rock wall

Our rock wall is finally complete. We hired Paul's Rockeries to build our wall, and they did a great job! Oliver watched the tractor all day! He was so excited to have a tractor in our front yard that he woke up from his nap yelling "tractor" and running to our front window. Tomorrow we are going to the nursery to get flowers and plants for the rock wall. Eventually we'll change the slop above the wall too, so that we have more of a level area up top. Here are some before and after pictures:

Watching the tractor arrive. Oliver was so engrossed that I couldn't get his attention, no matter what I did!

The tractor

Before

halfway done

Oliver plays in the dirt as Nick looks on

The finished wall!

North side

South side

Video: Month 19

ballard locks and a hawaiin shirt

We enjoyed a beautiful morning at the Ballard Locks today. It has finally turned into spring here so it's much more fun to be outside now. Oliver loved watching the water and boats go through the locks. The fish ladder was closed so unfortunately we didn't get to see any fish today.

wondering why I'm taking a picture instead of giving him his snack!

look at that sky :)

train bridge

watching the water

he loves to climb

When we got home Oliver played in the backyard in nothing but a Hawaiian shirt.

he looks so much like Nick here

if I smile will you let me skip my nap, please?

Syttende Mai Parade

Yesterday evening we walked down to the Syttende Mai Parade, the 17th of May parade, which celebrates the Norwegian Constitution Day. Ballard has been celebrating it since 1889, and has the second largest parade in the world, only being beat by Norway. The weather was gorgeous and Oliver loved the marching bands.

Oliver eats blueberries while watching the parade

Caspar Babypants

I took Oliver to see a Caspar Babypants show at a toy store in University Village today. We are huge fans of his music, and he is really great with the kids in the audience. We saw him once last year as well.

Chris Ballew of Caspar Babypants

Chillin in mamas lap

Video: month 18

Here are some fun clips from March and April.

sunglasses

drummer boy

tent

This is where Oliver has been sleeping for the past few days. He loves it!

19 months

19 months today! Here are a few unseen pictures from last month. His favorite words of the month are "butter" and "knife". He would like to eat butter out of the container if we let him, and otherwise wants it in his eggs and toast. He asks for a knife when packages come and also to cut his fruit with. His current favorite toy is his play tent. He actually fell asleep in it tonight. We tried last night, but he was so excited about the possibility of sleeping in it that he just couldn't fall asleep. I'll try to get a picture soon. He is also very into Nick's electric guitar. If he makes his way upstairs by himself, we'll often find him putting on Nick's headphones (attached to the guitar amp) and strumming the guitar.

strumming with daddy

even using a pick

such concentration

gymboree last month

he loved it, but it was too cheesy and to expensive to continue

shoveling in the backyard

don't bother me, I have work to do!

shopping for my favorite veggie chips at Costco

another garbage day

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a nice brunch this morning at Portage Bay Cafe, one of my favorite places to eat breakfast. Oliver of course chose to eat my smoked salmon omelet over french toast or pancakes. Nick took these pictures of us, and you can see in the first one how he was trying to get our attention.

daddy

Oliver LOVES his daddy. The minute Nick walks in the door from work, Oliver immediately starts signing "playground" in hopes that Nick will take him. And Oliver is practically attached to his daddy when he's home, or at least he would like to be. He wants nothing to do with me, unless he wants milk, of course. Last night as Nick was putting Oliver to bed, I could hear little smooches because Oliver was smothering him kisses! This morning Oliver was overjoyed to find his daddy still in bed when he woke up, so he said "dada", rolled over and gave him a big hug and kiss. Soo sweet!

they like to wear the same hat

and drink smoothies together

Tree Removal!

Since we had some nice weather in the earlier part of the day today, Nick decided to take out the three huge Juniper trees we had in our front yard. He's planning to start building a rock retaining wall next week. Oliver watched most of the removal from the big window in front, and was thrilled when he got to help with the clean up.

gone!

this is heavy!

i love to help

especially when it involves wheelbarrows

this one is more my size

have to get it up the hill

dumping in just the right spot

And here's a cute video of Oliver helping with the cleanup:

Oliver sings a song

cuddling

Oliver loves to cuddle with Penny in the mornings.

play date

Every Monday we have a play date with three of Oliver's friends. This morning, it was our turn to host, and this chair was quite popular. I missed the photo of them all sitting in it at once because as soon as that happened, they were pushing one another out. All of the kids are within two weeks in age (Rachel is out of town).

Owen, Oliver and Tessa