Olivia Turns 4!

Livy is 4 today. She has been counting down to this day since her last birthday. She woke up to her favorite cereal and some new fingernail polish. She also asked for a scooter and she got it. We met dad for lunch and went to Sonic. Sonic is one of her favorite places on earth. She loves the blue coconut slushies. She wanted to do a quick photo session with her dad and her best friend Ashlyn. That night we went as a family to get ice cream and the night ended with Olivia throwing a temper tantrum.

 Here's 10 reasons why I love my Liv. 

1. Her sass. Getting ready for her family birthday party yesterday she tells me she needs to be a bit more sassy for it so she blings herself up. And she says this all to me in the voice of a teenager. 

2. Her love for gum. She will save every penny she finds so she has enough to buy a pack. She will then chew every piece within an hour. But not before she shares with her siblings. 

3. That her favorite show is Good Luck Charlie and she's really hoping her baby brother Lincoln will come today so it can be just like an episode. 

4. Her sensitivity. She looks at a picture of her grandpa Mike who passed away last year and cries. She misses him so much. She asked me the other day how his heart broke. This same day as we were driving around there were baby cows and horses everywhere and she said to me, "all these baby cows and horses are making me want to cry!" We had to pull over numerous times so she could watch them. 

5. She is a daddy's girl. She never wants him to leave in the morning. She gives him lots of kisses every time she sees him and when she's bigger she wants to marry him. 

6. Her love of the word Ba-bam. She says it all the time in her little teenage voice. It never ceases to make us all laugh. 

7. Her joy at being a big sister soon. She can hardly wait and talks about it all the time. She loves her little brother she hasn't even met yet so much that you can see it and feel it from her. 

8. That she recognizes how smart she is. She's confident already at such a young age. I hope she always has that same self esteem and confidence as she gets older and still says things like, "gosh I don't know why I'm so smart mom I just am!" 

9. Her ability to play. The other day our house was surrounded by sharks and she pinky swore me that they had legs and could get us so we had to stay on my bed and sing in opera to be safe. She has a very active imagination. 

10. Her bossiness. She has made little boys wear dresses who come down with a ball in their belly telling me Olivia is making them be pregnant and they just want to go home. She tells Cameron and I what is happening for the day. She thinks she's in charge and although sometimes it's very frustrating I also find it very cute. This little girl knows what she wants. Happy birthday to our Olivia! We love her infinity plus 40 (what she tells us).

Easter!

We had a great Easter.  The kids picked out their outfits, we had a yummy dinner at my parents house and a lovely day at church.  

One thing I love about my dad is how he plays with my  kids.  He always does the tickle competition, which he did with his kids when we were little.  They can't smile while he tickles their faces.  They love it, and have never won.  

I love my little family.  I can't wait until Lincoln is here for next years Easter.

Lincoln's Room

Lincoln's room is coming together and Olivia loves to be in it. I love this picture of her. 
 

Sisters

I saw a photo challenge on FB and the title was "sisters."  Everyone was posting all these cute pictures of sisters together so I thought I'd do something a little different.

I told the girls he wouldn't shoot them, but when I couldn't get the shot I wanted I whispered to Austin, "shoot them." The girls heard me, screamed, "MOM!" And took off running. And that's how I got the shot.

Gorillas and Alina

Alina just read a book about gorillas and came up to me very upset and said, "people are killing gorillas!! And I'm pretty sure it's boys, so if I find one who is I'm going to kick him in the crotch!"

Alina loves animals and insects.  We call her the bug whisperer. 

The Lillie's Moved

Our neighbors the Lillie's moved yesterday. We've known them for 5 years and Brooklin was Alina's first friend. They used to have so much fun when they were younger. They always had a hard time keeping their pants up, would run around naked in the streets, and steal packages off people's porch. They were quite the mischievous pair. 

As they've gotten older they've still been friends, just not as close. But now that Brooklin is gone Alina has been a little sad. I took a picture of them yesterday so Alina could have a memory of her. I remembered that they had a picture that was similar to when we first moved here. It's so fun to see how much they've grown. 
 

Alina

I had a photoshoot today so I took Alina and Greta with me. While we were waiting I followed Alina around. We've had such nice weather that the kids got to wear shorts today and that meant Alina got to explore. I love how dirty and unafraid of bugs she is. She finds such joy in being outside and always turns it into an adventure. 
 

Olivia

I had a prenatal appointment today and I took Liv with me. She is always so good going with me to my appointments, she's so excited for Lincoln to come. 

Right by my dr's office is a grove of trees. I've been taking advantage of all this sunlight to practice with my new camera. I only had to bribe her a little bit, she kept saying her knee was hurting. A piece of gum fixed that and she smiled like a pro. 

After she chose to go and see grandma and grandpa over Arctic Circle, that means she must love them A LOT! We had a good visit and then headed home to get the kids. Only 8 more weeks until Lincoln comes, we can hardly wait!

Greta and Alyssa

I got a new camera! I've been so excited to use it. I took Greta and Alyssa out and I love these turned out. These girls are both stubborn, strong willed, and are the best of friends. They write dances and practice together all the time. I love watching them and I'm very grateful they are friends.

