Egg-cellent Easter

Olivia was all about Easter this year and enjoyed several opportunities to hunt for eggs.

The first was our neighborhood egg hunt. She was in love with the bouncy house and very particular about which eggs she chose – carefully choosing to ensure an assortment of all the colors!

On Thursday, Olivia had a her Easter parade at school. Her class theme was “bunnies.”  The weather was rainy the morning of the parade, so I mentioned to her on the way to school that it may get cancelled.  She almost cried so I quickly changed the subject.  I had an early meeting at work and kept checking phone for a weather update/text from her school saying the parade had been cancelled.  Despite a crazy work schedule, I made good on my promise and tore myself away from work, parked illegally and ran a block and a half in high heels to make it to the parade.  I quickly grabbed a spot on the lawn just before the festivities started.  When I saw her little face in that silly mask just BEAMING to see me, I was so thankful that I was there.  She just kept yelling "Hi mommy!  Hi mommy!" and waving.  Olivia's school loves a parade -- they have parades for EVERY holiday and usually Olivia goes AWOL as soon as she sees Matt or I.  But, not this time -- she kept walking with her friends, but ordered me "Mommy!  Meet me in my room.  Okay?!"

As last year, we had such a nice Good Friday. Both Matt and I were off work and the weather was beautiful! We headed to the Mall that morning to meet the Easter Bunny. I didn’t have very high expectations, given her fear of Santa Claus. But, our girl totally surprised me! She was super excited to see him. The line was pretty long but I kept taking her up to the front and she would wave to E. Bunny. Once it was our turn, she turned into such a little ham for her “practice shot.”

But, once we went around the corner to see the big Bunny, her nerves kicked in and she got a little worried. She agreed to sit with him and smiled for about 10 seconds so that we could get the picture and then worriedly looked at me, held her arms up, and nervously said “Mommy??” I quickly picked her up and there were no tears.

Post-nap, we spent the afternoon outside searching for cascarones, playing with the sprinkler/water table, and enjoying popsicles and other “refreshing beverages” ;) and then headed to Lupe for dinner.

Then on Saturday we headed to Blessington Farms. This is a great gem just outside of Houston. We picked strawberries, hunted for eggs, rode the train, and Olivia enjoyed her first funnel cake. In typical Olivia fashion, she was initially skeptical about the new food. Matt and I urged her to try it with our now signature line: “If you try it, you might like it!” She did and SHOCKINGLY she loved it! ;) She enthusiastically told me “Oh mommy. I like it! I do like it!” Yeah kid – I know. Fried dough with powdered sugar is generally a crowd-pleaser.

However, as my child was sitting there in the beautiful weather, eating her funnel cake, she suddenly got a worried look on her face and said “Mommy. I want to go home.” I asked her why and she responded “I miss my babies.” Matt and I just had to shake our heads and tell her that we should probably play a little more at the farm (since we drove AN HOUR to get there) and then we could go home to find the babies.


We woke up Sunday morning to find that E.B. had visited in the middle of the night and left lots of eggs for Olivia. E.B. may have to get better at hiding the eggs next year because she quickly found all of them and devoured the contents of the eggs before Matt/I could intervene!

Sweet Bunny also left her plenty of goodies in her basket.

Finally….I wanted to record a few of her latest sayings for the memory book:
1. I have an idea – she is constantly telling us “Oh. I have an idea.” And the “idea” almost always involves her getting some sort of treat. “Oh I have an idea. We can go to HEB and get some popsicles.” or “Oh I have an idea. We could play for 10 more minutes and then take a bath.”

2. Actually – I wish I could get her on tape saying this. She says “actually” in the right context with this tone and look that is the way a 30 year old would say it! Pretty cute.

3. Copy cat – Olivia thinks it is hilarious to mimic what Matt and I say when we are talking to other people. The other day I was on the phone ordering a pizza and she started repeating everything I said. I could barely order because I was laughing and the poor girl taking my order kept laughing and asking me to repeat the order/credit card number because she was hearing it twice.

4. More You Tube – I think I’ve mentioned before that Olivia loves the weirdest You Tube videos. One of her latest obsessions is this video of 2 little kids fighting over a car, this video of a baby falling into a pool and swimming to the top, and my personal favorite….Robin Sparkles “Let’s Go To The Mall.” Matt and I are HUGE HIMYM fans and as we were heading to the Mall to meet E.Bunny, both of us sang the song in unison. Olivia died laughing and asked us to sing it again. So I decided to show her the video. Instant love. I was getting ready this morning and she had the iPad and just played that video over and over again. The best part is that Olivia doesn’t love it in the ironic way that it is intended. She loves it as if it was a masterful, lyrical, musical wonder and for the pure genius that is Robin Sparkles.

