Yes, it has been a while!

 My silly husband....  TRYING to take a family Christmas picture!

 Emma and her cousin Landon

 Olive wearin' some big daddy shoes!

 Big Sister Emma is such a good sharer!  And Olive especially likes whatever Emma has!

 It only took Olive a couple of days and she knew that the watering can was for the tree.  Now she will often go get the watering can from under the sink, go over to the tree, and then take the can back to put it away under the sink!

 Sweet Emma helping me blow out the candles for my 37th birthday!

We had my mom and Denny come over, and my mom took care of making dinner, the cake, setting the table, and cleaning up!  I felt very special...  I also got a homemade decorated cake on a Depression Glass Cake Plate!

 I felt very lucky to spend a weekend in SLC the weekend of Dec. 1!!!!!  My dear friend Rachel sent her family packing to Southern Utah for the weekend, and we got to spend two days together (with sweet Olive!) around SLC and in Park City.  It was such a lovely treat.  

 While in SLC I was able to spend one night with my dear friend Natosha as well.  IT WAS A FANTASTIC time!

 My Dad spent two weeks here while my grandma recovered from and illness, and Nana was abel to spend the weekend with us as well.  It was so nice having them here!

 Big girl dancing!  Olive is just as sweet as can be.  She is also benefitting form having an older sister around.  She is 14 months and is already signing the word for "more" and often we get a "please" with it!  It is such a joy to see her wanting to communicate and being able to do it.  

 WE finally had a nice snowfall!  Elliott had to plow the driveway two times in one day!  Em and I had a blast building this big girl with the jalapeno mouth.

 Olive really warmed up to my dad and she fell asleep on his lap one morning.  She's been getting her one year molars so a little medicine makes her a little extra drowsy.

 My mom took Emma out to a Christmas Brunch at the American Girl Doll store, and I had gotten her and her doll matching outfits on cyber monday.  I may be a little biased, but I think she is beautiful here!

Making some Christmas cookies!  My mom came over for our annual holiday cookie baking day.  Emma was really interested in cutting out the cookies and did a pretty good job!

Halloween 2013

Can you tell that Emma does not like digging out the GUTS of the pumpkin?  This is actually the first time I've really been able to  get her to pull them out.  I told held that she had to help in some way if I was going to carve the pumpkin for her!  I love the looks on her face - or such a brave girl she is certainly squeamish about this!

Emma and Mommy working together while we waited for Daddy to get back from Home Depot with the DREMMEL to use on his pumpkin!  Yes, he went to get a power tool to carve his pumpkin!

Silly girl!  She had me carve a witch 

My Dad came out for a week's visit while my Grandma was in the hospital.  Here he is helping her climb one morning.  She LOVES to climb, up on chairs, up the stairs, on the step stool - everywhere!

She also loves to sit...  She'll walk over and crawl in to out laps all the time.  She also LOVE to sit on the first step, or on the hearth of the fireplace.  She'll spend forever there with the dog leashes over her shoulder, or a book in her lap, bouncing, standing and sitting over and over again.  While I was in the process of getting the 1yr. car seat in to the car it spent a couple of days in the living room.  While there it was Olive's favorite resting place!

Emma and Daddy with the power tool'd wolf!

Emma as "Merida" from the movie Brave (which is fantastic by the way!)

Emma bobbing for Apples at the amazing neighborhood Halloween party - she got about 4 apples.

Soft Paws and Merida

Like I said, it was an amazing Halloween party, and then one of the neighbors brought out their John Deer and flatbed wagon and all the kids jumped on!

Unfortunately I missed ALL of Halloween this year, as I spent the day with Olive at Children's Hospital in the ER, got home to see Em in her costume (I missed her first Halloween parade at school!!!!  thank goodness my mom was able to go and help get Emma dressed and take a few pictures), and then ended up taking Olive back in and of course then they admitted her for overnight observation!  Olive basically has Reactive Airway Disease, and whenever she gets a cold it will go down to her chest and her airway becomes constricted and she has an asthma like reaction.  She is a nebulizer baby and now we will also start a steroid type nebulizer once she has a runny nose!  Overall, I am so thankful this is all we have to deal with.  In the long run, no biggie!

 Emma was invited to a gymnastics birthday party the other week, and I took Olive with.  Both girls had a fantastic time exploring and playing!  Poor Olive had a major face plant right after I shot the picture below... Bad mom:)

While Olive is very snuggly and loving she is no where NEAR as smiley as Emma was so I have to take advantage of a smile picture when I can get one!

Big girl climbed all the way up on to her chair the other day.  She was SO proud of herself, showing me over and over again how she could accomplish the feat!

Oliver got this adorable outfit from Auntie Holly and Uncle Jason.  I love the look on her face - so Parisian.

Olive is quite the little smarty pants - she loves the remote and points it at the TV (I know, I know), she "talks" on the phone, she'll put our hands on things she wants or wants repeated, and she knows what the dog kennel is for!  She actually loves the kennel!

Elliott's friend has season tickets to the Vikings and he was kind enough to give us his Detroit game tickets!  It has been over 12 years since either of us has been to a game!  We went to brunch and then walked through down town to get to the Metrodome.  It was SO MUCH FUN!

So sad... Detroit was losing...

Jill and El...

