Olivia Turns 2

Our little miss turned 2 on April 14. We celebrated with a family party on that Sunday. Olivia is the funniest, craziest, sweetest little thing there is. She constantly makes us laugh and she is a great snuggler too. With hitting 2 she has developed quite the attitude (learned from her big sister) but it is so hard to discipline such a cute girl. She gives all of us a run for our money. The vocabulary on this girl is insane. She has a new word all the time and she always uses words in the correct context.  Olivia can be the most helpful little person one minute and then the biggest mess maker, disaster the next. She does love to help Mom with chores around the house. Olivia helps with the laundry, helps unload the dishwasher, mops and anything else she can figure out a way to help with. She drives her siblings crazy sometimes but she loves to play with them and inserts herself whenever possible. All around we just love this little lady and we are so lucky she is a part of our family. 

McDonalds for lunch on her actual birthday on Saturday.

 We had cake the weekend before for Easter and Olivia isn't a big cake eater. She LOVES cookies and especially loves M&Ms so I made an M&M cookie bar instead of cake. 

 Dinner was two of her favorite foods, hot dogs and beans. 

 PRESENTS!!!

 She opened them like a pro. She's 2 whole years after all.

 Her very own "puter" (computer) that Mommy and Daddy got her. It's really cute considering how cheap I found it on sale.

 Her very own first "bike" from G&G Kinney. She doesn't know how to peddle yet but she will learn. Her favorite part of it for now is the little trunk thing on the back that can hold her treasures.

 We were extra super lucky to have cousin Julee around for more than a week and she got to celebrate with us. What a great birthday present for Olivia.

 Her two candles were right by each other and she somehow managed to blow them out individually. 

 Cookie bar and Grandma's homemade banana pudding. Yum! Yum!

Apparently now that she is 2 she can spell and play scrabble. :) 

Makes Me Smile

 You can't see Aiden's hand but Olivia was trying to hold his hand when laying there.

3 Months

Aiden is now 3 months old. The time has really flown by. He is so wonderful and we are so much enjoying him as he gets bigger and more exciting. He is a pro at smiling now though he does not give up smiles too easy. He has rolled from his tummy to his back several times and rolled from his back to his tummy the first time a few days ago. Not a professional roller by any means yet though, that is for sure. Aiden is still a pig, he eats 6 ounces no more than every 3 hours during the day. Maybe he eats so much during the day though because he is such an amazing sleeper at night. He goes to bed any time between 7 and 9 and he typically sleeps until about 7 am. I am so lucky. It most definitely helps in keeping me sane during the day when he can be a bit more of a handful. Aiden is completely wonderful and we love him so much.

The Way This Girl Sleeps

It's funny to me the ways Olivia can fall asleep. She is just too cute for words. We all absolutely adore this little lady.

Zoey's Favorite

Zoey  loves her baby brother. She doesn't hold him tons or anything but she does usually get her Aiden fix every day. She is starting to enjoy him more and more as he gets bigger and more interactive. He totally made her day last week when we greeted her at the door after school and he had a big smile for her. I didn't realize the extent of her absolute adoration for her baby brother until we went to parent/teacher conference recently. We were wrapping things up and Zoey's teacher remembered that she wanted Zoey to show us her journal. Whenever they have the opportunity they do a journal entry in class. Ever since Aiden was born every one of Zoey's entries have been about Aiden. She talks about anything new he may do or anything she finds interesting about him and usually has a drawing to go along with it. Her teacher told us it was exciting to actually see Aiden in person because she feels like she has already been getting to know him through Zoey's journal. The teacher just loves to hear about Aiden. I loved the entries too. There is something just so genuine and sweet about it. When she isn't caught up in being a little teenager Zoey really is such a great big sister.

I Hold Him?

Olivia is always asking to hold Aiden. I indulge her as often as possible. As time goes on she thinks she is big enough to try and pick him up on her own. The poor boy gets manhandled so much. She gets a little rough sometimes but she loves him so much.

 This picture she had pulled him from the blanket onto her lap. He was such a good sport.

 Here he is all relaxed and chilling once Olivia finally got bored with him.

Me and Jesus

Zoey drew this during one of the sessions of general conference. Too sweet!

Aiden Has Been Working On. . .

Learning to suck on his hands

 Relaxing in some shades

 Enjoying a warm bath

 Holding his bottle (not really but how cute does he look with one hand on his bottle and the other behind his head)

 And my favorite, smiling. He has been smiling here and there and this is the first one I caught on camera. He is starting to smile more and more. My day usually starts with his smiles and there isn't a much better way to start a day.

Just a Few More

I had to take the opportunity to snap some pics of my boy. He just looked too darn cute.

 This was him expressing to me that it was past time to have his diaper changed, some milk, and a snuggle.

 The cousins had such a great time together. Zoey really had Daphne laughing when she played with her. It was so great!

 Olivia was being a little booger so Daddy laid down with her and they red a book on the Kindle. 

 We all had a fantastic Easter. It was fun to go to church with my parent's and see some old friends. It was great watching the kids do their egg hunt. We enjoyed dinner and dessert and just all around the company of each other. It was a nice day.

More Easter

Time for Grandma's annual egg hunt. We did it at our house this year so I could start on lunch/dinner. The kids look forward to it every year. It was successful this year but there is one candy filled egg lost somewhere in our house. It will turn up eventually.

 Big sister Kylie helped Sophie out.

 Julee helped out Olivia.

 I loved the look on Noah's face when he found the egg I told him was hiding on the bar. 

 Olivia finished her hunting and took an egg straight to Daddy so he could help her get the candy out.

 Sophie showing me her loot.

 Grandma had the kids find the last of the eggs and deliver them to Jay. How great is that?!

 About half the eggs the kids brought to Jay.

 After egg hunting and dinner we got to enjoy Grandma's bunny cake. She makes one every year and what I love is that though they may all be similar each one is always a little bit different. The bunny cake has been a tradition for as long as I can remember.