Birthday Party

On Sunday we celebrated Olivia's 2nd birthday. She was feeling little under the weather, but nevertheless it was a great party with some great friends and family. Tamara made Olivia's birthday cake, and by the pictures below, you can see that it was a piece of art. I felt bad eating it, but then, it tasted soooooooo good. Thank you Tamara again!!!!
































Olivia learned to say "Two" when asked "How old are you?" Great success.



















Tamara and Tanja. I can't wait till they start playing together.


























Madness!!!













Family

Trip to Michigan and Easter

Three weeks ago we made a quick trip to Port Huron, Michigan.  Karen's aunt Sharon was throwing a surprise party for uncle Fran's 70th birthday and asked us if we would come.  It was great to see everyone, and hear Fran's roast (although he roasted himself the best). Below is Olivia with her cousins Anthony and Summer. She had so much fun playing with them.

For Easter we dressed up our little princess in this pretty dress, went to church and then had lunch at Toni's house. 

Ariana's Baptism

My friend Zoran's baby Ariana was baptised this past weekend, and I was honored to be her Godfather. It was great to meet Ariana for the first time, and also to see Zoran and Meredith again. Good times!!!!

















Zoran and Olivia

We bond every morning during breakfast. Sometimes we use this time to call people on Skype and talk to baka and dida in Croatia, grandma and grandpa on the boat, or aunt Kelly and teta Maja. God bless Skype!!!!

Olivia loves to watch "Your Baby Can Read" videos. She runs to the laptop before dinner every night and asks for it. We hope these learning habbits continue through school... Speaking about school, we signed her up for pre-school starting this September. She will be going Tuesdays and Thursday for 3 hours to Montessori Pre School here in Highland Park.

Winter months

In these long winter months, we are struggling to stay creative with activities for Olivia. We signed her up for Gymboree class that she does 3 times a week, and she has been having so much fun.
She is now talking, and has been saying words in both English and Croatian. I would say that she understands Croatian more, which is understandable given the fact that our au pair Marica is with her most of the time.

Oh yeah, and now she gets to clean the house every 3rd weekend.... (see pic below)















reading on a Sunday morning...


















my favorite spot


















arms down....


















arms up


















At Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Basketball Game

Olivia went to her first college basketball game this past weekend.  Valpo was playing Loyola in Chicago so we went to see our alma mater hand it to the Ramblers.  After the game, Olivia met a friend playing on the court.  They had some serious fun...

Olivia and Tanja

Puppies

Video of Olivia with Fitzy, Fenway and Foxy

Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun for both Michael and Olivia as they both got tons of presents.

Michael, Olivia, Grandpa Don and me

Marica and Olivia 

Santa's little helpers cleaning up after they "cleaned up"

Christmas feast

Grandma and Grandpa wrapping gifts

Yeahh.......!!!!

What could that big one be???

Boy and a girl

:( this is the only puppy that Tata will ever let me have...

One more?

Customized luggage

The sculpture named "The Pink Pile"

Fitzy takes the pony for a ride