Daddy Takes Olivia Skiing

Here is the video of Olivia skiing in front of our house. There are pictures on Our Recent Pictures too!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a blustery 28 degrees at our house today and the snow hasn't let up since morning. Olivia was so excited to look out the window and see the whole neighborhood covered in snow. Daddy came home from work and took her and her skiis out for the first time today. Olivia gets ready to hit the slopes! (Ok, hit the sidewalk in front of our house)

Tuckered OUT!

It's been a long day and Andre and Olivia decided to unwind and watch The Nightmare Before Christmas before heading off to bed. Nathan must've tired them out today because here they are a quarter of the way into the movie:

The last couple of weeks.

Well, Nathan is two weeks old tomorrow and we can't believe how time is flying by! He is growing like a weed and is so good. Olivia LOVES holding him. He had his first doctor's appointment yesterday and here are his stats: weight- 8lbs 13 and 3/4 oz. (75th percentile), length- 22 and 1/4 inches (97th percentile). I am posting more pictures on Our Recent Pictures, so check it out! Here are some hightlights: One of the first pictures of Nathan at home. (He's got a burst blood vessel in his eye from delivery, but it is almost gone now)

Olivia LOVES her baby brother!

For some reason Andre REALLY likes this picture.

Wearing a hat with Bears colors made by Mary's mom (BA).

This year we caved and put up Christmas decorations.

Ready to go to the doctor.

Olivia wearing Ba's glasses.

Olivia helping Ba peel eggs. What a great helper!

SMILE!

I am a great helper!

Chicken Legs!!

Well, we all know Olivia has chicken legs. Guess what? So does Nathan!

Olivia and Nathan

Olivia LOVES her new baby brother! She was on her way to preschool and so excited to tell everyone her baby brother had arrived. She had to be reminded his name is Nathan. But then she decided she would just tell everyone his name was Little Superman Ciabattari. Check out our Recent Pictures link for more pictures! More were added today....

Welcome Baby BOY!!!!

He's here! Nathan Vuong Ciabattari was born November 30, 2008 at 1:20 PM. He weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 21" long. Check out our recent pictures link for pics! Olivia is very excited and is calling him Little Superman Ciabattari now.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this?

I couldn't resist sharing this picture. One of the cutest things is when Olivia wanders downstairs with her bedhead. On this particular morning, she had fallen the night before and insisted she get a bandaid on her forehead. It was still there in the morning. Don't you just want to kiss her to death?

Off with Daddy!

Today I am going to have a daddy and me day. We are going to hang out together and have some fun! I don't know what he has planned, but I am very excited! I picked out my outfit and get to wear my new black boots, and my new necklace. (Thanks cousin Sheila!) I hope you all have a great day!

Love,

Olivia

Olivia's First Class Photo

Here is Olivia's first official school photo! Let me know if you want a hard copy. We sprung for the digital image this time, so we can print out as many as we want!Olivia Preschool Photo October 2008

Halloween!

We hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! We had lots of fun! Olivia couldn't wait to get her costume on and go trick-or-treating. She practiced yelling "Trick-or-Treat!" all day long. We did what we've done for the last few years and went to Andre's work for their Halloween event. They have trick-or-treating at the cubicles, a costume contest, dinner and snacks, arts and crafts, a haunted house, and other stuff. Andre's sister's family met us and Olivia got to trick-or-treat with her cousin Ellie who came as Fancy Nancy. Here are just a few pics of the night. Go to the Recent Pictures link on the right of this page to see them all!Megara and Hercules troll the halls of Microsoft and score big with lots of candy! Megara, Hercules, and Fancy Nancy

Ellie and Olivia

Olivia and Mama (who, as Olivia informed everyone, came dressed as a "Mommy" for Halloween)

Olivia and Dada head out for her Preschool Harvest Party!

Olivia and Dada Headed out this morning for her first ever Preschool Special Guy Harvest Party. They got to dress up in their Halloween costumes, and Dada gets to go with Olivia to Preschool as her "Special Guy". Olivia is Megara and Dada is Hercules from the Disney Movie Hercules. She was so excited when she woke up this morning and couldn't wait to get her costume on. Stay tuned! We're going trick-or-treating tomorrow and I'll have more pictures then!

Overheard Today....

Here is a little rhyme recited today by Olivia that just HAD to make it onto the blog...

Eeeny Meeny Miney Mo,

Catch a tiger by his toe,

if he hollers you need to roar,

then scare him away, then chop him up, then eat him

Mama: Who taught you that rhyme, Olivia?

Olivia: The fish.

Mama: The fish?

Olivia: Yea, the fish! Listen! (walks over to the fish tank)

Olivia: (In a high squeaky voice) Olivia! If you catch a tiger, you have to roar, then chop him up, and then eat him.

Olivia loves to sing.

