Birthdays!

Celebrating with Grandma J and Aunt Vicki.

Dad opening presents-with help.

Ice cream cake with Mom!

Dan and Sarah celebrated birthday(s) mid-October.  We spent time with friends on the Friday night before, while Olivia enjoyed another overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We enjoyed the break and time with friends.  Sunday we helped Grandma J celebrate her birthday--Olivia's favorite part is the singing and blowing out of the candles, although she likes the presents too.  Monday Olivia and Sarah went to the bookstore before making a trip to Dan's office to wish him Happy Birthday!  Olivia helped pick up an ice cream birthday cake in the afternoon and finally got her wish of opening presents after we ate Pei Wei (thanks to a pick up by Dan) in the evening.  I think Olivia thought most of the presents were for her and quite possibly the cake too, as she wanted to sing and blow out candles.  Dan put an extra candle on for her and we sang to ourselves.  It was a good celebration.  Tuesday we had Olivia stay with a babysitter while we enjoyed dinner out (again) and ice cream with other friends.
The rest of the week sped by with various activities and visits.  Even the weekend went quick with time with a relative from Australia and time with Dan's parents.
Olivia is now 23 months--she's testing her independent boundaries and seeing what she can get away with.  If my glasses live through it, it will be a miracle.  Her favorites continue to be babies and dress-up.  She loves to sing songs--mostly mixed up versions of her favorites/familiar tunes.  She will often have a four word phrase to describe something.  She's getting very good at the basic colors (pink, purple, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and black).  She started Sunday school last week and it should be a fun time.  She was interested in participating in the songs and story, and like most kids in the class lives for snack.  Our first week we even had a group potty break.
Potty training has gone well--we are now having accident free days!  The most we've gone is 3 in a row (that was the week of Oct 15).