Birthday Party

For her birthday party, Olivia pretty much wanted a repeat of last years party. She was very excited to count down the days until her party. Unfortunately we kept postponing it while we waited for one of her friends to get back into town. She was so patient as we we kept having to restart the countdown. The party ended up being a month after her real birthday, but she sure was thrilled when the day finally arrived.

We had a bean bag toss as one of the activities. Olivia really enjoyed that game, but was also eager for it to be over so she could turn it into an ice cream costume for herself.

While Olivia's friend put on the ice cream, Olivia ran over and licked her as if she really was an ice cream.

I hadn't planned on having a pinata at the party, but whenever Olivia would talk about her party she always mentioned a pinata so I decided to make her one.

The highlight of the party for Olivia and her friends was the parachute. We waved it up and down over their heads and they couldn't get enough. We probably could have done that the entire party and they would have been happy.

Although Olivia had to wait a while for her birthday party, she really had a fun time with her friends.

Booster Seat

A recent conversation that Olivia and I had:

"Mom do children sit in booster seats?"

"Yes"

"Do little boys sit in booster seats?"

"Yes"

"Do little girls sit in booster seats?"

"Yes"

"Do small inventors sit in booster seats?"

"I suppose so."

A True Fan

Matt and I don't really talk about BYU, but we have recently learned that when Olivia is left to her own thoughts, BYU is on her mind.

The other night I had put Olivia to sleep. I thought she had fallen asleep immediately because I didn't hear a single sound from her bedroom. About 40 minutes later all of sudden I heard very loud chanting, "BYU Cougars...BYU Cougars....BYU Cougars!"

I guess this shouldn't have come as such a surprise since the week before Olivia and I squeezed our way onto a crowded subway, it was crowded but very quiet. As we were riding under the East River, again I heard Olivia loudly chant, "BYU Cougars!!" again and again.

I think it is safe say someone is excited for football season to start.

Happy Pioneer Day

We have been on the east coast for 6 years now and have never had the opportunity to celebrate Pioneer Day. We decided to do our own celebration, which included having Olivia dress up as a pioneer to church.

Olivia enjoyed wearing her pioneer outfit and was anxious to hear pioneer stories and look at pioneer pictures. On the way home from church she asked me if little pioneer girls helped vacuum. I told her I was pretty sure they didn't.

Candy

Olivia has a very unusual relationship with candy. She talks about it all the time and gets very excited about it, but not in the same way most kids do.
A while ago she went to her friend's birthday party and she was given a sucker. She had a little bit of the sucker and than asked me to save it in my purse. About an hour later on the way home she all of a sudden shouted in a voice of great distress, "Mom why did I lick that sucker, now I'm going to get a cavity."

The most interesting aspect of her relationship with candy is that she's far more excited to make what she calls "candy soup," than eat the candy.
When making candy soup she follows a very specific process. She unwraps and collects the candy in a tupperware, then breaks it up into tiny pieces, and then heads to the sink to wash the candy and make candy soup.
The same process is followed each time, she takes it all quite seriously it is quite humerous to watch.

Olivia is 3!

These are a few things that characterize our little girl as she begins life as a 3 year old.

1. Olivia loves to be silly, play tricks on people and make people laugh. It is very important to her to make people laugh. When she is with her friends she puts on a one man comedy routine. She falls to the ground, runs into walls and makes up crazy languages all in an effort to get her friends to laugh, and she is usually very successful.

2. As a result of loving to read, Olivia has an extensive vocabulary. I frequently hear things like this:

- "I saw a dog go to the bathroom on the sidewalk, he was victorious!"

- After waking up one morning she said, "I feel very tired and lackadaisical."

- After walking into a public restroom she immediately stopped and said, "Mom this bathroom is vain and selfless."

3. She is fascinated by things that are gross and macabre. When we read her Bible stories we can never get past the story of Peter chopping off the soldiers ear, she wants us to read it again and again.

4. Imagination reigns supreme. Olivia can go weeks without touching a toy, she would rather play doll with pretend dolls and play restaurant without her toy pots and pans. Her absolute favorite activity right now is to play "holidays." We don't actually act out the holiday, we act out making decorations for each holiday...her favorites are Christmas and Valentines Day.

5. This little girl is obsessed with dresses. The first thing out of her mouth in the morning is, "Can I put on a dress?" She changes her outfit numerous times a day- each time into a different dress.

6. Olivia happens to be the sweetest little girl. She tries so hard to make us happy and show us her love. There isn't a day that passes that after Olivia is asleep Matt and I will comment to each other, "she tries so hard" and she really does try so hard to be kind and thoughtful.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Olivia had a great birthday, she was lucky enough to have Grandma Mary, Grandpa, Joe and Emily come out for her birthday. Since her birthday was on Sunday this year, we thought we would celebrate on Saturday. Whenever we go to Central Park Olivia always loves to look at the horse and carriages so we thought this would be a fun birthday activity for her.

