Fathers Day 2013

Dad here for another guest post:

Father's Day 2013 got off to a great start....a couple of days early.  Since it was our 5-year anniversary on Friday, and since we were already in gift-giving mode, I coaxed Olivia (easy) and Persis (slightly harder) into giving me my Father's Day presents early.

I got so many awesome gifts including a shirt, jeans, shorts, a bathing suit, Astros tickets, and some spicy sauce for the chicken that I like to grill.  My favorite gift, though, was a video the girls did for me with pictures of Olivia and me over the last 21 months.

Early this morning, Persis and Olivia made everybody breakfast which included a healthy egg and vegetable frittata along with a not so healthy helping of sausage because, well, it's my day and I'll eat what I want to.  While Persis and Olivia went to Target for some shopping I watched the beginning of the final round of the US Open.  Despite the fact that I've played golf maybe once in my entire life I love watching golf on the weekends and major tournaments are obviously even better.

Olivia took an early nap and right when she woke up we headed to the Astros game.  Olivia got all dressed up for the occasion.

I had some nightmare flashbacks because the last time the Astros played the White Sox was during a 4-game sweep as the Astros lost the World Series in 2005.  With Olivia's help the Astros reversed the tide this year and pulled off a sweep of the White Sox.  Olivia really didn't care much about the game though.  She was more interested in eating cotton candy and ice cream.

We got home just in time to catch the end of the US Open as Phil Mickelson finished 2nd for a record 682nd time.  Now I am relaxing while Persis whips up a fancy scallop meal for us.  My laziness guilt has only started to creep in but its long overdue so I'm going to go help out with the meal.  I will leave you with some more pictures...

Petting Zoo Party

Recently Olivia's school had its annual fundraiser.  One of the ways it raises money is by asking parents to host various parties and selling "tickets" to those parties.  All the money raised from the ticket sales goes to the teachers.  This is a fun way to help the sweet teachers that take care our kids and add a few play-dates to the calendar.  We co-hosted a Petting Zoo & Pony Party at our house on Saturday.  (The Tea Party we went to a few weeks ago was another fundraising party and we also have plans to go to a "Sno Cones in the Park Party" and I'm co-hosting a "Mamas and Margaritas" party too!)

Olivia was SO excited in the days leading up to the party.  She woke up 3 days in a row asking if the "aminals" were coming to her house.  Finally Saturday arrived and we could answer "Yes!  They will be here soon!"  She could hardly contain herself!

She ran up to the container of water, screaming "horsey ride!" and pretended it was a pony.  (This actually held her attention for about 10 minutes so we could finish setting up....very awesome!).

We were outside when Matt said "Olivia, I think the animals are here!" She squealed, ran to me with arms in the air to hold her, and instructed me to "see aminals mama!"  And for the next 20 minutes she stood watching them bring the animals in our backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before her friends arrived, Rocky (big guy, cowboy hat) let us have a sneak-peek of the animals.  She was a little timid at first (especially of poor Rocky who only wanted Olivia to be his friend!) but she pet all of them, and laughed out loud every time the rooster crowed.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, assuming that I would get some of her petting the animals during the actual party.  Wrong assumption.  Once her friends arrived, I guess it was too overwhelming because she melted down and refused to go back and pet any of the animals.

She much preferred helping daddy greet her friends...

Or stealing ice with her buddy Teal.

 

 

The closest she got to the animals was peering in on the baby bunnies and baby ducks.

 

 

But, it looked like all of her friends enjoyed the animals.

Soon the Houston heat got to these little ones and they retreated inside for playtime and lunch.

 

 

 

 

Olivia and her bff Cate thought it was hilarious to spread out the blankets and "go ni ni!"

 

 

 

Before we knew it, it was time to say bye-bye to the animals and Cate. (Notice how obediently the animals get back in the trailer -- I told Olivia she should be like that when I tell her to get in her carseat!)

 

After everyone left she turned back into her crazy, silly self and told us repeatedly that she liked the animals and how they went bye-bye in their red car!

Naughty-Nice

We saw two very different sides of Olivia between last night and this morning.

Last night we were sitting at the table eating dinner and we were asking her about her day at school. She loves talking about her friends and so we often go through the list of her friends at school and she will enthusiastically tell us about them. Last night’s conversation took an unfortunate turn however:

Me: And what about Jack? Did you play with Jack today?
Olivia (putting her hands to her eyes to imitate crying): Jack cry!
Me & Matt: Why? Why did Jack cry?
Olivia: Book!
Matt: What do you mean? Did someone take Jack’s book?
Olivia: Yeah!
Matt (in an almost scared voice): Was it you? Did you take Jack’s book?
Olivia (in a voice that demonstrated she knew she did something wrong): Yeah….
Me & Matt: Olivia! You can’t take other people’s books! We have to be nice to our friends! We have to share, right?
Olivia: Yeah….
(a few seconds of silence while Matt and I think about what to say next)

Olivia: Jack! Cry! Book!

