Olivia's Birthday

For all those Grandmas out there who wanted to be here for Olivia's birthday, but couldn't be, here are some pictures and details. We had a great day--Austin and Nyah kept insisting we didn't need to do chores or school because it was Olivia's birthday. I didn't agree so most of the day was business as usual. We would randomly sing "happy birthday" to Olivia throughout the day, and she would get a big, beautiful smile on her face. She knew it was her special day.

When Kurt came home we managed to somewhat all sit down and have dinner together, despite the BCS game, Grandma's call to wish Olivia happy birthday, and general kid mayhem, of which there was plenty. Because it was such a nice day (about 50 F) Kurt cracked open the barbecue for dinner, which was delicious. Afterwards we opened presents, and Olivia at first acted like it was Christmas--trying to hand out presents to everyone, but she quickly caught on.

After presents it was on to chocolate chip cookies and ice cream (we are not cake people). Of course all the kids wanted to take turns blowing out the candles, so we did this for a few rounds. This picture also shows her big, beautiful smile that is so winning and charming.

Then after this Austin and Nyah performed some special puppet shows they had prepared for Olivia's birthday. Some storylines involved a monster eating a cheerleader, police arresting pirates, Santa Claus shrinking, what else can I say? Pure genius artistic talent.

Olivia spent the rest of the evening switching between presents. First playing with the baby stuff, wrapping her babies in blankets and feeding them bottles, then examining Tinkerbells wings and her own, then sitting in her Winnie the Pooh chair and looking at her photo album. Looking at pictures of family is a favorite activity so now she has her own book.

Happy 2nd Birthday Olivia!!