a lot of closure.  It meant that we didn't have that looming over us anymore, no more anticipating when it was actually going to happen.  We started to try to remember Tami, Grandma and Shelia for who they were and not what happened to them.  This was a slow process, but we thought we were doing a decent job.  

    Then Sunday afternoon we got a call that would change our paths again.  The call said that Bill had died in his death row cell that morning.  This was the last thing we were expecting on this day!  I don't want to say that we rejoiced because he was dead, but we rejoiced because of what this meant for us.  "OLIVE IS A NORMAL CHILD!"  She will learn of these events on our terms now, not because Mommy and Daddy have to go to court for appeals.  Not because Mommy and Daddy have to go to an execution.  It is over.  We stood in our front yard watching her swing and both cried tears of absolute joy!  She smiled and laughed without a care in the world.  I can not tell you the sense of relief that this brought to our entire family.  It's done, it is over and we don't have to deal with him anymore.  God once again showed us that he was holding us in the palm of his hand.  Now we can truly close that chapter of our lives and begin to truly celebrate who they were before being taken away from us.  Our daughter can know WHO they were and not WHAT happened to them!  We are so thankful. 

Our Tiny Dancer

Olive started dance class last week at Modern Dance Arts. She was so excited!  She had been talking about it for several weeks and asked daily if it was "dance class day".  I didn't really know what to expect, but she LOVED it.    

 

 When they opened the door and said to line up, she jumped right in line!  This may be one of my favorite pictures of her ever!  She just looks so happy!

 Going in...

When they came out, she was smiling from ear to ear.  She kept saying 

"I did it! I did it! I danced!"

 I hope that she continues to love it as much as she did the first day! 

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!