Adventures in Oliverland

I Heart Faces - Self-Portrait

2010-12-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

The challenge this week at I Heart Faces is "Self-Portrait. I thought this captured the spirit of the season well.

Head over to I Heart Faces to see all the wonderful photographers in their self-portraits!

Field Trip Friday

2010-09-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

For school, I am going to try and make fridays "Fun Days." For this first week I took Oliver over to the Bellagio Conservatory to check out their summer display. Oliver has always loved flowers and there were plenty of vivid colors in this summer show.

See any cute creatures in the watery gazing ball?

Now you see him...

Now you don't...

There were giant ants everywhere...

...and little boys and snails...but no puppy dogs' tails...

Mr. Froggy

...beautiful glasswork

Then we stepped outside the Conservatory to do the *most important* thing on the day's list --- check out the World's Largest Chocolate Fountain at Jean-Philippe Patisserie. This fountain, which is enclosed in glass for climate control, circulates just under 2 tons of white, milk, and dark chocolate at a temperature of 120 degrees F! The chocolate rises 27 vertical feet from the lower level pumping room, and cascades down 14 feet (from ceiling level) through handcrafted glass vessels. It is a beautiful work-of-art, and oh-so-yummy-looking as well.

The patisserie has a crepe-making station with lots of delicious toppings to choose from, and Oliver was quite happy to stand and watch the crepe-master at work.

The dessert case made the little boy screech in delight.

And, they had a gelato bar, so Oliver and I got a scoop to share. Oliver chose Hazelnut flavor. A fine choice. We sat in back, watching people and ogling the desserts, and talking about which one we might like to take home as an edible souvenir.

This stuff was GOOD! Rich and creamy.

Glasswork everywhere.

Back to the chocolate fountain.

The cursory gurgling photo...

And the desserts...how to choose? Look how pretty -- almost too pretty to want to eat. Almost :)

I wonder which one we chose?

Afterwards, we walked a bit more through the Conservatory.

We said goodbye to the ant giants...

...and took one last shot with our souvenir in hand.

Oh, yes. This is the dessert we chose. I think the name was Nutella MilleFieux, with a bit of shaved gold leaf. Since Nutella is delicious straight from the jar, I knew this would be delectable. The mousse was made just the way I prefer - rich, thick, and creamy. It was absolutely decadent, well-worth the price, and gave us two days-worth of dessert!

We are already looking forward to going back - mainly to get more dessert!!

First Cavity Filled!!

2010-09-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

Our boy, who is about as tender-hearted as they come, and not typically very brave, made it through his first filling!! No! He did NOT pass out. No! He did not scream, or choke, or any of the other horrid things I'd imagined. I have been prepping for this for weeks, so that we both would stay calm, at least that was my plan....and for once things went according to plan!

I was told ahead of time not to use the word S-H-O-T. Anything but.

Freeze. Frozen. Numb. Those worked.

The worse part was getting up at 6am for the 7am appointment time. Difficult for a little boy who gets up at 9am. I wanted a later time but was told that "Doc likes the kids to come in early so if there is screaming/crying they won't annoy/aggravate/scare the other clients away. Or something very similar. I figured she was probably joking. Then I thought she probably wasn't. And I was a little worried.

I had contemplated taking Oliver to one of those kiddie dentists where the waiting rooms were filled with video games that enticed...but I cringed at the thought of all the germs crawling around, simply to have some fun prior to still getting the cavity filled.

I happen to love our dentist, however, so I figured I would give Dr. Devore a chance to take care of our little guy first. And I am so glad I did. He, as well as all the staff there, are so wonderful and I couldn't have asked for better treatment of Oliver. They showed him the tools, talked about what they would be doing, and made him feel at ease. Oliver was so brave and was raring to go! Dr. Devore promised me that Oliver would never know he received a shot. I was still totally skeptical.

The bright lights seemed to bother Oliver the most, so he got his own pair of dark glasses, instantly turning him into Joe Cool.

getting started

getting the S-H-O-T

Wow. Here the S-H-O-T is complete, without any fanfare!! Amazing! Dr. Devore then shows off some cool tool for Oliver.

Filling in progress.

You know it is going well when Oliver gives the DOUBLE thumbs-up sign!!

checking his handiwork

after it is all done...a tender moment :)

Oliver asked for a mirror to admire his tooth

Oliver said the hardest part was keeping his mouth open for such a long time (although it seems to stay open easily enough at other times).

And naturally, the BEST part of going to the dentist and finishing up is getting to plunder through the treasure chest of goodies while smoking a cigarette! Er...uh...I mean chewing on a chunk of cotton!! :)

Dr. Devore even personally called Oliver the day after to check on him and make sure he was OK. Oliver was giddy with happiness and proceeded to tell me how he LOVES everyone at our dentist's office!

And all is good again, for now. And my boy can obviously be tougher than I expected. I am so very proud. Thank you Dr. Devore!

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

The day I thought would never arrive...arrived. Our little boy started kindergarten today! As a sometimes scrapbooker and avid photographer (albeit amateur), I always envisioned how that day would begin, with me snapping photo after photo of our little one from behind, backpack in tow, as he stepped onto the yellow schoolbus that would take him away into the real world. Me, blubbering like most Mothers tend to do on that day. Me, coming into the quiet house, wondering what on earth I would do with all the free time I had dreamed about for years.

Contrary to all my thoughts of how this day would go down, none of these happened. In fact, not even one tear was shed.

After contemplating the idea of homeschooling for months, it was now reality. Our day began like any other "in the real world," except instead of the schoolbus pictures and lots of crying, we shuffled our boy into the backyard for a few photos to mark the day.

Oliver ~ 5 years old

Taking the road less-travelled is a bit scary, however, there are many who have paved the way for us with fabulous results and a wealth of information to assist us in this endeavor. We have a long list of reasons for why we decided to homeschool, and I have no doubt this is the right path for our family. I am so excited to begin our new journey together, and Oliver is even more thrilled. Whether you agree with our decision or not, thank you to everyone who has supported us in our choice!!

"Pets" Photo Challenge

2010-06-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

The challenge this week at I Heart Faces is "Pets." I am submitting this photo of our precious girl, Skippie Lulu. She is slowing down at 11 years old, but she romped around like a puppy in these fields of alfalfa (i *think* it is alfalfa) when we were passing through Utah.

Romp on over to the I Heart Faces site to see all the fabulous pet photos!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

It's Easter morning! I try to capture some Kodak moments but this is the expression I get from Oliver. So, I give it up and let him enjoy his baskets in peace. :)

Skippie was happy to pose with her Easter treats. E. Bunny was so thoughtful!

I had some heavy bribes going on...unless we took a few minutes for some nice Easter photos to be taken, there would not be a big egg hunt. So, here are our "nice" photos. Oliver is extra handsome when all dressed up.

Hey--Mommy got in one, too!

Uh, oh. The look. As in...hurry up and get on with it...

Yes, we had a big egg hunt!

Stalking the eggs...

Basketful of goodies.

Later on we went to a friend's house for Easter Lunch. I made some Bunny Cakes ala Betty Crocker. They came out very tiny, were kinda corny, but Oliver loved helping to make them, and they were festive.

On the way home we were greeted with this spectacular Easter Sunset! What a way to end the day!

To see lots of photos from the last week or so, click here.

Easter Week Activites

2010-04-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week, we were invited to a cookie-decorating party. Here are a few of the cookies that Oliver and I created. So colorful and springy!

On Saturday we decided to head over to the park to see what was going on. The Easter Seals and Boy Scouts had a walk-a-thon and Easter Carnival, so we joined the fun. There were unlimited carnival games for the little ones. Oliver had fun trying his hand at the various games. Here, Stand-the-Bottle...(not successful).

A dunking booth! Also unsuccessful, but it was sure fun trying!

Who me? I'm just happy to be here...!

A bit of a romp in the bouncy-house.

What's this? A cow udder? Not only a cow udder...but a GIANT cow udder! Must.Stand.Under.Udder.

Trying to use those muscles! This was NOT an easy game! The hammer weighs more than Oliver! I think Oliver was a "Sick Duck."

Whether a winner or loser, everyone won a treat at each game. Oliver was thrilled with his eye patch. Arggghhh, me hearties!

The Ring Toss. Kinda tricky, but this did not stop Oliver from putting on his game face and aim! Still, no success.

Moving on to the Milk Can Toss. VERY tricky, even for adults. Oliver tried his best but said how very hard it was.

Such concentration at the last attempt....

.....and the dejected face.

All the games were unsuccessful (even though a treat was acquired for each try), but as Oliver said, "It's not about winning, it's about having fun!" Yes, Oliver, you are right! A little guy that lives by his words.

I talked Oliver into getting his face painted, since it was free. He originally said he wanted a pirate or snake...and when we got there they had a board of small designs to choose from, a pirate and snake included. You know what he picked....the kitty cat :) He certainly does not look thrilled to be having his cheek painted. He was a bit wary.

However, at completion he proudly showed off his facial artwork.

He wore his junior chief hat the nice fireman gave him.

We end our morning with another Easter Bunny sitting. Oliver is totally relaxed on his furry friend.

When we got home we ate lunch then proceeded to get our supplies ready to dye our eggs. I think this look occurs when too many vinegar fumes are sniffed.

We did the traditional egg-dyeing process but tried a couple of fun other methods to get some different looks. We ended up with some pretty eggs with swirls and designs, spots, and stripes. Here are our final products.

Happy Easter Eve!

Care Package from Meme and a Visit with the Easter Bunny

2010-03-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today an Easter care package from Meme arrived. Oliver had lots of fun going through all the treasures. Hmmmm...other than all the candy, do you wonder what other kinds of goodies were included?

A leopard-ish Mardi Gras mask...? A pink feather boa...? Naturally!

I am positive Oliver will adore this photograph when we show it to his first date.

A toy that poops? Yes...it is always high on his list of priorities.

Two pooping machines no less? Why then, we must have a pooping contest!

Skippie gets in on the action.

Oliver with his loot. Thank you, Meme!

Just a photo of our old gal Skippie enjoying some of the warm spring sun.

