Olivia's 1 Year Pictures

I had Olivia's 1 year pictures taken on Saturday. A friend that I graduated high school with is just starting to take pictures (professionally/for others). Nikki did a GREAT job, and I am really happy with the pictures that she got. She edited them in a matter of 24 hours and sent the link right away....that was a bonus for this impatient mama :)

We did a few different locations/outfits...this was the 1st and I think that they are my favorite!

I will post the others soon!!

Trip to Great Wolf Lodge

Before the holiday and the kid’s birthdays we wanted to take a little overnight trip. Ryan had another vacation day to use. We decided to go to Traverse City for a night and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. We had been there once before with Blake just before Livi was born. That was our last trip as a family of three. This time all four of us went!

It was very fun. Both kids loved the waterpark. Blake loved our hotel room and kept asking if it was our new house! He had his own room with bunk beds. It looked like a tent, so he was in heaven.

I love making these memories with our little family. This small trip makes me look forward to the bigger trips that we will be able to take when they are a little older!

Olivia checking out the hotel room :)

Me adn my girl getting ready to hit the water park!
She's excited...

Blake and Ryan at the arcade! Not sure who has more fun...Blake or dad?

Intense game of skee-ball!

Weeeeee!

Blake LOVES Wiley the Wolf! We went to "stroy hour" where we listened to a story and did a little dance. Blake was in awe when he got to meet Wiley! So cute!

Checking out the lobby

Daddy and Liv too!

The lobby was all decorated for Christmas!

Getting ready to hit the slides! Blake is SO brave and such a good swimmer!

Livi likes the water too, but had just as much fun watching everyone else.

Time to leave :( Waiting for daddy to pick us up at the front door.

It was a very fun trip. I am so proud of my babies for being such good little travelers!

Olivia's Baptism

On December 3rd Olivia got baptized at our church. She was a good girl and for the most part, liked being the center of attention. She did NOT like being dipped in the baptismal font…and she let everyone know that. Poor baby screamed like a wild child in front of the whole congregation. The priest commented that there is nothing wrong with her lungs!

I am so pround of my little Livi!

Before mass started:

Godparents, mom, dad, Liv
She sang and danced and put on quite the show for everyone at church!

She was OK until about this point.

Then she realized that she was going to be dunked in the water!

All better now...and in her beautiful gown.

Blake and grandpa Dan:

Godparents: Dani (Ryan's sister) and Tyler (Ryan's cousin)

All of us!

Livi just loves her Tyler!

Pretty girl...but she didn't want to sit still!

Bless her little heart...I just LOVE this girl!!

We pray that God will use you
In whatever He has for you
And your life will be a blessing
Through everything you do
We pray this day you'll sense God
In a new, exciting way
As you go through your baptism
And on through each new day.

(via)

Catching Up

I realize that I have been the world’s worst blogger since the beginning of December. We had a CRAZY month…..between Blake turning 3, Olivia turning 1, Christmas, and everything else….I am not really sure where the time went!

I am going to start doing some retrospective posts to catch up on what I missed!! I hope that I can catch up and stay up to date moving forward!!

Olivia turned ONE on December 15th. I have lots of birthday pics to post.
She is growing and changing so much. Our little peanut went through a lot during her 1st year….but I am so happy to say that he is as healthy as can be now and just full of personality! She is such a spit-fire! I think that we are going to have our hands full with this one :)

Here are her stats from her one year well visit:
Length = 30.24 inches, between percentile 75 and 90
Weight = 19.7 lbs., between percentile 10 and 25
Head Circumference = 17.5 inches, in percentile 25

Besties

Blake and Olivia are so cute together. She has ALWAYS wanted to follow him around nonstop...but at first he didn't pay much attention to her. Lately he has been wanting to play with her and I think that it is just the cutest thing in the world!!

He always wants me to put him in "sissy's bed"....he thinks it is just so great to play in there. I guess now that he doesn't sleep in a crib he thinks its cool :). There was a time that he was just dying to get out...haha!
He says "Mama, put by sissy in here!"..and I do...and they just play and play. I leave the room and can just hear them giggling away. It just melts my heart to see them playing together.

I hope that they are always the best of friends. I think that Blake will always be protective of her, and Livi will always look up to her cool big brother!

My Girl....

I can't believe that my baby girl will be ONE next week. Where did this past year go? I feel like I was JUST pregnant with her..and preparing for her arrival. I feel like she was JUST that itty bitty baby that we brought home from the hospital. I feel like she was JUST curled up in her little swing looking like a little angel.

All of a sudden she is all over the house. She is full of spunk and personality. She is turning into a little toddler and not at all a little baby anymore! I wish that I could just push on the breaks and make time go a little bit slower!

I love watching her grow and learn new things.....but I don't want to loose my baby!!

Denver Trip

At the beginning on November my friend Tony and I went to Denver to visit my sister! I didn't take my camera...and we only took a few pictures, but I am just not getting around to posting them!! It was GREAT to see Mary, but it makes me miss her more. Luckily she will be back her in Michigan for 5 days over Christmas!!

We went to Golden, CO to the Coor's brewery!

After our tour :)
Mountain views....
Waiting to get on the bus for the tour
Tony and my sister Mary
Learning about Coor's Light :)
And getting some samples too!!
After the tour you get 3 free beers!! Pretty good deal...esp. since the tour is FREE!!
Denver is a really cool place to visit....I just wish that it wasn't so far away or I would go more often! Looking forward to seeing Mary here in just 17 more days!! YAY :)