Holiday Fun!

Today Oliver, Auntie and I went to the annual Holiday Party that my employer puts on for families.  Oliver had a lot of fun, he fell asleep at 10:45 in the morning, it is now 12:45 and he's still out!

Oliver got his face painted... this is supposed to be a ginger bread man.

Right before we went in to see Santa, there was a very merry elf blowing bubbles--I think this was Oliver's favorite part of the whole event.

(It looks like he is trying to eat the bubbles,

but really he was just squealing with delight)

His reaction to Santa was pretty much the same as last year... meh.

When Santa asked Oliver what he wanted for Chrismas,

Oliver responded "a cookie."

He had fun dancing with Auntie to the Best Buddies Band, at cookies and ice cream before lunch, and took time to take a picture with the Grinch.

By the way, I got a fancy new camera as an early Christmas present.  I've been watching a digital SLR for years, and I've been having fun.  The last picture is really washed out because my flash went and so did the professional photographer's that was roaming the halls capturing pictures.  Oh well.

Photo Card

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First Snow

It was cold outside, Oliver's friend Henry came over to play.  While he was here, it started to snow.  They had so much fun watching the snowflakes fall!

Then they painted:

Gabrielle came too-- isn't she sweet! (She looks so much like her brother).

Oliver thought she looked sweet too, so he tried to taste her.

Sometimes I find myself hoping that baby #2 is a girl so she and Gabrielle can be buddies the way Henry and Oliver are!

First haircut!

Oliver's hair was getting a little mangy...

 

I've been hesitant to cut his hair because I love the way it curls in the back--

but it was time.

First we wached Papa get his hair cut so Oliver could see that it was fun!

Doesn't Papa look like he's having fun!?

 

Oliver sat in the big chair with a booster and got to wear a

fancy "cape" with cars on it! 

 

 

The cape distracted him long enough for the sytlist to comb out his hair.

 

My little Goldilocks!

Oliver was very brave.  He spent most of his time trying to flirt with the stylist.

 

Ready for the big reveal?  Here's Oliver's new look:

So handsome.

And silly.

He got his first sucker and loved it!

How to read a magazine (with illustrations)

The key to reading a magazine is being able to effectively turn pages. 

First, slightly wet the tip of your finger like so:

Now use your finger to turn the page.

**Oliver is reading my Cooking Light magazine.  I had been reading it, and left it on the sofa, he took over where I left off, licking his whole hand before turning the page.  So funny the things they pick up on! **

Walking a mile in Auntie's shoes

She loves me...she loves me not.

Did you ever play that game as a kid--where you pluck the petals off of a flower one by one saying "he loves me" or "he loves me not?"

Oliver does, or at least that is what I imagine he is doing.

One-by-one he plucks the petals off the flowers.  He could do this for hours, or at least until the flowers ran out!



Treats please... thank you.

Oliver was a monster for Halloween this year.

I wasn't sure whether we'd make it trick-or-treating or to the Halloween party at the park.  After spending part of his day in the costume last Friday at day care he decided he'd had enough.

I had to bribe him with a cookie to get him into the costume on Sunday--the day my dad came and we all carved pumpkins. 

I've taken a picture of a costumed Oliver with our carved pumpkins for the last two years and I was determined to do it again!

Oliver surprised me and was actually excited to put on his costume again on Halloween, maybe because I told him we could go play outside.

The local rec center at the park was having a Halloween party with little stations set up where kids could trick-or-treat.  Oliver thought that was pretty cool, here he checks out his loot.

Then we met up with Oliver's buddy Henry to do a little trick-or-treating.

Oliver had been practicing the phrase "trick-or-treat" and did pretty well!  In fact, after the first house he caught on and I had trouble keeping up with him as he marched to the next house!

Oliver got tired of trying to get out the entire phrase "trick or treat" so he shortened it to "treat please" and then said "thank you" every time!

Here is the whole crew, aren't they cute!

Then when we got home we had the classic yet not-so-cute post-sugar enduced meltdown.  Here is what happend when we put the candy away I call it Oliver's "Monster meltdown":

In case you didn't catch that he is saying "Ollie trick-or-treat." 

Poor kid.

Happy Dirt-day!

Ever since Oliver's Birthday, this is what we are treated to any time Oliver has dirt-day cake (also known as cupcakes, a piece of cake or muffins!)

Apple picking and other fall fun.

Oliver and I took a trip to an apple orchard recently on a cool and sunny day.

Oliver was immediately drawn to the pumpkins--he loves pumpkins.

Then he got busy collecting rocks.  He filled up the pocket on the hoodie, and both of my coat pockets.  "Look Mama, another rock!"

I just love the colors in this picture.

They had a little mini farm set up--Oliver loved sitting on the tractor (but he wasn't quite strong enough to move it). 

Here he is checking out his shadow--so cute!

Then we took a hay ride behind a real tractor out to the apple orchard!

I don't have many pictures of the actual apple-picking.  I was trying to tote a camera, a diaper bag, a basket for apples while trying to keep up with my toddler which is difficult enough without the gear due to my growing belly!

Here is is my favorite,

Oliver showing me the apple he picked himself ("Ollie do it!)

Doesn't he look proud!

Actually it looks like he is scoping out more apples!

Oliver leading me back to the main trail.

We picked regent apples and we've made apple pancakes, apple muffins, apple pie and apple crisp with our harvest. 

We also took home some honeycrisp for eating.  Yum!



Tiny Dancer

You can be sure that if you play an upbeat tune, Oliver will bust a move.  We were dancing in the kitchen the other day while I was making dinner, and I was teaching Oliver the classic "shake your booty" move.  When I stopped to get back to cooking Oliver said "Peas Mama!  More booty shaking Mama!"

He didn't understand why I thought that was so funny.

Here is Oliver showing off some of his dancing skills this summer.

Look at his hair blow in the wind!

Oliver demonstrates his own version of the robot.

Whew... dancing makes me tired.



Summer re-cap (a little late)

One of Oliver's favorite things is to be outside.  They daycare provider that Oliver goes to has the kids outside almost everyday, and he just loves it. 

Here is a random collection of warm-weather snap shots:

 

Oliver helping to shuck sweet corn Grandpa Mike (a.k.a. "Grandma Pike") grew.  (Love the look of pure concentration in this photo! Oliver can't get enough corn on the cob.  My dad would come over toting a big blue cooler full of sweet corn and we'd have fun peeling it open.  When Oliver finally got to the yellow corn he would squeal with delight!  Now, when Grandma Pike comes with that blue cooler Oliver asks him if its corn!

Grandpa Mike brings us lots of good stuff from his garden.  Oliver liked the ground cherries almost as much as the corn (ground cherries look like small tomatillas and are sweet).

Here he is hiding in the flowers with his bag of loot.  As you can see, I still can't bring myself to cut his hair... it took him so long to grow it!

After carrying the ground cherries around the yard, he found the perfect spot to stop for a little snack.  Ground cherries are a very fun snack because you get to unwrap each one individually (which means we are working on those fine motor skills that I can't get him to slow down long enough to work on!)

Perfect pout.

A cool drink of water.