We made a trip to the mall to visit the Easter Bunny. No matter how much you love screaming children and little ones that are constantly poking at your nose, this cannot be a very enjoyable job. This picture, I think, sums up the Bunny's true feelings.

Oliver and the Spring Flowers.

Oh, no! One of those kids that pokes his nose! Yes, Oliver is still infatuated with noses.

Pose.

And, a final hug for E. Bunny.

"Focusing on Angles"

2010-03-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

The challenge this week over at I Heart Faces is "Focusing on Angles." I have always loved this shot from below of Oliver showing off his balloon hat.

Head on over to I Heart Faces to see all the wonderful entries into this week's contest!

March 15, 2010

2010-03-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Finally...a beautiful day out! We spent the whole morning out front doing yard cleanup. We lunched...rested, and then spent the afternoon out back. Skippie even joined us for some fresh air.

I think Skippie is yelling for me to hurry up and get inside to make her dinner...!

We went inside for the nite after a glimpse of the beautiful sunset.

"Bundled Up"

2010-03-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

The challenge this week at I Heart Faces is "Bundled Up." Although we live in the desert, in wintertime we can drive a mere 40 minutes and escape to Mt. Charleston for some snowy fun. This year Oliver was old enough to bundle up and get out and enjoy all winter had to offer. His pure joy radiates warmth amid the cold temperatures. It also helps that he found much humor in popping Mommy's behind with a big snowball!

Be sure to stop on by and check out all the beautiful photos and inspiration found there!

March 14, 2010

2010-03-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

We bought some plants at the nursery a couple days ago...they are not quite ready for planting yet, but we are getting there. We spent this beautiful day working out in the yard, enjoying the sunshine and sniffing the herbs.

March 13, 2010

2010-03-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

I noticed these two hummingbirds buzzing around the front window so I ran out and to try to capture a few shots. They did not seem overly frightened and let me get amazingly close. I've never really seen a hummingbird so up close and personal. The feathers on these were quite beautiful, an iridescent green.

Here's one in-flight!

One last one of the little guy with the wind whipping his hair into place!

March 10, 2010

2010-03-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

Oliver goes through phases. He wants eggs and loves to eat them. Then he decides he does not want them and won't eat them for weeks or months. He has been in the "no eggs" phase up until last night. He told me for breakfast the next day he wanted eggs but he wanted them GREEN. So, this morning, I made our version of Green Eggs and Ham. I even made one extra egg for myself. Oliver loved his treat because they WERE green, and ate every last bit of his eggs. I, on the other hand, could not bring myself to eat one bite because they WERE green. Go figure. The brain does weird things.

March 9, 2010

2010-03-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

Another Taekwondo day.

Giving his best kick.

Lately when it comes to giving "high-fives," Oliver feels the need to beam up enormous amounts of hand energy to give the smack-down. He lets go with a primal scream.

January 27, 2010

2010-01-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

The rain is back. No torrential downpours here, but just enough falling at a steady rate where there were no plans to go out of the house unless necessary. It was cold out, too. Skippie woke up not feeling well and proceeded to go outside and barf. Second time in the last week she has done this. Usually it is just an upset tummy and she is fine the next day. She ended up eating some lunch and seems OK now. Oliver and I stayed in our jammies most of the day. I took some time out and after lunch we started watching a movie together...Clash of the Titans. Someone told me their 5-year old loved it, and Oliver loves creatures of any sort, so he was all for it. I guess with the rain... and cold... and dark house... he couldn't keep up, and he fell asleep within 15 minutes. I took the opportunity to get a few shots. Here is our sweet little guy at rest.

When he woke up the rain had let up and there were patches of blue sky. We got dressed and took Skippie for her daily mosey and to collect the mail. After dropping Skippie back off at the house, we ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Still thinking of something to take a picture of, I noticed a puddle in the parking lot. Since puddles are a rarity in the desert, I took the opportunity, even though it was dusk. A quick couple of shots landed me these two photos. Oliver did not stand still enough for the light available, so they came out a bit blurry. I added some interesting effects to make them more artsy and to disguise the blur. I like how the oil streaks in the puddle have a great swirly effect.

When we got home it was time to get dinner going. We decided on some homemade pizza. Oliver was very excited to help design his own. He wanted Hawaiian style, pineapple and ham. In addition, I got some artichoke hearts, mushrooms, green olives, and pepperoni ready for my pizza. Oliver filled his pie up with ham and pineapple, then dug into my pile and added all the remaining ingredients! We cheesed it up then stuck it in the oven. They came out delicious! Here are some photos of our dinnertime.

the making of the pizza

the eating of the pizza

formal shot before it was devoured

Today ended up being one of those day where it was hard for me to choose just one for my POTD. Each was a part of our day and told a short story. So, I gave Oliver the task of choosing. To see his choice and why, visit my 365 blog!

We finished watching Clash, and it was a hit with Oliver, although he was a bit disappointed he didn't get to see Zeus throw lightning blots down from the sky. Oh, well, you can't have everything. Nitey nite.

Car Conversations

2009-11-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

The child's mind is a baffling thing. I love the conversations that occur while we are in transit. Some days they are non-stop. Today, on the way to preschool, Oliver wondered aloud with questions that got us all the way to our destination without a lick of silence.

Oliver: "Mommy, why did God make germs and bad people and bad animals on Earth?"

Mommy: (trying to think quickly) "I don't know, honey. So that we would have to struggle a bit and develop character. And animals are not necessarily bad, lots of times they are just being animals.

Oliver: "Oh. I think brains are disgusting and gooey. I would never want to have to see blood or goo."

Mommy: "Yes, but brains are fascinating organs...they help us breathe, think, use our imagination. And everything inside our body is a little gooey but nothing is disgusting. Like, surgeons are doctors and they operate on our insides and as you get older you probably would get used to blood and goo."

Oliver: "I want to be an engineer. But do you know what number i want to be?"

Mommy: "No, what number?"

Oliver: "Engineer #8. You know why? Because an 8 is made with two circles, and yogos are circles, and i love yogos."

Oliver: "I wonder what clouds taste like? I wonder if they taste like creamy cotton candy, or coconut? I wonder how it feels to walk on a cloud?"

Baffling. But amazing.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

This year we did not have much time to contemplate what Oliver would be for Halloween. His whirlwind of a birthday, combined with his preschool class having their party a week before Halloween, forced us to get moving on finding a costume. This was also the year where Halloween became what Oliver wanted it to be. No more loooking for cute Halloween costumes of my choice for my sweet son. Nope, Oliver was now FIVE, and he had his own mind. The ideas for costumes changed everyday. Transformer Optimus Prime. Darth Vader. Super Mario. Transformer BumbleBee. I was not about to go buy a costume (that I didn't care for, much less), only to have Oliver change his mind. But when we came across the Swamp Creature outfit he had to have it. It fit right into his love of creatures and monsters. And it wasn't a gory costume, so I let him have his choice. So much for the cute koala bear and Baby Draculas of the past...

Here's a picture of Oliver the Swamp monster and Maddie the Fairy Princess in their Preschool Class the day of their Halloween Party. Yep. Beauty and The Beast all over.

The parents were told to arrive 30 minutes before class was over to watch the kids enjoy their Halloween Festivities. The best part is ALWAYS the eating. They had a plateful of snacks that made all the Mothers cringe, no doubt.

Oliver shovels it in and licks his fingers clean.

Maddie follows suit.

Oliver shows me all the candy treats filling his Halloween folder.

Oh, yes, the excitement. Let the sugar buzzing begin.

So in the few days before Halloween we did a couple photoshoots to capture Oliver's personality within his costume. We headed for more watery parts of Las Vegas to bring the Swamp Creature feeling to life. Oliver refused to wear his Swamp Creature Mask because "it smelled funny." The mask is what made the costume what it was...but, oh, well. So much for scariness. We had to rely on Oliver's moaning sounds and dripping seaweed to bring our Creature of the Deep some character. Can't you just hear the moans here...?

Just like Creature from the Black Lagoon

Oooooohhh, scary.

Haunting the Swamp.

I managed to talk Oliver into slipping on his mask for a few moments to capture a snapshot of the Swamp Creature of Halloween 2009. A frightening vision. Notice that no Oliver eyeballs are in sight :)

This year I waited until the last minute to get a pumpkin to carve. I had seen pumpkins at Sam's Club ealy in October and decided to wait until Halloween was a bit closer. I did not want a pumpkin sitting in our foyer for a month. I refused to buy a pumpkin from the (fake) pumpkin patch since the prices were outrageous. So the day before Halloween I went out to get one, only to find that every place in the whole city had long since been sold out. I called place after place, and found a store that had 4 measly pumpkins left. I raced there to choose, and brought our pathetic, teeny pumpkin home. At least he was only $2.50. However, he was not large enough to carve the image I wanted. So I decided we'd go back to the (fake) pumpkin patch after all to buy an overpriced pumpkin. We chose one with lots of character, lots of warts. A fair bargain at $11. When we got home and started trying to carve, we found out it was not suitable for carving. Apparently it was a type of gourd, which are extremely hard, so hard I could not even breach the outer layer of skin! No big carving, and no seeds to roast, either! Lesson learned teh hard way...I will NOT wait to get a pumpkin next year! And so, we made do with what we had. We chose a different design, and this is what we ended up with this Halloween. Mr. Skull Head.

The Clines and DeSousas came over for a white bean chili dinner before trick-or-treating. After eating, the kidlets all got dressed out in their finest attire, and we headed out to raid our own neighborhood. The pack...

My deprived child still is ecstatic about all the candy (the candy that will slowly disappear into the back room closet until next year). Check out the excitement over a big piece of licorice. Gotta love the joy!

This simple picture is my favorite from the day. It speaks of childhood innocence...even in the swamp costume, Oliver's little puckered mouth, the sweet happiness in his eyes as he looks back at me, along with the simple pumpkin candy container, will always remind be of the preciousness of childhood and the excitement of Halloween.

After we load up on pounds of candy in our own neighborhood, we all regrouped then drove over to the Cline neighborhood for more fun. Why stop at 2 pounds of candy when you can have, say...4 pounds?! The decorations and lighting at this particular house created a photo that for me captures perfectly the feeling of Trick-or-Treat night.