Glad she was able to sum up that event for us!

But then this morning I was eating a bowl of cereal and she walked into the kitchen, sat on the floor, pointed at the floor next to her and instructed me “Sit mama.” I did and she then pointed to the floor again and said “Sit daddy.” She then asked for a bite of my cereal, stood up, walked over to Matt and just kissed him on the lips. He said “What was that for?” She replied “Keeesss!” Matt said “You’re a sweet girl Olivia. I love you.” She looked at him and said in her little baby, singy-songy voice, “I loovee you!”

So, despite the fact that she may be a little book thief at school, looks like our girl has a very sweet side! Only in the past week has she started saying “I love you” back to us -- pretty sure my heart melts every time I hear that little voice repeat those 3 little words!

Boston Anniversary Trip

Next week, Matt and I will celebrate our five year wedding anniversary...not to mention about 6 years of dating (depending on how you want to count ;)

I will refrain from overly gushing and only say that I really hit the jackpot on that August day, 15 years ago when Matt Dean sat behind me in Accounting. He has been a continuous source of love, support, and joy and I constantly marvel at the man, father and husband that he has become.

We have certainly come a long way from the babies in these pictures (glad I discovered the wonder of the hair straightener!!)....

 

We planned a quick trip to Boston to celebrate.  The trip started out a little rough...the night before we left Matt's car got broken into and his computer got stolen.  So, we were up till about 1 am with the police.  The next morning we took a cab to the airport and arrived in Boston to torrential downpours and chilly temperatures.

But as soon as we got to our hotel, things started to look up.  We were greeted with a "welcome bag" from Jill complete with snacks, our very own Charlie card, maps of the city, and even some Boston books for Miss O!

We then ventured out in the rain to Lucky's Lounge for a drink and a snack.  To me, this was a classic example of why Matt and I are good together.  Some of you may be aware of my extreme dislike for rain -- freezing cold rain is even more despicable.  So, I admit I may have been a tad grouchy and would have rather stayed at the hotel.  But, Matt pushed me to brave the weather (he claims I won't melt in the rain...) and experience the city we flew 4 hours to visit!  And, I'm so very glad he did.  We had a great time!

We then headed back to the hotel and were there only a short time before the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate....back into the cold, freezing rain!  But, we hopped in a cab and decided to head to dinner early.  On suggestion from our dear friend Jill, we had a delicious dinner at Empire and were stuffed silly with sushi and champagne!

We woke up Saturday morning to a different city!  The sun was shining and the city was bustling with people.  After sleeping in till 9am (so nice!) we headed to the Back Bay area for some brunch and shopping.

We also managed to stumble upon a food truck that serves ice cream sandwiches!  We split one and probably only ate about 1/3 of it....but it was worth every delightful calorie!

With only a short time in the city, we decided the best way to get a quick view of everything was with a famous Boston duck tour...kinda cheesy, but we liked it!

We then headed to meet Jill for a quick tour of Harvard and then off to the Red Sox game.  Now....if you know anything about Matt, you know that he is an passionate superfan of baseball.  He takes his fantasy draft very seriously and had been giddy at the idea of going to a Red Sox game.  Once we found out that we would be able to use the ticket's of Jill's boss, he could barely contain his excitement.  He told Jill he didn't want to know where the seats were because he wanted to be surprised.  So, as we entered the stadium through a special entrance and were led closer and closer to the field, it was absolutely delightful to watch Matt's face.  When we stopped at the very first row and Matt's favorite baseball player was standing 2 feet in front of us, he had a huge smile on his face and turned to give Jill a huge hug (her new boyfriend who we had just met also got a hug!).  He sat glued to the field the entire night (except for quick goodnight call to Olivia) and loved every minute of it.

Matt was paranoid I was going to get hit by a ball or bat and kept yelling at me to pay attention and "keep my head on a swivel" -- we eventually did some rearranging so the guys were together in the front row and Jill and I were on the second row so we could catch up!



Olivia had a great weekend too!  She got spoiled by both sets of grandparents! 

Pop-O & Tutu picked her up from school on Friday and stayed with her through Saturday afternoon. They had cupcakes to celebrate Pop-O's birthday

And then Mimi & Gra came over Saturday afternoon to spoil the little love-bug.  They bought her a new baby, took her for ice cream, and had lots of tea parties!



And then on Sunday morning, they braved the heat and crowd to take her to the zoo!

It was a great weekend all around and we are looking forward to many more years of wedded bliss!