Olivia's Observations

Macy Turns 2!!!

2012-02-02T21:11:00.000-06:00

Today is my sweet baby girl's second birthday. It hard to believe that that is even possible. What a joy she is to our family! In her two years she has taught me so much as a mother and I am sure that she will continue to challenge me for years to come. :) She is spunky, loving, stubborn and amazingly smart.

For her big day, I took her to get her first haircut. It was long overdue. I loved being able to put her hair in pigtails, but when it was down it looked too stringy and messy.

So I picked a fun hair salon for kids and we headed out to Sharkey's. They have a first haircut package that was great and included a haircut while sitting in a pink Barbie Jeep with suckers and her own tv to watch.

She did great, no fussing. Even though she refused to smile for the camera, she really did have a great time. And I think her hair turned out super cute!

When her hair was done it was time for her mini mani! She even got to pick out her own polish color...pink sparkles!

After dinner, we invited our neighbor friends over for some cake and ice cream. We are lucky that our kids have such good friends right across the cul de sac.

Overall I think she had a pretty terrific second birthday. My heart practically bursts with love for that girl!

Happy Birthday, Macy Jean!

Happy Birthday, Mamaw!!!

2011-11-21T05:00:00.006-06:00

A special birthday message for my wonderful mom, aka Mamaw:

Happy Birthday!
We love you and hope you are having a wonderful day!

Mamaw!

Encore!

2011-10-26T07:20:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and, lucky me, it was also observation day at Chloe's ballet class. That was a little gift that I was so excited for! Here are two short videos of the class. The first is of the girls tap dancing to "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. The second video is of the ballet portion. Unfortunately I wasn't ready when they started that part so it is pretty short. She loves it and it cracks me up how serious she is through the whole thing. I hope you enjoy!

Chloe loves her class so much she asks everyday if it is a ballet day. In fact, this morning she has already asked how many days until she gets to go back. I don't know how long she will enjoy these classes, but I am going to enjoy them while I can. She makes me such a proud momma!

Ballet!

Tiny Dancer

2011-09-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

Tuesday little Chloe began ballet class. Actually, it is a ballet/tap combo class with a little tumbling thrown in for good measure. She was so excited to go! Of course she had to wear all the appropriate clothing and accessories. :) When she looked in the mirror and saw her hair she exclaimed, "I have a hair in my bun!" She absolutely loved the class and is already asking when she gets to "ballet again".

My sweet girl is growing up so fast, like they all are. She is such a joy to be around, very kind and caring and VERY independent. I am so proud of my tiny dancer.

(And yes, I listened to that song while I wrote this post.) ;)

Another First...This Time for Chloe!

2011-09-02T21:41:00.002-05:00

Today way Chloe's first day of preschool! My sweet girl has been begging to go to school like Colby since she was old enough to get the words out. Well, today was finally her day. She was so excited, and even picked out her outfit, shoes and hairstyle. Although she can sometimes be shy, she is very independent and was totally ready for this next step. I am so proud of her!

Chloe with her assistant teacher and teacher

Chloe with her very own cubby

And just a few pics of my sweet pea from her big day:

Mommy loves you, Miss Chloe!!!

KINDERGARTEN!!!

2011-08-18T09:10:00.001-05:00

Today is Colby's first day of Kindergarten! I can not believe that he is now a school kid. Where have the last five years gone?!

Seriously, though, I absolutely could not be more proud of this boy. It was hard to fight back the tears as I dropped him off, but was able to because of the heart-busting love and pride. He was so excited that I was barely able to give him a goodbye hug. He is so smart and kind and such a blessing!

It also helps that we LOVE his new school. There is an amazing sense of community and school pride at a level that I have never experienced. The staff is fabulous, but so are the other parents. We feel like Colby is in the perfect place for him right now. I just know in my heart that he is going to flourish!

The bear marking the Kindergarten hallway

The wall at the entrance to his classroom

Colby with his super sweet teachers

Go get 'em, my amazing boy!

colby

Still Alive

2011-06-09T10:06:00.000-05:00

Wow! It has been FOREVER since I have blogged! Well, at least I have had a good reason. For the readers that might not know, we are moving! We found out shortly after Macy's birthday that Curt would be getting a promotion. Yay! However, that also meant moving from Illinois to South Carolina. The last few months have been a whirlwind of finishing house projects, selling our old house, house hunting in SC and moving out.

Right now we are in a three-week transition period. Our old house has been sold and we are waiting until the end of the month to close on the new house. It's not ideal, but we are very grateful for family that is willing to take us in. :)

If I have internet access, I would really love to start blogging regularly again, starting while we are on the road. I think it will be required of my me by our families since we will be living so far apart.

If you have stuck around during my absence, Thanks! I'll see you again soon!

My new baby...

2011-02-10T11:36:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not pregnant. :) I have a new business! I'm sure most of you know, but a few may not. I have been working for a long time now on getting my photography business up and running. It is still in the baby stages, but it is now out there for the world. Yikes! I am so excited to start this part of my life (after a 7 year break). So if you're interested, and you aren't completely tired of hearing about it, go check it out!

You can also find my business page on Facebook:

I have been working on this project to the neglect of this blog. I really miss the days of having regular posts here. I hope to get back to being a regular here soon!

Happy 1st Birthday!

2011-02-02T16:47:00.004-06:00

Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet Macy!

We love you so much and are so thankful you are part of our family. Your big grins, funny faces and silly ways make us all smile everyday.

(Sorry your day was spent trapped in the house due to a blizzard.
We'll do it up right this weekend!)

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-20T05:00:00.004-06:00

lkjlkj

Have a wonderful holiday! We'll see you next year!

Macy's First T-Day

2010-12-01T16:41:00.001-06:00

Well, Macy really enjoyed her first turkey day. We spent the holiday with Curt's side of the family with a big dinner at his grandpa's house. It was fun for me to see Macy wear the outfit and turkey hair bow that Chloe wore on her first Thanksgiving.

Even though it is so much better, Macy still has a touch of stranger anxiety. It came as a shock to all of us when she decided to befriend Curt's uncle, Bobby. Too cute!

After a great meal with great family, Macy finally decided it was the right time to learn how to crawl!

It was a great way to end the day. Of course several days of leftovers were in store for the rest of the weekend. Thanks to Curt's mom and dad for yet another wonderful holiday!

So very thankful

2010-11-26T21:48:00.000-06:00

For so many amazing blessings in my life, I am so very thankful.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day surrounded by all of your blessings.

Sweet deal...

2010-11-23T13:21:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw a status update on Facebook saying that bloggers could receive 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly if they wrote a review on their blog. Well, when it comes to great deals like that I am usually pretty skeptical. However, I decided to check it out, just in case, because I love to send holiday cards...but hate to pay for them. :) So I clicked on the link (http://bit.ly.sfly2010) and it was true! All I had to do was enter a little info about my blog and in a couple of days I got an email with the instructions for writing my review and getting my code for the free cards. Sweet!

What makes the whole deal even better is that I LOVE all of their cards. They have a huge variety, ranging from very traditional to modern and streamlined. This year they also have great stationary cards, and I love the folded cards. The folded cards have a photo on the front, but they also have space on the inside for at least one more photo and plenty of text space.

Here is an example of one of my favorite folded cards. The outside if for one photo, but the inside lets you chose from several different layout options.

Outside:

Inside:

The other great thing about these, and all of their cards, is that they are so super easy to create and customize. Doing the sample above took me all of about two minutes. And I didn't even have pictures picked out when I started.

Until I started researching for this review I didn't realize that they had such cute photo gifts. I know a couple of grandmas who would love these coffee mugs:

Of course, most people know about their prints, awesome photo books and calendars. But another surprise I had was that they are offering canvas and mounted prints as well. These both make beautiful wall hangings!

So far my experience with Shutterfly has been pretty limited, but now that I know how many great services they offer, I will definitely be sending more of my photo needs their way!

I don't want to share our final pick for our Christmas card this year, but here is an example of one of the stationary cards that I liked with an outtake from our photoshoot. :)

So my overall review of Shuttefly's collection of goodies...Sweet!

Hello October

2010-10-10T23:12:00.003-05:00

We're still here, just keeping very busy.
We'll try to catch up soon!

First dy of school

2010-09-15T22:15:00.005-05:00

I hve to strt out by pologiing. For some reson couple of letters re not working. (The first nd lst letters of the lphbet). So I m trying to post nywy. Here is picture of Colby's first dy of school.

Chloe thought she needed to hve her picture tken too. :)

Hopefully I cn do rel post soon with ll of the letters working.

Wildlife Prairie State Park

2010-08-15T22:34:00.007-05:00

Last weekend we were looking for something fun to do as a family and decided to spend the day at a local state park. We love this park because there are many animals to see, kind of like a zoo, but they are in more of a natural habitat. There are long winding trails through the woods, a petting zoo area, playground areas and so much more. Even though the weather has been SO hot and humid, we had a great day!

Petting sheep:

My beautiful butterflies!

While Colby and Chloe played on the playground, Macy and I hung out in the shade. Here she is doing what she does best...drooling and blowing spit bubbles.

We finally decided it was time for lunch. However the food place was so crowded that people were having to wait an hour to order and get their food. So we did what any good parents would do and got ice cream instead.

