Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Olivia's Favorite Things


Since we're getting ready to ring in the New Year, I thought we'd do a countdown of Olivia's favorite things of 2008.


10. Singing songs (especially The Itsy Bitsy Spider, she tries to do the gestures)
9. Reading stories (Her current fav, "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?)
8. Elmo everything
7. Mandarin Oranges
6. Jacks Big Music Show
5. Going to the park
4. Chick Fi La chicken strips (no nuggets for her!)
3. Shoes!
2. Animals. She starting to make animal sounds :)
1. Mimicking her mom in everything she does. "Helping" me in the kitchen, pretending to talk on her phone, and now getting into my makeup drawer. Uh-oh.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Merry Christmas 2008






This Christmas it was our turn to stay in Texas, and I'm kind of glad we did. With all of the cold weather and snow up north, traveling would have been a pain. Luis's parents came up for a visit on Christmas Eve. We(I) cooked dinner and we attempted to go to Christmas Eve mass but we had a flat tire. We ended up going to the bilingual service Christmas day. That was interesting.
Olivia was not too happy about wearing her Christmas dress at first. She had a huge fit while I was dressing her, and when we were finished she tried to get Luis to put on her tennis shoes instead of her black dress shoes. What's happening to my girlie girl?
It was so nice to have Olivia wake up at home on Christmas morning. I don't know who was more excited Luis and I, or Olivia. At first she wasn't sure about the presents, but once she opened the first one she was all about it. The only problem was she didn't want to stop at the wrapping paper. She wanted the toys opened and out of the boxes ready for playing!
Grandma and Grandpa left on Friday and I could tell by Olivia's face how sad she was to see them go. Hopefully we'll make another trip down to Brownsville soon.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Olivia's first snow (in Texas)





I apologize for neglecting our blog lately. It's just the time of year.....
This Texas weather certainly has been strange. We had snow a few weeks ago, and now it's looking like it will be 77 degrees for Christmas (yuck!). It's been flucauating so much I'm just hoping Olivia doesn't end up getting sick. We had to take Olivia outside to check out the snow, and of course, the person most impressed by it was...Luis.
I've been baking lots of Christmas cookies this year, and thank God most of them have been given away! Olivia was my taste tester.
Last Sunday in church we sat closer to the front and near the choir. Olivia clapped and said "yay" after every song. Everyone around us laughed. Maybe she'll be in the choir one day!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Counting down to Christmas




Olivia and I count down the days with her Christmas calendar every morning, and the time is sure flying by. This weekend was packed with holiday activities. On Thursday afternoon we went to an ornament decorating playdate. Even though Olivia got more paint in her mouth than on the ornament, I know I'll still be putting it up on the tree every year.
Friday night we met some friends at the Pearland Christmas Tree lighting. Olivia saw Santa and got to watch all of the kids ice skate and play in the snow. (Don't ask me where they find snow down here!) The chilly weather did make it feel a little more like Christmas for me.
Saturday morning we took Olivia for her pictures with Santa. Everything was ok while we waited in line. I tried to keep her from watching some of the other kids freaking out on Santa's lap. She did great until I sat her on his lap. Most of the pictures taken were of her looking down, or trying to squirm out of his lap. At least in this one she is looking at the camera. Poor Olivia!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008










We drove down to Brownsville Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa. Oops! We forgot all of Olivia's toys. (we left at 6am) She still managed to have lots of fun, of course.
Luis's cousin hosted a Thanksgiving lunch for us, and we had a great time. Olivia loved exploring his house, and his beautiful backyard.
Friday morning Luis and I went to Walmart at 5am to do some Christmas shopping. They had some great deals on a few toys for Olivia, but we didn't get any of them. The store was a mob scene, and apparently people waited all night to buy the darn graco baby doll furniture set that we wanted! We ended up going to Target and bought some things there. I wasn't going home empty handed after getting up at 5am!
We drove home Saturda so that Luis could put up our Christmas lights on Sunday. It was so windy, and he spent half the day up on our roof putting up the lights. Olivia says thanks dad!!! The lights look great, but Olivia is afraid of the little blow up Frosty the Snowman on our lawn. I'm afraid to see what she'll do when she meets Santa!