Sledding Adventures

We live in a very shady neighborhood.. And by shady I do not mean suspicious. This snow isn't going anywhere until it really warms up. That's okay, we've really enjoyed the snow. Today we saw a rainbow peak out of the trees. Simply gorgeous.

Oliver went on a sledding adventure down our driveway. It is quite a hill and just perfect for a 2 year old. We smiled the entire way down the hill. I think he's going to be really sad when the snow melts away.

Here's a picture from last January and then one from today. My how Oliver has grown.

Snow Day = Happy Day

The entire neighborhood is covered in a good 3 inches of fluffy snow. What a glorious way to wake up. There's something so calming yet exciting about having a snow day. I got Oliver up this morning and let him help me open the blinds. He was in awe of what he saw.. "ahhhh ohhhhh" kept coming out of his mouth. He repeated 5 or 6 times, "sno, sno, sno..." We went from window to window looking at our pretty white yard.

I have been hoping for a good snow since we got one last January. Oliver was only 10 months when we had our last snow, so this go round he really enjoyed himself.

Mom brought my brother's old sled by on Thursday, so we took it outside with us, but he wasn't very interested in riding. He wanted to walk, explore, touch, and eat the snow. I started throwing snow on him and he thought it was so funny... until it got into the neck of his shirts. That's when the fun ended. Opps! We rushed back inside to get his clothes off and the snow off his skin. Once we got all the snow off, he was fine and started licking the snow off his gloves. I got him a cup full of snow to eat inside. This made him happy. Hopefully we'll get back out there after nap.. For now I'm enjoying the peace and quiet and watching the snow from the window.. and the funny neighbors riding their bikes.

Watching the snow!

Oliver and Mommy

All bundled up

First snow in the new house

Happy boy

Mommy throwing snow

Laughing

Snow fight

Snow in a cup

Cheesecake Factory

Yum! I forgot how delicious the Cheesecake Factory really is, that is until Friday. We invited my Aunt Pam to join us to celebrate her birthday. It was good to see her and let Oliver experience the Cheesecake Factory for himself. He very much enjoyed the crowds of people, especially the nice couple sitting directly behind us. He constantly said "hi" to all the waiters that walked by, and "bye bye" when people got up to leave. He was all smiles the entire lunch which was easily a 2 hour event. He enjoyed delicious cheese quesadillas with guacamole, black beans, and some yummy ice-cream. Lately he's been on this ice-cream kick.. Wonder where he gets that from?

Game Over

Oliver likes to hand out treats to the boys. Well, actually what he really likes is the power that little treat has when it's in his hand. The boys follow him around and do anything he asks in the slight chance they might get the treat before the other. Sometimes Oliver will carry the treat around for 10 minutes or more, giggling the entire time because he has two dogs at his heels.

Today he got creative and put the treat on his arcade table, pushed the button and around and around the treat went. I thought Rufus was going to lose it. Instead, he (Rufus) waited patiently for the toy to stop spinning and went for it. Game over.

New Year, New Talent

Drum on, dude... Drum on!

Reading at Daddy's Level..

Oliver loves books. He would let me read to him all day if it was up to him.. Yesterday he discovered our books on the bookshelf in the den and pulled out The Lord of the Rings- The Two Towers and looked over the cover. He then pointed to Gandalf and said, "Santa, Santa!" And By golly he's right. I'm sure everyone else has already made the comparison, but I never thought about it until that moment. Now we're going to be reading The Two Towers book and substituting "Gandalf" for "Santa." That should be very interesting.

Amazing

Oliver is marvelous.. He makes my mouth drop with amazement all the time. Just last week he blurts out the colors blue, green, red, orange and pink. But the amazing part was that he picked up the correct color when saying each of them. WHOA! Then he picks up the magnetic letter "H" and says "H" plain as day. So then I asked him to find the letter "A," and he did! How cool it is to see what is going on in that brain of his. What an amazingly adorable and smart sponge. And to top it off, he said a 3 word sentence on Monday... "Get down Rufus." Love it! And don't worry, I won't send a 10 page letter next Christmas telling you all this.. Isn't that what a blog is for? ;)