The Engbers Blog

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give Olivia a sleigh ride in the mountains of snow at Grandpa and Grandma's house!

We started off our week celebrating Christmas at the Engbers household in Sioux Falls. Livi had so much fun playing with her grandpa, grandma, and uncles. Grandpa even got down some old toys from the attic for Livi that her dad and uncles used to play with! Monday night we had a delicious Christmas dinner, opened presents, and topped the night off with some PW chocolate pie and homemade whipped cream :) Tuesday we celebrated Nick and Kevin's birthdays. Jon, Nick, Kevin, and Bryant had sushi for lunch (see below post) while Connor, Linda, Livi, and I decided Burger King was just fine with us. Grandma Sylvia, Rose, and Bon came to watch Livi Tuesday night so we could enjoy a nice dinner out at Spezia.

Nick and Kevin invited all who wanted to come along and eat sushi with them for their birthday lunch. Jon and Bryant were the only 2 brave enough to join. (Linda, Connor, Livi and I decided to venture out to the mall instead). Kevin and Nick decided to try some Sake. Their array of "deliciousness" ~ shrimp tempura, octopus, tuna, and spicy tuna to name a few. Nick eating the octopus...tentacles and all

Olivia gave Jon and I our Christmas present tonight by FINALLY deciding she was ready to walk on her own. She did it without warning and walked all the way from the toy box across the living room to me. I think both Jon's and my mouth dropped to the floor in awe :) Livi definitely has a mind of her own and likes to do things in her own time! I, of course, quickly grabbed the camera to get a video. This one isn't quite as good as the first attempt, but you can see she is walking now.

Christmas Day 2009 ~

We celebrated Christmas Eve tonight by attending our Christmas Eve service at church. Olivia dressed up in her pretty Christmas dress AND (drum-roll please).....she kept a bow in her hair for 5 minutes straight while I took these pictures!!! We let Olivia open one of her presents tonight. She got a new Winnie the Pooh look and find book! We feel blessed we can have a few presents for Olivia under the tree and see her excitement in opening them. But even more, we hope that we can begin to teach her that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior. We praise God for the gift of his Son so many years ago and for the opportunity we have to share his wonderful story of salvation with Olivia today!

Olivia and daddy decided they had to test out one of my freshly baked Christmas cookies. Olivia wasn't very good at hiding the evidence!

We are spending Christmas in Iowa City this year and then will celebrate with each of our families the week after Christmas. With the ice/snow storm we are going to get, we are thinking this probably ended up being a good plan! Jon, Olivia and I are enjoying a week of relaxation, Christmas movies, puzzle-making, Christmas goodies, sleeping in, and being together :) Olivia helping daddy with the puzzle. We are sad to say we completed the whole thing to find we are missing ONE piece. UGH! I have a feeling Olivia might have had something to do with this. Olivia hanging out in her sleigh watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. She loves to play with bags/buckets and find little things she can put in them. In her bag yesterday we found...puzzle pieces (from her own puzzle) chapstick, a pen, her baby-doll, a coaster, and a few Christmas cards! Giving her baby-dolls a ride in the stroller.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go out to eat with some girls from my MOPS table from last year. We went to a Japanese restaurant in Coralville called Three Samurai and all sat around a Hibachi grill. It was so fun! The Hibachi guy tried to make us do some tricks... Trying to catch broccoli in our mouths :) and attempting to toss an egg in the air and split it down the center with the spatula... I did it!!! just kidding. He put the egg on my spatula like that :) I missed 3 times!

Liv helped me decorate Christmas cookies today. Actually, she kept fairly busy eating her own cookie while I decorated!

While I was at work, Jon and Livi had a fun day playing together in the snow. First they built a 6-foot tall snowman. Olivia was amazed! ...then it was time for a relaxing ride in her new sled.

Jon took Livi out to experience the snow today. Last year we mostly carried Livi around in her car seat with the bundle me over her during the cold winter months. So we are excited to be able to get out and play more this winter. Livi was a little nervous about the snow at first, but she quickly got used to it.

Olivia has her purse and is ready for a day out with mom and dad in Kansas City. (The whole purse thing is really very cute. She grabs her purse, says bye-bye, and swings it over her shoulder!)

We made a last minute decision on Monday that we probably needed to start out early for Kansas City to make it before the blizzard started, so we left at 7pm Monday night. Livi slept the whole way to KC and the trip went well, although we did hit two areas where it had started to snow heavy already! Jon's interview wasn't until Thursday in Wichita, so we enjoyed being able to spend some time with Leah and Trav before going to Wichita on Wednesday. Wednesday night we went out to eat at a nice restaurant with some of the residents from the Wichita program. I was nervous about bringing Olivia out to eat because she acts like a typical 15 month old while going out to eat these days......CRAZY. Well my anxiety did not lessen upon arriving at the restaurant - in fact, it quadrupled! Long story short, the restaurant was a little too nice for a 15 month old. But, Olivia suprised us once again and did quite well. Jon interviewed most of the day on Thursday while Liv and I did some shopp...

Olivia loves her pink blankie (aka nigh-nigh). It is coming to the point where I have to sneak it into the washer when she isn't looking in order to get it clean. Waiting for blankie to be done drying. Finally! Snuggling with blankie :)