Olivia Meets Her Great Grandma

Aside from spending time with Sofia and Olivia's Grandparents, one of the main reasons we wanted to visit Florida was to be sure that CK's Grandma could meet Olivia and Sofia could spend time with her Great Grandma again. At nearly 91 years old, she's in good health, continues to live independently and has a lot of good stories to tell. Unfortunately, Olivia was pretty sleepy which means she only wanted her Mommy to hold her and was fussy each time we handed her to her Great Grandma. We did manage to get a few good photos of them together and also returned another day for a visit and Olivia was in a much better mood. We had very fun visits with their Great Grandma and look forward to more visits during our next trip.

CK, Olivia and her Great Grandma


Olivia and her Great Grandma


Sofia, in her "Princess" dress with her Great Grandma


Great Grandma and the girls


This is the best - such a sweet photo!


CK and his Grandma!

Belated Valentine's Day with Grandma and Grandpa

Just after we arrived, Sofia and Olivia got to open Valentine's presents from their Grandma and Grandpa. What a treat!! Sofia got a popcorn bowl - one of her favorite things to do with her Grandma is to have a "popcorn party," so this will come in handy! She also got a new Valentine's plate, a Thomas Train movie and some fun craft projects and cute drinking straws. She was so excited for her new goodies, especially the Thomas Train movie, of course. Olivia was equally spoiled and received an adorable cupcake outfit that I can't wait for her to grow into, a cozy hooded towel and a pink monkey that is a huge hit! She played with the monkey the rest of our visit and is completely entranced by him! It was such a surprise and the girls are so lucky to be spoiled by their Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma giving Sofia and Olivia their gifts


Sofia diving into her bag of goodies


Thomas Train!


Olivia and I about to open her gift


Olivia "reads" her card


Olivia and her new monkey!

Fun at Grandpa and Grandma's House

On Saturday February 18th, Sofia, Olivia and I flew to Florida to their Grandma and Grandpa's house for a few days of visiting and relaxing. Of course, they loved all the attention from their grandparents and had a fun-filled few days. Sofia pulled out all of the Thomas Train goodies and all the other toys tucked away in the guest closet and completely took over the living room. She spent hours playing with everything and thoroughly enjoyed herself. Her absolute favorite thing was a crown, "Princess" outfit, and two sets of dress-up shoes she got from her Grandma and Grandpa. She wore the shoes everywhere and soon had terrible blisters on her feet from the plastic straps, however, that didn't stop her from wearing her new "princess" shoes!

While there, CK, Sofia and I spent some time driving the tractor around the farm picking up tree limbs that were blown around by strong wind. It was a clear, sunny day when we went out and it ended up being a lot of fun. Of course, Sofia loved it and was sure to wear her crown throughout the effort. Meanwhile, Olivia enjoyed some one-on-one time with her Grandma and practiced sitting up and playing with her toys.

The toys come out!


Green Beup Beup and "Princess" Sofia


The three of us on the tractor


Sofia and I drove the tractor while CK picked up tree limbs


Sofia and Green on the trailer with the limbs and Spanish moss


Sofia and Grandma watched a Thomas Train movie that they gave her for Valentine's Day. Sofia was completely glued!


Sofia and her Grandma. Sofia is wearing her current "favorite" dress that her Grandma sent her a few weeks ago. She's also wearing her new Princess shoes.


Olivia lounging in the living room


Such a happy girl!


Olivia and her Grandma and Grandpa


Grandpa and Grandma with both girls.

She Sits On Her Own!

CK left for a conference in DC on Tuesday and by the time we joined him at his parent's house on Saturday Olivia was sitting up on her own! She's been able to balance fairly well for a few weeks but she can now sit up completely on her own for long stretches of time. If she gets off balance she will use her arm to tripod herself and she will sometime tumble over, but then ends up playing with her feet. She loves playing with her feet and its absolutely the cutest thing to watch! It's amazing how quickly she's growing and changing. She's so cute sitting up and seems to really enjoy her new independence and she especially enjoys sitting up watching her big sister play.

Sitting up and playing with Mr. Whozit


Our big girl!


Looking around Grandma and Grandpa's house





She does love laying down so she can play with her toes too....so cute!

Valentine's Day 2012

Since CK was heading out of town on Valentine's Day, we actually celebrated on Monday night by making a dinner of filet mignon, asparagus and sweet potato spoon bread, followed by chocolate souffles which didn't exactly turn out the way they should have but were still good. The girls made Valentine's cards for their Papa with Sofia drawing a picture of the two of them together and wrote "I love you, Papa!" I stamped Olivia's feet in red ink and made a heart with her feet for her card. After CK got home, we put Olivia to bed and then enjoyed our dinner with Sofia. We opened our gifts to each other and ate our exploded souffles that looked terrible but tasted good. It was a very nice Valentine's celebration.

Olivia's Valentine's card to her Papa


Our dinner table - with the beautiful bouquet of roses CK sent me


The three of us by the fire


Sofia with her Valentine's gift - a princess crown and goodies. She's very recently become interested in all things princess


On Valentine's Day with her crown, earrings, necklace, and ring - our little princess


Sofia and Olivia on Valentine's Day


OUr little Valentine girl


Our sweet girls! Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Little Eater

Since her first taste of oatmeal, Olivia has fallen in love with her foods and has enjoyed just about everything we've put on a spoon for her. So far she's tried (and loved) sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, pear, and apple. She absolutely loves eating and gives a little grunt/laugh between each bite along with a huge grin. She really is the happiest little eater I think I've ever seen and she can also eat quite a lot! The only two foods that she's not seemed to like are banana and avocado. She eats them alright, but then tends to spit up about 30 minutes later...so we've decided to wait a few weeks before trying them again.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our cute little eater enjoying some sweet potato!

Sofia's Valentine's Party

On Wednesday Sofia had a Valentine's party at her school that included crafts and handing out Valentine's cards. Her class also made heart-shaped Valentine's sandwiches instead of decorating sugar cookies. She had a great time and it was fun to watch her play and interact in her classroom, which I rarely get a chance to do. It was a fun start to Valentine's celebrations!

Sofia, wearing one of Olivia's hear flowers, working on her craft


Olivia and Melody, Maggie's Mommy


Her classmates handing out Valentine's cards


Sofia showing off one of her treats


Sofia in her class


Holding her Valentine's box of goodies and Valentine's cards from her friends.