Liv's 1st Birthday - Round 1

We threw Liv a birthday party yesterday! It was necessary since we are heading to the Sault tomorrow and her real birthday is on Monday. It was made up of good people, good food, crave cupcakes, marbleslab ice cream cake, presents, and keeping Liv up way past her bedtime. She didn't awesome though and I can't wait for her next birthday celebration on the 8th!

liv had no idea what this blowing thing was but she'd like us to hurry up so she can have some of that cake!

Do I have ravioli on my face?

Tonight's dinner got a little messy and was oh so much fun! It required a bath afterwards :)

"Is that your kid?"

Funny story. Liv and I walk to Don Bosco, which is an elementary school thats very close to where we live, often. I've mentioned our love of going here before. Yesterday we headed over there before dinner. I always tote my camera and Liv's mini basketball with us. As we are walking up I notice that there are a lot of kids there, mostly teenagers, no parents...but hey its Friday so I just figure this is the hangout. They were by the equipment so I just avoided that area because we just needed to run off some steam. So, anyways, I unsuccessfully try to get Liv to run after her ball and simultaneously snap pictures of her doing so. I look up and there are these two boys walking towards me. I'm guessing they are probably 16, around that age anyways.

Boys: "Is that your kid?"
Me: "yep"
Boys: "whats her name?"
Me: "Olivia"
Boys: "ohhhh cool cool, so where do you live?"

at this point, I'm thinking WHAT the hell are these two boys talking to me for??? Are they trying to steal my baby? haha, yes I thought that and especially when they asked me where I lived. Seriously??! Like I'm going to tell them where I live. I smoothly responded with the name of our neighborhood because there was no effing way I was telling them where we were headed.

I could keep going with how the conversation went down, but it was painful and awkward. They just wouldn't get the hint that I didn't want to chat it up with them and Liv wouldn't even get out of my arms while they were around. So as they kept talking my ear off I politely excused myself and rattled off some excuse about having to make it home for dinner. As I'm walking away, I hear their friends ask them if they have a date.... sorry boys.

I still didn't trust them and seriously considered walking a different way home to throw them off. The funny thing is, it never occured to throw down the "my husband" card. That trumps it all, but by the time I thought of that brilliant response, it was too late.

Mr. and Mrs.

When I worked as a paraprofessional in first grade last year, the kids would always call me Mrs. Desi. I would say to them "Johnny (fake name obv.), can you tell me why I'm a Miss and not a Mrs.?". They would stand there and stare at me like uhhhh you're old and therefore we call you Mrs.. So I would tell them "a Mrs. is married and I'm not married and thats why I'm Miss Desi", However.....


Pat and I got married yesterday, July 22, 2010. We always knew this was a possibility for us this summer. We have been dating for 6 years and have talked a lot about getting married. We both have expectations for a wedding and reception that we haven't exactly met yet, but we will. We love eachother and for our family to live together and start our lives we decided to get married. We didn't make a big production, it was very small and intimate, but special. We went to Pat's grandma's house and had some close family present. Everyone said it was the best wedding they've ever been to! We celebrated with a big dinner, a few drinks, an ice cream cake from marble slab and cupcakes from crave, mmmm.


We are planning on having another ceremony and reception in my hometown. Most likely within the year. We will make a big production out of that and make sure its is everything that we had ever planned on. It is very weird to think of myself as a married woman right now and that I am now a Mrs., more specifically Mrs. Bateman!

liv's little bouquet :)

Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bateman

Leslie bought me the pretty bouquet

tired out from everything

you can see the rest of the photos from our day here

roars, ears, and advice

Rawrrrrrrrr!

Lions and Tigers and T-rex's....oh my! We took our trip to the Royal Tyrell Museum yesterday. It was a two hour trip both ways to get there, with the way up going smoothly and Liv napping and the way home being hell because Liv fought sleep and wanted to get down so bad. Not that relaxing and I don't think it will be my preference of travel in the future. The museum was awesome and I think I would have enjoyed it more without Liv! It wasn't all that was expected for the following reasons:

1. It was packed! You never would have known it was a Monday...everyone and their stroller was there and it was miserable trying to get around anywhere.

2. Liv had no interest in dinosaurs whatsoever. What did I expect really? She ran around as usual, but I probably didn't need to travel 2 hours to obtain that outcome.

