13 Months!

Here's a few pics taken on April 11th.

Popeye and Olive Oyl (Halloween costume foreshadowing...??)

KOPJ Has Risen (A Few Weeks Ago - I'm a Little Late)

Our attempt at the Kienzle Cousin Easter picture.

And the hunt begins!

I think I missed an action shot of Maile because she was so fast. Here's a shot of Grammy and the kids, checking out the loot and taking inventory to see what was still outstanding.

After the kids opened their baskets they took off to the stairs to play with their bunny parachutes.

And I had to include these because I think Nikos looks so hysterical with his little Starbucks (hot chocolate) cup.

Pizza and Cupcakes

After some delays due to family vacations, our vacation, and waiting for visitors to arrive, we FINALLY had Olive's 1st Birthday party. We started with pizza and ended with cupcakes and cake.


After celebrating Olive, Nikos insisted we sing Happy 1st Birthday to him as well. Like suckers, we did.

Lovin South Lake

After a morning walk and a visit to our Tahoe Starbucks, Nikos and I walked over to the movie theatre to watch How to Train Your Dragon.


Olive and Taki stayed back at the timeshare and napped while we watched the show.

After naptime we took a drive down to the Lake.


Next up - spaghetti dinner and some hot tubbin!

-- Post From My iPhone

We're Going to Have to Start Mixing in Some Camping

Conversation with Nikos Thursday night:

Me: Niko, do you want to go up to Tahoe again?
Niko: To see Frosty?
Me: Yes.
Niko: And stay in the timeshare?
Me: Yes.
Niko: With the Pool?
Me: Yes
Niko: And the hot tub?
Me: Yes
Niko: And the waterfall?
Me: (giggle)

365 Days of Olive

I know it took me FOREVER (one month and twelve days if you want to get specific) to post Olive's One Year video but here it is...I think it was worth the wait.



PS - I know I didn't do any of the "real" work, since Animoto put it together - but you try going through 20,000 pictures!

When the Mice Are Away...

Thanks to some helpful grandparents we are childless for the weekend! Please enjoy (& laugh at the sheer magnitude of) our To Do list.




-- Post From My iPhone

Big Brother

Nikos is an awesome big brother. He loves to help Olive (although he does have his fair share of stealing her toys as well.) I try to let him help out as often as I can - here are some videos I took one night last week when he helped feed her dinner.

And Two Eyes Made Out Of Cold

Last weekend when it was raining Nikos was looking for something to do so I suggested he come read a book in our room while I cleaned it. I didn't know how long it would last but it was great, he sat there for a good 25 minutes reading different books. Here's a video I took of him passing the time.



-- Post From My iPhone (stole this app idea from Shawna!)

Game On!

During the Easter holiday we were lucky enough to not only have a visit from the Easter bunny, but some PA relatives as well.

Let the games begin! We start the rounds of Crazy Bee Rummy - there are thirteen (or fourteen?) steps, I'm pretty sure I won the entire game. I mean, the other players may disagree, but this is my blog so who is going to argue? (And plus I know Anut Sandy can't figure out how to comment so we know she can't dispute this - ha!)

My poor mom got saddled with four of the five grandkids (I think Olive was napping) so she took the opportunity to...teach them how to gamble with Michigan Rummy. Huh?

And now we move onto Taki's alumni baseball game - where apparently I took no pictures of the adults playing the game. This year the team is on a new field with a batting cage that the kids loved! Here's Nikos in the foreground, Clara Cecchin (Tim and Sara's daughter) on the left and Joey Cecchin (Tim and Sara's son) and Tommy Galvin (Meredith Cecchin's son) in the background. Thanks to Meredith for some of these pics!

Marco and Niko discussing baseball strategy.

I promise to actually include pics of the BIG boys playing the "real" game next year!

O is for One!

On April 1st I took Olive in for her One Year (and three week) Doctor's Appointment.

Waiting patiently in the lobby (with my car keys as a distraction.)

While we were in the lobby Olive practiced her non-crawling (or backwards scooting.) All you moms that are germ phobic probably shouldn't watch this clip. Just sayin.

Can you say Happiest Baby Ever on the scale?

For the record, I know everyone says she is a Mini Heather, but this is NOT the look I have on my face when I step on the scale.

And the stats!
Weight: 17.9lbs and 3rd percentile
Height: 28 inches and 12th percentile
Head Size: 24th percentile

Nikos Comparison at One Year and Two Weeks
Weight: 17lbs and 3rd percentile
Height: 28.5 inches and 5th percentile
Head Size: 25th percentile

Dr. Ray isn't concerned with the fact that she isn't crawling (forwards) yet, since Nikos was working on a slower pace as well with crawling and walking and turned out just fine. She said just to keep an eye on her and keep working on it and practicing and one day she will get it. We'll follow up again in a few months if we don't see any progress. I told Dr. Ray I think part of the problem is that whenever we are trying to get her to crawl to something (and she inevitably starts crying when she can't reach it) Nikos runs into the room yelling "It's okay Olive!" as he grabs the toy and hands it to her. Ha.

She babbled up a storm while we were there and impressed the doctor with all her sounds and mimics, along with her sunny disposition.

Here's how she occupied herself while we waited for the nurse to come over with the vaccinations.



Olive continues to be the easiest baby ever. She is happy about 95% of the time, is fairly adventurous with food (although she can still be a little picky sometimes) and she sleeps like a champ. We still put her down (wide awake) between 6:30-7:30pm and she usually gets up around 7:00-7:30am 0n school days and 8:30 on the weekends. She takes a three hour nap from 10am-1pm and then usually a shorter I think I'm still her favorite person but she loooves Nikos and gets super excited to see Daddy too. She loves anything with music and bops around dancing to the tunes. I think she is still partial to Puddy over Bosco, although she tolerates him constantly licking her in the face. She is such a beautiful addition to our family.

PARTAY

A few weeks ago Nikos got invited to a birthday party at MyGym in Walnut Creek - fun stuff! They had a HUGE ball pit that was like four feet deep. Nikos and Marco took turns jumping off the side.

Next up - the trampoline. Poor Nikos hasn't quite mastered jumping (and landing) with both feet at once, while Marco is the champ.

Here's a group shot of all the kids - the birthday girl, Elizabeth, is the blonde in the middle.

This is the look I got for Nikos when I busted him for picking his nose (his latest obsession) in the ball pit. Ewwww.

And finally - the zipline! (Turn the volume down to avoid my ever-present annoying commentary.)

I tried to convince Nikos that we should have his 3rd birthday party here but he remains steadfast in his devotion to Chuck E. Cheese.

Baby O's 1st Bday Photoshoot

We had a photo shoot with our photographer last weekend for O's 1st birthday. Unfortunately, she totally pulled a Nikos and was a little fussy for the shoot, so we have to reschedule for more time but she put up a sneak peek in the meantime. So cute!