Sunday, October 26, 2014

Fall Fake-Out

It's the end of October, so you'd think it'd start feeling like fall around here.  Wrong-o.  The weather has stayed quite toasty.
Staying cool
Hydrating with a Jamba Juice.  It's so hot you gotta wear your shades outdoors...
...and, apparently, indoors.
It was so warm on Friday that Becky and Olivia visited the Grand Park splash pad in downtown LA.  It was so fun!  If southern California weather insists on extending summer, then we're going to make the most of it!  We'll keep burning our pumpkin-scented candles and working on our Halloween costumes, though :)


Prancing through the water
 
Happy girl!
Speaking of Halloween costumes, we finished ours yesterday just in time for our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. Our ward takes costumes pretty seriously, so we knew we had to come up with something good.  After much contemplation, we decided to go as characters from "Toy Story" - Olivia was Jessie, and Nick and Becky were Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head!  We made 99% of our costumes (purchased the rest), and we are pretty happy with how well they turned out!

Cutest li'l cowgirl there ever was!!

Headin' into the party!  Look at her adorable little braid!
Yes, all of the accessories were attached with Velcro, so they could be taken on and off :)

Enjoying some cornbread.
Olivia was pretty hesitant about the whole "Trunk-or-treat"ing thing.  At first she dug her little boots into the ground and refused to go up to the cars.  But once she realized the people had candy, she was a little more willing.  We thought this was pretty interesting, especially since Olivia's only ever had like 2 pieces of candy in her life, so how could she know the tastiness of the things people were handing out?...Must be an inborn skill in children. 

Finally getting the hang of it!
 When we got home, she finally understood what all the Halloween fuss was about :)




Thursday, October 16, 2014

What have those Thackers been up to lately?

Nick: Busy with school!  Writing non-stop.  Taking care of Olivia like a champ while Becky sleeps.

Becky: Busy with work!  Successfully wrote the ward's Primary Program (performed a couple Sundays ago without too much chaos).

And now to the reason anyone frequents our blog - Olivia! :)

We can't believe this girl will be TWO next month!

Just chillin' with her Pooh Bear
We finally made the jump to a forward-facing car seat.  Olivia was starting to get pretty cramped in her rear-facing one.  Although she's still not a fan of long car rides, she seems to enjoy riding in the car much more now that she can see what's going on around her.



Now that Olivia's hair is getting longer, Becky is able to experiment with some cute hairstyles for her.  We love/hate how she looks when she has her hair in a ponytail...she is so darn cute, but it makes her look too grown-up!

 

But Olivia really is getting bigger every day.  She has been working on mastering her utensil skills at the table.

Meh, it's still a work in progress...
She still loves getting ready for the day with Mom - especially using Mom's hairbrush and pretending to put on make-up with her.



Olivia remains a girl of very few words...but that definitely does not mean she's quiet!  She is always babbling, sometimes sings, and will occasionally "whistle".  She loves to make animal noises, and is becoming quiet the animal expert!  Here she is showcasing what animals say. 



When we can escape from school/work, we love spending the day down in Disneyland.  Olivia is starting to enjoy more rides.  Her current favorites are the Teacups and the Little Mermaid ride.


The carousel - a classic!
Family selfie!
Sometimes waiting in line is hard...

Olivia is OBSESSED with all things "The Little Mermaid".  We always try to see Ariel when we go, and Olivia about dies from excitement/awe/happiness/shock.