February Fun

I attempted to snap pictures of both girls in their cute Valentines get ups before they headed out for the morning on Valentines Day. Of course Mia was right there willing and able, but Olivia was off in search of the perfect hair accessory before having her photograph taken. I snapped a couple of Mia alone, while waiting on Olivia, only to have my camera battery die. Therefore, no photos of Olivia on Valentines Day. The girls both had fun celebrating the day at school and daycare. Andy and I don't ever do much for the day. It's just another day for us, but I was thrilled when he picked up Taco Bell, so I didn't have to cook for the evening.

We are currently on mid winter break. Olivia was bored the other day and complained that no neighbor kids were around to play with. I jokingly suggested she could entertain herself by picking up dog poop from the backyard instead. But the proposition of doing a chore and earning some money enticed my Olivia, and she was out there hard at work for a long time. She came in and exclaimed, "Do you know how much dog poop weighs?" Yes, Olivia, I sadly do. But I am thrilled she wants to take that task over and earn an allowance doing so. They have school banking every Thursday at school. She takes a few dollars in each week and is excited to watch her money accumulate. Olivia is always scheming to find ways to make money. We have a little entrepreneur on our hands.

She wasn't happy I took photos of her in action, but I couldn't resist. She definitely is a hard worker, when she puts her mind to something.

The painting above is one of Olivia's masterpieces she made with her art supplies she got from Santa for Christmas. She did this painting on a snow day back in January, but I realized I hadn't posted a picture of it yet. She's quite the artist. She loves to create any art, although she can get very frustrated during each creation. I have to remember my patience with her, when trying to teach her any new techniques.

Baby of Mine

Although, not apparent in these photos, Mia stayed home sick today. Both Mia and I were feeling a bit under the weather last night. Mia was running a temperature of about 101 degrees. Enough to warrant her staying home for the day, and I gladly was the one to stay home with the way I was feeling. She stilled had a fever this morning, but it started to decrease all on it's own, without medication. I am happy to report no vomiting, diarrhea, or coughing incurred. I've just got terrible congestion that came out of nowhere, but I will live. Thankfully, it was a day that Mia and I could just spend some quality time together. We don't get much alone time together to just have fun. We didn't do much. Watched movies of Mia's choosing, fixed her foods of her choice, and she soaked in the tub. Oh, but napping with her was heavenly. I love to take naps with Mia. There's just something magical about having a sweet little child sleeping next to you or in your arms. You can hear their gentle breathing, and when you awake they are right there cuddled up to you. Snuggling in bed with my girls is one of my top mommy favorite things to do of all time.

All smiles

freshly dressed and just out of the bath

Mia is truly a joy. Very different than big sister Olivia, but I love all of her energy and tenaciousness. She keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment with her in our lives. She loves for me to sing her Baby Mine, especially when she's tired. It's our special song. Sadly, I think she's got my musical skills since she enjoys my singing, but hopefully she won't be tone deaf all her life. Technically today was a sick day, but I'll remember it in my book as a Mommy and Mia day.

It's Official, We Have Ourselves a Swimmer

Olivia learned to swim last summer. Would I say she was a strong swimmer? By no means. I trusted her to swim without a life jacket on her own in a pool, where adults were present. I would never let her swim alone, or off in the middle of a lake. She could keep her head above water, but was lacking in technique. She was off to a great start, but we felt she could use some additional training. The community pool was having swim lessons on Monday evenings. Olivia joined the group late into their session, but she was getting some extra practice and she seemed to enjoy it. Andy was at the pool most nights, so he was always the one that stayed with her. Chasing Mia around the pool, while Olivia swam was not my idea of a good time, so I hadn't seen how much she was improving. Andy would come home with comments on how good she was doing, and I did believe him, but didn't grasp just how good.

Then one night he came home and said she was going to swim the 25 yd backstroke in the Stingrays swim meet that Saturday. I was a bit surprised. Mind you, the last time I saw her backstroke, she would turn and crash into the sidewalls. I was excited for her and ready to cheer her on no matter how well or poorly she swam.

I sat there at the start of her meet, anxiously awaiting. Various scenes played through my head. Would she enter the water at the right time, start too early, have a real slow start, get disqualified for some silly mistake? Boy, did she ever amaze me! She took off so quickly in the water. Within no time she was multiple body lengths ahead of the other girls in her heat. She swam straight as an arrow like she's been doing this forever. I screamed from the sidelines and snapped numerous photos. After her heat there was even a reminder about no flash photography at the start of each race. I'm sure that was directed at me. It was my little girl's first race, so oops, I got a little too over zealous with the photos. Sue me.

Here is a photo of her time. The photo was taken before the other girls finished so their times aren't accurate. She swam the same event later and beat her time by about one second. We're so proud. Looks like Stingrays are in her future next year, that is as long as she still wants to do it.

Where Did January Go?

Can you believe we are in February already? Time truly does just fly by these days. I've been so busy with work, I haven't had much time to sit back and reflect on the blessings in my life. They are bountiful.

One of Olivia's Christmas gifts was a day of pampering with Grandma Patty. They started out their day with Olivia receiving a hot stone massage from Grandma, followed by the hair salon for tinsel in Olivia's hair. Next, was the nail salon for a manicure and pedicure fit for a princess. When their day of beauty was done, Grandpa McNeil escorted both ladies to Olive Garden in Elkhart, followed by slurpees at 7-11. Olivia was ecstatic with her day of royal treatment. She will cherish these memories for a lifetime. Of course, when the last piece of tinself fell out of her locks, there were many tears shed.

A close up of Olivia's red and silver glittery tinsel.

Mia, Olivia, and Kendall (Jason and Melody's daughter)

New Years day was celebrated at John and Esther's as usual. Esther's sister, Ruth and her husband Rich made the trip over from Ohio. Their two children and their families joined them as well. Jason and his wife Melody brought Kendall who is just a doll and outweighs Mia. Also, present, but not pictured was Julia, her husband Kris, and their daughter Kourtney. Kourtney is also a cutie and celebrated her 1st birthday on the same day that her mother Julia, Grandpa Rich, and Great Grandfather were all born. Quite a miracle if you ask me.

This is a photo of some beautiful flowers my dad and Patty had delivered to me at work. No one is quite sure what kind they are, but they are striking. We're guessing maybe some type of orchid. They're holding up terrific too, especially since this photo was taken over a week after I received them.