Happy Fall!

Wow - another weekend has come and gone! Friday night we stayed in and I caught up on some laundry and Duane and I watched bad, boring TV.

Saturday morning we ran errands and came back home for lunch. Olivia seemed really tired and we needed her to take a good nap because we were meeting some friends at Interstate Park for a hike. Boy were we wrong! I think Liv was so excited to see Evelyn that she decided not to nap! So, at 2:30, I took her out of her crib and we let her run wild until we left the house. Thankfully, she fell asleep pretty quickly once the truck started moving and about 40 minutes later when she woke up, she said, "Evelyn?" We had to keep explaining that we were almost there to see her. Our hike went well but we cut it a bit short because the little ones were getting hungry!

Evelyn and Vivian were quite the little helpers for Olivia!

We had dinner at Eichten's, which was the same place we ate last year. Olivia really loves to be with the Bowe girls and by the end of the night, she was running around with them!

Sunday was spent at home - Duane winterized the boat and Olivia and I putzed around the house. I took her to the park this morning and before I knew it, it was time for her nap. We have a super busy week coming up so I'm already looking forward to next weekend....

Another visit from Grandma Potter

What a treat for all of us - my mom was back in town this weekend! On Friday, I picked my mom up in the afternoon from MSP and we headed to daycare to pick up Liv. We whisked her off to a mall so I could make some returns and she was treated to a ride on their carousel. On our way to the mall, I stopped at a 4-way and from the back of the car, I hear: "octagon." Umm....who is the genius child in the backseat?! My mom and I couldn't stop laughing. We had Panera for dinner and Liv perked up after she had eaten. She was telling random people hi and bye as they walked in the door!

The reason for my mom's trip was a travel trade show so she spent most of Saturday in Minneapolis. Duane, Liv and I ran errands and just had a typical Saturday. I picked my mom up at 3pm and we headed to yet another mall. We did plenty of damage by the time Duane and Liv met us at the mall for dinner. This particular mall has the train so of course Liv took a ride with Grandma.

Wow was it cold this morning when we woke up! Our neighbor's garage roof had frost....not what I want to see when I wake up. We headed to our favorite fall hang out - Pine Tree Apple Orchard. The pumpkin patch doesn't open until next weekend but we enjoyed ourselves. We also discovered Liv's newfound love for apples - she almost ate an entire Honeycrisp by herself.

watching the apples being sorted

getting into that apple

We had a delicious lunch at Taste of Scandinavia and we were back home before Liv fell asleep in her car seat. My mom read to Liv before her nap and then I took her back to MSP. We had a low key night as we prepare for another busy week.

Thanks again for so much fun, Mom - we love having you up here!

Meyer Family Photos

We have our photos back from our morning with Alexia Strawn and they're great! These photos will be posted for two weeks so please check them out. If you would like to order any, please contact me right away.

Viewing Proofs

• Go to my website www.alexiastrawnphotography.com
• On the upper right hand corner click on "clients" (This will take you to my online ordering page)
• When you get to the page enter in your email.  Your password is "olivia"
• You can share this with all your family and friends they just need the password and they can use their own email
• Your site will be up until 9/28/12. 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Olivia!!!

Wow - another year has passed and Olivia Rose is 2 years old! She didn't just celebrate on Sunday, September 16th, she had the whole weekend. On Friday, my parents arrived around 1pm and we drove to daycare to pick Liv up for the day. She was excited to see them and showed her grandparents around her school room. We played outside until Duane got home and then we went out for dinner. Once we returned home, Olivia went to bed and then Duane started a bonfire for us in the backyard. My mom and I also decorated the dining room for Liv - Elmo theme!

Saturday morning Olivia opened up some of her gifts. Our plan was to keep her from being too overwhelmed on her actual birthday with too many gifts. Let me tell you - this girl is spoiled! Her pile of gifts was huge!

the 1st round of gifts

new snow boots from Grandma Kathy

a new doll from Grandma Kathy

Baby Sally having a bottle

the birthday girl in her hat

After the 1st round of gifts, we hit the playground while Duane set up his new smoker. Olivia made sure Papa and Grandma were keeping up with her.

waiting for Papa to come down the slide...

....and there he comes! She thought it was hilarious!

