Is anyone out there?

Well, friend(s) [I'm hopeful that there are more than one of you...], I know.  I know.  I stink at blogging.  But I would like to continue it if anyone wants to read it.  Here is a sweet, little, sneak peek at what you might get if I were ever to catch up on this blog.  I have pictures from France, Geneva, the park, family visits, 4th of July, and so much more...  But I also have life.  And boys.  And a husband.  And friends.  And a house to clean. And the list goes on...  So I'm asking if anyone is reading this.  If so, great.  I will use your responses as motivation to continue!  If not, we'll just see how far personal motivation takes me.  Not very far, I'm guessing! ;)

So, to make you [if you even exist!] smile:

Father's Day

We sort of lost track of the fact that Father's Day was coming...  We had planned for Matt and Nicole to come over so Chris and Matt could work on the landscape.  Oh well, it was a great Father's Day!  Nicole took some photos of Oli unawares (how grown up does he look?!?!?!):


And when he realized we were photographing him, he expressed his displeasure:

Which quickly turned to conversation:

And a smile:

In an effort that melted my heart (given that it was Father's Day, especially), Oliver tried very hard to "help" the men:

We finally managed to distract him from his "helping" with the bubble gun:

Which kept him entertained for quite some time:

Maybe not a typical Father's Day, but a great day for family and friends... what could be better? :)

Parc L'eau L'eau

Pronounced "park lo-lo", this is one of Oliver's favorite places.  In French, water is "eau," and the water is "l'eau"... the one French word Oliver continues to use.  So when I put his swimsuit on and told him we were going to a park with water, the name was born.

He LOVES this place:

It has two full playground sets which allow him to swing like a monkey (one of his favorite pastimes):

And plenty of "slishes":

On this particular visit, we had a lot of fun in the swing:







Until mom went a little "too high."  Oops:

And here is the real reason we came here - the splash pad.  Though Oliver wasn't too keen on getting splashed in the face, so this is about as close as he got:

Oh well, Uncle John stopped by to rescue him:

And he even helped him on the "high monkeys":

We will go back and he'll learn to enjoy the water, I'm sure.  But in the meantime, it's still a great park!

Park-Car

If your kid said "park-car" over and over again, what would you think he wanted to do?  Park the car?  No, silly, he wants to go to the car park.  Like a parking garage?  Of course not... it's a park with cars.  Duh.  At least that's how our conversations go when I tease him about the "park-car".  It's one of Oli's favorite places AND it's fenced in, so it was the perfect location to celebrate his birthday.

Riley took quick advantage of one of the many cars that lives at this park (super cool concept, right?!?!):

And Ashlynn got in some driving lessons, as well:

And Oli beat up Braden... ok, not really... in reality, they went down the slide together and both ended up on the ground at the end... Oli is just getting up here.  But cool story, right?

He was so thrilled to be playing with his friend Braden:

In an effort to make sure the kids had something to do in the shade when they were getting worn out from the playground, I brought a little craft - pots to decorate and seeds to plant:

Some took the project more seriously than others:

I love that Collin and his mommy decorated theirs for his daddy:

And is Ainsley just gorgeous or what?!?!

Our sweet friends spoiled my kid with gifts:

And I spoiled him with cupcakes... what else are birthdays for?

Titus seemed to enjoy his cupcake, too:

Oli had a blast.  Uncle John helped him play "monkeys":

Mr. Bryan tickled him:

And Mr. Seth brought the bubble machine.  Oliver was fascinated:

Kennedy seemed to enjoy the bubbles, too:

And sweet Elliot slept through almost the whole thing (are we seeing a pattern here?):

Oliver wasn't sure what to think when everyone sang happy birthday, but I know the day was a success:

We waited until after we got home and took a nap before opening presents (it just seemed smarter...), and Oliver enjoyed them all immensely.  He's already becoming a t-ball expert:

He wanted to read each new book (We love books!!  And yes, my kid is wearing his slippers... Birthdays are for indulging impulsive requests.):

He proudly displayed his new sidewalk chalk:

And practically crawled into the gift bag to find...

"Whoah! Truuuuuuuuuck....":

The chosen activity for the rest of the afternoon, though, was the miniature leaf blower from Nana and Papa:

Perfect, of course, because Daddy was working in the yard:

Oliver loved the "bub-wess":

And to finish out the perfect day, we took a little evening walk and found a fire truck.  Oli couldn't have been more excited:

Thank you to all our wonderful friends for making his day so special!!

Oliver is TWO!

I can't believe my sweet boy is now two years old... The time has absolutely raced by.  Though photos from his party will come later, here are a few pics from his actual birthday.

He woke up to his favorite breakfast: biscuits.  Which he decided were too hot at first:

But this sleep boy was sure happy about them!  I love the way he looks when he first wakes up:

And though I waited until the party the following Saturday for cupcakes, I did make an "O" cookie for him to take to his friends at mother's day out that day.  Since the only two letters he knows are "o" and "a", he's pretty excited when he sees an "o"... not to mention when he sees a cookie!

And that night Nana and Papa came over to eat the rest of the cookie dough:

And my precious birthday boy played with his new firetruck for hours, all the while saving the chocolate on his face for later. ;)

I love you, my two-year-old boy!!