Olive really *LOVES* Ballerinas

Olive really is in love with ballerinas. She talks about them all the time and how they "wh-eap into the air!" She has a book about ballerinas that she loves to look at and talk about what they are doing. "One leg is up. One leg is down." "She on her toes mommy!" She asks us to read it to her over and over. Olive also has a ballerina doll that you can change into lots of fancy costumes. She loves telling me "In her TUTU!" Or "Now she a fairy ballerina"

Well, Olive still has a few months until she is three and can join the local ballet class. But, at gymnastics another little girl started wearing a little tutu to class and Olive asked me "Where my ballerina tutu mommy?" So, I figured she would love one. Now on gymnastics days she wears her tutu all day because I can't get her to change after wards.

She likes looking at it and talking about it. She already had a ballerina tutu that was too big that we have in the dress ups box but, there is something special about this one that fits.

It also inspires her to do twirls and spins just like a ballerina.

Olive has also started posing in her pictures which I find hilarious. Here is her pose for a ballerina. Couldn't you just eat her up? Does every mom think they have the most adorable child in the world?

Winter Hats

Since I have been rather themed this week around winter, I thought it was high time I posted the winter hats I made for Olive this year.

This was one I made in just few hours. The pattern is seriously so easy. But I felt like it was a little drab so I added a flower. It was the first flower I ever made. That was the beginning of my flower obsession and now I try to add flowers to everything I can.

This flower is a bit over sized maybe but I still love it!

Then, remember this sweater I made Olive? Well I had just enough yarn left to make the scraps into a matching hat. I really like how it turned out, mostly because of the ear flaps!

Isn't she cute?

I added some stripes of variegated yarn for interest and a pom pom on top. Olive has been very well supplied with things to bundle up with this winter.

My favorite (winter) footwear

One thing I could not live without:

Especially in these cold months. I don't like to wear shoes in general but especially in doors I want to kick my shoes off first thing. The biggest problem with that is that I have very poor circulation, thus my toes are always (seriously always) cold. I have worn just socks to keep my tooties toasty. The problem with only socks is that I cannot stand a wearing a wet sock (not that it happens very often but when it does I really freak out). I think it is disgusting. Even a bigger problem is crumbs. Getting crumbs stuck on my socks drives me crazy. So my constant companion that keeps my feet warm, dry, and crumb free are my slippers. I couldn't make it through January without them.
These are the cute ones Scott got me for Christmas which I was very excited about because my other pair had been trashed. Nothing like cute slippers. They make winter a little more bearable.
I do have to say though that today was a bright and sunny, and relatively warm, January day. It made all the difference. I can handle days like today!

Olive and I both desperately miss the Park!

January is my least favorite month. The holidays are over and it feels like winter really sets in. The air conditions are always terrible. Then to top it all off it feels like it is a very long month. I mean, there are 31 days of this!
It has gotten me thinking about the bliss that is all other seasons but winter. Oh the days we could walk outside and just go somewhere, even if it was just on a walk!

Olive has really been missing the park lately. Every time we drive by the park she says "Bye park. We are going to ______. I'll see you later." We just happen to drive by the park every day.

Don't get me wrong, we have been doing our best to keep busy. We have been seeing a lot of friends, going to the library, etc. It just takes more planning to be "out" in the winter.

We miss you park!

Recipe Book

Last night I was in charge of teaching an Enrichment night about family dinners. I think it went really well. More than anything it was just a good reminder about why to do it. It was a good motivator for me because I have not been feeling so inclined to make real dinners lately. I mean, when it is just the three of us it is so easy to feed Olive something for dinner and then grab ourselves some take out, usually after she goes to bed.
I really believe in being healthy and think it is a life style. There are so many ideas and tricks out there about how to be healthy but I thought it was encouraging that just by eating family dinners, you can be on that healthy path.
The only problem was, last night I wanted to share some recipes that are favorites at our house. That in itself is not a problem but my recipes have gotten a little out of control over the past few years. Although I have lots of cook books, most of my recipes don't come from them. If I ever find a recipe online or from a friend I write it on a 3x5 card. Well those cards and just been floating in drawers and binders and all sorts of places.
So in honor of getting organized to have family dinners I put this together.

I just used my handy laminating machine and got them all organized in a binder. I was kinda stumped for awhile about how to go about organizing them because I didn't want to re do all those recipes whether on the computer or rewriting them in another book. So this is my solution and I think it is going to work out nicely.

It feels so refreshing to get things organized. Now, it's dinner time. Let's see what I can come up with!

Olive Loves her Big Girl Bed

Maybe "loves" is an overstatement. It might be more accurate to say that Olive tolerates her big girl bed. Here is her new resting place.

