Fun at the Children's Museum in Dallas

Oliver & I went to the One Year Old birthday party of the Children's Museum at the Museum of Nature and Science today. Even though it was super CROWDED, we had such a good time with Ace & Aunt Tricia. There is so much hands on stuff for kids to do. Oliver absolutely loved exploring everything and at some points, I felt like I was dragging him to the next room just to get away from so many of the crowds. We will definitely go back on a less-crowded day. Here are some of my favorite pictures from today. You may feel like you have been there after reading this post, but believe me...it could have been a lot longer as I took 157 pictures in two-hours! :)

Ace, Mommy & Oliver at Fairpark

Here is Oliver giving John Paris, the President of Atmos Energy, 5 today...Oliver got his first 15 seconds of fame as he participated in some publicity shots for the company today.

If there is a car somewhere, Oliver will find it. Here he is playing with a car on the Lego table.

I loved my little guy with his tool belt on...doesn't it just look like it belongs there?!?

Hmmm...what is in here?

Outside sitting on JUMBO's trunk at the Natural History Museum

Look at this John Deere Tricycle...so cool!

Oliver collected chicken eggs at the farm

Oliver still loves kitchens

Wash those dishes Oliver...he knows the way to the ladies hearts!

Look at this huge xylophone

Here is Oliver riding what he called the "Scary tractor" from Cars the movie...remember the one that chases Mater & Lightening McQueen out of the field after they go tractor tipping.

Oliver trying his hand at rock climbing

Look at this cute little bench!

I loved him taking a break under this huge oak tree!

hammer, hammer, hammer

Sometimes I wish I could peak inside his head and see what he is thinking about...this was one of those times.

Oliver in a tent in the back-yard play area

The firetruck! He loved this almost as much as the school bus at his favorite park

Ahhhhh!

Cooking on the grill in the backyard -- just look at that juicy hamburger, now how do I get the lid off this ketchup?

Rocking horse

Look at Oliver looking up at JUMBO, I can imagine him saying "Woa, man!"

Building a gear puzzle with Ace & Aunt Tricia

Building

Building, Building

Boys at the farm

Cousins Ace & Oliver on Jumbo's tusks

Ace, Aunt Tricia & Oliver -- so cute!

I loved them looking out at the pond!

You are such a cool dude, Oliver!

Cute!

And last, I wonder what Mommy would say if she knew when she took this picture that I was about to jump off this step! :)

Meet Blue

Mommy says he stinks!

scoot, scoot, scoot

So a couple of weeks ago we saw some little boys about Oliver's age riding these scooters at a nearby trail. They were cruising! I thought it looked so fun, so I instantly went home and found it on Amazon and purchased it for my little guy. It finally arrived yesterday. Oliver helped me put it together this morning and he couldn't wait to try it out this afternoon. The weather was sunny and warm (77 degrees) and it couldn't have been any better for his first ride on his scooter. We tried it out on the trail right behind our house and he loved it! Here are some pictures and a video of him scoot, scoot, scooting. By the way, he calls it a tricycle because to him it looks like his tricycle that is still too big for him.

Giving bunny a ride

He rode it all the way from inside the house, down the driveway, to the alley

I think he is happy!

Love the streamers and his little hand!

Action shot of him running at the park -- he wants to be just like his Daddy!

In this video you will see he gets distracted by a car about half-way through...what can I say, he has the attention span of a two-year old! :) I am still laughing about his bell!

Oliver playing on the tollway

We live close to three toll roads, hence Oliver thinks all elevated highways are tollways. He received some wooden building blocks for Christmas and he loves to build tollways for his cars and trucks. We purchased a new truck for him at the grocery store yesterday and he named it the Tollway Worker Truck. So, this morning we had to build a tollway out of his blocks for his new truck. Hope you like your new home Tollway Worker Truck! :)

Videos of Oliver

Alright, go way back...do you remember hand games and no, I don't mean hand held video games. I am talking about games where you do a clapping routine with your hands and sing a nonsense song. I loved those when I was a kid and I still remember some of them. The other day I sang one of the songs to Oliver and he kept asking me to sing it. Well it caught on. This video is his version of bo bo ce wotton totton na ah eh eh eh boom boom, eeny weeny wah ha, bo bo ce wah ha, bo bo ce wah ha boom boom boom. Pretty good eh? Now we just have to work on the hand game. :)

This morning Oliver was helping me clean and he was so excited that he got to dust while I vacuumed. Here is a video of him dusting his own room. He was so proud and so was I! :)

Daddy + Mommy = Oliver

Oliver has Clayton's eyebrows, eyes and lips

And Mommy's face shape and smile

That is what I think. What do you think?