5.  Perfect - The other night we were lucky enough to get a surprise visit from Aunt Jill who was in town for work.  Before she arrived I was settling up the house a little while Olivia was playing in the living room.  She asked me what I was doing and I answered that I was just putting some dishes away. She said "Oh.  You're just cleaning up a little before Aunt Jill gets here?"  I said yes.  She responded "Oh mommy. You're so perfect!"  I mean....come on!!!  How is anyone supposed to handle that cuteness??!!

Kids Say The Darndest Things

This post is mostly for the memory book to record 2 cute exchanges we recently had with Olivia.

1.  Bedtime antics -- So....while we initially were so pleased with Olivia's easy transition into a "big girl bed" it seems like she was just getting our hopes just high enough to crush them!  For several weeks now we have been really struggling with keeping her in her room at night.  One of our many different efforts to keep her in there, was to take away her baby dolls.  Olivia sleeps with approximately 10 dolls so we told her that each time she came out, we were going to take 1 of them away.  The first night, this worked like a charm.  She started to come out one time, we saw her on the monitor and warned her that if she opened the door, Baby Pax would be sleeping with us and she immediately ran back into bed and went to sleep.  The next night she got a little bolder and came out.  We took away Pax.  But, like the suckers we are, we gave it back after about 20 minutes of the most sad little cries you ever did hear!  But, she did stay in her room that night.  Well, flash forward a few nights and instead of her crying when we took away the doll, she helped us by handing us everything in her bed!  This is the conversation I heard/saw over the monitor:

Matt -- Okay Olivia you came out of your room.  Give me Pax please.
Olivia -- Okay daddy.  Here.  Oh and take this baby too (as she proceeds to name each baby and hands it to Matt).  And you forgot my blankies daddy.  And you forgot my pillow daddy.  Okay daddy?

Matt walked out of the room with a confused look and full hands.  Huh.  At that point, we decided to admit defeat. 

Note: the situation has currently been resolved by way of a child-proof lock on her side of the door.  I said I wouldn't do it.  I judged those who did (I'm looking at you dad!).  But at the end of the day, I gave in and did it.  Don't judge me.  Or at least wait until you have your own little night owl!  And...don't worry....we unlock it the minute we see her fall asleep on the monitor, so as to not have any safety issues at night!  And frankly, she now assumes it is locked so we actually don't have to lock it anymore really.

2.  Body image -- I guess body image is all relative.  I came home the other morning after an early workout and Matt was asking me about the new instructor.  I said she was good and that she had "awesome arms."  Olivia looked at me incredulously and said "She had purple arms?!" 

3.  Sucka!  Forgive my statement of the obvious, but Matt has what some might call a "competitive" side.  And, this tendency seems to have rubbed off on Olivia.  The other day she and I met some friends at the park.  She and her friend were both sliding on 2 slides next to each other and the other mom suggested they go down at the same time.  Challenge accepted.  Olivia sprinted to the slide, flew down as fast as she could, jumped off and looked at her friend and said "I beat you!"  Super awkward.  She has also taken to repeating a phrase that Matt apparently says a lot: "see ya sucka!"  She calls Matt "sucka" a lot.  Sometime in the right context (I ate all your quesadilla, you sucka!).  Sometimes not (Goodbye daddy sucka.  I love you!).  Its half weird/half cute to hear that phrase come out of a little 2 year old mouth.....I'm still not sure what to think. 

And....because you sat through those stories, a few recent pictures.

We recently went out to support Aunt Naz at an event she was working with MD Anderson where about 200 bike riders did a spin class on the lawn to raise money.  Olivia was SO happy to see Aunt Naz and meet her "friends" (co-workers) and "teacher" (boss); and she loved the music and watching the spin class.

We also converted her toddler bed into a full size bed.  I can't get over how tiny she looks in that big bed. 

It was delivered last Saturday while she and I were at ballet.  When we got home, Matt had put all the sheets on it and she was thrilled.  She immediately jumped into bed and got under the covers.  I jokingly asked her if she liked her new bed or wanted to go back to the toddler bed.  She whispered "I LOVE it!" 

But that night she got a little hesitant and cried before bed that she was afraid she was going to fall out.  Luckily, my friend Lisa tipped me off to a secret of putting pool noodles under the fitted sheet.  They work like a charm and kept her safe all night!