I know, I know, I'm a bad blogger. I will never be able to be one of those who regularly participates in this blogging thing.
I've come to believe that 4 yrs old is going to be so much fun! 3 was defintely challenging at times, but I think she has really learned to handle her frustration better and I have learned to handle mine as well. Apparently, 2 people yelling doesn't help. Who knew? (hehe)

So I want to list a few of the things Olivia has said or done that I think are special.

We are swimming this summer at the Moose Lodge. Olivia pronounces is Moose Lobge which is hilarious. She took swim lessons and did really well but even though she knows how to do free style stroke, she chooses to swim "free style" and just rolls around and acts silly in the water. BUT, she is not drowning and is able to come up for air by herself so I'm not going to complain. It makes trips to the pool much easier that they were last year.

We went to the Georgia Aquarium last week with Nana and Papa Ken. It was lots of fun! Since then, her bedroom has become the "Book Aquarium" and we spend all day in there looking at fish eggs (marbles), touching rays and sharks, pretending to be pirates, reading books, and other things. Her closet is either an airplane, a boat or a train which takes people from Texas (pronounced Tescas) to the Aquarium and back. Yesterday it was a pirate ship that she and "big sister" were riding in that got stuck on some rocks and I had to "heave ho" for a long time to pull them off the rocks. Olivia was very encouraging and yelled "You're a very strong pirate Mommy!" which gave me the strength I needed to keep on pulling!

Big sister is a doll that looks like a girl, not a baby and Olivia has named her "Big Sister". To be clear, she is not Olivia's big sister, she is the big sister to the baby dolls. I am the voice of Big Sister. This is a game started by Papa Ken, who was the voice of Birthday Bear for the week he was here visiting. Olivia loves this game. She talks and talks to Big Sister and tells her all sorts of stories about what she has done. Things she hasn't even told me. And all the while they are talking, Olivia is looking Big Sister right in the eyes, never looking at me. It's as if Im not even there, until Big Sister says something ridiculous like, "I think your mommy needs to go clean the kitchen." Then Olivia looks at Big Sister skeptically, then to me and O asks "Did you say that or was it Big Sister?"

List of Oliviaese words:
Moose Lobge = Moose Lodge
Stattoos = tattoos (She said she wants a stattoo of a dump truck when she grows up; on her ankle like her Mommy)
Tescas = Texas

She often sings what she is doing which I love. And she is also quite a dancer. Both of these have become frequent since she started watching Backyardigans.
Her sense of humor is really developing and she is getting sarcasm. She is quick to point out when something is "ridiculous"!

She and her father are "Fixers". Olivia believes they can fix anything, "except broken trees", of course. I am sometimes able to fix things, but have not earned the title of Fixer apparently. Brian is great at getting to help him with projects and she LOVES it! I wish I sould figure out a way to make cleaning up more like fixing so that I could get some help in that department!

FATHER'S DAY FISHING!
Brian and Olivia went to Academy and bought O a Disney Princess Fishing pole. We went out on Lake Jackson Sunday evening. Olivia caught her first fish, no first 3 fish! She was so proud! But, 3 was enough and she was not interested in fishing much after that. Instead, she watched her little fish swim around in the live well. Her wonderful father was nice enough to keep them in there until we were done fishing.

To sum up, I am feeling very blessed and having a fantastic time with my little girl these days! I hope I can remember to get on here more often so that her greats are all written down.