Colby loved getting his picture taken in all of these kind of things.

Next up was the train ride! Here they are waiting (kind of) patiently for our turn to board.

Finally we stopped at some special activities they had going on that weekend. Inflatable fun, mini-golf and carnival games.

I'm glad we had the chance to go, possibly for the last time. Unfortunately due to lack of funding they will be closing the park. At least we got to enjoy it for a while!

Fourth of July

2010-08-11T00:19:00.006-05:00

Fourth of July weekend this year was a little extra special. Not because of amazing fireworks or a wonderful cookout, but because we got Curt back. At the beginning of the month he boarded a plane to California for what was supposed to be a two week business trip... and was gone almost an entire month. We have never been apart that long, and certainly not since any of the kids have been born. It was a very tough month for all of us, but many phone calls and lots of good friends got us through. Thankfully, Curt flew home Friday night just in time for the holiday weekend.

Saturday was spent at a large cookout at a friend's house. This was our first time to make it to their annual party and we had so much fun!

Sunday evening we made our yearly trek down to the riverfront to watch fireworks along the water. The show is truly amazing!

The fireworks are set off from a barge in the middle of river and erupt right over our heads. It is spectacular every year and I always sit there in awe feeling like a little kid. I am always leery that one of the kids will be scared, but so far they have all loved it every year. Macy included. The only thing missing this year was a visit from my parents. Maybe next year!

Gun Control

2010-08-09T23:52:00.002-05:00

I know it can be a touchy subject, but if all guns were this stinkin' cute I think everyone would agree they make the world a better place.

For Macy at 6 months

2010-08-04T11:38:00.007-05:00

To my dearest Macy,

What an amazing six months it has been! I truly can not believe that you are not my tiny newborn any more. With everything that you have gone through, at times I have felt like a first-time mom all over again. I never knew colic, stranger anxiety, peanut intolerance and my antibiotics could cause such a sweet little thing so much trouble and such self-doubt in myself. I can honestly say it has all been worth it and I would do it all again in a heart beat because you are so precious to me. You are turning into such a happy, smiley baby who LOVES her momma and brings us so much joy. I am thankful everyday that you have been added to our family and I can't wait to see the little girl that you become. You have my heart!

Love forever and always,
Mommy

Newborn

One month (with Mamaw)

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

2010-07-17T23:29:00.003-05:00

Macy's first time playing in the exersaucer

The pirate and the ladybug washing windows.

We know how to have a good time! :)

Happy Father's Day!!!

2010-06-20T09:43:00.002-05:00

We love you and miss you tons! Have a wonderful day and we will hopefully see you soon!

We love the park!

2010-06-14T18:33:00.002-05:00

Simple joys

2010-06-07T16:24:00.006-05:00

I have so many things to write about, but I thought this little bit of joy from the park today really needed to take precedence... :)

Thanks to our dear friend Esmeralda and big brother Colby for providing the entertainment!

May all of your days be filled with this kind of joy!

Macy loves peek-a-boo!

1, 2, 3...4!!!!

2010-06-01T22:26:00.000-05:00

Today my first-born turned 4. It has been an amazing four years with this little guy. I suppose that four years and two sisters later I can't technically call Colby my baby, but he always will be. I am so proud of his smarts, his sweet disposition and his loving nature. He loves music, creating art, cars, movies, traveling, friends, his family and the color red.

We celebrated with Curt's family while we were at the lake and will celebrate with my parents when they come for a visit in a couple of weeks. So today, instead of a party, we spent the day filled with some of his favorites: McDonald's PlayPlace for a long lunch (with a couple of friends), cartoons, playing baseball in the backyard and of course just one more present. For his special birthday dinner he requested mac 'n cheese, hot dogs in a bun, strawberries and Kool-Aid. When I tucked him into bed tonight I asked him if he had had a good birthday. He said yes and then informed me that he doesn't want to be anything when he grows up because he wouldn't be able to play as much. Glad to see he has his priorities in order! :)

Happy Birthday, Colby!!!

Yay!!!

2010-05-28T09:05:00.001-05:00

Today we are leaving for the lake!!!

I'm sure I will have lots of fun things to share when we return next week.

Everyone have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Sweet Pea in a Pod

2010-05-22T18:35:00.006-05:00

Since having Macy I haven't been able to do much in the way of crafting or sewing. I still have a thousand projects I want to do, they have just been put on the back burner, especially since she has had colic so bad. However, I have managed to get one or two things done, this one being my favorite.

It is called a Pod Swaddler and it is WONDERFUL! I came across the pattern before Macy was born, but didn't buy it then because Colby and Chloe didn't really care to be swaddled. Macy, on the other hand, almost requires swaddling to sleep, so this was perfect for us. It is a just a swaddling blanket/pouch thing that ties and actually keeps her swaddled. Not to mention, the pattern is super easy to sew. I have fabric to make another one, I just need to come up with some more time to do it!

I have made a few things for Chloe's room, but not everything is complete and I am not happy with clock I made. Eventually I'll get to those things as well. :)

The First Last Day

2010-05-20T21:29:00.004-05:00

Today was Colby's last day of his first year of preschool. *sigh* He is growing up so fast and I am so proud of my guy. He has loves school, and even though he thought is was "cool" that today was the last day, I know he will miss it.

Colby with Ms. Becky and a few classmates

My growing babes...

2010-05-12T16:33:00.003-05:00

Can someone please tell me how my babies have gotten so big?

*sigh*

...

Texas Travels

2010-05-06T23:31:00.005-05:00

Mid-March Curt had Springbreak off from school, so we decided to take a roadtrip to Texas to visit my family. We always love getting to spend time with everyone down there and we wanted to introduce Macy to them. As usual, not much went according to plan that week, but it was still a wonderful trip and we were able to spend more time with my grandpa than I expected. It was so awesome to see my kids with Pappy. He is such an amazing man and I am so thankful that our children have been able to have him as a part of their lives.

I have hundreds of pictures from the week, but here are just a few that (barely) hit the hightlights of the week.

Going to the park...

Hanging out with Pappy...

Dallas World Aquarium...

Late night hangin' with Aunt Cherrie...

Dominoes...

Cuddling with Pappy every morning...

Pedicures...

More parks...

Emergency plumbing...

Fort Worth Zoo...

Finally, a picture of Pappy with all of his grandkids and great grandkids.

The kids did great on such a long drive (thanks to DVD players!). It was such a great week and I am so thankful for all of the time we had to spend together.

Happy (very belated) Birthday!!!

2010-04-28T15:42:00.003-05:00

I can not believe it has been so long since my last post! I am planning to catch up, but for now I just wanted to say a happy belated birthday to my sweet Chloe. She turned 2 on April 13. It has been a wonderful two years with this sweet little girl. Our lives have been made so much richer by her presence in our family. We love you sweet pea!!!

Our new life

2010-03-03T09:31:00.005-06:00

Here is a little glimpse into our new life as a family of five...

As I was preparing the pictures for this post, I realized that I never blogged about Macy's birth. Hopefully I will get that done soon!

Construction!

2010-02-17T22:46:00.008-06:00

I am finally updating a little! This is all about the new bedroom that we built for Colby in our basement. The basement was finished as one large living room when we bought the house. And for the most part it has gone pretty much unused. When we found out that we were having another baby, we decided to turn the front portion of that large room into a bedroom for Colby. Curt did all of the construction himself and I am so proud! He did a great job and Colby loves his new cars and trucks room!

His bed is actually a set of bunkbeds that we converted into a loft. Colby was a little unsure of climbing a ladder to get in and out of bed, so Curt built him a set of stairs that also have a bookshelf built in underneath.

The toy box below the window was made by my grandfather. He made it for my mom when she was a little girl. It has wheels and a handle like a wagon. I love it!

The mirror hanging on the wall is from his old room. It came with his old dresser and I painted it and added his name. Lucky for me, the original colors I used matched perfectly with the new decor.

The closet was originally a storage closet under the stairs. We just added a new door and some shelving. Colby now has the only walk-in closet in the house.

In this next picture you can see out into the part of the basement that still functions as a living room. It is so much more usable now and the kids love playing down there. That is great for me...almost all of their toys are now downstairs!

This picture hangs above his bed. My grandma made this for me when I was little and it hung in my bedroom for years.

My grandpa that made the toybox also made these trucks. He was so talented and I love that some of his things have a great place to be displayed in our house. Colby loves them too!

We did not start all of this construction until after the holidays. I am still not sure how we got everything done before Macy was born. We really enjoyed doing all of the work and now have a huge list of things we like to do to the rest of the house!

We've been busy...

2010-02-03T23:39:00.003-06:00

I am pleased to introduce Macy Jean Craig...the newest member of our growing family! Macy was born February 2 and is a happy, healthy baby girl. We have been very busy the last month, especially the last couple of days, so I have a lot to update here. :) I will post more pictures and more info soon!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-23T10:27:00.005-06:00

Well, here it is two days before Christmas and I never got around to posting about Thanksgiving. Oh well, moving on. We have been so crazy busy around here. Decorating for the holidays, holiday activities, doctor appointments (routine), me photographing a wedding, Curt's final exams, preparing to begin a construction project the day we get back from our holiday travels and, of course, preparing for the arrival of our new little one. I can't believe we have less than six weeks until she makes her grand entrance!

