Oh the fun we had!

Okay, so I think we left you last on Saturday afternoon. We couldn't do much on Saturday because it rained ALL day but Duane was able to stock up on plants and flowers that he would later plant. For dinner, we made homemade pizza. Liv must have been hungry because she kept stealing Duane's toppings.

The weather seemed like it would cooperate when we woke up on Sunday but we decided not to get the boat out on the lake. We made a quick trip to Target so we could survive the rest of the weekend and then it was time to play outside! Olivia took Baby for more walks before lunch. Oh and sometime overnight, she decided to actually wear her sunglasses and she seriously thinks she's too cool for anyone and everyone when she's wearing them!

Liv was quickly asleep for her afternoon nap and then it was time for us to work in the yard. I really wanted to lay out but I took one for the team and helped Duane. While he planted, I cleaned up some of the yard and weeded. Before I knew it, 2 hours had passed and Olivia was up and ready to go! She truly loved her outfit (or lack there of) and I did, too, I must say! I recently discovered that Target is carrying reusable swim diapers and knew I had to give this a shot. Since we have Liv's BM routines down, I knew we'd be safe for the afternoon. It was well over 90* on Saturday and I knew she'd be wet from her pool so that's why I didn't bother with a full outfit. She was all over the place - walking and running up and down our street,  riding her 4-wheeler, "helping" Duane, visiting with neighbors - she never stopped! Needless to say, she was FILTHY by dinner time and EXHAUSTED by bedtime!

Love, love, loved my gardening gloves - everytime she saw them on me, she'd yell, "Mine!"

Taking a quick breather for some water and a Jammie Sammie

"Get out of my way."

"Seriously, I'll run you over."

This morning it was back at it with yard work. We went to get more flowers and of course, gardening gloves for a certain someone. Oh, and Duane decided yesterday that he needed to smoke a pork butt - so, while finishing up the yard work and mowing, he was busy with his smoker. Before lunch, Liv "helped" again.

all the dirt around the pot, that's Liv's! her aim is a bit off...

the mess...

So, then it was lunchtime and shortly after that, naptime! Today I was lazy and laid in the sun while Liv took her nap - it was great! Today wasn't as hot, which was kind of nice when you just lay there. Since Liv was all wet from her pool before naptime, she had another change of outfit.

Since we were going to have more than enough pork, we invited our friends, the Bowe's, over for dinner. The pork was amazing and Sarah topped it off for us with a great dessert. We all needed a little walk after our meal so we took the girls for a quick walk around the neighborhood.

I could really use another day off but I guess it's back to the real world! We hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

She hit the jackpot!

Lately, Olivia has been taking dishtowels and covering up her babies or other random things. Then, we started noticing on her sheet from school that her favorite activity became"babies and blankets." So, we knew it was time to get her a baby doll and accessories. She totally hit the jackpot yesterday!

I picked her up from daycare and decided she and I would check out Target for some babies. While Duane was a tough mudder (haha, get it?!) and biked home from work, the girls did some shopping. I couldn't find the right kind of baby at Target but Liv quickly spotted a shopping cart. When I tried taking it from her and putting her in the cart to finish our shopping - MAJOR meltdown. So, I was that annoying lady in Target with a mini-me shopping behind me and getting in people's way. A lot of people smiled at her and got a kick out of it but there were a few people giving me the stink eye. Whatever!

It wasn't easy prying the cart out of her hands but we made it home and she was back at it. Once Duane got home, we headed out for dinner and the Toys-R-Us in the scary part of east St. Paul. BW3's sounded good and I knew there would be plenty of distractions for Liv so that's where we went. She immediately grabbed a crown and left it on for the remainder of the night.

Sucking on a lemon - seriously, she loves it and signs for more!

Coloring with Daddy

After dinner it was on to Toys-R-Us. I hate that place - it's in a trashy area and the people in there are just odd. We quickly found the doll aisle, Liv was drawn to one that happened to be on sale and then we were done! I even found a mini broom and dust pan set - we weren't sure which one made her more happy, though. Walking out of the store took a long time as she was proud of her new things!

Once we got home, she was in heaven! She was quite busy with her baby and its accessories. Obviously, the baby went to bed with her and she pretty much hasn't let it out of her sight today!

(notice the shopping cart quickly forgotten about in the background?!)

Baby must always have her hands holding on when in the stroller!

She has affectionately called her baby "Jean" we think - or it's just "MY baby!" She lets us know every time we're near her that it's "MY baby!" Okay, Liv, don't worry, I won't take the baby from you!  :)

Weeknight fun

Earlier this week, Duane grilled some steaks for us but since Liv doesn't like steak (yet), she got a hamburger. We put it on a bun for her and she LOVED it! She ate it all!

Trying to wash her hair

Olivia's Daddy and Uncle are CRAZY!

Here is a link to our local news station's coverage of the Tough Mudder last weekend. Seriously, Duane and Uncle Alex are NUTS!!!

