My Valentines

Saturday we spent some of Valentines Day at the zoo. We decided to take Olivia's wagon instead of the stroller this time. After Luis took her out to see the first animals Olivia wouldn't get back in it! She ended up walking more than half of the zoo. Thankfully, it wasn't too crowded while we were there. The first time we took her to the zoo she was more interested in all of the people that were there. This time she really liked watching all of the animals. She even thought one of the statues of a lions was real and we had to stop so she could look at them.
Later in the day Luis grilled steaks for dinner. I think Olivia is turning into a meat lover. She really liked them!
I couldn't have had a better day with my two Valentines! The roses and premium m&ms were icing on the cake :)
Olivia also went to a Valentines Day party earlier in the week. One of the girls in my mom's group was nice enough to host 50 people at her house for the party. With running around with so many kids I had no time for pictures. Sorry!

Cool Cut

Today we took Olivia for her first haircut. We weren't sure how she would do so we decided to take her to a kid friendly place(Cool Cuts for Kids) for the first time. She sat on my lap and they popped in a Blues Clues DVD for her. She didn't watch too much tv because she was too distracted, but overall I think she did great. Not too much squirming around. And I didn't think it was possible, but I think she looks even cuter with bangs! Olivia's favorite part of the whole experience was getting a lollipop at the end. She was not too happy with me when I took it away. I think you could have heard her crying in Michigan. Here are some before and after shots.

A Visit with Papa

It's always fun (and a little exhausting) to cram in so many Olivia-friendly activities in such a short time. Olivia had a ball playing with her Papa, and I know he had just as much fun with her. She's changed so much since we visited in November.
We went to the park a few times. Olivia and Papa fed the ducks at one of the parks we like. They were much tamer this visit. I'm guessing they weren't as hungry.
We also went to the Children's Museum. Our normal hangout, The Tot Spot is being remodeled so they opened the museum an hour earlier for kids Olivia's age. She got to enjoy the rest of the museum without being trampled by the bigger kids.
Friday Luis took the day off and we all went to the Bayou Wildlife Park. It was SO COOL. We took a tour of the park on a little train and the animals came up to us to be fed. The camels by far were the friendliest. It took us about ten minutes to even get into the park because some of the animals stood in front of our car and would not move! We can't wait to go back!
Saturday we took Olivia to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. If we never go back again it will be ok with me. Talk about chaos! She seemed to be ok with the place until Chuck came to our table for a visit. She looked at him for about 20 seconds and then started to scream. After that she wouldn't even go on any of the rides because most of them had characters on them.
Now we're just trying to get back to normal around here. We're already missing Papa, and we can't wait for Grandma's visit in March!!

Hey Luis

Scroll down and check out the picture on the right. Hint Hint...

Winterfest

On Saturday we took Olivia to the Pearland Winterfest at a local park. Although she didn't participate in any of the "winter activities," (She's a little too young for ice skating), Olivia still had a blast. She had went on a carnival ride BY HERSELF for the first time. Luis and I almost had heart attacks. While she was on the ride I was trying to recall my days working in the ER....I'm sure I've seen kids injured on these things. The guy running the ride didn't seem to be a rocket scientist. But she survived and didn't seem to phased by it.
Her favorite part of the whole day was the petting zoo. I could have watched her in there all day. At first she was barking at the goats. I think she thought they were dogs :) Unfortunately she didn't' like the pony ride so much. She got really excited when she saw them from afar, but once up close she was not into it.
She had so much fun she fell asleep on the way home and ended up napping for over 3 hours! We will definitely be going back next year!

Happy 2009!!!!

Our New Years was a little on the quiet side, but that was just fine by us. I took Olivia to a New Years Eve party at the Children's Museum. They do a New Years count down at 12 noon for all of the kids, but we didn't stick around for that. It was so crowded and Olivia was moving almost too fast for me to keep up with. Our friends Robyn and Barrett came along and we went out for lunch afterwards. We stayed home and I made enchiladas for dinner. They weren't bad for my first time.
New Years day was pretty lazy. Olivia finally got to try out her wagon and Luis and I took her to the park.

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.