Very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, 2009.

We had a quiet Christmas at home with just the three of us. We kicked it off on Christmas Eve by attending church service. Here is a family photo before heading out the door.

At the service, they gave all of the kids a packet of entertainment. So Smart! Keith and Oliver were checking it out before the service began.
Hey look, Santa was here!

Santa even left a special message for Oliver.

I noticed that Santa didn't have enough letters to spell out "Oliver" so he opted for the nickname his Dad calls him. I wonder how he knew?

Christmas morning, Oliver went straight for his special message from Santa.

Not that he could read it, but he wanted to check out the cool magnetic letters.

Nothing like new toddler music in your stocking.

What else did Santa put in your stocking?

Oliver asked his Dad for some help and them immediately flipped over onto his belly to get close. So cute!

Playing a Christmas tune on his new piano.

Programming something fun on his new computer.

Puzzles! Yay! Oliver is a big fan.

Big Tree

Small Boy

Oliver playing with some of his new animals. The two horses are his favorite.

I just love this one. Check out how he is holding up his car box with his foot.

Wow! This box from Santa is much bigger than Oliver! It MUST be the new choo choo set he asked Santa for.

Oliver scoping out Dad's handy work. It took a couple of hours to get this far. The whole time, Keith was commenting on how the tooling for the plastic parts was off by 1/8" on some pieces so they weren't fitting together. (only a plastics guy would know this stuff) Of course, he went into greater details, but that is the summary. I looked at the track, looked at the box with the pile of packaging and had two suggestions: 1) make it work 2) put it back in the box so I could return it to Santas work shop. He made it work and Oliver loves it! Thanks Dad!

Mmmmm.... mid-morning snack. Watching Dad work makes a boy hungry.

Christmas night we went to the Wells house for dinner. Oliver went straight to Jin's kitchen to whip up some dinner specials of his own.

The kiddos at the kids table.

Jin and Oliver diving into the gifts they exchanged.

Jin putting Oliver's hat back on. These two are so cute together.

Oliver and Jin doing a song and dance in their PJ's. It was something like "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo" over and over for about 20 minutes. They would march back and forth through the house singing their song. They played non-stop until we called it a night at 9:30.

The day after Christmas we took Oliver to his first movie in the theater with the Dampf family. We saw the Princess and the Frog and he LOVED it. Keith and I weren't impressed, but we were highly impressed that we now have one more thing we can take Oliver too. Movies may come in handy on the crummy weather days.

Oliver not only loved the movie experience, but the popcorn as well. Keith let me know that he needs to learn that when Dad's hand is in the popcorn, Oliver has to wait his turn. I have a feeling Oliver doesn't think having two hands in the popcorn is a problem. Just like he doesn't see a problem with double, triple or quadruple dipping. Maybe it is just his way of getting his own popcorn bowl, just like he gets his own dipping sauce. We knew this kid had big brains!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

From our house to yours, wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!! May Santa be good to you and fill your stockings to the rim.

Jeff and Lindsey - This post is with you in mind. Thanks for teaching Oliver that Santa says "Ho Ho Ho". It is so fun. We even had a lady today tell us that it made her day.

Oliver is posing with his Santa he made at school. You'll see this in nearly every video below.

Ok, so I bought the t-shirt just for these videos. It was on clearance and I coudln't resist.

This is an attempt to take a picture of both of our kids by the tree. If Oliver was smiling, Madalyn was running off. At least they are both sitting still in this one. Oliver truly loves Madalyn!
After the photo shoot, Oliver headed out to shovel snow with his Dad.
Coat - Check
Hat - Check
Gloves - Check
2 year old size shovel - Check

Oliver's First Broncos Game

My goal was to be up to date on the blog before Christmas. I'm very excited to say, I've made it!

This past Sunday, Keith was planning to take a client to the Broncos game. The client cancelled on Sunday morning so he decided to take Oliver and I. YAY! We were quite excited!!

This is the approach to Invesco Field at Miler High on a 60 degree blue sky day.

Oliver took a 20 minute nap on the way to the game. Since game time is often at 2:00, he usually is napping at home during kick off. He was great during the whole game, even with the short nap.
Hey... I've seen these fans on T.V.

Oliver and Keith hiking up to the front entrance with a sea of people.

Our seats were amazing!

16 rows up from the 50 yard line on the East side. We loved every minute of it. The only bummer was we were right in the middle of the aisle, and people in our aisle didn't move. Snacks, drinks and a potty break had to wait for half time.

Oliver clapped and cheered in all the right places. A true Broncos fan in the making!

We were close enough that I could zoom in on my little camera and take a picture of the coin toss.

Kick Off

A view of the NorthWest and North stands.

An attempt at a family self portrait. With tight quarters and Oliver seriously focused on the game, it was nearly an impossible task.

Notice it was SO warm, we took off our sweaters. Nice!

Proof that times have changed. The beer has been replaced by a sippy cup.

Oliver also gave looks of concern and disgust, in all the right places. Was it the crowds reaction he was responding too, or is football in his future?

Ahhh... finally... Oliver took a moment to give me some CHEESE!

Must have been a time out.

Oliver and I having some fun.

Half Time = Snack Time!

Nothing like a chicken strip with ranch at the football game. YUM!

You may also notice Oliver put his sweater back on and added a hat. Once the sun went down it got chilly. Good thing we were prepared with lots of layers.

Miles, the mascot, working the crowd.

NO!!!!!

Not a Raiders Touchdown!!!

Somebody stop them!!

Oliver LOVED the football game, but I think his favorite part was the horse running down the field after every Broncos score. Well, he is only two, ya know.

Before the end, we all had our winter gear on. From 60 to chilly, before we knew it.

With two minutes left in the game and a roaring crowd on their feet, Oliver had decided he was done and asked for "Mommy". Within moments, he put his head down on my shoulder, closed his eyes and went to sleep. So Sweet! It had been a LONG day, with a 20 minute nap. He was tucked in and warm in his winter coat and he had a full belly of chicken strips dipped in ranch. (he was also sleeping on the pocket with the camera so we couldn't get a picture)

Who knows, maybe he really knew how the game was going to end. In the last 45 seconds, the Raiders scored a touchdown to win the game 20-19. It was a sad ending, but also our queue to get out of the stadium before the other 72,000+ people.

For the hike back to the car, I handed over our 25 lb kid who felt like 50 lbs. How is it they seem to gain weight when they go to sleep? He slept soundly through the long hike, being jostled into the car seat and all the way home. Once in the garage, he popped his eyes open and was ready for action. 9 PM that night, we were still trying to get him to sleep. He had such a great day, all he talked about was "football" and "horsey". I'm sure the next day of school it was the talk of the day with his buddies.