The Tale of Olivia's 65 Roses.

Bribing Santa

2011-12-27T00:13:00.001-05:00

With all the moving going on lately, I haven't done much baking....as in, ZERO baking. I wanted to present a good offering to dear Saint Nick. Olivia and I decided on thumbprint cookies. We made two kinds - one was a festive buttercream and the other was an almond cherry. After making some, I decided the festive buttercream looked more....well, festive.

Cookie and Milk presentation

Santa has left the building.

Here are the almond cherry thumbrint cookies, in case you were wondering what they looked like. Don't worry. They weren't wasted.

My addiction

2011-12-26T23:48:00.000-05:00

Have you been to Pinterest? If you have, then you understand how you get sucked in. If you haven't, don't go there unless you want to lose part of your life by looking at....PURE AWESOMENESS!!! There are crafty diy things, cool fashion tips, places to go, funny things/images, some super tasty recipes - the list goes on and on.

On Christmas Eve morning, Chris made this tasty breakfast from this recipe. It was so good!

Did I just hear your stomach growling?

Just a few days before Christmas

2011-12-26T23:23:00.000-05:00

It was so warm that we were wearing shorts!! That's crazy!!!

Olivia loves it.

What has your weather been like?

Mommy's birthday

2011-12-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

My birthday was December 19th and we celebrated by going into Charleston and having some WONDERFUL locally caught seafood at the Noisy Oyster. We followed it up with one of those carriage rides that a guide gives you a one hour history lesson. After the carriage ride...I got fudge. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70's. Here are some quick pictures we took while eating.

Me photographing Daddy and Olivia

Daddy photographing me and Olivia

Olivia photographing me and Daddy. We were astounded by how good the pictures were that she took of us. They are probably some of the best ever taken.

Daddy is eating one of his oysters. <*shudder*>

We were waiting for our ENORMOUS hourse to take us on the tour. He is a Percheron that is 18 1/2 hands tall and weighs 2200 lbs. BIG HORSE!!

Pretty in Pink

2011-12-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago there was a house we wanted to look at purely because it was 111 years old. We will NOT be buying that house, but while waiting for our realtor I got a few pictures of Olivia.

At the park

2011-12-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

This was one of the first times that Olivia and I went outside to play after the initial move to Charleston. She ddn't play on the swings that long, but wanted to be a vampire and I was a zombie that was to chase and eat her. There was another mom and child there and I'm pretty sure the mother thought we were bizarre.

The Adventures of Miss Elf

2011-12-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

Olivia has an Elf on the Shelf. For those of you that don't know what they are, they are Santa's naughty/nice reconnaissance elves. The kids aren't allowed to touch the elves otherwise they lose their power and can't report back to Santa. They move to a new place each night and it was very exciting for Olivia to find hers in the morning.

Here are a few of Miss Elf's hangouts from this year...

One of her first nights in Charleston, she put up all of the Christmas decorations while everyone was sleeping...well, almost everyone.

One night, she decided to grab a little marshmallow snack in the kitchen. An elf has to keep up her strength for all the flying to the North Pole and back.

One of her last nights with us, she decided to enjoy the glow and warmth from the tree lights. Her sunglasses were made from the Ghiradelli peppermint bark she broke into the previous night.

We will miss her and can't wait to see her next time she pops in.

Lollipop and Bunny Hop

2011-11-20T19:50:00.000-05:00

I found more cute pictures that I haven't posted. These were taken in October.

Later that night, we went for a walk and I taught Olivia the Bunny Hop. She didn't do it exactly right, but she was so cute that I like her version better!

Saturday Surprise - Disney On Ice!!

2011-11-07T12:09:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday, we took Olivia to see Disney on Ice: 100 Years Celebration. Until this point, Olivia had only seen movies or gone into the Disney Store (which is quite an event in itself). We didn't tell her what we had planned, just that she was getting a surprise.

Here's Daddy and Livy walking to the Civic Coliseum.

Livy giving a big, cheesy smile.

Check out Daddy's cool Boeing sweatshirt.

Me and my little girl.

Olivia sporting her ears and holding her Nemo cup. They were overpriced, but she loved them so it was worth the money.

Daddy is getting into Disney-Mode.

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald were just starting to skate out.

She spots Mickey!!

Aladdin and Genie

Finding Nemo.

Finding Nemo still

Beauty and the Beast

Little Mermaid

It was VERY dark so you can't see the ice skaters or Olivia very well, but I'm posting them anyway because they made me smile.

Fun at Tumblebears

2011-11-04T20:16:00.001-04:00

2011-11-04T15:08:00.000-04:00

So independent!! She has reached a point where she insists on picking out her clothing each day. Thankfully, she is very big into matching everything.

The only funny part that you can't see in the picture are the "denim" leggings on under her knee socks.

Sound asleep

2011-11-04T15:03:00.000-04:00

I love watching her sleep. She looks so peaceful. The only bad thing was that this was taken about 25 minutes before we had to leave. I had already woken her up...TWICE.

