The Panke's: April 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

You Might Be A Redneck If...

You're child thinks it's fun to be pulled on a giant trashbag around the house:) Daddy can always make anything into a toy for Olivia and of course she LOVES it!!!

This one is a little out of focus but you get the point. During this hole escapade Olivia laughed her little butt off, her big belly laugh of course. I just can't get enough of that laugh!!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

How Ladylike

And sanitary it is for my daughter to eat ice cubes off the floor.

She couldn't pick it up with her hands so she got resourceful and picked it up with her mouth. Way to use those problem solving skills Olivia! Don't worry we don't let her do this in public but she will try to pick it up off the table at a restuarant with her teeth. Gotta love her:)!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Let's Read a Book

Olivia has found a new love in reading books, well being read too. Usually I'm the one who reads her the book before we go to bed or while playing in the afternoon. The other night Olivia decided she wanted Daddy to read her a book. We have this book 10 Little Ladybugs with 3D ladybugs in it. She absolutely LOVES this book(and the 2 others we have like it). Paul and Olivia were sitting on the floor reading the book while I was cleaning up from dinner and I hear this-
"4 little ladybugs were climbing on a tree, one saw a turtle and then there were 3. The turtle is in the tree. What kind of turtle climbs in a tree, Olivia turtles don't live in trees. What kind of book is this."
Paul was trying to figure out why there was a turtle in a tree and why this book was teaching his daughter that turtles live in trees. I told him that it was a story and didn't have to make sense. Then I laughed and told both of them it was a tree turtle. He looked at me like I was stupid, I just smiled. He probably thought I thought there were actually tree turtles, I was really just trying to justify the book have a turtle in tree with ladybugs.

Needless to say she loves reading with Daddy, even if he doesn't think a children's book should have turtles climbing in trees since they don't. I can't wait until he reads some of her other books he'll be telling her how wrong the books are, my poor child. Maybe he'll stick to non-fiction when they read together:) I'm just happy they read together and she loves to listen to us read to her.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Let's Hunt Easter Eggs

This was Olivia's first Easter and I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it. We started off Saturday morning hunting for eggs at a local church. They hid over 1500 eggs, holy cow that's a lot of eggs. The little kids got to go first so off went Olivia with Mommy, Daddy, Nanny, and Poppy to find some eggs. Of course she found some it was more like an egg grab then an egg hunt, they were all out in plain sight(well most of them). She wasn't really sure what to think of it but once she figured it out she had a blast.

Trying to figure out what's inside .

We ended up with 6 eggs. Only 4 of those had candy the other 2 had prizes from the prize table-2 stuffed animals. She had fun hunting eggs but next year will be even better since she will have a better understanding of what's going on.

Sunday we went to Mimi and Poppop's for lunch with the rest of the family. The food was great, Poppop did a great job on the fried chicken. After lunch we took the kids outside to play. Olivia discovered the pool with Daddy and he taught her a new trick-

How to lean over the edge of the pool and play in the water. He kept telling her to wash her hands. It was by far the cutest thing I had seen her do all day. I'm sure it will be the first thing she does whenever she goes to visit Mimi and Poppop from now on.

For dinner we went to Nanny and Poppy's. Olivia got another basket from then. She got her first Cabbage Patch doll and a new bike. After borrowing a bike at the park the other day Nanny decided that Olivia needed her own. This bike has turn signals, a horn, and plays music-boy do kids have it good these days.

Riding the bike around the living room, well just sitting on it looking at all of the adults thinking-come on guys push me. Of course Daddy did and I got to hear my most favorite sound in the world-Olivia's belly laugh:)

We had a great first Easter with Olivia. I think I took about 100 pictures of her hunting eggs.

I so bummed that spring break is over. I had a blast with Olivia this past week. She is so fun now and can do so much. I think I may have played outside more last week then I have in years, she actually gives me a reason to go outside. It was so hard to go to work this morning knowing I was going to leave my sweet girl at home and she was going to have fun with someone other then me. I just keep thinking only 36 more days to go and I'll be home for 2 months with her.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Funny Faces, Playing, & Park Day

We've been really busy this week since I've been off for Spring Break. I must say I've LOVED staying home with Olivia this week. She is so much fun and I can't get enough of her. This is a big change from last summer when I was ready to return to school, not this time I can't wait for summer vacation-only 36 school days left:)
Here is a FUNNY face that Daddy taught Olivia. She does it all the time and thinks it's funny when she does it. She'll usually look at you like this then laugh. She thinks that she's a comedian already at the tender age of 1.

