Nelson Family Beach Trip - 2009

Beach trip 2009 for the Nelson Family went well . . . for the most part! Yeah, sleeping beauty here didn't do so well at night (or shall we say VERY early in the morning), but other than that, it was a lot of fun to see the little cousins get to hang out at the beach together. Here they are hanging by the pool:

Check out Olivia in her cool little lilypad float:

And Drew in his cool Crab!

Here's where we *tried* to go play miniature golf. I say *tried* because, well, Drew LOVED the train ride SO much that he, well, . . . wasn't too happy to get off the ride when it was time to play. Then he LOVED hitting the golf ball SO much that he wasn't so happy when he had to wait in line for our turn at the next hole. Yeah, sometimes 1-year olds don't understand taking turns so well. Needless to say that trying to play miniature golf with 2 1-year olds was not the best idea so we got a rain check after the first hole and packed it up.

This is a cute little Drew and Olivia sized bench out in the lobby of one of the restaurants that we went to eat at. They really enjoyed showing off for the incoming customers!

Check out miss Hollywood with her supercool shades heading out to the beach! Poor little girl had to wear her sunglasses the whole time because her eyes were so bad in the sun. Pretty sure that she has some blocked tear ducts (tell you more about that in my next post after her doctor's appt.)

Here we are making a sand castle with daddy. At least "trying" to.

Here's the castle Olivia and Mommy made together. Ok, so it's not spectacular - but you try making a castle with someone stomping on it! :)

Here's Olivia and daddy jumping waves out in the ocean. She had a BLAST out there. She is definately a beach baby! Check out that tongue!

Here she is checking out the hotties passing by on the beach before she goes out for the day.

She loved just playing in the waves and sand. We could barely keep up with her. It was so much fun just watching her play out there.

Here's Drew trying to catch some fish.

By the end of the day, Olivia was so wiped out that halfway around the lazy river at our hotel and she was passed out (of course it could have been her waking up at 3am . . .) Check it out!

Here's Granddad hanging out with the little ones in the hotel room.

Well, that's about all for the beach trip. We had a good time, but would have liked for Olivia to sleep a little better. I think the trip next year will be much better! Thanks Alan and Susan for everything! We had a great time!

Play Date

Hello again! Well, let me play a little catch up with you guys from the past couple of weeks. (I'll fill you in on this past weekend in my next posting.) Well, let's start with a couple of cute pics of the little one playing around with her daddy:

Well, so a week ago (not this past weekend, but the one before) Olivia had a play date with one of the little friends she got to know at her swim classes, Logan. She made a couple good friends there and we were able to set up a play date with Miss Logan to play in the pool that weekend. (Miss Mason was out of town, but we'll see her in July at our next play date!). It was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed playing in Olivia's new pool and the water table. Can't wait until July to do it again!

Can you tell that Miss Logan is a little older than Olivia? She's almost 2!

Look how sweet Logan is - giving Olivia a hug! (though, Olivia doesn't look too sure about it!)

Now here are just some more fun pictures from later on in the week. Here's Olivia eating her favorite . . . Mac and Cheese! What a cheesy smile! huh huh!

Then just a cute pic of mommy and the little one!

Doesn't she look like she's up to something???

Well, she was . . . take a look:

Here are some videos of her playing with some of the fun toys she got for her birthday.

Here she is playing with her new magnet farm toy from Olivier and Sam. She LOVES this toy and even repeated "pig-duck" one time after it when she put a pig-duck together! Watch her dance:

Here she is playing with her new Elmo phone from Rhoger and Diane. You can see her saying "Hi" (as she holds the phone to her neck). She even knows how to put the phone back on the cradle.

This last video is of her playing with her toy piggy bank that Grandma and Papa got her. She can even put the coins in herself. (Sorry the video came out so dark)

Well, that's about all for this entry. I'll fill you in on our beach trip with the Nelsons in my next entry. Until then, take care.

