My Baby Girl is One!

May 1, 2013

On May 1, my baby girl, the one who completed our family, turned one year old.  I think I said the same thing with Jack, but as hard as it is to believe that she is already one, it is even harder to imagine our lives without her.  This is just the first of several posts about Miss Olivia's big birthday, but I thought I'd start off with a picture on her actual birthday - when I dropped her off at school in the morning:

What a difference a year makes!

When she was born, she weighted 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long.  One year later, she's walking, talking, and absolutely perfect.  The doctor measured her as follows:

Height: 30 inches - 75th percentile
Weight: 20 lb, 12 oz.- 50th percentile
Head: 17 3/4 in  - 50th percentile

Spring school photos were also taken in May.  Once again, I loved how they turned out.  We had a slight mishap at school the morning before pictures.  Jack decided to hang his brand new shirt from the coat hook while he was still wearing it.  The photographers did a great job of strategically posing and placing arms to hide the giant rip in his shirt.  Boys will be boys!

I brought some giant cupcakes home to celebrate Livi's birthday after dinner and I know we took pictures, but I looked in every photo folder on the computer to no avail, I have no idea what happened to them.  I don't think they were great, anyway, but I'm sad I couldn't find them.  Oh well.  Stay tuned for professional pics and the big birthday party!

We Love Visitors!

April 2013

We always love having visitors at the Mhire household.  In April, we were fortunate enough to have visits from family on two different weekends.  First, my cousin Sarah stopped through on her way home to Louisiana from work in Kansas.  It was a quick visit - she arrived on Friday after work, and left early Saturday afternoon, but we crammed lots of fun into those few hours!

Here I am with my sweet cousin and amazingly sweet (at that moment) kiddos.

We checked out Jack's soccer game on Saturday morning and followed that up with a delicious Mexican food lunch.  Unfortunately, Sarah had to get back on the road to Louisiana after lunch.  We so wish she could have stayed longer, but are thankful for the time we got to spent together - it doesn't happen nearly often enough!

 

 The next weekend, we were so excited to be joined by my Grandma Dot, Aunt Karen and her husband Wyatt.  It really doesn't matter how old you get, it is still really exciting to get a visit from your Grandma - her first time to visit our house in Frisco.  We picked up Jack and Olivia after school on Friday and had some fun playing in the backyard.  Great Grandma pushed Jack on the swings:

 And Mommy made sure Olivia wasn't feeling left out:

 Yes, Jack is still small enough to fit though the doggy door:

Livi has always loved eat, and its especially fun to watch her eat spaghetti:

 Great Grandma got some Livi cuddles in the morning:

 Before we headed off to another soccer game:

 

 After the soccer game, we headed over to the spring carnival at Kids 'R Kids.  We all enjoyed snow cones, and Jack made a colored sand sculpture, played in the bounce house, petted the animals in the petting zoo, and had fun with bubbles:

We took an afternoon outing to the neighborhood playground, where Jack told anyone who would listen about his "friend Wyatt."  That evening, we all headed to dinner at Babe's for some good old Texas fried chicken.  Olivia kept everyone entertained with her dancing and everyone had a great time.  They had to leave the next morning, so it was unfortunately another quick trip, but I was so happy to be able to share my home a few days of our lives with my Grandma and Aunt.  I wish I had a few pictures of Aunt Karen and Wyatt, but I promise they were there.  I hope they know how much their visit meant to me.  Love you guys!! 



The Fighting Unicorn Lions

April 2013

 

In April, the Unicorn Lions soccer season began.  Jack's division was the 3-4 year-old age group.  Since Jack had just turned 3, he was one of the youngest on the team - and when the oldest are almost 5, it makes a big difference.  They played 4-on-4 on little mini soccer fields.  At this age, the sidelines were really more "guidelines" than strictly enforced out-of-bounds markers, and it was common for a parent on the sideline to gently "nudge" the ball back onto the field when it went out.  They played 4 8-minute quarters, which may not sound like long, but is really much longer than the attention span of a 3-year-old.  Jack was usually energetic at the beginning of a game, but his attention waned rapidly and most of the second half was usually spent wandering by himself in an open part of the field, or rolling on the ground.  He really liked to kick the ball and run, but got intimidated when he was in a crowd of kiddos all chasing and kicking at the ball.

 

He had fun (most of the time), and what more can this former soccer-playing mama ask for?  Here's my little unicorn lion before his first game - the size small shirt is almost a dress - he wore number 6, just like his mama wore in high school (I just might have been the first one to the t-shirt pile to pick out his shirt :) ):

He had a pretty big fan club. Throughout the season, he was lucky enough to have Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa, Poppy, Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan and Lincoln, Cousin Sarah, Great Grandma Dot, Aunt Karen and Wyatt all come to watch him play.  And of course his full time cheering section - Mommy, Daddy and Olivia, who really wanted to be out on the field:

Jack always had energy during warm ups:

GOOOAAAALLLL!

