Goofball girl

Olive and I are on our own this weekend while Sam is on a trip. She has been making me laugh with her funny ongoing commentary.

This morning she told me Gottis is her "imagination friend".

Tonight she put a blanket on her head and said, "Papunzel, Papunzel, let me come down!". Apparently we need to read that fairy tale again to remind her of the details!

Tonight after I put her to bed, she called me back in after 10 minutes or so. She was sitting up in bed, nightgown hiked up under her armpits and she said, "look at my tummy Mommy, it's so big!".

Also, she won't stop calling me Sally.

Goofball.

A water skiing what?

A couple of weekend ago, Olive and Sam went to a boat show/expo type thing in St Paul.

Self portrait:

What do you think Olive could be preparing to watch here?:

A water skiing squirrel of course:

There he goes:

There was also a fishing pond - $5 got you 7 minutes to see if you could catch a fish and then throw it back:

Lucky girl:

Hugely fake smile with her catch:

Birthday festivities!

Olive's birthday presents, ready for opening:

Video of Olive opening her new fishing rod:

Presents from Nana and Papa:

Knuffle Bunny!:

Pasta dinner:

Chocolate gelato for dessert:

Posing with our 3 year old:

Waiting with Irene for the big co-birthday party to begin at Pump It Up:

Air hockey with Auntie Laura:

Videos of the fun:

Olive and Luna go down the slide:

Uncle Matt and Olive on the big slide:

Even Oscar got in on the fun:

Olive worked hard at perfecting her scream on the slides. With Auntie Jess:

The whole birthday crowd:

Olive's cherry topped cupcake (her request) with pink frosting (Irene's request):

The birthday princesses opening presents in the inflatable throne:

Oh, my girl

Oh, my girl.

My baby.

It is your birthday and today you are 3! 3 years ago you met the world and we met you. You lay blinking in my arms, looking back and forth. Taking it all in. You haven't stopped for a moment since then.

You are the smartest. The kindest. The most thoughtful.

You are the sweetest. The funniest. The best dancer.

You are the cutest. The cuddliest. The best ever.

You are my girl.

My baby.

Happy 3rd birthday, kiddo!

Corduroy

Ever since discovering the Corduroy the Bear book at Nana and Papa's house up north, Olive has really enjoyed Corduroy. For Christmas, she got 2 Corduroy books and a small Corduroy bear. By chance, I happen to check out the MN Zoo schedule late Friday night and discovered that Corduroy the bear was going to be making an appearance on Saturday morning!

Off to the zoo we went:

Waiting and watching:

Priceless reaction to seeing Corduroy coming up the walkway:

There he is:

Checking out Olive's Corduroy:

Hug:

At this point, Corduroy's handlers were trying to shoo Olive out of the way so he could continue walking to his destination. But no, Olive turned her little self around, looked at Sam and me and said, "I want my picture taken with him".

OK, kiddo:

Finally, he was where he should be, so Olive went back for more chatting:

A handshake:

Maybe just one more picture:

Seems this meeting was a hit!

Winter Kid

It's been cooooold here for most of January. Most people don't leave their houses unless they have to. Not us! We have to get out. On a Saturday we ventured into the below zero temperatures to go to story time and a special presentation from the zoo. It was so cold that the zoo volunteer could only bring one animal.

But that was OK with Olive:

Next we walked down the block to Bread and Chocolate for hot cocoa and a chocolate croissant:

See? We can stand it:

Caroling with Olive

Olive really enjoys the piano at Grandma and Grandpa LaChance's house. Over Christmas, she would sit there for a long time, and somehow seemed to know how to hold open the songbook and play songs. Well, Olive's versions of the songs.

Videos of her very subdued Christmas songs:

In this one I get reprimanded for the camera use:

And this popular carol about the Christmas fairy: