Christmas!

Although it wasn't a White Christmas in rainy Portland, it didn't stop us from getting in the Holiday spirit, and it certainly didn't stop Santa from coming.

We are ready!

Although Ollie's still a bit too young to understand the concept of Christmas and Santa, he certainly knows that he loves a shiny wrapped present with a fun toy waiting for him inside.

Musical instruments from Grandma Donna!

Lots of truck noises...

...and truck decals... (Thanks Auntie Molly!)

...and real trucks!  (Thanks GGN!)

Can you see a theme here?

Paw-Paw and Oma (formerly known as Maw-Maw) joined us for Christmas this year.  Ollie loved playing with them and showing them around his new city!

We went to the Science Museum, where Ollie enjoyed the sandbox for the first time...

..and to the Zoo (an old favorite)...

...and to the aquarium (our new favorite!)

We packed it in!  But there was still plenty of time left for playing with our new toys...

...and looking handsome!

Merry Christmas everyone!

New Discoveries

Ollie recently discovered the Portland Aquarium.  Not a lot of people know about it because it's small and a bit of a drive, but it was worth it... Ollie was in big open water tank heaven!  Here he is, touching and feeding the fish.

Ahoy!

Ollie also recently discovered Mama's bag of chocolate covered pretzels...

What chocolate, Mama?

...and also discovered the spice cabinet.  The bottom shelf is the perfect height for him. He loves to remove the various items and place them throughout the house, including his room, the garbage can, and our bed (:

Catching Up

It's been nearly a month since I have written a post!  "Geeze" as Ollie says! November was a busy month for us...here are the highlights:

Chris headed to Philadelphia for a week long review course before his Oral Board exam, so Ollie and I headed to Wisconsin.  He has become an experienced traveler, and loves being at the airport.

Flying is exhausting!

It was so wonderful to step off the plane after a long day of travel and be greeted by Auntie Becca and cousin Emmy in Milwaukee!

First order of business was to eat...

 Then go on wagon rides with Emmy in the hallway...

And then bathe.  But Ollie and Emmy just wanted to run around and play with each other all night!

Thanks for a special visit, Waneks!  Ollie and Emmy are best friends for life (:

Then Ollie and I packed up our bags and headed to Madison to stay with the Hamms!  And, for the second time only, all 4 cousins were together.

3 vs. 1

We stayed for 2 nights and did lots of playing with Ellen and Buggie, who were so great about sharing all of their neat toys with Ollie. Jane is so, SO sweet to him. 

We miss you already, Nell Nell and Buggie!

Then we hit the road to Mimi and Bop's house in GB.  Ollie really loves it here. 

Trucks and trains with Bop!

Ollie made a very special poster for Dada on his test day.  It must have worked, because he PASSED!!!

 Later that day, Ollie crossed "Do the Lambeau Leap" off of his bucket list:

A special treat for me was to drive past our childhood home on 4456 Wyandot Trail. It still looks beautiful and exactly how I remember it.

We were lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving a week early (thanks Mom!), and were even luckier to spend it with GGN and GGT too.  Ollie got all dressed up for the special occasion:

Which way to the party?

"I'll have some turkey, and GGT's glasses please" 

GGN and OT got some quality truck book time together:

 On Sunday, Bop took Ollie to the Wildlife Sanctuary to feed the ducks. He still talks about this! (By making his duck noises...)

More Bop!  More!

Following a fabulous 2 weeks back in Wisco, we settled back into life in Portland.  We put up our tree on Thanksgiving Day, and Ollie got to put the star on the very tippy top.

 Of course, we went back to the zoo to drive the safari truck...

Played lots of peek-a-boo...

And gave Dollie lots and lots of kisses!