Old School

Today we enjoyed some old fashioned fun. Olivia
played with her old-school pop-beads (my favorite early
childhood toy) and stack-a-bowls. The toy bowls are a
great alternative to her playing with the real bowls
from my cupboards.

As you can see, the pop-beads are quite the
"versatile accessory."

We also took a jaunt to Helen where we visited
the "Charlemagne" train museum. The museum
showcases 2500 sq. ft. of trains, trains, trains! It
was actually really spectacular and the photogs do
not do it justice. The owner, Wil, is from Germany
and he replicated his hometown in Germany in the
museum. He made sure we took a trip to the second
level of the museum so we could look down upon
the train display and take our own little "trip over Germany."

The museum sparked Pat's interest in train sets and
my interest in visiting Germany, the land of (some)
of my ancestors. Olivia, was only interested in trying
to crawl on the dirty floor and touching breakables. :)

Fireside Husky

The picture of winter bliss...snow, football, a
crackling fire, and an 80 lb Siberian Husky
in the lap of a very small woman.

Planes, Trucks, Cruisers and Snow

Riding is fun, but standing is better.

Getting ready to take some steps.

"Look, only one hand!"

This was the beginning of our "steak-induced
coma."

The last week has been a wild one. It started with my
work-related trip to Chicago. The trip started off smoothly,
the meeting went well and I was able to make social plans
with friends and family basically every night. Special thanks
to my high school/college friend Julie for trekking through
awful traffic from Highland Park to rescue me my
first night.

Then, on Wednesday, my company made the unusual
decision to END the meeting early and send us all home. Wednesday,
being my birthday, seemed like a great day to head back to ATL.
I figured I'd surprise Pat and Olivia.

As I raced through my hotel room, gathering up my things,
I realized that my clever husband had sent me a dozen red roses
and chocolate. Of course, I had to call him and I had to tell him
I was coming home. This all took place around 2:30 pm. The whole
time I was gathering my things I had this feeling that I should just
stay in Chicago until the morning After all, it was my birthday and
I had plans for dinner with my college friend Colleen. There was
no way I'd make it to Atlanta in time to celebrate with Pat and Olivia.
Still, I headed to O'Hare with my sales team.

By 8:30 pm, I learned that my 4:45 flight wasn't gonna happen.
Due to the "wintery mix" in Atlanta (translation: a couple of
flurries) the airport was closing shop and I was stuck in Chi-town
until the next morning. The next morning, my flight was delayed
AGAIN. In fact, I spent more time on the runway than I did on the
plane. All the while, friends were calling to wish me Happy
Birthday and let me know that there was NOT inclement weather
in Atlanta, just a lot of hype. Bottom line, I made it home safely
on late Thursday afternoon. The roses, on the other hand,
were laid to rest at the Marriott O'Hare.

Once arriving home I received several wonderful birthday gifts. Most
of all, I was thrilled to see that in the few days I was gone, Olivia started
to cruise around furniture. She was also taking steps BY HERSELF with
her push toy.

AND, on Saturday, we received some REAL snow. Real, by ATL
standards... which means 2-3 inches. But it was beautiful,
nonetheless.

Thanks to Team Deen for watching Olivia so Pat was able to take me
out to a fantastic dinner at Kevin Rathbun's Steakhouse.

AND FINALLY, thanks to everyone, especially Pat, for the wonderful
birthday gifts, cards and well-wishes. You all made my day!

Happy Birthday Kate!

My year in review slideshow isn't quite complete so enjoy another video of Olivia from a couple of weeks ago. We don't know who "Dagoy" is but he's very popular at daycare.

Mr. Mom

Mom's in Chicago for work so I've been tasked with updating the blog this week among other things. Here's Olivia eating way better than I did today and saying hi to Mom in the process.

Happy New Year and War Eagle!

We rang in the New Year by visiting with old friends
and celebrating Auburn's victory at the Chik-Fil-A
Bowl.

Pre-game tailgate outside the Dome: Pat, Steve and Joe
take a moment to reminisce about the trailer
parks in Lee County.

Thank God it was chilly and we had alcohol. There were
SpreadHeads everywhere for the annual Widespread
New Year's Eve extravaganza. There's nothing like the
smell of SpreadHeads... especially when it's warm out.
Like I said, thank God it was chilly!

Kate mugs for the camera as Joe tells her her
zipper is down (it wasn't).

Now that's more like it.

Did I mention the SpreadHeads?! Let's not forget the
abundance of Christian Nazis that also show up
every year in hopes of converting a SpreadHead, or a
football fan, or a bum roaming the streets... you get
the picture. I mean who wouldn't want to join a group
of people whose slogan is "Turn or Burn?!?!"

Can you tell by the looks on our faces that this
photo was taken after midnight. Do you like
Dirty Steve's middle finger?!

Steve thinks he is funny.

Yeah C'Mon.

All the while Olivia and her Auburn paci slept comfortably
(or uncomfortably?) in the corner of her crib.
If you blow this photo up you'll see that her
toes are touching her pacifier.

Thanks again to Grand-Mom and Pop-Pop for stopping
by to spend New Year's Eve with Olivia!