Knowledge Bowl

Austin did the Knowledge Bowl this year for the 2nd time. The subject was the arts and he's spent the last 4 months getting ready for it. His team won 1 and lost 3, they did great. He's not sure that he wants to do it again next year because it's such a big time commitment. After we ran some errands our friends the Garretts came up to spend the weekend with us. It was nonstop playing and having a good time.

Battle Of The Books

Greta and her team did awesome for Battle of the Books. Between the 4 of them they read about 20 books and had to memorize title and author of all of them. Then they went up against other teams where they were asked questions about the books and they had to answer with the title and author to get points. They won two of the four competitions and came in 3rd place. Greta was so fun to watch compete. She was the one with all the answers and her facial expressions were the best. I'm glad I caught them all on camera.

We are very proud of Greta and how she continues to always do her best. She's a very smart girl who loves to learn. She has the best handwriting I've ever seen for a 3rd grader, she is always on the hardest spelling and math lists, and she read as well as I do. She's going to achieve great things. I know this because she's already accomplished so much in her short life. She has overcome so much shyness that it's amazing to her dad and I that she has the confidence needed to participate in things like battle of the books, the spelling bee and everything else she does. We sure are proud to be her parents.

Here they are, Eliza, Jamie, Greta, and Oakley.

Summer PLEASE Come Soon!

We had the best day ever according to all the kids.  All we did was stay home for a Saturday.  The weather was so beautiful.  The kids played outside all day and even got sunburned.  Cam and I completed so many little house projects including getting Lincoln's room almost completely done!  We ended the night with picnic food that consisted of homemade baked beans, potato salad, and bbq chicken.  It was so good.  One of my favorite things to do with Cameron is cook with him.  He enjoys cooking and I love that it's something we can do together.  I'm a lucky girl, days like today remind me of that. 

Dr. Seuss Day

It was Dr. Seuss day at school for the kiddos and Alina (who is in first grade) was the only one who wanted to dress up.  She REALLY wanted to be the grinch, but we didn't have anything to make that costume work.  I talked her into being Cindy Loo Hoo because she loved the grinch.  I think Alina makes the cutest Cindy Loo Hoo ever.  I love my Alina Mae and how she loves having fun.  She wouldn't care if she was the only one who dressed up, she's comfortable in her own skin.

Facebook Posts From February

Feb-1-Olivia just said to me, "Mom when baby Lincoln is almost here is your stomach going to be bigger than your butt?" She's lucky she's so cute.

February 4- Livy: mom I just did something awesome!
Then she shows me that she wrote the #6 and as I'm taking the picture she's singing in a cocky voice, "I'm a smarty pants, oh yeah."

February 6-Livy was playing church with her babies and I hear her say, "does anyone know how Jesus died....(pause)...that's right he ate a poisonous apple." I had to clarify the truth of how he died. She still doesn't believe me.

February 6-It sure makes for a humorous family scripture night when the 3 year old wants to read and the verse she gets has the word a$$ in it, and then she misunderstands me on the next part and says "freaking socks" instead of feed among his flocks.

February 8-A sure sign that our lazy way of speaking confuses children. I found this note on Alina's door, "Alina and Olivia's club, no boys allowed, busept dad."

February 8-Olivia: mom remember how you grounded all the other kids today? Me: No, I didn't ground them. Olivia: yes you did...OK, OK, OK,OK..... If you say okay then I'll stop stop saying ok, but if you don't I won't stop......OK, OK, OK, OK OK OK OK OK

February 15^th-Olivia: Mom do you think when we go to the store everyone is going to stare at me because I'm so cute in my new skirt? Me: Yep Liv, I'm sure they will. Olivia: Well then I'm mad at everyone, I don't want them to stare at me.

 Feb 21st-Liv-(pretend phone ringing) Hello....what do you want boyfriend?.......No I won't watch your cat, you don't even have a cat, DUH! (she hangs up).
Liv-(pretend phone rings again) What now boyfriend?......no I won't watch your baby I'm teaching school!
Me-Your boyfriend doesn't sound very nice why are you his girlfriend?
Liv-I'm not his girlfriend, he's just my boyfriend, DUH!

Olivia Is Obviously In Charge

So I decided to have a talk with Liv about some rules we need to have when Lincoln is here. Here's how it went....

Me: Liv you know that when Lincoln is born you can't just pick him up, only mommy can.
 
Liv: But mom I'm going to be a big sister.
 
Me: I know, but you're still too little to pick......
 
She then quietly puts her hand over my mouth so I can't finish and stares at me as if she's going to put me in timeout if I finish the sentence.

And I love this picture of her.  She was patiently waiting for dance and showing her independence by wearing polka dot shoes instead of dance shoes.  

It BETTER Be A Brother!

I had a pregnancy checkup yesterday and my doctor told me the baby's heartbeat was sounding like a girl. I came home and told Austin. He freaked out, so I had to get my ultrasound pics to show him there is no way it's a girl. Thank goodness my ultrasound tech had a good sense of humor (I made him check 3 times), and he likes to use technical terms.:) Austin is breathing easy now.
 

Baby Lincoln

Olivia is SO excited for Lincoln to get here, she can't wait.  We were in his room getting things ready and she was looking at his dino book.  I caught this picture.  It's one of my favorites.  

Valentine's Day Cards

The kids and I had a fun time designing their V-day cards. I had fun using my new backdrops for my studio. Man I have cute kids!!