Sweet nectar of summer

Oliver loved watermelon his first summer, not so much his second, and now finally, he is loving it again. He enjoys it so much that he even wants to drink the juice.

circle of trucks

Oliver loved this circle of trucks we built, even if it doesn't quite look like it in this photo. :)

Jollipops

Last week my cousins Robynn & Tatia brought over some yummy homemade strawberry freezer jam and a kit to make these jollipops. We loved the jam and the suckers, thanks you two! You can find out how to make these cute suckers out of Jolly Ranchers too by visiting Tatia's blog.

Happy birthday to me!

I had the most fabulous birthday. I started out with a great cycling workout at my gym, and ended it with a yummy dinner and a delicious sneaky chef cake; and I had lots of hugs, kisses, tickles, story times, laughs, giggles and birthday wishes in between! Thanks to everyone for making my day special! :)

This is our chef at Japon Steak & Sushi. It's a hibachi grill much like Benihana's. He paid lots of attention to Oliver and the restaurant even gave Oliver free ice cream. This is the same restaurant we have taken Oliver to every August for the past three years. He is much more aware of his limits now and was actually more frightened of the fire than the last two years. He recovered from his fear quickly and much preferred watching the fire from a little further away rather than right in front of his face.

This is Oliver watching the chef's every move and pretending to cook just like him. He dished his rice onto our plates all night. He loved it!

Our nice waiter took our picture

After we arrived home, we ate the yummy birthday cake Oliver helped me make. He was a great helper with the frosting. He watched everything I did very carefully and then tried to emulate it. I'm so proud of him and I feel fortunate to be his Mommy! Here is a video of his Happy Birthday song above.

I showed Oliver how to lick the frosting off the candles, he thought that was the best thing ever! Watch him digging it in the video above.

And last, the yummy cake! Seriously, it was so good!

And thanks to my wonderful hubby for making my birthday fantastic and for capturing it in these pictures. I realize I am not the most cooperative person to photograph, and I appreciate all you do to make me happy! :) I love my family!

My Little Helper

Oliver loves to help me make dinner, his favorite job is washing the vegetables. Tonight he helped me scrub the corn on the cob. I'm so lucky!

This place is driving me CRAZY!

At least, EDS is driving Oliver crazy! This afternoon Clayton took the two of us to EDS, an HP company, to show us all the changes they are making to the building. We thought this first picture was a perfect depiction of how Clayton has felt a few times lately! :)

He came up with this one on his own, totally unplanned!

We also got some un-crazy pictures

And isn't this the sweetest advertisement for EDS you have ever seen?

And last, here are some pictures Oliver took of Clayton and I. I didn't realize he was taking pictures the entire time we were trying to get set up. The last picture on the bottom left is when we were finally in position, and Oliver got our midsections instead. He is really getting good at focusing on what he wants in the picture!

Saturdays are the days that boys play

Oliver loves to play with his Daddy and looks forward to the weekend all week long. I usually try to step back and let them have their father son time and often I miss the opportunity to take pictures of the two of them at play. I did, however, get these pictures of the two of them playing on my bed today.

Oliver is actually leaning back off the edge of our bed, he sure does trust his Daddy!

All Wrapped Up

This little guy loves being just like his Daddy and this dish towel was the perfect size for being all wrapped up after a bath!

Over the Top!

Wednesday was opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Over the Top Circus. We had pretty good seats courtesy of Metroplex Baby & Kids and we had a wonderful experience. The entire 2.5 hours was very entertaining, both to Oliver and to us. He told me the music was too loud one time, so I covered his ears, but other than that he enjoyed the show. My favorite part was Super Silva (a real like acrobat who can climb a rope like Superman) and the motorcycles in a steel ball cage. They were amazing. Oliver's favorite part was the Elephants. Here are some pictures:

Getting ready to go into the AAC

Oliver was so excited to stand in front of a real train car...just look at that smile!

This is the All Access Pre-show which was way too busy for our tastes. We watched it from our seats above instead.

Daddy & Oliver waiting for the show to begin

one of the opening acts

Oliver & Mommy munching on our $8 worth of popcorn and water

Dancing to the music

Oliver's circus souvenir

Oliver was really impressed with his souvenir as you can see in the above video

our cute little family

cute little guy!

Daddy and Oliver after the show still at AAC

Oliver started singing the ending song as soon as we left the building. It was so cute! Of course, he was camera shy while I was trying to video it, but you'll get the idea.

I had to add these next two photos. Earlier in the day we took a break in our play and I went to switch the laundry. When I came back I found Oliver chillin' in a chair. When I asked what he was doing he responded: "resting".

Disapointment

We are all a little disappointed that Clayton has had to spend so much of his free time trying to fix our toilets this week. Funny, I thought we hired someone to do this last week?!? Neither of our toilets leak any longer, but something happens with the flappers when you flush and they get stuck running. Clayton had to go buy new ones and will now spend his time fixing them (again) this weekend.

Disappointed with this guy? Never! I thought he was too cute watching his Daddy!

Most fun park yet!

So I'm a little behind on blogging, but I still had to post about the funnest park ever! Last Sunday we headed to Celebration Park in Allen, TX and we had so much fun.

The highlights of the park include the biggest playground I've ever seen, a splash park and these cool sail (like) picnic covers.

One of the hazards of wearing Crocs everywhere you go is getting wood chips, rocks, grass, etc. in your shoe. Oliver has become quite adept at removing these items himself.

I didn't get many shot on the playground because we were all having too much fun running around.

Oliver and Daddy climbed this cool rope pyramid.

Mommy & Oliver tried out a teeter totter for the first time...I think I liked it more than Oliver did!

This rocking frog may have been Oliver's favorite thing at the park so far...just look at that smile! After he finished rocking on the frog and he had had plenty of time to observe the other children on the splash park, he decided he wanted to try it out. So after a quick wardrobe change...

First attempt

He feels how cold the water is and back right off

Still interested, but just wants to watch for a little while longer

Testing the water with Daddy a little more

And finally, he loves it! Clayton was such a good sport to be in there fully clothed with him, they had a blast!

The sun peaked behind some more clouds, so Oliver's hat came off and he had so much fun!



A video of him enjoying the splash park!

This park is now high on my list of recommended places to go with little ones while in North Dallas!