new tricks - part 2

As promised, here is Olivia's other new skill that she learned this week:

new tricks and other non-news

This week has had some ups and downs. Olivia and I have been battling some illness. Mine is a yucky cold that I am afraid might be turning into an even yuckier sinus infection. I think Olivia's is just more teeth coming through. Either way, we've both been more cranky than normal this week, and that doesn't make for pleasant days!

On the up side, we went "swimming" with our neighbors earlier this week. This involved Jeanie (our neighbor) and I sitting in chairs while Alathea (Jeanie's 2 year old) splashed in her baby pool and we all tried to convience Olivia to join her. Olivia had fun: she pushed Abigail (Jeanie's 4 month old) in her swing, she played with some of the pool toys, and she ran all over the yard. She did not seem the least bit interested in splashing in the pool! A couple of times Alathea chased her, calling out, "Come back, Yeah-a!" and brought Olivia back by holding her hand. ("Yeah-a" is Alathea's name for Olivia.) It was so sweet! This is the only picture I got of Olivia in the pool. I had to pick her up and put her there. As you can see, she wasn't too happy about it:





Olivia has mastered a couple of new skills this week. I'll let you check this first one out:

I'll post her other new trick in the next day or so.

harvesting

We have a garden this summer. Well, Paul has a garden this summer. I just water it occasionally. We've been collecting many cherry tomatoes (which we didn't plant, incidentally) and yesterday we picked a carrot! (We did plant the carrots.) We also have some onions, which the local rabbits have found very tasty, some basil, spinach and maybe some peas. We have tried to grow cilantro, but so far no luck. Olivia thinks that the garden is a lot of fun - she loves to dig her fingers into the pots!

Paul with the lone carrot. Behind him are the tomato plants.

croc offs

Earlier this month my mom treated Olivia and me to some new shoes. (As she put it, it was "our turn" for her to get us a surprise!) I thought I would share some pictures of us enjoying our "croc offs" (as Paul calls them).

Olivia's are so much smaller than mine!

She is ready to get down and run around!

Okay, Mama! I've got our shoes; let's go!

We went to Latta Plantation Park yesterday for a picnic with some friends. Olivia and I both wore our "croc offs". We took a walk down to the edge of the lake there and Olivia and I waded in - with our shoes. I thought, Why not? It was a lot of fun for Olivia, as was evidenced by her soaking wet clothes! Good thing I brought her pjs with us! Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera with me, so I didn't take any pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it that she was cute!

the first trip to the library!

Today I took Olivia to the library for the first time. As much as she likes books, I thought she would love it! Perhaps I should let the pictures tell the story:

Ooooo... What's in here?

Mommy, will you read me this book?

We can sit here to read... hey! What's over there?

Let's go see!

This is fun! I like running through the stacks!

(This is actually what she did most of the time we were there. We were in the kids section, no one else really was, and she was quiet. Mostly.)

Whoa! A computer that is on my level! And since Daddy's not here to take the mouse away...
(Olivia loved this! She stayed here a good 3 or 4 minutes.)

Well, since we're here, maybe I should read at least one book...

And then, as soon as we got in the car, this was what she wanted to do:

Apparently, the library is a fun place to run around and finally get to play with the computer. Reading is for somewhere else!

Guess what I did!

Hi Friends and Family! After much jealously, I mean, admiration over my friends' blogs, I finally decided to write my own. This blog has 2 primary purposes: 1) to post cute pictures of Olivia and 2) to keep up with the Joneses. Seriously, I have so enjoyed catching up with all my friends via their blogs, I decided to return the favor and write our own.

So, in honor of purpose #1, here is a cute picture of Olivia:

Okay, she's a little mad in this one. I think she's trying to say, "Mama! You gave me pigtails for the first time and they look really weird!" So I put her down for a nap, gave her a snack and redid both the pigtails and the picture:


Much better! Happy "birthday" Olivia! You are 16 months old today!