Shadows...blur...grain...lights...all make for an interesting photo of us all heading back to the Cline's house for the night.

Back in the warmth, the kids all take to the floor and dump out their loot to survey. I seriously have never seen so much candy!

The next morning we get a picture of Oliver with all of his own treats. No tricks here.

A full-size Crunch bar makes Oliver an (extra) happy boy.

Halloween wouldn't be right if we didn't get a photo of our little ballerina pup all decked out. Skippie Lulu was not very happy about this. Oh, the humanity!

And in the end, heaps of candy will lurked on the kitchen table for days. You know those smells? Very certain ones that elicit memories? This plastic pumpkin, overflowing with candy is one of my smells. You know the one...a fabulously sweet mixture of chocolates, fruits, chews, bubblegum, lollipops, caramels, all the things candies are made of. I can take one deep whiff of this aroma and all the thrills and happiness of my childhood trick-or-treating years comes racing back, just like it was yesterday. This brings a smile to my face, as well as hopes that Oliver will remember these years with fondness just as I do!

To see more photos from Halloween 2009, click here.

See you next Halloween!

The (fake) Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

We neglected to make it to this commercial "pumpkin patch" last year, and we told Oliver we would come for sure the next year. So this year, with all the business of daily activities, next thing we know it is the day before Halloween and we haven't been to the patch. It sits along the road next to Sam's Club, and on the way to a grocery run, Oliver reminds me that we promised to take him there this year. Uh. Talk about an excellent memory. Oliver's main desire at the patch is not necessarily to look for a pumpkin (not that I'd buy one here), but rather the giant puffy slide, and the petting zoo. I turn in. A nice man leaving the patch offers to us his last ticket to ride the slide. We accept with thanks. We walk around and check out the gourds and pumpkins and get a few pictures.

We stopped and bought some tickets to the "petting zoo" and the puffy slide. We hit the petting zoo first. Oliver cooed over the fluffy animals, and marvelled as he watched a goat poop (no, I don't have a picture of this).

Next stop: Puffy Slide. The last time we were here Oliver couldn't climb by himself, much less go down the slide, but this year he did everything himself...climbing and all. A big step for a boy that does not carry the "NO FEAR" gene. He was so proud.

And HE'S OFF! Check out the mouth. Wide open and screeches of delight pouring forth, non-stop.

Don't believe me about the screeches? Check out the video. It was like this all 6 times he rode it! You might want to pause the music so the screams can be heard :)

Here's the happy boy after cruising to his heart's delight...

As we buckle up, Oliver is perfectly content. It does not take much to please a 5-year old. It makes me so happy we squeezed in this trip to the "Pumpkin Patch!" To see more pictures from our trip to the patch click here.

King's Faire 2009

2009-10-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed our first visit to King's Faire at Canyon Ridge Church this year. Just one more way to enjoy the Halloween/Fall Festivities, have fun, and acquire more candy. Oliver never contains his excitement for all things new!

First stop was to pick up a bag of candy. Let's see what we have...

On to the bouncer. Oliver just turned 5 and it was his first time inside one of these bouncy houses. I think of them as giant GermBoxes, but it was time I loosened up. The kids don't pay much attention to what they're doing, so I was waiting for an arm to be broken, but we managed to get through this unscathed.

On to some games. Win or lose, the reward is always the same...candy or some little trinket. Having never been to any festival, all the games were fabulous fun for Oliver. Truly simple pleasures where each game ended in screams of happiness. Oliver tries his hand at fishing.

Pure JOY at winning a lollipop.

On to more carnival rides/bouncy house things. This one included a maze which ended up in a slide. Oh, the thrills!

The Obstacle Course. IN.....THROUGH....and OUT.

We all take a break, deciding what to do next. Oliver gives his best girl and hug and kiss.

The kidlets are so sweet!

Maddie

Oliver

Oliver starts pouting when things don't go his way. Is this pathetic, or what?

Oh...the torture of being 5.

When all else fails...grab hold of the hand of mommy's friend :)

We head off to the preschool area where more Bouncy House Things awaited to be filled with scads of youngsters crawling with germs :0 Oliver loved all but one, where he refused to enter because "there was too much air." I told him the houses were filled with air so they would be fluffy, all he had to do was plow through the wall of air coming through the door to get inside. But, it just wasn't gonna happen. All-in-all it was a great time. The kids ran through the bouncy houses several times with such concentration. Notice the tongue...

The little ones didn't want leave, but the Faire was getting packed and the adults were ready to head home. On the way out, the kids got to pet the security horses.

Back at home, Oliver dumps his candy bags out on the kitchen table and scours the contents.

Happy. Boy.

His head lifts to the sky and a smile a mile-wide comes across his face. And this smile is what fills my dreams at night!

To see all the photos from the evening at King's Faire, click here.

More Taekwondo Pictures??

2009-10-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

Why not? I show up every Thursday with my camera in hand and can never get enough of the Tiny Tigers in action. They are SO cute! Here are some shots of Oliver from this week's class.

Oliver is 5 - Godzilla takes Tokyo!!

2009-10-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

Although we had been thinking about what "theme" to have for Oliver's rapidly approaching birthday this year, nothing was set in stone. An impromptu trip prior to his birthday left very little time to plan much of anything. His first four birthdays had had a lot of thought put into them, with invitations, goodie bags for the guests, games and prizes, a homemade meal for all the guests, and neat homemade cakes...but not this year. Well, except for the cake part. We just didn't have the energy, or, quite frankly, the money. We would do things the simple way. Quick, and easy. Although there was very little notice, we called Oliver's little neighborhood friends, and invited them over for pizza and cake...he is happiest when surrounded by his gang of kidlets.

Back to the theme. Let me preface this by saying Oliver is ALL BOY. He loves anything having to do with monsters, creepies, and all things scary...just not "too creepy" as he puts it. Since 3, he has been fascinated by the old Godzilla movies, and all the associated "monsters." From Fire Rodan to Mothra, Biollante to Mecha King Ghidora, and Ebirah to Hedorah, the boy is an expert at identifying and naming all the monsters of the Godzilla movies. So, naturally, we decided on a Godzilla Cake. I spent some time on google to get ideas. Yes, apparently there are many Godzilla fans out there, young and old alike! I took a few different ideas I liked and meshed them into my own, trying to keep it easy enough for me to do somewhat quickly, with what I had in my own kitchen. I spent one day making some cakes. I then put this baby together the next day, in the 3 hours prior to the guests arriving at our house. No...there was NO stress! Aaack! But, it got done, it looked pretty good considering the small amount of time I had, and, the best part, Oliver was totally thrilled with it! What else could a Momma ask for?

No, Mr. Godzilla is not made of fondant. I am not a total sucker for punishment! He was a very large figurine bought for the purpose of the cake. A perk was that he could also be used as a birthday present afterwards! I did make some fondant and used it to cover the rectangular tupperware container, covered it, and decorated it as a building. This container was what held some water and dry ice to create the smoky effect as Godzilla smashed down parts of "Tokyo." There were also a boatload of candles to create the effect of a city on fire. All the square buildings were cakes, as was the taller "pagoda" in the back. There was a crashed helicopter, some water, and a city street with rubble along both sides made from crushed Oreos and 'Nilla Wafers.. Godzilla's fire breath was a piece of paper I cut and colored, and taped in his mouth. All the buildings were frosted and spray-painted.

Oliver shows his age as he beams with excitement over his cake!

A couple photos of the birthday boy.

No games necessary. All the kids played out back until it was time for presents and cake. Some shots of Oliver & Friends.

Oliver and his girlfriends.

Oliver pauses to take a Birthday Call from Meme.

Oliver and Maddie

Present Time. With the economy the way it is, no gifts were necessary, but everyone was still so generous and Oliver received so many nice things. Games, balls, transformers, puzzles, some brainy-type games, a remote-control car, and some building sets. Enough to keep a little boy busy for a long while!

A quick picture with his cake before the Cake Lighting

Oliver & Company with the Godzilla Cake

Ryan, Zack, Layton, Tommy, Oliver, Karissa, Sierra, Amanda, Lindsay, and Maddie

Oliver takes a good gander at his mission. He said he forgot to make a wish because he was trying to figure out how in the world he was going to blow out ALLLL those candles!

With a little help from his friends, all the candles were finally blown out, all that hot fire had made plenty of melted mess, and the kids were ready to dive in!

Picture with Mom.

Picture with Dad.

And the aftermath.

Oliver's fifth Birthday party was a Monster-Stompin' smashing success! Oliver stills talks of his "Triple Marvelous" cake, and how fun it was to have all his friends over. To see more pictures from Oliver's Godzilla Birthday, click on the link.

Memorial Day and San Diego Zoo '09

2009-05-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

So, being the naive doofuses we are, we thought we would be to escape Las Vegas on Memorial Day and head to San Diego. How wrong we were. Well, we did escape, it just took much longer than anticipated. Our thoughts were to leave very early in the morning, like 7am. Again, this is the naivete showing its ugly face. We have been together 20 years and I can count on one hand the number of times we have actually gotten out of town on time and as planned. Nevertheless, we had high hopes...Needless to say we did not leave until 11am, and once we hit Tropicana Avenue we knew we were headed straight into trouble as traffic was backed up as far as the eye could see. Apparently all the California partyers were leaving Las Vegas at the same exact time that we had planned to leave....imagine that (feel the sarcasm). We crept at 5-10mph for a good 3 hours. Since it takes about 5 hours to reach San Diego normally, we were way off track and were looking at a long day :(

Well, we finally arrived at our hotel around 8:30pm. Whew! We unloaded, went out for a Mexican dinner in Old Towne, and tried to get a good night's sleep before our big day at the Zoo!

Brad and Oliver get in some good snuggletime.

Oliver had a peaceful slumber with Zero, one of his best pals...

We fed Skippie, gave her a good long mosey, and while we headed out for our day, she prepared to take a good, long nap while she awaited our return.

