Nikki's Steps!

60 Years of Memories

My mom turned 60 years old a few weeks ago.  I truly was looking for a unique gift for her birthday.  I went shopping for her and could not find anything to celebrate her birthday.  I went to the internet for help.  I found an idea called 60 years of memories.  I contacted my mom's friends, family, and coworkers to help out.  I collected memories of my mom from them.  Then I bought 60 airmail envelopes and filled each one with a memory that someone wrote about her.  By far most people love my mom's cream puffs and almond pastry- it was mentioned multiple times!  There was a lot of laughing and crying while opening the envelopes.  She loved the gift! I thought it was the perfect gift for someone who has everything!

Mom would like to thank everyone who contributed a memory.  She truly was surprised by some of the people who gave a memory. 

Special box

Envelopes

Lots of laughing

Lots of crying

Envelope 60!

Pool Party

What a great and hot day to have a pool party! We had our friends that we have met through Gymboree come over today.  Brendon was a super chef who made 2 pork butts and 2 beer can chickens.  Michelle made awesome mac and cheese.  Liliana made some yummy Flan.  Everyone had lots of food and fun!

The kids did great.  We had a little baby pool, the sand and water table, and the little sprinkler set up.  They played in that for a bit and then we all went in the big pool.  The kids were great in the pool.  It was nice to be in the pool and get cooled off since it was so hot! After we ate some people went back in the pool and we had dessert. 

We are so blessed to have met such great friends.  We enjoy good food and good times together.  It is nice to have such a great bunch of friends to hang out with that have babies!

Getting the chickens ready

Watermelon wheat beer

Brendon and his meat

Pool fun

Too many babies in the baby pool

Ethan rocking in the chair

Finishing up the night reading books with grandma

Hottest Day this Year So Far

So far as of today it has been the hottest it has been all year.  We watched the thermometer all day!

Grandma and Grandpa came last night while Olivia was sleeping.  So this morning when she woke up Grandma got up. Olivia was a little shy at first with her but soon warmed up.  They played a lot this morning and Olivia did fine while I took a shower.  We did some shopping this morning.  After shopping we had lunch and then went in the pool because it was so hot.  Olivia took a good nap and then we went to dinner at Amici's.  Olivia did not want to sit in the high chair at all.  She sat on my lap and on Grandma's lap.  But she did eat some salad off my plate and ate some pizza and drank her milk.  Then we came home and had some ice cream and watered the flowers.  Olivia took a good bath and drank her milk while Grandma read her some stories.  Such a fun but HOT day!

Pool time

Sandbox time

WD-40 fixes everything!

Hotness!

Amici's

Walking with Grandpa

Brendon getting some butts ready!

Last Day of Swimming

Today was our last day of swimming.  We swam a bit in the inside pool and then got to go outside to the splash park area.  For how warm the air was, the water was a chilly! Olivia got in a little bit and walked around.  She climbed some stairs and waded in the water.  Then she had a little trip and went face first in the water and I scooped her right up but I think she scared her self.  We went over to the kiddie pool and she would not let me put her down.  She liked to touch the water that was coming down the little fountain though.

It has gotten really hot so even after dinner it was 95 degrees.  We stayed out a few minutes to water the flowers, tomatoes, peppers, and beans.  But that was it.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be over a 100 and the next few days are supposed to be like this.  After living down here for 12 years you kind of get used to it.  I just hope it cools a little before the Peachtree Road Race next week.

Loves playing with her shape sorter

Also loving her blocks

Busy swimming and Gymboree day!

Sorry no pictures! It was a busy day.  I took Olivia to swimming today and she was not in the mood to swim.  She did some kicking but mostly just wanted to lounge around.  Tomorrow we get to go outside to the little water park they have.  It should be fun!

After swimming we went to lunch at Subway and Olivia ate some but not too much.  She did eat some snacks after swimming so she may have been full.  Then we went to Gymboree.  She had tons of fun running around and loves the bubbles.

It was a fun but busy and tiring day. 

Gator Shirt

This is the ONLY kind of Gator shirt Olivia will ever wear.  There is a Gator and it says Tickled Pink.  We will never dress Olivia in any other Gator attire.  Sorry Missy! But she did look cute in this gator outfit today!

Brendon went with Olivia in the pool at swimming lessons.  Since she hooted and hollered last time with him, I decided to just drop him off and go return something at Kohls, so I wouldn't be sitting on the bleachers watching.  It worked out MUCH better.  She was having a blast when I came back.  She was splashing and kicking and having fun.  It was great to see her laughing and getting excited to jump in to him.  There are 2 more lessons left.

We also had Kindermusik tonight and had lots of fun.  It is so fun to see her help clean up and return the stuff back to Ms. Dana.  She is becoming quite a good helper and listens well and follows some simple directions. 

Tomorrow is another double fun day- swimming and Gymboree! Yipeee!

Afternoon sandbox time

Gator shirt

Eyelashes

Sweetness

Sitting at the table

Olivia's high chair is pretty awesome and well worth the money we spent on it.  It is a 4 in 1 high chair.  I finally decided today that I would try the booster seat on one of the kitchen chairs.  My plan was to just stick the high chair tray to that and let her eat like that.  When I tried it out, it put her way far away from the table and would be hard to reach.  So I just scooted it up to the table and it was the perfect height.  So I thought I would try dinner this way and see how it worked out.  I found her place mat we bought her and put that on the table.  Olivia was a little confused at first, after all it is a different way to sit at the table but she ate just fine.  So we will see how it goes tomorrow. 

We had swim lessons today and Olivia did great.  She did lots of kicking especially when I had her positioned on her back.  She also splashed me A LOT!!! It was still chilly and towards the end she started shivering again so I took her out.  There was just a few minutes left at this point.  There are 3 lessons left and she seems to be getting better each time.

Sitting at the table