Our day out on Table Rock Lake....

Liz at the wheel...
Mikaela at the wheel...
Mama with Olivia (she loved the boat)....
Dada and Olivia going for a dip in the lake...
Swimming in the lake......

Our DAY out on the Lake...

Stacy and Brad, TOTALLY enjoy a day out on the boat....
Makaela enjoying the rays and the breeze in her hair!!!
Brad keeping a watchful eye on dads driving...Bryce hiding from the sun....
Grandma and her beautiful granddaughters!!!
...watching the waves...VERY COOL says Olivia....

...Let ME Out!!!! Heheheheh...

It's a good thing that there are plenty of watchful eyes at Grandma and Grandpa Light's house...Olivia LOVED this style of doorknobs!!! She can ALMOST open the doors herself!!!! (SCARY)!!!!

Brad and Stacy's Night out in Earika Springs...

Eureka Springs, is usually quite the hopping little town...apparently not the night we went...I think it was a Thursday (I can't remember now)...the streets were dead...Nonetheless we had a nice night...strolled through the streets (which we had to ourselves) , window shopped in the closed stores and even popped into a local bar for a drink (we were 2 of 4 people, one of those being the bartender)...
Anyway, It was a nice evening out for mama and dada :)

Swings at the campground...MORE fun MO....

What a nice sissy...giving her a push on the swing!!!
Grandpa, Olivia and dada...Going for a walk!!!
...MORE SWINGS!!!!
Where's grandma???? Boooo...she had to work and missed out on this fun!!!!

...AND even more fun in MO...FIREWORKS

Nightly FIREWORK displays CHEZ Grandma and Grandpa Light!!!! They started off small...a few tiny firecrackers...sprinklers, bottle rockets...then each night after had to outdo the previous...Brad and dad made daily trips to the Firework tent to see what they could get that was bigger and better than the last night. By the grand finale, one would have though we were putting on a commercial firework display....

Olivia doesn't know what she missed. During these displays she was cozy in her room (aka the bunker) have sweet dreams of sugarplum fairies?!?!?

Mikaela and I posing for a pic pre-show...
Brad laughing hysterically at his missile's...
Frick and Frack standing back to watch their creations...
...Not sure WHAT Liz is doing, but...looks like she's having fun doing it....?!?!?
...Watching the show!!!

MORE fun in MO...Dogwood canyon Park!!!

Liz, Stacy & Mikaela!!!
Grandma & Grandpa Light with the Granddaughters!
The O'Neil's!!!

Fun in MO!!!

The cousins having fun in the hot tub! Olivia, Liz and Mikaela...
the O'Neil's...Testing out the NEW packpack carrier!!! Thanks Aunt Renee, Chase and Bryce...WE LOVE THE CARRIER...Olivia especially loves it...it's a whole new view from up here!!!
...PRETTY GIRL...New hat and a new purse...wooo hooo...
Uncle Brad and Aunt Stacy at Roaring River Fish Hatchery with Olivia and the Neices!!!
...At the petting zoo....

Apologies....

...for the lack of posting :( I promise in the next few days I will finish uploading Missouri pic, update the blog and of course comment (with pics) from our little Olivia's 1st Birthday Bash!!!

Hope everyone is well.

~smo

Our Trip to Missouri!!!

We just returned home yesterday from a two week family vacation in Missouri at my parents house!!! We drove (yes drove) there and back. It is 22 hours of driving time. We drove (at night) straight through on the way there and made one over night stop coming back home. Olivia was such an excellent little traveller, we could not have asked for better!!!

We had a very relaxing time at mom and dads house. Enjoyed quality time, spent time with my two nieces that were there as well (Liz and Mikaela, 13 and 8)...that was alot of fun and Olivia especially enjoyed them. We BBQ'd ALOT, enjoyed nightly displays of fireworks put on by dad and Brad (a scary thought) and even escaped out for a day on the boat!!!

It was hard to return to reality, but here we are...now back at home...I will post pics over the next week from our trip in Missouri ...

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY GIBSON!!!

One of Olivia's boyfriends recently celebrated his 1st birthday. She attended Gibson's first birthday party (rubber ducky theme) just before we left for Missouri. Gibson is just over a month older than Olivia and they grew very close this year during their weekly play dates!!! Now that Olivia and Gibson's moms are back to work our play dates will unfortunately be less frequent but we sure did enjoy the last year!!!

Olivia getting ready and in her PARTY DRESS:
Olivia chillin out with the boys (Eric and Gibson):
The BIRTHDAY BOY HIMSELF...Gibson...ONE YEAR OLD!!!!
...not too sure what he was supposed to do with the cake...and very unsure when the singing began!!!
...ahhhh and the best part...THE PRESENTS!!!!!
Thanks for sharing your day with us Gibson and we hope you had a wonderful birthday!!!!

