new years eve

it's 10:47
michael and i already
ordered pizza
and ate most of it
finished the rootbeer
and ginger ale
watched the movie knight and day
(totally cute bytheway)
and now i'm ready for bed
hopefully i can make it another hour +
but just in case i can't
happy new year!

hazel and olive comparisons

 

what's a pirates' favorite letter?

RRRRRRRRRRRRRR

the kids went to a pirate themed
birthday party today
i think they make adorable pirates

funny story

yesterday was Christmas

so we did what normal people do

and opened our presents

in our living room next to our tree

olive was laying on the floor in front of me

but fussed a little so i picked her up

and just moments later

our hanging light

that we've used in a few different apartments

over the last few years

started flashing until it went dim

and then the bulb caught on fire

and dropped to the floor

right where olive had just been

take a look at the inside of our ikea fixture now

 and the light bulb that was in it 

reasons to be grateful:

1. this happened while we were home

2. olive didn't get burnt

3. our apartment didn't burn down

and the lessons we learned are

never leave lights on when you're not home

(though we usually don't anyway)

and don't trust GE lightbulbs

our family Christmas

we are having our own Christmas at home

this  year

and we're enjoying it

lots of presents

lots of food

and playing with our new toys

i think we're going to the movies later

and we'll have a big dinner

i love my family

and

Merry Christmas!!!

the rest of the story

 we weren't sure when we should head home

so michael's parents convinced us to stay

one more day

so we could spend some time together

we went to the museum of flight

(also free with our pullman science center pass)

 hazel insisted on wearing her princess high heel

dress up shoes all day

noah thought the airplanes were pretty cool 

 our three little...guys

 in the gift shop

after the museum of flight

we went to Chuck E Cheese

for dinner and playing

and then topped the evening

with coldstone ice cream for dessert

thank you grandma and grandpa olson!

i'm also so glad we stayed so we could go see my friend christie
and her sweet little baby daphne
it was so good to see her

also

we had a really nice visit
with my family
at my grandma's house
here she is with hazel
i kind of think they look alike

it was so nice to see everyone
and we had a really fun trip
michael even indulged me
and we stopped at the northbend
outlet mall on the way home
and i got some new running gear
now it's time to mail out the rest of our
Christmas cards and get ourselves in gear
for
Christmas!!

olson family christmas party

michael's family has a really fun tradition

every year they have a big Christmas eve party

this year we did it a week early

there is lots of food, white elephant exchange,

singing of Christmas songs, etc

 here is a picture of michael and his cousins

thank you grandma and grandpa olson

for this cute little outfit for olive

 this one is michael's family

 his family and his double cousins, aunt and uncle

mr and mrs clause

(olive and her 2 month younger cousin christopher)

funny things hazel says

while dangling an object in the air "you are getting very sleeeeepy"

while doing something she shouldn't she sings "i'm so, i'm so sorry" from yo gabba gabba

"no mom you silly girl"

"i girl, you girl, olive girl. noah and dad both boys"

seattle science center

we just got home from a trip to seattle

we did a lot while we were there

first stop was the seattle science center

which was free since we bought a pass

to the pullman science center

and was fun

since michael and i hadn't been since

elementary school

the kids loved it

then afterward, while we were waiting for the monorail,

we let the kids go on a ride

the same ride that freaked noah out

when he was two

maybe it's an olson family right of passage?

Michael's work Christmas party

2009 Santa Picture

2010 Santa Picture

neither year has turned out great...

Oh well, still fun to look back at.

2010 Olson Christmas photos

 i love seeing pictures with our whole family

 this is the one we're sending with our Christmas cards

and just for fun of me and the hubs

we figured we'd all be dressed up for church

so we had our friend heather take these last sunday

with our camera

i think they're so cute

our darling baby

i have no idea where we got these darling

vintage pajamas for olive

but they look so precious on her

especially paired with her little 

snow hat

that ties under her chin

she looks so turn of the century

i guess i'm not mad at her anymore

for screaming through all of church

questions and answers

sometimes the blog is a little one sided

i forget to tell the other part of the story

or answer questions

and then i think about it while i'm trying to sleep

and it bothers me

like it's hanging over me

and i don't like things unfinished

so here it goes

1. Remember a long time ago when I told you about my favorite shoes and how I sent them off to be fixed

and it took forever and I overpaid? Well... once I got them back, I tried to love them but they were suddenly too big for me and way heavy because of the crappy sole they put on them. I threw them away recently. Never use the shoe repair guy at Southcenter mall. 

