Missed photo opportunities

Oliver has been doing a couple of really cute things lately however I must admit that I have been remiss in my photo ops lately!

Missed photo opportunity number one: I rarely wear an apron while cooking (much to my own chagrin on laundry day), but the other day I did wear an apron as I was cooking something messy right before going to school. Oliver saw me in the apron and instantly wanted one of his own to use while cooking in his kitchen. With some strategic folding I was able to make one of my aprons fit him and he loved it. He actually wore the apron for quite some time. Unfortunately, as soon as I came to a point in my own cooking where I could run and grab my camera, he had already finished his cooking and was done with the apron. The apron picture would have been a treasured addition to my blog...maybe I can convince him to do it again sometime.

Missed photo opportunity number two: One of Oliver's most recent beloved activities is washing dishes. He has always loved to look at the bubbles in the sink when Daddy does dishes and we often let him place cups or other things in the bubbles to be washed. For the last few weeks, he has pretended to wash dishes in his own kitchen placing all his "dirty" dishes in his sink and then rinsing each of them off with his pretend faucet. I don't really know how it happened, but the other day he got the idea that it should be his job to rinse his real dishes after lunch in Mommy's sink. He loves it! He has such a big smile while rinsing and is so proud of himself when he is done that I would go so far as to call him giddy. He now asks to "rinse dishes" before he is even close to finishing his meal. This photo will be a little trickier to capture as he stands on his high chair foot rest to do the rinsing so someone needs to be there to steady the chair and be sure he doesn't fall...maybe I can get it this weekend while Clayton and I are both home. Oliver loves to work...hopefully that will stick with him for a life time!

Can Mommy have some of your energy, please???

Oliver was awake at 5:30 AM this morning contentedly talking to himself in his crib. By 7:00 AM he still hadn't fallen back to sleep, which is unusual for him he normally sleeps 'til about 8:00 AM, so I went it to get him and to see if anything was the matter. I guess he had slept enough because after we finished our morning routine of stories and warm milk he proceeded to do laps around his car table. Check out the pictures and video of him running:

Click the arrow above to play the video of Oliver running around the car table. Of course, Oliver is always so intrigued by himself on film that he wants to stop doing whatever he is doing to "see", but I think you get the idea.

I asked Oliver if I could have some of his energy. He stopped for a while and considered it, then he got the cutest look on his face and told me "no".


Oliver was definitely ready for a nap today. He slept for 3 hours and he probably could have slept for more, but I woke him up at 4:30 PM so that he would be able to go to sleep tonight. This is him sleeping so peacefully before I woke him up.

Hide & Seek

Lately Oliver has loved playing a version of chase with Mommy & Daddy. Mommy holds Oliver and we run away from Daddy. When Daddy catches us, the game always ends in tickles, kisses and lots of giggles. Today the game morphed into hide and seek. First Daddy counted and Mommy & Oliver hid together. As we hid I shhhhhd Oliver telling him we are hiding and that we need to be quiet. With every place Daddy announced he was looking, Oliver would giggle louder and say "nope"; there really was not much of a surprise to where we were hiding. He loved it when Daddy finally found us and gave Oliver tickles and kisses. Next, it was Mommy & Oliver's turn to count while Daddy hid. Oliver helped Mommy count to 10 then we were on the hunt. Oliver giggled as we looked around the house for Daddy, when we finally found him it was another episode of tickles and kisses. We went back and forth with this a few more times then both Mommy & Daddy thought we were done and started talking about what we wanted to do for dinner. Suddenly Oliver went down the hall (where we were doing the counting) and we heard one, two, three and finally Mommy & Daddy realized what was happening and we took off for our hiding spots. Mommy & Daddy gave Oliver some good hints on where we were hiding, and he had so much fun seeking us we did it several more times. I am smiling just remembering how much fun it was to play hide and seek with my two year old!

Happy Halloween across the years

I love doing comparisons of Oliver's pictures across the years, so now that I have a blog you get to see them too! Halloween is the first holiday that I have pictures across all three years.

Oliver was Beary Scary for his first Halloween!

This is Moo Cow Oliver on his second Halloween

And here is my big Cowboy Oliver for his third Halloween

This is his first year to trick or treat. We went to the houses around our house. Everyone thought Oliver was so cute! Here he is all dressed up. He ended up walking around in his cowboy boots just fine. I think he is the cutest little cowboy I have ever seen! This is him practicing at our house.

Here we are going to our neighbors house. He was so cute and said Trick or Treat, thank you, and Happy Day Halloween at every house.

We sat on our front porch and handed out candy afterwards.

Oliver had so much fun trick or treating. We ran out of candy this year before 8 o'clock, which is unusual for us...however, I think I bought less this year, since we have had so few trick or treaters in the past. Oliver ate M & M's as we passed out the candy. When we came in the house he ran around in circles for about 10 minutes. I didn't think he was ever going to go to sleep, luckily I was wrong! Happy Halloween everyone!

Cousins together for Halloween

My sister Michele and I were IM'ing the other day and she and I agreed that if we lived closer, that our little ones who are only 7 weeks apart would be best of friends. Michele posted this cute picture of Avery on her blog, and I thought that the two cousins should be together on Halloween. I know someone more skilled with Photoshop could do a much better job, but I thought it was cute all the same!

Oliver & Jack

Well it is official, Oliver has the attention span of a two-year old. Last year we had so much fun carving our pumpkin; he sat there with me for at least an hour while we made our pumpkin into a Jack-o-lantern. This year was an entirely different story. Not that we didn't have fun, we just had fun being around each other, not necessarily doing the same thing. Oliver was interested in the pumpkin for all of about 5 minutes max. Then he was off to push around his truck. Next he used his wagon to successively run over my foot, the pumpkin carving materials, the pumpkin guts and oh I can't forget he ran over my camera too. Of course, it took everything I had not to laugh when my little two year old so sincerely told me "sorry, Mommy" after every offense. Each time he observed me using the knife he would come right over and tell me "careful Mommy". Oh, he just makes my heart melt! Anyway, I was able to get some pictures during his small window of interest. Here is Oliver checking out our pumpkin:

Video of Oliver checking out the pumpkin

Jack is in the wagon ready to be transported to our front porch

Hurry camera timer, I don't know if I can keep him here much longer!

My little Cowboy at the Gymboree Pumpkin Patch

Today was pumpkin patch theme day at Gymboree and all of the kids in Oliver's class dressed up in their costumes. They were all so cute! Oliver had a lot of fun.

They planted pumpkin seeds

watered them

Then they magically grew into little pumpkins -- so cute!

Oliver loved this little watering can and spider, he pretty much carried it around for the entire class.

Ms. Julia's Level 5 Gymboree Class

A video of Oliver dancing to Gymbo the Clown song

The Pumpkin Patch

Oliver had his flu shot this afternoon and I was so proud of my big boy; he didn't cry at all. I had prepared him that it was going to hurt a little, but as soon as it was done that I was going to give him big hugs and kisses. The nurse was a little slow with the bandage, and he looked up at me with big sad eyes and said "Mommy hold, Mommy hold", but as soon as he was in my arms he was a happy little boy with smiles again.

After the doctors office, we drove to a nearby pumpkin patch so Oliver could pick out his pumpkin. He found a great one and I found these cute pictures.

Elmo Land

I love this picture so much, I just had to post it!

This is Oliver eating soup with his Daddy for lunch while I study (or take pictures). I love seeing the two of them enjoy each others company.

Have you ever heard of Elmo land? I haven't. But Clayton and Oliver certainly have and they are going there in their big truck. Clayton made up this song for Oliver and he gets such a kick out of it that I had to get it on video. Too funny!

Balloons are endless entertainment at our house

Oliver played with this Pooh head balloon this way for about 10 minutes. This is near the end, so he has lost some momentum. It was still funny enough to blog about. Watch the video, you will see what I mean.

Oliver & the garbage truck

I have mentioned before in past posts how much Oliver loves garbage trucks...well, today I actually thought to grab my camera before we ran outside to see the garbage truck. Oliver will love watching these videos over and over and over and over...you get the idea! Just press the arrows on the video to play.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with where we live, here is a little explanation of what you will see. The houses in our subdivision have rear entry drives; therefore we have an alley. In the background you will see the park that has been dubbed, Oliver's park. The first video is of the garbage truck picking up our garbage while I hold Oliver (kind of wobbily to start, hopefully noone will get sick).

The second video is of Oliver waiting for the garbage truck to come back down the alley to pick up the garbage from the houses on the other side. The garbage trucks usually go even faster than they are in the video, so I had to make sure Oliver would sit still so I could take the video without fear of him jumping up to see the truck. He was a very good boy to sit there and drink his milk.

A birthday comparison...

My what a different day we had this year than last. Here is my favorite picture of him with his birthday cake from last year: I entitled it "You want me to do what with this cake?". He was totally miserable all day because he was on day 5 of Chicken Pox and it just happened to be his worst day yet; he had a fever all day. Not a happy day!

On the total opposite end of the spectrum, the happiest day in the world. I love the photo from this year! He is so excited, he just blew out his candles and now he is ready to dig in! No prompting necessary this year!

Oliver's Winnie the Pooh Party Part III

Before I begin, I wanted to list somethings I have learned over the last couple of weeks since Oliver's birthday: First, I should remember that if I know I don't have enough time to throw a party, and I actually say I don't have enough time to throw a party (and even blog about it), then I probably don't have enough time to throw a party. Luckily most everything at the party went off without a hitch, and my studies didn't suffer too much. Second, I should remember not to wrap gifts for a two year old unless I want to unwrap them myself. And third, I should remember to take less pictures if I am short on time. I need to consider how much time and effort I put into editing every picture before it goes on my blog. If I don't have time for a party, I certainly don't have time to edit 500+ pictures, select the best ones, and post them on my blog all within a few days. Anyway, I am done. This is the last of the party. Sorry it took so long!

You may be thinking where is the cake? Well here it is, the final event. Leading up to this day, I think the cake may be the thing Oliver has been most excited about. Well, Tom Thumb did not disappoint. They made the most darling Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree cake I have ever seen and I thought it tasted great too. Yummy, chocolate! Here are the pictures:

Look how excited he is, he can hardly wait!

ready, set, make a wish, blow

Hooray, I did it...can I eat it yet?

Okay, go ahead...take the obligatory frosting lick!

I imagine that Oliver is telling Ace that the frosting tastes great and Ace is agreeing with a huge grin!

The party guests with Oliver from left to right: Grandpa Royal, Aunt Tricia, Ace, Oliver, Grandma Royal, Grammy Brown and Gramps Brown

Daddy, Oliver & Mommy -- this is his typical smile in response to a request for a smile

How big of piece do you want?

Still tasting that frosting

Look at these two little guys using their napkins

I don't think I can eat anymore frosting!

mmmm...chocolate ice cream

And I just had to post this last picture. Later that night as I was getting Oliver's bath ready, he was talking with Gramps in the other room and I left for just one minute to go to the bathroom. Well when I got back, I returned to a bathtub full of bubbles. I had to let most of the water out, but the bubble stayed. Oliver enjoyed taking a bath with lots of bubbles tonight!