Oliver Trevor Jay Connell's Photoblog » smiles

oliver connell | day eleven hundred & forty-one

tcp — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:53:13 +0000

Now I believe last entry I talked about hibernating on the couch in our cozy living room during the winter. Yup – last time we made some goofy faces and snapped some pictures. It was fun. This time, we actually really did document our newest Sunday afternoon ritual. And even though I botched the family portrait of the three of us by overexposing it (I still love it because of all the sun rays in the photo), we had a lot of fun eating popcorn, watching movies and making memories. It’s becoming our favourite Sunday afternoon past-time.

PS: Last time I said that Oliver always just wants to watch Cars 2. Well this time he sat and watched (and I think enjoyed) The Incredibles. He kept picking up the DVD case and looking at all the pictures – I think that was a good sign that maybe we’ll be able to watch some different movies now….Here’s to hoping!

Enjoy!
t.

I love this photo Oliver took of me

The botched exposure on our family portrait (still love it though)

Dana took this fleeting shot of Oliver and I and I love it (moire and all!)

oliver connell | day eleven hundred & thirty-four

tcp — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:05:57 +0000

During the winter months here in Canada, it’s not easy to get outside with a little one when it’s so frickin’ cold. Ok, so we’ve been lucky this year and we’ve had a very mild (touch wood) winter. But it doesn’t stop Dana and I from wanting to just hibernate in our warm and cozy living room. It seems that Oliver has picked up some of those traits from us too. There really is nothing better then settling in on a late Sunday afternoon with your favourite movie and favourite people. Now if only we could get Oliver to watch a movie other then Cars 2, we’d be all set. LOL!

Enjoy some goofy afternoon photos we took.

Cheers!
t.

oliver connell | day eleven hundred & twenty-seven

tcp — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:19:29 +0000

We haven’t had much snow this winter and any that has fallen, it’s pretty much disappeared before our eyes. So when New Years Eve came around and we realized there was enough snow on the ground to get out and make Oliver his first snowman, we jumped at the opportunity. In some ways, Oliver has been looking forward to this for months!

Dana and Oliver made this really cool snowman on the front lawn, and then we went to the back yard where we had a bit of a snowball fight. We were teaching Oliver to throw snowballs, probably something we will regret in the coming years…LOL!

Again, we had a fabulous day together. It’s these kinds of days that I will cherish forever and I’m so glad I’ve got the photographs to remind me of how great this day was.

Cheers!
t.

oliver connell | day eleven hundred & twenty-one

tcp — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:44:57 +0000

Wow – was Christmas day a lot of fun this year! We had Santa pay us a visit early Christmas morning and he spoiled us rotten. SPOILED. ROTTEN. We had a lot of fun opening all the gifts that were left under our tree. I then got to working on cooking the bird while Oliver played with all his new toys and Dana got the house ready for our guests. We then had both sets of Grand Parents over along with Oliver’s Aunt, Uncle and Cousin for an early afternoon visit and Christmas dinner. We had a fire going for most of the day and it was super cozy in our house, the way it should be over Christmas.

Not a lot of pictures taken but a lot of great memories from a wonderful day.

Cheers!
t.

oliver connell | day eleven hundred & four

tcp — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:21:20 +0000

Every year we’ve taken Oliver to visit Santa at the Bramalea City Centre. When Santa comes there, he is always in a good mood and Oliver really enjoys seeing him. It’s also really fun to have a “family photo” taken with Santa each year. You can see how much we’ve changed over the past three years just by comparing the photos (year one here and year two here). Oliver is really growing up quickly!

Cheers!
t.

oliver connell | day one thousand & ninety-nine

tcp — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:45:17 +0000

Another year has past and another Lacelle family Christmas party is upon us. This year it was a little quieter than previous years, which made it a lot more cozy! Every year, Santa Claus makes a stop in Woodbridge for all the kids. Oliver loves visiting with Santa and this year he brought Oliver a couple new Chuggington Trains. Of course, Oliver thought Santa was bringing him some new cars from Cars 2 but Mum and Daddy knew that Santa was saving those wonderful gifts for Christmas at our house. You’ll see that in an upcoming post.

