Another beautiful day, and today we enjoy with daddy!!!

We love the weekends chez O'Neil. It's when we spend the most quality time together...and now with this nice weather we get to do so many things outside which is great!!! Olivia is so memorized by the wind and the birds, cats, dogs people...watching her dada wash the vehicles, rake the lawn....SO MUCH ACTION...no time for naps!!! We do alot of walking now days and Olivia loves cruising along in her stroller. WE have also set up a little area for her to play on our deck while we are out there especially since the lawn is still pretty wet (and also since she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, she's easier to keep an eye on there)!!!

Here is Olivia today playing outside:

The NEW Coppertone baby!!!

Olivia and I slapped on the sunscreen (several times) and played out side most of the day on Friday!!! We love this weather!!!

Olivia Michelle, coppertone baby 2008!!!

8 months, 3 weeks!!!

Enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather!!!

Fulton's Pancake House and Sugar Bush

The O'Neil's at Fulton's Pancake House and Sugar Bush

The weather certainly makes it seem like we are truly headed towards SPRING!!!! FINALLY. :)

A Very special Birthday...

First, a note to thank EVERYONE for the well wishes, phone calls, cards and presents!!! I feel so incredibly spoiled!!!

A special thank you to my husband who gets more excited about my birthday than I do and planned a lovely little celebration for me...even though it wasn't one of those "milestone birthdays"...lol...

Now for the next 8 or so years i can just refer to myself as 30-something...no need to get too specific!

Another thank you to my parents for bringing me into this crazy world and who always make me feel special on my birthday especially and even when they are so far away.

This year although not one of those milestone birthdays was an incredibly important and special year for me for two reasons:

1) It was my first birthday as a mother and watching my baby be excited to help me open presents and cards and blow out candles was SO much fun...

and

2) This years birthday also marked the anniversary of 10 years since my stem cell transplant (which was performed in hopes of curing my Hodgkin's lymphoma). I'm officially 10 years in remission which is a celebration in itself.

I hope every birthday is as good as the last few but this one especially!!!

The O'Neils:
Me and my precious daughter:

Deep Fried BIRD!!!!

4 Generations!!!

Here is our four generation picture (on Mama Light's side)...Grandpa Frazier, Mama Light, me and Olivia!!!

I thought ALOT about my great-grandmother Leila (who passed away last year) during this photo. She was a wonderful woman whose life very much showed the importance of family. She had MANY descendants and could probably tell you the names and birthdays of every child, grandchild, great grandchild AND great-great grandchild.

Olivia's great-great grandmother would have loved to meet her and would have very much enjoyed seeing how truly amazing our little girl is.

Some very special visitors!!!

Although Daddy stayed home for the majority of our trip (to work and lay our hardwood floors in our house), he was able to come for two days which was awesome!!!
Olivia's GREAT-GRANDPARENTS (Frazier) came from Colorado to meet Olivia for the first time!!! She warmed up to them right away!!!

Her and Grandpa read lots of BOOKS!!!

Her and Grandma played with toys!!!

Aunt Renee and cousins Chase and Bryce also came to meet Olivia!!!

Some Easter FUNNN!!!

Decorating Easter Eggs and decorating windows!!!

I LOVE to Visit Grandma & Grandpa Light!!!!

We had a great trip to Missouri visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Light!!! Olivia had her FIRST ever airplane ride and she was such an amazing traveller!!!

I think olivia really enjoyed Missouri as there was no snow and most days the weather was good enough to wear either t-shirts or light jackets. She seems to really enjoy the outdoors which is great (we look forward to the end of winter her in the NCR so we can spend even more time outside).

Here are some pics of the we girl with a few of her Loyal Subjects:

Baby Girl was 8 months old last night!!!

I can't believe how fast the time goes by!!! Our Baby Girl is now 8 months old!!! She is growing by the day. We LOVE watching her...She is SO active and so imaginative...it really is incredible!!! Olivia started crawling on March 20th and now also pulls herself up on whatever she can. She is "very busy". We love her so much.

We will post more pics from our trip to Missouri very soon.

Love the O'Neil's xo

Olivia's own SWIMMING POOL!!!

Olivia's pretty spoiled...lol...She comes to grandma and grandpa's house and they convert the hot tub (turned down the heat significantly) into Olivia's personal swimming pool....new floaties and everything!!! She thought that was quite COOL!!!

Grandma and the wee girl in the pool:
...Olivia in her floaty...

A trip over to Branson Landing!!!

BRANSON LANDING

Grandma, Chase, Olivia and I drove over to Branson Landing on our second full day here just to check things out. The weather again was great and it was so nice to walk around and shop in the nice fresh air!!!

Here is Chase, Olivia and I ...

...here is Olivia with her new 'baby' ... her and chase have named the baby MARGARITA!!! Olivia LOVES her baby...drags her EVERYWHERE now...

...Chase and Olivia cruising through the Bass pro shop...I think my lil' cousin realized that my daughter can be quite the "chick magnet"...Although I'm note sure she's drawing in the babes he's lookin' for...lol...

...Here is grandma and Olivia...smelling the flowers...

Roaring River, Missouri

ROARING RIVER STATE PARK

Our first full day in Missouri was beautiful out as far as weather!!! Certainly a big change from the 80cm of snow we left back in Ottawa!!!

My cousin chase came out this way to do some fishing and spent 2 days with us. We really enjoyed his visit!!! Olivia took quite a like to him as well...

We took Olivia to Roaring River (a place that features fishing, camping hiking and all sorts of other outdoor activities) to get some air and for a ride in her stroller. She wasn't too sure at first WHAT to think of the outdoors since this was the first time since she was a newborn she'd been outside without a ton of snow gear on!!! She LOVED it!!! She was totally mesmorized by the air on her skin, the wind in her hair, the people, the vehicles, the wild life around her etc. We could really see it in her face that she was excited yet perhaps a little confused? Anyway she loves the outdoors and I'm sure will be confused once we return home to the weather and our snow suits!!!

Here are a few pics we took while at Roaring River...

This is Olivia and I with my cousin Chase:
Olivia chillin' with her big cousin Chase:

Olivia with grandma checking out the fish in the natural spring:

Olivia playing in the leaves with Grandpa:

BATHFUN AT GRANDMA/PA's!!!

Olivia having LOTS of bath FUN at Grandma/pa Light's house!!! She LOVES her new inflatable tub and cool bath toys!!!

THEE Baby Gap!!!

Our hood at night AND all that snow!!!!

Here's what it's like currently chez O'Neil...

CRAZY.....

COME ON SPRINGTIME!!!

Olivia watches Daddy shovel ALL THAT SNOW!!!

80cm of SNOW this weekend!!!! We are ready for SPRING!!!

...Just a few of our pics to show all the snow!!!! Poor hubby was out shovelling MOST of the weekend!!!!