Olivia's Latest Artwork

Olivia has done some more artwork since the last time I showed you guys. She is quite the little artist and I wanted to give you guys another showing of her pieces. So here you go (most people would have to pay good money to see this type of talent!)

We start out with a general abstract:

Then we celebrate Mardi Gras:

Moving on to the letter "D" . . .

We cannot forget St. Patricks Day:

And then back to our roots with another abstract:

Then onto the Letter "B" (yes, we know that we are out of order):

Here we are celebrating Easter:

Then moving on to the letter "C"


And Mother's Day:

Then a nice little surprise for my birthday. Here is the outside of the card:

And here's the inside:

Then, of course, we cannot forget Father's Day:

I hope you all enjoyed this presentation of Olivia's artwork. Please tune in next time and have a wonderful weekend and Father's Day!

Ba - ooooon!

Olivia's new word: Ba . . .ooooon (Balloon). She has been practicing it all the time since her party and has loved carrying her balloons all around the house. Check it out. You may need to turn up the volume to hear her, but she says it twice. Isn't it cute??

Olivia's 1st Birthday Party

Hello friends! Well, my little girl is now officially a one-year old! My gosh, time flies by so quickly! Well, we had her 1st birthday party on Sunday (on her actual birthday) and it went really well. We had tons of family and many friends come to celebrate with us. Some from as far away as Rhode Island (thanks for coming to *surprise* us Aunt Sue!), and we had a whole bunch of Grant's family come in all the way from Lenoir! Thanks to all that came to celebrate with us - it really meant a lot to have you there on Olivia's special day.

Well, before we get into the festivities, I have to show you all my hard work from Saturday first. I told you all that I was going to make Olivia's cake myself, right? Well, it was an all day project on Saturday and I even had some help from a couple friends and my mom (thanks Sara, Harmony and Mom - and Diane for the moral support!). It was quite an undertaking but turned out pretty awesome. Ace of Cakes has nothing on us! Check it out:


I even took a video so you can see the details up close. Check out the little critters we made to go along with our "Spring" theme of butterflies, bumble bees, grasshoppers & ladybugs.

And now, let's watch how quickly Olivia can destroy her little cake!!

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Olivia. I managed to blow out the candle *just* before she tried to grab it. Wow, those mommy reflexes are quick!

Even Ms. Muriel and Ms. Angela stopped by to wish her a happy birthday. Look how she just lights up around Ms. Muriel!

Some one's on a sugar-high!!!

Here's Olivia playing with her cousin Karlee.

Olivia and Drew LOVED playing with the balloons. (as did all the kids!) It was fun just watching them!

After the Cake, the kids all came outside to play with the water tables. They were a big hit. The weather turned out to be beautiful. We all had a great time.

From bottom left around clockwise: Gracy, Olivia, Triston, Gracie, Drew, Sawyer (Karlee's not shown (see picture above!)

And of course, the two little buddies (Olivia and Gracie) enjoyed hanging out together.

At some point, Gracie wound up soaked (as did most of the kids) and she decided to streak the party. (Children under age should close their eyes for the next couple pictures!)

Here's Olivia in her new chair that we got her (it even has her name embroidered on it) with the teddy bear that I made her. She really loves that chair and has been in it a bunch already!

Check out the cute bow she has on! It is cousin Karlee's bow - we just wanted to see if she had enough hair to wear it and she actually did! How cute is that!

And here is cousin Drew haming it up for the camera. He LOVED being the life of the party on Sunday!

Even Nana was able to make it over for her party. Here's part of the family before they left.

Well, I think that about wraps up the first year of Miss Olivia's wonderful life. It has had it's ups and downs (mostly ups!), but every second has been action packed! Last night she was wondering around saying "ba . . .ooooon" isn't that cute! She is still learning something nearly every day and we will continue to keep you updated with all her new happenings. Until next time. Take care and keep in touch.

Love,

Mommy