Olive's Second Year

We've sort of dropped the ball on blog posts for the last several months... In lieu of a ridiculously long post trying to play catch-up, please enjoy this video compilation.  What a wonderful year of firsts it's been!

Walkin' the Walk

Hey, Ya'll!  It's me, Olive.  I know it's been a while, but I didn't want to update until I had really big, really exciting news.  Here goes:  I can (finally) walk!  I hit this milestone later than most at the ripe old age of 17 months, but if one were to see me, they'd most assuredly believe I'd been walking for at least three months.... 

Here I am getting a little help from Caroline before I could do it all by myself

Then I started practicing with this stroller I found at Aunt Brie Brie's house.  This time it was Jamie's turn to help.

Caroline wanted a turn, so of course I obliged.

...for a minute.  You gotta get in where you fit in.

Everyone wanted to help me hone my new skill.  Here, my buddy Connor and I are popping in for a neighborly visit.

Suffice to say that I wasn't sad to see winter finally leave.  I spent a good portion of it with a stuffed up nose, cough, fever, or any combination of the three.  

Mom and I like to do everything together... Even being sick.

We drank our Mean Green Tonic to help us fight off germs.  It'll put hair of your chest.

But finally Spring came with an abundance of beautiful blossoms in my neighborhood.

That means I get to play outside again!

Better remember my Outer Beaches promotional shades...

How better to celebrate the first truly warm day than with the first ice cream cone of the season?

The warm weather means I get to model my Spring line.  Reds and blues really bring out my gorgeous eyes and rosebud lips.

Mom and Dad got me this new toy to take out on the lake now that it's nice out.

The life jacket can be a tad restrictive, but safety first.  The man at West Marine told Mom you can't put a price on safety, but apparently you can.  It't $54.95 for the most uncomfortable life jacket EVER.

My Great Grandad came for a visit and he and Daddy took us all for a spin.  Grandad said it reminded him of his Navy Days.

Grandad and I were fast friends, as evidenced by his first morning here when I made him read me 20 different books all in a row.  We share a love for good literature.  

We also got to visit some with Daddy's family. Grandma Angie and Grandpa Ken came for a visit before their big move to Canada.  We all met at my Great Gilland's for Grandmom Gilland's birthday.   

Grandpa Ken was determined to help me walk!

Grandad Gilland and I enjoyed a nice chat in his chair.

When it was time to celebrate Easter, we headed to Great Grandmom and Grandad Porter's.  I wanted to wear my new Hairbow, but I bit the eyeballs off before we got there (it happens), so I'm inserting this pre-Easter shot.

Once I got to Hope Mills I played all day with the eggs Grandmom brought out for me.

I'm finally big enough to use the rocking chair Great Grandmom got before I was even born.  This was VERY exciting for me.

Great Grandad read my new Easter books to me.

Shortly after Easter, it was time for Jamie to have a birthday.

We celebrated in my favorite way.

With some of my favorite people.

Here are a few more of my peeps.

The following Saturday,  James hosted a big Train Party and we got to ride on a real train!

I of course came dressed for the occasion.

I have the best big cousins in the whole world!

I also have some pretty great little cousins.  This is Rowan, and he came all the way from Northern Virginia with lots of Mom's family for the Scottish Highland Games last weekend.  We had a blast!

Caroline, Grandad, and I wore matching skirts for the occasion.   Now wait a minute... That's not right.  Kilts, they're called kilts. 

In other quick milestone news:

I like to wear piggy tails.

Sometimes it looks funny when we take them out.

I can eat with a fork.

...or without.

 Whew!  I'd say that about sums up the last two months, or so.  I'll try to be better about updating my blog, but no promises! Lots of love- Olive

Happy Ollie-days!

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of my grandmother Annanell Isabell Leggat.  Grammy, I miss you every day.  I love you so much.

Hey, ya'll.  It's me, Olive!  I hope you had a Merry Christmas and an Happy New year.  I thought I'd start with my Christmas card photo shoot.  Now, I know you thought it couldn't get any cuter than the 2011 'Olive the Other Reindeer' card, but I'm all about pushing limits and testing boundaries.  In fact, I'm a whole year cuter.  Please enjoy:

This Norman Rockwell-esque picture is one of Mommy's favorites ever... In fact, the entire shoot was pretty great.    We did our best to narrow it down to only five pictures of Yours Truly.  It was a difficult task, indeed.

