Olivia and Alyvia

Today we celebrated Alyvia's 4th birthday with family and friends.  Alyvia chose "Olivia the pig" for her party theme. "Red" is Olivia's favorite color!

We had planned to do most of the party time outside, but it was SO hot, everyone pretty much stayed in the house.  The kids did go outside a bit and play, but they were so sweaty after about 5 minutes :(

Alexis, Alyvia and Lizzie eating a snack on the deck

Present time was quite the experience with lots of "helpful" hands!

After presents we sang "happy birthday" to Livi and she just hated being the center of attention, as you can clearly tell (note of sarcasm-ha!)

I think Livi had a great party and we so appreciate our friends and family who were able to celebrate with us! 

Happy Birthday Alyvia!!

Girls trip!

This weekend, Alyvia, Nana and I took a trip to Chicago for Alyvia's birthday.  We left on Friday afternoon and drove up to Aurora.  On the way there, Alyvia said " So, are you excited girls?!  It's a girls weekend!"  She was so excited for her trip!  We checked into the hotel and then went and visited Grandma and Grandpa Schindel.  Livi is so good about visiting her great-grandparents, she really loves them.  She's not shy at all and is happy to visit with them!  I wish I had gotten some pictures of our visit, but I forgot my camera.  We picked up McDonalds and ate at their house. Then Alyvia wanted to feed the ducks, so Grandma gave her cheerios and down to the pond we went.  We went back to the hotel so Livi could swim and get to bed before our big trip into the city!  She had an ice cream snack while we were in bed!

chocolate face :)

Unfortunately, none of us slept very well, but we were up bright and early to catch the train into Chicago!

Maybe we got up a little too early?

Excited to ride the train with Nana!

We arrived at American Girl right as it opened at 9 a.m.

Posing :)

She picked "Kanani" about 2 minutes after we were there-no other doll to be looked at!

  

After we paid for Kanani, she shopped a bit more for another outfit,
a matching dress for herself and Kanani's case

Lunch at The American Girl Cafe-so fun!

Alyvia and Kanani pose for a pic together, Kanani got her own chair!



Matching hair do's...the napkin rings were ponytail holders!





After lunch, we headed back to Union Station and took the train back to Aurora.  We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house to show off Kanani and then we headed home.  We had a great trip and I hope Alyvia felt extra special for her birthday!  It was definitely a special memory for me :)

Happy 4th Birthday Alyvia!

On this day, 4 years ago, at 5:16 p.m., Alyvia Chase came into the world screaming her head off and wanting something to eat!  She still yells quite a bit and often asks for "somethin' to chew" (eat).  I can't believe she is 4 years old today-it's unreal. 

We have a lot planned for her birthday weekend!  Today was a pretty quiet day.  We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we started getting ready for her party on Sunday-lots of cleaning to do!!  Daddy came home for lunch and stayed home and helped us for the afternoon.  Livi and I worked together to make her Barbie cake...it turned out o.k., but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be!

Mamaw, Papaw, Uncle Adam, Nana and Papa came over for dinner.  Alan made marinated steak, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese (Alyvia's request) and salad.  It was soooo good!  After dinner Alyvia wanted to immediately open presents.....so we did!

She got her cash register and her pretty dress from Mamaw and Papaw



Her keyboard from Colson

And her bike from Mommy and Daddy!

 She loved all of her presents and had a great birthday!  Next up, we are on our way to Aurora tomorrow and then to Chicago on Saturday!

LOTO 2011

July 9th-July 16th, 2011-Our annual Lake of the Ozarks family vacation.  We had such a good time!  I was really nervous to take both kids out on the lake, but it turned out to be just fine.  Alyvia was a fish!  She has no fear and did great.  Colson was a good sport too, he loved when the boat went fast!  Here's a little recap of our fun family week!

Saturday 7/9/11
We left the house at 5:30 a.m. Livi was super excited and I think Colson was just confused why we were waking him up!

We met up at Nana and Papa's and headed out.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a yummy breakfast!

And on we went!  We stopped for lunch at Pizza Hut and made it to the lake around 2-2:30 in the afternoon.  Alan got the jet ski in no problem.  The boat went in....but the propeller wasn't working, so the boat came out.  BUT, after a quick fix, the boat was back (and no more problems the rest of vacation!). 

We hung around the house on Saturday evening to get ready to go out on the boat on Sunday.  Anne and I got up Sunday morning and went for a run-yay us!  It was hot and muggy already and there were a LOT of hills!  Alyvia went swimming off the dock at the house and Colson got to take a good nap.  Then we headed out on the boat for lunch as soon as Colson woke up!

