What's in a name?

I've been thinking, and what set off this thinking was when I heard Annie the other day calling Olivia "Liver". Hummm, I thought, just how many nicknames does that girl answer too?
Here is a short list...

Olivia
Olivea
Livie
Livia
Liv
Olive
Baby-O
A-livia
Bavie
Bav (this one is my favorite, it started with Annie not being able to pronounce baby)

and the newest one
Liver

It has a nice ring to it I guess. Might just have to add that last one to my rotation.

Our Ballerina

Annie has been going to ballet classes for a few months now and the season has finally come to it's climax - the annual recital!

Introducing Annie, appearing on stage for the first time...

Sorry for the lack of focus on the movie, it was the best I could do. Here are some action shots to clear things up a bit. I love how they are all looking off to the side - that is where their teacher is also doing the dance, in the off chance that they forgot the choreography.

Spring Soccer

Annie is on her second season of soccer. She played last fall, and now spring season is only one game away from putting her out of her misery - or I mean being over. We were scheduled for a makeup game this evening, but it has been rain-snowing here all day so...cancelled! Annie...well, Annie, she isn't what most people would call an athletic kid. She barely hangs in there with the average 5 year old soccer player. She started off strong last fall, but I think her imagination got the better of her this season. It was really hard to convince her to play, "it's too much exercise, and running around, and how can I play like that?" is her general objections. One game we told her that if she played well and made an effort, then we would reward her by going out for dinner. Her response was "Chucky Cheese!!!". Note: I had BBQ on my mind so didn't tell her she could pick where we went, but I let this C.C. choice slide since I figured it would add to her motivation to get out and running on the field, and frankly I was starting to become a little embarrassed to be the mom of the worst player on the field...now I feel embarrassed that I actually admitted that I was embarrassed that our 5 year old isn't a soccer star. Either way - by the end of the game even Coach Justin was cheering "chucky cheese - chucky cheese" every time she lost interest in the game. At last week's game she started giving excuses as to why she couldn't play...it was too sunny, her shoes didn't fit...so I changed her out of her cleats and stuck a pair of sunglasses on her face and what do you know, she actually played pretty well! Maybe I should start believing her when she starts complaining!

Here are some photos of our girl in action - the first is her usual game day strategy, head down and trailing the pack, followed by one where she actually got her foot on the ball! Yeah Annie! You Rock Girl!

Annie's last run of the season

Annie, Tim, and I hit the slopes one last time for this season a couple weekends ago. We left Olivia with some friends so that we could both spend the day seeing how much Annie had improved since the beginning of the season. Leaving Olivia for the day may have scarred her a bit, ever since that day she hasn't left my side over fear that I'll leave her if we are anywhere other than our house. Oh well, let's hope she gets over it someday.

The day started out great for us! We rode the lift up while looking at the map and planning out our day, including my favorite item - where to have lunch. We stuck to the greens most of the morning, and found an excellent tree run that Annie was more comfortable on than the groomed slope. Towards the afternoon we happened upon a blue run that Tim thought Annie could handle. I should have known...he couldn't see too far beyond the first few feet. After that the run was pretty steep and had more than a few bumps. Annie made it down about 5 feet before terror stepped in and we had to scoot off through the trees to get back to the green run. I'm not sure we will be convincing Annie to do any blue runs any time soon after that experience.

After lunch we did a couple more runs before an exhausted Annie had to be escorted down the mountain were we spent some time rocking out at the Guns 'n Roses concert that was going on at the base, but not before we shot this awesome video of our girl in action.

Olivia! bum bum bum bum, Olivia!

Walk up to Olivia and exclaim her name and she will reply "bum bum bum bum". It's her theme song. Really it's the theme song from the Olivia cartoon, but we changed it to her theme song. She's 3 now ! It took her a while to get the fingers correct, they kept wanting to be 4, but now she's got it down pat. Just the other day she drew her very first person, it was a self portrait, followed by a very large headed Annie, and two small parents. We were at the Children's museum at the time and Tim and I were amazed that we were seeing her draw like that! So far it's been a lot of scribbles and O's and her trying to write - looks just like ancient hieroglyphics. Here is our newest family portrait...
This year Olivia graduated to a 2 wheeled bike (still on training wheels). She loves riding it and I love walking behind and watching her little legs pump up and down, up and down. She is still pretty petite, her last measurements at her doctors appointment showed her in the 25th percentile for both weight and height, but 140th percentile for humor and smarts. She's quite the joker - this year she has been in love with the word "duty". It really cracks her up, and usually when things crack her up, everyone else is infected with it too. Tim say her personality is a lot like mine...her true self doesn't just come out for anyone. She is really quite timid in some situations. She loves the zoo, as long as the animals are far far away. She doesn't like the aviary at all. That is where cute little birds are free to wonder...she hates that place and walking through that with her on your hip you can really feel how strong her choke hold around your neck can be.

We took her downtown for her 3 year old photos, and after getting through the customary silly face photos, I think we got a few where she really shines.

But I'm really sick!

Annie was sick for a few days last week, just some puking the first day and then a few days of mild fever. She stayed home with me Wednesday and Thursday, then got sent home early on Friday. Olivia didn't like going to school without her. I'm pretty sure she was perfectly fine once she got there, but just thinking about leaving home while Annie is having a grand time at home, probably watching cartoons all day and feasting on popsicles was too much for Olivia. (She was right! Annie did watch cartoons all day, and ate a lot of popsicles.) So for the last few days, our morning routine has been sprinkled with Olivia saying "But I'm sick...I don't feel well...my nose hurts...etc." I knew she was bluffing, I just knew it. She wouldn't let me take her temperature to verify this mystery sickness that makes your tummy scratchy....that and she was more than fine playing and running around the house until I mentioned that it was time to leave for school. Today was different though. She was snack leader, which means she got to bring a show and tell. She was the first person in the car today, with no mention of any sicknesses.

Weatherman, Schmetherman

Over the weekend, Tim showed Annie how you can check the weather forecast on the web. She was so excited to learn that it was supposed to snow on Monday, 2-6 inches. Last night we had the news on the tube and Tim tried to turn it off, right in the middle of Kathy Sabine's weather report. Annie says "Hey! I was watching the weather report!" So you know she is big into weather now...or was. This morning it was hard not to notice her utter disgust at the lack of snow on the driveway. She was really ticked that she couldn't get out there with her shovel and go at the 2-6 inches that was promised to her! So very disappointing for her. All I could muster was, "Well, get used to it, weather reporters suck."