My Sunday Smiles {Volume 16} The Recap Edition

David and I just got back from Arizona a few hours ago.  I swore up and down the entire plane ride that I was going to come home and take a nap.  David sweetly promised to take Olivia out for a bike ride and give me some time to snooze.  Since the bed is made and the fireplace is going, I've decided to update the ol' blog now and have a relaxing evening cozied up with my husband and a weeks worth of dvr'd tv tonight.

Olivia and I had a great week with my parents and brother.  A huge thanks to the Ryan Cooper Foundation and its generous scholarship allowing us to fly out for the visit for free of charge.  It's good to be loved.    The JWC Foundation deserves a big thanks, too, for flying David out on Thursday to spend the weekend with us.

I'm sure you all saw the video from the zoo, but here are a few more pictures from that day.

Olivia and her crazy side ponytail.

Having dinner at the Rustler's Roost.

This restaurant had a slide that we went down a zillion times, a dance floor that we most definitely took advantage of, and well, THIS hat.  

Posers!  

On Friday, we had the first of our Thanksgiving meals.  It was nice to have everyone together for the meal.  And, I got Olivia dressed up for the occasion.  Don't worry folks, this is not the last you'll see of Olivia in this dress.

She sure loves her Poppy.

While mom and I worked on getting the food ready, the boys went and hiked San Tan Mountain.  This is something my dad has wanted to do since he moved out to Arizona three years ago.  I'm so glad that Ryan and David were there to do it with him.

The guys before the hike.

This is the trail I specifically told the guys NOT to take.

They don't listen.

I'm SO incredibly proud of my dad!

Typical!

I guess it's rubbing off on Dad.

Danger?  I laugh danger in the face.

After dinner, we all headed down to the pond for a little fishing.  We've deduced that the catfish are out of the pond, so we researched some new bait ideas for the grass carp that are left.  We brought popcorn, cornflakes soaked in jello, blueberries, cranberry sauce and cornflake dough balls wrapped in grass clippings.  As soon as Dad and I got our fishing rods in the water, we each had a bite.  I snagged one fish and {big shock here} he got away.  David rolled up with Olivia and a few minutes after we handed him his pole, he got one.  Of course Mom, Ryan and Olivia were off riding around in the golf cart with my camera.  

This was the best catch though!

We really had a wonderful time.  David and I were even able to escape for a few hours and enjoy some time to ourselves.  It's going to be hard coming back to the real world without three extra sets of hands to help out with Olivia.  Especially considering all this weaning going on.  I'm going to have to figure out how to distract Olivia from my boobs myself...that's not going to be easy.

Some more highlights from the week {sans pictures}:

• Olivia chasing down her cousin Beck so she could watch him play his video game
• Hearing the stories and seeing the videos of Olivia playing Aunt Patty's keyboard
• Watching Olivia dance with the little kids at San Tan Flats restaurant last night

I'm going to miss this one the most...

Happy Sunday from the Central Coast!

Olivia and the Lost Safari

Just wanted to share this exciting new movie trailer.  Olivia is the STAR!



A special thanks to my brother for putting this together for us!

Nineteen Schmineteen

Yikes, Olivia.  You are rounding third and heading for home.  Could you slow down, just a little bit?  Every day you do a little more to assert your independence and show us that you are truly no longer a little baby.  And, I'm getting the message loud and clear.

Last month, I never got around to updating everyone on your new vocabulary and now it has seriously exploded.  You can pretty much repeat everything that we say and generally the last word in our sentences is the word you repeat.  If you know the word, you will point it out to us and keep pointing it out until we acknowledge that Yes, that's a bike, Olivia.

I'm going to attempt to list the new words that you know, but I guarantee I am leaving out half of them.  In addition to the other words listed here and here, you know shower, school bus, coffee cup, wagon {waggie}, cereal, carseat, sticker, glasses {ga-gas}, orange, pink, Amen {thanks to our daily prayers}, alligator, buffalo, caterpillar, duck, elephant, flamingo, giraffe, hippo, iguana, jellyfish, kangaroo, llama, lion, monkey, narwhal, octopus, penguin, quetzal, rooster, snake, tiger, umbrella, vulture, xolo {a Mexican dog}, yak, zebra,* garden, sidewalk, slide, swing, park, spider, pumpkin, mail, high chair, bath, and seriously, at least 25 more that I'm not thinking of.  You know your body parts - eyes, ears, nose, cheek, chin, neck, knee, toes, elbow, hair, head, belly button and you know where they are located.  You know your friends Avi, Kendall, Tessa and Macy and you talk about them all.the.time!   You also know when certain pairs of people go together - like Hank and Pat, Ken and Katie, and Ron and Judy {Poppy's friends}.  You know the Sesame Street characters {although you have never seen the show} Elmo, Cookie and Bird.  Last week we made a couple videos of you telling us all the animals and the sounds they make.  You even know the actions of some "silent" animals.


Untitled from Amanda Michelson on Vimeo.