Wednesday Tara and Jude stopped over to drop off a birthday gift, thank you for the outfit I can't wait for Olivia to wear it. The pants are great(of course they're striped). Since Olivia got a ton of outside toys for her birthday Jude and Olivia played while Tara and I caught up. Jude taught Olivia some new things during his short time here like how to sit at the table in her playhouse, thanks Jude:)

Thursday we headed off to Hilliard for Park Day with some other Mommy's. Thanks for the invite ladies we had a great time. Olivia had to warm up to everyone before she started playing but once she warmed up she was all over the place. Here she is riding Kenzie's bike, thanks for letting her play on it. Next time we'll bring our own toys so you can play with yours.

Here she is sitting in the grass wiping her hands off. Olivia has no problem getting dirty just don't let her hands get dirt on them. She fell in the sand and couldn't quite figure out what was on her and how to get it off. I also think she was checking out everyone sitting at the table. She is so much like her Daddy sometimes. She's a people watcher-she has to take eveeything in and assess the situation before she is comfortable. Like I said we'll have to join everyone again at the park so Olivia is more comfortable with the other kids and their Mommy's,

Doing something she won't do anyother time, holding her own bottle. Olivia has absolutey NO desire to hold her bottle she would rather have someone do it for her. When we left the park someone was kind of crabby and wanted her bottle. I of course couldn't hold it for her since I was driving so I just handed it to her and waited to see what she did with it. She picked it up and put it in her mouth. I was so excited I took pictures while driving, we even took a pic with the phone and texted Daddy. Yes, I was that excited. Olivia is a year old and won't hold her bottle, she walked at 9 months but won't hold her bottle. I would like to stress that she doesn't want to hold it not that she can't. She held it quite well too I might add, she drank almost the entire bottle before falling asleep( which she did about 10 minutes from the house-go figure).

We also had Olivia's 1 year doctor appt this week. Dr Sabban was impressed with all of Olivia's skills and her personality. She weighed in at 23 lbs 6 oz and was 31.5 inches tall. They didn't give us the percentile's this time but I looked them up online to see where she ranked. No suprise here but her height was above the 95th percentile and her weight was between the 75th and 90th. What can I say the girl has tall genes:) We've also switched to whole milk and Olivia seems to like it, even if I have to warm it, she's a little spoiled:) She's even been eating a little better at meal time, which I love. She's starting to eat more foods and not gag if she doesn't want it she just spits it out, which is so ladylike.

All in all we've had a GREAT week together. Next up Easter egg hunting on Saturday, don't worry I'll post pictures.

Oh, check out the preview of Olivia's photo shoot with Dana at Bella Blue Photography.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

*Olivia is just amazed by the fact that animals pop up if you push the buttons. If she would just learn to push the buttons herself.*

Why Play With Your Toys...

...When you can play with the tampons under Mommy's sink.

Yesterday while I was trying to finish my hair Olivia opened up the cabinets in the bathroom. Go figure we have the hardest time opening the cabinets but Olivia can with no problem. She started taking things out and playing with them. There is nothing under there that can hurt her so I didn't mind, it was giving me a chance to finish ironing my hair. When I looked down at the quiet baby between my legs this is what I saw. She had the entire box dumped out on the floor and playing. She was having so much fun moving them from one side of her to the other and talking to herself. I had to snap a few photos. She can get into anything and everything. I just LOVE her curiosity(I think I spelled that right):)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Party Highlights

Here are some of the many pictures that were taken at Olivia's 1st Birthday Bash. We had a great time and can't wait for next year.
Here is the birthday girl's cake. The theme was butterflies and flowers.

Olivia wasn't too sure about the whole cake thing. She HATES to get her hands dirty. Hard to believe since I know her Daddy and he doesn't have a problem getting dirty(maybe she gets that from me).

Taking a little taste.

What a HAPPY birthday girl! I think she was having a GREAT time.

Checking out the gifts with her Great Nan

Helping Mommy open presents.

It was a GREAT day for a party, the weather was beautiful. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the birthday festivities. Olivia had a wonderful time and so did I. The stress I felt was gone as soon as I had all of the food set up and ready to go.