Oliver's Saturday- Thanksgiving #2

Allow me to re-cap:

Mid morning I visited Auntie Dana's bulldog "Bug" thru the back door window. Sit Bug, Good dog! Bug wanted so badly to come inside and start training with me. They tell me when I get bigger I can take the bulldogs into the ring at the dog shows. Apparently cute trainers win their dogs ribbons. (Auntie Dana currently shows Bug at dog shows). After lunch, it was time for a little horse back riding- look Marmee I'm holding on all by myself! Don't worry- Daddy is there to catch me if I fall.

Um- Nap time. I have been visiting people for three days straight. I don't know about you but I'm wiped out. I must have been tired enough to fall asleep sitting up and fell over. That doesn't look that comfy.

Yum- Dinner. My Uncles are huge eaters but I think I out ate them all!

Friday at Auntie Mick's

A great vacation day spent at Auntie Mick's house. Oliver played with Michelle and Uncle Hung while I was able to work on a new quilt for Oliver. I won't spoil the surprise but I'm super excited to show you the finished project soon. I was able to get the quilt started and it's coming along nicely.



It was a very nice day- while uncle Hung worked on the lawn raking leaves... Auntie Mick took Oliver outside for a short walk around the house. I told her it wasn't terribly cold out but she bundled him up like there was a snow storm. Oh well. It looks like it was pretty cozy to me.

Thanksgiving #1

(Here's a four generational photo)

We traveled a couple hours west to visit with Great Grandma Vi for Thanksgiving dinner. I believe there was a record breaking 19 of us. That's equals a lot of shoes to navigate thru to get to where you want to go.

Grandma was really happy to see us and especially Oliver. She was glad he wasn't walking yet, for I quote "he'd be getting into too much". Smile- if grandma only remembered how quick crawlers can be. (Great Grandma Vi is 89 years old).

Grandma had a big stuffed dog that Oliver liked climbing all over, just like he does to Copper. He started giving the dog hugs. It was so unexpectedly cute.

His hugs were more like resting his head and leaning, but a hug is a hug and who wouldn't love a hug on thanksgiving.

Be still my heart

After Oliver's bath tonight we were playing in the nursery. Toys seem to fall off the shelves the moment Oliver glances at them. Piles start to build.

Before story time, we clean up. In reality, Oliver watches as I clean up.

TONIGHT, Oliver put all but two shapes into the shape sorter bucket all by himself!!
The cover wasn't on but I still thought that it was note worthy. 8 shape blocks. I started him off with the other two. He just tossed the others in as we sang a clean up song.

Impressive and a joy to my heart!

Oliver photos

Because I thought they were cute:

Four wheels and two little legs

Oliver spent a long time after dinner wandering from one side of the room to the other.
He even made one whole lap around the living room and thru the kitchen.

Thank you to Amy for borrowing us the four wheels.

Things to leave out of Marmee's reach

Who left the Label maker in reach of the obsessively organized woman?

In case you were confused or forgetful- read the labels.

More crafty time

Friday Oliver stayed overnight at Mormor's house. I was able to dedicate 6 full hours to making cards and gift tags. I am 8 cards shy of reaching my goal of 300 cards for my company's Winter Bazaar. I'm so terribly excited to sell my cards. Here are a few of my favorites from Friday's crafting time.

I took a Gift Tag making class a couple of weeks ago and got a lot of good ideas. These are a few I made up all by myself. I think they look better than the gift they might eventually go on.



Thanks to Mormor for playing with Oliver so I could have playtime for myself.
Bonus: I was able to sleep in on Saturday morning as well. My huge thanks!

Tearing up the dance floor

November 15th: went to a friends wedding in Wisconsin

Auntie Mick took me out on the dance floor. Watch me move!

Here I am chillin' with daddy. And then I watched Jude fall over... again!

(Attention Grandmas): Dear Santa Claus

I wish I may

I wish I might

Have this wish I wish tonight

I don't really want too much Santa. And I'm not in need.
Please help others before me but if you want to bring something to my house here's a few ideas.

Anything handmade. One thing that would be nice is a big hooded towel.
(A library book tote bag would be helpful)

These play chairs and table are from Ikea, Santa. But I bet you knew that already.

I really like books a LOT and was wondering if your elves made those hard sided books with different things to touch. Marmee calls them texture books, I wish I knew what she's talking about.

Santa, did you know that I don't have any rubber or plush balls to toss around the house. Weird, right?

And what better place to store my toys and books than my most expensive wish:

(don't worry... if its too much, Marmee will probably build it next spring for me)

"Music" aka making noise is another big part of my day. Bang, pound, ring, shake and rattle. Santa, could you bring me some of these?

Speaking of music, I would above all love some new songs to sing with Marmee.

We dance and sing and have a blast together. She remembers singing along with all these when she was little:

Santa, thank you for listening. If I don't get anything, its okay.
I know Marmee and Daddy love me- that's what really matters.

Ps. This elf has enough outfits to clothe an army. If you find something uber cute please bring outfits size 2T or bigger. Many thanks.

A fashion statement?

I'm not one for fashion- I'll leave that up to Auntie Mick to teach. I throw almost anything on and hope I don't hurt anyone's eyes.

Pretty silly, then, that I'm usually the one dressing Oliver. Daddy likes to leave him in Pj's till I decide to put on some of the piles of clothes he has.

So here's a Statement for you Daddy:

Flashlight

I for one love daylight savings only for the extra hour of sleep. After that I'm over it because it starts getting dark in the middle of the day. Today Oliver and I found the joy in the darkness.

Flashlight fun:

Sorry no ghost stories yet, but if we ever need "ghost spray" Oma Dee Dee will come to the rescue. (funny story, ask Jerimy sometime)

Ps. This flashlight is actually pretty heavy. I'm impressed he was able to lift it let alone carry it around.

A few observations

Environment plays a huge part of who you become, but your personality seems to take shape in the womb. Oliver's always been a morning person. He has a gentle spirit but is independent and stubborn. Oliver currently seems to be favoring his left hand. And he loves to talk. Yesterday and today Oliver woke up at 3am. Usually he'll eat and go right back to sleep.

Unfortunately for me, he had a lot to talk about and was up for the next two hours talking to himself in the dark. I'm no ones friend that early in the morning, and it seemed to me he didn't need my company. I tried to fall back to sleep myself but it's really hard when your darling child is practicing speeches that rival the length of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. (I googled "famous long speeches")

Visiting Friends

Oliver and I went over to my friends house.

Her eldest set up a treat for Oliver: a line of trucks!

The fire truck sure was fun. Big kids have a lot of big toys, new to Oliver.
Never a boring moment with all the activity and energy.


Always a pleasure to play with friends.

Laundry Basket

I think not- it's an momentary Oliver containment system:

Election Day

The facts for Olivers future reference.

Today is November 4th, 2008

I saw some gas prices that were $1.99
The Weather:
The Events: I woke up, was out the door headed for work at 6:30am. Daddy stays home Tuesday mornings to play with you. I was home slightly before 1pm. We loaded up your stroller and walked over to the polling site, since it's only 7 blocks from our house. In ten minutes we were at the rec center and casting our votes. The polling location we were assigned to was practically empty at that time of the day. We proudly voted for the new president of the US and were back home to enjoy the rest of the day. It will be a historic day whichever way the votes decide and you were there to witness.

Silly willy Billy goat

Oliver and I have been super silly lately.

Last night after our good night story Oliver stayed up a little extra so we could laugh our heads off. Oliver found my ear amusing. What exactly was so funny about Marmee's ear? I have no clue, but laughing together with my son... It was priceless.

Today we were balancing a ring on our heads, I wasn't able to capture the explosive laughter... but you can see we were defiantly sharing lots of laughs and being silly.

Sunday, sunday

One of the things Oliver LOVES is reading books. He spends more time looking through his books than he does playing with toys. This afternoon Daddy was reading to Oliver and we realized its been a while since we've checked out books at the library.

So, after a brief noise making drum session we headed over to the BIG library downtown.

We grabbed a bunch of new books to read. Oliver got the most but Marmee and Daddy also picked up a few for ourselves. It was such a nice day and we had the stroller in the car... a prefect time for a walk. And what should we stumble across but a few Peanuts statues.

While walking the Candyland store called out to us... Daddy got a few Gum drops and Marmee got, what else, CHOCOLATE!

What a nice day!