When Good Dogs Smell Bad

Olivia got to help give Blazer a bath for the first time. I think she had fun but was pretty serious the whole time. I think she was a little concerned about what was happening to her "Bazur".
Since Smokey has been gone Blazer has become very spoiled by being a part-time house dog (or most-time house dog). But, he also likes to tour around the perimeter of our lot and sometimes wander into the ditch behind our house. Well, he must have found an old carp or something dead and decided to roll in it. He smelled soooo bad so we gave him a good bath with good smelling dog shampoo and he can come back in the house now. Olivia loves to get wet so she got right in there to help with the bath.



In the end, I think Blazer enjoyed it too and even had to give me a big sloppy kiss when we were done.

Graduations & Confirmations

Summertime is full of parties and celebrations and the day after Olivia's birthday we celebrated her cousins graduation and confirmation together. Ryan has graduated from High School and Michelle was confirmed at Holy Hill a few weeks ago. They had a really nice party and we just had to dodge a few thunderstorms that blew through here and there.
Olivia loves all the socializing and flirting and showing off.

Congratulations Ryan and Shelly!!

Birthday Party

Olivia was so excited to get her first bike for her second birthday. She can't quite reach the pedals yet but that is OK because before long she will be pedaling around so fast I won't be able to keep up with her.
She received so many nice gifts and had so many things to open that we didn't get a good look at it all until the next day. She loves playing with all the toys, games, puzzles, etc. All of her new clothes fit and are so cute.
Thank you to everyone for making her birthday so special!!


We actually had three birthdays to celebrate so we had three different cakes. Grandma Manning's birthday was last Wednesday, Olivia's was Friday and Steve's is this Wednesday. I think Olivia ended up blowing out all the candles though. We had a great time.

I'm 2 Today !!!

Today is my BIRTHDAY and I am TWO years old !!

I'm soooo excited, we are having a party this afternoon and I get to see all my Grandparents, God Parents, Uncles and some of my cousins.

Maybe I'll get some presents and I can't wait for the CHOCOLATE CAKE and ICE CREAM!!

(I'm sure my Mom will post pictures of my party in a day or so)

YIPPEE!!! Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Steve !!

And to all the other father's out there. We had a busy but nice Father's Day weekend. We shopped for Steve's present (a new tiller that should cover his birthday too, and then some...) and went out to eat, worked around the house and did some relaxing also.

Rainy Weekend

What some crazy weather we have been getting this spring. Wet weather outside means we have to entertain ourselves inside. Jenny and Olivia decided to build forts in Olivia's room yesterday. Those two get along so well and have a lot of fun together.

We were able to take advantage of the spring/summer-like weather we had for Saturday morning. We headed over to a "Pirate Festival" which turned out sounding better than it actually was. But, it was a nice morning to be outside and it was a good excuse to go to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants for lunch. The food is always great and the girls liked to sit on the big swings that they have by the bar before we left. We got back home just as the bad storms were hitting.

Sunday morning was more of the same wicked weather but in between showers the dark skies made for some nice lighting for pictures outside. Once the storms came back we were back in the house. We, like many people, rented movies and watched the lawn and garden fill up with water.

Olivia will be 2 years old in two weeks. She counts to ten, spells her name, knows her colors and is learning more everyday. When we want her to use the potty chair though, we ask her if she wants to be a "big girl" and use the potty chair. Without hesitation she immediately says "NO" every time so for now it probably won't do much good to push her, she'll let me know when she is ready.

6th Grade Graduation 2008

John Hustis elementary had a graduation ceremony for the 6th grade class last night. The 7th and 8th grades attend at the high school so that is the reason for the graduation. It was a nice little ceremony and Grandma and Grandpa Manning stopped at the house afterwards for cake and ice cream. Grandma Pitz even made the trip up from Milwaukee to attend Jenny's graduation but wasn't able to come out to the house. We had a good time though. I bought Jenny a couple of balloons but Olivia had the most fun with them. It took until about 10:00 pm to come down off of her cake and ice cream high and stop running in circles with the balloons.
She was screaming with delight just watching the balloons float up into the air. We all had a good time and now summer vacation has officially started.

Congratulations Jenny!!