Here's the team deep in a half time strategy session

And a couple of action shots. There were 2 girls on his team, Ava and London, who were on the older end of the age range, and really knew what they were doing.  When they weren't fighting each other for the ball, they definitely scored the vast majority of the teams goals.

 

And a video that pretty much sums up Jack's first soccer season:

Yay for the Unicorn Lions!

An Easter Wedding Celebration

April 2013

 

We've finally reached Easter weekend.  Once again, I found myself a little sad that Tommy and I would not be spending another holiday with our babies.  I know we had already celebrated more than enough, but it always makes me sad to not be together on the actual holiday.  Tommy and I were headed to Houston to celebrate the wedding of a very dear high school friend and we knew the kiddos were in good hands with Nana and Papa.  Still, we had to have one last Easter egg hunt at our house before we headed south.  We hid our eggs all around the playroon upstairs and both kids had a great time finding them:

After that, we headed to Houston.  We met up with a group of friends for lunch before the wedding.  We even saw a few people we hadn't seen in at least 15 years - some even since we graduated from high school.  So fun!

 

We checked in to our hotel, the Hotel Zaza in the museum district, relaxed, changed, and headed to the wedding.  Samir and Jen picked a beautiful place, the Parador, for both the wedding and ceremony.  Our friends Scott and Cynthia had their wedding in the same place a few years earlier, so it was fun to see how each couple had made the location their own.  The ceremony was perfectly them - Star Trek theme songs for the processional and recessional and a reading from Tolkein, read by the officiant, Jen's dad. It was obvious to everyone there how much these two love and truly enjoy each other.  We were so happy to be able to share their special day with them!

The happy couple and their parents:

Samir and his groomsmen - Scott, Ik, and Adam - all great guys that I've had the pleasure of knowing since high school.  So great to see that they are all still such great friends:

We had some delicious Indian food and a fun group at our table for dinner.  Of course, Tommy and I:

Sarah and Jeff:

Esther and Greg:

Mairi and Mike:

Unexpectedly, I ran into Seema, my sister's best friend from high school who now lives in New York.  She shared with me her super exciting secret that she and her husband were expecting their first baby and I managed to keep her big news from my little sis until Seema could tell her herself.  Congrats Seema and Tim!

We headed back to Dallas bright and early on  Sunday morning, so it was a flying trip.  It would have been great to spend a little longer catching up with everyone, but we were so glad we were able to make it to celebrate with some of our oldest and dearest friends.  Congratulations Samir and Jen - we're so happy for you!

A Quick Break From Easter

April 2013

No, we're not quite finished with Easter yet, only taking a break to celebrate the 11-month birthday of Miss Olivia Grace.  As I read back through my posts during Jack's first year, I feel like I've slighted my baby girl a little.  I don't have quite the amount of detail about her likes, dislikes and milestones as I did for Jack.  I guess that's what happens when I'm at least 6 months behind in my blogging, and busy working full-time and chasing an 18-month-old with a  mind of her own almost 4-year old who never ever slows down.  Poor Livi.  

At 11 months old, Olivia has been walking for almost a month, so she is starting to get steadier on her feet, although she tends to try to chase after her big brother a little faster than her feet can handle and ends up on her backside quite a bit.  Jack was always a studier before he moved or acted, but little Livi just goes for it - for better or worse!  At 11 months old, Livi is pointing at absolutely everything, waving and generally trying to figure out everything she could about the world around her.  If it starts with the letter B, she'll say it, along with "Mama", "Dada", and of course "Jack,".  She loves everything her big brother says and does and he is likewise adoring, attentive, and loves to make her laugh and smile. Love my sweet boy and spunky baby girl!

I appear to have forgotten to document Livi's 10 month birthday (oops!), so here's her 10 month photo:

 And one month later at 11 months:

And let's not forget to post the picture of bog brother, who always wants to have his picture taken when the camera comes out:

Easter at Kids R Kids

March 2013

I told you we had a lot of Easter celebrations  We're not quite done yet, but the week before Easter Sunday was the Kids R Kids Easter celebration.  I like to go up every year and watch, and this year was the first year we had 2 different egg hunts to attend.  Livi's class was first - I promise I didn't wear the shirt to match her shirt!

 We hung out in her classroom for a little while before we headed outside:

After observing her brother, I think she's starting to get the hang of this Easter egg hunting thing!! 

 

Next up was Jack's class - things are a little bit more hectic when 20 3-year olds are waiting to get to the eggs:

The eggs can also be hidden in some more difficult hiding places.  Jack liked the ones on the top of the slide because he could slide down afterwards:

Finally, a class picture.  I must say it is impossible to get a bunch of 3-year olds to line up and smile at the camera at the same time.  This one was the best we got - quite a few people are way more interested in the contents of their baskets than in smiling for their parents and teachers: 

Stay tuned for one final Easter celebration - Phew!