It was so fun to get away for the day and enjoy each other's company.  The girls had a nice day with Grandma and Grandpa Loerch - so glad they are able to help is out!

It was so fun to have Grandma Patterson come visit for a few days as well this month.  Emma enjoyed spending some time with her, coloring or watching a show!

More later...  love to all...

October 2012

Emma and her GOLD MEDAL from playing soccer this fall.  We loved, and she loved, the team she was on.  The boys and girls meshed so well and Emma now goes to school with a number of them  The other girl on her team is actually her locker mate at school, and one of the boy's, Carter, holds a very special place in her heart!

We decided to get away for the weekend Oct. 11th - Emma had Friday off -so we headed up to Duluth for two nights.  I got us a place right on the lake, in the Canal Park area, and it had a separate sleeping area with a giant whirlpool tub, plus breakfast (which is nice so if one of the girls wakes up early I can take them down to get something while everyone else sleeps!).  We had a beautiful cool and sunny Friday to spend in the "park".  Harry the Horse took us on a carriage ride around Canal Park.  Thank goodness for this picture - proof that I was actually on the trip:)

Part of the reason I love staying at Canal Park is because of the rocky shore along Lake Superior.  The shore has teeny tiny pebbles soften by years of wear from the lake, and then they have brought in yards and yards of giant boulders that you can climb on and explore, along the coast line (I am sure they are a break for the water as well!).

Olive and Daddy walkinng together.

We took Olive to the toy store at the end of our afternoon walk, so she could pick something out for her first birthday.  She has only two stuffed animals, and I thought she needed something special of her own.

What I did not mention was that by unforseen circumstances we did not get to our hotel until almost 10pm Thursday night.  The plan was 7:30!!!!  So Emma was EXHAUSTED most of the day Friday, and Olive was not in her prime, for sure.  For lunch that day Emma ate apple sauce (didn't even touch her mac-n-cheese) and could barely contain herself during dinner.  When she gets tired she is constantly on the move, because God Forbid she actually admit to being tired! :)

So when we called it an evening at 5:00 Em was hungry, and well Olive will just about always have a little bite to eat.  So we all headed in to the beautiful sitting area of the hotel, like a 4 season porch of sorts, and I walked Emma over to Caribou Coffee to get a snack.  The girls shared maple brown sugar oatmeal and a grilled cheese sandwich (Ok, I may have had a few bites too!).

Both Emma and Olive were SOUND ASLEEP in the hotel room by 7:15!  Elliott and I sat next to each other on the couch and enjoyed each other's company, watched TV - no kids programs! - for a few hours.  It was heavenly!!!!  No other responsibilities, nothing else to accomplish, no dogs to let out....  We will most certainly go again for the weekend, very soon!

 The above picture is of Emma and Olive, the morning of Olive's Birthday.  Emma LOVES being a big sister, and while they can BOTH pester the other, Olive lights up when Emma is around.

 We had planned to spend the whole day (the 13th - Olive's birthday) in Duluth, but we woke up to rain!  So, we headed back home after check-out and Elliott called my Mom and Denny on the way home to see if they wanted to come over for dinner.  I figured if we were having a small family dinner we HAD to celebrate at least with cup cakes!  So I made lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  You can see she LOVED them and scooped the frosting in to her mouth!!!

It is so fun to watch Emma start to interact with Olive, and in a way that both of them can really be a part of!  The other day I walked in to the toy room and there was Olive sitting at the kiddie table.  Emma had sat her there and given her tea, a spoon and a donut, and Olive was as happy as could be.  It is so fun - Emma is such a little mom, if not a little overbearing, I am always certain she loves being a big sister.

Cousins Landon, Olive and Emma dancing at Olive's "official" birthday party.  We were so happy to have Becca, Landon and Chris join us, with my Mom and Denny as well.  Olive received a piano from Nana and Papa Jim for her birthday and she is OBSESSED with dancing to the music!  I love it.  I seriously think it is from me dancing until I was almost 8 months pregnant.  She has a pavlovian response to music and cannot contain herself:)

She REALLY enjoyed her pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting:)  

Tired Olive, who is quite the snuggler, with Daddy and her new bunny from Grandma Loerch.

And ...  matching hat!

We had a wonderful first birthday with Olive.  It is so fun to see all that she is learning and exploring.  She has been waving goodbye for quite a while now, and she is most certainly saying "hi", usually if there is a phone involved (!).  She will stand up on her own and walk many steps unaided, so that is just a matter of time and her desire.  She still loves the salty foods, and mac-n-cheese especially, brown rice and soup, also bananas, apple squeeze packs, strawberries and waffles!

She is a bit of a picky eater, has no interest in a bottle (I've quite trying!) and does not really like milk either. 

Elliott and Emma got a little building bug over the weekend.  Elliott ended up building this beautiful bird feeder, went to the antique store to get the milk jug, and took Emma and the digs to the puppy park to get found wood for the outside!  I LOVE IT!

My mom and I took Olive out to Whole Foods for lunch the other day - eating mac-n-cheese of course!

My favorite Olive picture this far....

Oh, did I mention that she has started screaming to get her point across?  If she wants some water, she will scream until she gets it.  If she wants to play with something, she will scream until she gets over to it.  If she wants some breakfast, she will scream until the food is in front of her....  awesome.

:)