The Slide

As promised, here are pictures of Olivia with her new slide! In case you're wondering, yes, it does take up half of our floor space in the basement....

Another weekend of visitors

It's 8:44pm on Sunday night and I'm the only person still awake in this house! We had such a busy and fun weekend! On Friday night, Gary & Kathy rolled into town for a weekend visit. Saturday morning Duane and Gary ran errands while Kathy, Olivia and I went to Target for groceries. Olivia napped, we had lunch, and then Duane started on Liv's playroom in the basement. Duane first installed a light switch - at Liv's level! She was totally into helping him.

Once the electrical was in place, we headed to MOA. We were so excited for Olivia to ride some rides but she was NOT into it. She started crying on her first ride with Grandma - but we're blaming the screaming child in front of her for upsetting her experience. We had dinner in the mall and after Olivia devoured her meal, she entertained herself with this chair and some crayons. We left the mall late and Liv fell fast asleep in the truck on the way home.

Today was quite a day - MN Zoo - first thing in the morning! We were walking into the zoo around 9:30am and Olivia thought she ruled the place! We were lucky and didn't encounter a big crowd so she was "on the loose." Here are some fun pictures from the morning.

She waved hello to the otters - totally melted our hearts! This is a photo of the end of the wave.

Coyote - walked right out as we walked by!

We were about 10 minutes down the road after the zoo and Liv was asleep. Thankfully, she was able to fall back asleep once we got home. No rest for the weary, though - as soon as lunch was eaten, Duane and Gary were hanging drywall in Liv's new room. While the guys worked, Kathy and I entertained Liv. We did make a trip to Toys R Us, though, and Liv was given an adirondack chair and a new slide/jungle gym set.

After dinner, Gary & Kathy put together Liv's new slide/jungle gym in the basement. She LOVED it!!! We tried to count and we think she went down the slide 25 times. After each slide down, she would literally run around to the start and go again. I hope to get pictures of this from Kathy and post soon - they were such adorable pictures.

More to come on the Liv's playroom - it's going to be adorable!!!

Dinner and some valentine's



Last week in Liv's daycare room, they handed out Valentine's - she "went through them" during dinner! ;)



February has been busy!

Sorry for the hiatus! The past few weeks have been crazy! The weekend of the 10th, my parents came to visit. We went out for dinner on Friday, to the Shoreview Community Center on Saturday morning for some play time, my mom and I shopping that afternoon and that night, Duane and I went to dinner while Liv spent some time with Grandpa and Grandma. Sunday was a lazy day but we all had a great time. They took all the pictures, though, so I don't have any to post...

On Monday morning, Duane and my parents left for the airport - they went back to Ferdinand and Duane went to Rose-Hulman. Wednesday morning he flew back into MSP but then sadly found out that his grandpa passed away. So, that night, he booked another flight to head back to IN. He flew out Friday night and returned late last night. Olivia and I had a girls weekend! ;)

Saturday morning, we met a friend of mine and her son at the MN Zoo. I wish I could have taken pictures but it was just too difficult trying to manage the stroller, Liv and all our stuff. We left around 11am and before I was out of the parking lot, she was alseep!

Liv and I hung out at home Saturday afternoon but around 5:30pm, I was relieved by Catie, our babysitter. We had plans to go out with some friends that night but I didn't want to cancel on them so I met them and Liv stayed at home with Catie. She loves Catie and always does well with her so we both had a nice evening!

Sunday morning was more playing and a Target run. It was beautiful here yesterday, probably around 45*, so I met the same zoo friend for a walk. Olivia and Walt (my friend's son) played on the playground and then we went back to their house for some toy time. My friend's husband is a manager in the toy's department for Target so he had all kinds of great toys for Liv and Walt to try out. They were having a blast!

She found her hats and was changing them out all morning

Living room destruction - from Saturday night into Sunday....

After my friend's house, we came home and I quickly made some spaghetti. Piggy/Olivia had about 5 servings - seriously, she was still eating while I had finished and started cleaning up the kitchen. After that meal, bathtime was required. Duane's flight arrived around 8pm, so I kept Liv awake as long as possible and then put her in the car and drove around until he was off the plane.

Today was catch-up day but we managed a quick trip to a nearby park. Thankfully, we had President's Day off so we could relax a little today.

Unloading the dishwasher - she really does help us, she likes to take each utensil out of the basket and hand it to us

just what every future nerd needs - a Rose-Hulman t-shirt!

Olivia and her potty

This past weekend, Grandpa & Grandma Potter came for a visit! For some reason, my mom thinks that Liv is ready to have a potty around. It definitely won't hurt anything to have her see one but she LOVES carrying it around and perching herself on top of it. I caught her last night carrying it into the kitchen and then taking a break on it!

BTW - Happy Valentine's Day!