Once at the zoo, we first decide to ride the SkyFari Tram since it was not busy. It gives a great overall view of the zoo, and we made some rough calculations for our method of trying to take it all in before our alotted 8 hours was up. Yeah, right. The Zoo is so huge it really cannot be seen well in 1 day, so we just did our best, especially with a 4-year old. :)

waiting for SkyFari

enjoying the view

We wandered down Monkey Trail...Oliver breezed through with the attention span of a flea. Brad and I, however, enjoyed watching these two creatues work on each other. One was splayed out, basking in the sun, letting #2 calmly pick nits from its body. Even funnier was watching #2 pick the nits, and then deftly shove them to his mouth for a yummy treat. Garghhh!

funny-looking little guy...

On to the Hippo Trail. Hippos are one of my faves. I just love their whiskers and the way they gently bobble underwater.

What animal is that peeking from behind the palm? An Oliver beast?

After lunch we take the escaltor up through the Asian Passage and into Elephant Odyssey.

We got to see the elephants being fed and pedicured. Elephants are another of my favorites. They are such gentle giants. As they were fed they had their front feet soaking in big barrels to soften them up for clipping. Their trunks snivel about the ground sucking up various goodies. Too cute!

Momma and Baby

More adorable faces. Love the meerkats.

Mom and Oliver

I know this photo does not look like much. But if you look closely, you will see Oliver peering through the display window at the infamous "brad-monk"....a very smelly creature that whoops like a monkey and scratches his armpits relentlessly. There is only one of these in the entire world!

Daddy and his Boy

The Zoo has so much wonderful foliage it is hard not to take pictures of everything!

oliver being all serious

C'mon, kid...smile as i drag you along...

This zoo is so pretty.

It is not an easy thing to get a family picture! Thanksalot, Oliver!

Getting into Panda territory.

Yes, we arrived at the Panda place during their naptime, so it was pretty quiet. This one was crashed flat on the ground. Reminds me of a skinned rug one might find in an old log cabin somewheres...

The next 2 pictures are as close as Oliver got to the pandas...

awwwwww.....

ZEBRAS! Love 'em!

GOOF!

Welcome to The Polar Bear Peep Show! The male was sleeping, and the female was gnawing on a bloody bone of some sort. She walked over to the male and woke him up. He proceeded to follow her around, and finally....! Everyone was cracking up and whooping like a pack of 5th graders...hehehe.

More pretty flowers with some cute kid in front of them :)

YAY! More hippos! This guy was sleeping like a baby.

We gave our feet a break and hopped on the Tour Bus for a nice narrated tour.

Within minutes Oliver is out cold.

Who can resist the koalas? They simply look like cushy stuffed animals. And they sleep 22 hours out of the day.

This guy opened his eyes long enough to look at us and give a wave hello.

Although we don't have a picture of it (and not that we would put it out there if we did), we had a little accident at the koala habitat. Oliver was sleepy so he was laying in the stroller, with the back laid out flat. Brad and I were busy taking pictures and admiring the koalas when we heard a crash. We had the camera bag (very heavy) hanging on the stroller handle, and with Oliver laying down the weight was shifted to the back and the stroller flipped backwards. Poor Oliver went upside down onto his head :0 He was scared, but fine. This picture proves it.

Enter Giraffe-ville. Another favorite of mine. Oh, OK, let's face it....I love all the big animals. Especially if they have cool prints. If you don't believe me, look at my home decor. :)

Nice tail.

Big-Butted Rhino. Wish my big butt had cool design like this :)

At Zoo closing time we headed out and this handsome beast was strutting his stuff. I love peacock feathers. Beautiful!

One last peek at the reptilian creatures before we leave.

And the cutest creature of all...

I have great memories of going to the San Diego Zoo when a child, and as an adult as well. But truly, nothing is better than re-living it again with your own child, seeing the joy and wonder in their faces as they experience the fun stuff of life!

For more pix from the Zoo click here.

A Night of Swimming with the Cline Clan

2009-05-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

We had the Cline Clan over for an early Memorial Day celebration. We did a simple dinner of grilled chicken and dogs, then swam the night away. As usual, Oliver was excited to have people over and could not contain his happiness and went into goof mode.

We tried out some sprinkler action, but the blow-up toy was a dud and sprung a profuse leak. The fun there lasted a few minutes before everyone gave up and headed for the pool.

Fancy jumpers-in-action:

Sierra defies gravity

Brad and his swan dive
Lindsay in her crab :)

Skippie goes berserk whenever Brad dives in. Back when Anabelle was still around, Ana and Skippie would both anxiously await/bark until Brad surfaced, whereupon they would both race out to the grass and attack each other, then come back for more. Skippie happily continues this tradition, with the exception she has no one to attack. It was so good to see her out and about and having so much fun!

Oliver is not used to so much excitement so he got worn out and decided to watch the action from the sidelines along with Skippie.

My sweetie having a ball being a kid :)

Little Lindsay Lu hams it up for the camera.

With the music playing on the speakers, Oliver feels the beat and gets everyone to bust-a-move.

The evening is finishes off with solo performances by Oliver. Prior to this, we had never seen Oliver cut-up this way...it was like Saturday Night Fever revisited. Nothing was off-limits...breakdancing included. He had everyone laughing...

notice the tongue...serious concentrating going on here

The Motley Crew (Maddie's expression is priceless)!

For more pictures from swim night click here.

A Day on the Mount

2009-05-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Although it has been relatively cool here in Las Vegas for this time of year, we drove up to Mt. Charleston for a breath of fresher, cooler air. It was soooo nice! There were very few people there, so we had our pick of tables to set up a little picnic lunch of PB&J's to give us energy. We wanted to try and take a tiny walk to get Oliver used to hiking. The air was almost chilly...in the low 60s.

Mr. Happy

Taking advantage of the cute rental car...and kid :)

Peeper-in-the-Woods

Before we even got onto the trail, Oliver had already collected a walking stick. Little did we know this would be our downfall within the hour...

A bit of scenery on the way.

Blowing the scenery away...(and probably wishing for a pile of sticks)

Me? A troublemaker? nahhh...

Uh Oh. And so it begins. Apparently Oliver did not grasp exactly what hiking is, or means. It does NOT mean ignoring that we have a path to follow. It does NOT mean collecting every stick you see, then asking Mommy to hold them for you. I tried to explain that we need our hands for balance, and that in reality, Mommy only has 2 hands (I know, you thought it was 12). Well, this explanation did not sit too well with Oliver. The next series of pictures shows the Oliver frustration when I told him he could not carry a wad of sticks and branches with him on a hike. And that I couldn't carry them. First, the pouty downturned mouth forms...oh, the sadness.

Reality sinks in.

Then, the whinies begin...

At last, the sobs to the sky. Oliver cried out "I hate it when you and Daddy won't let me do my FANG!! (kidspeak-THING).

Yes--Oliver gets over the tantrum. Here's my boys-in-the-wood.

A bit blurry, but a family pic nonetheless :)

Lots of beauty and fun stuff.

Ah...the great outdoors. It is so nice that Oliver is getting to the age where we can again get out and enjoy these simple things that we sometimes take for granted.

Some other pictures from the week:

Poor Skippie-Lu, we torture her so...

Some good jostlin' around and giggling with Daddy

I love sleeping pictures, and this is no exception. I wish i could fall asleep in any manner or form. Must be nice to end a busy day's activities so easily...

Click here for more pictures from the week.
Thanks for visiting!

Bonnie Springs Old Nevada

2009-05-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we took a little drive over to visit Bonnie Springs Old Nevada. It is a replica of an old Nevada mining town, complete with a petting zoo, mini-train ride, and various melodramas.

At the pond, ducks and swans abound.

Oliver poses...or maybe, it's a look of "can you put that camera down already?" Hehe.

Inside the petting zoo area, memories of my childhood come racing back. In a petting zoo long ago, a randy goat started eating up little Tami's dress. History repeats itself--but Oliver finds humor in the sweet, spotted deer gnoshing on his polo. Mommy wasn't thrilled with the prospect of trying to wash out a green/grassy/muddy/slobbery stain. But, after all, it was in the name of having fun...

BACON & EGGS

UH-OH....Oliver must smell mighty tasty--the miniature pony is going for his shirt as well!

Feeding the pony...

Oliver and Daddy

family photo

I **LOVE** this shot!! Precious.

Oliver was thrilled to ride the train and kept screaming "Hello, Mr. Engineer!"

feeding the swan

Oliver takes the oath of gun safety and is awarded his "Old Nevada Posse" badge. A melodrama with the posse chasing down gun-wielding bad dudes ensues.

The afternoon finishes up with Oliver and I begging for $$ for a bath.

For more pictures of us enjoying Bonnie Springs, please click here. HAPPY TRAILS!

Daddy's Arrival

2009-05-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Brad arrived for a week-long class in Las Vegas, plus an added week of family stay, so it made for a nice lengthy visit. This was a good thing. :) Oliver loves heading to the airport, and we wait and keep our eyes peeled for Daddy coming down the escalator. That first Run-and-Jump into Daddy's arms is the BEST!

Oliver is just ALL SMILES.

Back at the homestead Brad divvies out the surprises...this time Grandaddy sent an Alabamaian Spidermonkey for our little spidermonkey. A perfect match!

More adventures to come...

Latest Scrapbook Pages

2009-04-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

Now that I am fairly up-to-date on the goings-on around here, I figured I'd get some of my recent digital pages posted. The last few weeks whenever we drive around town Oliver always asks what the "pokey thing" is. I told him it's the Stratosphere. So one night we decided to take him there for an awesome view of the city. There are no tripods allowed up there (not that there is any place to put one), so this great shot came courtesy of Brad...his hands are wayyy steadier than mine! I LOVE this photo, Las Vegas is such a beautiful city at night!

Neon Lights -- for credits click here

Here we have our annual visit to the Easter Bunny. Oliver has never had fear of the bunny, in fact, the kid smothers him with kisses and hugs every time.

Easter Bunny 2009 -- for credits and to read the journaling click here

I have my creepy fun with Oliver on April Fool's Day. This was a good one. Poor kid. Hehe.

April Fool's Day 2009 -- for credits and to read all about it click here

Oliver has a smile a mile-wide...it always cheers me to see it. He really does exude pure happiness.

Happiness -- click here for credits

Just a sweet picture.