Curt is now off of work until after the holidays so yesterday we finally finished our Christmas shopping and took the kids to see Santa. They had a great time! Santa was so nice and had the best smile. The picture that we had to buy didn't turn out very good, so here is a snapshot that I grabbed while they were posing.

After visiting with Santa, the kids HAD to ride the little Christmas train. I think this year Chloe might have been more excited than Colby. The second she saw the train she began yelling, "Toot, toot!"

We are leaving for Indiana tomorrow morning for a quick holiday trip. We will be back Sunday night. This is probably the shortest Christmas trip we have ever done. This year it is just necessary to keep it short. My pregnant body does not handle the car trips very well any more and Curt will be building a bedroom for Colby the week between Christmas and New Years. Busy busy busy!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!

PIONEER WOMAN!!!

2009-11-20T18:41:00.008-06:00

Thursday was such an exciting day! About one o'clock that afternoon 3 friends and I met up, loaded into a Jeep and headed up to Chicago. Jonna, Jennifer, Esmeralda and I are big Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) fans and we were on a mission to spend a great girls day together topped off with the PW cookbook signing.

The idea was to leave right after lunch so that we would get up there in time to do a little shopping before dinner and then head over to the book signing. Well, wouldn't you know, we ran into rush hour traffic and had to cut out all of our shopping time. Instead we headed straight to dinner...at PF Chang's! It has been so long since I have eaten there, and it was just as amazing as I remembered! I didn't get any pictures of the lettuce wraps (the love of my life) or dinner, but I did get a shot of our Great Wall of Chocolate.

Before:

After:

We all were a little loopy on great food and excitement about the book signing. So when Esmeralda pulled out a gift card, we got a little carried away. :)

After dinner we rushed over to Barnes and Noble for the book signing. When we arrived we were handed a number (263) and told that it would probably be about an hour and a half wait. They were calling numbers in small groups so that everyone else could shop or relax instead of waiting in a line all night. It was such a great system. While we were waiting and shopping in the Children's section I caught of a couple of action shots of PW's boys. They were too funny. At one point they were throwing books at each other. We saw them get in trouble horsing around on the escalators and saw a fight outside on the sidewalk. Here they are wrestling on the floor, notice the Sharpie marker in one hand. :)

Here is Marlboro Man (PW's husband) giving the boys a good talking to.

After that we ended up in the Starbucks cafe drinking yummy drinks, reading magazines, talking and laughing. The nice guy that gave us our numbers when we arrived was pretty far off when he estimated the wait time. Instead of an hour and a half, we waited almost 4 hours! We ended up being the second to last people of the night. Here is a picture of Jonna and Esmeralda as we are in line and getting close!

We all kind of felt bad being there so late. I know that PW had to be exhausted. But despite that, Ree was SO friendly and patient and made us feel like she was just as glad to see us and she was the first people of the night. The pictures I have of us during the actual signing are not that great. I handed my camera off to a really nice camera guy who unfortunately took a bunch of blurry pics.

Jennifer:

Esmeralda:

PW taking a pic of Jonna with her camera!

Me looking like a house:

And the group!

After Ree signed our books, Marlboro Man signed them as well. I have to say he was the nicest guy! He was so down to earth and joked around and talked to us like we were friends.

And to top it all off, they were giving out free t-shirts from wildolivetees.com! They are so cute!

It was such an amazing day/night! We ended up walking out the door at midnight. Only to get in the Jeep for another three hour drive. It was such a great bonding experience for the four of us. It's not often that you get to spend 14 hours uninterrupted with the girls! A big "Thank You!!!!" goes out to Sean and Curt for keeping the kids so us mommies could enjoy the evening.

Here is my booksigning booty:

Thanks to Jonna, Jennifer and Esmeralda for the great company and wonderful memories. And thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Drummond for being so gracious to us even though I know you had to be exhausted!

Crafting Catch-Up

2009-11-20T05:00:00.003-06:00

I guess it's time for another crafting round-up post. It seems like I haven't done a lot lately, but I have a few things to show you since my last crafting post.

First up is a little sundress and bloomers that I made for Chloe. I used the free pattern from Made by Petchy. It is super easy to make and I thought the outcome was pretty cute. I also made another one in some super cute fruit fabric, but I can't seem to find a picture of it.

We were having trouble with the kids wanting to color during church. Markers were out of the question and crayons were still getting all over their clothes, not to mention breaking in their bag. I decided that colored pencils would probably be the cleanest, least messy option. I came upon this great free tutorial from Skip to My Lou for some paper/pencil holder projects. I made one for each kid. I was pleased with how easy they were and with the end results. They are so practical and cute. This was my first attempt at machine applique. It went pretty well, but I am still definitely a beginner in that area.

As you can see, they both love these!

For Mother's Day I made our moms matching tissue holders, eye glass cases and coffee cozies. (I don't have a picture of the glasses cases.) I made them all using free online tutorials. The tissue holders were from Bella Dia. The eye glass cases were from Amazing Mae. And the coffee cozies were from House on Hill Road. All three were very easy to make and so much fun. I loved doing little projects that I could finish in one short sitting.

I ended up enjoying making them so much that I went a little crazy and made them for several friends and myself. :)

For my cousin's daughter's first birthday I made a little outfit with a matching hairbow. The skirt was made from the Oliver + S free pattern. I bought the t shirt and appliqued on a butterfly that I cut out from the skirt fabric. The hairbow was a little tricky, but looked really cute in her hair.

My father-in-law made these great doll cradles for all of the granddaughters for Christmas last year. So for our niece's first birthday I made a little bedding set for her cradle that included a mattress, a quilt and a matching pillow. I was really pleased with the results, but I have yet to get around to making a set for Chloe. It will get done one day!

In addition to the cradle set, I also made her several hair clippies. Grace is teeny tiny for her age, so I made simple ribbon clippies instead of big bows so that they wouldn't over power her.

My most recent project was for a dear friend who was getting ready to have her third baby just a week after her little girl's second birthday. I made a pair of sister Molly Monkeys from mmmcrafts free pattern. I was able to find a couple of sets of fat quarter fabrics that were cute patterns and in two different color ways. I wanted to make them coordinate, but they still needed to be able to tell them apart.

And of course, I can't end a post without a couple of pics of my babies.

After the holidays, I will probably have a lot more projects to report on. Right now I am working a quilt to go on Chloe's bed (for when she moves out of the crib). Hopefully I can quit procrastinating and get it finished soon!

Halloween, Birthday, Halloween

2009-11-18T09:30:00.008-06:00

This time I am not going to start out this post with an apology and a promise to do better. I can't believe that it has been close to two months since my last post, but our lives are kind of crazy right now. It seems like things have been kind of non stop and I know that the next couple of months will only be even more hectic. Hopefully I can squeeze in several posts, but I just can't make promises. :)

So, today is about Halloween and my birthday. The Halloween holiday started out with an event called "Hall-zoo-ween." It is an event held at our local zoo and this was our first time going. There was a long treat or treating path through the zoo, face painting, a costume contest, a magic show and plenty of food tents. Unfortunately, all of the animals were put away for the night, so we only got to see the giraffes and some monkeys.

We didn't enter the kids into the costume contest since they just had store bought costumes. Chloe was a ladybug and Colby was Dash from The Incredibles. Cute, but nothing too original. :) We went to the magic show. However it was so boring that the only good thing that came out of it was an excuse to sit down and get into the candy!

The following weekend we went to Huntington to celebrate my birthday with my family. We arrived Friday afternoon and dropped the kids off at my parents' house. Curt and I then went out to a movie and dinner and then stayed overnight in a hotel. It was the best thing I could have asked for! A whole night with my husband, we don't go on dates nearly enough!

Saturday we went back to my parents' house where we had a small birthday party with my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin and her family. It is kind of a tradition and always a lot of fun! The kids' favorite place to play:

Colby and Izabella actually posing for a picture!

Of course I had a lot of little helpers opening my presents. :)

One of the few pictures of me with one of my babies. (Please ignore the pregnancy double-chin. Gag.)

Every year my mom makes a red velvet cake from scratch. It is the most delicious cake in the world. Colby thought so too.

After the party and dinner, the little kids put on a Halloween costume fashion show for us all. It was too cute! Unfortunately, by that time in the evening they were getting tired and wound up so it was really hard to get good pictures.

The weekend after that was actually Halloween. Curt's parents were able to come spend the weekend with us. We had a blast! Saturday started out with pumpkin carving.

I drew the designs and Curt did a lot of the actual carving. I had drawn a ladybug for Chloe's pumpkin. It had several small holes, and my smart engineering husband thought of using a drill. It worked perfectly!

Then in the evening it was time for Trick-or-Treating. Chloe loved it, but Colby's shoes were hurting his feet so we ended up only going through about half of our neighborhood. We still had a good time though. Here they are with their pumpkins right before the candy gathering started.

October was a really fun month, and November is shaping up to be a good month too. Hopefully it won't take another month to get a post up, but remember I'm not promising. :)

Grace Turns 1!