Can you say yummy?

So we have experienced another success with my Sneaky Chef cook book. Today we tried the granola bars and they are delicious and actually didn't take long at all. Good bye store purchased granola bars...hello healthy! :)

Here are a couple of pictures of Oliver pretending to cook today while drinking his milk in his high chair.

Dear Baby Reeves

We sent your birthday gift today, but we knew it would never look like this after the post office had their way with it so we wanted to show you a picture of how your wrapped gift should have looked. We wish we could deliver it in person. With Love, Aunt Pamela, Uncle Clayton & Oliver

I loved how the bow turned out with this ribbon and I just had to take a picture! :)

Oliver Clayton Royal is twenty-eight months old

I told Oliver that if he let me take his picture today that he could have these M&M's in celebration of his 28 month birthday. He thought about it for awhile and then finally gave me this cute smile!

May I have them now please Mommy? :)

Oliver's new table

Mommy & Daddy gave Oliver a table with chairs and some new art supplies for Valentines day. Here is a video of him seeing it for the first time. He was so cute, after he started coloring, he kept on claiming that we were at Gymboree. Viewer beware, the video is long. :)

Oliver's first Valentine's day party

Unfortunately, Oliver and I have been avoiding Gymboree for the last couple of months due to a series of illnesses that seemed to come on as a result of our weekly visits. My little guy so missed his weekly play time. Today we attended a Valentine's Day party at Gymboree and Oliver had so much fun! We played, slow danced with the lights down, did some crafts, had cookies, played with the parachute and lots of musical instruments. I am crossing my fingers that he doesn't get sick! Here he is doing a few of his favorite things at Gymboree. His absolute favorite is the Parachute and I have yet to get that on film.

I am so excited!

Look at these adorable kids! I am so incredibly excited because my Christmas gift has just been confirmed. Okay, well it was the kids presents, but I get to benefit from it. My nephew & niece, Riley & Olivia, are coming to see us for 6 days in April and I can hardly stand it! I can't wait for Oliver to get to know his cousins whom I have adored since the moment I met them! Thank you so much for trusting me with your sweet angels, Jerone & Debbie!

This is what they looked like two weeks before I moved to Texas, five years ago:

And here they are now. Love you guys!

My sad boy

Oliver awoke bright and early this morning (4:00 am) moaning and crying. I went in to comfort him from what I thought might be a bad dream. It took him a long time to settle down and to finally communicate that he wasn't frightened, rather that he was in pain. He said his neck hurt. Every time he would move his head he would break out into more tears and hold his neck. After an investigation requiring his sunglasses in the middle of the night, we determined there was no visible physical injuries i.e. bug bite. So we are guessing that he must have slept on his neck wrong and now it is sore. I gave him his vitamin (a chewable Motrin Jr.) and laid down with him for a while in our spare bed until he was calm and sleepy. He woke up 3 hours later complaining about the same pain and so incredibly sad! This is a photo of my miserable little boy waiting for me on the sofa while I started his movie and took this picture.

As the morning progressed his neck pain seemed to subside! Hopefully that will be that last time that happens. I feel soooo bad for my babylove!

Happy Valentine's Day, Oliver

Oliver received a package in the mail from his Grammy & Gramps yesterday, and to say he was excited about the contents would be an understatement.

Here is his new toy -- Lightning McQueen!

Clayton's Grandma's Daffodils

Before Clayton's Grandparent's farm was torn down a few years ago, my mother-in-law salvaged a few of her daffodil plants and gave one each to Clayton and his Sister. It took us a while to choose a location for it so it sat in a pot for awhile. Anyway, each year, the greenery would shoot up, but no flower. I thought it would never bloom.

Today it did!