Seek love -- credits

A Day in the Desert

2009-04-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the Clines invited Oliver and I to join their family to go riding in the desert. It sounded like lots of fun and something new and different, so we accepted. Oliver excitedly chattered non-stop about "going to the desert" (as if it were some far-away destination).....even though we live in one on a daily basis. :) A short 30 miles to the north brought us to a dry lake bed where they go riding. We got out and first thing Oliver did was give his best little girl an excited hug!

The desert is uniquely beautiful in its vast loneliness...

Oliver starts his explorations...

Trying to snap a Dust Devil...

Hot Shots

After lunch in the trailer, I get some driving instruction from Mark before my first solo outing...

Whooo-eeeee! Lookit Tami go!

Scarlet

Scarlet riding off...

I take the Rhino for a cruise with Oliver, Sierra, and Lindsay.

Fun stuff--kinda like a Golf Cart on steroids :)

A shot of the little ones before our ride.

While the bigger kids do their ATV-ing, the little ones (and us bigger ones) find plenty to occupy our time. Golf, bubbles, digging in the dirt, and hanging out in the trailer (also handy for shade and snacks). Check out Oliver's golf stance...one that would make his Papa proud!

Layton and Oliver

Oliver loves to be around other kids. Well, unless he gets teased or someone annoys him ...then, this look of frustration when something is not going his way.

Luckily, it never lasts long...

Mark in action

Lindsay takes Oliver and Maddie out for some exploratory adventures.

Oh, gads...what the heck have they come back with? Excitedly, no less...

Oliver is SO proud of the rusted chair frame they have brought back from its slow death in the desert. He wants to bring it home. Of course. I told him we cannot keep junk like that in our yard. He holds his hand up and shakes his finger at me matter-of-factly. "NO, Mommy, dis is not junk. It's TWEASURE from the desert!" Right. As much as I love my kid, we did NOT bring this beauty home.

And, the fun of the day comes to an end. With naptime having passed, Oliver promptly falls asleep during the drive home, with dreams of sun, sand, and treasures of the desert swirling in his head.

Thank you Mark and Scarlet for inviting us out for the day--we had an awesome time!

Saturday and a BIG Playdate

2009-04-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Scarlet came over with all 5 kids to hang out for the day. Seems like it might be zoo-like with that many kids running around, but not really. Oliver and Maddie play nicely together doing whatever interests them. The teenager brought a book to read. And all the ones in between danced their hearts out with the Wii. Scarlet and I got to hang out and enjoy having normal adult conversations (a rarity). I made a big batch of chicken quesdillas for lunch and afterwards we went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Bubbles were blown and chased, and everyone prepared mudcakes and baked mudpies to their hearts' desires. Of course, I also enjoyed this opportunity to take a few snapshots of a couple of the beautiful Cline girls.

Oliver and Maddie make a wish...

Sierra blows bubbles...

Serious baking is going on in Oliver's kitchen...

The age of natural beauty at its best!

Sierra

Lyndsay

And, a serious-looking Oliver, but i love those eyes...

A fun, fun day--Oliver is already asking when we can do it again!

Home for Easter

2009-04-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 8th

It was a longer span of time since Brad's last visit, so we were ready for this one, especially since Daddy was coming home for Easter! Oliver is always a good boy at the airport. He always says "Hi! Mr. Policeman!" to the Sheriff and security guards there...and they always say howdy back and are always impressed with his manners and patience, I guess. As last time, he came over and asked you a few questions and gave a big smile to you just before he handed you two nice Sheriff stickers. You hammed it up for my camera. And then Daddy finally arrived! Whooo-ha! Happiness!! Extra exciting since earlier in the day it appeared that Brad would not be getting in as planned. American Airlines had so easily given his seat away as he waited to board the plane in Dallas. After not getting on the next available flight on standby, and a persnickety staff asserting that he would not make the last flight to Las Vegas, either, we were resigned to him staying overnite in Dallas. But yippadeedoodaa, his name was called on that last flight, the only person to get on. Long story short, he DID get into Vegas, just later than planned.

We slept in late on Thursday. We took a ride to the nursery and got some flowers and herbs for planting in pots, and Brad bought a few tomato plants to put in the garden here. We spent some time catching up on yardwork, and spending good quality time together. Here, Daddy gets some long-awaited love from his best little guy, and his best little furbaby, who decided Brad needed a good cleaning....

On Saturday there was a big Easter Egg Hunt at the park across the street from the house, so we decided to take Oliver over there and check it out. They had their own little Easter Bunny setup, so Oliver sat on his 2nd Bunny of the year. He gave him hugs and gave his bunny nose a good tickle as well.

A couple pictures with Brad and myself in them...

A sweet picture hugging Daddy's neck...

Let the Hunt begin!! I like that they had it separated into appropriate age groups, so all the little ones had a chance to get a basketful of eggs. It probably lasted a whole minute, but there were lots of eggs to be picked up and Oliver did a fine job of gathering.

Time to break open the eggs to see what kinds of goodies await...lots of sweet tarts and gum. Oliver was excited, even though he cannot have gum yet (those are for Mommy).

On the way home we stop for gas. Oliver sees me eating a piece of his gum and totally loses control. I told him not to be upset--he can't have gum yet anyway. This does not soothe him. He informs me that he wanted to keep it for years until he was a bigger boy so he could eat it then. I told him the gum would be dried-up and crusty by then so get used to seeing Mommy eat it! It is SO hard being 4!

Saturday night we spend some time coloring eggs.

We let Oliver open the big Easter care package that Meme sent. In it are the requisite candy and toys, as well as a dinosaur cape of some sort. We proceeded to dress Skippie Lu in it. She appeared to be in bliss and didn't move an inch, although with her skittish personality, more likely she was scared outta her wits and feared she might explode if she moved...her fear made for an easy picture.

The thing Oliver loved best were all the cupfuls of various "ingredients" for use in making some Ghost Pirate Stew. Penne pasta, applejacks, sunflower seeds, split peas, spices, curly egg noodles, and cinnamon sticks. There was even an Easter bucket for a pot, and a nice stirring spoon for whatever concoction could be dreamed up. And, to carry on the family legacy of wooden spoon spankings, Meme sent Oliver his very own wooden spoon so i can put it to use when needed. I love it. Hehe.

Easter Morning. Skippie relaxes. She's only had 20 hours of sleep.

Easter Bunny made his little visit to our house. He hid our colored eggs, which Oliver scoured from their hiding places. Between the Big Bunny and ReeRee, GranDaddy, and Uncle Wawa, Oliver received a child' share of cash, candy, a couple Wii games, and a Children's Bible. Mommy and Daddy gave a little basket with some candy, a kite, and some bubbles in it. After getting dressed we go out back to see if Easter Bunny hid any eggs. Yep. A little hunt ensues. Gotta capture the childish wonder and simple joy from these events while they last!

We played the HOT/COLD game trying to help Oliver find this yellow egg right near his head. He never found it. Only by accident did it fall from it's hiding place to be discovered.

Skippie gets in on the action.

AHA!

Inspection time.

Time for some nice photographs. My heart melts a little more each time i look at these. My serious, handsome, grown-up little fellow. Melt away...

In the afternoon the ingredients come out for playtime, but instead of pirate stew, Oliver has new ideas. He plants the salted sunflower seeds, and with the rest of ingredients he makes a batch of "birdfeed." He makes beautiful cupfuls of feed so elegantly decorated with sticks of cinnamon. Our little Iron Chef-in-the-Making.

For Easter Dinner we have a simple but yummy meal. Jeannie brought a lovely ham and baked beans. I made some homemade scalloped potatoes, as well as broccoli and green beans, and devilled eggs. It was all delicious.

For dessert i tried my hand at making zabaglione. With some lemon cake, mascarpone cream, strawberry lemon coulis, and fresh berries, I think it turned out well. Everyone ate it up, and Oliver wanted more. A pretty little dessert.

To work off dinner, we all tried our hand at the Wii Hottest Dance Party game. We have had it for some time and never used it prior to this. It always seems more fun when there are friends to enjoy it together. Oliver can't grasp this game yet, so he cheered Jeannie on. The game lends for some good laughter at the middle-age folks trying to get the hang of it. Good thing we had wine with dinner. We all sucked at it. :) But, it was a super-fun end to a Blessed Easter Day!

Monday night we went out to The Stratosphere. Whenever we drive around town Oliver always points and asks about it. He knows about the rides on to of it. Once we arrived to the Indoor Observation Deck, we enjoyed the view. However, the highlight of Oliver's night seemed to be the acquisition of a souvenir from the old Penny Press Machine. We indulged and he got his 51-cent squishy penny with the Stratosphere pressed into it. He marveled over the size of his muscles.

On the Outdoor Deck...

Las Vegas really has to be one of the prettiest, most colorful cities at night. What a fabulous picture!

Wednesday again. Time for Daddy to fly back. Oliver loves to ride the moving walkway at the airport.

One last family photo. They are hard to come by since I am always behind the lens. A nice stranger in line happily took this snapshot for us before Brad ran off through x-ray. We had a great time! We love you and miss you, Daddy! See you soon!

Almost Springtime

2009-03-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

Springtime is definitely on it's way here in Las Vegas. The days have been perfectly warm, trees and flowers are in bloom, and to the delight of Oliver, all things springy are happening. He loves nice bugs...ones that don't sting or bite, that is. I haven't had much time for scrapping lately, but finally managed to get a couple layouts finished to show off some sweet pictures I took of Oliver last week with his ladybug friend. I am totally in loooove with the large picture on the 1st page. I love that even though Oliver is nearing 4 and 1/2 years, he still has these wonderfully soft, pillow-y cheeks...they are precious. I am so lucky to have a little guy with a truly gentle heart, too. Here they are:

Gentle Soul-Page 1 For a complete list of credits click here

Gentle Soul-Page 2 For credits and to read the journaling click here

Last Friday we had no preschool so Oliver and Maddie got a playdate at Discovery Park. Here are a few photos from the day:

None other than Joe Cool himself :)

Wheeeeeeee!

Maddie protecting Oliver...he was a bit nervous high atop the rock.

