Toddling

Ooh, whose beautiful feet are those?

I couldn't believe she could actually walk in these shoes:

And play, too:

See ya:

Sienna!

Olive got to have a brief visit with her cousin Sienna as she and her mom and dad arrived in Minnesota on the train. They only stayed a couple of hours, but we will see them over the 4th of July up north.

Even in two hours, these two two-year-olds (they're only 3 months apart in age) managed to have several power struggles over toys! Neither of them seemed in the mood to share.

Sienna and Olive weren't too interested in posing for photos, they were mostly interested in eating blueberries:

Looking forward to more play time (and snack time, of course!) next weekend up north!

Vacation

Olive and I are on vacation! Well, Sam is too, but not with us. Sam is on a fly-fishing trip in Montana so Olive and I decided to head to the Northwoods with Nana and Papa. We have been busy the last few days.

We helped Nana make a delicious cake:

We even convinced Olive (who is recently very scared of the wind) to go outside and down to the lake:

She looks like such a big girl here:

Tonight we went out to dinner and then to Dari Maid for ice cream:

Olive has also already had lunch with her Great Grandma while up here. We're looking forward to some time with Grandma and Grandpa (Sam's parents) this week, too.

Twinkle Toes

Today I painted these toes for the first time:

Shiny tiny toes:

20 pink toes:

Light Rail

Olive has been interested in trains and airplanes lately. She keeps saying she'd like to go on an airplane sometime. That seemed harder to plan spur of the moment, so we went with the Light Rail Train instead. We took it to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Olive really enjoyed it!

Next up: airplane ride!

New backsplash

More fun projects have been happening at our house.  We had some gorgeous tile designed and made by a local handmade tile company called Mercury Mosaics.

Here are a couple photos of the kitchen before:

A close up of the end result:

Another close-up:

Full view:

We love it and it adds so much to the kitchen.  The colors of the smaller square and circle tiles, mimic our 8 colors of Fiesta dishes.  One thing we are really enjoying about this house as compared to our previous one, is that we get to spend money on FUN things that you can see!  We put plenty of money into our old house, but it was mostly plumbing, electric, necessary stuff.  A patio, landscaping and tiling the kitchen is all much more fun!

And because this is, after all, a blog about Olive.  I'll leave you with some beautiful lashes:

Gorgeous girl.

Bounce House

Last week I took Olive to Pump It Up.

Pump It Up is a place that has those inflatable bounce houses and HUGE slides.

Olive LOVED it there, I could hardly keep up!  The best part is that parents not only get to participate in jumping and sliding, but they also get in free!  I told Olive she needs to take Sam next time, I think he would love it as much as she did.

I didn't get any good photos because she was moving so quickly they're all blurry.  I did get a couple videos.  

Here is Olive jumping:

And here she shows off what I think are some pretty impressive climbing skills for a 2 year old:

She had no problem with any parts of the obstacle course, but the end is a big slide and she would sit at the top until I came up and slid down with her.  That involved me going through the entire obstacle course, several times!

Chillaxin'

Just chillin'.  

Relaxing.  

You know...chillaxin'.

Video Extravaganza

Any play routine with a 2 year old is pretty entertaining (well, it better be to me, since that's my job!). 

Here is Olive using her imagination while playing with blocks:

My favorite part in the above video is the "be right back", at the end.

And the result of house building for Chubby:

Some more playing:

(Love how she says, "playing in a bucket...and everything!").

And now she just wanted me to keep taking videos so she could watch herself:

She always says, "Now I know my abcd's, next time won't you sing with me!".

Spelling her name:

Her "I'm Hiding" song from music class:

Here's what she's saying above, in case it isn't clear: "I'm hiding, I'm hiding.  I'm hiding away from you.   Can you see me?  Come and find me, you'll be sorry, if you do!  Boo!"  Only she says, "you'll be sorry, if you can!".  She always says it that way, not sure why, but it's cute!

And then she was just too "busy right now" for any more video making nonsense.  Or too tired...it's unclear:

Delicious rite of passage

There's a first time for everything...

New Rides and Perfect Rock Friends

Garage sales are great.  Last week Olive and I happened to stop at one by our house and found a tricycle and a swing, two things I have been searching Craig's List for!

The new wheels:

The new swing (which is now hanging in a tree, it works better there):

Olive has been busy helping us keep the lawn and plants all watered:

This $1 spray bottle is the best toy ever - she spends a long time spraying plants, rocks, toys, whatever:

The day we got the trike we were playing outside and she was enjoying getting in and out, pushing it around, and putting various items in the basket.  

She put a rock in the seat:

Then she said, "Maybe the rock needs a friend!".  So she found another rock and stuck it next to the other.  She then happily pushed her rock duo around the neighborhood:

She also kept picking up rocks and saying, "these are perfect!  Look!  Perfect!":

A video of her perfect rock finding: