Happy Independence Day!

We have had a fantastic Independence Day so far and it is only half over. This morning we went to the City of Plano Independence Day parade that just happens to go down Independence Parkway here in Plano. This was our second year going and we chose our same shady spot as we did last year. There was a nice gentle breeze that gave us some reprieve from the heat. I think my favorite thing at the parade to watch was Oliver. He had so much fun waving, clapping, yelling "Happy Fourth" back to the people on the parade "floats", and collecting loot.

Here is our shady spot in front of some old duplexes

There were propeller planes flying overhead during the parade and Oliver just loved it!

Here are the planes

Random pictures of Oliver enjoying the parade

The parade "floats". I say "floats" because they are not the traditional type of floats I am used to seeing. Still fun, just nontraditional. :)

The very last thing on the parade route was an actual float. Yeah!

Texans are a very proud breed, and now my little guy is one of them. One of the churches in the parade was giving out Texas flags on America's Independence Day! Oliver can already distinguish between the two flags.

Proudly wearing his parade necklaces

See my loot?

Oliver took this picture of his Daddy-O

Oliver taking a break from the parade to have a horsey ride.

My friend Lori posted something on her blog the other day that inspired me to "Get in the picture". So even though it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince Oliver to smile for the camera, I still got in the picture and tried my best to make him laugh with my fierce pirate smiles.

Here is my favorite one of us!

After the parade we headed to our favorite mall so Oliver could ride on the coin operated cars and fire trucks that he loves. Then we all played in the play area and had so much fun! I love spending time with Oliver, but I love spending time with Oliver and his Daddy even more! I love my sweet family and I am so thankful for our country's independence.

Happy Independence Day Y'all! (wow, that still doesn't work for me even after almost six years). Let's try this again...Happy Independence Day everyone!

Our first Metro Moms Event

I joined a group of mothers in the Metroplex and they get together every once in a while and have fun events. Today we attended the Oh Say Can You See Independence Day Event at the Wiggly Play Center near us. Oliver had a great time playing the games and exploring all the fun things. He climbed in the climbing area, bounced in the Bounce House and even hugged a puppy dog. Fortunately, Clayton was able to join us too! Unfortunately, we found some vomit while we were playing in the climbing area, so hopefully we left all those germs there! Yuck!

Here are some pictures of our morning:

Playing a ring toss game.

He won this cool magnifying glass from playing the ring toss game and as you will see, he wanted to take a closer look at everything

...even the camera

You think he might be tired of cars since he has some at home...nope, not Oliver. He headed straight for this car as soon as we walked in the door.

notice him peeking at me through his magnifying glass

Daddy & Oliver climbed ALL the way up

And then slid down this spiral tunnel slide. Clayton actually got a little stuck, I guess it wasn't built for adults! :)

Playing with another little guy at the event

Oliver standing in a corner...do you think he did something I don't know about??? :)

Nope, he actually turned around right after this picture and investigated the pink wall with his magnifying glass

Oliver didn't want to dance by the puppy while they were dancing, but he wanted to give him a hug. He went right up afterward and gave him a hug. Too bad the puppy wasn't paying attention to him.

Not already...

Two and a half and already refusing kisses from Mommy. Sad! Good thing it doesn't happen often. :)

Oliver's new favorite song

How cute is this?

My Aunt sent this to Oliver in response to a picture he sent her for her birthday. It is so cute! I love it!

Splish, Splash I was taking a swim...

Yesterday the weather was perfect for me...hot and dry, a rare occasion here in muggy old Dallas. :) Oliver and I took advantage of it by getting out his wading pool and splashing around in it. We actually went out in the morning and in the evening. The water was too cold for him to sit in the first time, but the sun warmed it up and the second time he and I were in it for about two hours. He loved it. He had some fun pool toys that the Thiot's gave him for his last birthday and we brought some other plastic toys in too. We had a great time together.

Configuring the volley ball net into a hammer

Mommy Airlines

First off, as you will soon see in the pictures, I must confess that sometimes I do not make my bed in lieu of having fun with Oliver. He loves to roll around and play on my unmade bed and I figure those are much better memories than those he might have if I told him "no, Mommy's bed needs to be perfect" all the time! :)

One of our favorite games to play on the bed (or any where) is airplane. Daddy took some pictures of us playing last night.

ready for take off

I have one of those really tall beds so Oliver is actually up really high when we do this on the bed and he loves it!

Ah, the welcome back thanks for flying Mommy airlines hug!

Our Fence is finally stained...

...well, part of it anyway. Too bad I didn't get any before pictures, it was pretty bad and needed to be replaced.

The fence project was completed 4/6/09

Fence is partially stained 6/24/09. I'll admit we did have some rain and wind to prevent staining, but not 2 1/2 months worth. I was so happy to see them today when we returned from story time. And yet, I noticed they stopped working around 3:30pm, when they were only half-way through with the job. I am so hoping they come back soon! Need your fence replaced in the DFW area? Ask me about my experience, I'll tell you what happened and you decide if you want to hire this company or not. The fence looks good, but I can say I am pretty sure we won't be using them to do the remainder of our fence that needs to be replaced.

Future delivery truck driver???

