Snow Day & Yazzie

We recently enjoyed Snow Day at the Houston Zoo with the Power family.  We went last year as well, but this time Olivia was much more into snow (thank to Frozen I'm sure!) and had fun making a snowman.

Proud of our deformed, quickly melting snowman!

 The animals were a much distant third after the snow, the carousel...

And the splashpad

And after a quick lunch, little Miss O was completely spent and we raced home to take a nap!

And, after a fun morning at the zoo, we all got a little treat when Aunt Yazzie agreed to sit with Olivia so Matt and I could grab a sushi dinner (Uchi - my FAVE!) with Casey and Jon.  Yazzie and Olivia bonded over their mutual love of blankies -- although my competitive girl was quick to tell me that Yazzie only has 1 blankie, but she has many!  These pics from Yazzie absolutely make my heart swell.  I love the relationship Olivia is developing with BOTH of her sweet aunts!

 

(PS - This is another story for the memory book -- Olivia has never liked to be covered with a blanket which I think is weird bc she LOVED to be swaddled.  Regardless, when she goes to sleep, Olivia sleeps with no blankets covering her, on her belly, with her bottom in the air, and about 7 (I am not exaggerating and she would use more if I would let her!) of those aden + anais swaddle blankets tucked underneath her.  Both sets grandparents have babysat her at separate times and commented afterwards on the "unique" sleeping habits she has.  But she is proud of them --- apparently when Yazzie first arrived and they were showing off blankies she announced that she sleeps with many blankets tucked under her "girl parts." [Note: Just for the record, Olivia did not say "girl parts" -- she used the correct term, which I will refrain from typing here!  But I think it got the babysitting off to a great start!]

Words

This post is just a random one for the memory book......

“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice." Peggy O'Mara

I have seen this quote many times and it has always struck me as powerful.  Matt and I constantly marvel at the power that parents have over their childrens' lives and, frankly, we are often overwhelmed and intimidated by it.  Well, we recently received 3 separate confirmations that demonstrate the enormous influence parents have - my father-in-law, my best friend, and Olivia’s teacher all made the same comment to me – “when Olivia speaks, she sounds exactly like you.” ( I actually love the way her teacher phrased it - “Olivia looks so much like her daddy that we wondered where you were. And then we got to know both you and Olivia, and we realized that she speaks with your voice.”)

Which brings me back to my original reaction to the quote – powerful.  While hearing that Olivia speaks like me is probably one of the nicest compliments I have ever received, it also reaffirms my feelings that parenthood is this awesome responsibility that must be treated with care.  EEK!

Along with this realization came another lesson - watch what you tell Olivia.  One of Olivia's friends is having a birthday party this weekend and her mom mentioned to me that she wasn't going to invite the entire class.  I didn't really think anything about that (in fact, I was already planning on doing the same thing in Sept. for Olivia's birthday!).  Well, I told Olivia about the party but forgot to mention the discreet guest list.  Earlier this week when I was picking up my talkative little 2 year old, she ran up to a dad was also picking up his daughter and said, clear as day, "Is [your daughter] going to [friend's] birthday party?"  Dad answers "Oh, I don't know.  I'm sure she is."  To which Olivia responds "Don't forget, you have to dress up like Frozen!"  I was so shocked by this entire encounter that I could barely even react.  I quickly whisked Olivia out of the room and sped home to see if this family was included on the Evite!  (Thankfully they were!).

Nevertheless, lesson learned! 

And now on to a few pictures!  

My mom organized it so that all the sisters + her were matching for a recent dinner.  So fun!  (Princess Olivia was thrilled to join in the picture)

Speaking of matching, Olivia thought it was the best thing ever when "Baby Pax" bought matching PJs for them

And, of course, the obsession with dress-up and princesses continues...

I know I've said it before, but isn't it just amazing to see how dads interact with their daughters?!  It makes my heart happy to see how Matt continues to shine with each new phase of our extremely girly-girl.  One of my favorite quotes from Matt was when Olivia was about 1 and he mentioned that he found he now spent a lot of time dressing and undressing baby dolls and putting them to sleep!

Those days have now turned to dress-up and all things princess, but he continues to be interested in the things that she is interested in and jump right in to her play.  Although, he did find a bizarre video on You Tube that has real women dressed up as the various Disney princesses singing a song questioning the traditional "Disney" notions of handsome princes and true love.  Much to his delight, Olivia is now obsessed with the video and can often be heard singing a phrase from the song -- “I'm who I am. I don't need a man!"  I love it!

 

Priorities

Every Monday all the kids in Olivia's class have to go around and talk about what they did over the weekend.  Clearly Olivia is able to prioritize the really important things we do!




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Summer Fun

We have been packing a LOT of fun into this summer!

Olivia’s 2 best friends at school are Cate and Emma. Recently, we moms decided to surprise the kids after school with an evening trip to the Aquarium and dinner. THEY. LOVED. IT.

We also ventured out to Brenham to tour the Blue Bell Factory with my best friend Kate and her precious girls. I pray that Olivia has a life-long friend like I have had in Kate…makes the journey so much better to travel with a friend!

And, we went to a Frozen-themed costume party at Wonderwild. I found out about the party at the last minute and changed some scheduled plans (sorry mom and dad!) so that I could take Olivia. I am SO glad that I did – she was in Heaven! I didn’t realize that “Elsa and Anna” would be there, so initially we just enjoyed the Frozen decor, all the other little princesses and the fun at Wonderwild.

But all of a sudden we heard a big commotion and turned around to see Anna and Elsa - and  I got to see pure joy on Olivia’s face. She was not scared of them AT ALL. Immediately a line formed to take pictures with them. We waited patiently for our turn and then she seized the moment – hugging them and asking if they liked her dress and painted nails. She took a picture and then turned around and got back in line! We probably stood in line 5 times! 

They had lots of Frozen merchandise available (of course!) so we bought this Elsa bow, which Elsa seemed to be pretty fascinated with!

I think the best part was that the Princesses took pics for a while, but then they interacted with the kids – I have not seen Olivia sit as quietly or attentively for as long as she did listening to them tell the Frozen story.

And then it was time to "become a Princess"

And have a Princess Makeover

I was bursting with joy just seeing how happy she was. And, the best part for this softie mom was putting her in the car-seat afterwards and hearing her say so matter-of-fact “Oh mommy. I am so glad we met Anna and Elsa.  I never met them before!”