Saturday with Family

Tonight Grandma and Papa Richeson came over and brought pizza for dinner......Alivia's favorite. We had a nice time visiting and playing with Alivia. Here are a few pictures below from our night.....enjoy!

Hugs for Grandma...

For those of you who are ballerinas...check out her turned out bottom foot and her attitude leg in the air! We still need to work on her turned under hip....lol! Can't wait to put her in dance!

SO FUN!

CUTIE PIE!

Smiling with Papa!

Birthday Party Fun...

This morning we put Alivia down for a morning nap so she could go to a birthday party in the afternoon. While she was sleeping I went to the American Girl store to buy her some more accessories for her doll. I had such a great time in the store, kind of funny. I felt like a kid. I didn't know they had a website but you can go to americangirl.com to check out their new stuff! However, there are quite a few things in the store that weren't on the website. One thing that I got Alivia that wasn't on the website was a potty chair for her doll. I was so excited to see this because she thinks it is funny for her dolls to go potty with her. They even had the underwear for the doll to wear too! I can't wait for her to open it next Saturday! After I got home we headed to one of my sorority sister's little girl's birthday party. She was turning 3. They had a fun face painting lady there and Alivia thought it was neat! We didn't get a picture with the birthday girl but Happy Birthday Kadence! :)

Sitting so...still!

Her princess crown!

A Day at Janet's House...

Janet, our babysitter, sent this picture to me on Tuesday and I just couldn't stop looking at it all day long while I was at school. The girls were playing dress-up and dancing to Old McDonald in the background. LOVE IT! It just made me smile so much at how much fun they were having. Truly made my day!!! :)

Hmmm...which one is Alivia???

Big Girl Bed at Grandma and Papa's House

Today Ben had his annual Saturday with his good guy friends. They usually have a golf tournament they play in but because of the weather they went bowling and etc...instead. So, it was just going to be Alivia and I today. Since she was still running a fever we decided to go to my parents house to have a change of scenery since she has been at home since Tuesday. When we got there my mom and dad told Alivia they had a surprise for her. Alivia ran back to her room and saw her new Dora bed. My mom had taken down the crib (which was my crib when I was a baby) and had gotten her a new bed with Dora bedding. She was a little confused if it was for her baby dolls or her at first but after that she took her first nap in it and did really well. Our big girl is definitely growing up for sure. She will be 2 years old 2 weeks from today...crazy! Hopefully we are on the mend from her sickness. This afternoon she didn't have a temperature but we are just hoping we can be temperature free with no tylenol tomorrow so she can go back to Janets. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Alivia's new bed....

Dora pillow....

CHEESE! Notice my raggedy ann dolls from when I was a kid. lol!

I just had to take a picture of this. My mom honestly keeps everything from when I was a kid and I mean EVERYTHING! I know we give her a hard time sometimes about it but really I think it is so neat to see all my old clothes and toys from when I was a kid. Apparently my mom and dad would wait in many, many lines to buy these cabbage patch dolls. :)

Do you remember Kid Sister and Me?? I used to LOVE these dolls!!

Her recliner at Grandma and Papas.....watching baby einstein! Isn't that the life??

Snow day sickness!

Since Tuesday afternoon Alivia has had a 102 temperature. Luckily, I was home with her on Tuesday for the snow day and my mom watched her yesterday and then I got to stay home with her today for another snow day. Alivia is quite the cuddler when she is sick so I didn't mind being lazy with her at all. She also likes to watch movies or t.v. when she is sick so I put in the letter factory for her to watch while she "tried" to eat some breakfast. I wish she would watch the letter factory when she isn't sick but I just can't get her to sit still fore more than 10 minutes! lol! Unfortunately Alivia still has a temperature this afternoon but I am hoping by tomorrow morning she will be better. We will see if there will be another snow day tomorrow or not. Regardless, I was glad that I got to spend the day with her and am so lucky that my mom can watch her tomorrow if I need her to! :)

I don't feel good Mommy!!!

I tried to get her mouth saying the "C" sound. It was too cute! She kept saying "C" has spit came out of her mouth as she was trying to say it!

MLK Day...

This morning we went to Matthew's house for a play date. Alivia was so excited to see them! Here are a few pictures from our morning. OH, I LOVE being a teacher and having off holidays like today. There is no better job in the world!

Alivia in her pigtails! Her hair is getting longer!

Matthew and Alivia playing with baby Riley

Matthew's fun train table...

Hugs for Matthew

Look how big the kids are getting??

Our Big Girl

Today I decided to take Alivia's changing pad down since we don't have diaper changes anymore...YIPEE!! It was pretty sad taking her diaper genie and etc...downstairs but Alivia has been so excited about her new "big girl" room. I am calling it her toddler room since it really isn't a BIG, BIG, Girl room yet. We didn't buy anything new, just took a few things down and rearranged so she didn't feel like it was a baby room anymore. It was really hard for me not to want and go out and buy all new stuff to decorate but I kept telling myself I can wait until next year to do that! SHE LOVES IT SO MUCH! 3 weeks from today she will turn 2 years old. I just can't believe how fast the time has gone. She is such a special little girl and we are so proud of her! LOVE YOU ALI! :)

Posing for a picture before church this morning...

Ornery grin...

Her new room...

