What's in the box?

What might be in the overly HUGE box that is sitting on my kitchen table?

See its size compared to a glass from the cupboard.

See its size compared to a package of crackers.....

See what looks to be lots and lots and lots of that same type of cracker....

See what's in the box. Crackers. Crackers. Crackers. Nana wanted to make sure that Olivia had a lifetime suppy for her lunches. We LOVE Cracker Barrel crackers!!!!

Smart Girl!

I forgot to write about this when it happened..... so better late than never!

We were so proud of Olivia at the end of this grading period. She brought home a spectacular report card. I am happy to see that she is doing well and working hard in the grade that I love! I am looking forward to watching her mind and confidence grow throughout the year. Great job Miss Olivia!

All A's

Halloween!

Since trick or treating started so early, we decided to have a fun, festive, and fast dinner. We ordered a Jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's. It was cute, and Olivia loved having the special dinner treat before the real fun began. (After only eating salads, veggies, fruit, and meat for the past few weeks- Michael and I enjoyed it too!)


We graduated from the Disney costumes this year. I still put my foot down when it came to choosing the outfit. I want to keep her young, sweet, and cute as long as I can. I thought her Geisha outfit was perfect. The Asian umbrella is authentic and was given to me when I was a little girl. I can't believe something this old has lasted this long. Olivia thought it was perfect as a finishing touch.

Notice the fancy make-up!

Allie, Amanda, and Olivia(friends from Jamie's house)

Our Halloween tradition- a photo with the Small family. We added Harper this year.

Geisha, Astronaut, Fairy, Harper minus a costume

It's Here!!!

We finally received Olivia's printed bookmark in the mail yesterday. This bookmark was the result of the contest she entered this summer. She was the winner in the K-2 category. She had to draw a picture for the "One World, Many Stories" slogan from the library's summer reading program. I think she did a super job. The library sent us a few printed bookmarks to keep and pass out to family and friends. Today we visited the Franklin Public Library and found her bookmarks proudly displayed in the children's section for eager readers to take and use. How exciting. Her artwork is famous!!!!

Only Two!

I want to mention first that Michael picked out Harper's outfit in these pictures. He is what they call "color blind." He seemed to think that Harper's shirt was blue or gray or green or some other color than what it actually is...Light purple! He also seemed to think that any of the above mentioned colors matched with the turquoise and green pants she had on. Luckily for Harper--they did not venture out into public on this day!

The title of the post is Only Two because out of the dozens of pictures that Michael took-- these were about the only two that weren't blurry. Harper is a rolling machine right now, and it is virtually impossible to get a picture of her not moving some body part. I can only imagine what life will be like when she starts to crawl! Eeeeeek!

Mom....notice your quilts being put to good use.

Chubby Cheeks!

I know that I am biased but....I just don't think she could get any cuter.

Bath Time!

Harper had her first successful bath sitting up in the big tub. She has really outgrown her baby bath. She loved sitting and splashing in the water! What a BIG girl!

Big Second Grader

Today was the first day of school for this brand new second grader. She was very excited to get to Union to see her friends and teacher Mrs. Walls. Olivia had a great day learning the ins and outs of her new grade.
What a cutie!

Good thing we had a sweater. It was a bit chilly out this morning.

Olivia had to take a picture with her favorite first grader-- Mr. Jacob Small.

Can you say C-U-T-E!!!! I love Jacob's "I'm cool" stance!
Olivia and Ava waiting in the gym for their new teacher!

Look Who's Sitting Up!

Look at this big 6 month old Harper. We tried the stroller in the sitting position tonight for the first time. Of course our little girl was such a pro sitting up and looking around during our evening walk. I am sure from this new position the world was so much more fascinating.
I just love these new milestones.... but I am sad about how fast they are coming. I just want to hit the pause button sometimes!

And the Winner is....

Olivia entered a bookmark contest at the library in Franklin. She had to design a bookmark using the slogan "One World, Many Stories." Olivia came up with a very creative idea all by herself. And...I am not joking about this. ALL BY HERSELF. She decided she wanted to draw a person holding a book with the world drawn on the book's cover. One world...on a book full of stories. Her idea seemed to match the slogan pretty well Michael and I thought.

After she came up with the idea, she drew a cute spiky haired kid peeping over a wide open book. We did some research using an atlas to help her see what the continents look like so that she could correctly draw them on the book's cover. She wrote the slogan on the side of the bookmark in her best handwriting. It looked really great. It was colored in neatly and turned in on time.

After several weeks we still had not received any info. about her submission. I had just pushed it out of my mind. I tried to explain to her that she did a great job, and it was ok she did not win. But....wouldn't you know it a few days ago we received a letter from the library. Olivia was of course excited to get the letter...me...well I thought it was a letter letting us know about a fine for not returning books.

It wasn't.

The letter informed my little 7 year old that her bookmark was one of the WINNERS! YIPPEE! HOORAY!! Being a winner is super special because the library actually sends your bookmark to be printed into a "real" bookmark that will be passed out to all the readers in the library. That means that adults and kids all over Franklin will be holding their place in a book using Olivia's bookmark. The library also sends us several bookmarks to pass out to our family and friends. So for the two of you who read this blog....get your books ready. Of course this super proud mama will be shoving Olivia's bookmarks into your novels as soon as we receive them!

The picture at the top of this letter is not Olivia's drawing. It is one that the library has used on other bookmarks.

Engrossed

What could this little 5 month old possibly be straining her neck all the way around to see???

Her Magnificent Mother.... NO!

Her Sweet Sister....Not Quite!

He Dapper Daddy....Nope!

A BOTTLE...This would be a good guess but not right.

Yep...that's it. The cartoon bear on the television was what our sweet Harper wanted to see. She stared and stared and stared! I can only imagine what the large bear looked like to her.

I just let it go on long enough to laugh, dig up the camera, and take some photos. Cute- but not a habit we want to start yet!

Fair Fun

The fair parade is always the start of fair week in Franklin. The day was hot, hot, hot and the parade was long, long, long. However, Olivia didn't seem to mind too much and had a great time waving to the people in the parade and catching the candy they threw.

Ready for the parade

Harper was ready for the parade too.

Watching the parade with another girl from Union that we happened to meet downtown.

Day 1 : This was our first family trip to the 2011 fair. We didn't stay long because the heat was suffocating, but Olivia had to have a beaver tail (aka elephant ear) so we decided to make the horribly hot trip. Michael and I are watching our food intake so we sat and watched Olivia eat the sugary goodness. Only when she was finished did we have the smallest bite in the whole entire world. Delish!

Harper didn't share the beaver tail, but she did drink a whole bottle of water while we were relaxing in the heat.

Day 2 at the fair was even hotter because Olivia and I went during the afternoon. I refuse to let Olivia ride the midway rides unless they are running a special deal. It is crazy expensive for rides that I do not really want here riding anyway. So....I always take her on Kiddie Day where you can buy an armband and ride as much as you want for a few hours.

The 3 or so hours that we were there consisted of ride after ride, 3 water bottles, 1 lemon shake up, ride after ride, several stops to sit in the shade, many moments of complaining about the heat, ride after ride, a smelly trip to the hog barn, sweaty shirts, dirty feet, ride after ride, and a very happy/exhausted seven year old.

Olivia rode the large swing with a couple of my students from last year. It was fun catching up with them.