Year: 2013
Our Blue Ghost
She loves walking around like this.
This always happens.
I called Owen over to sit with me to take a picture…
And Katie has to get involved—climbing up in my lap with Owen. 🙂
This is happening far too often.
I don’t like this stage where she has a mini tantrum when she doesn’t get her way. Thankfully it never lasts too long, as you can see in the first part of the video.
Owen’s cute new ‘do!
He was getting a bit scraggly so it was off for a haircut today. He said he wanted it short like daddy’s but we didn’t go quite that far. I wish I’d thought to do it before school pics last week.
No during photos because I forgot my phone…but he’s amazing now. No complaints, no whining, nothing. I even had to leave for a minute to take Katie out for a diaper change! He even told the lady about his toe!
Katie’s Nap
Katie must be enjoying being back to our normal quiet routine (or she was flat out exhausted after a week with the grandparents!). Instead of her recent 1.5 hour naps, today she’s going on 3 hours. 🙂
And she has one of Owen’s full-size Bs in with her…and she’s completely covered up with it!
Belly fun!
Katie is 16 months old today!
My calendar alarms are finally fixed and I remembered on time! I got a few decent ones out of 87 shots this morning!
7:15 Photo Shoot
9:00 Photo Shoot
When Gramma and Grandpa leave…
Before Gramma and Grandpa left.
Owen: I like when people leave.
Me: Why?
Owen: Because you stay here. 🙂
Not 30 seconds after we wave goodbye.
Owen: [Crying] I miss them and want them to stay here. I worry about them. 🙁
Me: It’s okay, I miss them, too.
Owenisms 29
On the way home from school one day, Owen was telling me about how Joshua went to the doctor and got a shot in his finger (not sure if it was a finger prick or an actual shot) and he kept jumping around to different stories about the day.
Owen: Mama, I’m not done with Josh’s story yet—it has more words.
While Skyping with daddy.
Me: Tell daddy who won the two games today.
Owen: Owen and Owen!
Driving home after school one day he started naming school buses.
Owen: That one’s Holly!
Me: Like Holly from your class?
Owen: YES! All the yellow ones are Holly.
Me: They’re all yellow.
Owen: No, some are blue. Those are named Jazzlyn.
After Katie throws stuff off her high chair tray.
Me: No no Miss Katie.
Owen: That’s not good.
Playing Candyland
One last game of Candyland with Gramma before they leave tomorrow!
Owen tried FIVE new foods today!
I’m thrilled when he tries one new food. Amazed when he tries two in a day. Three is rare. Four is unheard of.
Today he tried five. FIVE!
- Grits with ham and cheese (had two bites!)
- Craisin and white chocolate scone (didn’t like)
- Ham and string cheese wrap (loved!)
- Lemonade (didn’t like)
- Hush puppy (said he liked but didn’t finish a second one)
GO, OWEN!
Our Fashion Plate
Her outfit + Owen’s Spider-Man PJ top + one orange BabyLegs on her arm. 🙂
Birthday Bowling + A Toe Tragedy
Today we had a birthday party at a bowling alley for one of Owen’s classmates.
He had great fun using up his allotted tokens:
And I played one game for him and won over 100 tickets! He liked feeding them into the counting machine! (I thought we were done at this point which is why I turned them in so early. By the time the day was done, I had three redemption slips!)
Then it was time for pizza, cake, and opening presents. Overall it wasn’t too bad, but the party room was SUPER tiny for all the kids and let me just ask: If you were having a birthday party at a bowling alley on a limited time schedule with little kids with a short attention span, why on earth would you bring ALL your personal presents (at least 10-12)? Bring maybe 2-3 from mom and dad (if any at all) and open the rest at home. But anyway.
Owen was really very patient, and finally it was time for bowling. He wasn’t thrilled with the shoes but I told him he had to wear them. The first few frames went pretty well (they had the bumpers up) but honestly, trying to corral ten or so ~5-year-olds into bowling is like trying to herd cats. Kids running here, running there, between lanes, down the lanes while others are bowling, not waiting their turns, wanting to punch all the buttons on the display… And the noise level? Eeesh. Owen started complaining that the shoes hurt his feet and even though they felt fine, I let him take them off. I bowled in socks as a kid and so could he.
Here was his first go at it!
Then they brought out the helper stands—which made a HUGE difference in the success of each turn.
So it was only Owen and another kid on the last lane. This kid seemed to be a little older and a little bit of a brat—and I have NO idea who his mother was/parents were because no one was ever once close to him the whole time I was there. Well, in about frame six, this kid grabs a ball off the ball return and I guess was trying to be nice and bring Owen a ball for his turn… And just as I’m realizing this could go horribly wrong…yep, bowling ball to the toe. Screaming, wailing, tears, and a little boy sobbing in my lap.
A few moms and kids came over to see if he was okay (he was, he just had to cry a bit and settle down) and one offered to get some ice (oh, yeah, that would be good—I was so concerned with calming him down I had completely zoned on getting ice). Anyway, that was the end of the fun and he just kept saying he wanted to go home. I said we could but we had to leave the ice on for a bit first. The other kid never apologized (I’m sure he didn’t think anything of it) and whoever was there with him never came over (I recognized the few moms that did come over) so that was kind of annoying.
We did have to stop and redeem his tickets on the way out. He had picked out what he wanted earlier and of course they were out of that item. But the guy said we could pick ANYTHING in the case! (I mean it’s all cheap crap, but Owen was excited!) So he picked handcuffs! 🙂 Then it was a slow hobble to the car (I obviously can’t carry him) and he really was a trooper for as painful as I know it was. On the way home I tried to get his mind off it it and had him smiling and laughing. And since he can take pills now, I stopped at Walgreens to get some children’s Advil.
