Well, not a lot going on here... Grandpa and Grandma Smith came for a visit (though we don't have any photographic proof of that!), Avery's on fall break for 2 weeks, and Oliver has made some massive soccer progress.

First of all, Oliver has basically stopped napping. He still does every once and a while... but when he doesn't, sometimes this happens....

Jeff and his parents went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (I was working)... gotta love the giraffes!And finally- the soccer progress! Let's recap- 1st week- lots of crying, won't participate. 2nd week- more crying, more non-participating. 3rd week- skipped- too much going on. 4th week- no crying at all, did everything his coach asked, followed directions, participated in everything!!!! And tonite- the 5th week- same- he did awesome! I don't know what switch he flipped, but he's been doing great! So here are some pics and videos.





Standing in line... doing a good job following directions!This picture is super blurry, but I was so proud of how good he was participating!!In this video, Avery is helping him warm-up a little!!





Well, Oliver is all big and 3 now, so it was time for him to get to do something fun!!! He's been dragged around to Avery's lessons and events forever, so its his turn!! Speaking of Avery- what a social butterfly she is! First she saw a friend from gymnastics camp at Oliver's game (gave her a big hug with a big "Hhhhiiiii!". Then she ran into our neighbor there, another hug. Then we went to Chik-Fil-A for dinner and two of her friends from school were there! So she giggled and played and giggled some more... "Lucas was being soooo funny!!!" She's killin' me!!!

Anyway, here's Oliver with his pee-wee sized, but soooo big for him shin guards! He got his uniform shirt- not sure what to make of it all!!

See the team over in the upper right corner? Oliver- not too willing to join!
He finally made his way over to the team, but would NOT sit down. He didn't know we were behind him- he kept looking for us on the other side.

He's now discovered that dad is going to help with the first drill.


And now he knows where mom is! (Oh- Avery was off in the field house somewhere playing with her friend- seriously is she 12???)
I believe this was after his giant crying spell during the game where his coach was supposed to tickle him (working on running fast?). Oliver is not down with semi-strangers tickling him! To his credit, I believe 1/2 of the team went down in a crying fit during that game. Did I mention its all 3-year-olds on his team?? He LOVED snack afterwards!!!




Oh and just for posterity's sake... the other crying fit? During pictures. He DID NOT want to hold the ball and smile. I was trying to get him to smile during the team picture and he just stone-face, tight-lip, gave me the no way shake off. We finally got him to at least stand on the stool and not put his hands in his mouth for his individual shot. Stinker. Immediately after pictures he was all smiles and in a silly, fun mood! Stinker.

Can you believe Oliver is 3?? Amazing!!! When we were doing some scouting shopping trips (to see what sort of toys he wants to ask for) he kept asking for toys that were too old for him. So we talked about the age listed on the box... he then kept asking "what number do you have to be for that one???!!!" And when the answer was 3, he would shout "THAT'S GOING TO BE MY NUMBER!!!!". It was a pretty humorous process!

So Oliver was pretty excited about his new number! He was also REALLY excited about his party! He was watching our neighbor and me making the capes for about 3 weeks, so he couldn't wait to share them with his friends! So, on with the onslaught of pictures!

Up first- Party Day! Oliver and Daddy, all ready for the party in their superhero shirts!
The first event of the party was the treasure hunt. Captain Bad Guy (whom you'll meet later) stole all of my treasure and threw it all over the backyard! So the kids got their capes and their superman bags and went hunting!Then, Captain Bad Guy was spotted!!! He was wreaking havoc in the front yard- luckily, we were ready with our superman water balloons!

