The Storm, the Aftermath and a Milestone Birthday

Over a foot of heavy, wet snow fell all day yesterday. Anything with leaves on it is either bent over or broken off.
Every branch on this maple tree broke off. We were planning on having four either dead or leaning trees taken down this fall and this is one of them. Now it'll take weeks to get the tree guy here. We'll do what we can in the meantime.

This stand-alone dogwood was perfectly shaped, symmetrical, but no more.
John braved the falling branches and grilled ribs for the birthday boy's special dinner!
Happy Birthday, Jason!
This is an early morning view. The branch by the truck passenger side dented the door and tore off the door handle. The Jeep seems to be OK.
See the big leafy branches down along the street? This neighbor also had a tree fall across the road yesterday. It took several people with chain saws to get it out of the road. They did this during the storm, very risky, but necessary.

The lines supporting the squirrel obstacle course broke when the trees bent.

We were very fortunate there was no damage to the house. The biggest trees closest to the house had already lost their leaves.

About four neighbors had trees come down across their driveways. We'll probably be hearing chain saws for weeks to come. It was nice to talk to neighbors we never see. We all share a common problem today.

The plow will come by again soon.

Our neighbor's driveway is blocked! We were lucky, that's for sure.

Just as the guys were finished clearing snow this nice buck and some does walked by out back.

Oliver's Party

We celebrated Oliver's 3rd birthday a week early because Jim will be away next weekend. Can you believe it, three?!
Their house has lots of room to play and entertain guests. Trenton had fun playing with the balloon with everyone.
Oliver had fun with the balloon, too. Here he's saying "Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo" but then the rest of the rhyme is words of his own creation, then the first line repeated. Both grandmas and Aunt Arlene got a kick out this very cute routine!

The boys love the bouncy house. Trenton does flips, rolls, handstands and lots of bouncing!

"Thanks for coming to my Wiggles party!"

Trenton fooled around with his red peppers but eventually cleared his plate, plus ate a big roll AND had room for birthday cake!

Grandma and Pop-pop's CD was a big hit. It has Oliver's name in the songs!

We gave Oliver some cool magnetic cars that climb fridges plus a racetrack. They already had one car and knew how much fun they are.

Uncle Jay gave him a USA puzzle. Oliver knows he lives in New Jersey! Sheryl shows him where it is.

Oliver wanted to listen to his new Wiggles CD right away. These dance move pictures were soooo cute I couldn't leave any out!

Trenton loves to dance, too, but he likes the music of Black-Eyed Peas and other current groups better than the Wiggles.

Jim created Pin the Tail on Dorothy the Dinosaur especially for Oliver. Everyone got to have a turn with hilarious results.

Oliver's putting his party hat on and getting ready for birthday cake.

Taking a deep breath....

Grampack and Uncle Jay set up the race track and the boys started enjoying it right away.

This is our attempt at a posed picture ;-)

Soccer and Pumpkins

This picture's out of order due to a computer glitch but it was such a good one I didn't want to leave it out!

It was a beautiful morning to watch Trenton play soccer!
He's number 6. It was difficult to get an action shot.
Volunteering for something.

Oliver looks pensive. We were looking into the sun most of the time. What beautiful weather!

We lunched at Fins, a family favorite, where we have seafood tacos or burritos. Might sound unusual, but the food is delicious. After naptime we headed to a farm in Wall. There's a petting zoo, farm animals, a pumpkin patch and a hayride. Trenton's showing one of the ones he picked out and Oliver's still looking. Grampack keeps an eye on both boys.

Happy family!

Jim and Trenton chose a big one for carving.

We're laughing above because of the goat - below -

Oliver was a bit concerned when the goat jumped up on the fence.

The cows stuck out their tongues for slices of carrots. It was so funny when they stuck them out really far! Unfortunately, the pic was blurry but Sheryl may post one on her blog.

Thanks everyone for an enjoyable, memorable day!