Olivia is TWO!

Sweet, sweet Olivia.  How has it already been two years since you came into our family? 

This sweet little girl is ALL two year old right now.  Emotions are high - she's super happy and cuddly and smiley...or she's on the floor throwing a tantrum.  And she seems to last longer than Kate did (or maybe I just don't remember); she will scream and cry on the floor for a LONG time.

Some fun things about Liv at this age:

• she calls every princess Cinda-bella and loves to sing and dance with Kate
• her favorite (read: constant) questions for about two months were: "Where mommy go?" and "What doing, Mama?"
• every color is blue to her
• she copies everything Kate does to a T; what she says, how she sits, what she plays with.  it's super cute, but Kate gets slightly annoyed
• the girls have really started fighting and have figured out ways to get under each other's skin.  we've been having lots of time-outs and crying around here
• for anything that is opening, she says, "open door" and for anything closing, she says "close door".  it doesn't matter if it's a door or her arms or a book or a diaper:)
• she knows words to a few songs: Jesus Loves Me, Let it Go, and God Made Me
• she's finally starting to eat a little bit more real food - yay!
• her answer to most questions is "be-tuz" (because)
• she really, really loves her daddy.  She screams when he comes home every day, and she gives him all of her hugs and kisses, it's very sweet:)
• she LOVES reading books
• she is sleeping in a big girl bed these days, and is doing really great.  she sleeps about 12 hours at night, and her afternoon naps have gotten longer too (1.5-2 hours)

Her 2 year stats (she's still so tiny!):

• Height: 2 ft, 8 in (14%)
• Weight: 21 lb (1%)
• Head Circumference 46 cm (15%)

Liv's 2nd Birthday Party

In the few months since Christmas, Olivia has really liked the Very Hungry Caterpillar story, so we decided to use that as the theme for her second birthday party.  Her birthday fell on a Saturday, so we got to celebrate on the actual day, which was really fun.  All of the food was inspired by the book, and we didn't do much in the way of decorations (something about being super pregnant...)

A big thank you to our families, who came to celebrate this sweet little girl.  We loved spending time with you!

cousins!

winter fun

Magna Tiles at the library - super fun!

Kate built a castle - no surprise there!

this girl - cracks me up!

the girls showing off our new blue couch in the basement:)

big helper

Liv, the doctor - she wants to do everything Kate does these days

Liv in the dance party outfit and Kate helping daddy with her
'work belt' and 'work boots' 

Water Wow books for the win!

Elsa dresses and singing Frozen songs:)

playdate with friends

reading and sorting their new Winnie the Pooh books from Grandma

Grandma and Grandpa were in Florida, so these
two wanted to play in their swimsuits too:)

Happy Birthday to Grandma Kadzban!

post-Christmas crafts

One of Kate's gifts from Uncle Andy and Aunt Sam was a DIY birdhouse.  She loves making bird feeders in the summer, so this is another way she can take care of her little birdie friends:) She worked very hard painting the pieces, and then put it together with Daddy once he was home from work.  A few days later, when it was warmer outside, the two of them hung it up in a tree in our backyard.  Now, anytime we see birds flying in that general direction, she tells me they're going to her birdhouse:)

New Years Eve, Boyne Mountain, and Skiing

We traveled up to Boyne with the Pridgeons for New Years Eve and New Years Day.  The girls actually did much better in the car than I expected (maybe because we switched Liv's car seat to forward facing?), but they did not sleep well once we were up there.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

This was probably our most low-key NYE ever.  As in, we watched the MSU bowl game, and the only people still awake at midnight were Matt, Bill and I.  The game was such a downer, it sort of ruined the rest of the celebration.

little State fans:)

Kate really wanted to go skiing again, so she and Matt spent as much time out on the slopes as they could on New Years Day.  She loved it! And she's getting so much better! She was able to balance more and hold her own weight by holding onto one of Matt's poles instead of being between his legs. We are so proud!

Liv and I hung out inside.

On New Years Day, we went for a horse-drawn sleigh ride down at the Lodge.  We were the only ones on our ride, so the driver let Kate come up on the bench in front and help him 'drive'.  She thought it was pretty awesome.