Oliver loves, loves, loves UPS trucks; okay to be fair, he loves FedEx trucks too, they just don't come as often. I am not certain if it is just because it is another truck that he sees often, or if it has more to do with it being the truck that brings toys to him. I do a lot of my shopping on the Internet, and so we get quite a few packages delivered to our door. In retrospect, it is probably a combination of both. Oliver was soooo excited when the mail carrier brought him this UPS truck today (click the picture above to find this truck new on eBay). He wouldn't even take his eyes off of it to look at the camera. Maybe someday he will want to drive one of these.

The Bubble Dance

I remember loving these packaging bubbles when I was young...who am I kidding, I still do! :) Oliver had his first taste of bubble popping this morning. He loved it!

And I loved this video!

Happy Father's Day Daddy-O!

I am happy to report that Clayton had an awesome Father's Day weekend. He was able to exercise, take two naps, eat lots of yummy food and mostly hang out and play with Oliver. Oliver gave Daddy-O his gifts on Saturday because I thought he would spill the beans after he saw the chairs for the first time on Friday. He got this cool canopy chair, some new PJ's and Oliver made him a card and a painting which Clayton said were his favorite gifts.

Oliver called his painting New Mexico; he really has some fond memories of our road trip to Utah last month.

Daddy & Oliver in their new chairs

Daddy & Oliver before dinner tonight

Tonight's dinner: Homemade Olive Garden's Tuscan Garlic Chicken
So yummy!

First time for everything

Last night, as I was giving Oliver his bath, we were brushing his teeth near the end as we always do. He told me he needed to pee and I asked if he could hold it while we finished. He said I don't know and a few seconds later told me he went pee in his water. Well I went about emptying out the water to rinse him and his toys off and he told me "Mommy, I really need to pee". He said he wanted to sit on his toilet so I grabbed a towel and off we went.

Insert a little background here. I have no interest in forcing potty training. We do talk about going potty quite often, I just want it to happen whenever he is ready. Plus, I have never dreaded one single diaper change and I can only imagine that finding a place to go potty will be so much more difficult than changing a soiled diaper in my car. Having said that, Oliver has had two toilets since he was 18 months old. He was interested in them when they first arrived, but the interest waned until about two months ago. He sat bare on the toilet for the first time just about a month ago when we purchased Lighting McQueen underwear that he said he wanted.

So back to last night, I sat him on the potty and told him to pretend like he had a diaper on and just relax, and surprising to both of us, he did. I didn't know his little bladder could hold so much! He had the biggest smile and the only person more proud of him than Clayton and I is Oliver. He kept on telling me as we were getting ready for bed, "Mommy, I peed in the toilet." Now he is just really excited to wear his Lightning McQueen underwear. I am sure there is a long road ahead of us, but I am so proud of my little guy!

All Oliver, All Day

Today was Oliver's 32 month old birthday. I thought he might be getting a little sick as he had a rough night the night before, so I let him sleep in as long as he wanted which actually ended up being until noon. I took these pictures right after he woke up.

As you can see, he was a little out of it at first, then he started to warm up

Then he got silly

This is the last of 43 pictures, I'm glad he finally cooperated as I was giving up. :)

Then we went outside to play with his new tractor and trailer that his Daddy gave him.

This is actually a toy Clayton had when he was little and Oliver LOVES it! Thanks for saving it Grandma & Grandpa.

When we were too hot to play outside any longer, we went to the mall to do a little shopping.

We played at the play area with about 50 other kids who were too hot to be outside

It was bright there, so Oliver wanted to wear his cool dudes inside.

We rode the carousel which Oliver loves.

Then we spent about an hour watching ice skaters while we ate a pretzel and a cookie. The session ended as we were about to leave and out came the Zamboni. Let me just say that Oliver was in heaven! He was fascinated with the truck/tractor and wanted to know everything about it. We had to stay for the entire smoothing of the ice because he was just so intrigued.

I have so much fun hanging out with Oliver and watching him learn and grow. We have so much fun together and I love staying home with him. This is 100% what I want to be doing with my days. Happy 32 month old birthday to my big boy!

Recently

Recently, we lost some tree limbs in a big storm and Oliver went outside to help his Daddy. He was really disappointed when there weren't any leaves to rake.

Recently, Oliver has enjoyed sitting on our chairs and watching the world outside. I thought he looked so grown up in this picture.

Recently, Oliver has been wanting more things in his crib when he sleeps. Now he has his bunny and piggy, a blanket, a onesie (he likes to feel the snaps?!?) and a napkin (a burp cloth from when he was little). Good thing he has a lot of room.

Recently I woke up to find this really cool bridge that Daddy & Oliver had built the night before. Who knew you could do so many things with a set of wooden blocks?

A window with a view...

Although I am not big on decorating, I love to move my furniture and Oliver's toys around and rarely have them in the same arrangement for very long. Tonight, Oliver's car table got a window with a view:

Oliver said "Ya, thank you Mommy", as soon as he realized he could use the window ledge as a seat.

And now I have my all my leather furniture together for the first time since we bought it five years ago. I think this may be my favorite furniture arrangement yet. Oliver's car table on the other side of the room is actually the focal point for this set-up. We don't watch TV in the family room any longer, so we may as well have the furniture situated around what we do watch, right? :)