And later that night...

2011-11-04T14:58:00.000-04:00

In order to eat the requested soup and sandwich for dinner, she had to put on her gown. The gloves did come off, which she replaced with bracelets.

If you didn't notice on the previous post, her shirt says "The Princess Has Arrived". Boy, has she!!!

The Gloved One

2011-11-04T14:50:00.000-04:00

Olivia is such a little girly girl and loooooves to play dress up. A few nights ago she dug out her Ariel necklace (it sings the part where Ariel is singing for Ursula so she can be human), little clip on earrings and some gloves. You can tell she was very pleased with her appearance.

She is singing along with the necklace or, at least, trying.

Halloween

2011-11-03T18:53:00.000-04:00

This year Olivia was a Candy Corn Witch.

If you asked her what to say at each person's door her response was, "Ha ha ha (said in an Olivia witch voice), give me your candy."

Olivia at daycare with Jamie.

Olivia's Trick-or-treating buddies (from left to right - Ava, Caitlin, Olivia, Isabel).

This one was taken by Krisa (which I just noticed is the same as my first picture of all four girls, but from a different angle)>

Olivia and Chris's favorite moment of the whole night was when (long story short) Mommy went to poke the FAKE zombie's face only to have the REAL zombie costumed person grab my hand. I say, it's not Halloween until someone screams like a little girl.

Stepping on my heinie (or something like that...)

2011-11-03T18:39:00.000-04:00

Silvermist in the garden

2011-11-03T18:34:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite.

Lost pictures....

2011-11-03T18:28:00.000-04:00

I was just looking at some pictures and noticed they weren't put on the blog. There will be a few posts coming at ya.

2011-10-28T11:59:00.001-04:00

I stole this picture from my brother's, Erin, Facebook page. He has all kinds of these little funnies.

Soooo yummy!

2011-10-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

I was told by my friend, Mike, that his wife, Krisa, makes a-MAZ-ing Parmesan Alfredo so I asked to acquire this tasty recipe from the lovely Krisa. He speaketh the truth!

Krisa's Parmesan Alfredo
-1 pint of heavy whipping cream
-1 stick of butter
-1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
-Pepper to taste (optional)

Heat the cream and add stick of softened butter (I missed seeing the word "softened" and it came out fine). Whisk gently to melt. Sprinkle in the cheese and stir continuously. Add more or less cheese to thicken or thin the sauce (I used 1 1/2 cup of cheese).

I made a few alterations to the recipe. I cooked a few strips of bacon that I had cut into pieces and removed it once cooked. Then I followed the above directions, but added some garlic (or garlic powder). I don't know how much I used or how much Olivia added in. Once it was all good and melted, I threw in about a pound of shrimp and the bacon. Once the shrimp was cooked, I added in the cooked pasta and mixed it all together.

When the cooking was done, Olivia stopped playing, looked at it and proclaimed, "Mommy, that dinner you made looks yummy."

And let me tell you....It was!!

I haven't done the calculations yet, but I think its safe to say that this was a fattening (and worth it) recipe!

October Clinic

2011-10-28T11:35:00.000-04:00

We had Clinic this past Wednesday. It was not bad, but not perfect.

-Her O2 saturation was at 99% this time (August - 98%)

-Lungs sound all nice and clear.

-Her height and weight are the same as they were in August according to what I had posted

(38.3 inches and 33 pounds). However, according to her medical records (which I'm sure are correct) she grew an inch and lost a pound since August. So our little string bean went from 36% BMI to 16% BMI.

-There are no medication changes.

So if anybody has tasty fattening recipes, feel free to pass them along.

I will leave you with some pictures from Clinic.

Olivia picked out a book for us to read. We never actually ended up reading it....on this trip.

Who's that over there?

Where? I don't see anyone...

It's a Monster!!

2011-10-28T11:06:00.000-04:00

One night, my darling little girl transformed into...

STICKER MOUTH!!

RAAAR!!!

Best surprise ever...Continued.

2011-10-28T11:01:00.000-04:00

Chris was so happy with our visit, he sent me these beautiful flowers!

I loved them. They are looking sad now, but I can't bring myself to throw them away.

Best Surprise EVER.

2011-10-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I planned a surprise visit to Chris in Charleston. Neither Chris or Olivia knew it was going to happen. They both loved it, Chris especially since he was so homesick. It made me so happy to see how happy I had made him.

Here are two of the pictures that I sent him to let him know we were there waiting for him. I didn't want to scare the crud out of him when he walked in and saw two people in his apartment.

Quick family pictures. Olivia took ours - she didn't do a bad job.

And this is how dark the drive back was...Yikes!!

Some Mommy Love

2011-10-27T16:21:00.000-04:00

Olivia and I have been doing some super bonding lately (we have have a few arguments as well), but for the most part it has been all love. She keeps saying, "Mommy, I love you. You're my best friend." Does it get any better than that? I think not.