Beer, blue paint, baptisms and bald eagles - that's what MN does!

Wow - what an awesome weekend! On Friday afternoon, Alex & Giesla rolled into St. Paul. Olivia stayed awake long enough to tell them hello and then she was off to bed for a nap. While I worked, Alex had some lunch and poor Giesla tried to rest up since she wasn't feeling well. (Could it be because they slept in the back of their station wagon in a Sam's parking lot and only got about 1-2 hours of sleep?!?! Hippies!)

Once Duane came home from work, we hung around outside. The skies cleared up in the late afternoon and it was pretty nice. We had dinner at the Happy Gnome and it was great! Unfortunately, Liv wasn't in the mood to relax and have some drinks so poor Duane walked around outside with her until the food came. We treated ourselves to DQ and Olivia LOVED sharing Duane's banana split blizzard. Her other favorite thing from the weekend - Alex. She has a major crush on him and was constantly saying his name (sounded like Allah - which could have gotten her in trouble during her baptism! Ha!). The last couple photos came from the end of the night - Olivia got ahold of a Kleenex and decided to wipe up the floor - in the nude.

   

Is Liv super chubby or is Alex super skinny?!?!

Saturday morning brought quite a surprise - a random act of vandalism. Alex & Giesla's brand new, white VW wagon was spray painted in the middle of the night, right on our street! We all woke up, had breakfast, coffee, etc., and Duane and Alex were out the door for a workout. Soon after they walked out, Alex came back in the house yelling for Giesla - their car doors were spray painted bright blue. Needless to say, Alex was livid and Giesla was speechless. Duane was their hero - he Googled how to remove spray paint from a car and the stains came out! (Rubbing alcohol, if you ever need to know.) We were all super relieved!

Before

After (Alex flashing his "gang" symbol

Giesla, Olivia and I ran to Target for some grocery shopping and when we returned home, Duane and Alex were close behind with lunch. Once Liv was down for her nap, Duane and I made a run for Home Depot. My dryer decided to quit on Friday afternoon so we needed to quickly replace the washer and dryer. Alex & Giesla relaxed in the backyard and when we got back home, Liv was still sleeping! Duane and Alex did some roid-workouts (preparing for Tough Mudder) in our yard and the girls watched and laughed at them and then headed to the park. Liv was totally grossed out by the sand but became comfortable enough to dig in it and pile it on the stroller.

Since Liv was so dirty after the playground, we had pizza brought to us (thanks to Duane) and relaxed at home. Who would have thought - but we had Liv's pool out for her to play in! Don't worry, we added hot water from the house.

Classy Uncle Al

After pizza, Duane took Liv for a ride around the block and to show Alex & Giesla how much she loves it - and hates to be told that it's over.

"Liv - want to go for a bike ride?"

"...okay, let's put on your helmet."

Reaction to Daddy stopping his bike in the driveway

Reaction to simply changing helmets, not ending the ride, just changing helmets. The ride ended better than this because I asked Liv if she wanted to brush her teeth so she had something to look forward to. Seriously!

Today was a special day - Olivia was baptized! Since Alex & Giesla are her godparents, it was only fitting to do it while they were here. We all attended the 8am mass at St. Mary's in Stillwater and Olivia did surprisingly well during the mass. She made it all the way until communion and then she was getting antsy. The church reserved the first pew for us, which was really nice.

Now, if only I could say she did well with the actual baptism....oh yikes was that embarrassing! She pretty much cried/screamed through the whole thing. She could tell something odd was going on and she was freaked out by the priest, not to mention being touched with oils and water poured on her head. We don't use the pacifier unless she's sleeping but we pulled it out today. For as badly as she behaved, gosh did she look cute! ;)

After church, we made a pit stop at Target for an early Easter gift (thanks to her godparents) and then it was back home for the day. Olivia also received a beautiful cross and books from Alex & Giesla to celebrate her baptism. I should also mention that we saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree on our drive back home. Liv had a quick lunch and then it was nap time for her grouchy butt - at 11:30am. Once she woke up, it was off on the bikes around Lake Phalen.

We putzed around the house the rest of the afternoon and before we knew it, it was dinner time. By the end of the night, Liv looked pretty rough - greasy, oily hair, snotty nose and a face full of food. Of course it made for a cute photo!

