Congratulations to Daddy!

Take a look at this:

Olivia knows what these are for and where they go:

Do you? If you guessed they are Master Sergeant Stripes, you are correct!

And if you guess that Daddy made it, you are right again!!

A big Congratulations to Mike! Being with him the last 365 days, I can say for certainty that he worked VERY hard. He studied every day. And he made it. And he deserves it. We are so proud of him!

So for those caught up in numbers: Mike is currently E-6, has been in the Air Force just under 12 years, just found out he made E-7, has a line number of 5930 out of 6618 (roughly), which means it will be awhile until he can wear them for real, but for now he is still smiling and happy - and we are too!

Olivia is Reading!

Olivia just got this book from Aunt Betsy, Izzy, and Jenna (Thank you!). She loves it! They read it at school, so she already knew all the words. I'd love to say she is a genius and already knows how to read, but I'm pretty sure this is just memorization and recall at it's best for a 3 year old! But, even still, here is Olivia reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? And this is the same night she got the book! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday 3 Year Old!!

Can you believe it? Olivia turned 3 today! She is getting so big, so fast. Cool thing about this year's birthday is that it fell on a Saturday, so her party was actually on her birthday. Which is a good things, because she knows her birthday is "May 7" if you ask her. :)

She was pretty excited about her party. We planned it at the bowling alley (as you know we have poor luck with weather and didn't want to chance it outside at a park). And we planned for a Dora-type theme.

Which meant she had to get a new Dora birthday dress:

And she HAD to get the shoes too. Even though I told her she wouldn't actually wear them at the party since she would have bowling shoes on...She didn't care. And I had to let her get them. After all, they were pretty cute.

So the day started with her waking up saying "I'm three now! Just like Taylor!" And then she wanted a cupcake for breakfast. She got cherrios instead, and a cupcake a little later after Mommy smushed one with the lid. It was a cast-away. So after breakfast, she got to open Aunt Paula's presents:

Water Shoes, a dress, and:

A Dora Scooter!

Here are the cupcakes she helper decorate with me: She wanted both a cake and cupcakes - so I made the cupcakes at home.

And ordered a Dora cake from the commissary. Turned out really nice:

She tried her best NOT to smile while we sang to her. I think she felt a little shy...

Hindsight: I should have wiped the pizza off of her face. A close-up of her face while we sang Happy Birthday:

Blowing them out:

Opening Craig, Jennifer, and the girls gift - Sleeping Beauty's dress and crown!

Eating Cake!

And ice cream:

Present time! Standing up is her friend Hannah, and next to her is her friend Alexia from her class. A Dora purse from Alexia:

Books from her friend Isabella from school:

A Glitter-glam Barbie from Zoom, Angie, & Jamar: (my face is in response to exactly how "glittery" the glam actually entails...Luckily it comes with a vacuum...)

Her first My Little Pony from Caroline:

A Rescue Pet that tumbles from her friend Aiden from school:

Can you guess what happening here? I'm telling her to say "Thank you" and she is saying "HUH?"

Her first Littlest Pet Shop! From Lexi - I loved these when I was little!

A Barbie and matching book from Taylor! Also got Fashion-nista Barbie from Taylor - whom Olivia has labeled her favorite Barbie. She loves her and sings to her. And her song includes loving the Barbie's beautiful blond hair - "just like mine."

Special Note - they really pack and strap those Barbies in there these days. I had to get out scissors, to which Olivia was very concerned and reassured her Fashion-nista Barbie that it would be OK and not to cry... (Also - I LOVED Barbies when I was little/older :))

A Few of the girls: Alexia, Olivia, Hannah, and Caroline:

Olivia and Taylor thought sword fighting with the balloons would be fun...

But it would be even better to turn and attack Mr. Craig at the same time!

The Culprits: Sweet and innocent:

The fun didn't end at the Bowling Alley either! After the party, we came home and opened some presents. Unfortunately Daddy isn't feeling well right now, so he took a nap instead of Olivia. And Olivia and I went out and met Taylor and crew at the beach at Torii. They played in the fountains and then headed for the sand! It was a great, fun day! Olivia said it was a great bowling party.

A fun little story: Olivia's been very cranky the days leading up to her birthday, so I said it was because she was cramming in all the terrible twos she could. So today I told her she's three now, so no more fits. She seemed fine with this conclusion. However, during bath when she was about to get upset, I reminded her, "You're three now, no fits" and she said "I don't think I'm three yet, I'm still going to be two." Oh dear, arguing logic already.

An Egg-celent Easter Weekend

I know, I've been neglecting the blog. I blame my camera and my computer. They are hogging all the pictures and not sharing with the blog. It's not my fault. So I know I need to catch you up. But what better way to catch up, then to start with this weekend. We had a busy, fun weekend. Between Taylor's Birthday and Easter, we ran Olivia ragged. And she loved it. Here's a shot of her and Taylor at Taylor's birthday party. Taylor turned 3! Now Olivia knows hers is next, because we kept telling her "your birthday is after Taylor's." (even though Daddy's birthday is next, also with a 3 in it...)
So here's Olivia admiring Taylor's new barbie:


But before Taylor's birthday we started the weekend coloring eggs Friday night. Daddy dropped the color tabs in and we waited for them to dissolve. Very excitedly...

Ok, now how does this work? Daddy will show you.

First, put the egg on the holder. Then put it in the colors. She loved this and smiled the whole time. She kept saying "I'm so excited!"

Jealous Jill made an appearance with her hotdog:

After putting all the eggs in, we wait for them to get bright colors:

She was excited about the pink ones:

Checking out the other colors:

This is when she saw the blue one. Pretty Cool!

Daddy even wrote her name on the pink one :)

Mommy got to help too:

She kept wanting to eat them, but we told her the bunny had to come and hide them first.

So, first thing Sunday morning, after she woke up, she ran to the fridge to look for the eggs. No eggs were in there. Oh no, they are gone! We have to look for them. The Easter Bunny came and hid them. Luckily the Easter bunny only stayed in the living room, so we only had to look in one room. Olivia found the green one first. She was so excited. "I think I see the green one on my desk!" Then she tried to eat it. Shell and all. Silly girl.

Jill wanted in on some action:

This was funny. She kept walking right by this one and didn't see it. When we said to look up and down and all around, she started searching the shoes...do you see the pink one hiding?

Look at what I found looking for the eggs?? The bunny left a big basket too!

Action shot:

Found all the eggs!

More Easter goodies from Aunt Paula:

After hunting baskets and eggs, we went to church with Tesha and Tom, then to brunch, then to the USO for rides and another egg hunt. Then we were too tired. And we had to go home and take naps (mommy and Olivia).

Then Daddy said it was too nice of a day, so we went out to the beach to play some before the sun went down.

She played and played. She goes up the ladder:

Gets ready to go down the slide:

And Ta-da! Down the slide:

Playing on the ship:

Easter Sky. The sun went down, behind the clouds.

But then it peaked out a bit, right before going all the way down:

(This was the best shot she would give me)

Big sun, Beautiful sunset. Great way to end the day.

Happy Easter!