I think it is just so adorably cute. I must say I was very very nervous for this transition. Olive has been a complete crib sleeper from the beginning. She would rarely sleep in our arms even as an infant. I knew she was very attached to her crib. It makes sense though, the high bars must bring a real sense of safety. But, with Milo coming I didn't want her to think he kicked her out of her beloved crib. So I set out to make her bed as enticing as possible.

I was kinda dreading her first night sleeping there. I have heard tons of stories about fits and tantrums and screaming for hours. I was prepared for a battle. That night Olive helped me get her bed all ready and made up. I kept telling her how cool this bed was and trying to point out all the special things we were doing to it.

It had her nice pillow, and her Kiki, and her monkey. It was going to be delightful. She was not fooled. Scott was working that night so we called and left him a good night message. It was hilarious. She was crying hysterically as she told him "Good night daddy. I'm (sob sob) going (sob) to sweep in my (sob) big girl bed (sob sob sob)."
I was seriously trying not to laugh. It is the funniest voicemail ever. Then I tucked her in and kissed her goodnight and left. She came racing out of her room bawling. So I took her back and tucked her in again. I told her a story about a Princess named Olive who was growing up and got to sleep in a big girl bed. We agreed that I would leave the closet light on and leave the door open. Then I left. She came running out to the kitchen again where I told her "Olive, it's bed time, you need to go lay down in your bed."

To my utter shock and amazement she did. She laid down and stayed in her bed. It took her awhile to fall asleep but, that was it. She now does it every time without a fight. Sometimes I feel like she has a maturity that is astounding. That may be silly for a 2 year old, but she deals with stressful situations quite well. I was so so proud of her.

Now she likes her bed a little more. She will still occasionally ask at bed time to "sleep in Milo's bed?" In the mornings and after nap she doesn't get out of bed until I go get her. It is still kinda shocking to me to see her sleeping in there like such a big girl. I guess she is just growing up!

Homemade Bread

Maybe this is a totally lame thing to count as "something I have made" but I am feeling rather pleased with myself.

I have never made bread from scratch in my entire life. I think for a lot of my childhood I didn't think you should make it at home. I heard all these horror stories of round, crumbling, wheat bread that my mom took to school lunch. It sounded horrible. When I got to college I tried my roommates homemade bread with homemade jam and it was the most delicious thing in the world. Ever since then it has been on my list of things to learn how to do.

I will say it was quite a process to figure out. I am glad that I had the warning from my mother-in-law to not give up after my first loaf turns out like a brick, because that is exactly what happened. It was a rock hard, tiny, brick of flour. After getting lots of tips and advice I kept trying different variations to get the recipe right. It only took about 12 loafs (seriously!). I was forced to keep trying because I intentionally didn't buy any bread at the store so it was our only option. We (Scott helped me a lot) were determined to make this work! I am happy so say....
I did it.
I made a very yummy whole wheat bread from scratch. And I did it more than once! I also am getting quite good at white bread. I am going to make a loaf on Saturday so we can have totally from scratch french toast for Sunday morning. I am actually quite excited about that.

My plan is that I will make a loaf (or 2) weekly. I just love that when I'm eating a slice I know exactly what was used to make it. There is something very cozy about that. Plus my house gets to smell like homemade bread!

Now we need a bread slicer so we can get better slices, but that is on its way. I almost can't tell you how happy I am to share this because it has literally been hours of work and baking. So there you have it nothing very special but, I can make bread!

P.S. I am also excited to try out all the fancy recipes like cinnamon swirl bread. Doesn't that sound delicious? I have a whole book or recipes to try out.

Is it a problem that I eat this nightly?

We have been having this for dessert quite a bit around here. One thing I do like about winter is all the opportunities to have hot coco. One of the reasons I love Christmas is because you can buy Danish butter cookies. " I crave for it nightly!" (hehe!)

Danish butter cookies are just so delicious. I also feel that they go very well with hot chocolate.

I especially like the "spark-a-wee" ones, as Olive calls them. Since I bought a huge container of these cookies from Costco I think we might be having this dessert for a few more months.

That is why I am so grateful that we have one of these handy machine. It is a breeze to have toasty hot coco whenever I want. I am not blaming the pregnancy, but it has been on a very regular basis. I might just need some for an afternoon snack today. I mean, it is very chilly out there!

Olive LOVES her Barbies!

It has seriously become an obsession for her. Olive takes her barbies with her everywhere she goes. They come to the store, the library, friends houses, and just about everywhere. Usually Olive will have a barbie in each hand because one might get lonely.

It is kinda awesome because she will play with them forever. When I need to get something done I just suggest "Let's get out the Barbies!". I know I can buy myself some serious time. It is also nice because she will bring them along on long car rides and can entertain herself with them for (almost) the whole trip.

