It's a bird . . . it's a plane . . . it's a BABY!

Peay baby number two is on its way with an expected date of arrival on 09/09/09.

A Brief Reprieve

This week we have been enjoying temperatures in the 60-70's. It has been absolutely incredible and Ollie and I have been gobbling up every minute of outdoor weather before Denver remembers that it is January and the cold wind returns with a fury. All the nice weather has made us antsy to be outside all day long. Last night we decided to take a drive up Look-out mountain to Buffalo Bill's grave site and museum. The museum and gift shop were already closed, but the view of Golden (and Denver) was spectacular.

On the way home we stopped at Quiznos for some sandwiches. It was so funny to watch Ollie arrange his drink, chips and sandwich exactly the way his daddy did. My favorite was when he saw Sam wipe his face with a napkin, then crumple it up and throw it on the table. Of course Oliver insisted on doing the exact same thing and requested a new napkin after every bite. We went through a lot of napkins, but it was worth it to watch him and see his little personality. He surprises me everyday. I love it!

Where did Kramer hide the muffin bottoms?

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has the ingenious idea to sell only muffin tops, because that is the only part that people like to eat anyway? The episode ends with him driving around Manhattan with a bus full of muffin bottoms desperately trying to find a way to dispose of them. Well, we are experiencing a similar dilemma around our house this week. Only on a much smaller scale. Our local grocery store had a sale on miniature snack crackers, i.e. oreos, nutter butters and ritz crackers with cheese. I stocked up thinking that Oliver would like them as snacks. It turned out I was right, sort-of. Ollie likes to pull them apart and will only eat the side with the cream or cheese, the other half gets discarded. I don't want to just throw them away so I am collecting baggies and baggies of "other-halves." I don't have enough to fill up a Manhattan bus so I suppose I will just have to dispose of them the same way that I get rid of all the other food that I don't want to eat - pack it in Sam's lunch. Sorry honey.

On a happier note, I am very excited to report that Oliver went to nursery by himself for the very first time today. He is not officially eighteen months until February, but we started "practicing" last week. Meaning, we took him in there and stayed with him the entire time. This week when we took him there he ran right in and couldn't have cared less if we were around or not, so we left. He is not old enough yet, but they already had his name up on the board and that was good enough for us. I was pretty fidgety by the end of church. Not becuase I was worried about Ollie, but because I haven't actually sat down consecutively for that amount of time in at least ten or eleven months. It will take some getting used to.

Oliver also went in for his shots and check-up this week. The doctor placed him once again in the 50th percentile for both his height and weight. Which greatly confuses me because he isn't average, he is much taller than the other kids his age. It makes me wonder if the way they rank them has anything to do with where they started from, i.e. their birth weight. If there is anyone out there who is more knowledgeable about this than I am I would love an explanation.

Sam took this picture of Ollie after Oliver swiped Sam's ice cream and then his sunglasses.

Purls are a girls best friend

I have recently been in search of a new creative outlet. Lets face it, some days building oddly shaped animals out of Duplo blocks and finding new ways to get Thomas the Train stuck underneath the couch just don't use up enough of my creative energy. I mentioned to my mom that I might enjoy some kind of craft project for a Christmas present. Her solution was a set of knitting needles and some yarn. I admit, the thought of knitting had never really crossed my mind but I figured I would give it a shot - seeing as she went to all the trouble and all.

Three weeks later, I just have to say I'm hooked. I believe I may have discovered the perfect mommy craft. Here's why:

1. It does not destroy my entire house, when I want to work on my knitting I get out my needles and yarn, that is it. No sewing machine, no paint, no sand paper, etc., etc.

2. Your mind does not have to be absolutely absorbed in what your hands are doing. I can knit, plan dinner and listen to a book on tape all at the same time. The multi-tasking possibilities are endless.

3. It is an easy stop and go craft, nothing is going to be hurt by my throwing down my knitting and chasing after Oliver as he scaled up the bookcase.

4. It is totally portable, easy to take along to the park or to play group.

5. It is a good stress reliever.

Best of all, I have discovered the joys of felting. If you are a beginner like me it is a great way to start out because absolutely none of your mistakes show up. Check out my first finished project:


Oliver is modeling the size of my tote bag while it is still on the needles.


Here it is after binding it off and shaping it into a tote bag. (The newspaper is for a size reference.)


And here is the bag after felting it, i.e. washing it the washing machine.


