Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass at 4:30 and met up with the Barbers, who had just come into town, to get some dinner. Here are a few pictures post dinner...since we were racing out the door to get to the church early enough to get a seat. We did, and were able to get a seat in the cry room-major score! If you are unfamiliar with what a cry room is, it's typically where parents of fussy children may sit and watch church behind a glass wall until their children are composed. Lately we have found that starting out in the cry room seems to allow for a much more enjoyable experience for us, Liv, and basically anyone within earshot of us ( :

For the record, my child's hair was brushed and bow was neatly in place prior to leaving for Mass. I promise she doesn't always look this disheveled.

Showing us that she too can fit in the Baby Stella stoller

The many attempts to try and get a halfway decent family picture...

We will settle for a decent picture of the two of us ( :With Grandma and Grandpa Barber

I promise I am almost finished uploading Christmas pics ( :

Christmas Eve Eve

We celebrated Christmas this year a little early with my parents, Lindsay and Blair. (and Chloe!). We had dinner and presents at Lindsay and Blairs new house and had a blast. Here are a few pictures of our time together.

Linds and Blair

Round one of gift opening...Liv wasn't having the picture takingMom and Dad with Liv...take one2nd attempt...a little better
With Nana, or as she says, "MY Nana"
Tormenting Chloe...I love the look on her face

Fairy wings and wand from Linds and Blair...we didn't think we would get these out of her hands before bed!

Opening a game from Nana and Papa...Don't Break The Ice (Lindsay and I both LOVED playing this game when we were younger, I can't wait to play it with Liv)

The last Christmas with just the three of us!

Stroller from Nana and Papa...LOVES pushing this around with her shopping bags in hand (just like mama)

More pictures to come from rounds 2-5 of present opening....I am only half kidding!

Santa Claus Came to Town

Every year the Kyle Fire Department drives Santa around the neighborhoods of Kyle to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! It scared us last year because we heard a lot of sirens, and loud Christmas music, but this year we were ready and knew when to be on the look out. Liv had started feeling bad so we were trying to time it so she was only outside for a few minutes, but when we told her Santa was coming by and that we would go outside when he got here, she got pretty excited. She went and put on her coat, and grabbed her gloves and mittens (it was 56 degrees, so while probably not necessary, we applauded her ambition). She waved at all of the fire trucks and Santa, but she was pretty serious about the whole thing. Here are a few cute pictures.

Waiting patiently for Santa! (Inside, but prepared with our warm hat and mittens)

Here Comes Santa!
Her reaction to the parade of trucks...

Our tax dollars, hard at work (KIDDING!) I think this is a really neat thing that they do. I just wonder what happens in the event of a fire/ emergency with Santa bungee corded to the roof?!?!

Funny Stories

I just realized that I haven't shared some funny stories in a while, so I thought I would bring you up to speed on Olivia and her new adventures.

Olivia loves to mimic everything we do. Her newest trick is to pull her DVD's out of the childproof cabinet and start up the DVD player. I thought I was loosing it one day when I have started one for her and walked back in minutes later to find her watching something else.

She is talking really well. Some of the things that she says are starting to really crack us up. Some recent examples:

"Don't touch Liva" (while trying to remove her from the swings at the park-LOUDLY I might add)

"Mommy/ Daddy yuck!" (whenever we try to give her a kiss)

"Come on Amie, let's go. Want to come with you?" (asking her teacher, Mrs. Amie if she was going to come home with us. Her teacher and I both got a good laugh out of that one.)

We are getting to be a little bit of a drama queen as well. If she doesn't get what she wants, she will fake sniff and pout somewhere, or go to her room and shut her door. If this is what we are in for at two, we can't wait to see what she is like as a teenager!

I am picking Olivia up from school now right before nap time, since she was not taking a nap and walking around the classroom with her eyes closed while all of the other kiddos were trying to take their naps. Apparently she is quite the class clown. Her teachers said that she is definitely going to be a leader, which translates to her being a total pill at school. I know, I remember the stories from my mom and the stinkers she had in her classes over the years. I just never thought that my child would be one of them ( :

Despite her ornery little quirks, she is still very sweet. Some stats:
-She is wearing a 3T/ 4T depending on the brand.
-She is eating constantly, and a great eater. She wants to try everything!
-Still very tall, she is about 37-38 inches and around 30 lbs.
-Knows the ABC song, and can recognize most of the letters
-Knows her colors
-Can count to eleven
-Can count to 4 in Spanish (thanks Dora!)
-Loves to sing: Twinkle, Twinkle/ One, Two, Buckle My Shoe/ If Your Happy and You Know It/ Jingle Bells/ ABC song/ Hickory Dickory/ etc.
-LOVES music and instruments.
-Loves to read. We read every night before bed, sometimes we read to her and sometimes she reads to us. She is really getting good at telling the story based off the pictures.

We can't wait to see what she will do at Christmas! Pictures of that to come for sure. Then we are getting close to baby brothers arrival and a whole new adventure...only 9 more weeks!

Last but not least, some pictures of my sweet pea checking her email.

Halloween...Two Months Later

Hey what can I say, better late than never! Here are a few pictures from Halloween, and some additional pictures I have taken over the last month or two.

My little lion-she picked the costume herself! Daddy took her to a few houses to trick or treat,

but she wasn't a fan of actually going up to the door. A few people came and met her at the sidewalk, so she did make out with some candy.

Scoping out her loot...believe it or not this was the first time she had really had candy. No we aren't THOSE parents, but with her being the first born it just isn't something that we keep around the house or give her just because. (Which is ironic seeing as those I love candy...I am just good at hiding it!)

LOVING the candy.

Despite the amount of sugar she had that night, she called it a night pretty early!

One of her new sayings, "Hmm lets see. I know! I have an idea!"

Pants are optional when you are wearing cowboy boots!

Putting her baby doll to bed. She does the same routine we do with her-tucks her in, kisses her,
closes the blinds, and shuts the door. She is so funny!

Her new favorite activity...helping mama bake. She knows to get her stool so she can see what's going on. She loves to help!

Twinkle Twinkle

Here is a video of Olivia singing her favorite song...Twinkle Twinkle. She is getting pretty good at saying the words correctly, with only a few modifications ( : My favorite- "Like a diamond in the square." I had to cut this video way back, but she also loves to sing One, Two, Buckle My Shoe and If Your Happy and You Know It. Ha! Love this little one. Side note: Make sure to pause the music player at the bottom of the blog!

Pumpkin Patch

Yay...so proud of myself that I am getting these pictures uploaded BEFORE Halloween! We recently visited one of the local pumpkin patches while Grandma June was in town for a visit. Olivia picked out her own pumpkin this year. Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch, and of her modeling her new cowboy boots! (to replace the riding boot that we lost somewhere on our trip). She LOVES her boots, and had to wear them out of the store. We thought for sure that she was going to sleep in them that night, but we were able to convince her otherwise ( :