Stephen and Jodi Parker Family
We can do hard things!
Olivia has been enjoying the warmer weather…it feels iike it is at least trying to change seasons now (sometimes!). Here are some pics of took of her giving her doll, Sarah a ride on her bike. I’m sure Sarah had just as much fun as Livvy.
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 Ellie’s doll (Jack Black – it’s a boy) even got to ride in a carseat! |
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Olivia and I were both inspired when we visited my brother’s (Scott) blog and saw cousin Kate reading from a book that we have at our house. We tried using this same book (how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons) in the fall, but it wasn’t the right time. After seeing Kate, Olivia was excited to do what Kate could do. Olivia also set a goal at the first of this year to "learn how to read to JT" this year. She is doing soo well! We have enjoyed sharing this one on one time together. It has been fun to watch Lex, Mason, Lily, and Stephen be proud of her too.
This morning she came up the stairs as soon as she woke up and asked if we could practice reading! She is doing great and I love seeing her self-esteem soar! Today she read, "The sock is near a man. A Cat is in that sock."
Thanks Kate for your good example!
Also, this week Olivia is the VIP at Pre-School. She was very excited to take her poster to school yesterday and tell all about her favorite things with her class. She took cowtails for a treat to give to her class – we buy them at Sugar Food Town. They are basically a stick of caramel with white cream in the middle. Olivia loves to get them whenever we go to Sugar Market. Here are the favorites of Olivia at the moment:
food: chips, game: super mario bros., toy: Sarah her doll, thing to do: play with JT, friend: Ellie, color: blue & pink, number: 7, shape: diamond.
Olivia enjoyed her first day of preschool last Friday! She was so ready and so cute. She will be attending the BYUI child lab this semester. Stephen and I had to go to a parent orientation meeting a couple of weeks ago and they reminded us to bring immunization records. I fished hers out and realized that she was not up to date on 2-3 shots. I quickly made an appointment to get her up to date on those shots the day before Preschool (Thursday)- well, what I didn’t know was that they would take care of the whole kindergaren shot shabang too! She ended up receiving 8 shots – 4 in each leg and one was the flu shot! It was hard to hold her down (physically and emotionallyl), but my heart was healed when the nurse gave her 8 suckers (one for each shot) and she instantly stopped crying. A sucker will go a long way with a 4 year old people! Now she is good to go immunization-wise for many years! And the kindergarten turned Preschool shots are now history, never to visit Olivia again.
I felt so guilty that I took her over to the dollar store for some princess lipgloss and stamps, followed by a trip through the McDonalds drive thru for a happy meal. I think she thought she hit the lottery, I almost NEVER go to McDonalds – she even reminded me that I hate it.
It was worth it to make a sweet little girl feel like a princess after being poked relentlessly as her mom helped pinn her down – I hope I was able to condition her memory to hold onto the good things.
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Ouch-poor little girl. I guess its good to have it all over with. She looks so cute and ready for school.
Monday, September 28, 2009 8:22:56 AM
Will went to that preschool to and loved it! Hope you have lots of fun Olivia! Owie! Still don’t like the shots either. Hope you got some real cool bandaids!
Monday, September 28, 2009 11:09:54 AM
You’re such a big girl Olivia!!!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 6:31:12 PM
Way to be tough! Your mom is so nice to make sure you are safe from sicknesses and even nicer to take you to McDonald’s. Good luck with school.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:04:11 PM
Olivia and JT have a new hobby. As you read previously, Olivia was given Alexis’ old CD player for her birthday. She loves it very mucn and feels so important and old. Stephen helped her make some fun CDs of music – her favorite song is "Who let the dog’s out". She is having fun telling JT how to act and play when her music is on.
Mom made me a sunflower cake, I was excited to eat a zinger!