Happy 1st FATHERS day Brad!!!

I know this post comes more than LATE...but it's been a while (obviously) since I have had a chance to update the blog.

Brad celebrated his very first fathers day in June and he and Olivia had a very special day.

Better late than never so to my wonderful husband I just wanted to say I couldn't have wished for a better dad for Olivia!!! Brad and Olivia share a very special bond and it is such a rush for me to watch them together. Olivia loves her dada very much!!!

Olivia getting ready to give dada is gift for fathers day!!!
"Here's the card dada!!! See I picked it out and signed it myself":
Olivia helping dada to open up the present!!!
A TURKEY FRIER for daddy!!!! YAY!!!
We spent the later part of the day at Brad's mom and dads and had a lovely supper with them!!! Papa Light was working up north but did receive presents when we were in Missouri last week!!!
Brad and I are very lucky to have such great dads and of course thank them both for all they do (still) for us!!!

Olivia - Just over 10 months!!!

Olivia continues to amaze us. I've said this a million times, but it is SO fun to watch our baby grow and so refreshing to watch the world through the innocent eyes of your child.

Olivia seems to do something amazing everyday. She seems like such a little person now which seems crazy that only 10 months ago we brought home this little baby who was so incredibly dependant on us. Olivia is very determined to show us her Independence now. Although she is still very much attached to mama and dada, she does like us to watch her do things on her own.

She is quite the chatterbox these days (i love her little voice) and she is very into mimicking our sounds and words (often getting the words very recognizable). She is also very much into copying the actions we do...that is fun. She points at everything now too which is so cute!!!

She is like a little sponge just soaking things up right now and it is so obvious these last few weeks that she really understands us when we talk to her. Olivia, Clap your hands....she claps her hands....Olivia, show mommy and daddy where your hair is...she pulls her hair....Olivia , go kick the ball...she kicks the ball....you get the idea....Amazing!!!!

She is also SO close to walking it scares me. she has taken a few steps on her own already and i would bet she'll be fully walking in the next month or so....

This is Olivia's upstairs toy box (great for hiding toys in a pinch, although we rarely bother)...Olivia spend alot of time here. It's cute to watch her route through her toys especially when she is looking for something VERY SPECIFIC. Every toy comes out and is thrown on the floor until she finds the exact one she was looking to play with...
...she spends most of her day with big smiles and nothing warms our hearts more....
...."dada...are you gonna chase me"? ...one of Olivia's favorite games...we chase her then she chases us...it's hilarious because she usually starts laughing hysterically...
...Olivia is into EVERYTHING....and more often than not, into all the places that she isn't supposed to...we are currently in the middle of baby proofing....
"Hi Mama, can I have a turn with the camera"?

Lunch, Playdate and a trip to Bear Brook Farm!!!!

Bear Brook Farm

Gibson is one of Olivia's playmates that we have become quite close with over this past year. I actually know Gibson's mommy (Alison) through my good friend Nadia. I used to see Alison quite a bit when I first moved to Ottawa as we lived in the same area and frequented the same watering hole (Gracie's). Over the years we sorta lost touched and hadn't seen each other in quite a few years. That is until we had our babies (only 6 weeks apart). We started getting together when the kids were only a couple months old and have been getting together just about every week or two since. It has been alot of fun reconnecting with Alison over the last year and watching our babies grow together in there first year.

Yesterday after lunch at Gibson and Alison's house we went over to Bear brook farm to walk around and check out the animals...

The peacocks were a hit ...right up until they started SCREECHING....Olivia began to cry and Gibson quickly followed...

Our friends, Alison and Gibson...
... the lamas...the kids were pretty relaxed by now...over the trauma caused by the peacocks...
Olivia just chillin'. You might notice the GASH on her forehead....She slipped at Gibson's house and fell right on top of a puzzle head first....
there were more animals at the farm but to be honest I'm too lazy to upload more pics...lol!!!

Here is Olivia and Gibson Playing together before lunch and our trip to the farm...Alison and I still can't get over the changes in only a year that these kids have gone through. When we first started playing together our lunch / play dates were quite relaxing and the babies basically just laid on the floor staring at each other. Now they are both cruising and into EVERYTHING to the point where Alison and I now have to take turns to used the bathroom!!!! It's been a blast and although we are both back to work in the next year we hope to still see each other as regularly as we can!!!!

Olivia and new Gal Pal!!!

Olivia's new Gal Pal Charlie...they met for the first time finally last weekend!!! They were SO CUTE to watch together!!!

Olivia showing off her car to charlie...
...awwww...sharing...goood girls!!!!
We had so much fun with Olivia and Charlie!!!