We seriously had such a great visit! Even though my dryer wasn't working, Giesla didn't feel well and the VW was violated, we still managed to have a lot of fun. I know Liv will be sad to see Allah and GG go home, and so will we!

18 months old and thriving!

Well, believe it or not, Olivia is 18 months old already! (Last Friday, March 16, was the actual day.) On Monday, we had Liv's wellness check with her doctor. She recognizes her doctor and his nurse and does NOT like them one bit! We were sitting in the waiting room, patiently waiting, and the nurse came out to call someone else before us - Liv saw her, they made eye contact and she burst into tears. You can imagine how the actual appointment went with nurse/doctor and Liv in the same room. She now weighs 25.7 lbs. and is 31" long - which means she's 31st percentile for height and 64th for weight. (in case you're wondering, she's half as tall as I am - LOL!)

The teething situation is getting better. There are still some coming in but I think the pain has subsided a bit, or she's able to tolerate it better. We have a super exciting weekend coming up - my brother, Alex, and his wife, Giesla, are coming up for a visit!

Here is a picture I took with my phone - it is from this past weekend. We went to dinner at a Polish deli in Minneapolis and Liv was having a great time. (probably because she was having meatballs and noodles)

The great weather continues!

The weather continues to be great up here in St. Paul! Even though it was a bit cloudy most of the weekend, the sun was popping out every once and a while and the temps stayed high. Olivia just loves being outside and today she spent a good portion of it playing - except for her awesome 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon! (I got to sit outside and relax!) We charged up the battery to her 4-wheeler and she took it for several spins around the yard.

GREAT weather but BAD teething going on in St. Paul....

Just like most of the country, we're experiencing much higher temps than we normally do and we are LOVING it! The downside - this weather must be bringing in the remainder of Liv's teeth. She's been really, really drooly the past several days but as of last night, she is experiencing some major pain. Last night, she refused to eat anything but Popsicles (which caused sugar bumps on her tongue - oops!) and cried for about 2 1/2 hours! She has been able to sleep pretty well but man oh man, the drool is unbelievable! On Sunday, we changed her shirt 3 times.

Backtracking a bit - Friday Duane and I took the day off and had a "date day" to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Olivia went to school like a normal day so we had to day to ourselves. We ran errands at Menards, Trader Joe's, IKEA, had lunch, caught a movie, shopped a bit and then it was time to get Olivia.

Saturday was spent outside, running to the grocery store and then dinner at our friends' house. Olivia did great playing with their Tupperware before dinner and then ate a ton of salmon, potatoes and peas. We were even able to relax with cappuccinos and dessert before it was time to head home with the sleepy baby.

Sunday's weather was great again and Olivia was outside ALL DAY, except during her nap after lunch. We were able to put her slide outside and hang up her swing. Her favorite thing - taking rocks and putting them on and off the side steps of her slide. We lost count with how many times she worked on this activity.

finding rocks.....

then stacking them on the steps!

drinking water out of mommy's Panera cup

Today Olivia and I participated in a Parent & Me class through our gym. Liv is technically too young (most kids are 2+) but we joined anyway. She didn't really participate necessarily but had fun running around the studio and chasing the dodge balls. Next week is the parachute, not sure how that will go.... 

Our little brute

This past week while at daycare, Liv proved to be quite the brute. On Wednesday, she fell while they were playing outside and skinned up her nose. Then, on Friday morning, her teacher called me at my desk to tell me that Liv fell into some sort of book bin - as in fell in head over heels. Her cheek was pretty bruised but by Saturday morning, it worked its way up to make it look like she had a black eye.

Olivia has really become so much fun lately! I swear - she can understand a lot of what we say and it's so awesome. For example, if she starts to get frustrated with something, we can say, "Hey, do you want to help me with....?!" And she forgets whatever was making her mad and will follow us. She's also started saying please, instead of signing it; she says thank you, too. We see her mimicking us a lot as well. One of the funniest things is when she finds her empty pink eye Rx drops when we're changing her diaper in the AM/PM - she'll pick up the bottle and puts it against our eyes. If only it was that easy with her....

At daycare they brush teeth during the day so we've started that at home, too.

A wink and some laughs

Olivia was full of fake laughs yesterday morning while she had pancakes and blueberries! She also gave a wink on demand!