On the way to the carriages we ran into Elmo and Olivia wanted to say "hi!"




After Central Park we all headed home for a little party. Olivia selected a strawberry cake and lemon frosting for her birthday cake, but she was most excited about the rainbow jello and she wanted to be very involved when it was time to make it.







After the food she opened her presents.




Matt and I got roller skates and a helmet for her birthday. Whenever anyone would ask her what she wanted for her birthday that was always her answer. After opening the skates she put them on immediately. We have since found out she loves to ride her skates inside the apartment, but doesn't love riding them outside.



I'm not sure where she came up with this idea, but since this last winter every time we go down the cereal aisle, Olivia would stop at the Froot Loops box and tell us that was going to be her special birthday cereal. Sunday morning on her birthday she had a big bowl of Froot Loops and loved them.



Olivia enjoyed playing with Joe and Emily. She loved having them here, I don't think she wanted Emily to ever leave her side.



After church we had a birthday dinner. I had asked Olivia what she wanted for her special birthday dinner she requested mashed potatoes and carrots. I added pizza rolls, which I knew she loved, so it would be a little more of a meal.



Olivia absolutely loved having everyone here for her birthday, she was sad to see them leave.

Victorian Gardens

When the weather warms up Central Park opens up a little amusement park, called Victorian Gardens. We took Olivia last year as well, but this time she had a lot more fun!

The first ride she wanted to go on was a flying swing ride. As I saw her go around and around I could tell she loved it. Last year this was also the first ride she went on. The plan was for her to ride on it with Matthew, and so I was shocked when I saw the ride start and Matthew walking through the exit gate. He said there was no room for him so he left her by herself. The poor girl looked terrified as she went around and around. When she got off he said the ride was scary for her. Luckily this year, she had quite a different reaction.

Matthew and Olivia went on a bouncing frog ride. Unfortunately they both came off the ride saying their stomachs hurt.

This airplane ride was Olivia's favorite. As she was waiting for take off she told me she was off to England and than France. Matthew said the entire ride she was screaming "this is fun, this is fun!"

Olivia was also very excited to ride the train. She made a be-line for the pink car.

She loved being the conductor and was very concerned about the comfort of her passenger.

Olivia absolutely loved this outing. We went just a few days ago, but we have already reenacted out amusement park adventures many times and she often asks if we are going back.

Miami

We decided to take a trip down to Miami for a week. Olivia frequently talks about going to the beach and she loves to have us play "beach" and build sand castles on the rug. We knew she would have a wonderful time in Miami, and she did, but I was quite surprised that she didn't seem to be as eager to go to the beach down in Florida as she was at home.

She wasn't interested in getting into the water, Matthew convinced her let him carry her in once. It was a pretty short excursion, she came back to report to me that a wave splashed salt in her eyes.

Olivia may not have been that eager to head down to the beach, but she always had a lot of fun once we got there.

The swimming pool was Olivia's favorite. She practically skipped all the way to the pool, she loved it.

The cabanas by the pool offered a lot of fun as well. It turns out cabanas can also serve as a stage for wonderful performances.

(Olivia laughs whenever she sees this dancing picture)

We had so much fun in Florida, probably the highlight for all of us was the bike ride down a beautiful boardwalk on South Beach. Olivia was very excited to wear her helmet.

On our last day in Florida, Matt asked Olivia, "Isn't Florida great?" Olivia enthusiastically answered "Yes, but New York is my favorite!"

Church Cleaning

This morning was our turn to clean our church building. Everytime we go to clean, Olivia sure loves to help!

Olivia always keeps us laughing with comments like these:

-I told Olivia: "I am going to go to the temple tonight, so dad is going to put you to bed." Olivia replied "Ok mom....so who are you going to marry this time?" It looks like we need to talk about eternal families.

-Olivia asked me the name of the man we had hung out with the night before. I told her his name was David. Olivia responded, "Oh just like..." I interrupted her and said "just like David from David and Goliath." I assumed she was going to say David and Goliath because she loves that story and we had just read it. Olivia replied, "No, just like David A. Bednar."

-Olivia absolutely loves the song "The Star Spangled Banner" and she loves to sing it. If she is singing along with someone else she does a pretty good job with the song. If she sings by herself she gets some of the words wrong. Without fail she always belts, "Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the Harold B. Lee." I haven't corrected her yet, because I just think her version is so cute.

-I love when Olivia will make up a word and immediately define it for you. For example she was pretending to be my waiter and said, "here is your hamburger and your trelecoo...a trelecoo is an adult drink, not for little girls."