Check out Olivia playing Rockband. She can sing two songs by herself and complete them with between 55% and 69% accuracy. The songs are "Maps" by Yeah, Yeah, Yeah and "Brass in Pockets" by The Pretenders. In this video, she starts singing, but then has an urgent matter she has to take care of, so she leaves the stage. Check it out!

Olivia's First Field Trip!

Olivia's preschool had their first field trip of the year. They went to Blue Dog Farms in Carnation. It was nice to see how Olivia interacts with her teachers and classmates. At one point during the trip, all the kids got to sit around on benches and talk to the farmer. Olivia was very eager to participate:

Farmer: "So who has a question for me?"

Olivia: (raising her hand) "Me, Me!

Farmer: (calls on Olivia)

Olivia: "Ummm....Ummm...."

(pause)

"Do you know that I really hate story time?"

A little while later...

Farmer: "Who knows what the hardest working animal on the farm is?"

Olivia: (raising her hand) "Me! Me!"

Farmer: (calls on Olivia)

Olivia: "Ummmmm...Ummmmmmm..."

(pause)

"Beavers have a long flat tail and long teeth!"

Emily and Olivia at the Farm.
Olivia got to pet a turkey!
Morrigan and Mary (Emily took this picture!).
Olivia feeding a cow.
Olivia sitting with her classmates.

Busy Week...

We had a busy week, that's for sure! Mary's brother's family came into town last Friday and left with his wife that night for a week long trip to NYC. We got to take care of Emily and Morrigan this week. Emily is almost eight and Morrigan is almost nine months. We got to experience a week in the life of a family of five! Well, kind of... Mary's mom came with them and helped us. She was here almost the whole time. We had them all by ourselves on Wednesday day/night, Thursday during the day, and Friday day/night. Their parents get back tomorrow afternoon. Having three kids is a little different from having one, that's for sure! We ventured out a few evenings and Mary got some looks (carrying a nine month old baby around and being eight months pregnant!). Here are a few pictures of the week. Again, if you want to see ALL the pictures, click on the "Recent Pictures" link on the right of this blog. Thanks to EVERYONE who came to Mary's shower, especially those who came in from out of town. It was great to see you all! An extra special THANK YOU to An (Mary's sister), and Jen (Mary's friend) for all the work they did at the shower! We didn't get very many pictures of the Baby Shower, so if anyone has any good ones, can you send them to us? Thanks!

Nadia, Emily, Toan and Morrigan before they left for the airport.

Baby Shower
Mary and our nephew Noah

Picture Day Preview

So, Andre and Olivia just left for Olivia's first ever picture day at school. She is decked out head to toe in purple. Don't worry though, she still likes pink too! She was so excited this morning! She woke up extra early (8:00 AM!), packed up her Dinosaur "Chomp" for show and tell, and helped Mama pack the snacks for the day. Here are some pictures of her this morning in her new "Picture Outfit".

Olivia's Antics

With Fall here, we are buckling down and getting some housecleaning done. The Nursery is officially ready for the new baby who Olivia still refers to affectionately as King Leonidas. (Although the other day, she informed us "Mama, Dada, if you want to you may call the baby Conner"). She still loves preschool and learned about the human body last month. If you are lucky, she will point out to you where can find your "patella" and "phalanges". This month, the topic is the Fall and she will go to a farm for her first field trip. She has picture day on Thursday, and that is also her day to bring something from home to "share". Here is a video of her singing "Stacy's Mom". The words are "Stacy's mom, has got it goin' on! She's all I want, and I've waited for so long. Stacy can't you see, you're just not the girl for me. I know I might be wrong but I'm in love with Stacy's mom!" She dressed herself that morning and put Andre's rubber band from physical therapy around her head as a headband. (You can't be a rock star without a headband...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1hV4hsZBH4

Time flies....

We can't believe it's Fall already!! Olivia is keeping very busy with her full schedule. She now has preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 11:30 , ballet on Wednesdays at 3:00, swimming on Thursdays at 1:15 PM, and Gymboree on Fridays at 1:15. She is loving preschool and can't wait to go on school mornings. She is learning about the human body this month and cracks us up with all the information she likes to share. Some notable quotes from preschool include:

• "My skull is under my head, and my brain is under my skull!"


• "I have bones, but you can't see them because they are under my skin."


• "All my bones are called a skeleton!"


• "Bon apetit! You may eat!"


• "I have friends, but sometimes they hit me, so I hit them back and that's not nice!"

Here are a few pictures from last few weeks. Ong, Ba, and Cau Truong came to visit for a week and we had fun hanging out with them.

Olivia is exhausted and falls asleep on Ong, with her Halloween costume on.

Cau Truong playing RockBand in his ridiculous hat!

Olivia was helping Mama make a cake for Ong and Ba's birthdays. She had to take a break and pretend she was a pirate!

