After Christmas and still partying.

Enjoying the playroom at Great-Uncle Mike and Great-Aunt Juanamaria's anniversary party.

Trying on Grampy's hat in the van.

Hey Mom! I'm just playing.

Dancing in my jammies while Uncle Brad tries to hook up Grandma and Grandpa's new speakers.

This Nemo movie ROCKS!

Playing soccer in the park.

Daddy says I need to get good at this soccer thing.

Whee!

Christmas Day

Olivia wasn't quite sure what to do with the gifts under the tree. She woke up and saw them, but she just kept pointing and touching them.

"Go see what Santa brought for you!" She didn't quite understand what we meant by that. She went over to her stuffed Santa and sat on his lap, as if she were saying, "Ok, what?"

"Oh, now I get it! Presents are for me!"

We opened gifts at Grammy and Grampy's house after Church, and by then she was getting the hang of this gift opening thing.

Olivia ponders the meaning of it all after Christmas Day Mass.

Our holiday trip to West Baden

Those of you who know us personally know that we live a (relatively) short drive from the historic West Baden Hotel. We take the trip occasionally to just enjoy the grand atrium and wander around. It's that awesome. So today we took Olivia for her first visit, and she had a great time. She just ran back and forth, exploring everything.

"Oh, Daddy, thank you so much for bringing me here today! It's fun!"

After West Baden, we visited the French Lick hotel, which has it's own bowling alley and game room. Olivia liked the race game best.

And the whole day completely wore her out!

Time for gifts and family

Olivia received a gift in the mail from her Aunt Julia and Uncle Curt. She opened it carefully and took time to inspect each book.

Oohh...look! One with my name on it!

She loves books.

Grammy & Grampy have neighbors who have two little dogs. Olivia likes to stop and say "Hi" to these doggies whenever she can.

Olivia shows off her flannel nightgown.

Olivia loves popcorn. She likes to sit with Daddy in the evenings and eat out of his popcorn bowl.

Yum!

Video time

Olivia keeps Mommy on her toes. Between the running and the climbing and the keeping her out of the Christmas tree, Mommy's exhausted.

Christmas tree

We put our tree up on Saturday. So far, Olivia has done fairly well with it. She walks up to it and touches the ornaments and says "No!" She knows.

Sitting with her Santa doll.

OK, so she doesn't ALWAYS keep her hands off of the tree. She has been caught trying to put her shoes on the branches. And then there's this...and no, she's not helping put decorations on...she's taking them off.

St. Nick day

Olivia discovers her stocking from St. Nick.

She took great joy in ripping off small pieces of wrapping paper.

Ooh...letters. Fun!

She got two little dolls, a colorful soccer ball, and the package of foam letters. She was in heaven. It's very easy to please a one-year-old.

Birthday party cake photos

Olivia's (much belated) first birthday party was Friday night. We invited our immediate families, which included about 22 people. There were a half dozen little ones, so our house was a little loud for awhile. Here are the cake photos for those of you who couldn't join us.

The cakes. Banana cake on the left, and "official" birthday cake on the right. (In case you are wondering, my birthday is a little more than a week after Olivia's, so I, "Mom" got included on the cake text.)

Olivia politely listens to the singing and avoids touching the cupcake until it is over.

"Hmm...let's see here...I think I'll start with the icing first."

"Oooh...good icing!"

"Cream cheese icing...my favorite!"

Still sucking off the icing.

Finally taking a breather from devouring the icing.

After finishing off her banana cupcake, she also got a piece of regular birthday cake. This photo was taken right before she started rubbing icing all over her eyes. We caught her and threw her in the tub before she could go for her hair.

Doesn't she look just pleased as punch to be covered in icing?

Growing up so fast!

Daddy found Olivia's old bouncy seat while we were tidying up her closet today. He thought she should try it out.

I think she enjoyed it more than she ever did when she was pre-mobile.

Happy first birthday, Olivia!

Olivia's first year in pictures


Moments after birth...so precious!

12/13/07 - One Month Old

1/12/08 - Two Months Old

2/12/08 - Three Months Old

3/12/08 - Four Months Old

4/12/08 - Five Months Old

5/12/08 - Six Months Old

6/12/08 - Seven Months Old

7/12/08 - Eight Months Old

8/12/08 - Nine Months Old

9/12/08 - Ten Months Old

10/12/08 - Eleven Months Old

11/12/08 - Happy 1st Birthday!

This last photo appears thanks to Olivia's Godparents, who allowed me to borrow their camera to get the pictures. I had to take at least two dozen shots to get one where she was sitting still, looking up and not making a weird face.

Here are two bonus photos, just because I was a little camera-happy today...

Hi Mommy! I'm so happy it's my birthday today!

Blowing a birthday kiss to you!