And just a sweet picture of our little angel of the morning. I love quiet moments like these:

Hope the rest of your week is just as peaceful!

Oh, Snow Much Fun!!

2009-02-14T21:13:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a delightful 2 1/2 days since Brad arrived back for a short visit. Oliver and I picked Daddy up at the airport on thursday night...everyone was all smiles as Oliver ran to jump into his Daddy's arms. Wanna see the joy?

On friday we slept in and around lunchtime, we decided to head up to Mt. Charleston to check out the snow, and possibly do some sledding, depending on what we found. With all the rain the Las Vegas area had earlier this week, the mountain received 27 inches of snow. A mere 39 miles from our home took us into some pretty territory with plenty of snow for Oliver to see. Pure delight at his first glimpse and touching of snow.

We try to take a photo of Oliver in the pristine snow, so Brad carries him up the slope a short way and drops him down. The pure delight fades into uncertainty as the snow is thigh-deep on Oliver. It is a tough balancing-act for the little guy. Also apparent is our lack of appropriate snow gear. The ice crystals promptly crust onto Oliver's jeans, and his gloves are too big and keep falling off. Obviously, we are not prepared. :) Nobody seemed to mind, though.

We walk across the street to the sledding area to give our sled a whirl. I knew we would not be staying a long time, as Oliver was still getting over a cold/cough, besides the fact that we had no snow gear on and the temperature was a frigid 23 degrees. But Oliver was gung-ho...the snow had him mesmerized, and from this moment on the giant grin on his face never disappeared.

Oliver and I give the sled a try. Not a very big hill, but new to us so it was a thrill. A little tricky as it was extremely slippery, but once we got going the squeals of delight never stopped!

Brad comes flying down the hill sideways...

...and does typical Daddy-duty of pulling Oliver along.

A close-up of Oliver's face as he is being pulled by Brad. Notice the non-stop, mile-wide grin. :)

I don't think we were gone 2 hours. But after leaving our 15 minutes of thrills and frozen fingers, we wondered how it is that we have lived here 11 years and never visited Mt. Charleston in winter to enjoy the snow? We decided that it would not be our last visit!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

Sending out a lot of sweetness and hugs on this lovely Valentine's Day! Oliver sends out warm, chocolate-y kisses for Meme, Papa, Grandaddy and Uncle Wawa today, but the most special kiss goes to ReeRee, as this wonderful day is also her BIRTHDAY! We all love you lots! A special shout-out to Uncle Steve, too, as his birthday is today, too...it is hard to forget these Valentine birthdays! :)

Credits: All papers by Anna Aspnes-Aqua, Avalanche, Calypso, Confiture, Cream, and Sol .

Happy Birthday, Momma!!

2009-02-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

'Nuff said. All the love in the world is being sent to you!

Love from Bid, Brad, and The Kid.

Credits: All papers by Anna Aspnes-Aqua, Avalanche 2, Confiture, and Cream.

Back on the Blog!

2009-02-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

Wow. It has been 2 months since I have blogged! The last few months have been a bit harried, but things are starting to slow down enough where I can get in a few words. So many things have happened, but I will squeeze them in bit by bit, here and there. However, my first post back will be some fun and exciting stuff...

After a short hiatus I have actually had time to get back into my digital scrapbooking. Sometimes a little break is all that is needed to help get the creative juices flowing. I was able to produce FOUR layouts this last week. For me, that is a LOT. Not that I get anything done any more quickly, but sometimes I get lucky and the perfect pictures and thoughts hit me. Thwack!!! It worked out well! Today, this next layout, Breathe Deep, was featured at today's gallery standouts!! I am just so dang tickled I can't even tell you! This is a picture of Oliver at the beach in Gulf Shores, AL this past September. Normally I have the hardest time coming up with words that feel right, but this time I was struck by the beauty of the picture and the words (though few) just flowed...I LOVE the end result, too:

CREDITS: From Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas--Baby's Breath paper (blended) and Page Mask. From Designer Digitals--Anna Aspnes-Monoblendz Oceana and Kakao papers (blended and clipped), Distressed Tool Set 3, 12 x 12 Distressed Edge Overlays 5, Katie Pertiet-Drop Shadows.

I love to experiment with different scrapping styles, and this is my attempt at the minimalist look that I really admire. Normally I have a hard time with this as I prefer my pictures to be BIG and the main focus of the layout, without a bunch of "stuff." However, I was very pleased with how this one turned out:

Leaves in Winter

Credits: From Designer Digitals--Katie Pertiet-Little Paper Leaves, Drop Shadows, Lynn Grieveson-Essential Bases, Anna Aspnes-Autumnal brushes and Scanty Journal Lines 3, Pattie Knox-Brad Bonanza and Staple Its. From Catscrap--Creashens-As I Am (papers).

Back to an easy style of letting the photo do all the work:

'lil Flap Hat

Credits: From Designer Digitals--Mindy Terasawa-Smilin' at Me Solids, Lynn Grieveson-In Distress, Pattie Knox-heart brad from Have Heart Felt, Anna Aspnes- 12x12 Edge overlays 6. The template I used is #46 by LizDesigns.

And lastly, this one was for the photo-tinting challenge over at 2PeasInABucket. This is more my usual style with lots of blending. Just Oliver being all sweet and sharing during our Valentine's Day 2007 Photo Shoot.

A Joy Shared

CREDITS:From Designer Digitals--Lynn Grieveson-Hint at It 3 and paper from Blue Water Kit (clipping mask), Pattie Knox-Hang Its and Staple Its, Anna Aspnes-Distressed Edges 3 and Distressed Tool Set 5. From Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas--papers from Naturals and The Typography Corner (blended together), little heart from gemstone frame. And from Fei-Fei's Stuff-Joy Wordart.

Well, I will have to leave it at this for today. Dinnertime is calling...

Happy Birthday, PAPA!!

2008-12-04T18:55:00.001-08:00

What? You say it's your birthday, too??!!

Well, then---have the HAPPIEST of birthdays, Papa! Oliver sends sweet birthday kisses and lots of hungry hugs through cyberspace...and we'll all make good on the real things in a week or so. :) Brad and I send all our love.

Love you, Daddy.

Bid

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Auntie Cheri!!

2008-12-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

Some special (and SERIOUS) Oliver kisses to you on your special day! Yeah...Brad and I send lotsa love and fun wishes to you, too! Hope your day is wonderful!!

Thanksgiving Week

2008-11-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

So, the week starts off with another round of Taekwondo class. Today Maddie and Scarlet were waiting for Oliver outside the class with me. Oliver got a gander at Maddie, lost concentration, and again had to interrupt to tell Miss Lynn "Those are my friends Scarlet and Maddie!" Even Miss Lynn had to laugh.

I realize I am somewhat biased, but I think Oliver is just the cutest thing around in his little outfit. I think Brad took about 300 pictures during this one class!

After class Oliver and Maddie run wild outside. Oh, the freedom of being young and carefree! Ahhhhhhh...............

Tuesday in Preschool the kidlets have a little Thanksgiving party. For our listening pleasure they recite a Thanksgiving poem....very cute, but it was even more fun watching the kids....

The kiddies enjoying their meal...

Oliver wearing the fancy headdress he made in class.

Thanksgiving Day --- Oliver and Daddy do the GUY THING and hang out at the firepit, poking sticks into the fire. Daddy is teaching Oliver the fine art of how to smoke a turkey breast. Gotta love those skinny, little, spidermonkey legs with no shorts on! Hehe...

Inside later, Oliver helps me in the kitchen. He had some serious (and messy!) fun crumbling up the cornbread for the dressing.

We joined the Cline Clan on Thanksgiving for a lunchtime meal. After saying the blessing we went around and we each said something we were thankful for. Earlier, we had explained to Oliver how Thanksgiving is a time when we give thanks for the important things in our lives...the big ones, like our health, family and friends, a roof over our head, etc...So we we a bit embarassed when his turn came and he said loudly, "CANDEEE!!" Luckily, though, Maddie made us feel at ease when she blurted out "NOTHING!" HAHAHA...gotta love the little ones--they are always good for a laugh.

We had tons of yummy food. Maddie and Oliver sat at the kiddie table with their heaping plates of food. Oliver ate his corn kernels one-at-a-time with his fingers, his olives, the cranberries, the sweet potatoes, the corn muffin, and a roll. Who needs turkey when you have all this delicious starch?

After dinner the older kids join us adults for some serious card-playing. I haven't played cards in like, 25 years? It was really fun. The hard part was trying to stay awake after gobbling down heaps of food. A break for pumpkin pie helped.

The Thanksgiving turkey treats Scarlet made for Maddie's preschool class. Aren't they cute?! They saved 4 of them for us, and Oliver was thrilled. For the next few days, Oliver kept saying "how A-DOE-A-BLE" they were. Yummy, too.

A Thanksgiving picture of the boy...

Friday Auntie Cheri and Uncle Sean (OOPS!)--I mean, Jim (inside joke)...stayed in Vegas, so we drove over to their Strip room and hung out awhile. SWEE-EET view!

Auntie Cheri gots loads of mushy kisses and hugs.

Tami, Cheri, and Oliver
Saturday Cheri and Jim swung by our house on their way outta town. Oliver got a few more tickles and hugs... then we had to say bye-bye for now...

What?? You say you haven't seen enough taekwondo pictures yet? Well, then click here for more of those, as well as others from this week. Thanks for stopping by!

A Busy Week ~ November 9-15th, 2008

2008-11-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

SUNDAY: Although we were feeling a bit on the lazy side, we decided to go to the annual Aviation Nation Airshow here in Las Vegas. We rarely miss a show as we love them, so in the end we were glad we made the trip. Oliver always enjoys the big bus ride from the parking lot to the airbase. He calls it the "FUN BUS" ride. This year he was thrilled that he got to sit in his very own seat. Whoo HOOO!!!! Oliver does not cry (as I saw other toddlers doing) when the jets roar past, but he is not thrilled with the noise, either. My heart always pounds with excitement and patriotism as I hear, then feel, the thunderous boom inside my chest. We stayed long enough to eat a few snacks, piddle around and peek at the displays, and see the Thunderbirds. I am so bad--i forgot the name of the plane the boys got to sit in. But here they are:

The Thunderbirds weren't even finished and Oliver was whining to go home. It was close to naptime and he was getting cranky. So we headed out. Usually it is pure blue skies but this year there were clouds and a chill in the air. Near the base entrance it started to sprinkle and we were hit with this most gorgeous sight! Is it not SPLENDID??!! The glorious Thunderbirds parting inside a full rainbow:

The rainbow was SO vivid and must have lasted a good 30 minutes. At this point I was SO glad we went!