Helping to blow out the candles...

Olivia put together this outfit all by herself. She calls it her Hercules outfit. Why? We have no idea....

Olivia goes to SCHOOL!

Today Olivia started Preschool! They had an open house on Friday to meet the teachers and let the kids get to know the classroom. Olivia didn't want to go home that day! So today she was very excited. She got a new backpack (which Andre says is bigger than her), and did her homework yesterday. Here are some of her answers to her homework questions:



What is your favorite animal?- Frogs

What is your favorite game? - Animals Fighting (what the heck is that?)

What is your favorite food? - Chicken Nuggets

What are the names of the people in your family?- Olivia, Mama, and Dada. But some people call them Andre and Mary.

What are you going to do at school? - Play with Gak (silly puddy), play tag, and run around in circles.

Olivia with Dada before school!
Look at how excited Olivia is!
Olivia is telling us she is three years old and going to school today.
In the parking lot.
Why would Andre think her backpack was too big?

She was so excited she just took off ahead of us. (We're loading her pack with bricks next time...)

With teacher Mandi. Olivia picked her name out of a stack of name cards!

She didn't even say good-bye! She just took off into the classroom. We are experiencing "empty nest" syndrome...

WHEW! What a month!

Well, August is almost over and we are home!! (Well... we're home for two days, then off to Spokane for the Labor Day Weekend) We had a great August and played a TON! Overall, Andre will work 10 days this month and Mary and Olivia will log a total of seven days at home. We've had our share of weather fluctuations with going from 60's and raining at home, to high 80's in Vantage for our first camping trip in August. Whistler gave us a few cool rainy days, but two days of sunshine and temperatures in the 70's. Then it was off to Sun Lakes where the sun beat down on us and provided us with hot 100 degree temperatures. On the drive home from Sun Lakes, Snoqualmie Pass hit us with a high of 68 and driving rain. Andre was happy he didn't have to water the grass the two days we were home between Sun Lakes and Sacramento! Then it was back to high 90's and lower 100's in Sacramento. What will Spokane bring this weekend? Who knows?

We had a lot of fun in Sacramento on our trip to visit Mary's brother Tri. We got to see his house, meet his girlfriend Lisa, and play a lot! We met Mary's mom and dad there, along with her brother Truong, her cousin Linh, and her niece Emily. The first night we were there we went to the California State Fair where we ate some funnel cakes, saw some Chinese acrobats, and walked by the Air Supply concert. On Friday we all went to the pool (we later found out we had gone to the one located in "the ghetto"). On Saturday went to the Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale land, then pigged out at Tri's favorite restaurant of all time....Bucca di Beppo. Sunday was a full day. We took a road trip to San Francisco. We woke up early and our first stop was Fairfield, CA home of one of the JELLY BELLY FACTORIES!!!! It was great getting there right when they opened because the sample station was all ours. Nothing like Jelly Beans in all different flavors for breakfast! We then stopped at the Budweiser factory across the way, but found out it was closed on Sundays :( We arrived in San Francisco just in time to go to Fisherman's Wharf and chow down on some clam chowder. Tri and Lisa took Emily and Olivia to the aquarium and we walked around and took in the sights. We then headed off to see the Golden Gate Bridge. On the way to dinner we stopped at the Japanese Tea Garden. Dinner was Bubba Gumps Restaurant where our old stand by the Shrimpin Dippin Broth was a little too spicy this time for most of us. We got home at around 11:30 PM. (We had left at 8:30 AM). On Monday, Tri went to get eye surgery (Something different than Lasik, he explained it to me, but I wasn't really listening...) and we headed off to see Old Sacramento. Then it was off to the pool again to cool off. Tuesday we headed home and now we are unpacking yet again.

We took a lot of pictures of our trip to the Sac. You can check them out by clicking on the "Our Recent Pictures" link on the right of this page.

August 15-18 Sun Lakes, WA

We just got back from Sun Lakes, WA where the sun was shining, the temperatures were soaring, and the fish were biting! Olivia is officially addicted to fishing now. We checked into our cabin at around 4:00 on Friday and cranked the AC full blast. We think the temperatures were in the low 100's all weekend. Olivia caught her limit in trout, and spent tons of time in the pool. She got to hang out with her Papa and Mema, as well as her Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins on Andre's side. She was happy to get home on Monday to her "princess room" and "princess bed", but keeps asking when she can go back to the "hotel" and catch some more fish! Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, but here are a few shots taken with the camera we borrowed from Mema.

Olivia manages to snag a decent sized trout on her two-foot-long Barbie fishing Pole. (Thanks for the pole Uncle Mike!)

Cousin Nicholas and Olivia ready to hit the lake.

"Get the big one DADA!"

"Thanks for showing me how to fish, Papa!"