Olives

Daniel and I love olives. We always have. We both recall stories our families have told about our great olive consumption. We both were fond of putting whole olives on our fingers and eating them.

We are proud to discover our love of olives has been passed down to Violet. :)

Posing with Daddy

Getting the hang of it.

Enjoying the chopped up olives. Fit for a Violet sized mouth.

Daddy moves in for a bite. :)

YUM YUM

One-Year Photo Shoot

We know a young woman from our church that is currently taking several photography classes and was wanting some more portrait experience. We decided we would love to have her do Vi's one year shots. I had seen some of her pictures on facebook and she is very talented. It helps that she is super energetic and very friendly, a wonderful person to spend time with!

We are getting a taste of some of the shots she took last Friday and I can't wait to see more. They will be posted soon enough. Here are a few so far...

I can't wait to see the rest!!

Happy Birthday One Day Late!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

We love you so much!

Our Birthday Girl

Last Tuesday was Violet's birthday. My Dad arrived Wednesday night and we had a sweet visit with him. Violet seemed to enjoy every minute with her Poppa, and for that we are very thankful. As I had alluded to, she has been going through a clingy stage lately and we were glad to see it coming to an end during my Dad's visit. It can be pretty miserable when you can't pass the baby off to someone else, much less walk out of the room. She is better now and we are thankful for her attachment to her parents. It is as it should be.

Tuesday evening a quick family picture of Violet when she turned one.

Saturday we kicked off the party at noon with hot dogs and the fixins'. We had a combined birthday with our neighbors daughter since Violet and her were turning one one week apart.

We were thankful for warm weather after several overcast chilly days.

The cake was ready and so were the girls.

Vi dug right in. She knew what to do with the cake. EAT UP!

Sweet presents were shared. 

The tu-tu was worn. What better day to wear it than the birthday party day!

Birthday girls!

Violet's own crayons. To be used at a future date. :)

Sweet Niya-girl.

Some of the party decorations.

Yeah for our one year old!

The girls!

The cake before she dove in.

 The sharing of the cake. :)

Pillowcase dress from Wendy, our neighbor. So pretty!

We had a special day with our big girl. She really is changing in so many ways so quickly. Still no teeth and real crawling, but she is learning new sounds and words daily. She is beginning to be quite the cruiser around our couch and she is in general changing to look like a big girl. God has blessed us abundantly with her little life. This past year has been so sweet.

Thank you family and friends for making her birthday a special one. The sweet cards and gifts are treasures. Love y'all.

Visit with Poppa

We are enjoying our time with Poppa, my Dad. He was returning to Maryland after his summer working in Alaska and he stopped through our little part of California. We are happy he is here for a visit however brief. He couldn't be on the west coast without a little Violet lovin'!

Wednesday night I picked him up at the airport in San Jose...Yes, I know the way to San Jose. :)

He is able to stay with us until Saturday morning. Vi and him have already taken to each other and she reaches out for him regularly. It makes for a happy house. (Lately Vi has been super, I mean SUPER, clingy.) I am thankful she has welcomed Poppa into her circle of trust.

We enjoyed warm weather yesterday so we spent a good deal of time outside. Today is still undecided. It is an overcast morning and is looking to be a chilly day. We don't have any structured plans for the day, just time together.

Just waking up from naptime.

Yeah for Poppa!

On the couch with Poppa and Smokey the Bear. My Dad works for the Forest Service and I found this little bear at a consignment store a few months ago. Smokey has been waiting for this photo opportunity for some time now. :)

Dad also came bearing many gifts. We have tons of new Alaska gear. Thanks Dad! But we also acquired a new toy. Lauren, my sister, and her husband visited Dad in Alaska this summer and left a fantastic DSLR camera with him to capture some great shots of AK. Well, capture he did and now I get to play with it for a little while in hopes of purchasing it from them. They are both avid photographers and have two other cameras as well. The are not deprived for now.

I am so super excited to be able to play with it and learn more about photography. I am happy to have it in time for Vi's birthday celebration. More about that to come...

For now, some great shots of us. It is all the camera's doing...no knowledge of what I am doing yet.

Oscar, saying hello.

Hi Folks!

 The Daddy

The Momma

More to come about the little get-together this weekend for Violet's birthday. Hopefully, it is warmer weather on Saturday. We will want to be outside. I will post pictures of the day.

Love y'all!