Yesterday was my birthday. I woke up and opened some presents with my family. I loved my new stick horse. Mason and JT gave me Trix cereal which I ate and shared for breakfast. I then went to church where they sang to me in Primary. My mom said that I had the prettiest smile while they sang – she thinks I like all the attention I was getting. After church my friend Ellie came over to bring me a present, I had fun playing with her for a second before my dad said it was time for dinner. I told my dad and mom that I wanted mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. I had lots of fun at my party with my grandpa and grandma parker, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I really love Brookey a lot. She is one of my favorite friends. I have fun playing with her at soccer games too. After my party we had a Parker Parade and walked to the Sugar Cemetary to go visit my Aunt Michele – it was her birthday to, she would have been 40 years old. I am happy to be part of such a happy family and that we can all be together someday.
Four means that I get to be in Pre-School something that I’ve been waiting for the last 2 years. Mom said that it will only be a few more weeks until I get to go. Some of my mom’s favorite things about me are my smile, my singing, my patience, and my eagerness to learn. She knows I am very special and is happy to have me as one of her daughters.
 The Parker Parade begins – my dad has made some fun bikes (Sancha pictured and a two pedaled bike car) for everyone to ride. |
 Visiting Aunt Michele |
 Love being the birthday girl! |
 I really wanted a barbie and Lily gave me this and a special note with jewels in it. |
 Just what I love. |
 Lexi gave me her old CD player and these two books. |
 Pink is one of my favorite colors and my unicorn also makes noisies! |
 I have wanted a stick horse for a long time. |
 It is fun to have Grandpa and Grandma Parker home. |
Olivia stood with this "fake" snake and wanted me to take her picture. She is really proud of it.
Olivia is very excited that we received a letter notifing us that she has been accepted to the child lab at BYUI. She is very happy that she will be going to Pre-School! It is fun to watch her grow up. I only wish she didn’t have to wait until the end of September…it will be a long month wondering when it will be time to go yet!?
Cute picture-you are such a cute girl olivia!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 1:59:13 PM
wiIl went to that preschool and loved it! It will be so fun! Love the cute picture!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 6:54:54 PM
This picture will be worth a million words someday for me! I had the most fun watching Olivia get excited for herself and JT as she went up and down on the merry go round the first time this season. It was a priceless moment. Her smile captures her delight…I only wish I had an audio for everyone to hear her squeals of delight…I don’t need one though because it is a seared in my memory of happy thoughts.
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Sometimes (when you’re three) you just have to strip down to be inspired!
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Sometimes clothes really get in the way. She probably didn’t want to ruin anything with the paint. Way to go Olivia!!
Monday, May 11, 2009 2:46:00 PM
That is what I do for all of my painting. Both on the canvas and on the walls. I just work better and it saves on clean up time. She is a cutie!
Monday, May 11, 2009 9:31:40 PM
Olivia just gave me a great smile for the day! So cute and funny!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 4:40:49 PM
Stumbled upon this sweetness and couldn’t pass up a photo opportunity! Lily can be a very loving sister. Olivia looks forward to her return from school every day. Lily and Olivia have a lot of fun together playing school, reading books, playing house, pet shops, dolls, piano, computer games, etc. Olivia is a shadow to Lily and really appreciates the attention from her big sister. Lily is sure to help Olivia keep her place as we read scriptures, although sometimes it can go the other way – a day last week as we were reading scriptures I couldn’t hold back the smile when I saw Olivia deliberately lay across Lily’s scriptures and then say to herself (before Lily could) “What are you doing? Stop bugging me.”
Olivia is always excited when it is Wednesday – this means it is playgroup! This past Wednesday was Zany Z day. We got a call from the host mom and she told Olivia to be “zany” and wear her clothes backwards and/or inside out. Olivia was so excited and thought it was a funny idea. We even did her hair backwards! She is such a cute little thing.
Later that day was her first trip to the Dentist. She wore her clothes backwards still! It made for some great conversation at the dentist office and she seemed happy and “cool” to get to have her teeth tickled as they were cleaned. Happy to report NO cavities.
Sometime it’s great to be a little crazy. Olivia, you are a cutie
Saturday, March 28, 2009 4:41:01 PM
I love that little girl..she just makes me smile!
Saturday, March 28, 2009 8:09:34 PM