Summer Delights... fun in the sun!

Olivia's 3rd birthday has come and gone, faster then I could say fun in the sun! The theme was Summer Delights and we had a back yard water park. We had a pool (thanks to g-ma from last years party), a slip-n-slide and sprinklers. The kids had sunglasses, water guns and beach balls to keep them busy and of course a pinata! Food was finger foods: a fruit platter with a pineapple/cocanut tree center piece (thanks Lisa)and chips, hot dogs in a sweater (corn dogs made with bread dough) and PBJ sandwiches in the shapes of fish and ice cream cones. A snack mix of popcorn with swedish fish, m&ms and gold fish and of course slushies! I think everyone had fun, especially Olivia. Tomas and another father even went down the slip-n-slide.

Pink Umbrella

Olivia loves the umbrella that grandma bought her last year. It works great in rain or shine.

A million different faces

Olivia has been working on her expressions and daddy was able to capture some on film....

Memorial Day

Since Tomas was off, we decided that we wanted to go on a road trip. Tomas wanted to go to Fossil Rim and I said the zoo. The zoo was closer to our house and we wanted to invite friends. We ended up at the zoo and we brought along two of Olivia's friends and their mom. (it's hard for us to go to a zoo and not think of all the fun times that we had with our cousins at the SF zoo. Ft Worth is nice but it just isn't the same for us). It turned out to be a pretty busy day at the zoo and one of the hottest of the year. Was it really two months ago that we had snow??? The kids had fun and one of our favorites of the zoo is Wild Texas where there is an ice cream shop. We ended the day with ice cream and Olivia was the only one that took a nap on the way home.

"Firsts"

Being an adult, I sometimes forget what it felt like to do something for the first time as a small child. As an adult, we sometimes have to do a "first"; like a new house or a new city but as an adult it's easier to have control over those situations and to know how it will all work out and you know that it won't kill you to do what ever needs done because you can relay on how past experiences worked out.

Olivia had two big "firsts" last week, a trip to the dentist and swimming lessons. I picked a local pediatric dentist and on his website he gave suggestions on how to make the visit easier for kids and the biggest part was don't make a big deal about coming to the dentist. So, I didn't even tell Olivia much, just we are going to the dentist and she was OK. But that all changed when we were called to the back office. Mind you, the office was very kid friendly and very active. Everyone was very sweet and nice. Being put into the big chair transformed my brave, outgoing Olivia to a shy child that I have never seen. The office had sunglasses for the kids to wear and after some princess talk and showing of the tools and how they work and feel, my old Olivia soon emerged and was eating up all the attention. In the end, it was a fabulous experience for Olivia and she can't wait to brush her teeth at home.

Her other first was the swimming lesson and believe it or not went very similar to the dentist trip. Olivia started out a little shy but she loves the water so she was quickly won over. She's been swimming with a swim suit with a built in floater, so I think she had a problem with having to hold on to someone and listen to directions. The water was very cold because it had rained the day before so the lesson only lasted about 20 minutes or so. I was concerned that she wouldn't want to come back because by the time she got out of the pool, she was saying that she wanted to go home, she didn't like it, etc.. but as the days have gone by she has talked about the "superman" swim (arms straight out and hands on top of each other) and how she has to kick her legs in the water.

I look forward to being with Olivia has she has more firsts, especially has she starts taking on the role of big sister.

Baby update....

Many couldn't believe that a urine test could be correct but the truth is in the sonogram.... yes it's a boy, I have a picture of his boy parts to prove it! To protect the innocent, I won't be posting them :)

I've gotten used to the idea of a boy instead a girl and I've decided that I can dig it and I'm actually looking forward to having a little man running around. The name game is on and now I'm at 25 weeks with no name, will our little guy be born without a name? I hope not, Olivia's choice is Coco but I don't see us using that one, any suggestions?