Her toddler bed that she loves! Since we put it up on Saturday she has taken two 3 1/2 hour naps and slept from 7:30p.m.-8:00 a.m. without getting out of her bed. WOW...we are keeping our fingers crossed on this one!

We still left up the stuffed animals...she loves looking at them when she falls asleep and when she wakes up!

Toddler Bed

Today Ben and I decided to break down Alivia's crib and make it into a toddler bed. I would have to say I am a little nervous for this but since she is potty trained now I didn't want her to be trapped in her bed if she has to go to the bathroom. Every time she wakes up she yells Mommy, Daddy, POTTY so we definitely thought she was ready! We will see how our first day goes today. Wish us luck! I will have to admit I was pretty sad when Ben took the front off of the bed and put the guard rail up. Our little girl is growing up but we are so proud of her for being such a big girl! :)

Checking it out...

Posing....

Look how big she looks!!!

She decided to put one of her baby dolls in her bed...the teeny one! :)

Daddy's Girl

Alivia is definitely a Mommy's girl AND a Daddy's girl. I LOVE how much she enjoys helping Ben with chores around the house. It is so adorable. Here are a few Daddy moments. ENJOY!

Alivia and Ben fell asleep in the tent. How precious....LOVE IT!

Grinding coffee with Daddy!

Daddy's little helper!

2nd Snow Day!!!

Today we had a great first part to our morning at home while we were waiting for Grandma Stewart to pick us up to go sledding at their house. Apparently Alivia loves watching Barney, which I never knew because we have never watched it at home before. I have never been able to get Alivia to watch T.V. for very long but she sat here eating her snacks by the fire and watched Barney for probably 10-15 minutes. That is really long for Alivia!! Ha, ha! We ended the afternoon with some snow fun at Grandma and Papa Stewart's house. It was another great snow day! Like I said before, I think I enjoy these days more than Alivia does. lol! I am sure we will be back to reality soon.....

Isn't this the life?

Uncle Phillip giving her a snack...he, he!

Papa and Grandma getting it ready....

Alivia and I trying to sled down the hill but we just sank since the snow was so soft...lol!

Smiling with Grandma Stewart

FIRST SNOW DAY!!!!

So, I am pretty sure that I was like a little kid last night because I kept waking up and looking outside to see if it had snowed. I just couldn't wait to spend the day with Alivia. Sure enough, 4:30 rolled around and yipee, I got the snow day call!!! Alivia was really excited to see the snow and ran right to the window. We had breakfast together with Alivia's favorite cheesy eggs and Mommy had cereal. We then played in the play room for a while and cleaned out her closet. Alivia has worn 12-18 mos clothes for such a long time that her closet is busting at the seams. She is still in 12-18 mos but we just reorganized and put some stuff away. Alivia was a great helper. We then ended the morning trying to go outside and play but it was so cold!! Alivia took a few trips down the sled and we threw a few snowballs but that is all we did. Maybe tonight we will try again with Daddy. What a great morning we had. After Alivia's nap we are going to make chili for dinner and snuggle by the fire. OH, how I LOVE these days! :)

"Look, Mommy!"

Breakfast at Alivia's table...

All bundled up!

Eating the snow, of course!

Throwing snowballs..

Mommy, it is so cold out here and I have to go potty!!

So warm....yipee!

Lunch time Mommy!

Anything goes on a snowday, right?

CHEESE!!! I LOVE SNOWDAYS!

Dinner Time

Well isn't this face telling? Every night during dinner time Alivia's new thing is to throw tantrums when she is done but we aren't done yet. She starts out great and even folds her hands and closes her eyes to pray and then says "Amen!" It is too cute!! But, after she THINKS she is done she wants us to stop eating. Well we have stuck to making her stay in her chair and we even had to strap her in. I know, we are so mean!!! Anyway, last night and tonight right when she starts throwing her fit she tells us she has to go potty!! Ha, well the mom in me immediately believes her and Ben looks at me like you have got to be kidding me. I just couldn't help but take her to the bathroom last night and tonight during her tantrum and NO, she didn't go!!! She is completely manipulating the situation. Ha! I had no idea manipulation could start this early. lol! Well now that I have caught on to her game I will not take her. I still feel bad though because what if she has an accident and it is because I didn't take her?? I had to share her pouty face at dinner tonight....

Potty Training Success!!!!

It has been a long week of chasing after her and rushing her to the bathroom but I think we are catching on and she is now doing it all by herself! She sometimes still needs help getting her pants and underwear down but she is offically telling us she has to go every time and is running to the bathroom on her own. Beforehand she would wait until the very last minute and would even hold it in sometimes for an entire day! We also have had pants on and ran a few errands and she has stayed accident free. She spent the night at Grandma and Papa Stewarts on Friday and did really well too! She has now been accident free for 2 1/2 days! For any of you who are potty training and want the 3 day guide that I used just let me know. I really think it was helpful for us! Here is a view of Alivia's potty place we have spent for the last 6 days! Luckily, the play room is right next to our bathroom so we didn't have far to run. lol! Hopefully we will continue our success at Janet's house tomorrow but of course Mommy is really sad to have to go back to work. I have really enjoyed this break with my big girl!! Alivia-Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and we love you very much. Keep up the good work! You continue to amaze us each and every day!

Her potty chair, reward treasure box and sticker chart! My mom found these cute treasure boxes at a candy store at Independence Center. My mom got the Dora one for her house and Alivia just LOVES them!