We all had lunch and then Liv went down for her afternoon nap. The original plan was to head to the MN Zoo after the nap and spend the rest of the day there. Well, I wasn't very prepared with my planning because I noticed too late in the game that the zoo closes at 6pm after Labor Day. So....instead of the zoo that evening, we headed to Stillwater. We walked along the river, went to the Teddy Bear park, had dinner at Nacho Mama's and topped it off with a malt! It was a great night!

Since we didn't go to the zoo on Saturday, we headed there first thing in the morning on Sunday. Duane had to stay back at the house because he was smoking a butt for our dinner so it was Papa, Grandma, me and Liv. We walked in about 2 minutes after they opened and must have gotten someone who was in a good mood when he checked my pass - he let my parents in for free! We couldn't believe it! Our first stop was the penguins and then it was on to the rest of the zoo. As we were leaving, we were about 3 miles into our drive and Liv was fast alseep!

big big bears

instead of looking for the Bengal tiger, she was looking for leaves

that white goat freaked her out...for the rest of the afternoon, she was saying, "go away."

Papa and Grandma needed a nap, too, after the zoo

Liv woke up on the wrong side of the bed after her nap so we tried a bike ride to get her mind off being grumpy, especially since she still had more gifts to open!

her new kitchen from Papa and Grandma Potter & the 2nd pile of presents

I should add here that shortly after seeing her kitchen, what did she do? She walked into her playroom and grabbed some paper and a crayon and started to color. Umm....hello?! Obviously she was overwhelmed with it all and needed a quick break. No worries - she LOVES the kitchen and has spent most of her time playing with it!

pots and pans from Papa and Grandma Potter

packages of food from Grandma Kathy

one of the books from Alex and GG

a card and money from Great-Grandpa Kraus

the complete kitchen with food, utensils, pots, cups, plates, apron, etc!

Ready or not - time for dinner and cake! Duane made a feast of pulled pork, coleslaw and baked beans - everything was homemade by him and was delicious! I decided to do cupcakes for Liv as that is about as far as my baking capabilities go. (Mara - please don't laugh at my attempt to "decorate" - I'm embarrassed for you to see these photos....)

she ate the icing off the cupcake and then shoved the cake part away and asked for more....then she licked the icing off another one and shoved the cake part away...you get the picture!

After some Skyping with family, Liv had a bath and some books and then she was put into bed. She must have had too much sugar because she laid in her bed and talked to herself until almost 9pm! She just had too much fun! Thank you again to those of you who gave Liv gifts and sent cards! I've said it before and I'll always say it but she is such a lucky girl!

As each day goes by, she gets funnier and funnier! She said her first sentence this past weekend; she asked Duane, "Where Papa go?" after he left the room. Now it's become a favorite thing to say. She loves to point out colors and can count to 2. The other day when I was stopped at a light, she pointed to each side of the car and said, "one, two trucks." She was right and I couldn't help but laugh and then tell her she was a genius child. Oh and anytime we said, "Happy Birthday!" this weekend, she would quickly say, "2."

She is getting an attitude, though, but we do our best to manage her expectations before a tantrum might begin. We've found that if we explain something as best as possible, she'll go into the situation calmer. Or, maybe I should say, if Duane explains it. We all know she's a Daddy's girl and that will never change. She loves to tell me at night, "Daddy read, Mommy work." Ouch. We typically switch who reads to her before bed and that's when I'm told I need to work. 

I know I'm leaving out so many things to tell you about Liv but I don't have all night. It's been such an amazing 2 years and I know it only gets better - wait - is that possible?!

Liv's 2 year check-up

Well, once again I'm having technical difficulties and am having trouble uploading my photos. Trust me - there are A LOT of photos from this past birthday weekend! Olivia is one lucky girl and received so many awesome gifts. I will update the blog again once we have our new modem.

Today was Liv's 2 year check up and she's doing really well! She weighs 29 lbs. 12 oz. (84th percentile) and is 2' 9" tall (29th percentile). Duane and I had a pretty good laugh about that in the doctor's office. She had another ear infection so our doctor is going to follow up with her ENT to figure out what to do about that. He said it could be a long winter for us....tell me something I don't know. Anyway, other than that, she's a healthy kid! She was NOT happy after her 2 shots - she received Hep A and flu shots. She also had a finger prick for iron and lead tests.

