Olivia is 3!!!

Happy Birthday to Olivia Chaya Nilsen. She is 3 today. Initially, since her daddy would be gone, we were just going to pretend her birthday is next week. However, a relative unintentionally brought the whole birthday thing up to her... so we had a little celebration. It was fun and she loved it. I am lousy (seriously lousy) at surprises, so Olivia helped me with all the planning and executing of this momentous event. Yes, we are celebrating again next week when daddy is here.

This is the wonderful "ladybug" creation. We used everything from gum and rolo's, to chives for the decoration. The inside was a beautiful, brilliant blue. Delicious!

Evalyn getting in on the cake eating with Aunti Lilly. She handled the fork very well.



Grandma O. had a great time with Olivia. They both were divvying up the cake before the candles were even blown.



Her birthday tutu that mommy and Aunti Lilly made.



This was great! Have you ever heard of "spaghetti dogs"? So much fun. I got the idea from a great blog called plumpudding (check out a link here on our site) and they are hilarious. Evalyn and Olivia went to town stuffing the spaghetti through the hot dogs. My family thinks we're crazy but they were such good sports about Olivia's birthday dinner.

My mom made Olivia this beautiful blue dress and this cute little church bag. My mom and dad stuffed the church bag with books, chapstick, snacks, doodlepads, colored pencils, and other quiet activities just for church. It was a great reminder to me about how special home-created gifts are. Olivia loved the gifts. They were made with love, took thought and time, and just reminded me that you don't have to rush to the store and try to find the best and brightest toy to make a great gift. I just need to get creative...

Happy Mother's Day

We are in Idaho for two weeks while Jacob is working in California. The whole single-parent thing wears off really, really fast. The hardest is when Olivia curls up in my lap and just says quietly, "I really miss my daddy." However, we are onto the final week. My family has been great in putting up with us and the chaos we bring. The past few days have been really beautiful. We came home from church today and discovered that my Grandmother's lawn was flooded (the head-gate was left open). The fam made the most of it and brought the ducks and the girls over to play. It was followed up with a barbecue and falling asleep on the lawn. Life is good.


My mother and Grandmother enjoying the barbecue in honor of them!

I love the dirty bottom here. She sat in the water to be able to play with the ducks better.

Olivia had a fantastic time in the water. Personally, I thought it was freezing, but she loved it!