WEDNESDAY: Oliver had his checkup with the opthamologist. At his 4th year pediatric checkup they detected major astigmatism in his left eye with their screening equipment, so his Peds Dr. recommended we take him to a specialist. We were a bit bummed about this news, but knew there were worse things than having to get glasses. I was a bit worried how he would do, as he is still a bit of a wuss. I have to say that the nurse we had to give a preliminary check and dilation was awesome with Oliver. He kept Oliver calm, and Oliver did just fine. It helps that he loves anything "machine-like," so he was thrilled with all the eye equipment surrounding him. He kept saying "COOOO--OOOL." The long story short, the eye doctor did his thing and said Oliver's sight was 20/20! No astigmatism! He said the screeners some pediatricians use are worthless. Needless to say, we were thrilled with the news! I forgot to take the camera with me, so we only have this picture of Joe Cool with his dilation sunglasses on after we got home. Don't they go well with that binky? Yes, our kid still sucks on one at 4.....get over it!

THURSDAY: Our second Taekwondo class. There are only 2 kidlets in the class, Oliver and another little girl, who happened to not be there this day. So Oliver had special attention from two teachers. I think Oliver really enjoyed having the older boy there for him to look up to. Be ready to be sick of Taekwondo pictures:

Gotta love it -- right in the middle of class, Oliver must interrupt and point right to me and tell his teachers "And that's my friend, Mommy." I'm sure the teachers think that's real cute.

On thursday we got Oliver an official Taekwondo outfit. Here he is showing it off, and being a bit goofy:

Oliver gets in some outdoor time to test drive his fancy Bigwheels he got from ReeRee and GranDaddy. His legs are a tad too short but he still manages to get going pretty fast and fly across the back porch. Watch out!

Here he is testing out the big-boy bike from Kevin and Gloria. Yes, i know--he's not wearing a helmet. We're not bad parents, we just haven't gotten one yet. We walked beside him the whole time. And ran. Phew. He actually does pretty well. He looks so big.

SATURDAY: So today we had Maddie come over for a play-date. Last playdate Maddie was in a grumpy mood, and today I think it was more Oliver. She was giving him hugs and he only had a puss for my camera.

Playing out back in the "kitchen." Oliver was making mashed potatoes with spinach. Maddie prepared tuna salad.

I LOOOOVE having Maddie over just so I can have a willing subject. She's a little beauty, yes?

And now we get ready for another week in Oliverland! Goodnite!

Flea Market Day

2008-11-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

Since it was so beautiful today we decided to take a run over to the Las Vegas Swap Meet. It is one of the better flea markets around. Pre-Oliver we would go almost every weekend. After Oliver arrived, I don't think we went again till after Oliver was over a year old, since he was such a fussy baby. Anyways, it was a fun thing to do. Oliver loved looking at toys and junk. Brad and I didn't find anything we had to have, which is just as well since our house is full to the brim as it is. The best part of the flea market here is inhaling the wonderful aromas of all the awesome mexican foods cooking....mmmmmm. Here's a picture of Brad and Oliver.

For as long as we have been going to this flea market, there has been a guy there that peddles his little Capuchin Monkey. The monkey walks around taking dollar bills from people. This funny little fella is named Don Juan. Check out his little face--it looks so human!

Oliver has a thing for monkeys right now. So, naturally, he went ape over little Don Juan. And because we didn't find anything else worth buying, we splurged $5 to let Oliver get his picture taken with the monkey. At least these will last forever...

Halloween 2008

2008-11-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

For some reason time seems to be in short supply this time of year. I am the pumpkin carver of the family. I usually do several. However, we only bought one pumpkin this year, and the poor thing sat in the foyer until I realized it was Halloween afternoon and I had not carved it yet! Oliver was still taking his nap, and I knew he was scream if I carved it without his help. So I woke him up and we did a quickie 15 minute carve job before hurriedly getting Oliver dressed up in his Halloween outfit. I did the cutting, and Oliver's favorite part was pulling out the chunks. He started to help me clean out the seeds and pulp, but apparently he is not too much into the gooey scene. The pumpkin turned out cute enough for the time I took...

For the longest time Oliver has been enamored with wanting to be Dracula for Halloween. We tried looking at other costumes, but he only wanted to be Dracula. So Dracula it was. I guess the years of cute little animal costumes are over. This in no way means my dapper little Dracula was not cute. Quite the opposite...but hardly scary looking. Oliver still has his sweet, little baby face, and no amount of makeup can change that! He always takes on this pathetic, sad face when I ask him to pose for me. Sigh.

Here he is pre-makeup **trying** to look scary. What a studly Dracula.

I love this next picture. But I can't lie. I photoshopped it a teensy bit. Oliver refused to let me get the white makeup near his eyes, and I was extremely paranoid about using lots of black hairspray on my blonde boy, so I went light. I just made his hair a little blacker in sparse areas and filled in some white around his eyes to complete the face makeup. Nothing like a smilin' Dracula. And yes, the black hair paint washed out nicely, but not without a GIANT mess!

We hooked up with our usual group of friends and did our neighborhood trick-or-treating. This year Oliver was big enough to run a bit ahead of me independently, and I did not worry as much whether he'd trip along the way. That made it easier. He loaded up on all kinds of candy that Mommy and Daddy steal and eat while he is sleeping. After all, he isn't allowed any candy. Kidding! But seriously, Oliver does not eat much candy so what he gets lasts till the next Halloween. :)

At one scary point we couldn't find Oliver anywhere. I ran next door to Tricia's house to see if he was over there with all the kids, but he wasn't. I thought he might be hiding in our front yard "graveyard" as he enjoys hiding from us sometimes. But, no. A little bit frantic at this point, we heard runnning water inside the house. We found him in the bathroom trying to wash off his hair and face makeup by himself. Oliver is usually not independent that way, so I was surpised by this. But aside from that there was a TERRIBLE mess! Black and white watery streaks were dripping down his face onto his clothing and black stuff was all over the bathroom. I had to take time to get all the makeup off his face, then stuck his black cape back on so we could go outside and finish handing out candy and get some photos. Brad continued his yearly tradition of scaring the crap out of small children and animals (and many adults, too!) by dressing as Michael Myers. I guess the Las Vegas heat has finally taken its toll on the mask, literally melting a hole into it. But that's OK...it still does the job needed. Oliver has grown up around Scary Daddy so has no problem coming close for a Halloween hug.

This year I didn't take much time to think for a costume for myself. I dragged out some old scrubs from my hospital clinical days, threw on my stethoscope, and voila! ~~Doctor Mommy! The stinky boot I currently wear for my broken toe only added to the ambience of the costume:) Family Halloween picture:

And last, but not least, a picture of me and my little fella. Such a sad Dracula face. Guess it was a long day and mini-Dracula wouldn't be getting out late to take care of vampire business.....

For more pictures of our Halloween activities, checkout out my Halloween Slideshow. See you soon!

I Love Broken Toes!

2008-10-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

NOT!!

Although you might think that is my theory on them, since I went ahead and whacked my little one in half yet again--that makes THREE times in about 4 years. At least now i know there is not much to do except buddy-wrap the 2 little guys together and wear a flat-soled boot. Funny how you can be going about your day, taking care of chores, minding your business, then your foot has to go ahead and bump into something j u s t the right way. It is a very disconcerting sight to see a toe (or any other limb, for that matter) flailing back and forth with abandon. OW. OW. OW. I am doing a favor by not posting a picture of my pinky toe, it's just a nasty sight. Besides, my toes are just not very pretty to begin with! Guess my next six weeks should be fun wearing this STINKY old boot that has seen a LOT of wear. And i DO mean S-T-I-N-K-Y. We lovingly call it my STINK BOOT. Washing just doesn't help anymore....

OK. I know there are worse things to happen, so I'll quit my short stint of griping now and get on with life.

Cheers!

It's Oliver's "Under the Sea" Birthday Party!!

2008-10-21T16:00:00.001-07:00

The original idea for Oliver's birthday theme was a CRAB. This stemmed from a period this year where we watched a good bit of Discovery's Channel's "Deadliest Catch" shows, which showcases the lives of the Alaskan Crab Fishermen. "Crab Bait" became common words around here--namely to describe a snack. Everything revovled around getting "crab bait." However, i could not really find any good examples of crab cakes i liked. As Oliver's birthday neared, i still was stumped for a good cake idea. I decided to go ahead with a general "Under the Sea" theme and made up a quickie invitation digitally starting with Lynn Grieveson's H20 Kit. The kit comes with a super-cute octopus in it, and i think the theme followed from that point. Here's the invitation i made:

Credits: Lynn Grieveson's H2o Kit, Katie Pertiet's Seashell elements, Bisontine's Oh My Captain Kit, Cinnamon Design's Summer in Mind, Nikki Beaudreau's Clearly Summer, and Jen Ulasiewiscz Design Down By the Seashells.

Here's a picture of Oliver on party day before the guests arrive. He loved his lobster balloon.

I wanted to have all the food themed around the party, but i got too stressed (and too cheap) thinking about it all. In my imagination i envisioned some sort of shrimp dinner and crab cakes, but i ended up taking the easy way out. Brad offered to BBQ some pork butts, and that sounded very low-maintenance to me, so i graciously took on that idea. All i had to do was make some side dishes. I made mac-n-cheese, BBQ beans, and potato salad to go with. In fitting with the theme, i also made my spinach-artichoke dip, except that was "Seaweed Dip." Here's a fiery picture of the coals heatin' up to go into the smoker for Brad to BBQ his pork overnite. Cool picture, huh?!

