a recap :)

"but Ash, it's only 5 am!.."

This is why I love waking up early. Before Olivia gets up. I love to sit down, listen to music and read a little. Maybe think up different craft projects or things I want to do. I make my grocery list for the week if I need too. Mostly, I just love the calm. Being able to just think :)

These are just some cute pics of Olivia in the bath. She loves the bath. She always has, and I think it's adorable when she smacks the water and it splashes on her.

Olivia will be a year next month. She is 11 months and 5 days old. I cant believe it. I cant believe that sweet girl was once a newborn. Everyday she becomes more independent and learns something new. She amazes both Mike and I.

Look at that beautiful smile and big dimpled cheeks!

Around here, pig tails have been a hit! She is adorable and I cant believe how much her hair has grown in the last couple of months! :) This was when she was rough housing with Daddy! She looks just him in that pic..

whelmed.

"I know that you can be overwhelmed. and underwhelmed..

But can you ever just be whelmed"

"I think you in europe you can"
-10 things I hate about you

Okay, well maybe I just feel overwhelmed by the piles of schtuff in my bedroom. *Mike and I usually dont give a hoot about our room. **We close the door when company is here and push things out of the way when need be, but I'm about to go bananas!

*I mean just me. i'm a mess ;)
**and by we, I mean me

Maybe I should go take pictures of my other rooms so that everyone doesn't think i'm entirely unkept ;) One of the reasons for the second pile, is that we dont have a bookcase. I want a big one! Because Mike and I have ALOT of books. I guess, I could stop being stingy and give them away, but they are mine and I love them.

...hopefully messy isn't genetic...

PS. If you see cheap bookcases. call me. beep me. text me. :)

And in other news, I caught this adorable mouse stealing cheese :)

Look Grandpa Bingo!! I can have a pony tail now!!!!

And she is starting to look more like me! :)

HOORAY!!!

I cant believe that Olivia is ALMOST 11 months. And she took more steps last night!! She walked all the way across the living room! I laughed. I cried. We clapped! It was amazing.

And she likes to dance. She bounces up and down when she hears a song she likes. Lately, it's been Kanye West and Katy Perry...

...you can definatly tell she has been hanging out with Mom in the mornings.. hehe

Ode to Green. Cheeeeeese. Gap Ad ;)

Dear Green Minerals

Thank you for being in my life.

Thanks for being the only thing that covers my rosacea.

Those awful red bumps and rosy cheeks

are gone thanks to you!

Please never leave my makeup bag.

I would not be fair without you ;)

<33'>

Seriously though, this stuff is amazing. I know it doesn't look like much, and everyone is probably thinking that it would make your face a slight tinge of green, but oh no! Even Mike has seen the difference! It's spendy, I will admit. But honestly, it's the only thing that gives me even skin WITHOUT the yucky cakey stuff...

Am I starting to sound like an infomercial? ;)

Okay, can we please talk about how much of an amazing Mommy I am?? ;) Just kidding, but I did teach Olivia to smile when I say CHEESE! I have proof :

Cheesy right? But sooo cute!

And ohh.. the sweet innocence of youth, I got asked from a little girl {kinda rudely, i'm not gonna lie..} why I had a crack in my teeth. WHOA. I dont know if her family believed in God, but I kindly {okay, maybe a little matter of factly} told her that that was how God made me...

I hope Olivia is curious, I really do. But, I also hope she realizes true beauty is on the inside and that God makes everyone different...

Well, no stupid boys in middle school/highschool are gonna get me down, and neither is a 7 year old.. SO THERE! =P

2 cups of coffee down already??

And I still have a full pot. I'm loving this morning. I'm listening to Pandora Radio. Drinking Coffee and reading blogs.. ahhh sweet bliss!

We had a wonderful day yesterday. It was warm outside! it would of been warmer but the ellensburg wind decided to join us on our trip to the park. Susan and Adrian got to come with up too!! We walked to the park all bundled up to the brave the elements :) We got to swing on the baby swings, teeter tottered with susan, and then played on the big girl swings. Olivia loved every part of it! She was so happy the whole time. Who wouldn't be? Swings are the best thing ever! I forgot that I get extremely swing-sick on them.. So Mommy just took pictures and swayed a little.

