Daycare Halloween parade

Happy Halloween everyone! This morning at the daycare, they had their annual Halloween parade. They send ALL the kids out into a parade through a couple buildings on our campus. A lot of people from the offices lines the hallways and hand out candy. Duane and I pulled a wagon with Olivia and another girl from her room, Bristow. (Bristow was a rocker chick, complete with drumsticks!)

"Hey...what's in here, anything good?!"

At the end of the parade, there was a melt-down across the entire daycare - I think every kid was crying! I can imagine why, though - all the parents are spending time with the kids and then we shove them back into their rooms...poor things!

We walked down the block tonight and then came back home and passed out the contents of Liv's pumpkin to other kids! Haha - can I be anymore cheap?!?! The great idea behind that, though, is that we don't have any candy in the house that we feel compelled to eat. We hope you all had a great Halloween!

Saturday & Sunday fun

On Saturday morning, Olivia and Duane had swim lessons and I went to a friend's Tastefully Simple party. When I returned home, Liv was napping so Duane and I tackled some yard work. It's so sad to be getting all the plants/flowers cleaned out for the snow. It's kind of crazy, though, because most of the trees in our neighborhood still have most, if not all, the leaves on them. Earlier in the week, Olivia received some gifts from her Grandma Kathy. She loves them!

She looks a little crazed because she had just gotten home from swim lessons!

Last minute we decided to invite some friends to meet us for dinner. This is the family we went hiking with a couple weeks ago so it was nice to catch up with them. They recently bought a new house so after dinner we went over for the grand tour. Their two girls, Evelyn and Vivian are adorable and Olivia LOVES them! At 9:00pm we realized that all three girls were still running wild so we decided to call it a night.

This morning was spent running errands and Olivia took a long nap after lunch. Duane and I were able to watch a movie during her nap, which was awesome! When Liv finally woke up, we quickly gave her a snack and headed out the door for ZooBoo at Como Zoo in St. Paul. We met our friends Joel and Allison and their son, Walt. He dressed as Stitch from the Disney movie, 'Lilo & Stitch.' We were too cheap, though, and didn't pay for Liv to get any treats. It was a really fun night! Tomorrow is more trick-or-treating, though, at the daycare parade and visiting some neighbors - so stay tuned for more pictures!

We rode the carousel, too!

"Eating" with utensils....or at least trying out the concept!

Fishtale photos are ready!

A couple months ago, we had Olivia's 1 year and family photos taken by Fishtale Photography. Here is the link to my friend's blog - they are amazing pictures!!! http://www.fishtaleblog.com/

Email me if you'd like the link to all the photos and I can send you the password and link.  Enjoy!

Olivia and her tubes

Well, today was the day - Olivia had her tubes surgery. At 6am sharp we were checking into the surgery center. Olivia couldn't have anything to eat/drink after 11pm last night so I knew the morning would be tough on her. Before we even got out of the truck, she was signing for milk.... One crazy thing from the morning - Liv's anesthesiologist was the same guy who gave me my epidural during labor! Duane went back with Liv when they put her under; I couldn't handle it. I was sitting in the waiting room crying, Duane came out and then about 10 minutes later, the surgeon came out and told us everything went well. She was super upset when she woke up, though, so that was hard to watch.

We were home by 8:30am and she had several handfuls of Cheerios and a piece of toast. She napped a couple times and seemed to be herself. When she woke up from her first nap, she was shivering pretty hard and that was scary but it stopped soon enough. She was a cuddlebug, though, so that was nice.

By the end of the afternoon, she seemed to be back to her normal self. The next big event is Halloween! Stay tuned for more pictures!

Quick update

Hello again! The biggest piece of news we have to offer is about Olivia - on October 25 she has to have tubes. Early last week we met with an ENT and he confirmed what our doctor thought; she needs tubes. I can't say I'm surprised - she was fighting her 7th ear infection since April.

This past weekend was busy but fun. On Friday night, we went out for a little Mexican food. Liv has been signing "more" and "eat" for about a week now but I finally caught her asking for more on video. It's kind of hard to see her signing because she has her hands so low, but she's definitely doing it. Oh, and she's eating ice...

Yesterday we met some new, old friends and went to Taylors Falls for a little hike. Duane and Jason played soccer at Rose Hulman and he and his family have moved back to their homestate of MN. Jason and Sarah have two, beautiful girls and we hope to spend more time with them!

Today Duane had a poker party so Liv and I went shopping for a couple hours. We have another busy week ahead of us so don't be disappointed if there isn't an update for another week!

Busy, busy, busy!

This past week was so busy - and so was the weekend! Duane was Mr. Mom this past week as I was downtown Minneapolis for work. On Thursday morning, I had to take Olivia to the doctor - another double ear infection. In fact - the worst infection he's seen in her! We now have an appointment with an ENT to find out if tubes are in her future. Frankly, I'm all for it if they will clear up these infections and give the poor thing some relief!

Friday night we relaxed at home and tried to unwind from the week. Liv kept us entertained with peek-a-boo with a wash rag and playing with her fridge farm!

Saturday morning started out with a bang - Olivia's first swimming lesson!!! Olivia is starting in the "Starfish" class. She seemed to really enjoy it - and I think Duane did, too!



A neighbor was having a moving sale and Duane felt that Liv HAD to have this drink stand. He bought their post hole digger and this stand for $5....worth it? I'm not so sure....

Last night we decided to get out of the house and go out for dinner. We went to a newer place in Stillwater and had such a great night! Olivia was really good - but she always is. I think last night was her first time seeing live music and she was mesmorized! We were even able to sit and just listen after we ate because she was in such a trance.

Today we went to Pine Tree Apple Orchard and it was quite the morning! We got there a little too early so we took some photos and had some snacks. I actually got stung by a bee for the first time - it was pretty painful! We ended our morning at Pine Tree around 11:30am and before we pulled out of their parking lot, Liv had fallen asleep! At least she was awake this year - not like last year when she slept through our day there!