When we returned home, she laid on Duane's chest for a solid hour and cried, while watching Elmo. We save TV watching as a reward or if she's sick and this time was needed. After she ate some PB and fruit, she was acting much better. Then, after some limping which was overly dramatic, she hobbled over to her new kitchen and all with the world was better. By the time she was getting ready for bed, I think she had forgotten about the shots.

Thank you to everyone who texted and sent cards to Olivia - that means a lot to Olivia but also to me and Duane!

Action packed weekend

The big 2nd birthday is quickly approaching so our weekend centered around the preparations. Friday after work, we headed to Rosedale mall for dinner and shoe shopping (for Olivia of course!). Olivia found her fall shoes and snow boots at Stride Rite and then it was time for dinner. Before we left the mall, though, she got to ride in the kiddie-train that goes around the mall. Duane rode with her and she loved it. All night she kept saying, "choo choo!"

Saturday morning we had a photo session for Liv's 2 year photos and some family photos. Liv did well for the first 30 minutes but the last 30 minutes were touch and go. We had the photos taken in Stillwater so they should be pretty cool. We even stopped in a bakery and got Liv a cupcake for some photos. She DEVOURED the icing but didn't touch the actual cupcake. In two weeks, I'll post the link so you can see the photos.

Liv fell asleep about 5 minutes after we left Stillwater (modeling is hard work) so we decided to make the trek to IKEA in Bloomington. We had lunch at IKEA (it's actually pretty good food) and then did a whirlwind shopping spree. The main reason was to pick up birthday presents from Papa and Grandma Potter and then we got other items, too. IKEA is like Target - you cannot walk into the place without buying something. You just can't. It's cool Swedish stuff and it's SO inexpensive! In their cafe, you can get 15 meatballs, mashed potatoes with lingonberry sauce for $3.99 - I mean come on!

After IKEA I ran even more errands for gift buying and then we did our Target run for the week. We had homemade chili with peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and we put Liv to bed early. Duane and I watched a movie but I also wrapped all of Liv's gifts - the pile is a little ridiculous and I haven't even gotten all her gifts in the mail yet. Spoiled.

This morning Duane went mountain biking with some friends and Liv and I went for a walk. We also went for a bike ride before dinner. That's kind of become our new routine on Sunday's and it's nice. At least, until the weather allows us to keep the routine....fall is definitely around the corner in St. Paul!

Labor Day Weekend

Okay, is it seriously September already?! Is Olivia really turning 2 years old in less than 2 weeks? I'm afraid the answers are yes and yes.... Yikes! One thing at a time, Abby.

We really enjoyed our holiday weekend and hope our blog readers did, too! Duane and I managed to tear ourselves away from work early on Friday and we took Liv to the MN State Fair. I know I touched on this last year for a posting but if you're not from MN, or live here at the moment, you just don't get it. The Fair is a really big deal here and I'm afraid that try as I might, I just don't enjoy it. It's hot, there are about 100,000 people there daily and everyone is stuffing their mouths with something deep-fried. I struggle with it. (I just really hate crowds and this is not a place to tackle that issue.) Okay, back to our night. As soon as we got into the gates, Duane and I each got a beer (much needed) and cheese curds (deep fried cheese = delicious.) Liv wasn't super happy and didn't even enjoy the birthing barn (yes, you read that correctly.) We finally decided maybe she needed to eat and did she ever - she took down a burger and several pickle slices and then she was fine! Duane took her down the giant slide twice and then she took a spin around a carousel. I was soon ready to leave and so we headed home.

1st time down

2nd time down

of course her Daddy bought her this....

Saturday morning Duane and Liv went for a bike ride and I stayed back to finish up laundry. We didn't do much throughout the day but went to Stillwater after Liv woke up from her afternoon nap. There is a popular park called "The Teddy Bear Park" so we had to check it out. Liv loved it! After the park, we headed to dinner. We sat outside on the restaurant’s patio and it was great! Of course we walked to our favorite malt shop and again, Liv sucked down her malt! 

Sunday we did our grocery shopping and before we knew it, Liv was down for her nap. I ran some more errands and then we headed to Jaron & Crystal’s house for dinner. We had a nice night with them and Liv especially did! She just loves Jaron and Crystal can always make her laugh.

On Monday morning we went for another bike ride before the temperature rose too much. Believe it or not, Liv actually fell asleep on the way back home! She took a nice nap and Duane and I worked on things around the house.