olivia turns three!

Olivia turned three this past week. We had lots of fun and celebration. Part of the excitement was getting Olivia to learn to ride without training wheels and that actually happened before she officially turned three. Jeremy wanted to be able to say his two year old learned to ride a bike :) Papa and Nani came on the Sunday before for some grilling out and playing in the yard. Olivia was a good sport about letting Abigail help her open most of her gifts, which was fun to see. We had her party at our local park on Monday evening. It was an informal event, with ice cream cone cupcakes and snacks for the kids and mommies. I was so glad that Jeremy was able to make it, as Caraline ended up having a fever that afternoon and needed some snuggle time with Daddy during the party. Olivia and Abigail loved scootering around after the guests left, with Olivia enjoying her new bunny bike helmet and pink scooter from the Indiana Smiths. Another fun gift was the Rapunzel hair that I made both girls, thanks to ideas from the internet. It's a really cheap and easy gift for anyone whose girls are as obsessed with Tangled as mine are.

We are enjoying seeing Olivia continue to be her adventuresome and fun self. We are so blessed to be her parents and can't wait to see what God has in store for her spunky self.

  

Davis Picnic Day

Always a hit.

Group weigh-in at the cattle barns. Over 800 lbs!

Still finding glitter all over the house from this craft.

The fishheads.

We had a lovely time last Saturday in Davis with the Wilsons celebrating Picnic Day. It was hot, as usual, but there was lots of fun to be had by all. The girls were all impressed and had a blast. Oh and then everyone had massive meltdowns between 6 and 7 pm because we drove the smaller car and the kids were so excited to be sitting all in a row no one slept. It didn't help that we had all just had ice cream and there were also two helium balloons in the mix.

Bowling with the kids last month. Wilsons and Nani in attendance. Not only bumpers, but they rigged up this ramp for the kids to roll the balls down too. Lets just say that Abigail beat me. Caraline was more than happy to walk around with Nani. Place was so empty on a Saturday morning. Then, we all headed over to the park for a bit and ended up at Black Bear Diner for lunch. The latter was a huge hit due to large portions, ice cream, and then balloons.

Ready to Swim

Another treat was spending a few days in Tahoe with our Indiana friends the Stanleys. They graciously allowed us to hang out with them in their suite at the Heavenly Grand Residences (very fancy) complete with pool and three TVs in the room. Actually we were all too busy having fun outside to watch TV, although we did have a movie night were Godzilla was on the ticket. Abigail and Jeremy skied for a day, while Olivia and I skied. Caraline got to spend the time with her Nani, Papa, Aunt Diane, and two great grandparents, so she was well taken care of. The second day, I took the girls sledding while the boys all skied. You might notice there wasn't much extra snow on the ground. There was a guy driving around in a gator that was collecting snow from the surrounding neighborhood and transporting it to the sledding area. We spent much of the afternoon at the pool. It was a really fun trip and so thankful we could do it!

Grady and Abs

Just enough snow to go.

Olivia fell sleep on day mid-stickering her body.

 We had a lovely Easter. Spent the morning enjoying our church service, then off to Novato to enjoy some egg finding (compliments of Aunt Diane), hiking, and yummy steak dinner. The girls were pleasantly surprised with huge chocolate bunnies from Auntie as well. She was a big hit.

Sort of good family photo - love the look on Abigail.

Caraline Turns One

Our little Caraline turned one this past week. We celebrated with cinnamon rolls in the morning and opening a few gifts before Abigail headed to school. We were kind of lame parents and only purchased her sippy cups as presents. Thankfully, our sweet neighbor lady Ms. Donna sent a package with goodies for Caraline and the girls, so all were satisfied. Nani came to spend the day and we also had a Starbucks treat later on that afternoon. Caraline had a little fever that day so she wasn't feeling the best but she was still pretty smiley. On Saturday, since we had such lovely weather, we invited a few other families from church for a cookout. There were 8 adults and 15 kids for dinner. It was a really fun night. Caraline enjoyed her dog cupcake. (They kind of looked like bears since I had to cut the ears short to fit, but they were supposed to be puppies.) The big kids ran around like maniacs. The daddies were egging them on by playing monster, which also involved a headless horsemen. There was a lot of happy screaming - can't imagine what our neighbors thought! Caraline loved all of the action and toddled around the yard with the big kids too. We are so thankful for our little peanut  and look forward to all the God will do in her life over the years. She seems like such an active, social girl already.

All ready to party!

Cinnamon rolls anyone?

Cupcakes!

Ready for bed!

I pulled off my sticker!

The big sisters

Always on the go these days!

Connie and Caraline

Jeremy was able to pull a great photo of his mom and Caraline from off his iPhone. It's a still shot taken from a video of them walking together. Pretty amazing technology!

Catching Up

One of February's highlights was getting a visit from the Indiana Smiths. The girls loved spending time with their grandparents, and they were gracious enough to let Jeremy and I have a few nights out together. We even saw a movie, which was a special treat.  Richard took the girls for their annual pink sprinkle doughnut run. Somehow it's better if he pulls them in the wagon too. We were sad that Grandpa got sick again this year, but are hoping that he will still visit us next year!

Happy Olivia

 We stayed pretty close to home for the week. Our big outing was a trip to the Oakland Zoo. Had a great time together and even got to the see the baby giraffe. Caraline is really into petting animals so she was thrilled to get a chance to see the goats. I didn't get any good photos of Connie but she was here too! It was a treat to have them out!!

Girls at the Zoo

More Zoo

And More Zoo

Valentines Day Cake