Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Thursday afternoon and Sofia couldn't wait to see them! I reminded her of their arrival just after I woke her up for school Thursday morning and she was super excited! The girls and I picked them up in style - in our brand new car! That day we decided to trade in our Jeep Cherokee for a 2010 Mercedes-Benz GL450 since it has three rows and can fit us all together in the car at the same time! Such a luxury. It's such a wonderful car to drive and I fell in love as soon as I saw it!

Sofia had Friday off from school which was great so we could spend the day together with Grandma and Grandpa. Originally we planned to fly to Fredericksburg and spend the day walking around and visiting their cute shops and museum. However, we got off to a late start and ended up deciding to drive to Ft. Worth and visit the Titanic Exhibit at the Ft. Worth Science and History Museum. We arrived and bought tickets so we had a little over an hour to explore the museum. We walked around for a bit then decided to get lunch since we'd had donuts for breakfast. We started through the exhibit and were each given a passenger card for a real person who was on the Titanic. The museum did a great job of spacing groups out so it never felt crowded. CK took Sofia and Connie had Olivia so I enjoyed every minute of the exhibit - it was wonderful to walk around, read everything and really enjoy it all. The exhibit was really well done and very interesting and also very emotional to see personal belongings of those who didn't survive the trip. At the end of the exhibit we checked the list of survivors to see if we'd survived the trip and only about half of us did.

After the Exhibit we visited the dinosaur dig outside and Sofia immediately went to digging for fossils while Olivia took her time getting her feet in the sand. She wasn't loving the feeling of sand between her toes, but she finally took to it and climbed in and out of the sand pit. At one point, she sat next to her Grandma and played with stuffed animals that another set of kids brought with them. It was so cute. After the dino dig, we went back inside the museum and across the hall to the kids play area. Olivia was completely taken with the baby dolls and would put her "baby" into the bassinet, cover her over and then pick her up again and hold her. She would do this over and over. Sofia played with the babies for awhile and then went over to the train table and played. We've spend hours at that train table and I love that she still enjoys it. After a while we headed home.

After relaxing at home for a bit we decided to take Grandma and Grandpa to Hard 8 for a serious BBQ dinner. As usual, it was delicious! We all ordered more than we could eat but loved every bite. It's such outstanding BBQ! After, we went to Susie's Sweet Boutique for some delicious ice cream! The girls enjoyed their ice cream while riding on a horse (Sofia) and a car (Olivia). They loved it, of course! It was such a fun day and we really packed in a lot!

On Saturday, CK and his Dad went flying in the Bluebird while Connie and I ran to World Market and Target. It was so fun shopping with Connie and she completely spoiled the girls getting them each bath toys and getting a beautiful table runner for our meal on Easter. After, Connie and I set up the tables for Easter and started prepping for the big meal. CK and I planned on making a carrot cake, but by 7pm we realized that we didn't have it in us to bake and ran to Central Market. Luckily, we were able to buy the last carrot cake they had (or so they told us). It was a pretty serious cake! We decided to grab some gelato and hang out since Grandma and Grandpa were at home with the girls. It was fun and a great way to spend the night before Easter together.

All of us in front of the Titanic Exhibit


The girls love their Grandma time!


Right before the Titanic Exhibit with Grandma


CK and his Dad hang out and chat at the Dino Dig


Olivia in the sand and not sure what she thinks!


Grandma and Olivia


Getting into and out of the sand....


Sofia finding dinosaur bones


Playing with Grandma and stuffed animals


Olivia and her baby


Sofia and the train table


Standing in line at Hard 8


So hard to decide! YUM!!


Who doesn't love ribs?!


Eating ice cream while riding a horse....someone is in heaven!


Ice cream while driving...she loves it!

Olivia at 19 Months!

Our sweet girl is 19 months, which is surprisingly close to 24 months to me! She is 34 inches tall and weighs 28.2 pounds. Olivia is growing and changing so much in some ways. She still absolutely loves her food - any and all of it that is offered, yet she's also growing taller and seems to be slimming down a bit....She also loves her shoes and wants to put them on as soon as she's up in the morning. I usually tell her she can pick out her shoes after she gets dressed, since she tends to squirm around for me when I'm trying to dress her. She loves to mimic what you do or say, so I try to get her to say words that I want her to know, like "water" or "please" or "more" etc. She loves to go through the words she can say and enjoys doing it while we drive around. Suddenly I'll hear her go through her "Papa, Mommy, Sissy, Bubby (Buddy), shoes." She also tends to babble on and on as if we can understand her and are having a conversation together. It's really cute. She loves taking baths and after dinner will run into her bathroom and attempt to take off her clothes, which is really her putting her hands on her shirt and pulling it around her belly. After her bath, CK gets Olivia dressed and tests out her "tickle spots" which she laughs and laughs about! She likes to try to do things herself, like put her socks on, but isn't in that "Olivia do it" stage yet. Thankfully!