You LOVE to Skype with your Nana and Poppy and Uncle Rhino.  And, now that we are in Arizona and your Daddy's at home, you are loving being able to Skype with him.  I can't imagine what your little mind thinks when you see the people you love sitting inside a computer screen.  Sometimes when you see the computer, you'll say Rhino, Rhino, Rhino until we Skype with him.

When we ask you what Rhino says, you say, Hey Niece which is exactly what he says to you every time you talk to him.  You know that Mommy says I love you and Daddy says Peek-a-boo and that Poppy is golfing, Nana is reading, Pat is shopping, Hank is cooking and Daddy is working.  You also love to say Hi to people and things.  For instance, you'll see Peyton and say, Hiiiii Peyton, in the cutest little southern accent.  The other night your Nana was showing you pictures of all of us and you saw a picture of yourself and said, Hi ME! Ahhh, it's so easy to make us smile!

Probably your favorite activity is going to the playground to swing and go down the slides.  It amazes me that you are SO good at maneuvering around the climbing structures.  It must be all of those gymnastics classes we took.

I am LOVING the sun glare on this one.

Your favorite toys are the ones with wheels.  You LOVE to push things around {is this a sign of things to come?}.  Uncle Rhino got you a wagon to keep at Nana and Poppy's and it has been a source of endless entertainment the last few days.  Your Nana got you a baby stroller and you have been pushing a little teddy bear around in it whenever you are not in the wagon.

And, speaking of things with wheels, you have a new passion for taking your toys and moving them from one container to another.  The other day, you moved your animals from the baby cradle to the little vintage pram {that I keep trying to explain to you is NOT a toy} and then back to the cradle.  It keeps you occupied and the mess is minimal thankyouverymuch.

I know I am leaving out 75% of the things that you are doing now.  You'll have to forgive me.  You didn't go to bed until 11 last night and were up at 6 this morning.  With the help of your Nana and Poppy and your wonderful Father, I am doing my best to wean you. You are pretty much down to one feeding a day.  It is so difficult for you to understand that you can't have it whenever you want it and it is equally as hard for me to not have those extra hours of cuddle time with you.  Your Nana, Poppy and Daddy have all taken turns putting you to bed and they each do the same routine - you say goodnight and "put to bed" each and every person you know and then you put yourself to sleep.

I took this after your Poppy put you to bed.

Since you love animals so much, we are celebrating your 19 month birthday with a trip to the zoo.  I'm so excited to take you to a new zoo, especially since you know so many more animals now.  In case you can't tell, you are the CENTER of our little world and we love you so SO much.  I couldn't feel any more blessed than I already do.  Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.

Happy Wednesday from the Central Coast!

Gimme S'More!

The Arizona days have been nice and toasty, but the mornings and evenings have been very cool.  Welcome to the dessert!  Wait, that should have read desert.  But, seriously, since we're speaking of desserts.....

I took Bakerella's advice and opted for a S'more with a little somethin' extra!

Want S'more?  Yes, please!

Snugglin' up with Poppy by the fire.

Her first taste of toasted marshmallow.  Pretty sure she liked it.

Happy Tuesday from the Valley of the Sun!

A Blogger's Vacation

I'm having a mini family reunion right now and am enjoying the company too much to want to upload pictures and blog.  I'll try to get more motivated tomorrow.  In the meantime, enjoy this picture I just stole off of my Aunt Patty's Facebook page.  Isn't social networking wonderful?

P.S.

Happy Birthday, Doug!

Words To Live By

Lyrics from I Remember

Thank you, Andrew, for introducing me to Devendra Banhart.

Happy Friday from the Central Coast!

It's Always a Better Idea in My Head

Ugh, Daylight Savings Time, you are killing me!  Olivia napped for a total of forty minutes on Sunday and Monday; her poor internal clock is so messed up.  She woke up at 6:15 this morning {as opposed to her like clockwork 7:15 wake-up time} and so I decided to try putting her down for her nap at her regular 11:00 time which is now 10:00.  Confused?  How do you think Olivia feels?!

Anyway, it worked like a charm and she slept for two and a half hours today.  And, you know what?  So did I!

After lunch, I thought it would be a good idea to head back to the library and return the music we had checked out from there last week.  And, I thought it would be an even better idea to ride my bike there pulling Olivia.  Are you sick of me complaining about the hills yet?  Good, because let me just tell you, our 10 mile ride the other day was nothing compared to today's.  Pulling Olivia and the carrier adds an additional 40 pounds {at least} and I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack at one point.  We made it to the library and had a nice break reading some baby books and headed over to the park for some swinging and sliding.

It is definitely starting to feel like fall around here!

After about thirty minutes at the park, I packed Olivia back into the Chariot and headed home.  I couldn't even get out of the park before she was screaming and crying and trying to get her way out.  She was over it and I could not imagine riding up those hills with a crying baby needing me to go faster.  I immediately called David to come rescue us!  

My hero!

I seriously think she was just cold and ready to be home.  To be honest, I was too!

Brrrrr

Much better!

David ended up riding the bike home {with a little assistance from me} and then went to the gym afterwards.  As if all those hills weren't enough of a workout!

Happy Tuesday from the Central Coast!