2009-09-28T20:45:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago we made the trip to Lafayette to celebrate our niece's first birthday. We had a great time with lots of family, presents and cake. Of course Colby had to have a front row seat to all the action.

Chloe, on the other hand, was not so impressed. Instead she passed the time hanging out on Nana's lap.

Mommy (Julie) and Grace opening our presents.

Colby somehow also managed to come away from the party with a gift of his own.

This was the cake for everyone to enjoy. The first one pictured was just for Grace.

Grace started off kind of timid, but it wasn't long before she got the hang of the whole first-birthday-cake experience.

She wasn't too happy when the cake was taken away.

The rest of the weekend was spent having cousin bonding time. Here are Colby and two of his cousins, Joseph and Luke. They were "working" in Nana's flower beds.

And what post would be complete without a couple of eye candy pics? :)

It's a GIRL!

2009-09-17T15:31:00.001-05:00

We found out this morning that we are having another sweet precious baby GIRL! That makes me three for three. I have been right about the sex of three of my babes. I guess a mother's intuition is pretty strong! Colby has said from day one that he wanted this baby to be a girl, so he got his wish. We are all thrilled of course! This sweetheart is the craziest, most active baby I have ever seen...she flipped end over end at least three times during our short sonogram. The sono tech kept having to "chase" her around just to get the measurements she needed. Here I thought she was just a strong kicker, but it turns out that she is quite the gymnast! Next task...picking a name!

One year later...

2009-09-11T19:25:00.003-05:00

I didn't even realize it until just now, but my little blog turned one yesterday. I can't believe that I started this a year ago. I have been kind of neglectful as of late, but I haven't given up! I am so behind, but I just had to jump ahead to share this little video from last night. Chloe was about to fall asleep half way through, but she perked up for the end of the performance. Enjoy the show!

After that inspiring performance, we agreed that sock puppets needed to be made today. Originally we were going to do buttons for eyes, but Colby picked out the googly eyes at the store today. I think they turned out pretty cute for 15 minutes of gluing and sewing. Most importantly, the kids loved them!

June Recap

2009-08-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, I guess I am going to back up and go a little bit out of order so that I don't miss anything. So for today I am doing a quick recap of June. Colby's third birthday was the biggest event of the month, but we also had a great trip to a local carnival!

Poor Chloe is still little enough that she spent most of the time at the carnival in the stroller. Luckily she didn't seem to mind too much.

The most fun part of carnival was Colby's first roller coaster ride. When we got in line, we happened to run into a friend that was visiting from out town, so Colby got to ride with sweet Hannah. It was a first for them and they both LOVED it!

Chloe didn't sit in the stroller for the whole night. She got to ride the carousel with Colby and Daddy. She loved the ride, but for some reason refused to touch the pole that she should have been holding on to.

The last big event of the carnival was the bumper cars. Colby was too small to drive his own, but he sure had a blast riding along with Daddy. He laughed and smiled the whole time.

After a long night filled with lights, music and rides, it was finally time to go home.

The day after the carnival we loaded up the car and headed to Indiana to celebrate Colby's birthday with our families. (That is also the day we found out we are pregnant again.) The party was at my parents' house and Curt's parents were able to come also. My grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin and her kids were all able to come join in the fun.

On Colby's actually birthday, we had a little birthday playdate for a few of his friends. They had a great time playing in the yard and soaking each other with squirt guns.

After all of the outdoor play, it was time for lunch and birthday cupcakes. Followed up, of course, with the opening of presents.

The rest of June was filled mostly with playdates, our trip to Texas and soccor and basketball camp. It was definitely a good start to our summer!

Back at it

2009-08-11T23:04:00.008-05:00

Well, after a unplanned blogging hiatus, I am back. I have so much to catch up on it's ridiculous, but hopefully I can stay motivated long enough to get caught up.

First up, is our trip to Texas. The kids and I hopped on a plane and flew to the Lone Star state to visit some of my family. We had such a great time that Colby actually cried the morning we left because he wanted to stay.

It was wonderful to spend time with everyone, but it was extra special for me to have the opportunity for my kids to spend so much time with my Pappy, my dad's dad.

My dad also made the trip a couple of days later. We sure missed my mom though!

Most days were spent playing, going to parks and hanging out with my aunt and cousins.

One evening we had a mini family reunion. A couple of my dad's cousins and their families came over for dinner. It was so great to see them all again and for them to meet Chloe for the first time.

We just happened to be in Texas over my cousin's birthday. Connor turned fifteen and we celebrated by going out to lunch at a great steak restaurant and then with a cookie cake after his basketball game that evening.

It was such a relaxing visit and we were all sad to leave. We just don't get to spend nearly enough time with the "Texas family". Hopefully we will get to see them relatively soon! We miss you guys!!!

Life changing...

2009-06-24T16:30:00.003-05:00

We are pleased to announce that Baby Craig #3 is on it's way and due to arrive around February 2, 2010. We are very excited (although a little surprised) to add another sweet little one to our expanding family!

We have had quite a busy month with lots of changes for our crew. First was Colby's birthday and finding out that weekend that we are pregnant again. Then Colby started basketball/soccer camp. So I guess now I am officially a "soccer mom."

The next week Colby decided he was ready to potty train and things have gone amazing well! No more diapers for our big boy. A few days later the kids and I hopped on a plane and flew to Texas for the week to visit family. We had a great time, but the first trimester nausea and fatigue hit hard that week and I am still dealing with that. We arrived back in Illinois on Saturday and have had a busy week. Monday: basketball camp, Tuesday: Colby's three-year check up, Wednesday: my first prenatal visit. Tomorrow we actually have a day off, and boy does my house need it!

Hopefully once I get a couple of days to catch my breath and get us settled back into our normal routine I will get back to blogging about all of the fun we have been having. Hope everyone is enjoying their June!

Man, I love my kids...

2009-06-07T21:51:00.004-05:00

Happy 3rd!

2009-06-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

I can't believe my "baby" turns three today. He is getting to be such a big boy! Not only is he the size of a five year old, he is getting to be so independent, wanting to do everything for himself. But don't let that fool you, he is still a sweetheart who loves to gives hugs and kisses, especially to his Mommy. :)

Three years ago my life changed forever when this little guy was born and it has been a complete joy ever since.

Eye Candy

2009-05-14T22:48:00.006-05:00

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

2009-05-07T22:38:00.005-05:00

So here I am, again, way behind on my blogging. Chloe was sick with a stomach bug and now Curt and Colby are both hurling. However, most of our time lately has been spent enjoying the Spring weather...finally! Park visits have been keeping us very busy. Hooray!

Now I am finally getting around to our Easter post! Easter celebration actually started the weekend before the actual holiday with a visit from MaMaw and PawPaw. There was a lot of shopping, playing and snuggling.

We also had an Easter pinata. Kind of strange, but lots of fun!

Then Saturday night before Easter we colored eggs. Chloe was already in bed, but Colby did a great job.

Easter morning was a blast. As you can see, Colby was a whirlwind of excitement and an egg-hunting superstar.

Chloe didn't wake up until after the egg hunt was over, but she sure loved getting into her basket. Colby made sure that she found everything hidden in the grass. :)

I wasn't able to get pics of the kids in their Easter outfits on the actual day, so I tried again when we were visiting Curt's family. Once again, the kids were tired and hungry after church, but I decided to take pictures anyway. As you can see, it didn't work very well. These are best shots I could get.

Overall, it was a nice holiday that the kids seemed to really enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Julie!

2009-04-23T07:50:00.003-05:00

Today is my sweet sister-in-law's birthday! If you get a chance, drop by and give her a little birthday greeting.

Julie's Little World

Happy Birthday, Julie! See you tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

2009-04-22T09:08:00.004-05:00

Yes, I said Happy Mother's Day. I do realize that the day is not until next month, but my most awesome, generous, super-fabulous husband has already given me my gift. If you haven't guessed, it's the camera, lenses and accessories pictured above. That's right, a Nikon D90 and all the fixin's!

I have wanted a DSLR for a long time, but assumed it would be years before I actually got one. Well, my world's-greatest-husband came to me a couple of weeks ago and informed me that he wanted to get me a new camera for Mother's Day. He doesn't know anything about cameras so he wanted me to choose the camera. So I started doing some looking around and found an awesome deal on a D90 with lenses and stuff. We bought the package, as well as an additional lens, and it all arrived on Chloe's birthday. Needless to say I have been a little preoccupied lately getting to know my new best friend. ;)

I can not even express how spoiled and blessed I feel. Not just because I received such an extravagant gift, but mainly because I have a husband who loves me and wants to do these kinds of things for me. Seriously, he is one of the most generous people I know.

Even with all of the new camera excitement (and a sick Chloe), I managed to squeeze in an unexpected sewing project.

I ran to the fabric store with the kids to buy just a little fabric to make a cover my camera strap. I let Colby walk, rather than ride in the cart. After a few minutes, he turned to me and said in all seriousness, "Mommy, I going to shop by myself." After I approved, he went off to look at fabric while I continued to the next aisle. A couple of minutes later I see this large bolt of fabric with little legs come walking around the corner. Colby was carrying this bolt that was as big as him with the biggest smile on his face. "You like my fabric?!" What can I say, it was the cutest thing ever. He had gone and actually found a fabric that he like...red with pirates. Of course after that I HAD to buy some of the fabric. We took it home and I turned it into a pillow. He has been sleeping with it ever since. He calls it his pirate pillow. I love when something so simple can brighten his day!