**maybe a little swing picture overload, but she is so beautiful and happy. I cant help it ;)

She enjoyed riding the teeter totter pony with Aunty Susan and Uncle Ad

rian. I cant wait for them to give me babies! They are going to be amazing parents. They have so much love to give :)

And what's this? A moment of sweetness? Olivia is actually letting someone hold her and eat..;)

Do you ever get tired of our faces ;) That's all for now. I'm sure my bliss will end soon with a hungry girl.

i promise we are alive :)

We've started off the New Year with a bang! Mike and I got to kiss at midnight and Olivia just barely made it. She was asleep by 11:30. We had a great time bring in 2009 with good friends, food and beer :)
I've started working more hours for insurance sake, which means that I'm working til 10 or 11 o'clock at night! Yuck! As for everything else..

Olivia is talking ALOT more. Different vowels and letters. She is standing up. Eating more and more different foods everyday. And is growing right before our eyes :) Here are some recent pics from the digital camera :)


Waking up!

Hanging out with Mommy

Pretty girl

Just for laughs, we put her in the swing, she thought it was hilarious! :)

i love charlie brown xmas!! :)

I'm sitting here, and I'm listening to pandora {online radio} and I chose Charlie Brown Christmas. And it makes my throat ache and my heart hurt. Mom, Daddy and I use to watch this together. We would sit on the bench at the end of the bed, and watch snoopy ice skate and Charlie Brown get upset that the spirit of christmas was lost, and get the cutest little tree.. Oh Charlie Brown.

We have been enjoying all the beatiful snow that we are thankfully taking in with open arms :) I bribed mother nature with sugar cookies :) It worked! We have almost a foot of snow! I love it! It makes Ellensburg beautiful! :)

Miss Olivia loves watching Daddy shovel the driveway and sidewalks. She would get excited and smile when she saw Daddy. :)

She however, hates the snow. Doesn't like being cold or her snow suit. She looks pretty dang cute in it though. We went out first with the jacket, and then she decided she hated that, so we took the jacket off and put the hat back on and she enjoyed that a little bit. The green thing in her hand, that's a parrot from the fridge and she loves it! :) We dont have an "official" lovey, but she rotates between a few different things :)

I love this one, because it looks like she is just letting the bird play in the snow. :) LOL.

I, however, cant get enough of it! It makes me almost giddy. I played in it all by myself! I wish it was more wet, because then I would have the CUTEST snowman on the planet in my front yard. Maybe in a few more days it will harden up...

We put Olivia in her crib, when we eat dinner. We give her toys and stuff to play with, but it makes dinner less stressful. Anyways, we didn't hear here when we were going to get her and we went into her room and found her like this. folded in HALF and sleeping. She is such a sweet girl... and great for storage ;)

Here is a beautiful smile that fills me with so much joy.

She had gotten brave enough to actually touch the tree. She liked this icicle, the best :) But she has recently realized there are WAY cooler ones on the tree and tries to reach for those ones.

Mike and I were lucky enough to get to go on a date friday. We went and saw Seven Pounds at the theatre. Which was a GREAT movie. One of those, you have to watch til the end to know what's going on.. And then we went to starbucks and got a peppermint mocha twist and went to look at xmas lights. These were our favorites.
that is a giant waddles with a hat! We want to steal him... or find one that looks like him. :)
Lame excuse to take a picture of my butt..

We got a new pan from Macy's for xmas. And it came in this HUGE box. So we put Olivia in it. She LOVED it :)

Sorry Martha. These were my xmas cookies this year. I'm also making chocolate covered peanut butter balls, monster cookies, and frozen cookie dough batter :)

That's it for now. The snow has finally stopped. Thank goodness. It needs to hold off til Heather and Milo get here! :) There is a storm coming wednesday. All my life, I've wanted a white christmas. Living in Oly, it didn't happen. Now, I think i will get my wish. :)

God Bless on this joyous holiday.