The Meaning of Christmas

We are so grateful for such a wonderful celebration of family, friends, and life this past weekend! We truly enjoyed all the time we had to spend with family and Olivia was so excited, joyous, and loving ;) I know these holiday traditions will continue and become even more fun and meaningful as our family grows through the years. We wish all our wonderful family and friends a prosperous, healthy and Happy New Year~ Here's to 2012 and all it will bring!

My little chef....

We always go to Mimi and Poppa's house Christmas night for dinner and to open the gifts Santa leaves for the kids at their house...this year Santa left Olivia a kitchen!!!! Uh! Oh! I smell a little chef in the making!

Lots of love ;)

Olivia was spoiled ROTTEN with all the sweet gifts from her Aunt Shana, Grandaddy, Nana, and Mimi and Poppa!

Santa Claus Came!!!!

Santa Claus came to our house!...and our little Olivia LOVED her new toys!

Gooo Dawgs! Woof Woof Woof!

 

We lost ;((( but had fun!

Do I want bangs or should I let it grow out?

 
Aunt Shana trimmed Livi's bangs Monday and clipped this crazy baby hair off that she never seemed to shed. She hated it at first but we let her tire herself out a little and tried again...and SUCCESS! It looks great! Thanks Aunt Shana!

Football and Christmas trees!

 

We dressed Olivia in her cute little UGA pillowcase dress her granddaddy bought her for her birthday and watched the SEC Championship game. I've been pretty surprised she hasn't tried to tear the tree down!!! She loves to stand there and look at all the ornaments ;-) I love this sweet pic of her!

Gearing up for Christmas

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of family fun! This weekend Max and I decorated the house for Christmas. We are having so much fun watching Olivia gasp and point at the Christmas tree and lights with amazement every day! She hasn't even tried to pull everything off of it like we thought she would. She is getting so smart and it's so fun discovering this world with her...;))
She says "woof, woof" now when you ask her what a dog says...and I've been teaching her that a bird says "chirp, chirp" and she just laughs and laughs at me! We are truly enjoying eachother more and I am loving watching this sweet, (and sometimes testy) spirited personality grow!
This is going to be a wonderful Christmas season!

Thankful for this little one!

I snapped this picture before we ate at my mom's house...love her sweet smile and happy spirit!

Thanksgiving Feast Part 2

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went to my mom's house for my side of the family Thanksgiving..it was DELISH! Olivia played with her cousins Grayson and Emory and as tired as she was she hung in there!

A Torrence Family Thanksgiving

I think this picture of everyone turned out great! We all went to the lakehouse for Thanksgiving this year and the girls LOVED playing with eachother ;)It was so much fun watching the 2 young girls (Chelsea and Livi) play together! Great memories ;))

Yeah... not so much liking the Santa..LOL

Poor Baby...everything was fine and then Mimi put her on Santa's lap...she was NOT happy!

Ready to meet Santa....

So...Mimi and I took Olivia to meet Santa today...let's just say she had fun before and after but the time spent on the knee was not the best experience for her! I love the picture of Mimi and Livi! She loves that Mimi to peices :)

Our CrEePy ScArY PuMpKiNs....BoOHaHaHa!!!!

Mimi and Poppa came to see Livi on her first "real" Halloween and she loved having them there!

Trick or Treating with Daddy

Olivia just loves her daddy! Max couldn't resist taking her "Trick or Treating" to a few houses...ya know mommy and daddy need candy too! Even the scary houses...spooky...))))

Halloween 2011...

Olivia was a Baby Elephant for Halloween this year! She was so adorable and seemed to have fun chasing all the other kids around the neighborhood. Our neighborhood does a Halloween Parade around the park and then everyone splits up and goes "Trick-or-Treating". Aunt Shana spent the day with us and Olivia loved all the attention
Thanks Aunt Shana!

