Tom gave me the okay to upgrade…and actually placed the order for me from Afghanistan since it was lunchtime there (when pre-ordering opened) instead of me having to be up at 3am here! (I know—what a guy!)
That it was scheduled to arrived ON my birthday was just…icing on the cake so-to-speak. 🙂
Oooh…it’s sooo pretty… I hate to put a cover on it but I don’t trust myself OR the kids. It’s also why I bought a warranty on it. 🙂
The best self-portrait, but a little blurry.
A little better…
I invited the moms from my mommy group and my two oldest friends so we had a party of six!
Unfortunately, the restaurant ticked me off…oh, we weren’t late, but they told us we could only have the table until 7:30 because there was another reservation…so if we thought we’d be longer than an hour and a half, we had to move tables right then. I said “It might have been nice to know that when I called.” The owner didn’t respond. 🙁
So we missed out on the seating I wanted AND requested—cool bench seats and cushions with lots of space (it’s a middle eastern place) and instead got a cramped U-shaped booth which was hot and a little squished (we fit but it wasn’t as comfortable as I’d planned on).
To add insult to injury, we ended up being done about 7:35. And the drinks were weak. And while it was a really nice time and we had some great laughs, it wasn’t what I had imagined in my head…which was totally my own fault but still disappointing. (This is the same place we had a friends birthday dinner a few weeks back and we had an AWESOME waiter and the time just flew and I was annoyed to have to leave early.) Stupid me wanted to recreate that night and I should know that’s impossible. I should have just done Mexican like I first thought.
Karen (old friend) and Amy (mom group/our sitter):
Me and Alea (mom group/Braxton’s mom):
Kathryn (mom group) and me:
Ursula (old friend) was taking the pics so she didn’t get in one. She was also my DD for the night (even though it turned out I didn’t need it)!
But all in all it was a good way to ring in turning 40…I was with friends, I was home at a decent hour, and I didn’t drink enough to worry about a hangover. 🙂
Owen picked out his Halloween costume at Costco today as a reward for being a good boy at the hospital. I had hoped he’d go for Iron Man (since we already have the real mask and arm band) but no, he wanted Robo Knight (one of the Power Rangers). He has never watched Power Rangers (as far as I know) and really only wanted it because it was called Robo Knight. 🙂
Of course, he had to put it on for daddy.
And then of course I made him pose for me:
Edited two hours later to add: He still hasn’t taken it off!
One of the playgroup kids had a birthday today. When telling Owen what house it was at, I told him “where you had cake and there was a waterside.” So we get there and as we walk in the front door, you can see straight through to the back yard where they have a bounce house set up. Owen was EXCITED. Before I know it, he’s in front of me pulling his shirt off and asking if he can be naked—I’m guessing he thought it was a water slide! I explained it was just a bouncy house (NOT a pool!) and he didn’t need to be naked. 🙂 Thankfully he was still excited!
Happy 12th anniversary from halfway across the world, baby! It feels like just yesterday but also like we’ve been together our whole lives as I can’t imagine my life before you. I love you and miss you desperately!
And this year—after a respectable 11-year run—we FINALLY ended our accidental-turned-scheduled anniversary tradition of having Chinese for dinner. Damn marine corps not offering anything remotely Chinese in Afghanistan today. Hmph.
However.
We’re possibly starting a new tradition as Tom had steak and shrimp…so I figured instead of me just grabbing Chinese take out, I’d go and get steak and shrimp as well!
However.
I didn’t really want to get it take-out (who wants steak and shrimp to cool off on the 20-minute ride home?) but I honestly didn’t want to go by myself (well, with the kids)…so I sent an open invitation to my moms group…and one mom offered to come out with me (well, plus one of her kids). So…YAY for friends! And new traditions!
That said…WOW. I don’t think I’ll be taking the kids out by myself anytime soon. Or if I do, it will be to a FAST FOOD place or somewhere we can get much faster service.
Those of you with small kids will understand—you do everything QUICKLY. You order quickly (you quite possibly even order the kids meals first), you pay the check quickly, and you’re hopefully out of there before the squirming and whining begins. But unfortunately that was not how tonight played out. I fully blame the waitress, who constantly disappeared for loooong periods at every stage of the meal. Tom and I can usually get in and out in under 40 minutes. Ruth and I were there (at the same place) for just under ONE AND A HALF HOURS. Good god.
