2 Years Old

Oliver turned 2 on January 5th. Hard to believe I have a 2 year old. But a fabulous one he is!

We kept the day pretty low key. Nathan works nights, so while he slept Oliver and I ran errands, such as getting PINK balloons. And did other things to get ready for his party, including decorating PINK cupcakes.

Oh yes. Pink. He wanted pink, so we had pink. Funny, but I figure it's harmless at 2, right? We also went to a toy store with my mom in the morning, where Oliver got 1 early present. Then while I was busy doing stuff around the house he got to open 1 other early present - I figured that would help the whole day feel more special.

For dinner I made Oliver's favorite food: PIZZA!It was my first real attempt at homemade pizza and it turned out pretty good.

The party was low key too. In attendance were my mom, Ryan and Ashly, Nathan's mom, Caitlin, and Pud and Ude. We sang "Happy Birthday" which was a little intimidating for Oliver. Had cupcakes, he wanted the one on top. And opened presents. Oliver had a blast. He wanted the packages with pink bows first, but enjoyed opening them all. Among the loot: 2 puzzle sets, The Ant and The Elephant, Harold and the Purple Crayon, a Cars "find it" book, sheets for his "big boy bed" (he knew exactly what they were for), new PJs and jacket, new shoes, a Little People airplane, and a roll of quarters to put in his bank.

Resolved

I'm not a person that makes new resolutions each year, but I'm in the mood, so here I go. There are a few things that I really want to accomplish/get better at this year, all of which I know I am capable of.

1. Get back into a more regular exercising pattern (walking and something new) and do at least one race (probably a half marathon)... mainly I want to maintain my physical endurance

2. Practice piano more and challenge myself more - and start to learn (or at least attempt to learn) to play the guitar

3. Cook more meals at home and eat out less - this requires more planning... hmmm...

4. Go to the temple more (this won't be hard considering 2009's attendance) - I can't say monthly, because for me that's just not realistic, but somewhere in the range of 10-15 times would be good, more would be better

5. Stay ahead of the bills and work down that debt!

6. Complain less/try not to be bothered by menial things as much

7. Have more days where I actually "get ready" and feel cute - it's good for me

8. Try not to stress out so much about laundry and dishes and cleaning - the best way I think to do this is to stay more on top of them - the goal here is to keep it under control without letting it control me I guess (and always remember that Oliver and Nathan are more important than finishing what I'm doing - this stuff can wait)

9. Read more, sew more, create more

10. Get Oliver engaged in more stimulating, productive, learning and social activities

But the most important goal is to remember that the purpose of having the aforementioned goals, what I truly resolve to do, is to strengthen home, marriage, family and yes myself, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. If those things aren't happening, then the goals are defunct.

Don't tell Oliver, but...

... there's fruit in there!

Oliver is generally a pretty good eater. He definitely has favorites that he prefers, but if we all sit down for dinner he'll usually eat what we eat, and he even likes brocolli. However, he doesn't like raw vegetables and the only fruit he likes (and will actually eat) is grapes and an occasional banana. I have felt a need to broaden his produce consumption lately, particularly when it comes to fruit.

A big shout out to my friend Danielle, whose blog post about her own picky eater, inspired me to finally give smoothies a try! The first 2 tries were hits - the 3rd, not so much, but I didn't like it that much either so I can't blame him. So far this week he has eaten peaches, raspberries, and strawberries!

Our Little Croft Christmas

This Christmas was a really good one. Despite my (somewhat failing) efforts at a festive holiday activity filled advent calendar, it didn't really feel like Christmas until it was here, but that's OK.

On the 23rd Oliver and my mom made Christmas cut-out cookies. For some reason that turned the table for me (and my mom I think) and made it actually seem like Christmas. It was fun, it was cute. Oliver had a blast and couldn't make more cookies fast enough. I've honestly never seen him so happy to be such a mess, he had flour all over himself and didn't care (normally he would freak out about that). The cookies were charmingly imperfect.

Christmas Eve was a busy and fun day. While Nathan slept, Oliver and I went to my mom's house to decorate the cookies, make other Christmas treats, and such. When Nathan woke up he came over and he and Oliver made the cutest little snow man ever! Immediately following which we went to Pud and Ude's house for dinner. Nathan's family and the Mauerhans were at dinner and we had a nice, fun evening together. From there Nathan went to work (yay for overtime pay!) and I went home, put Oliver to bed, and finished "getting ready" for Christmas.

Christmas Day:

Oliver was very excited about the basketball hoop Santa brought him - he literally skipped across the room to it! He was so excited to finally open the presents under the tree. Other gifts he especially loved were his Transformer (and Nathan's too) and the remote control bus Uncle Jason & Aunt Shelley sent him. I was excited to get 4 seasons of Scrubs from Nathan - he must love me.

In the afternoon Nathan's family came over to visit for an hour or so. Oliver had fun playing with Steven and Caitlin - was excited about the "candy book" (the Candy Cane book) and movie he got from Grandma Pam and Grandpa Dave.

The late afternoon/evening was spent at my mom's house - where we opened presents and then had a huge and delicious dinner. Oliver was super excited to get a great big Mack that carries his cars, as well as his fire truck jammies, and another (smaller and easier) Transformer from Ryan and Ashly. Nathan and I played a card game with Ryan and Ashly that lasted forever but was really fun, while my mom kept an eye on Ollie. By the time the game ended we were all tired and it was plenty past Oliver's bed time so that's where the night ended.

It was a good, happy, fun, busy Christmas.