Oliver Clayton Royal is twenty-nine months old!

So that time of the month has rolled around again, and I am sure you are all wondering if I will ever stop counting months...well, at least not yet! :) To celebrate Oliver's 29 month birthday, we spent our morning at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve which is only about 5-10 minutes from our house. It was such a beautiful day and we had such an incredible time! We started off our excursion with a little walk, and soon we came upon this bridge, which Oliver was delighted to call his Pooh Sticks bridge. We watched the water, threw some small stones down and just hung out for a little while.

This is our Pooh Sticks bridge -- watch Winnie the Pooh A Day for Eeyore if you don't know what we are talking about

Next we decided to go explore the stream

Oliver threw rocks in the water and dug in the muddy sand and had so much fun...doesn't he look mischievous?

I don't know if you can tell very well from the picture, but I am actually on the other side of the stream. I thought I was being so cool when I used that branch on the bottom left of the picture to cross the stream to take a picture. Too bad it broke on the way back and my favorite shoes got all wet!

After exploring the stream, we spent about an hour at the playground. This week is Spring Break for the school kids in our area, so there were tons of children and Oliver had so much fun watching everyone play and joining in on the fun too!

Before we came home, we stopped to do one of Oliver's favorite things....get the bumpy rider (what he calls our 4Runner) washed. Oliver loves to see the spinney and swishy brushes and asks to go to Royal Car Wash every time we pass. The bumpy rider was definitely dirty from the rain last week, so I was happy to indulge him this morning.

Last on our agenda was his 29 month photo shoot in our living room. Enjoy the pictures!

I don't use black & white for his photos very often, but I thought it fit these two very well

This is his official 29-month picture -- love it!

I tried to get the same pose as last years St. Patrick's Day photo, I think he cooperated pretty well!

Here are some extra pictures from our photo shoot this morning in a collage.

Does this little guy look happy to have his Daddy home or what?

Clayton has been out of town for the past two weeks and will be gone again next week. To say Oliver misses his Daddy when he is gone is an understatement. He is constantly asking me "where Daddy?". Yesterday, Clayton came home while Oliver was napping. When he awoke, Clayton was still taking care of some work things and had to take a call only a few minutes after they were reunited. Oliver was absolutely heartbroken when I had to take him out of the room -- he was sobbing to be exact! It was so sad, but at the same time it warmed my heart so much to see just how much he loves his Daddy!

Oliver & I planned a surprise picnic in our living room for Daddy. This is the only place our tent has ever been used; someday we'll go camping, right! :) Oliver loved playing in the tent and wanted to have all his stuffed animals in there too.

Happy Birthday Aunt Tricia!

I asked Oliver if he could sing Happy Birthday to Aunt Tricia and to my surprise he could. In the past, I always just relied upon him to finish each phrase. Here is a video of him practicing.

He caught me

A cold front moved through last night, so Oliver and I hunkered down in the house trying to stay out of the cold this morning. We were watching Cars his favorite movie and I left the room for a moment. When I returned, I found he had taken the pillows off the sofa and was using them to relax on the floor. It was so precious that I had to grab my camera. I was trying hard not to disturb him so I turned on my camera and zoomed before I was even close, then I snuck up and just as I was about to snap the picture...he caught me. Doesn't he look surprised?!? Oh well, I guess I can't get them all! :)

Behold the beauty we found in East Dallas today

Oliver and I visited the Dallas Arboretum this morning and we had such an incredibly good time. Every year the arboretum has an event called Dallas Blooms and Tuesday is Tiny Tot day with a petting zoo, face painting, music and crafts for the children. They had 450,000 bulbs in bloom and countless other annuals and perennials that were absolutely gorgeous! In addition to all the flowers and fun, they had these adorable Storybook Playhouses strewn throughout the garden each based off of a classic children's story. The temperature was in the low 70's, overcast, and a little rainy near the end of our trip. Even though we were a little soggy, we had a great time and we even purchased a membership so we can go back again. Oliver was planning our next trip before he went to bed tonight! :)

Inside The Teremok playhouse -- A Russian Folktale

Steering the beautiful pea green boat from The Owl and the Pussy Cat

Inside The Little Prince playhouse

Oliver loved brushing the animals!

In the garden from City Green where cabbage was growing -- Oliver pretended he was Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh

They had four of these huge frogs spitting water to form a fountain in the center -- Oliver was impressed!

Sometimes I feel like I am looking in a mirror when Oliver uses these expressions while he is trying to tell me something -- this is totally me!

So big standing by the Crepe Myrtles

rows and rows of beautiful flowers

These were one of my favorites!

Oliver inside the playhouse from Alice in Wonderland. I think he drank the tea that made him too big for the house! :)

One fish, two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

James and the Giant Peach

tulips and daffodils

Oliver watched parts of Bambi for the first time last week and he has been enamoured with it ever since. As soon as he saw these deer, he instantly said Bambi and ran right to them. So cute!

Oliver and the Jolly Roger from Peter Pan

Oliver posing so cute for the Volunteers in front of the Witch's house from Hansel & Gretel. I couldn't get him to look at me!

Inside the land wrecked ship from Treasure Island

Taking a little rest...hey who is that behind me?!?

I want one of these in my back yard!

look at Mommy

Please look at Mommy

Alright, I'll look, but your are going to get my cheesy grin! :)

This last one is a video of Oliver running thinking he is going to get to ride on a tractor, I love to see him run!

Who are you today, Oliver?

Oliver's Pretend Play is in full force lately, he pretends to be anything and everything and expects the same of us too. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Oliver found some slippers in my closet and put them on and walked around telling us to call him Grammy. If you know my Mom, it is rare that you will ever see her inside without slippers. I have yet to get it on video until today. Without further ado, here is a video of Oliver pretending to be Grammy.

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Royal!

Oliver was so excited to see the FedEx truck arrive on Thursday, he just knew it was something for him. This video is of him opening a tow truck (which he calls Mater) and a Cars book from Grandma & Grandpa Royal which he absolutely loves.

And here is a video of him playing with his tow truck. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa. Oliver loves his new toys!

I must confess...

My confession is that I let Oliver eat french fries. I love, love, love french fries and every time I get them I let Oliver eat a few and as a result, he loves, loves, loves french fries too. I feel at least a little bit guilty every time he takes a bite considering this is a very unhealthy lifelong habit I have started for him. If you read my blog, you know I have been trying recipes from The Sneaky Chef cook book. Well tonight I turned our unhealthy habit into something much more manageable in the long run! Introducing The Sneaky Chef's Crispy No-Fry French Fries. This is one I was skeptical about as I have had baked fries before and they are nothing like the deep-fat fried versions. Well, the book proved me wrong...they were delicious. I used my beloved Cuisinart mandoline to slice the potatoes into perfect little strips and followed the instructions exactly.

Surprisingly they turned out delicious! This is a picture I found from someone else who tried the recipe.





I don't usually attach recipes that are not available on the Internet, but I had to because Missy Lapine states that the russet potato is the highest antioxidant vegetable out there...she has a pretty great resume, so I am inclined to trust her on this one...plus I want to believe it is true! :) See for yourself.

Good Morning Angel!

I loved how blue Oliver's eyes looked when I went in to get him this morning

I also love this cheesy grin he gives me when I ask him to smile! :)