Chickens Beware...

Today we celebrated my (great) Granny Moore's 95th birthday with a dinner at her house. [As a side note- I really hope that I have her genes. She is 95, in good health, and still lives in her own home by herself. That's incredible!] After dinner, we walked next door to Uncle Johnny L's house. I remember that I loved doing this as a kid because Uncle Johnny L always had cool things to see and do on his farm. Not much has changed in that area- there are still all kinds of neat things for a kid to see and do on his farm, and I enjoyed watching Olivia play and explore.

The thing that really seemed to be the biggest hit with Olivia were the chickens. She enjoyed watching them walk around in the coop, and then she even discovered one white chicken that had managed to escape. She spent a good portion of the afternoon running around the pen trying to "catch" the chicken. Of course, she could never catch it. Her papa tried to help her out by herding the chicken her way, but it just flew up in the air at her (and me). I held my hands up and screamed like a wimp (I'm not a big fan of a bird flying toward my head), but Olivia wasn't phased. She kept right on chasing that chicken around.

In addition to having cool animals to look at, the farm was also equipped with one of those machines that you use to walk the horses around (I don't know what it's called). Uncle Johnny L had put a kiddie swing on it, and Olivia had a lot of fun going around and around on it. There was a switch in the middle that could make it go forward, backward, and stop. Olivia loved riding on it when it was her turn and did not really want to get off.

All of the running really wore Olivia out, and she was out like a light soon after we got home. How great it is to be a kid!

A Trip to the Zoo

This afternoon we took Olivia to the Jacksonville Zoo. This is a trip that we had been wanting to take for quite some time because Olivia really loves animals. All of Olivia's favorite books are about animals, her favorite toys are animal toys, and the only television shows that she will pay attention to are those on Animal Planet. In short, it was time for Olivia to see the animals in real life. She was so excited the entire day. Every time we saw a new animal, she would get excited all over again. She was especially excited to see the elephants, giraffes, and rhinos- and we spent a lot of time at those exhibits. I bet that we spent close to thirty minutes watching the elephants. Every time we asked Olivia if she was ready to leave, she would shake her head and say "no". We stayed at the zoo until it closed, and still weren't able to see everything. Below are some pictures of Olivia with her favorite animals.

The Big Girl Bed

For the past several weeks, Brian and I have been working around the house trying to get things ready for the new baby. One big thing that we wanted to do was to move Olivia out of the nursery (and the crib), and into her new room. So, last weekend we purchased a twin-sized mattress and a bed rail. Olivia had gotten some twin-sized sheets and a quilt from Santa Claus, so we put those on the bed as well. We ohhhed and ahhhed over how beautiful the bed was, and Olivia really started to get excited about it.

We also spent some time "practicing" how a big girl sleeps in a big girl bed. Here you can see Olivia "sleeping" on her pillow while peeking to make sure that someone is watching her. All of that practice has paid off, though, because she has slept by herself in her new bed for a week now. I'm really surprised by how easy the transition has been. Remy (who used to sleep under Olivia's crib) seems to be the only one that is upset about the change.

Christmas Collage 2007

Here are a few pictures from Christmas this year.

Christmas Morning (aka the Kangaroo Climber)

That Santa Claus is one clever fellow! (He must have connections at Toys R Us). He could not have picked a better present for Olivia this year than the Kangaroo Climber that was sitting in our living room on Christmas morning. Olivia has been playing with her climber almost nonstop since she discovered it yesterday. (As a matter of fact she is behind me right now playing with it. ) She has come up with a variety of ways to play with this toy. So far, she has climbed up the back and sides, gone through the tunnel, went down the slide, climbed back up the slide, and played with the swinging door in the back. Right now she is sending other things (toys, sippy cups, books) down the slide and then sliding down after them.




Just for the record, Olivia did receive other things from Santa on Christmas morning, but all of the other toys were mere afterthoughts once the climber was discovered.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Mama and Daddy's to eat and open presents. This year it was very exciting because Ava and Olivia were old enough to help open presents and old enough to get excited about their gifts. All of the babies were very good despite the fact that they were up way past their bedtimes. Even Claire- who is usually sleeping when I'm around- was alert for most of the evening.

Ava and Olivia took it upon themselves to help everyone unwrap their presents. (Here Uncle Kelly is getting assistance from the girls.) When it came to opening their own presents, though, they were not as willing to help out. Once the toys started coming out, the girls quickly lost interest in unwrapping and became preoccupied with playing. The only thing that could really distract them was the introduction of another toy. It was also funny how both girls wanted the same toy at the same time- even though there were plenty of different toys available.

At the end of the evening, Ava and Olivia both received tricycles. Ava got a big-girl tricycle, while Olivia's was one that "grows" with her. The girls had a lot of fun pushing each other around on their new toys. After all the gifts were opened, we took Olivia home for some much-needed rest.

She's Here!

Here are some pictures of my brand new niece- Emma Claire Murray (called Claire). She was born this morning at 9:49 am. She weighed 7lbs. 11oz. and was 21.5 inches long. Claire is as sweet as she can be, and she looks just like her daddy. Both she and Hannah are doing well, and Ava is very excited to be a big sister!