March Madness...

I don't know if I would call it madness as much as funness (if that were a word)!  We've been very busy during the month of March playing and having a great time...

A couple of Fridays ago Kellan and his mommy brought Zach and I lunch.  It was such a nice treat and so good to see Kellan and Tiffany.  Kellan played really well with Olivia, letting her grab his face, and patting her head just like Charlie does!

Then last Thursday my mom and Emily came down for a little vacation.  It was SOO good to see Grandma Emily.  We've been missing her and Olivia loved seeing her favorite girl in the world... Emily!  Although they were only able to stay for a couple of days, we had a very busy and fun time.  We began Thursday afternoon with a bike ride to the park...

Olivia swung for the first time and boy did she LOVE it!!

That evening Emily needed to check on her chickens.  She fed them, collected the one egg they left, and did her best to try to hold her favorite golden chicken who she named Emily...

Friday morning we were off to the Grange in Issaquah so Emily could pick out some new baby chicks.  She of course got another golden one and decided this one would be named Emily instead and the big girl could be named Goldie.  It was so much fun to watch her carefully pick out her chicks.  She then very patiently waited until the guy put them in the box for her, we paid, and once they were in the car she happily opened the box to finally touch them...

After getting chicks we went and had lunch with Kellan and Tiffany.  After lunch we were off to the annual baby/kids consignment sale at Pickering Barn.  We were really excited, but it ended up being a bust!  The line to pay was over an hour wait, the aisles were way to narrow, I kept running into people with my stroller, Olivia started crying, so we made the best decision... we dropped everything and left.  Tiffany graciously stayed waited in line for an hour and got us the couple of items we wanted.  I owe her BIG!!! 

When we got home things were much better.  Olivia took a nap and Emily was able to take her chicks out of the box and help me put them in their new temporary home...

Right after we had gotten the chicks all set up Gabe and Gavin came over and they all spent at least two hours running and playing games in the backyard...

Emily spent as much time as possible holding her precious baby golden chick...

Later when Olviia woke up from her nap Emily got out the Melissa and Doug sandwhich set I had bought.  She took orders and made sandwiches for everyone.  I have to say, she was very patient with Olivia as she destroyed numerous sandwhiches and kept taking the pieces Emily needed to make her perfect sandwhich to order...

Friday evening we went down to the big daddy playground, Fall City Elementary, and played.  Emily played Rapunzel at the top of the tower while Olivia and I spent some more time on the swing.  Olivia also had her first ride down the slide...

I didn't get one picture of my mom, but I promise she was here!  We were all very sad as they left Saturday morning and already have begun planning when they can come back.

Since Olivia started crawling she has been one busy little girl... crawling through tunnels and under the coffee table, and trying to crawl up and out of the bath...

We ended this fun month at Sophia's first birthday party today...

Olivia tried to get her first bite of cake today too... luckily mommy grabbed her hand just in time.  She'll have to wait for her first birthday.  Happy 1st Birthday Sophia!



8 Months!

Our little precious girl is eight months today!  Boy has this last month been a month of milestones...  She began crawling, and loves to be down getting into every little thing she possibly can.  We are constantly chasing her around making sure she doesn't bonk her head on the coffee table or get into something she's not supposed to.  She loves to be outside.  As the weather has gotten nice toward the latter part of March we have been outside a lot.  One of her favorite things to do is ride in the backpack on Daddy's back watching him work around the yard and on various projects.  She'll easily hang out in the backpack for over an hour outside.  We also have been going on a lot of walks.  I love to watch her look around and take in everything around her.  My mom and Emily came down to visit this last week and Olivia LOVES Emily.  We walked to the park and I thought Olivia was going to jump out of the backpack so she could watch Emily ride her bike.  We walked to the park and Olivia went swinging for the first time.  She smiled from ear to ear and screamed bouts of joy as she swung back and forth.  She is going through a little mama stage and only wants me to hold her most of the time.  Although I love that she loves me, I also want her to go to other people.  I'm hopeful she'll grow out of it quickly.  This last month she also began rolling over from her back to her tummy.  She also loves trying to mimic faces or sounds we make.  She is SO social and I love watching her interact with other people.  When we go somewhere she immediately begins looking at each person making sure they make eye contact with her and notice her.  If they don't, she'll begin making spitting noises at them until they notice her and acknowledge her.  It's been absolutely incredible watching her change and grow.  I have to say these last couple of months have been my favorite.  I love watching her turn into a little person with such a BIG personality.

Yum Yum!

We have yet to find a food that Olivia doesn't like.  At almost 8 months she's eaten everything from roasted mangoes and bananas to spinach and green beans.  She continues to be a great eater smacking her lips with delight!  My favorite cookbook is Tyler Florence's Fresh Start Cookbook.  A good friend gave it to me for a gift and it is one of the best gifts we've received.  It has the most wonderful easy recipes in it.  And for only a couple of dollars I can easily make a months worth of food.  I know it's organic, fresh, and best of all it tastes good!  I would recommend this cookbook to any mama who is interested in making her own baby food.  

Although it can get a little messy at times, Olivia LOVES to feed herself...

Olivia's Crawling!

For the past few weeks I've taken several videos of Olivia scooting her way across the room almost crawling.  This morning for the first time she got up on all fours and began actually crawling for the first time.  She's definitely still got some perfecting to do, but it was VERY exciting!!

St. Patrick's Day

Wishing you and yours a ...

I really wanted to make a St. Patrick's Day feast this year... and so I did!  I made corned beef, cabbage, root veggies (carrots, parsnips, and turnips) with herb butter, colcannon skins (double-baked potatoes with kale) and dark chocolate Guinness cupcakes.  It was delicious!  We invited our good friends Ty, Beth, and Max to come down and enjoy our feast with us.  We had a great time visiting and eating!

Max was a little shy with Olivia at first, but quickly warmed up and began playing with her.  It cracked me up when I saw him "pat" her head gently.  Charlie always does this to her.  He played ball with her and helped her play with all of her toys.