But for now, please enjoy the photos and if you have time, the six minute video of Oliver’s visit with Santa.

Cheers!
t.

And a video of Santa’s arrival and visit with the Lacelle family:

Video Short: Oliver’s 3rd Birthday

tcp — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:04:44 +0000

We didn’t take many photos on Oliver’s actual birthday but we did manage to get a couple of videos in. Oliver and I went to the grocery store the previous week and Oliver saw a cake with ice cream cones on the side. He said that was the one he wanted. So, when it came time to get him a cake, despite the synthetic sugary mess these cakes normally are, we got the one he wanted. As you can see, he enjoyed it immensely.

Happy birthday Oliver!

Cheers!
t.

oliver connell | day one thousand & eighty-seven

tcp — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:03:19 +0000

For Oliver’s 3rd birthday, Dana and I wanted to redo his bedroom. We knew we had stretched Oliver’s sleeping in a crib for as long as we could. It’s not very often that you hear of toddlers still sleeping in a crib by their third birthday and even though Oliver was still fine with it, we wanted to do something special. We had purchased a frame and headboard the previous month, and we had gotten a new mattress for when the time came to transfer him into a big boy bed. So, the weekend before Oliver’s birthday, we shipped him off to Grandma and Papa’s house so we could make the transformation.

When Oliver came home, he absolutely loved the room and he has transitioned flawlessly into his new bed.

___

I then went up and spent the day with my Mom and Dad. Since they weren’t going to see Oliver on his actual birthday, we celebrated that day instead. They spoiled him rotten (again) with clothes, matchbox cars, Chuggington trains, a new part of his track, and an awesome dinner and dessert, complete with cupcakes and ice cream. Needless to say, Oliver (and to some extent I) were in heaven!

The photo below is Oliver’s first photo of his Papa. I held the camera for him, he pointed it and pushed the button. I think it’s great!

And if you have 9 minutes, here is a video of Oliver’s birthday celebration:

All in all, we had a great and super productive weekend.

Cheers!
t.

oliver connell | day one thousand & thirty-six

tcp — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:04:46 +0000

Pancake Sunday. It’s become a staple around the Connell household. It’s something that Oliver and I do together every Sunday morning. I get up and have a shower and get dressed. By this time, Oliver is awake and wanting to head downstairs to make pancakes. Both he and I make them while Dana gets some much needed time to lounge a bit in bed. When they are ready, Oliver calls up to her and she joins us. We’ve got a pretty good system going here.

Oliver starts the cooking off by sampling a few of the chocolate chips that will be going into the pancakes

As I start to mix the ingredients together – Oliver loves to help

But his attention is quickly diverted by something else he loves to do: sort the spices

And as the first pancakes finish cooking

Oliver can’t wait any longer!

The final product when I finally get to dig in

On this morning, Oliver then got dressed in some new clothes and modelled a bit for me

And when it comes time to go outside, Oliver isn’t happy about wearing his touque

A face only a Mum or Dad could love

oliver connell | day nine hundred & eighty

tcp — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 16:56:44 +0000

In August, Dana and I returned to our family cottage “Cedar Tip” to try another week of vacationing with Oliver. If you recall, the first trip was when Oliver was still quite young and unfortunately, it was more work than a vacation. We had high hopes for this years trip and it didn’t disappoint. We spent the week with Oliver’s Grandma and Papa and our close family friends the Hodgdon’s from the States. Oliver quickly developed a crush on Christie, who was absolutely wonderful at entertaining him.

We enjoyed boat rides, shore Lunches, trips to local towns, fishing, swimming and eating. The weather was just wonderful too!

The week seemed to go by so quickly this time around. We are very happy with the memories we created at Cedar Tip this year and look forward to many more family vacations up there in the years to come.

Below are a bunch of images we took and a short video. I hope you enjoy.

and a short video of Oliver’s new crush Christie playing catch with him