Baby boy ready for his 1st boat ride!

Sissy all ready to go!

We went to Topsiders!

Cole was thirsty-the heat index was over 100!  AND we had to go through the "no wake" zone-yuck!



Fish bowls-mmmmmm good!



The Bells and us headed over to our "Nebraska" cove after lunch.  On the way there, the Bells boat hit a huge wave and Jill fractured one of her vertebrae.  Fortunately, she will be o.k....unfortunately, Jill's boating days for the week were over and they actually went home early :(  We did put Colson in the water in his new spring float.  I was really happy how secure he seemed in the float, but he wasn't so sure about it.  He lasted about 5-10 minutes and then was ready to be back in the boat.  He played really nice in the boat though and we did our best to keep him under the bimini. 

Afternoon snack



Anne, Shane and Lindsey



Monday was a lot like Sunday!  We hung around the house in the morning so that Colson could get his nap.  As soon as he got up, we headed to lunch-this time to Shorty Pants (I think my favorite food!).

Lindsey and Anne relaxing in the cove

Daddy and Livi splashing each other

Colson playing with (read: breaking) Lindsey's hat-oops!



When we got back, Liv and Daddy went for a ride on the jet ski-she loved it
and it turned into her favorite thing to do when we'd get back to the house!



Tuesday was the last day that the Bells were at the lake.  The boys went golfing in the morning and Anne and I went for a run again!  When the boys got back, we headed to Backwater Jacks for lunch.  After fighting with the hostess for an indoor seat (heat index over 100!), we had a yummy lunch!  They have the best fried potato salad-soooo gooood!  Then we found a cove and swam in the afternoon again.

Livi practicing her back floating off our dock

Alyvia driving the boat out of Backwater Jack's cove

cutie baby!

 For dinner that night we went to J.J. Twigs.  It was kids night and they had a face painter there, which Alyvia loved.  Colson was tired and did his best...spilling an entire soda all over the table and floor!

Aunt Anne and Un Cha with Colson and Livi

Jessica, Lindsey and me

Wednesday it was a little nicer outside after the rain Tuesday night. It was still 90, but the heat index and humidity weren't as bad!  In the morning the girls went to the outlet mall shopping.   After lunch, we all went to a new cove that Anne and I had seen.  We named it "rustic house cove" after the GIANT house that is back there (which we all love!).  It is a great cove and we had a good afternoon hanging out there.  We finally tried Cole in the swim sweater instead of his raft and he liked it so much better because I was holding him!  The McKowns met us there for awhile too!

There's more of this house...I couldn't fit it all in the picture!!!

Wednesday night we went to dinner at El Jimador!  



Mmmmm, mi zapato!-no worries they've never hit the ground!

Thursday morning the boys went golfing again and I went for a run-yay me!  We tried a new place for lunch, Paradise.  It was a fun place with all these fun signs around and a beautiful view of the lake.

We drove down towards Tan-Tar-A and swam in a cove around there. 



Gobbles and sunglasses?



Colson and Papa in their seat

Thursday night my dad made marinated steak, corn on the cob and baked potatoes for dinner-so good!  While everyone else headed back to the outlet mall, my little family stayed at the house.   We put Colson to bed and took Livi down to the dock to fish.  We never caught anything, the little fish wouldn't bite the hook, they just ate the bait around it!  Alan and Alyvia went fishing on Monday night too and a big fish almost pulled Liv off the dock!!  It ended up breaking her line on her princess fishing pole!!

Daddy casts...

and Livi reels 'em in!

Friday, our last day on the lake :(  We swam off our dock in the morning and then "the kids" went to lunch at Shorty Pants.  Nana and Papa stayed at the house with a sleeping Colson.

Swimming in our cove

 Even though I was super nervous that the lake was going to be too rough, we all headed back out after lunch to "rustic house cove".  Colson did great despite it being a little bumpy.  Lots of pictures on our last day!

Friday night we decided to take the boat to dinner at Paradise.  We've never all taken a night time boat ride and it was so nice!  The water was calmer, the temperature a bit cooler-good time fun!

"Mama, can I hold the baby?"

He was mad because she dunked him earlier that day!

Awww, they match!

He was bouncing to the music the band was playing

Colson wasn't being very nice to Lindsey that day!

My favorite 3 people

They have hula hoops!!

Aunt Anne is always so fun!

Tired guys

Saturday morning we got up, packed up and headed out.  Poor Livi was worn out!

That pretty much sums up how we all felt!  It was a great week though and I love that it's something we all do every year.  I hope that everybody can always go, it makes our summer!