Big Girl Pool

After the disaster of the small swimming pool, I did what every smart and prepared Mom does... I took her to the big swimming pool with friends!

I thought maybe if she saw other kids in the water, she would be more interested and then we could try the little pool (the new one, of course) later. At first she didn't even like me standing in the water with her. So, we sat on the concrete and splashed in the puddles and watched for a while. Then we slowly made our way into the water. She held her feet up in a sitting position every time I tried to put her feet in the water, but eventually her little toes got wet. Then her legs, then she sat on the step!! I was so happy, I really thought our little incident in the backyard may have ruined our summer. But there is hope! She didn't want to have anything to do with the floating raft, but we will take it one step at a time. She loved playing with the little toys on the steps. Thank you Anna, Avery, Luke, Bethany, Nolan, Salyer, Tara, Luke and Nick for helping her enjoy the pool today!

The cutest little fishies...Luke, Salyer, Olive, Avery, Nolan

Not So Fun in the Sun

I bought Olive the cutest little swimming pool at Target on Monday to help celebrate the "unofficial beginning of summer." I was so excited to put her in it! I knew she would love it!

Here she is all ready to go swimming!! Have you ever seen anyone look cuter in a swimsuit!?

Well, I was so excited that apparently I wasn't thinking clearly. Because instead of easing her into the cold water from the water hose and letting her put her feet in and play first, I SAT HER IN THE COLD WATER!! Needless to say, she totally freaked out. We didn't even get pictures because she was so hysterical. So, Daddy and Dano took pitchers of hot water out to warm up the pool...

And, she still hated it!
I finally got her to stand for a second, but she was still not impressed.

Maybe Daddy can convince her to go in...nope!

She was happiest sitting on the bench on the back porch watching the crabby pool from a distance.

On Tuesday, I took her out just to look at the pool and as we walked closer to it, she started screaming again. We had emptied the water, so Stephen climbed in and she would still have nothing to do with it. Off to Target to get a different pool and next time we will ease in to the water!

Project...Complete!

We are so excited about our new front landscape! Stephen has been dreaming of what to do since before we built this house. I am so proud of all of the hard work he put into it. It turned out incredible. He always says that a good landscape is never finished, so who knows what will change in the future.

Front walk before Front walk after

Corner before
Corner after

Front walk before
Front walk after

Porch before

Porch after

And our favorite flower in the landscape...

Let's Go Cubbies!

The Cubs played this weekend against the Texas Rangers, so we headed to Dallas to see them play. It was Olive's first road trip and we were a little nervous about being in the car for that long and staying in a hotel, but she was incredible! She loved watching "Baby Einstein" in the car.

We got on the road Saturday morning and got to spend the afternoon with our sweet friends, The Wilsons. They have 2 kiddos, Tanner and Ellie. Tanner is an energetic 2 year old and Ellie is a sweet 8 month old. Olive loved seeing them and they were so sweet to let her play in their play room for the afternoon. They came with us to Saturday night's game, which made it even more special! I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures of them! My camera was in the car :( Thanks Tanner and Ellie for letting us come over and play! We loved getting to spend time with you and your parents too!

Ready to head to Saturday night's game.

Cheering on the Cubs with Daddy.
We were going into extra innings, but Olive didn't mind! She was such a trooper, she hung in until the last out.
Cubs Win!! Cubs Win!! 5 to 4 in 10 innings.

The next morning Olive had a blast playing on the big fluffy bed. We piled the big down comforter into the middle of the bed and tossed her toys around her, she thought this was really something special!

Just chillin...

and then she found the big window!
We didn't spend much time in the hotel, because game time Sunday was 1:05. The forecast called for sunny skies and a high of 93 degrees! We covered her in sunscreen, plopped on her hat and we were off to cheer them on to another win.

"Go Cubbies!"
We were so lucky Sunday to have AMAZING tickets! We were on the 8th row right by the on deck circle directly behind the Cubs dugout. The only bad thing was the sun beaming down on us!
By about the top of the third inning when her little cheeks were the color of her dress, we realized her hat was making her hot. So, we tried to cover her head with her burp cloth instead,which she thought was pretty silly.
Olive and Mommy had to make several trips up to sit in the shade during the game. Considering that Stephen and I were burning up, she did amazingly well. Not much fussing at all!

Seventh inning stretch..."Take me out to the ballgame!

Sweet Lou Pinella

We thought we were going to see him throw one of his famous fits Saturday night over a bad call, but he managed to stay in control.

Before Olive melted, we decided to let her try some "Strawberry Lemon Chill". She thought it was delicious. (FYI: It is best to not look at the sugar content on those containers, just go with it!)

By the end of the 8th inning, she was done. I took her to the air conditioned bathroom and stripped her down to her diaper. She sat on the changing table so happy! :) We changed clothes and watched the last inning on the TV in the shade. She had a great time playing on the picnic table.

We don't think it is coincidence that the Cubbies won both games 5-4 and that Olive is 9 months old! She is definitely the good luck charm! We will be contacting the team management to see if they are interested in putting us on salary to travel with the team to continue the winning!

We had such a great weekend! Olive was crashed out before we even made it to the interstate and she slept from Arlington to Ardmore. She was a great traveler and we can't wait for our next trip.

Bunko Prom 2010

Our bunko group has recently begun having "theme nights". In March, we "rolled for some green" and all wore green, April was "pajama night" and tonight was...Bunko Prom! At Eisenhower we have a costume closet that is loaded with old prom/bridesmaids dresses that I am sure were very stunning at one time. A LONG TIME AGO!! We busted them out and had a prom of our own, minus the dancing! Audrey was our host and made very special center pieces. And our sweet Ms. Darline made special prom dress napkins! Here are the lovely bunko babes all dolled up for prom!

And now for the prom court...

Representing the "Fabulous Necklace" class, Sara!

Representing the "Green Mermaid" class, Amber!

Representing the "pregnant" class, Deanna!

And the prom queen is.....Stacie!!

Thanks ladies for the fun night! I always have so much fun laughing with you! Congrats Stacie on your big win!

Spin Your Wheels

We took Olive on her first bike ride. At first she wasn't sure what to think about it, but by the time we got going she really enjoyed herself!

Ready to go!

Wow Dad! You are really fast!
*For the record, it is REALLY hard to take pictures while riding on a bicycle.*

We had a fun time on our ride!