California

I wish we realized they were sitting right by the garbage can.




We're having a terrific time in California visiting Oliver's Aunt Mary and Uncle Mike and his cousins Olivia and Elise. We went to the San Diego zoo, and have been having a lot of fun. Oliver is having the best time running around and playing with his cousins. They're both really good with him. He's very happy.



One of Ollie's favorite things. Sitting at the table with Elise.

Baking take two

I decided to try to bake with Tuesdays with Dorie again. It is a good thing I didn't join over the summer. I would have been bounced out.

This week they are baking caramel crunch bars. They came out so yummy and they were easy to make. I put the whole thing together while I was waiting for our dinner to simmer.

Tet party

This Saturday we celebrated Tet and my birthday. This is our fourth year and by far the best one. Oliver had so much fun. He loved playing with all of the kids and staying up late. He loved the Vietnamese food especially the pho and bun cha. I think it is a great tradition and since Anthony and I love to cook it is nice that we can make Vietnamese food. We have an incredible asian market here so I was able to get everything we needed. I love how tastes and smells can bring you back to another time in your life.

fun things

Things are great here. Oliver is a lot of fun. He is into everything. He is trying very hard to climb on everything. His legs are a little too short to get on most of the furniture, but he sure is trying hard.

He loves to dance. He'll point to the radio and do this little wiggle dance move when he wants us to turn the music on. We went to a music class at the library today. He went right next to the singer and was dancing around. I was surprised at first because he is pretty shy around strangers, but when she bent down to play to him he took off. He takes a little while to warm up to new people especially men. Once he has figure out someone is cool than he is a total showoff.

We started a tumbling class last week. He didn't do too much. He walked around pointing and staring at things. The last ten minutes of the class he started going on all of the fun stuff. Hopefully, this week he feel a little more comfortable there. I think once he gets use to it he is going to love it.

In the last couple of weeks he has really started to play with his stuffed animals. He loves to give them hugs and kisses. When he wakes up in the morning or from a nap he'll play in his crib with them for a long time. It is funny to hear him giving them kisses. The other day I went into his room and he was standing in his crib waving at the window while a train was passing by.
Ollie is 14 months old tomorrow. My birthday is next week. I can't even believe it. Time is flying by. We haven't done anything to celebrate Tet yet. We are going to have a birthday/Tet celebration next weekend. My birthday always falls around the Lunar New Year. We have been incorporating both things for years. We are so excited to have Oliver here to join in the celebration.