Ruth was a godsend, though. At one moment when it was a bit of a circus—everyone was noisy, there was too much crap on the tables and nowhere to put anything, Katie had reached for the knife three times in under a minute and was spilling corn all over the floor, Owen was asking for the third time where his milk was (damn slow waitress!), we were trying to share the onion appetizer…all while trying to place our food order—she volunteered to take the kids (my two and her one) for a brief walk so I could have a breather. And then she noticed Katie needed a diaper change so she did that, too.
/sigh
Of course, Owen didn’t follow along quickly enough and then Ruth was too far away for him to chase after so he stayed with me. Then announced he had to pee…so I had to take him back to the bathroom anyway. But then I left him with Ruth and went back to the table as they took a quick roundabout tour of the restaurant and I got to eat three bites of my salad in peace.
Overall it was a great meal—the steak and shrimp were REALLY good. It may have spoiled my usual order at that restaurant as well (I have ever only ordered one single thing every time we’ve gone there). The only thing that could have made it better? To have been able to calmly and slowly eat the yummy meal in peace and quiet—appreciating the food—instead of just shoving in a random bite here and there between managing two kids. Well, I guess that’s technically more than one thing. 🙂
I am so glad to have made a few new good mom friends who just UNDERSTAND and are willing to lend a hand—or supportive meal—when it’s needed.
And on that note… I mentioned that I’d probably order steak every time I went out because I wouldn’t be eating it at home because I don’t grill. And Ruth pipes up “I GRILL!” So I’ll provide the protein and the grill, she’ll provide the actual grilling, the kids can play in the pool…YAY!
He doesn’t quite have all the lyrics down but it’s still cute.
Today was the big day of our Deckwarming party (and Tom’s going away party) as well as a mini celebration of Katie’s first birthday (technically her third first birthday as we already celebrated in Michigan, then she had her actual birthday on the 10th, and then today’s gathering). It was a long, hot, tiring—yet fun—day.
Party-prep is so much work—it never seems like stuff will take that long…but it always does. I was VERY thankful to have hired Virginia to come watch the kids while we did the prep because then I didn’t have to listen to Katie screaming because I wasn’t paying attention to her…and I was actually able to get stuff done! I loved what Virginia posted on Facebook—it’s classic Owen:
As usual, we had too much food (or maybe just not enough people?!) but then, I’m a Len and we apparently don’t know how to cook for less than 40 people (or are paranoid about not having enough food regardless of the number of people). 🙂 But everything was delicious.
The weather actually held out—it was touch and go for awhile with intermittent thunderstorms pretty much all morning and early afternoon—but it cleared up about 4 and was sunny and gorgeous (though the humidity was right at about 99%).
We had a good blend of old (Mitchells and Trimbles) and new friends (from my mommy group) and the kids had a blast in the playroom and in the pool.
Then it was time for the birthday cake. I had wanted to do something special for Katie so she didn’t fall into that “second kid gets squat compared to the first kid” thing PLUS after Owen’s Lego cake debacle I had decided I was never attempting to bake a cake again…so I asked our friend Ursula to make a cake. She has recently started making and decorating cakes and she’s ABSOLUTELY AMAZING (as opposed to my first attempt—see above Lego debacle post). Here’s the picture I sent her (that I found on Pinterest) along with her version on the right (I asked for the 1 on top instead of the ladybug and only two layers):
Amazing, right?
Also a big thanks to mommy-group friend Jacqueline who helped with my last-minute ice cream request (Doh! How could we have forgotten ice cream on our three trips to town?!) and pre-party kitchen cleanup (she arrived during the last 15-minute rush to get everything done, saw I was a bit overwhelmed, and jumped in to wash the sink full of dishes).
Some of the kids playing dress up:
Having a blast in the pool:
Wandering:
She made such a mess that we had to hose off the deck (thanks, Roger!) and give her a quick bath in the sink with Dawn detergent (I hadn’t planned ahead to have baby soap downstairs). Here she is somewhat cleaned up, back with Virginia again.
Since Owen was having so much fun in the pool and with the kids, we let him stay up late. This is about 9:30 right before he finally went to bed.
Thanks to everyone who shared the day with me and Tom!! And you can tell we’re all getting older…everyone had gone home by 10:15!! 🙂
First outfit of the day…a white onesie (with design that could be covered up by the sticker) from Gramma Jean. I didn’t put her in the matching pants because they clashed with the sticker. 🙂
Here you can see the actual onesie. She started ripping the sticker off after the first 100 photos. 🙂 This is also where she loves to play—the coat rack. I’m not sure what she’ll do when we finally get hooks attached to the bottom level for their coats!