2. Running. After I had Olive my friend Heather and I started running in the morning. We were going at 7:00am outside until just before Thanksgiving when we ran our 5k. Now that it's snowed and the snow isn't leaving anytime soon, we get up and go to the gym and do a mix of running on treadmills, lifting weights, and trying out new weird machines. We still go in the morning before everyone's up. I love going with Heather. It's so much easier to get up and go with someone than by myself. We are going to start marathon training in the next month or two and hope to get back outside in the spring when the weather permits. The marathon training I'm going to use can be found here. My sister Andre`a used it for her first marathon and highly recommends it. She is planning on running another marathon or two this next year including the one with me. 

3. As far as what kind of van we're going to get. Either an Odyssey or a Sienna. We'll go for whatever we can pay cash, and get the best value. Currently we're leaning toward Siennas.

4. Preschool. I have told most of you in person who have asked but in case anyone else was curious, I'll answer here. I pulled Noah out of head start for a few reasons. First, he had a different teacher this year that I got a weird feeling from. He was nice, but socially off and way too touchy feely. I figured if I wasn't comfortable with Noah being alone with him, I shouldn't let him be around him. I might be crazy but I'm the mom and I want to protect my children.

The other reason was that they did a new integration with autistic children and the numbers were really disproportioned. There were 5 (or more) children with special needs in Noah's class of 13 children. He hadn't learned anything (other than some bad behavior) after two months. He is doing really well at home and I feel like I made the right decision.

5. Jackie the color on our living room walls was originally from Fred Meyer and it was left over from our Ashley Terrace apt. We used the rest of that until we ran out and then had walmart color match it. Now the new can doesn't say what it is because the machine mixed it.. Long story short, I don't know what color it is. I'm sorry! It's a mix of a light green and light blue. Kind of a pale aqua. My favorite color.

6. We purchased this set of wall ledges to hang out stockings. We got our stockings and the stocking hangers from Target on clearance a few years ago the week or two after Christmas.

7. That leather tufted couch we recently purchased off craigslist? We resold it like...the next day or maybe two days later for the same price we paid for it. It was a cool couch but it had such a different style than the rest of our living room. It was going to be a bit of work to match our living room to it and I'm not quite ready for a change. Our current couch is awesome but the cushions were fraying which really bothered me. I finally figured out a good way to fix them and they look great. Holla! Bottom line, I'm always looking on craigslist for something awesome and I don't like to let them pass me by. It was super similar to a restoration hardware sofa that is like $3000 and we got ours for $175 but resold it. What can I say? I'm really lucky to have a SUPER supportive husband.

8. Do I love, love or LOVE, LOVE Olives hair? I LOVE, LOVE Olive's hair. It's a little out of control right now but it's so much fun and I can't imagine her without it.

sorry for the randomness

let me know if you have more questions

and i'll be better about responding

goodbye dear friend

we're happy (and a little sad) to report that we sold our malibu

it was a good car 

and we loved it

but we need more space

cramming 3 kids and carseats in there was tricky

to say the least

so now we're on the hunt

for a van

woo hoo

reasons to be excited

1. the stockings are hung

2. the presents are bought (for the kids, anyway)

3. the couch cushions are off and it's open for jumping

4. we're going to the science center today

5. the Christmas tree smells delightful

6. olive is just waking up at 9:30am

7. i ran for the first time since before thanksgiving today

8. michael was home for breakfast

9. zumba tonight

10. 18 days until Christmas

black apple dolls

i love handmade gifts

i so prefer giving something i made

as a gift

than just buying something generic

here is my take
 on martha stewart's
adorable

black apple dolls

the tutorial can be found

here

they are so fun and easy to make
i've made 10 of them

and i'll be giving them to my nieces this year

for Christmas

olive is 5 months today

and apparently to me

that makes her fair game for pig tails

i just could not wait any longer

 no bald spot on this little girl

just a little thinning

 smiling for michael

cutest thing ever

thank you, olive

for amusing me

we love our little five month old girl

call me crazy

 no really, call me crazy

(christie i stole that joke from you from 10th grade :)

i registered for my first

marathon 

yesterday

it's next summer in seattle

yikes!

ps. i've lost 46 pounds since olive was born

and i have 8 more to go to my pre-olive weight

how much weight did i gain? sheesh! 

i'll blame it on the extreme swelling i had at the end