3. The drive back home sucked...like I said, Liv was cranky, overtired and needed a nap. She took it out on me.

When Liv is older we'll have to give it another whirl. Liv did fall asleep with about 20 minutes left of our trip, so we decided afternoon nap was being skipped. Instead, we fed her dinner and let her play for an hour or so. After dinner Pat went to go get her some jammies, and don't ask me why, but every time Pat is in charge of picking out the jammies he comes back with the pair that has a hood and ears on it. He gets a huge kick out of it...so not only does he put Liv in these jammies, but he puts the hood up and insists that I take pictures. I did, but only to humor him ;).

Trying to keep Liv out of things....she would have liked to climb on the dino's

Liv has her eyes on something more interesting

like this

and this

I thought this was neat...I was taking a picture of the aquarium and I caught Pat and Liv's reflection in the glass. haha, it may not be that cool, but I'm obviously easily impressed.

evidence...2 things to note here, #1 look at those molars! She has the top two like that also! #2 her peek-a-boo with the door. She thinks she's so clever...until I hear her crying and find that she's shut herself in and can't get out baha

ears :)

Ok, now for advice. I saved this for the end because It has nothing to do with Liv, the museum or jammies with ears on them. I have been giving serious consideration to cutting my hair. I'm thinking long bob with long layers. I need something easier than what I have. So, I'm leaving you with a few inspirational photos and please tell me what you think, pretend the bangs aren't present....no bangs for people with 2 cowlicks.

"we can go to town or baby if you'd rather..."

Ahhhh, the concert was ahhhmazing! Pat and I showed up to the stampede about 45 minutes early and went into a beer garden to have a drink before. After we finished our bud lights and people watched for awhile we headed inside. We picked up another beer ($7.50 a piece, blah) and took our seats. Miranda Lambert was everything I expected. She played quite a few songs that I didn't know though. Pat wasn't completely thrilled with Miranda but Jason Aldean definitley exceeded our expectations by far. We both concluded that "Big Green Tractor" was the best part of the whole night.

After the concert we met up with some friends and went to a few bars. It was a late night and by bar close we were starving. We hadn't had dinner and we needed something to eat. We walked around downtown in search of Thai Tai. I had no idea what this restaurant was or what I was supposed to order. I took the suggestion of our friends and got a beef satay sub with everything on it (carrots, cucumbers, onions, thai sauce, hot sauce, and cilantro). UMMMM lets just say it was the best thing I've ever ate. I woke up wanting another vietnamese sub. I am pretty sure its my new addiction and I don't know how I lived without ever have tasted one of these delectable sandwiches.

Tomorrow we are packing a bunch of people into the motorhome and heading to the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Its a huge prehistoric museum with 11 different exhibits and I'm positive Liv will love it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm going to go dream about a beef satay sub.....

her life is complete

...after seeing elmo live.

pat went to the bathroom and came back with a stuffed elmo for liv

There he is!

entranced

liv and daddy

this is her face when she sees something she likes...it is followed by an "ooooh!"

ok....they are making the exact same face in this picture. its kind of scary.

Liv with Great Grandma Doreen

on the way home....all worn out and snuggling up with her bff

Stampede

Well...it was about 90 degrees out yesterday when we headed to the stampede, which made for a very sweaty tour of the grounds. Liv is a little too young to really enjoy all the kid activities they have and boy do they have a lot. She may not have been able to participate, but she loved watching everyone esle. She is a people watcher through and through. We walked down to where the teepee's were and finally let her out to walk around...it didnt last long because she has a mind of her own and wants to take lots of little detours.

I am sooo excited to go to our concert tomorrow. It will be our first real date night since we have been back together. We haven't done anything with just the two of us yet. Its much needed. Especially in a stressful time where we are trying to organize our lives so that we can stand on our own feet here in Calgary. BTW, Calgary is HUGE. Maybe not for those of you who live here, but holy moly...when we drive around I think to myself that I would never be able to navigate this city completely alone. I will be using a tom tom when I need to. Back to the point...tomorrow is the big night and before that, Liv is going to be fainting because Elmo will be standing, in the flesh, right before her eyes. While liv is hyperventilating, I think I'm going to go on the hunt for a Stampede shirt to go out in :). That will pretty much sum up out weekend. I don't think I will be able to take any pictures during the concert but I will send Pat off with my camera for pictures of Liv with Elmo.

some of the teepee's

peeking over uncle ryan's shoulder

if only you could have seen the food vendors here...unbelievable amounts, deep fried jelly beans, oreos, pickles, mac 'n chz, everythinggg

sporting her little cowboy/fedora :)