She did it!

Olivia's back handspring has been a year in the making!  So happy for her and as you can tell she was quite proud of herself as well!!

President's Day

President's Day deserves a puzzle of all our US Presidents!

Coffee Shop

We went to see a children's play at the Kennedy Center and afterwards we stopped by a little coffee shop across the street.  Olivia had a blast playing with my camera - she set up all these shots herself.  Perhaps she's a budding photographer!

Birthdays with BFFs

Amy hosted a dinner party for Tammy and my birthday, we had such a blast as always!

Bowling

Sax Restaurant

For Valentine's Day and my birthday, we went to an awesome restaurant downtown DC called SAX.  It was awesome and such a different kind of restaurant.  There was an elevated stage built into the wall where every 20 minutes or so there would be a really cool dance/cabaret kind of show ... it was very different and double the fun since we went with our friends, Jen and Michael.

Chinese New Year Gymnastics Meet

Olivia's 2nd meet of the season; she did awesome!  She is really doing well in All Stars - so happy we switched teams this year.  Her results were:

2nd place in bar
7th place in balance beam
5th place in floor
8th place in vault

The Reading Swing

Olivia loves the swing chair Santa brought her for Christmas ... it's her reading nook.  She cuddles herself up in there before bed with a little reading light and just reads away.  Love that!

Sweet Friends

Olivia has a sweet dear little friend whom she adores.  They get along so well, they are very much alike.  I learned recently that their family is moving back to Canada, probably this summer.  I don't have the heart to tell Olivia quite yet ... she will be heartbroken!  It's probably a right of passage at one time in your life, your best friend is going to move away.  I know it happened to me (although I was the one who moved away) when I was around Olivia's age.  It's something you always remember and probably your first experience of true heartache (until boys are involved!).  Well in the meantime, we'll enjoy the time we have left and I'll start thinking about how to break the news to Olivia soon.  

January Photo Collage

Wow ... January was a full month ... a great start to 2012!

Brought in the new year with my peeps at Trivania's!
Dan and I started our 10 week boot camp program - and I'm down 10 pounds so far!

Olivia starting to learn her multiplication tables.

A visit to the Newseum - maybe we should visit one new museum a month!

Judy and Pete came to visit.

My nephew, Matthew, and his wife, Heaven welcomed little Ruby into the world.

Dan's step-brother, Matt, passed away ... very sad!!

Jo Paterno (JoPa) legendary PSU , where Dan and I went to school, football coach passed away

Olivia's first All Start gymnastics meet -1st place team, 1st in Bar and 3rd overall!

Sweet sweet daughter bought me a pair of earrings that I love.

Dan and Olivia went skiing twice to Mt.Liberty and then as a family to Canaan Valley.

Motorcycle Convention

Peeps brunch downtown DC - filled my cup!

January Fun Facts and Trivia

• Many cultures celebrate New Years Day on March 21st, the Spring Equinox.
• Leap years exempted, January always begins on the same day as October.
• In leap years, January always begins on the same day as April and July
• Leap years exempted, January always begins on the same day as October.
• January's birthstone is the Garnet.
• The name January is derived from Janus who presided over the gate to the new year.
• New Year ceremonies are designed to get rid of the past and to welcome the future.
• According to Facebook users, January is "Change Your Profile Picture To a Muppet" month.
• January's birth flower is the Carnation.
• January 1st, 1776, the first American flag, the "Grand Union" was presented. Betsy Ross later added the stars in place of the Union Jack.
• January's horoscope signs are Capricorn and Aquarius.
• The first Superbowl was held at the L.A. Coliseum on January.
• January is National Soup Month in the US.

Flip for the Fight - Gymnastics Meet

Olivia had her first gymnastics meet as an All Star gymnast.  The even focused on raising money for breast cancer, which was so cool!  All the girls received the same leotard to unify all the teams - that was a nice touch!  Olivia did awesome, we are very proud of her!

Olivia received a medal for every event, except vault (she tripped while running which messed her up), but did awesome everywhere else.  For her age group she won FIRST on bars (we were all amazed!), and she won 3rd all around!  The best part, is her team took FIRST PLACE team ... go Dulles Gymnastics!!

Canaan Valley Ski Holiday

Amy, Jen and I all bought a groupon deal for an overnight stay at Canaan Valley Ski Resort ... so last weekend we went up for the day/night.  We had a great time.  The weather was great - not too cold .. and the slopes were perfect for the kids, lots of beginner slopes.   Olivia took a private lesson (first one) and it was well worth the money.  He taught her how to move from pizza ski to parallel ski ... and she was pumped to teach Mommy and Daddy after her lesson :-).

The Many Faces of Multiplication Tables

So we embark ... into the world of memorizing multiplication tables.  To tell you the truth, it's been a great 'refresher' for me ... especially as we approach the 9's and 12's factors!  LOL  Anyway, every morning, Olivia watches a multiplication 'rap' song and plays a times table game on my iPad (love love my iPad for all their educational apps - so awesome).   Her facial expressions were priceless ... just had to capture them!

Milestone Reward

I'm doing really well so far at the 10 week boot camp. It's been hard to be consistent and keep going, especially my 4:30 am wake up call to the gym. I'm seeing results and feel a lot better.

So for achieving this..
.

My reward was this!

Got an awesome deal on this chair and it's perfect for my home office! Score!

A little Video

Just messing around ... Animoto can now import instagram photos - very cool!


Try our video maker at Animoto.