And here is the finished project after being shaped and dried. Pretty cool huh. After finishing I decided that I am really not a fan of the colors that I picked out. But I am pretty proud of the fact that it turned out looking like a bag. It is nice and stiff too and stands up all on its own. So, to all of you creatively deprived individuals out there, I have to say grab yourself a pair of needles and some yarn because purls really are a girls best friend!!

He's a big boy now

It always shocks me to see Oliver doing grown up things. I know that he is almost seventeen months old, but I still think of him as a baby. The other day at the breakfast table he proved to me once again that he is growing up (way too fast by the way). He sat down to breakfast with Sam and I and fed himself a bowl of cold cereal, quite adeptly I might add. He also refused to drink from a sippy cup and insisted that the cereal box be placed in front of him so that he could "read" it. The killer was when he finished his cereal and then lifted the bowl to his lips to drink all of the extra milk. Just like his daddy.

Growing up, my mom devised a dish-doing game to try and motivate us to do our dish jobs. The game was fittingly called catch-up-and-quit. The game entailed my mom scraping dishes while one of us kids loaded them into the dishwasher. The idea was that if we were able to catch up and load the dishes faster than mom could scrape them, she would finish both dish jobs and we were free to go. She let us win just often enough to keep the game motivational.

Wouldn't it be great if she were still around to finish off all the jobs that I don't want to do. Updating a much outdated blog for example. I guess that is just part of growing up, so here it goes. Sorry it is so long.



One of my goals this Christmas was to make a real gingerbread house (not the graham cracker imitation). My super-cool mother-in-law helped me out by making an extra batch of dough for me. We even got together to decorate them. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it until the holidays were long past and Oliver had attacked it several times. It was pretty cute at one time. Sam's step-dad even rigged up a light to make my sucker windows glow.


We spent Christmas (actually almost the entire month of December) at my parents home. It was wonderful. We did Christmas morning a day late to give my little sister time to fly home from Hawaii. One of the greatest things about Christmas day, in my opinion, is spending the entire day in your pajamas. Of course, the presents are nice too and Sam totally spoiled me this year. Oliver didn't make out so bad himself. Santa even knew to stuff his stocking with berries because they are his very favorite.


Here is Oliver with his new rocking horse.


Of course, the greatest gift came from Grandpa who bought Oliver a Thomas the Train set. He was ecstatic from the moment he opened it. There was nothing we could do get him to put down the train, he carried it around for days. He took his naps with it, it sat next to his plate while he ate, and we experienced a complete meltdown when we pried it out of his hands to give him a bath. I guess that means he liked it. Way to go grandpa.


We were lucky to make the drive across Wyoming when we did. As soon as we arrived in Utah the snow started to fall and it didn't let up for a good week. For Oliver that meant his very first sledding experience.


We didn't have any boots for him so we improvised with baggies.


We hooked a sled up to the four-wheeler, but Ollie preferred to be a driver rather than a passenger. He really didn't get into the whole snow thing until we taught him how to throw a snowball, something he just couldn't get enough of.


The biggest event of our Christmas vacation was my little brother's wedding. Donald and Caci got married on January 2nd at Millcreek Inn. It was beautiful and we are so happy to have Caci in the family, she fit in great. The picture above is my sister Whitney and I at the wedding. As you can see, we have similar taste in haircuts. However, since she lives in Hawaii and I live in Colorado we figured it wasn't too big of a deal.


Here we all are before the big "I do." Donald, Sarah, Whitney, Ashley and I. In case you couldn't tell, I am the oldest.

Oliver's favorite part of the wedding was the dessert bar, he almost finished off the fruit trays all by himself. Go Ollie!

Golden Style Christmas

We got our first taste of Christmas in Golden this week as we participated in the "Candlelight Walk". The city went all out with tons of Christmas lights and the "Walk" included a well decorated trail with stops and free admission at all of the downtown historic sites and museums. We had a good time wandering around with friends, downing lots of free cider and cookies and letting our kids run a muck along the trail. The highlights of the evening were the reindeer and the roasted chestnuts (I have always wondered what roasted chestnuts were like and now I know, thanks Golden).