Tough Mudder

Great weekend with Uncle Alex

Uncle Alex (or Allah as Olivia calls him) came for a visit this weekend! He flew in early Friday afternoon and stayed with us until today. His main reason for coming up was the Tough Mudder competition he did with Duane but as far as Olivia was concerned, it was to see her! She loves her Uncle Alex! On Friday, Duane brought Alex to daycare and I met them there because we wanted to see if Liv would run to Alex, Duane or me - she eyed Alex, bypassed me completely and ran straight for Duane. It took about 30 seconds, though, and she went to Alex. Once we got home, we hung around outside and I made lasagna for our dinner.

Saturday morning we were all up early - completely following Liv's schedule, not ours.... The day was proving to be hot already that morning so why not run through the sprinkler?!

Olivia was sticking to the edges of the water fall but she'd go through it all the way with her Daddy

Duane and Alex headed out around 10am so Olivia and I made a run for Target. The sprinkler runs must have worn her out because she fell asleep before I even got to Target! I was able to relax later that afternoon, as Liv napped for 3 hours! Unfortunately it had clouded up so I couldn't lay in the sun, but I managed to relax outside. Once she had woken up, she had a snack and then it was time for some books.

We walked around the neighborhood and visited with some neighbors until it was time for dinner. As I was finishing up my last book with Liv before bedtime, it started hailing. She immediately started looking around and was saying, "Uh oh! Uh oh!" It was over pretty quickly and she was able to finagle a few more books out of me. It wasn't too hard to give in on that! The guys were pretty worn out when they got home but had a great time during the race.

Today we were all up again early but the weather was the complete opposite of yesterday - it was freezing! (Not literally, but it was probably in the upper-40s) We took it easy and Alex played with Olivia.

Alex read to Olivia right before her nap and then he was off to the airport. As soon as she woke up and I went to get her, she looked at me and said, "Allah?" The sun eventually came out so Duane and Liv cleaned up the yard a bit. She loves to help us!

I hope everyone has a great week - then it's a holiday weekend! Yay!

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day! I never really could fully appreciate this day until Liv made it so much more meaningful to me...sorry, Mom, hope I didn't offend you?! I decided that it should be a Mother's Day Weekend - not just celebrated on Sunday. Duane wisely agreed! So, on Friday night he drove all the way to Punch and brought home my favorite kind of pizza. The three of us barely said a word to each other during that dinner - we devoured every last piece!

Saturday morning we went to the St. Paul Farmer's Market. It was crazy busy so we didn't stay too long but it was nice to be outside and see what was in season (asparagus and rhubarb). Liv was a tad cranky so we came back home and then she and I walked around the neighborhood for a bit and had lunch. Once she was asleep, I made a run for the grocery store while Duane stayed at home. We had big plans to go to the Craftszaganza in St. Paul later that afternoon but someone (Olivia) took a 3.5 hour nap so our plans didn't work out. We were invited to our friends' house for dinner so shortly after she woke up, we had to get going. Just in case Liv wasn't in the mood today to take pictures, I had Duane take a few before we left for our friends' house.

We had dinner at the Bowe's house and then they had the great idea to ride bikes to a nearby park in their neighborhood. Liv loves going to their house because their two girls have a ton of toys and are so nice to play with! Before we left for the park, Liv discovered a purse and a doll stroller.

Riding along with Vivian

Evelyn shared a doll and Olivia carried it and her purse the whole time we were at the park. When we asked her if we could hold them, she would clutch them tighter and say, "No!"



Once we left their house, we thought for sure Liv would fall right asleep. Nope. At one point, Duane grabbed my hand and was holding it and Liv piped up from the back, "Hand! Hand! Hand!" So, I had to reach back and hold her hand, too. She stayed awake the whole way home and even had Duane read her a couple books. It was probably 9:30pm before she finally conked out! I'm pretty sure that's the latest she has ever stayed up!

This morning was so fun! I woke up to lovely presents - flowers, cards, a book, and a hand-colored mug.

We were off to breakfast and Liv was being quite the charmer! She had lots of people smiling and waving at her. She was really into her pancake, fruit and milk, too.

Okay, then we took a "Sunday drive" and headed to the Washington County Fairgrounds for the Sherpherd's Harvest Festival. It's basically a knitter's dream - barns full of different types of yarn and live sheep. (We went for Liv so she could see the sheep.) We found the crowd to be very random and a bit granola. Liv was perfectly content sitting in the backpack and it took a bribe of a water bottle to finally get her down. She saw lots of llamas and sheep. We even watched a demonstration of sheep herding, which made her laugh out loud.

It was warm enough today to get out the baby pool, so that's what we did! I was too lazy to get a swimsuit for Liv so she stripped down to her diaper. We did manage to get sunscreen on her, so don't worry about that pasty skin.

She couldn't bother getting up so Duane was hand-feeding her bits of her sandwich.