For those of you who might be wondering about Easter (Mother), I will be posting about it next week. Our day was fun, but went downhill quickly and I wasn't able to get pics of the kids in their Easter outfits. I am planning on taking pics this weekend, so I will post it all next week.

Birthday Bliss

2009-04-14T19:57:00.010-05:00

Yesterday was spent in celebration of our sweet baby's first birthday. For Colby's first birthday we planned a big elaborate cookout/family party. We bought him a swingset and all of our family came from out of state for the party. Because we had such a big bash for him, I was feeling a little guilty that we had not planned more for Chloe. However, by the end of the day I realized the day had actually been perfect.

In the morning we got up as usual, had breakfast and got dressed. "Look, Mommy...I'm One!"

Then mid morning we had a little birthday playdate. Chloe's girlfriends, Lily and Katie (and their moms and a brother) came over for a morning of play, lunch, presents and cupcakes. We all had fun and enjoyed the time together.

After naptime, Curt came home and played with kids until dinner was ready. After dinner we had our little family party, just the four of us.

We kicked off the party with cupcakes and her first candle. She liked it but didn't know what to do with it. Good thing Colby was there to help!

After cupcakes came presents. We got her a walker/stroller and a Cabbage Patch Kid to go with it. As any girl who grew up in the 80's knows, every little girl needs a Cabbage Patch Kid! She LOVES them both. She spent the whole day today pushing the stroller around the house, taking the doll in and out and feeding the baby a bottle. Too cute!

Finally we tucked two worn-out kids into bed and had a few minutes to reflect on the day. Even though I didn't plan a huge shin-dig, the day was wonderful. The kids had fun all day long and us grown-ups weren't completely stressed out. Perfect!

You Say It's Your Birthday...

2009-04-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe that my baby turns one today! This past year has flown by and she is growing up way too fast. When planning for her arrival, I have to admit I was a little worried and nervous. I wasn't worried about taking care of two kids, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to love another baby as much as my first. Looking back on those feelings, I realize now how silly that was. Chloe has brought so much joy and love into our home that I couldn't imagine our family without her. She is such a source of happiness and light. All you have to do is look into those big hazel eyes or check out her partly toothy grin and your day is made. I am thankful for her everyday and feel so blessed to call her my daughter.

Happy First Birthday, Chloe!

Crafting Crazy

2009-04-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been around in a while. We are all still alive and actually healthy. Woo hoo! Anyway, I have been a little busy and of course somewhat of a slacker when I comes to my blog. I hope you all have stuck around, I promise to get back on track!

Anyway, the main thing that I have been up to (other than trying to keep up with the babies) is crafting/sewing. After Chloe was born I took a long sewing and crafting break, other than Molly Monkey. Then this past Christmas, as you know, I kind of went into overdrive. When we got back from the holidays I took another break, partly forced upon me by our month of sickness. So now I am back at it in full swing and I can't seem to get enough done. I just finished a couple of projects in one week and I am already itching to start something new.

So here is a rundown of everything that I have been working on this last month (if you want to see more detail, just click on the picture and it will enlarge):

First up is a gift set that I made for a dear sweet friend that needed a little pick-me-up. The picture, bookmark and card are all free downloads from mmmcrafts.

Next up is a card that I made for a sweet friend's "personal" shower. I was looking for a card to purchase, but couldn't find anything appropriate. So I decided to try my hand at making one myself. The nightie is made from construction and tissue papers and the socks are made from brown felt.

Our church building underwent a complete remodel in the basement. This included the nursery. Once it was finished the gliders clashed with the new paint color and just looked really worn out. I was asked to reupholster the cushions. The first picture is of the original cushions (sitting on my dining room chair). The second pic is of the finished product in the nursery. I love the new fabric.

One of our good friends was expecting a new baby girl. I have an awesome nursing cover that I used with Chloe and she asked where I had gotten mine because she was wanting one. Well, my friend who had made it (G.R.I.T.S. Embroidery), was taking a hiatus from her work, so I offered to make one for her myself. It was actually pretty simple and fun to make. It has boning in the neckline to keep a viewing opening to see your baby but keep things private. I also made a small pouch with an embroidered button to keep the cover in.

My favorite project of this latest batch hands-down is Baby Binky Bunny. It's no surprise that this is another project courtesy of mmmcrafts. The pattern for this one is available for purchase in her Etsy shop. The first picture shows the bunny in it's blankie and a pair of little hands who wouldn't leave it alone! The second picture shows the bunny and blankie, as well as a sweet card from Larissa that is also a free download on her blog. This gift set was made for Jessica, #3 is on the way!!!

The last project of the group was for a couple of sweet little girls from church who are moving back to Texas this week. The family moved up this way when the husband got a new job with Caterpillar. Unfortunately, he did not make it through all of the lay-offs. They have a daughter that is 1 month older than Colby and another little girl that is only 6 days older than Chloe. We were really looking forward to spending more time with them, but we know that we will be seeing them again! I made the girls coordinating skirts from the free Oliver + S Lazy Days pattern. I love this pattern and I think they turned out really cute. (I just bought the tops, not too exciting there). If you have a little girl to sew for, these skirts are great!

Well, I hope you enjoyed browsing through my crafting craziness of the last month. I love making all of this stuff. The only downside is that I have yet to figure out how to keep my house in decent shape while making all of these goodies. Balance is the key...I just have so much great fabric just waiting to be turned into something wonderful. I can't decided what will come next, probably throw pillows for my living room couches. Or maybe window treatments for our master bath. Or maybe all of the skirts and dresses I have planned for Chloe. Or maybe...maybe I should take a breath and wait a week or two to start something new.

Very Valentiney

2009-03-09T20:18:00.012-05:00

We had a very good Valentine's weekend. It began on Friday with making decorations. We kept it pretty simple. I printed out some words in a heart font and colored them the appropriate colors. Colby painted some hearts and glittered them. Then I painted the kids' hands and printed them in the shape of hearts. We also made a couple of cards for the babysitters that night.

That night we dropped the kids off at the babysitters' house and went out to our annual Valentine's Day couples party with our friends from church. We have always had a dinner at one couple's home, but this year there were just too many of us to fit in one house. Instead, we all had dinner at Avanti's (a local Italian restaurant), then we were in for a surprise. Two of the couples planned a scavenger hunt type event. We were all given a set of cards. Each card contained a clue leading us to our next location. We took the fewest number of cars possible and the only rule was that you were supposed to be in a car with different people for each leg of the hunt. It was a great way to get a chance to spend a little time with everyone in the group. When the hunt was over, we went back to one of the men's offices and watched a slide show of pictures from the night set to music and had sparkling grape juice and chocolate covered strawberries. It was such a great night!

Saturday night we had a small family Valentine's Day party. We decorated the dining room using the decorations we had made the day before. I made pizza in the shape of a heart. During dinner we went around the table and told each other something that we loved about them. When dinner was over we exchanged our gifts.

The decorations

My pizza masterpiece

The family enjoying the evening

It was a fun evening that ended up running pretty late. The next day Curt and Chloe took an opportunity to catch up on their rest.

I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's holiday...a romantic evening with my husband and our friends and a great night with my family that was all about love. Here's hoping your V-day was just as lovely.

MonsterJam Mania (and update)

2009-03-05T14:00:00.011-06:00

The first weekend in February monster trucks came to town. Nana and Poppy were able to come visit that weekend also. So Nana and Chloe hung out at home while the boys and I went to see MonsterJam. This was Colby's first time to see monster trucks in person (and mine) so he was understandably quite excited! (Despite the fact that he was coming down with pneumonia at point, we just didn't realize it.)

With this type of event you don't always know exactly which trucks will be there, so I was excited to see this guy show up.

I don't know anything about monster trucks or their drivers, but Colby only had one monster truck toy at home and it just happened to be that particular truck. We decided he needed to have one of the flags. He thought waving that flag was as much fun as watching the trucks.

Of course, no show or event of any kind would complete without popcorn!

Colby and Daddy discussing the action. You might notice we all were wearing earplugs. I don't know what we would have done without them! That many roaring engines in a dome is deafening! (As a side note, we don't know the bald guy. He just happened to be sitting on the other side of Colby so he is in most of our pictures. Poor guy!)

The show also included some motocross stunt performers. It's funny, I have seen them on TV a hundred times doing all kinds of crazy stuff, but to see it in person totally made my stomach jump! Scary!

Colby "helping" Poppy get his earplugs just right.

Colby and Mommy at our first monster truck show.

Now for a Chloe update:
I took her to the doctor on Monday and found that she had a sinus/ear infection. Not fun, but treatable with meds. Within 24 hours she was feeling much better. Now she just has a little clear runny nose which I think is from teething. We finally got her healthy and I realized she is cutting 4 top teeth all at once. Poor baby can't catch a break! However, I am happy to report that we are all currently healthy (knock on wood) and enjoying a few days of warmer weather. Now if we can just stay this way we will be all set!