Our house is not really set up for lots of people, so we were hoping the weather would work out in our favor so we could have everything out back since we have plenty of room out there. And it did--it was lovely out. Oliver's best little friend in the world, Maddie, showed up with 3 of her siblings, Sierra, Layton, and Lyndsay, as well as her Mom (my friend, Scarlet). The next-door neighbor kids, Tommy and Amanda, showed up with their Mom (my friend, Tricia). And i also invited the new neighbors across the fence. Their 3 kids had been talking to Oliver over our back wall for some time so i figured it was time to get to know them better! Oliver was so excited to make some more friends--Rilie, Ryan, and Karissa (and Mom and Dad Tina and Todd). Our friends Kevin and Gloria have been celebrating Oliver's birthdays with us each year and this was no exception. And it wouldn't be a party without our good friend, Jeannie, who was with us when Oliver came into the world, and has been helping to celebrate it with him each year as well. 8 adults i can handle. And 10 kids? It was a wild evening! With the kids ranging in age from 4 to 14, we planned a few little games that everyone could enjoy. We started with Ocean Critter Bingo:

We had a Crab Walk. Who could go the fastest through our little obstacle course. I tried to demonstrate the position (thank goodness there are no pictures of this!). Sierra won the contest for being the fastest, however i think an honorable mention is due to Layton, who had the funniest crab walk i have ever seen! We have no pictures, and a picture would not do it justice, but if we got this on video i will post it later--it is a funny sight...i think Layton's middle name might be "Slinky." Hehe. The crab walk was not the easiest game for the little ones. Oliver and Maddie struggled, but they were great sports!

Who doesn't love to do the LIMBO?? This was fun to watch. Especially with the bigger kids. Sierra and Layton did great. And for being the tallest, Rilie ROCKED! Must be nice to have all those young, lanky limbs they can bend and crunch down into squatty positions! And, a picture of Skippie (our doggie girl) just happy to be hanging out during the festivities. She always has a ball when we have lots of company over!

The STINGRAY TOSS. Self-explanatory.

Pinata time!! We got this dorky shark pinata that had big, drunken-looking eyes that just screamed DOHHHH! The game went from everyone being blindfolded with one hit....to 1 hit without the blindfold....to 3 good hits while looking....then real impatience set in and everyone just started whacking the thing to get it to break open, which it did. I forget which kid finally broke it, but i did the honors of whacking it good one final time so everyone could grab for the sweets....

Dinnertime. Phew. Finally we sit down for a few minutes to eat. Oliver was too good to sit at the long table with everyone. He has better things going on, thank you very much. He has fallen in love with Rilie and only wants to share his dinner with her. It was too cute.

My octopus-dogs seemed to go over very well. I cannot take credit for this trick, i googled it. But the kids all seemed to love the curled up hotdogs served over seashell pasta. Anything to make regular food more interesting gets kids excited. Just cut the hot dog in half lengthwise, just not all the way up. Then cut each half 3 times, which gives you four legs. Boil and the legs curl up! I love that this kept in with the octopus theme, although Lyndsay insisted they looked more like squids....

PRESENTS!! Too many pictures to show here, but this gives the general gist of the paper-tearing extravaganzaa!! Oliver got lots of nice things. Books. Dinosaurs. A Scooby-Doo pinball machine. Lite Brite. A piggy bank. A toy car. An Octopus Playdoh machine-thingie (perfect in keeping with the theme!). A big-boy bike with training wheels and a Big Wheel machine!

Although i was too overwhelmed for Oliver's 1st birthday party to think of it, each year since i have tried to make a homemade birthday cake for him. We always seem to have a theme, too. I am not a baker. But each year i have learned more and have acquired more neat little tools to work with. After last year's cake, i said that was it--i wasn't doing any more homemade cakes. Too stressful for me. Too much work and time....but, alas....the kidlet seems to get a lot of joy so i gave in again and made another cake. I had no good ideas for this cake but in keeping with the theme i decided to make the centerpiece of the cake an octopus. I made 2 GIANT rectangular chocolate cakes with a choclate mousse filling. I made a 3rd batch of cake that went into cupcake and dome shapes to be the "sea cave" my octopus would sit atop. I have never worked with fondant so this was a big challenge for me. I spent hours making the fondant and trying to mold it into a recognizable octopus. Not so easy. I was disappointed. I wrapped it in plastic and left it until party day. On Sunday, i piped on little details that gave my octopus a little more character and i was happy. I made a a big treasure chest to set opposite of the octopus, as well as a smaller one for the octopus to guard. The chests were filled with candy treats. 2 weeks prior to all of this, i used colored chocolate to mold lots of sea creatures to decorate around the cake with. Sour strips were the seaweed, and gummy sharks and other creatures helped round out the decors. It seemed plain, but once i got the frosting piped around the edges it all just seemed to come together! The final touch was a sprinkling of blue sparklies around for that blue ocean feel..... here are some snapshots on the evolution of the cake.....i have to say i am very proud of myself on this one. Brad says every year i out-do myself! It turned out really cool and was truly the hit of the party!! This sucker weighed in at 25 pounds and was a child's delight with all the candy!
And....the Piece de Resistance!!! Isn't is cute??

Close-up of the OCTOPUS.

Making a wish. Yep--it was a doozy. Oliver wished that the Bunyip wouldn't get him. Not your typical wish, but hey. What can i say? Oliver is in the phase where he loves anything to do with scary or creepy or monsters. It's just what's on his mind. Most people probably have NO CLUE what the heck a Bunyip is. We learned about it when we watched an old 70s movie called "Dot and the Kangaroo." To hear the theme song, click here. It is a common household term around here now. Oliver commonly sings the "Bunyip Song" from "Dot and the Kangaroo" to anyone who'll listen. Everyone looks at him (and me) with this "HUH?" look on their face. I guess only Aussies would get this. Anyways, lately Oliver has been asking me if i'll protect him from the Bunyip. I tell him..."Well, now that you're 4 years old, maybe now you can protect ME from the Bunyip." Hehehehe.

Chow time. It's all about the cake. After the party, i asked Oliver what was his favorite part about his birthday party? He responded..."Eating CAKE!!!"

A group shot at Party's End. Lyndsay, Karissa, Ryan, Maddie, Sierra, Layton, Oliver, Rilie. Tommy and Amanda already had headed home....

It really was a great day! Oliver really is in his element when surrouded by children. When it came time to walk everyone out, Oliver just lost it. He cried and cried and said he wanted all his little friends to stay at his house. :( The worse part came when he accidentally let loose of his lobster balloon and it flew straight up toward the Heavens. The horrendous sobbing began and it only subsided somewhat when i said that we could look for another one sometime. Thanks to everyone for sharing in his day!!

And another year in Oliverland begins.

For many more pictures of oliver's 4th Birthday see my slideshow here. There are 135 photos, so be sure to scroll down to catch them all!

More Birthday Activities

2008-10-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

A little side-by-side celebrating Oliver's birthday. Although the above is not the most flattering picture, it is nonetheless the most beautiful moment of my life. Next to it is 4 years later! Sweet stuff!

So today was the last day of this quarter's preschool class. They had a little Halloween party and the kids dressed up. With snacks laying all over the place, there was not much concentration left for learning letters and numbers. They made a little ghost windsock, then lined up and paraded down the hallway with noisy instruments to show themselves off. On return, it was time to eat! Since it also happened to be Oliver's birthday, everyone was so sweet to sing "Happy Birthday" to him before digging into the goodies. They had a blast! I tried to get a group shot and a picture of each child. I have to say that the girls are SO more willing to pose and smile for the camera...i am a little bit jealous of this!! Oliver is not usually a willing subject and i must threaten and/or bribe him to get any sort of cooperation. And it lasts for maybe 3 seconds...hence the not-so-great picture of my own child, but great ones of everyone else's child....hehehe. Are they not the cutest bunch??!!??

The Preschool Class

Oliver

Arianna
Bailee

Ella

John

Monica

Noah

A beautiful bunch of kidlets--even with mouthfuls of food and crumbs dripping from their mouths!!

After we returned home we played out back in the sunshine, ate lunch, and we let Oliver open a gift from Brad and I. A big tin of Tinker Toys. I am a sucker for retro toys, and since Oliver loves to build, this went over well. I was disappointed to see that they are no longer made of wood like they used to be. Everything is plastic now--but Oliver didn't seem to mind. He and Daddy proceeded to build a giant YOGO CART 4000 before Oliver crashed for a long nap that didn't end until 6pm. It was a good day. I guess this post will end Oliver's official birthday. More celebrating will come with his little birthday party planned for Sunday with some neighbors and friends. See you then!

Happy 4th Birthday Oliver!!

2008-10-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

Has it really been 4 years?? Where has the time gone? One thing's for sure, it has gone by FAST. Happy Birthday to our most precious blessing ever. We love you Oliver!

It has been a busy day, so i will post some more later this evening!

My First Post!!

2008-10-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well, well, how about this??!! --- I've finally joined in the land of bloggers! Never thought i'd see the day, but here it is. It was not without a LOT of frustration, as all this techie code and stuff is totally new to me. I will slowly be adding things as i figure them out. So bear with me.

I always thought blogging was silly and did not understand why anyone would want to aimlessly yatter away to whomever would listen. But, life always seems so hectic and hurried, so i figured this could be a great way to let those family and friends who i do not email on a regular basis (and those i do, of course) see what is going on in our little ole world here in Las Vegas. I can more easily let the Grandparents get shots of our days, instead of waiting for the pictures to end up in a digital layout. Because with limited time these days, i do not get to scrap as much as i would prefer.

Although Adventures in Oliverland will have a lot to do with what goes on in our life with Oliver, it will also be a great place to show off some of my digital scrapbook pages and photography. I am totally an amateur photographer, but love it nonetheless, and maybe someday i will be able to perfect my skills a bit more with some classes and training.

This time of year is so hectic for me! We just got back from visiting family in Mobile. Now that we are back i have been in the throes of planning Oliver's 4th birthday party, then we have Halloween. Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas...arghhhh!! I usually am a pretty organized gal, but i do tend to get stressed as i can be a bit of a perfectionist, and too many things swirling in my head make me dizzy! But hang on, and join me in our adventures on this little ride called life!!