Olive especially loves all of the accessories that her barbies have, namely their shoes. She can't dress them herself and since the shoes are so tiny she only gets to use when I can help her. She actually has a good eye and pays attention to the details about who is wearing what shoes. Olive has also named her barbies (besides the Disney ones that she already knows their names). There is Mommy, Jerrica, the Queen, and Ollie.

I loved Barbies when I was little so it has been so much fun to watch her play with her barbies. It is hard for me to not spoil her ( I mean, as much as I longed for a barbie car I never got one!)

It has been so fun watching her be imaginative. The things she acts out with them just crack me up. They are usually giving each other hugs and lots of times Mommy is taking care of the others. I don't always understand the conversations she makes up but I love watching her play. I feel like free play is so important, so I am glad she has something that she enjoys playing with this much!

New Years Resolutions

I typically don't set any New Years resolutions. One reason is that I kinda like the flexibility of making changes at any time during the year. I feel like life with a 2 year old is always changing, theirs needs vary and I like to come up with a new schedule or try something out as I need to. I also learn new things or get good ideas from friends all the time. I think it is important to feel like I can try those things out anytime. One of my biggest life changes was after watching a food documentary. It changed everything I thought about food as well as some life decisions. The very next day I started a whole new way of living and I am glad that I did. I think because I made immediate changes they have actually stuck. I don't like feeling like I am not accomplishing or going against my goals if I change my mind. (I don't know if that makes any sense!)

The second reason is that I have noticed over the years as I see or talk to other people about their resolutions that it can get kinda, umm... intense. It seems like no one ever chooses one or two reasonable goals/changes that they can realistically achieve. Resolutions are a huge list of everything that you are doing bad or even good and then wanting perfection in all aspects. I agree that there is always room for improvement and growth but often when I find out other people's resolutions I think "That is so much! It will be too overwhelming!" Then I get overwhelmed about all the things I could work on and how amazing everyone else is for being setting so many impressive goals.

But this year I have decided that there are a few things I want to be doing. You might look at my resolutions and think I am a lightweight (especially knowing some of your plans for this year). I genuinely want to achieve these goals so I am keeping it simple.

1. Have Family Home Evening more regularly.
I recently made a book of FHE lessons including scriptures and themed monthly ideas so I figure I really don't have any excuse. I am not saying that I want a well planned and perfectly coordinated lesson every week. I just want to be more regular about having planned family time together, sometimes including lessons.

2. I want to be better about my own scripture studying.
I have always struggled with this. There are tons of ideas out there about how to set this goal, like a chapter a day, or 10 pages or a time period. I think what would work best for me is a set amount of time. But I haven't decided when in the schedule works best or how to measure my time, whether daily or weekly. I am also hoping to convince Scott to do this with me because it is more likely to happen.

3. Finish Les Miserables (unabridged)
I have actually loved reading this book. I am about half way through it and since October I have been a little burned out about reading it. Especially because being pregnant I can't read anything for an extended period of time. I just fall right to sleep. I have to read magazines or something short. Also, I have been reading natural labor books instead of novels. That being said, I have invested so much time and effort into reading (some of the chapters especially) from Les Miz that I am determined to finish. It would be awesome to finish by summer because the play is coming here in June. That would be a perfect reward. But, I will basically be pregnant until then so I am not holding myself to that.

There you have it, my rather sissy attempts at resolutions.

Here are a list of a few other things I plan to do this year (in no order):
Potty train Olive
read a book a month/ possibly join a book club
start some kind of knitting or craft night
have a natural labor and delivery
bring a healthy baby boy to our family
adjust to having 2 kids (I am not expecting this one to be easy!)
Go on vacation with just our little family

It's a New Year!

(Sorry about the picture quality on this post. My camera's flash is broken so we only had our phone's camera. )

Olive absolutely LOVED our New Years Eve Party. We actually put her to bed, but then as the party started we knew she would love it so we went to wake her up at 11:30. She was very chipper and excited for the middle of the night.

Once she saw what was going on she jumped right in. Olive especially loved the party hats. I think she tried on 5 different styles. It was just too hard to decide!

Don't you love her intensity? She is wearing every accessory possible including a whistle necklace, a bell wand and a blowing noise maker.

Olive and her cousin loved making their noise makers blow. They stood like this for a half hour just blowing away and laughing at each other.

We danced to the chicken dance and the macarana (the video is hilarious of Olive trying to keep up), did the limbo, the stroll, and had a blast. Finally it was time to ring in 2011 with some kisses.

And we of course had to make a racket outside to inform all the neighbors it was a new year. (do you like how it is such a horrible picture? I just wasn't willing to run out in the freezing cold so this is the best I could get from the doorway)
We are all very excited for 2011. I hope your celebration was as memorable as Olive's!