Side note number two:
I know that some of my readers come here hoping for crafting and sewing. Well, I have several things that I have been working on in the last few weeks. Once I get caught up with my "life event" posting, I plan on doing a post solely dedicated to projects. So stick with me, I will deliver...eventually. :)

Another delay...

2009-03-02T08:01:00.002-06:00

Sorry that my "Blogging Blitz" was interrupted yesterday! Chloe is sick...again. Last night her fever spiked to 104. She has had a runny nose and a mild cough for a few days. Her poor little eyes are gushing green goopy drainage. When she woke up from an early evening nap yesterday she all of a sudden seemed much sicker and she looks awful. Her cough has also become very painful. We are going see the doctor again this morning, so hopefully I will have some news by this afternoon. My poor little sweet pea! Is it ever going to be Spring? Are my kids ever going to stay healthy?! These are things I am starting to doubt. If all goes okay today I will try to get back to the blitz tonight. Any prayers would be appreciated!

In Honor of MeMe

2009-02-28T17:25:00.011-06:00

Mary Craig (MeMe) pictured front center, with her sisters and brother

Towards the end of January we made the trip back to Indiana for a Craig holiday gathering on Saturday and for MeMe's 80th birthday celebration on Sunday. The day on Saturday was spent enjoying the company of Curt's dad's side of the family and of course eating. It was great to see all of Curt's cousins and aunts and uncle. It is amazing how many great grandchildren there are now. All of them were able to be there except one who lives in California. Amazingly, we were able to get a picture of them all. What a treat!

We figured we would all be there for a couple of hours, but everyone was enjoying it so much that we stayed into the evening. None of the kids got naps that day, but it was worth it.

Colby and his cousin Luke

Curt's beautiful sister Julie and our niece Grace

Chloe playing with second-cousin Kennedy

Luke getting his grub on

Chloe trying to play with the dogs

Chloe and cousin Lexi (on Sunday)

For MeMe's birthday all of the family got together at a local restaurant for lunch and filled an entire conference room. There were aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, cousins, second cousins, in-laws and everyone in-between. All of MeMe's remaining sisters and brother were also able to come and celebrate with us. It was such a great afternoon. When lunch was over family members took turns getting up and sharing stories and memories about their special times with MeMe and the influence she had had on their lives. It was very touching and really meant a lot to her. Even though we sometimes grumble about traveling, we are so glad that we were able to be there.

On a crafting sidenote:
Here is MeMe opening a gift from us. It is a pillow that I made using the same stitchery pattern that I created for the grandma's Christmas presents. She loved it. Below that is a close-up of another one of the pillows that shows the design more clearly.

Next time on Olivia's Observations... MonsterJam. That's right, monster trucks.

January Joys

2009-02-27T23:07:00.005-06:00

This is kind of an overview of the most of the month of January. It was a goodEdit month spent enjoying our little family at home...before all of the sicknesses got their grip on us. (Chloe is sick again, by the way.)

I usually post mostly pictures of my babies, so I thought I would add a couple of Curt and myself. This is how we spent our New Year's Eve. Just the two of us hanging out and playing darts while the kids slept the night away.

On New Year's Day we hung out at home while the kids played with their new toys from Christmas.

The following weekend Mamaw and PawPaw (my parents) came for a visit. Here is Chloe making sure that PawPaw is wrapped around her little finger and Colby with PawPaw playing some sort of yelling game. Way too loud.

I somehow didn't get any good pictures with Mamaw, but we had a great time with her too!

One evening when Curt was working late, we decided to make some of his favorite cookies as a thank you for everything he does for our family. We made his favorite...chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips. As you can see Colby was huge help!

The month of January brought with it some crazy cold temperatures and more snow than I cared to see. Colby, on the other hand, had a blast helping Daddy shovel.

Coming soon...MeMe's 80th Birthday weekend.

Blogging Blitz

2009-02-26T22:24:00.012-06:00

I'm back. We are all finally on the mend after nearly a full month of illness. Because of our unfortunate few weeks, I am so terribly behind on my blogging! So now I am back and ready to get busy. In order to catch up, I am going to be pulling a blogging blitz. Doing several posts right in a row to make up for the lost time. So without further ado I give you...

Christmas - Part 3

Our third and final (thank goodness) post about Christmas covers our holiday with Curt's family. As always, it was a wonderful few days spent with lots of family, food and fun. The holiday included us, of course, Curt's parents, both of Curt's sisters and their families, Curt's grandma Meme, Aunt Patty and Grandpa Dahnke. We had a great time exchanging gifts and followed that up with an amazing dinner. Curt's mom can cook like nobody's business.

Chloe and Meme

Waiting to open presents

The unwrapping craziness

Theresa (Curt's mom) made these super-cute reindeer hobby horse toys for all of the grandsons. Here is Colby taking his out for a test ride.

Theresa and Grandpa Dahnke prepping for dinner

The usual wrestling match

A heated game of cards

Colby's favorite part of the whole holiday season (other than presents) was all of the chocolate. That boy will do anything for even just a bite. When everyone else was busy with other things, Colby decided to help himself to several pieces of chocolate, including some from his cousins' stockings.

We ended up staying an extra day and traveling home on a Monday. Before we left town we decided to stop for lunch at our favorite Pizza King. It is the neatest place to take Colby and we love the pizza. There is a train that runs through the restaurant and stops off at the booths to deliver the drinks. The kids think it is the greatest thing! Doug and Julie went with us. We couldn't all sit together, but we got back-to-back booths and were still able to enjoy the company.

Apparently when my kids are excited about something they express it the same way. :)

When getting the pics together for the this post I was really disappointed. I had very few pictures and even fewer that were even decent. So family members reading this, if you're not included in the pictures it was not a snub towards you, it was my lousy photography.

Up next...there is so much that I'm not sure, but I have a lot more just waiting in the wings.

Poor Colby...

2009-02-12T09:00:00.003-06:00

Well, we got one kid well just to have the other one get sick. The day after Chloe finally got the right medicine Colby started coughing. Within a couple of days he also had a runny nose and a fever. I finally took him to the doctor yesterday. Once again we were sent the hospital for bloodwork and x-rays. This time we found out that Colby has pneumonia. My poor kids! I don't know what has happened to my healthy little family. He is on medication and will hopefully be feeling better really soon.

(Of course now I am starting to cough and have an earache. Let's just hope it doesn't turn into anything more than that.)

I will be back to regular posting once we are all well again. Despite the sickness, I do have some fun things to report!

Footloose and Fever-Free

2009-02-03T22:30:00.003-06:00

So after five days of high fevers, crying (both of us) and too many unanswered questions, Chloe is finally on the mend! She has been fever-free for almost 24 hours without the help of Tylenol or Motrin. I am so relieved.

Initially we thought that a UTI was cause of her fevers. And while that was probably the true at first, it ended up being a little more complicated. The doctor started her on antibiotics for the infection and after 3 days she was still running a temp near 105. Obviously that should not have been the case. So we went back to the Dr.'s office where her exam showed nothing. He then sent us to the hospital for bloodwork and chest x-rays. It all seemed a little drastic, but I really wanted some answers so that we could get her well.

Well, the bloodwork showed a couple of slight abnormalities, but they were all consistent with a viral infection. However the chest x-ray revealed the real problem. She had developed a spot in her lung that had gotten infected. There is a name for it, but I can't even begin to pronounce it. Basically, if not enough deep breaths are taken, over time some of the tiny hairs can start to clump together and can get infected. Apparently this is pretty common among people with more severe, long-lasting illnesses. Chloe has always been a fairly shallow breather and the high fevers from the UTI just exaggerated that. I was worried about this being a recurring condition, but the doctor assured me that the lung infection is just a result from her other illness. Luckily he was able to give her one prescription that will take care of the UTI and the lung infection. After only 12 hours on the new meds she was like a new baby! She is still not 100%, but she is well on her way.

Thank you for all of your concern. Betweeen a UTI, a viral infection, an infected area of her lung and a nasty case of teething, it has been a pretty rough 5 day for our sweet baby. This was quite a doosy for her first time being sick! It is scary when a little one is so sick and can't tell you what is wrong!

Poor Chloe

2009-01-31T15:26:00.002-06:00

I will be on a short (hopefully) blogging break. We have a very sick sweet little girl to nurse back to health. We are still not sure of the cause, but she is on her third day of running a fever that likes to hang out between 104 and 105. Needless to say, she needs her Mommy right now.

Christmas - Part 2 (ridiculous, I know)

2009-01-26T21:53:00.011-06:00

Part 2 of our Christmas extravaganza covers our time spent with my family at my parent's home. I love that house, and it still feels like home every time I step through the doors.

I'm not going to elaborate on every picture, they pretty much speak for themselves. We spent about three days with my family after a horrific 7 hour, ice-filled car trip. I know, I know, no more lectures, Dad. Anyway, my family from Texas, which included my aunt Cherrie, uncle Randy and cousins Connor and Jake, were able to come up to spend the holiday with us. It is always a great time when we are together. Of course, there was a bit of an empty spot where Pappy, my grandpa, should have been. We missed him a lot, but hopefully we will get to see him soon.

