Oliver had an exciting, action packed 3rd birthday!! It started on Friday morning, November 6th, when he came downstairs to a big stack of presents on the kitchen table - wow! He opened them up with Grandma Carole looking on from the webcam (Granddad was away on his travels) - his favorite presents were his new doctor set, and his cool plasma car. After breakfast, dad had to go in to work and Oliver had a nice webcam with his grandparents in Maine. Then we set off for Kitattiny State Park to meet Alison Snow and her boys James and Alex a
nd their friend, Christian. We all had a great walk (Oliver on his bike) to the airstrip at the end of the lake, where the boys enjoyed rolling down the hill and wrestling. It just isn't a birth
day without James and Alex to play with! Massive tantrum when it was time to go home, overtired boy... In the afternoon, Oliver helped me decorate his big birthday cake, which took a lot of time and effort!! It was super yummy, though - a recipe from my friend, Deanna, for maple chocolate carrot cake!! Decorating was fun, until Oliver decided he just wanted to take the big tubes of homemade colored frosting and suck on them
. Can't blame him, but ick! That night, we had pizza for dinner with dad, and a little ice cream cake with three candles, and several rounds of "Happy Birthday to you!!"
The next morning, we baked the sausage rolls (prepared the night before) and whipped up a million little cucumber sandwiches, packed up the car, and headed out to
Expresso Yourself in Sparta, for Oliver's party. Attending: Carys with Mark and Lisa, Emily with Marcy, Kayla with Melissa, Ryan with Carole, Georgie with Beth and John, and the 4 of us... Anja and her parents had to cancel because the girls hadn't been feeling well. What a fantastic place -- a lovely old house that's been turned into a pottery paint
ing studio/coffee bar. The kids had a great time picking a piece to paint, choosing colors, and painting with their parents. I loved it because the party was so small, we could really all chat together and have a good time. We had nice snacks and then big pieces of cake, and then we opened presents!!
The next day, we continued the tradition of going to the Bronx Zoo on Oliver's birthday, and it was as fun as ever. Oliver asked several times in the car ride there if the lion was going to eat him, but he seemed more curious than scared.
We told him that the lions are pretty well fed at the zoo, not to worry. We loved the sea lions best of all, as usual. It was around 75 degrees, crazy warm for November (!), just lovely. Maddie was happy as ever, facing out in the bjorn and taking everything in. Our big boy is 3... still having trouble remembering that. Or maybe facing it.
Oliver has been having more and more fun with his little sister... now that Maddie is so responsive and smiley, he likes to play with her sometimes. The other day, I put her on the floor to "practice" sitting with the boppy behind her, and Oliver said, "I want to sit, too!!" They were so cute together, I had to take some pictures. Then 
Oliver leaned in to give her a big hug of brotherly love, and I got this second photo - sweet! Maddie is almost 7 1/2 months old now, and she's sitting up on her own pretty much, with just the occasional tumble. She also has 2 teeth!! Her two front bottom teeth... I knew of the one coming in, but the second was a big surprise to me today!
