Raking up our tissue paper leaves

This weekend we had a ton of fun enjoying fall and the activities that come with the season.  When Lily returned from gymnastics on Saturday morning, we played with some leaves.  Raking, jumping, dancing in them as they fell from the sky…and then she made a gorgeous piece of art, including some of her preschool pumpkins.

Since not many leaves fall here, we made our own fall fun!

Lily created these cool pumpkins at school. Glue and orange sand

Later that day we made some caramel popcorn.  Only that evening did I learn that Sam doesn’t like caramel.  That’s kind of great but kind of awful, too.  I guess I have to be in charge of making sure it all gets eaten 🙂  And after that, we went to the woods and collected building materials for a fairy house.  While we were in the woods, Ollie got to meet a new puppy–an 8 month old Golden named Lucky–and I am afraid we may have to continue to be a dog family.  He loves them!  Maggie is being fairly patient with him; O gets a tremendous kick out of trying to catch her.

 Sunday we readied the costumes and carved our pumpkins.  Strangely enough, even though Lily loves to paint and get messy that way, she wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin guts.  Notice the toothy grin of the big pumpkin.  Looks like a Weller, don’t you think?!?

Left:  A toothy Weller baby  Right:  A ghost pumpkin

Who is ONE?!?

Oliver William turned one on October 20.  What a great year, full of growth and movement and noises and little sleep.  As we all know, Ollie is one of the smiliest, happiest kids around; he’s a Joy Boy!

My little Oliver-


Your dad and I have had such a great year getting to know you and learning to juggle two little people.  You have taught us all how to temper our expectations(of how clean the house must be….of how much needs to really get done), slow down, practice patience and enjoy being together as a family.  Now that you are walking and talking and pointing out things you would like (and yelling about it when you don’t get it:-), we marvel at the speed with which your first year went by!  You are a super brother, son and little person…thank you for being ours!


                            xxoo-
                                  Mommy


Here are some scenes from your party…we all had a great time celebrating you!

Get ready because you will be seeing this photo many times in the coming months.  I love it.  Jen made us all look really good!  Okay-well, she made me look good.  My foundation and other makeup definitely was touched up in a masterly way in PhotoShop.  Yay!  Score one for The Mommy! 🙂

Drum roll, please…

Why should you get ready to see it a lot?  You will probably get both a Christmas card and present bearing this image, dear Followers.  Merry, merry!

but Oliver William has slept through the night TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!!!!


That is all.


Yipee!

Some nights it feels like crazy o’clock before everything finds it way to being “done”.  Even though we have a routine, there is time built in for just being cuckoo.  On this particular evening, Oliver was in bed, the kitchen was clean, and the only thing left to do was tuck Lily in and read some books.  I was attempting to hustle her upstairs {QUIETLY!} because O sometimes wakes at the slightest noise, it seems to me, but as I came down the hall, what did I happen upon but a big girl up the stairs…

Lily,


You amaze me with your ever expanding fearlessness.  For a girl who used to sit back and observe, you sure have grown into a Girl Adventure.  I love it.  It is fun watching you get into situations that are new and need figuring out.  In this case, coming back down was not as easy as going up.  I’m happy you still need my help 🙂 


                 xoxox Momma

Around here we are big fans of uncles.  We are big fans of uncles that throw us in the air, give us candy and treats, take lots of pictures and share their cameras, take us swimming and generally give us attention and cuddles. Since we’ve got FOUR, we don’t go long between visits from one of them.  Uncle Brent stopped by one night before we set off on our travels and played.  Ollie has discovered technology and like any Apple product-lover, gets pretty upset if he has it in his grasp and you attempt to take it away.  And you thought he was always a happy guy.  (He is really crying in the last photo!)

That would be me, follower(s).  Multiple excuses.  School keeps us busy.  We were gone AWOL for two weeks in the wilds of Pennsylvania.  The laptop was stolen (you are a bad, bad person, Canadian!).  None very good.  Here’s what I’m gonna do.  Get going again.  I have lots of stories to share and tons of pics to post.  Come on along!

xo
Heather