I've got my tree all loaded and ready to go!

Safety first... I'd better check my mirrors

10 and 2... Ever the responsible road warrior

And away we go!

But I'm getting ahead of myself... Daddy's birthday was right before Christmas.  Mommy made him a German Chocolate cake.  She used Great Grandmom's recipe and made it from scratch!

It wasn't as pretty as Great Grandmom's, but it still tasted delicious!

My cousins and I have spent even more time together than usual over the last two months.  Aunt Brie-Brie went to Virginia to help take care of Grammy, so Jamie and Caroline got to to come to my house a lot.  I couldn't have been more thrilled to have their company.  Then, poor Aunt Brie-Brie had to have surgery on her bum-foot, but it was my gain because that meant more cousin time!  I hope you get well soon, Auntie, but I really like having my cousins around!

My cousins and I took my birthday wagon around the neighborhood and did some caroling.  Caroline's renditions of "To Grandmother's House We Go" and "Silent Night" met rave reviews on every cul-de-sac.  

Caroline made this special hat just for me.  I wouldn't take it off for two whole days.  Mommy thinks I look like I should be in an exclusive, secret club for old men.  Uncle Daniel thinks I look like a cymbal-clapping monkey.  I think I look like a trend-setter.

We played lots of dress-up, because that's Caroline's favorite game and she's the boss.  (I give that a year-and-a-half, at best.)

Caroline dressed me as a dancing bear from the circus

... She was a princess mermaid

I also look pretty good as a cow

A trip to the grocery store made for lots of gawking on-lookers, but we were all on our very best behavior

But let's get to the good stuff... This year I was finally old enough to appreciate Christmas... sort of.  

I mean, we had a sparkly tree INSIDE the house.  How cool is that?

You get to wear pretty dresses.  This one is from my Great Gillands!

Everyone wrapped up my favorite thing in the world (stairs) in pretty paper

And I thought they couldn't get any better!

A ramp?!  Uncle Daniel, you know me too well.

Cousin Curren came to see me.  We were so good at sharing!

Here we cousins all are in our matching jammies from Granna.  Wait a second... Henry, what the heck?

Here's Henry looking contrite about the whole jammy situation.  I know he felt bad about it.  Probably just your old story about some spit-up gone wrong.   

Now, my parents had an agreement with Santa that there would be NO spoiling this year.  They figured it was the last year they could get away with just a few small things, and agreed that I would only receive bubbles.  Let's face it; it's better than coal.  But several other family members did not get the memo, and proceeded to spoil me ROTTEN.  Especially my Uncle Steve.  He sent me a gift card to Toys R Us and told me to pick out something fun.   I asked myself what would my cool, motorcycle-riding, iron-pumping, litigating uncle would want me to have, and it dawned on me...

A super-cool whip.

I may not be able to walk, but I can rough ride with the best of them

I had so much fun learning to ride, and I take my new quad out every day, weather permitting

Thanks, Uncle Steve! You put the "great" in great uncle!

But I wasn't the only one to become one with the open road:

Caroline was fearless when it came to riding her new scooter

... And James was polite, as always.

And when all was said and done, I still loved my bubbles

I suppose it's time for the "What's New With Me?" portion of my blog entry.  Well, let's see...

For starters, I've got curls.  It's kind of a big deal.

Next, our friend Emily had a new baby named Wyatt.  I'll post some pictures next time we visit with him.  I've had a cold, so Mom wouldn't let me meet my new friend.  Wyatt's arrival meant I had to give back the bouncy seat we borrowed over a year ago (and that I grew out of many months ago).

I was not happy to see it go.

I even staged a sit-in

The weather finally turned seasonably cold.  This is when I was informed what the weather was like in Miami right now.  Thanks a lot, folks.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn to walk.  Here I am practicing:

I've also resolved to get my five servings of fruit and veggies every day.  Here's my Kale smoothie.  It's surprisingly delicious!

To work on my table manners...

To make new friends...

Mom and I resolve to coordinate our outfits more often

And finally, Dad and I resolve to tune out electronic devices and tune in to family quality time.  It's a work in progress.

Well, that's all for this post.  Until next time, Love-  Olive