Of course he couldn’t wait to get home to tell Gramma and Grandpa about it and show them. We asked him if he knew the kid and he said no, but he always drops the bowling ball on his foot. 🙂
Grandparents and Grandkids
About 15 shots and not one with everyone looking at the camera with their eyes open…so these are the two best ones. 🙂
Of course, I took two quick shots with mom’s camera and got a better one!
A Dead Prius
So Tom’s car is a Prius. Since he’s deployed, we took off most of the insurance (I think it has “garage” insurance) and it sits in the driveway. We put Stabil in the gas tank and I go out every so often to start it and reposition it in the driveway so the tires don’t sit in the same spot for six months. I have gone though this routine twice before with two other cars—for 12-13 months each—with no issues.
So of course guess what happened?
I went out to start it the other day and the doors didn’t automatically unlock. I thought I heard a very faint single beep when I tried it, but wasn’t sure. Hmmm, okay, I’ll just pop the key out of the fob and manually unlock the doors. Press the start button. Nothing. Oh crap. Put the fob in the ignition. Nothing.
$&!#
I know NOTHING about this car, really, aside from it’s a hybrid and we probably should have done a bit more research before just going along with status quo. Tom has been gone three months. I’ve started it twice for a few minutes. So I am guessing it never ran long enough and the battery is dead (hybrids have two batteries—one regular 12v that starts the car and the more expensive hybrid system battery).
So I called USAA to see if the car is insured for getting a jump (since it just has the most basic insurance on it) and it turns out I had more insurance than I thought I did—though not roadside and not what I thought I had. Turns out USAA does not offer storage insurance in North Carolina, which is what I thought we had. (I asked if North Carolina ever had storage coverage because I was positive our premiums really decreased past deployments…but she said it’s never been offered…so I have no idea what happened before.) So the increased premium to get us back to what we normally carry is a mere $16 a month… So I have to talk to Tom, but it looks like I will just add on full coverage and try to drive it every now and again. (The other inexpensive option is to plug it in to a trickle charger…so I’m researching that.)
My TiVo friends helped me out with info and links and whatnot (i.e. talked me off the ledge) and today David helped me jump it.
It worked and I drove around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes. I’ll likely go out every day or so now just to start it until we decide on a more permanent solution.
Tom can come home any time now. 🙁
Sibling Play
Caught by Gramma Jean!
Pig in the Mud
This was farm week at school.
The drama queen.
Katie didn’t get her way…at first.
First School Picture Day!
I can’t wait to see how his first professional pictures turn out…even though he’s used to being photographed, I tried to coach him on smiling nice for the photographer since he won’t take 40 shots like I do. I hope the photog had better luck than I did this morning. We’ll find out in 2-3 weeks.
Lobsters!
So pretty…and so daunting. Mom had to help me with mine. 🙂
Carcasses!
Surprise mystery trip to the beach!
Gramma Jean wanted to go to the ocean and take the kids, so we picked Owen up from school and headed out! I knew Owen hadn’t eaten much lunch (the menu for the day was mostly stuff he wouldn’t eat) so he ate turkey rolls and cheese on the way. We were going to the beach on base since we were already part of the way there from picking Owen up. So, it occurred to me to call the commissary and find out if they had fresh lobsters (the last time mom was here and we wanted them, no place had them). And they did! So we stopped off there first—and what should have been a 10 minute or less stop turned into at least a half hour since no one was in the meat department to help me, no one was answering the buzzer, the sushi guy went off to find him, and then it still took a good 10 minutes for him to come back, then he had to catch the wily critters. Then the traffic was pretty bad (even though we were going the opposite direction)…so we finally got to the beach about 4:00 (we picked Owen up at 2:30!). GRRR.
But all was well because Owen was very excited:
Owen: Where’s my suit? Can I get my suit on?!
Me: I didn’t bring your suit. It’s too cold to swim—but you can get wet because I brought a change of clothes.
Owen: OKAY!
Off and running! No looking back!
Okay, maybe a little looking back. 🙂
The weather and water were actually pretty nice for it being November—both were warmer than we had in Myrtle Beach in March!
Katie had NO fear of the water and went right for it. Unfortunately…the ocean got the better of her…a few times. She just lost her footing and was rolling around in the water and then would get up and fall over again. The water wasn’t deep and she wasn’t in any danger and never once made a peep! Mom and I were both recording her, but mom’s video is better:
So, we weren’t at the beach for more than five minutes before she was completely soaked. 🙂
She loved grabbing handsful of sand and carrying them around and giving them to grandma!
We were only there about a half hour before we needed to call it quits—damn time change has it getting dark at 4:30 plus the kids were both wet and sandy.
Unfortunately, we then had a looooooooong ride home in after-work base traffic so we all got to experience what Tom goes through every day. One hour and 15 minutes to drive 26 miles (but really one hour to drive 15 miles because the last 15 minutes was smooth sailing).
But both kids had a great time and before we even got home Owen was asking to go back!
How good mac and cheese starts.
Gramma Jean requested homemade mac and cheese and I willingly obliged.
October pictures are online!
Sitting with Charlie
First Sibling Bath
A week or so ago, Owen asked to take a bath with Katie. She’s old enough now to sit up herself without me having to constantly monitor her, so I agreed…but I did want to wait until Gramma Jean was around to help just in case. 🙂
“Katie! It’s time for your bath!” Just like Owen, she heads right up the stairs!
Cute jams!
Baby in a Bucket
Owen’s first time in the same bucket at five months old (7-16-2009):
Pretty New Princess Dress
Thank you Gramma Jean!
Cute little leopard
Sharing the chair
Poor Maggie couldn’t get a minute to herself.
“Give Maggie a kiss!”
At that point, Maggie gave up and left. 🙂