Christmas Eve day and evening:

Randy and Colby playing with my old dollhouse

Chloe in her Christmas dress

Paw Paw reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Christmas Day:

Merry Christmas!!!

Sledding on the golf course* (Christmas Day):
*That is ALL ice, no snow. Very fast and very dangerous. Randy hit his head and was knocked out at one point. Scary but fun!

Okay the above picture might need a little explaining. It is a pic of Jake and Randy just before we left to go back home for Christmas dinner with everyone, including my mom's side of the family. They saw one last hill that they wanted to try. However, since everything was a solid sheet of ice (with no snow) it was too slick to walk. They had to crawl on their hands and knees to the top. It was quite the sight.

The women: my mom, Cherrie, Sue and Grammy

After dinner was finished and cleaned up, the kids opened their presents with my mom's side of the family. Colby had gotten a drum set from my parent's earlier that morning and he and Izabella (my cousin's daughter) decided to put on a little concert. Very loud, but very cute.

As always, we had a wonderful holiday. I only wish we could have all been together for a couple more days. We are truly blessed with a loving family.

Coming up...the third and final Christmas installment. Maybe I can actually finish up Christmas before January ends. Ridiculous. :)

Pardon our Progress...

2009-01-22T14:41:00.003-06:00

As you might have noticed, Olivia's Observations is taking on a new appearance. If this is the first post that you come upon, then I am probably not finished sprucing this place up yet. Don't hold that against me, I have a very limited amount of time during naps and in between everything else that I like to accomplish during naptime. My goal is to have a snazzy new blog and Part 2 of Christmas finished before Friday morning. Is this realistic? I don't know, probably not. We are going out of town for the weekend so there is always extra laundry and packing to get done as well. Doesn't my life know I have a blog to keep going?! Hope your day is going as well as mine, I have had lots of baby and boy hugs and kisses today. And, seriously, it doesn't get any better than that.

Christmas (finally) - Part 1

2009-01-13T21:50:00.021-06:00

Okay so I am finally going to get around to posting about our wonderful Christmas. To be honest, it feels like it was so long ago that I was contemplating just skipping it, but I really do want to have a record of it and I know my mom would be really disappointed. :)

There is so much stuff to talk about and post pictures of, so I am going to break it down into 3 posts. Here is part 1:

As usual, our Christmas holiday season kicked off the day after we arrived back at home from our Thanksgiving travels. The day was full of decorating for me and lots of oohing and aahing from Colby. When Curt got home from work that evening, we inhaled our dinner and set out to find the perfect tree - and we did! The next day I used blood, sweat and tears to get the tree decorated. (I HATE putting the lights on the tree!) Here is a peek at some of the decorations.

Colby "helping" Curt water our brand new tree

Tree decorating is dirty work!

These are two very special ornaments given to me by my great Aunt Joan.
They were Colby's favorite!

My failed attempts at taking a pic for our Christmas cards.

Our next holiday activity was a Polar Express event at Wildlife Prairie Park. We thought the kids were going to get to ride a train, but it was more like a stage set. A little disappointing, but they still had a good time. The highlight of the night was a visit from Santa.

The following evening was our second annual Holiday Feast. For this party I break out the Christmas dinnerware and my Nana's red glasses and we have a "formal" dinner with some friends to celebrate the season. I love hosting this party! However, this is the one time of the year that I really wish we had a bigger house. Eleven months out of the year it is perfect for us, but on this night we cram in as many people as we can. Unfortunately we don't get to invite some people that we really wish could come. Maybe we'll have to start hosting two dinners so that we can have them all over. This year there were 10 adults and 5 kids and we were packed in. I even had to add a card table to the end of the dining room table. Classy, I know.

The table and the FEAST!

The kids' table in the kitchen

The friends!!!

Amid all of this, I took on the sewing and crafting challenge of my life. I had started making our family stockings last year, but they needed to be finished. I also decided that it would be really great to make most of our gifts. I was happy with the results, but exhausted in the end. If I do that again, I will need to start in August instead of the second week of December! I ended up making Christmas pajamas for my kids, stitcheries for my mom and mother-in-law, an embroidered pillow for my grandma, pajamas for my cousin's daughters and Polly Puppy for our newest niece. Here are some pics of my labor.

Our family stockings

My kids' Christmas pajamas

Pajamas for my cousin's daughters

Polly Puppy for Grace

I forgot to take pictures of the stitcheries for our moms and the pillow for my grandma. Here is a picture of my mom opening her gift on Christmas morning. (I am sure she will appreciate me posting this!)

Okay, that is the end of Part 1. If you have actually read through this whole thing, thanks. You are a trooper. I promise to be back in a couple of days with part 2.

"A Bushel and a Peck" - A Duet

2009-01-07T13:16:00.006-06:00

Okay, so I have about 10 posts worth of Christmas and holiday stuff to post about, but that will have to wait for another day. (hopefully Friday) Today I am introducing the newest kids musical group. That right, my babies singing together. So here for your listening pleasure is their version of "A Bushel and a Peck." I guess that's what it is called anyway. My Nana used to sing it to me when I was little and now Colby loves it too.

*Update*

After watching this again tonight, I decided that I might need to add some translation for those of you who are not familiar with this song. Normally Colby speaks, and sings, very clearly but by the time I pulled out the camera he was starting to be sing silly.

I love you
a bushel and peck
and a hug around the neck
and barrel and a heap
and I'm talking in my sleep
about you
about you

That's Colby's version anyway. He leaves out a couple of repeats of the some of the phrases. Hope you enjoyed my musical babes!

Christmas Craziness

2008-12-23T09:45:00.003-06:00

Things have been SO crazy around here! I had great plans for posting all of our Christmas decoration wonderfulness before we left for the holiday, but all of my decorating, celebrating, creating and baking have taken up all of my time. I just thought I would drop in to say "Merry Christmas!" We are leaving this morning for the homeland to spend the next week with our families. I promise to be around more often when we get back.

Have a safe and happy holiday!!!

Turkey Day Recap...Finally

2008-12-08T21:49:00.008-06:00

I hope your Thanksgiving was as happy as Colby about to dig into his pie! Okay, so he didn't actually eat the pie. He ate all of the whipped cream off the top and left the pie. But he was excited nonetheless.

As usual, we had a great holiday with our families. The first couple of days were spent with Curt's family. We had a large family dinner on Thanksgiving day with aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, grandparents, nieces and nephews. It is always so good to get to spend time with everyone! Curt's grandpa was kind enough (as always) to have the dinner at his house. With the family as large as it has become, this is really the only place that will hold everyone. Here he is doing his traditional washing of the silverware after dinner.

Friday was spent at Curt's parents' house with his sisters and their families. Poppy (Curt's dad) and Curt took the older cousins on a walk in the woods. Always a favorite activity! Here he is with five of his eight grandkids.

This is what happens to kids who don't behave:

Of course I'm joking. Anyway, we had a wonderful time.

After our time was up there, we packed the car back up and headed to my parents' house to spend the rest of the weekend with my family. It is a much smaller and quieter event, but wonderful just the same. Ma Maw (my mom) and Colby got in some quality reading time.

Then my grandma, Grammy, joined us and my parents for a great second Thanksgiving feast.

When we awoke on Sunday morning we were greeted with this:

My parents' house covered with the first snow!

Curt decided to shovel their driveway while I packed up our bags. Colby decided he was big enough to help too.

While the boys were working and playing out in the snow, Chloe was playing in her favorite spot. Under the chair.

I took a ton of photos, including some group pictures of the dinners, but none of them turned out very good. I was too distracted with my kids and all the fabulous food to worry about getting great shots. Maybe next year...if the food is bad. :)

Sicko

2008-12-07T19:17:00.000-06:00

We have the stomach flu.

Buried

2008-12-04T08:26:00.004-06:00

I swear I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Neither have my crazy, yet too-cute-for-words, kids. It has just been a hectic onslaught of holiday. Our house was buried in snow, but now it is melting. I have been buried in decorating, crafting and laundry. The decorating is almost done. The crafting is in progress. The laundry is still looming over me like a mountain. Typical.

I will try really hard to get in a fabulous post about our turkey day and our upcoming holiday wonderfulness either tonight or tomorrow night. Okay, let's get real...there's no way it will be tonight. See you tomorrow night!

Weekend wrestling

2008-11-24T22:34:00.011-06:00

Friday night we babysat for our good friends. Conner and Colby are about 18 months apart in age and have been friends since Colby was a newborn. Lily and Chloe are only about 5 months apart and are already showing signs of becoming friends. The boys, like usual, got pretty hyper. (What little boys don't?) So to get out some of their energy, Curt got them into a pretty hard-core wrestling match. It went on for forever. Not wanting to be left out, little Lily had to get in on the action too.

This is what Chloe and I did...

Saturday was a much more calm day. We had our usual pancakes for breakfast, then went to work on cleaning the garage (again). Afterwards I gave the dog a haircut. Here is Colby in a random pic. Notice Daisy on the floor behind him.

That is what she did for hours after she got her new 'do.

Then Saturday night we rented a movie and roasted brats in the fireplace.

