Olivia's Pictures

We finally got Olivia's 2 year pics taken. Here are just a few of the 64 that were taken. I hope you enjoy them!

Olivia's Favorite Birthday Gift

We finally got her new trampoline put together. Olivia's Nana and Papa bought this for her.

Play Date with Daddy

Olivia had a special after noon with daddy today. Daddy picked up Olivia from school and took her home and played hard. I think she enjoyed her special time with daddy!

Isabelle on CBS The Early Show

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ABC World News Person of the Week

You can click on the following link to watch the ABC clip of Isablle...

It's in the Cards for Isabelle Redford



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My Niece, Isabelle

**UPDATE** Isabelle and her parents are going to be on ABC World News tonight with Charles Gibson. She is going to be the person of the week!

My niece, Isabelle has a real heart for orphans. She has been working since 2007 raising money to build orphans a home to live in. She has successfully built one in Haiti, turned in the money to build the second and now is raising money for her third home!!!! She is only 7 years old!!!! Isabelle just recently was able to go to Haiti with her parents to visit the first home and the girls that live there. She has some great stories to tell about how special they are. You can visit her blog, Arts for Orphans, to read her entire story of how it all started for her and to keep up on what she is doing now. A local news station just picked up on her story. Below you should find the video feed but if you can't...you can find the video here.

Birthday Week

This past weekend started the celebration of Olivia's 2nd Birthday! She isn't 2 until Thursday but we celebrated over this past weekend. My entire family was in St. Louis at some family friends house and we just had a great time.

When Olivia woke up from her nap she noticed that we had decorated for her party. We had a Backyardigan's theme. For those that don't know...Backyardigans is a show on Nick Jr that happens to be her favorite. The picture below is of Olivia pointing out Pablo.

Every year my mom always makes the grandkids birthday cakes...well this year was a little different. My mom had an accident with a knife in the kitchen...let's just say mom didn't win. So here I am making the cake that mom was supposed to be making. Olivia is cheering me on.

After the cake was cooked and cooled we put it in the freezer. A few days later we pulled it out and I started decorating it. Below you will find Austin and Uniqua from Backyardigans.

Here is Austin and Uniqua with eyes and candles!

Okay, so Olivia doesn't like loud noises or candles. So the birthday song wasn't a big hit. Neither was eating the cake...because she only eats waffles, pancakes and mac-n-cheese!!!

The rest of our time in St. Louis was spent playing hard, swimming and eating.

One morning we took the kids to the Purina Dog Farm. It was amazing. They had a small barn with farm animals, a play place with tunnels and tractors to drive, and they had a dog show where they brought dogs out and did tricks! The kids loved it!! Olivia just woke up from her nap...she isn't real sure of the pool yet....but just wait!

Okay, now we finally got her in the water...She is waving to John Michael who is jumping off the board...

and now...she is jumping into the water!!!

Later on she was jumping off the diving board. I was holding her hand and Brad was catching her. The kid has no fear when it comes to water. Maybe it helps having two older cousins around!!! Thanks JM and Belle for playing and teaching Olivia how to be a big kid. She can't wait to see you again.

Gym Class

Sorry it's been awhile since we have posted. Life has been very busy this summer! Olivia has been in a gym class for almost a year and loves it. It is the highlight of the week. She usually only goes once a week to class and if she is lucky she gets to go to open gym once a week. Well, this summer they are doing unlimited classes. So Olivia is at the gym a lot!!! Her most favorite thing to do there is jump on the trampoline! She is extremely good at jumping and she thinks it's hilarious to jump then sit. Well, this past Tuesday I took her in the morning to class and then I told her we could come back that night with daddy because it was open gym and Brad hadn't seen her there for awhile. She doesn't really like doing anything else lately at the gym but jump!!! I was sitting next to the trampoline watching all the other kids/moms while Olivia jumped away. Her teacher walked over and started talking to me...so we both ended up watching Olivia about the time Olivia decided to jump, sit and stand up again. Her teacher (and I) were so excited for her. Her teacher couldn't believe it. We brought daddy back that night with the video camera and got her doing that. Today is Thursday and I took her back to gym. She did about 9 of them in a row today!!! She might be a gymnast when she gets older...you never know.

We are having Olivia's 2nd Birthday tomorrow!!! We can't believe she is 2 already. Where did those two years go??