Whenever Sofia has friends over, Olivia tries to play along with them as if she's part of it all. It's really sweet and she isn't old enough to get her feelings hurt when she realizes she isn't a part of it all. She loves playing with Sofia's barn and horses while Sofia is at school and if I need a few minutes to do something, I'll set her up with the barn and animals and she has fun. She also loves to color with Sofia's pens, although if I don't watch her she will focus her efforts on the furniture. Thank goodness for washable ink! Olivia absolutely loves following Sofia around or playing around with her. They usually have fun chasing each other around the living room or kitchen while I make dinner, both of them laughing like crazy. She's such a sweet girl.

Smiles!


Getting bigger in that chair!


Our sweet girl....


Pointing out her shoes




Ready to be done with the photo shoot


A little thumb sucking to pass the time.....

Dying Easter Eggs

After taking Easter pictures of the girls, we set up the Easter egg dye and two dozen hard boiled eggs in the dining room (with lots of newspaper and our craft tablecloth). I hoped to set up outside so the girls could be as messy as they wanted, but it was too windy out. The girls wore old clothes and set to work. It was really Olivia's first experience with dying Easter eggs and she loved it! Like Sofia did at her age (and still does), she would put her egg in one color, remove it, put it in the next color, and so on until each egg had it's time in each and every color! It actually produced some attractive eggs though! The girls had so much fun and surprisingly no mess was made, other than their hands. After they were both done, we dropped them into a warm bath to try and get the dye off their skin. I came off Olivia well, but Sofia's hands still look pretty nasty! Well worth the fun though!

Olivia gets to work


Sofia and her eggs


One happy girl


Papa helps Olivia


Olivia coloring eggs






Sofia and her hands


Writing on her eggs


Olivia gets into it with both hands


The finished eggs


A photo of the whole set-up


Getting cleaned up after egg dying


Our sweet Easter girls

Cute Easter Girls

On Saturday afternoon we met some friends at the Dallas Arboretum so we could visit with each other and see the amazing tulips and spring flowers. It was absolutely incredible and such a fun idea. It was CK's first visit to the Arboretum and I think it left a great impression. It was grey and chilly out, but made for a great visit since it was pretty empty. We walked around admiring the tulips and flowers for a little over an hour before it started to sprinkle and we headed back to our cars. We drove to Fireside Pies in Dallas for dinner and enjoyed a great meal together before saying our goodbyes and heading home. It was a really fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon and early evening!

On Sunday after Meeting, we decided to go to the Colleyville Lion Club's Easter celebration at Delaney Vineyards. We'd gone a few years before and had such a fun time and I was hoping to recreate the experience. Unfortunately, it was not only cold but very windy and generally miserable to be outside. I convinced CK and the girls that we should go. Once we arrived, we decided to get the girls' picture with the Easter Bunny since he sits indoors. Once we got inside, we noticed that Mrs. Easter Bunny was with Mr. Easter Bunny...I never really knew there was a Mrs. Easter Bunny. While we were in line, I made sure to point out the bunnies to Olivia to show her how "fun" they would be to meet and sit on their laps! She actually seemed excited and pointed at them while babbling and smiling. Finally, after maybe 15 more minutes in line, we made it to the front and were ready to meet the Easter Bunny couple. Of course, Sofia who has never seen a person in character she didn't love, ran to them immediately. Olivia took one look at them from a few feet away and clung to me and started crying. I don't think she could have been pried off of me if they tried. Instead, I sat between the bunny couple while Sofia sat on Mr. Easter Bunny's lap. Olivia stopped crying and just buried her head into my shoulder. The photographer was able to get a picture of her looking and it almost looks like she's happy but she definitely was not! Once we were done, Olivia was her usual happy self.

After we returned home the wind had died down a bit, so I decided to try to take cute pictures of the girls. I actually think I captured a few, although some are overexposed. They were both very cooperative and even Buddy joined in the photo shoot. Olivia wore one of the dresses made by my Mom which looks absolutely perfect on her and the cute pink bunny jacket that my Mom gave Sofia when she was little. Sofia actually wore her Easter dress from last year and I think it is looser on her now than it was then, although it is a bit shorter. She looked beautiful and so grown up! After photos, the girls "hid" the fake eggs I had as props and "practiced" hunting for them. Sofia hid them but she was good about pretending not to know where they were hidden.

Tulips!


Sofia and the tulips


Sofia and her Papa by the tulips


Sofia and her Papa close up


Beautiful!


Love this picture!


Olivia - she wasn't very photogenic but loved putting her cap on and off


Olivia in a semi-smile by the tulips


Our girls!


Read to jump off a rock


Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny and the girls...


Our sweet Sofia


Such a beautiful young lady


Olivia (a little overexposed)


Another little overexposed girl but love this picture of her


Our sweet girls


Easter Eggs!


Walking Buddy


Excited for Easter!


Our sweet girls!


Olivia!


The girls and Buddy


And with Papa


Olivia "practicing" hunting for eggs


Sofia with her Easter basket made by Mimi in 2009


Sofia "practicing" hunting - she hid them but she's good at pretending not to know where they could be!