Fall Fun

Olivia is doing wonderful and is walking everywhere now! She is still very much enjoying school on Thursdays and so am I!!!! It's so nice to get some time to catch up on house work without my little ankle biter helping me ;)) Whatever did I do before her???? I should have had all kinds of time to do stuff!! She loves to say.."that!" and point at objects waiting to be told what it is. She knows what "Hot" means and points at mommy's coffee cup, the stove, and sometimes food if she sees me blowing on it.. so cute! She is learning what "yes" and "no!" mean...and uses the shake and nod of her head to make sure we know what she means too!!! LOL ;-) Oh the joys of toddlerhood...here we come! She is definitely into using the "uh oh" word as much as possible so the other day she threw her travel size baby powder out our third floor window only to quickly follow up with "uh-oh!"...We aren't experiencing too many temper tantrums yet...but they are definitely hidden in there! She has a little red head in her! This weekend we are going to visit with some friends and go to a fall festival. I'm so excited to see her in her Halloween costume. She is going as a Baby Elephant this year. Here's to apple cider, caramel apples, and lots of family fun!

PuMpKiN PaTcH FuN!

Olivia had so much fun riding in the wagon and picking out her pumpkin!

Wow! It's so true what "they" say... A year with your child flies by!!!!

I can't believe a year ago Max and I were fumbling through sleepless nights, nursing, and overwhelming feelings of love! We were so blessed to welcome Olivia Grace Torrence into our lives. She makes me want to be better and do better every day and has brought such joy to Max and I. I look forward to the ups and downs our next year of parenting will surely bring...I think...hahahaha!

Smash cake time!

Being a girl...she didn't get after the cake like we thought she would...but once we got her started she had lots of fun! Happy Birthday Olivia Grace! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know.

Walking, presents, and birthday fun!

Olivia has been "Knee Walking" for about a month and finally the weekend of her birthday she started walking on her own! Her favorite gift was a Disney Princess car her Granddaddy gave her! She loves this toy ;) Good job Granddaddy!

Olivia's First Birthday Party

I was so pleased with how pretty her party turned out! I love the picture of Livi with her daddy ;)) She was a sweet little birthday princess!...but I'm not biased right??

Our little girl is almost 1!!!

I can't believe Olivia will be 1 next week!!!! This year has absolutely flown by...It's amazing how much change and growth takes place their first year and she has had a pretty busy one! She has been to the beach, on a plane, had an MRI (long story but she is totally healthy!), an ultrasound, 8 teeth!, says Mama...Hot..Yeahyeah...and Hi!, loves knee-walking but knows how to walk when and if she decides she's ready, met her granddaddy and both her great grandmother's, goes to preschool one day week and loves it!, went to a UGA football game, loves to go for walks and swinging, loves to play in the "dancing fountains" in our neighborhood, Dinosaur Train and Elmo are all the rage in our house, and bathtime makes her cackle out loud with excitement! All in all I'd say we stay pretty busy and our little Livi makes life so much sweeter ;) Mommy and daddy love you peanut!

Torrence Family

Olivia took her first plane ride this past weekend to visit her great grandmother Hazel and to meet all of her daddy's family! Grandma Hazel celebrated her 90th birthday and Olivia loved playing with all the cousins!

Olivia with her great grandmother we call "MawMaw"

Elliott Family Reunion

Livi's 1st UGA game!!!

Since Uncle Blake will be deployed during Livi's first birthday we had a "Pre-Birthday" celebration with him before he left!

What a wonderful week it was....

Last week Max and I took Livi on her first vacation! Nana was kind enough to invite us to Ponte Vedra Beach last week and we had a blast! We rented a house on the beach with a pool, hot tub, and great views! Livi got to crawl all over the beach and she LOVED IT!!! She didn't try to eat any of the sand but was definately interested in how all the sea shells tasted! LOL...We got to spend some great time with all of my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and my Mema. Thanks again Nana and Uncle Scott for a wonderful week of memories!

First family beach trip

Sweet memories....

Livi and her daddy watching the waves and looking for dophins!

Livi and Nana

Livi loved playing in this fountain that flowed over into the pool...it quickly became the "kiddie pool". Nana had fun playing with her "Livi Bug" too!!!

Livi and Emory

Grayson's little brother, Emory, and Livi are only 8 months apart. She had a ball playing with the boys this week! Making some great memories for sure!

Olivia and Grayson

Livi LOVED playing with Grayson...her older cousin...they were too cute!