Colby had a breakthrough on Sunday evening. He and Curt were playing in the basement (don't even ask why the guest bed is in the middle of floor), and Colby finally learned to jump! For some reason that has been hard for him. He thought he could jump, but one foot always stayed on the ground. Now I can't get him to stop jumping! Check out the concentration...

Blast off!

This morning I went in to get Chloe when she woke up only to find her pulling up on the side rail with her head hanging over the edge. Obviously it was time to lower the mattress. As some of you know, I got ambitious and made all of the bedding and window treatments and all things fabric for her room. While I was wrestling with the crib I remembered how much I love the way everything turned out. So here is a little tribute to Chloe's room.

It looks like she is posing so sweetly for this picture...

But don't let her smile fool you, immediately after this, she started body-slamming her doll on the floor.

This awesome wall hanging was made by my good friend Jessica.

Colby's typical "don't take my picture" mood.

Unless something super exciting and fabulous happens on Tuesday, this will be my last post until next Monday. We are leaving Wednesday morning for Indiana to be with our families for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Turkeys and Troubles

2008-11-21T00:00:00.004-06:00

Seeing as how Thanksgiving is only a week away, I decided it was time for Colby and I to do a new project...turkey style.

The first step was to tear the construction paper into pieces to make the grass, sky and clouds. Of course Colby enjoyed that, but it was actually a little harder for him than I expected.

Next, we glued the torn up paper onto the appropriate sections of our "canvas." Here is were I get cheap, or maybe thrifty sounds better. Of course I am not going to use a real canvas for our projects. Instead, I take our empty diaper boxes and break them down and cut them to the size I want. They make for a sturdy surface for our projects, but are also very light weight which makes them possible to hang on the wall with just a little masking tape. Cheap and convenient.

Colby always wants to use my scissors whenever I am cutting anything, so I decided to let him try today. We cut out the yellow sun. Notice the look of concentration. Not an easy task for a 2 year old.

To make the turkeys, I simply painted his palm and thumb with brown paint. Then I painted his fingers in feather colors. Once his hand was goopy with paint, he simply pressed it onto the paper to make a hand print turkey. This, obviously, was the most important part of the project...and it almost didn't happen. He freaked out when I told him that I was going to put paint on his hand instead of the paper. "That's too yucky!!!" I finally convinced him it would be fun by demonstrating on myself and pointing out the fact that the brown paint looked like chocolate.

Once we got going with the hand painting he really loved it. After the paint dried, I went back in with markers and drew little feet, beaks and waddles.

Even though this project took us a long time, he wasn't ready to stop creating. So I turned over the paint brush to him.

Then he insisted he NEEDED to color with the markers. (Something he normally doesn't get to do.)

Then Chloe woke up and project time ended.

So that concludes the turkey part of this post. Now for the trouble portion...

The kids and I were down in the basement playing and checking email. Chloe was on my lap and getting sleepy. When that happens she starts throwing herself around and wrestling and basically doing anything she can to keep herself awake. Well, she had thrown herself backwards and when she sat back up she somehow caught the corner of my laptop with her forehead. It didn't seem like she had hit it that hard, so I couldn't figure out why she was crying so much. A minute later I noticed the nice little lump forming and glowing red on her forehead. So we headed to the kitchen for some ice.

Then tonight we were in Colby's room plugging in a space heater. We wanted to show it to him because it glows and we didn't want him to be scared of it if he woke up in the middle of the night. Well we turned it on, he turned out the light and then immediately tripped over Curt's foot. He broke his fall with his face on the end of the bed frame. We knew it was bad before we even got the lights back on. So we headed to the kitchen for some ice.

So that was our day on Thursday, turkeys and troubles.

Movin' and a-groovin'

2008-11-20T08:58:00.004-06:00

My little sweetness (and laundry helper extraordinaire) decided yesterday that it was time to crawl. It is still sort of an army-type crawl, but moving in the forward direction nonetheless. And let me tell you, she is quick. Just put the remote on the floor and before you can blink she has army crawled across the room to grab it. Hooray for small milestones!

It's good to be a family

2008-11-17T22:22:00.008-06:00

Lately we have been able to enjoy a lot of great family time. Nothing fancy, extravagant or super exciting. Just good old family time at home. After the last several months of Curt having a horribly hectic work and school schedule, we are really grateful for the time we have had together lately. We had a wonderful weekend doing nothing but hanging out at home.

Curt and Colby building a tower to the ceiling:

Chloe trying to do her part:

Couch time with Daddy:

Our traditional Saturday morning pancakes (with a twist):

Helping Daddy bring in firewood for more fires to snuggle by:

Games of Yahtzee and marbles were played and movies were watched by the fire. The garage cleaning project got underway. And of course there was plenty of general playing, laughing and snuggling with my babies.

Even tonight Curt was able to come home from work earlier than usual.

Reading with Daddy:

Wrestling match:

Snuggle time with Mommy after an orange-colored dinner:

Poor Daisy. She was just too wound up and kept clobbering the kids. She spent the most fun part of the evening on the top step. (She was able to join us later when she calmed down.)

Then it was time for haircuts for my boys and bedtime for the kiddos. Here's hoping that you all get to enjoy time doing the simple things with your family, especially as we are approaching this busy holiday season. Have a happy family!

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow...

2008-11-13T23:52:00.004-06:00

No, it isn't snowing and I am not obsessing over the cold white stuff. I am singing the song "Snow" from Irving Berlin's White Christmas!

I am a firm believer that the Christmas season does not begin until Friday after Thanksgiving. That is not because I am a scrooge. In fact, those few weeks between turkey day and Christmas morning are my absolute favorite time of the year!!!! I love the sights, the sounds, the activities and most of all the anticipation and the time spent with loved ones. There is just something so magical about it all.

So why am I going on and on about my favorite holiday when I am so strict about not starting the season yet...I bought "White Christmas" tonight! It is my favorite holiday movie by a long shot. The music is best, but so are the costumes and the cheesy dance routines (Choreography? please.) Anyway, I just love it all. I searched high and low last year and could not find the movie in any stores. Well tonight I just happened to see the new holiday movie display at Walmart and they had it! I wouldn't have bought this early, but they only had a couple of copies left. Apparently it is not just my favorite.

So now I am trying to wait patiently for Thanksgiving to come and go and I can forge full force into the most wonderful time of the year!

Monkey Madness

2008-11-12T14:11:00.007-06:00

May I introduce...Monty and Molly Monkey!

Many of you have already met Molly. I made her for Chloe quite a while ago. She has been quite lonely ever since. Just sitting on a shelf in Chloe's room. Poor thing. She really needed some companionship.

Ever since making Molly, I have been planning on making a brother monkey for Colby. Well, after starting and stopping and procrastinating some more, Monty Monkey has finally joined the family.

The pattern for these totally adorable monkeys comes from my friend, Larissa. She has an awesome artsy-crafty blog and she has generously added several free patterns and cards for downloading. Her stuff is so awesome!!! She has also recently opened an Etsy shop and is selling patterns for Katy Kitty, Molly's long lost sister. As a cherry on top of all of this cuteness, Larissa has added a double-breasted winter coat for Katy (which also fits Molly). There are no limits to her craftiness.

I am pretty pleased with the way Monty turned out. I had a little bit of a hard time making his shorts and shoes and hat. I have never sewed a stitch of clothing before and had no idea how to go about designing shorts or making a hat with a bill. I obviously made a ton of mistakes, but I learned a lot that I can use if I ever make monkey shorts again.

For now I am just happy to have a finished pair of monkeys for my little monkeys.

Giddy up pony...

2008-11-10T22:17:00.008-06:00

This past weekend was another great family weekend. Curt's parents were able to come over for a visit, which is always enjoyable. Nana and Poppy arrived Friday evening, just in time for pizza. Their arrival is always exciting. However, our dog, Daisy, is always so excited about their dog, Molly, being at our house that things can get a little crazy. If you know Daisy, you know what I mean.

Colby got a fun surprise when the grandparents arrived...a pony! Okay, so not a real pony, but the closest thing that our house can accommodate. It was supposed to be his birthday present (back in June) but we could never seem to work out a way to get to our house. So Chestnut arrived Friday night. The stand had to be assembled, and Colby was more than willing to "help" Poppy put it together.

At some point he decided that he needed to wear a helmet while riding his new pony. Safety first...

He quickly realized that it was easier and more fun to ditch to the helmet.

Chloe wasn't so into the pony, but she did enjoy some snuggle time with Daddy.

Her special treat for the day was eating Daddy's ice cream. Don't let the look on her face fool you, she loved it!

Saturday was a much calmer day, spent relaxing at home with the family and playing with grandparents. (Well, that's what everyone else did. I was out in 30 degree, windy weather trying to find a winter coat for Chloe.)

Saturday evening Curt grilled pork chops for us, YUM! Then he built a fire in the family room in the basement. We shut off all the lights and rented "Kung Fu Panda." We love fireplace season! It was such a fun family movie night. You should have seen Colby twirling and kicking and running around the basement yelling "Hi Yah!" We were laughing so hard we were practically in tears.

Sunday morning was spent at church and eating roast for lunch. Again, Yum! Unfortunately it was then time for Nana and Poppy to go home. We were all disappointed, but thankful that they were able to come.