Elliott's maple tree

Oliver received a Japanese Maple tree when he was born, so we saved a place in our front yard for a similar tree for Elliott. Since we have them planted in the front of our house, Nick wanted to get the same type of tree. So I thought, no problem, Oliver's is a Japanese Maple, we'll just go pick up another one. After calling the nursery, it turns out there are many, many variety of Japanese Maple trees and the only way to tell them apart is by their leaves, of which Oliver's tree has none since it dropped them all for the winter. I was disappointed and thought we were going to have to wait until spring to get Elliott his tree. A few days later, while scrolling through some of Oliver's baby pictures, I happened to find this picture of Oliver's maple tree when we first received it, and by zooming in, I was able to clearly read the variety, Hogyoku Japanese Maple.

What a lucky find! I called the nursery back, and it turned out they had just one left since they don't stock them in the winter. Thank you to grandma who went up there and picked it up for us! Because it was the only one left, we didn't get to select the size, and it turns out the tree is much more mature than Oliver's tree is, standing a good foot or two taller. Hopefully Oliver's will catch up soon :) Here is the family with Elliott's tree below and I'll take an annual picture of Elliott and his tree like I do with Oliver.

Elliott's tree, and Oliver's behind it, in the snow and decorated for the winter