This picture captured a pretty funny moment. The little boy right at the bottom of the picture had just run and thrown a balloon at Captain Bad Guy. I'm not sure what happened but somehow Jeff (I mean Captain Bad Guy) used his name. He was running back to get another balloon, screeched in his tracks, whipped around and said, "Captain Bad Guy, DO YOU KNOW ME????" *giggle*Not a super picture, but didn't those capes turn out amazing??? And isn't O's hair getting sooooo curly???!!! OK, the capes. My neighbor is an excellent seamstress. So I found an online tutorial for making capes and I took a stroll over to the neighbor's house! I have ZERO sewing experience/skill. She taught me how to buy material, how to cut stuff out, how to sew a semi straight line, how to stick patterns on- and then she did all of the really hard stuff!!! But I LOVED watching all of the kids running around with their capes!!Ok, after the Captain Bad Guy take down, it was time to brave hot lava, cross the shark infested ocean, crawl through the tunnel of darkness, bounce through a mountain range, climb the snowy peak, rescue the stolen gem, and slide down the natural rockslide. (Fancy code for an obstacle course) Here's O braving the hot lava...Braving the shark infested waters...Then it was present time! I call this the montage of Steph's ridiculous faces.
An excellent time was had by all!!! On Tuesday, his actual birthday, we opened all of the presents from family members. Wow- this is one lucky kid! His pile was HUGE!!! You'll notice that Oliver is blurry in most of the present opening pictures- there was usually bouncing and yelling involved!! He apparently really likes getting new toys! First a Batcave from Grandpa and Grandma Smith.

Then, a Batmobile from mom and dad. He kept yelling MONSTER TRUCK!!!! It pops up and has big wheels, so I guess it looks like a monster truck.

Then a cool tool bench!!
Oh this face!! I was reading him a card and he had his arms crossed with this silly look on his face. I think he was enduring the card until he could go play with his new toys. He did say after I was done reading, "hmm, that's nice."
The almost 3-year-old is moving on! There is no longer a crib in the Smith home. Oliver has graduated to his big boy bed!!! We got him a low loft bed- which does make us a little nervous. But it has a railing, and we put an extra one on (that only really gives us about an inch more height), we put couch cushions on the ground, so we're hoping he'll be ok. I wish I could explain how incredibly excited he is about his new bed! All day long, "I LOVE my new bed!!!" He and Avery played- peacefully- underneath it for a long time!!! He was very glad when he learned that kitty kat and all of his other stuffed animals could sleep in his big boy bed with him!






Avery wanted to read him his bedtime story!

You can sort of see how tall it us here. I think from the ground to the bottom rail is 28 inches. Sooooo much fun to be had under there! Neither of them knew that it was going to be this tall, so they were pumped! When Avery got home from school, she yelled, "It's like a fort all of the time!!!!!"



All ready for bed!!! He fell right to sleep. Here's hoping he stays in bed and stays asleep until the morning!

In other news, I have turned quite crafty in recent days!!! Oliver's birthday party will be Superman themed- so I had this brilliant idea to give out capes as the party favors. The problem is that I have zero sewing skills and no sewing machine!! BUT, my trusty neighbor has lots of both!!! (really- she has 6 machines!) So she's been teaching me to make these capes. Which is code for I do the things that need straight lines, some cutting, and some ironing. She does all of the hard stuff! But look how amazing they are!!!


Then, I was so inspired (and the machine already had red thread in it- I can't change the thread), I decided to try to make this valance that I've been wanting to do for about... 3 years! Yes, it was just straight lines, but still... I'm proud! This was a curtain- I had to make it wider, make the rod pocket on the top, and hem the bottom. No, its not straight, or even for that matter... but its better than the non-matching thing we had there before!!!!



Well, the time has come! Our little baby girl is going to be gone alllllll day now! She will officially be with her friends and teacher more than with us! YIKES!! But, if this smile is any indication, I think she's ready!


For those of you that have been around the blog for a while, will notice Oliver's marked improvement in his smiling skills! Thank goodness!







By her new door!








With her new teacher, Mrs. Berry!


At her very own desk!


Seriously, where did this little girl go? Isn't she still 3 years old and going to her first day of preschool? I don't understand what's happening.