What Has Olivia been up to?

Reading with Daddy...

Cooking with Friends...

Reading in her "box car"...

Trying on hats...

Reading with Mommy....

Taking a break on the refrigerator seat...

and reading the paper for good deals.

So, as you can see Olivia is keeping us busy. She is growing so much. She is 31 inches tall now and weighs about 23 pounds. She walks and talks (gibberish) and even dances. She has learned to march and its just the cutest thing! We are having loads of fun with her. Even the recent appearance of temper tantrums aren't too bad...yet.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi, and Happy Valentine's Day. We had a fun evening. Olivia requested her favorite dinner of beef tortellini in tomato sauce with broccoli. She ate lots and especially loves it with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Then I made white heart shaped Valentine's Cake for my two Harts. We all enjoyed it but Olivia really went to town and LOVED it! (Ian did too, he had two pieces!)

Olivia also enjoyed her Pink Poodle gift and she was really excited about her new washable markers.
That's it from the Harts on Heart Day! Sending everyone hugs and kisses!

What I've learned about Calgrary winter...

I don't usually have much to say unless its about Olivia. But for all of you who don't live here in Calgary, I thought I would share some of the things that I have learned about winter. What brings this on you ask? Well, it has been snowing now for about a week now.

So here we go. What I have learned about winter...

• The phrase "its too cold to snow" is not true.
• Celsius finally makes sense to me in -20 because I have never known it to be this cold in Ferienheit.
• There is no such thing as a "snow day."
• Curlers (the sport enthusiasts, not the hair ones) are die hards still coming to the rink at 7:30 in the morning.
  
• Windshield wipers don't work with ice on them.
• The more wiper fluid you squirt doesn't help.
• Salt does not melt ice on the roads at -20 C
  
• Yes, you can feel the ice under your tires as you drive.
• It can be really pretty (see picture above)
• And well, it does eventually stop, and like this afternoon there is still a blue sky up there and hope for a Chinook!

So thats that. The picture is of Inglewood Golf Course on one of these very snowy days lately. I think there is reprieve this weekend and then everything will just be really messy and dirty, but at least it won't be snowing!!

Keep warm!

Sip n' Safari

This weekend Olivia had a playdate with her friends Trystan and Marissa. We all got up and met at this super cool place called "Sip n' Safari". I had no idea what it would be like but I have heard of some other places around Calgary that are on this same idea and thought we should try it out. So, its like a coffee shop when you first walk in with cafe tables and a place to order. So we go over pay for the kids to play and then get some tea and coffees. Then we go through to this HUGE room full of toy houses, riding toys, dolls, books, slides, hand puppets, everything you can imagine.

Olivia just stood there and looked around in awe at first. Her friend Marissa had been before so she dove right in to play. Once Olivia got the hang of it, she was off to in every direction to explore. There are benches and tables around the edge of the room for parents to sit and watch or visit. They even have a little lunch menu for the little ones so Olivia enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocobanana smoothie! Her first smoothie and well lets just say she loved it so much it was her first official straw slurp!

Another reason this place is great, we can't really play outside here in the winter months...its been snowing for the past week! So this was a great day! Olivia was exhausted afterwards and slept a great nap in the afternoon.

We are all thinking we wish we would have thought of this great "Sip n' Safari" idea.

First time in the Snow

Another artist in the Family

First Popsicle

Oliva and Rascal