Olive Goes To Kindergarten

Every day my class has a "sharing time" and each student has an assigned sharing day. No one shares on Monday, so they have decided that Monday is Mrs. Link's sharing day and they have been begging me to bring Olive for sharing. So, today was the day! She got to go to kindergarten and she loved it! They were so excited to see her and show her all of the things that they do. They all took turns holding her and she sat in the middle of the circle and did "tricks" for them. Every time she would squeal, they would laugh hysterically. She loved climbing on them and just being there. They were really sweet to her and tried to be great examples of how you behave in kindergarten, so she would know what to do!

They thought if they patted the floor she would crawl towards them.

"Hey friends! Watch me try to stand up!"

Patty caking for the crowd. What a ham! :)

After she left, they started asking if she would come back next Monday. "If you give a mouse a cookie..."

Blessed

"I have been blessed,

And I feel like I've found my way.

I thank God for all I've been given,

At the end of every day.

I have been blessed.

With so much more than I deserve.

To be here with the ones that love me,

To love them so much it hurts.

I have been blessed."

Blessed by Martina McBride

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day! Stephen, Wrigley and Olive had beautiful flowers waiting for me when I got up this morning that they even arranged themselves! They are so pretty. We are going to get a special plant (I haven't decided exactly which one yet) for the front landscape that will be a reminder of our first Mother's day. My favorite part of the day was just getting to spend time with our little family. I never knew that I could love anyone or anything as much as I love our sweet little Olive. Her smile simply melts my heart and when she says "Mama" it just about brings tears to my eyes everytime! I am so delighted to be her mom. I pray daily that God will help me to be the mother that she deserves. Stephen and I both have wonderful examples of what a Mom should be, I just hope I can figure it out! Thank you Stephen, Olive and Wrigley for making my day so special. I love you!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Stephen and I are both so blessed to have the amazing gift of WONDERFUL mothers! We both have such incredible memories of fun times with our moms.

Stephen's mom, Grammy Tami watches over us from heaven everyday. Stephen was quite the Momma's boy growing up. In fact, he remembers not wanting to go to kindergarten, because he would have rather stayed at home and watch soaps with his mom. When he would come home from kindergarten, she would make him hot tea and he would sit in his room and listen to records. He never let her forget the day when "he had to walk home from kindergarten and she wasn't there, so he fell asleep for hours on the porch swing." No one really knows for sure how much truth is in this story! She was always his #1 fan. We watch videos of his baseball games from high school and college and you can hear her "Come on, Stephen!"

We know that she would have absolutely adored Olive. In fact, we laugh that we may have had to ask for permission to even see her! Grammy Tami is Olive's special guardian angel who watches over her at all times. She wanted so badly to be a grandma and we can't wait for the day that we get to introduce her to Olive.

I was also blessed with an amazing mom! She is one of the most encouraging people I know. She always gives you a call, or sends a card when you need it the most. She also has a contagious laugh! My sister and I tease her about things all the time, but she has always made us laugh! She makes hands down the BEST chocolate chip cookies in the entire universe! You can ask anyone who has tried them. Last year, she even came and made them with my class. They agreed that they were the best. My mom is one of those people you can't help but like and want to be around. She surrounds you with love and acceptance, no matter what. I hope that I can someday be like this.

Olive is lucky to have her Honey who loves her so much. Honey taught her to say "Tada" which technically is her first phrase. They have so much fun together giggling.

Thank you, Honey for all that you do. We love you and we are so grateful for you.

To all of the Moms out there...Happy Mother's Day!

Bow Wars

So, Olive has waged a war on bows. I keep explaining to her that this is a problem, because no matter what, I will win. She knows she isn't supposed to pull on them because she gets the most mischevious look on her face when she does it! Here is a step by step of the bow war.

Happily posing for a picture.

"Oh, there is a bow on my head. I wonder what Mommy will do if I pull it!"

"VICTORY!!!"

"Oops! Now it is in my eyes!"

"This is a good look, don't you think?"

I know that if I was a good "Love and Logic" parent, I would pick my battles and in the grand scheme of things this one isn't that important...but for now, I will battle! :)

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

The guncles got Olive this adorable dress on their trip to Mexico last year. Thank you Guncle Chris and Guncle Shawn for my special dress.

Lima Beans are the ENEMY!

It is official....Olive HATES lima beans! We now have two foods she doesn't like, lima beans and avacado. I know this seems really mean, but this video makes me laugh. We have a drama queen on our hands. I don't know where she gets it!

*Please excuse the background noise, Stephen was cooking dinner.* :)

What is this green stuff?

Olive got to experience grass for the first time today! Seems like something so simple, but she was in awe! We have put her feet in the grass, but she actually got to sit in it.

Playing in the grass with Daddy.
Snuggling in the grass with Mommy.

Besties hanging out in the grass!

I absolutely love watching her experience things for the first time! It makes the stress of "real life" almost disappear because everything is so new and exciting for her. I can't wait for many more first experiences!