Oliver's birthday

Oliver turned 4 on August 19th. He was super excited because he started school the day before and he was able to take treats to share with his classmates and wear the birthday crown. He wanted many things for his birthday but one of them was to go see "Plane's Fire and Rescue." The theme then evolved into a firetruck/fireplane birthday. 

This is the after school on his birthday with some of his gifts. Since we weren't having the party until the follow weekend we told him he could open up one gift and of course he picks the biggest. It is an Imaginext Fire station. 

The movie was playing in our local theater the weekend after his birthday and both sets of grandparents came to the movie to help celebrate. This was Oliver's first movie in a theater and he did so well. He did keep asking where all the fire trucks were though and I kept telling him that it was about planes putting out fires.  

After the movie we came back  to our house for cake and presents. Since we just had popcorn at the theater we did presents first. 

 

Oliver requested a fire truck cake and he loved it. 

It tasted pretty yummy too.  

First Day of Preschool

We (as in me) had such a hard decision in whether or not to send Oliver to preschool this year since he turns 4 tomorrow and will be one of the youngest in his grade. Oliver did not have trouble, he was excited from the time I told him he would be going to school and riding the bus and that excitement didn't stop this morning when he went for his first day of school. 

I went upstairs to his room this morning and for once he wasn't hiding under the blanket from me like every morning, but was sitting at the side of the bed ready to go. He picked out his firetruck shirt to wear today and went running downstairs. He was so excited, so much so that he didn't even want to eat breakfast but I talked him into a zucchini muffin at least. 

We then waited on the porch until it was time to walk to the bus stop. The bus comes in the morning around 7:40 so most mornings, besides today, he will get on with the daycare kids still in St. Olaf. Preschool is full days Monday -Thursday so he rides the bus home again after school. 

Waiting for the bus with his friends. Kimberly, standing with Oliver above, is one of our daycare providers daughters who with her sister Rebecca are a big help with Oliver and especially in calming my nerves as I know they'll look after him and make sure he gets on and off the bus okay. 

Here's the bus. When it came up the hill Oliver wasn't jumping like he was before, he almost became timid but acted like he knew what to do and ran to get onto the bus once the driver signaled that it was okay to cross.  

He budged in front of people to climb onto the bus. Since he's still 3 years old today, he had to be harnessed in for one day, so I had to help him strap in. 

Grandpa Chuck met the bus at the school and snapped a few pictures. Here he's just gotten off the bus and met his teacher assistant. 

This afternoon when the bus dropped him off I met him at the bus stop and he was smiling saying that school is fun. Hopefully that excitement lasts for a few years at least. He said he played a lot and made some friends although he couldn't remember their names. He is fortunate that he has many daycare friends in his class and the other preschool class and his best friend from daycare and Oliver share a locker together. He said they had hamburgers and peaches for lunch and Goldfish that he brought for the class for snack along with milk. He likes the urinals and says it really cute as if saying 2 words- "urine-alls."  He told me he played outside, took a rest, read books, played kitchen, and colored. He said that the teacher told him that they were going to learn this year so I asked him what he learned today and he said to sit cris-crossed with his legs. :) He's excited to go back tomorrow and that's all that matters. We made birthday treats to take for tomorrow. I can't believe he'll be four, time can really slow down.