Grandpa's Shadow

After his mom and dad, Oliver's next favorite person is his Grandpa Ross. When we are staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Oliver becomes Grandpa's little shadow. Anything that Grandpa does Oliver must do also. Whether it be eating chips and salsa, watching a Jazz game or, Oliver's personal favorite, feeding the animals. The second Grandpa comes home from work Ollie knows that it is time to put on the gloves and go outside to take care of the dogs and horses. Over Thanksgiving, Grandpa went one step further by saddling one of the mules and taking Oliver for a ride. Needless to say he loved it. After every lap he would sign for more and Grandpa couldn't say no. Consequently, they spent a lot of time walking up and down the street and around the backyard.

Brrrrrrr.....

So, I was reading a friends blog in which she was complaining about the freezing cold weather they were having. And, of course, I couldn't keep myself from commenting and rubbing in the fact that we had been enjoying a week of 70+ degree temperatures. Well, as almost always happens, I got my payback when I woke up the next day to a miniature ice storm. We didn't get any snow and I wouldn't describe it as a frost either. Rather, it looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of water over everything and then stuck it in a freezer. Instead of merely scraping of my windshield I had to use my scraper as a hammer to break up the ice. Needless to say, it was not very enjoyable. The cold weather has come to us at last.

On the bright side, that also means fun holidays, family gatherings and yummy food. So, to help me see the warmer side of things I thought I would make a little list of the things I love about this time of year (please note that scraping my windows is not included):

1. I love that my husband is more obsessed with Christmas music than I am. As soon as Sam wakes up and every time he walks in the door he heads straight to the computer to turn on FM100.

2. I love love love Christmas trees. Simple ones, fancy ones, barren ones, fluffy ones, you name it, love it!

3. I love that Christmas is the season for English Toffee and homemade caramel. I am pretty certain that both of those things will exist in abundance up in heaven.

4. I love that everyone is just a little bit kinder and a bit more thoughtful during the holiday season.

5. I love Christmas movies. No Christmas season is complete without "White Christmas", "A Muppets Christmas Carol", "Elf", "The Santa Clause", "Miracle on 34th Street", and "It's A Wonderful Life".

6. I love knowing that my in-laws will have a big bag of pistachio nuts in their kitchen and that Marie will let me sit at her bar and chat and munch on nuts to my hearts content.

7. I love to see the lights.

8. While I don't enjoy scraping my windows, I have to admit that I do love snow at Christmastime. What becomes old, cold and dirty in January always seems so perfectly new, fluffy, and beautiful in December.

9. I love Christmas shopping. The stores are always bustling with shoppers (stores may be busy at other times, but they only bustle at Christmas). And it is always so exciting to pick out what to give people.

10. Last but not least I love that there are so many excuses to get together with friends and family.

This isn't a complete list, and they do not appear in any specific order. They are just a few of the things that make window-scraping worth it!

Down the tracks

Yesterday was free day at the Colorado Railroad Museum and so we got together with our friends, the Steeds, and ventured into the world of massive locomotives. Seeing as our backyard borders the museum and we get to hear their train whistle at least once a day, we figured it was about time that we got better acquainted. True to form, Oliver was mostly interested in the rocks, but he has a Thomas the Train book and he got excited when he recognized Thomas on some of the model trains.

All-in-all the museum was pretty interesting and I can see how a train enthusiast could really get into it, but in the end I was glad we went on free day. From now on, I think we will just stick to waving to the trains from our window.




Other exciting events of the week included a trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I thought it would be a good place for Oliver to run around inside, and it was. He loved it. We'll probably have to schedule another trip because after two hours of "running around" we had only visited about half of it. Whew.

This week was also our stake's "Fabulous Friday" a.k.a. "Super Saturday" and I found myself venturing into the world of arts and crafts, a trail I don't often tread. While I probably picked the easiest craft available I have to say that I am still pretty proud of myself because I think that my little Family Home Evening chart turned out quite cute. It is so nice to have people with artistic ability share their talents with "creative duds" like myself. Since one of my callings is the Enrichment Committee I got to spend the whole day at the church setting up, cleaning up and mingling. Sam and Oliver spent the day together and it was a success all the way around.

Our good week ended on an even better note as Sam and I were able to go out on one of those rare things that we call dates. We make an effort to get out together quite often, but this time we had the luxury of going without Oliver. We have gotten together with some friends in the ward and now take turns watching each others kids on date night. So while Oliver ate chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookies and watched 101 Dalmatians at the Koyle's house, Sam and I enjoyed a peaceful dinner and some uninteruppted adult conversation. Aaaah.