Pictures of Olivia!

Here are some pictures from Olivia's 9 year old photo shoot! It is my last year with her before she hits the double digits! She is growing up so beautifully! Happy birthday Olivia

This year Olivia is in year 3 (third grade).

Olivia does about 10 hours a week of dance (ballet, tap, jazz, classical etc...) She loves it but can get very tired by Friday.

Olivia is my very happy child, she is a hard worker and is very determined.

Olivia loves to try new things and is a very good sport 

The other day in the car Olivia and Mary were playing "truth or dare," the conversation went as follows:

Mary: Olivia truth or dare

Olivia: truth

Mary: have you ever kissed a boy?

Olivia: snorting and gagging sound simultaneously... Mary, that is not how you play the game...you have to ask me questions like "what is my favourite flavor of donut!" 

Olivia's favourite toy(s) are littlest pet shops (LPS). She has been playing with them for nearly 2 years straight now, and recently asked Santa for the $50.00 rare collector pet shops! She said she will know if Santa is real or not  if he delivers her request (as each rare pet shop is located in different parts of the world (China, America etc...) if he really goes around the world, he will have no problem picking them up!

In addition to dance Olivia also participates in voice lessons, swimming and Kumon (an intense Asian tutoring program designed to accelerate kids above their grade level in school).

Olivia is still the smallest kid in her grade and has the bone age of a 6 year old.

Aside from her delayed bone age Olivia is otherwise healthy and growing again!

After Olivia's kidney operation, Stan and I have both noticed how resilient and easy going Olivia is, she really does roll with the punches and does not get down very easily.

Olivia's BFF is Maddy...another little girl who loves pet shops maybe more than Olivia--the will spend hours, filming pet shop video's with their iPhones. Despite desperate please, we have not gotten Olivia a Utube account so she can upload her LPS films.

I am so proud of Olivia and never thought I would get a daughter as beautiful and determined as her!

Olivia turns nine!

This year Olivia Sue turned 9 years old! She had the usual birthday pancakes on the "you are special plate"  and lately, for some reason, any song Olivia hears is an invitation to dance...so here is Olivia dancing to "happy birthday" before she blows out the candles! :-)

This year for Olivia's birthday we had a fantastic opportunity to pull off a surprise party. Here in Australia, the school year goes from the end of January until mid December. The year is broken into four quarters and after each quarter the children get two week off for a school holiday.

Olivia's birthday was during the school holiday which meant I was able to text all the parents about the party and not have any of the kids leak the secret before the special day. We invited everyone from Olivia's  class and hired a DJ to run a "disco party"

Because Stan was overseas in America, I had a friend invite Olivia over for a play and then I was able to decorate the house and get the food set up. 

Stan and I were first introduced to "disco's" while the girls were in Kindergarten (or prep as they call it out here). The school would host a Christmas disco and all the kids would dress up and have a huge dance party. When I say dress up I am talking about glitter, glow sticks and dresses....something I wouldn't have seen until the 8th grade in America!

Anyway, in order to get Olivia in a dress we told her she was going out to dinner with Maddy's family. I purposely forgot to pack her shoes and then they had to swing by to pick them up. That way Olivia wouldn't be suspicious when maddy was putting on a dress :-)

Here is a video clip of me answering the door and Olivia asking me "how on earth I could forget to pack her shoes!" I think she was surprised!

I love her rock star pose when she gets picked up by her classmate! Hilarious!! 

The DJ was great, she did the usual, limbo, macarena, karaoke, train etc.... The party was two hours and after sticker tattoo's and breaking for birthday cake the party was over. 

Olivia was drooling over her gifts while at the same time was so grateful and happy. She even shared with Mary & Thomas!

The day before was her actual birthday. Olivia was SO EXCITED and it was just a regular day (with the exception of pancakes in the morning). At bed time she was sad and I told her we would make invitations for her birthday party and have the party once school was back in session.  She was completely set up for a surprise...which was fantastic! Who doesn't love a good surprise? 

Happy Birthday OLIVIA!

Pictures of Mary

Here are some pictures of Mary Adelle, now that she is 7 years old. I am loving these pictures because I am afraid this year she will loose her two front teeth and this will be the last time I get her beautiful smile with her baby teeth!

Mary is in year 1 (first grade) at school.

If I had to describe Mary with one word it would be loyal. She keeps to one friend and holds onto them dearly!

In the morning if we are running late, Mary will forfeit eating breakfast, doing her homework, getting dressed and brushing her teeth all for ensuring that her hair is combed and accessorized before going out the door. Messy hair IS the end of the world and will bring a flood gate of tears if we leave without doing it. 

Mary still loves her dad the best!

Mary is extremely affectionate

Mary's best friend is named Natalie

Mary is super smart, she can out spell Olivia and can do her math homework regularly without any help. She possibly takes for granted how easy school is for her.

Mary's least favorite job is to make her bed. She often sleeps on top of her bedding just so she won't have to make it in the morning.

Mary has recently started basketball lessons. She is tall for her age and we think with time she could be very good! Every sunday afternoon Dad and Mary shoot hoops!

In addition to basketball, Mary also participates in swimming lessons, and is starting little nippers (surf/lifesaving) this summer!

Mary told me her secret talent is surfing, so we will see how she goes at little nippers

Mary is all girl and loves barbies, littlest pet shops, friends, perfume, nail polish and skirts. Mary will avoid pants...with the exception of her basket ball uniform

Mary constantly leaves me love notes on my pillow. The other day I came across a thank you note (in October  to the Easter bunny for never forgetting her. Additional letters were for the tooth fairy, Santa's elves and their extra hard work and so on!

Mary is trying to grow her hair out like Rapunzel 

My favorite feature of Mary are her eyes!

Although more cautious than Olivia, Mary is fiercely competitive and will try anything Olivia can do!

Love you Mary- Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mary!

Mary turned 7 years old on September 29th!  We started off the big day with the usual birthday pancakes with 100's and 1,000's on the "you are special" plate...thanks Ben & Laura for your hand-me-down wedding present (our plate was lost in our move)!

 Here she is blowing out the candles!

 And opening gifts from family...thank you to all the grandparents and great grandparents for being so thoughtful to send a gift or a card for Mary!

For her party, Mary had a pajama party with a few girls from her class- It was charming. They really wanted to play games like musical chairs, musical statues, charades,  pass the parcel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_parcel) - which is a very popular game in England and Australia. We had a pizza party and then read bed time stories and watched a movie. The girls were so cute and I quickly realized (while watching Olivia) that this phase is very short.

Pictures to come!

 Happy birthday Mary! We love you very much!