Post-nap outfit change! This one is from Grauntie Sue! It’s scary because it’s size 18mo and fits pretty well.
We were invited to a BBQ today…and Owen had a blast since they had not one but TWO waterslides there! He spent the first part of the day on the little slide and was just having a ball running around with the other kids and playing on this slide.
We asked, but he didn’t want anything to do with the big slide…but then when I came back outside after saying goodbye to Tom and Katie (he took her home for a nap) I couldn’t find Owen anywhere. Turns out he was on the big slide!
And he played. And played. And played. And played. We got there at 3 and he went straight to the slide…and he was pretty much going non-stop until we left at 7. (He did take about a 10-minute break to have a snack of graham crackers and milk and then maybe a 5-minute-total break to have a few bites of chocolate cake but that was IT. He didn’t even take a potty break, even though I asked every half hour or so.)
A closer up look at that happy face!
He did take a brief break from the big slide to hit the small pool—which he enjoyed flopping over the edge to make a big splash!
And then it was back to the big slide…with a gun!
And then a few more trips down the little slide before it got put away.
On the ride home, Owen admitted he was tired. We got home and I was exhausted. From simply sitting around at an outdoor party. SITTING. (Well, there was some walking around and eating, but it was mostly sitting.) And it was warm but actually okay in the shade and there was a breeze.
Even though Owen is actually old enough that we could let him run around without actually having to keep an eye on him 100% of the time, I didn’t get to visit with everyone as much as I’d hoped. But it was wonderful being able to just sit and watch him play and have soooo much fun WITHOUT having to worry about watching Katie at the same time.
All in all, a very good day!
STAY TUNED FOR VIDEO UPLOADS.
Tom bought some little firework-type stuff to show Owen…and also to hopefully desensitize him to those noises.
The poppers bothered him at first, but then he got right into it and loved it!
Then it was time for the snakes! He thought they were cool, too…and called them fire snakes and poop snakes (since they really quite look like poop when they’re done). And then of course he was being a ham.
And then more poppers with Uncle Rob…
Her second first birthday onesie!
Her birthday balloon and bib at the hotel for her party!
Making faces with Papa.
Amazingly, she didn’t dive into the cake.
Singing Happy Birthday and big brother helping blow out the candle! (Yes, it’s a little blurry. I have a FAIL every now and again.)
Also amazingly, she didn’t make much of a mess. Yes, SHE got messy, but she ate the whole piece and none hit the floor!
Her new suit and coverup from Grauntie Rose!
Up and out completely on her own!
She would have dove in had Tom let her.
It was impossible to get all three looking at me at the same time.
She kept trying to drink the water!
She loved playing with Papa’s toes!
Drying off with Grandma Marsha.
Waiting to open presents!
A fun game Katie had with some grandparents…
Since we were on vacation with access to all the grandparents (and Uncle Rob and Grauntie Marge) we decided to celebrate Katie’s first birthday a little early (just three weeks!). She has a few “first birthday” shirts to wear so we started with the same onesie Owen wore for his first birthday:
With Gramma Jean…
Then hanging out and watching TV with Owen:
Then outside in the backyard with the really nice grass—one of my favorite shots of the day! 🙂
That’s his new catchphrase when he puts his superhero cape on. 🙂
Also, this is the first he’s put it on since he got it for a birthday present!!
I bought these decals for us for Christmas and I’m just now getting around to putting them on the car! Owen helped me pick the arms and legs!
(Oh wow. I just noticed my finger was in the photo. How embarrassing. At least you know I’m human, right?)
Owen told me “Happy Mother’s Day” when I woke up—and I got a hug! Then, Tom gave me this…Owen actually colored some of it (!) and signed his name.
Then Tom made my breakfast request: Bisquick pancakes (they aren’t his favorite so we don’t have them all the time) with sausage links.
Then Owen decided to give me a very special mother’s day present by pooping in his underwear. 😐 He has been SOOOOO good with pooping in the potty…letting us know when he has to go, coming in from playing to go poop, not even needing the balloon, etc…so we’re not exactly sure what happened today. And then it happened again, later. GRRRR.
Then we ended up having friends over for dinner, so half of my day was spent cleaning up and making dinner…but it ended with a good time with friends.
So overall it was a nice mother’s day!
I have always loved this picture of me with my mom…so now that I have a daughter of my own about the same age, I decided to recreate the photo today. I tried to match the outfits and sunglasses but this was the best I could do. It’s hard to believe its almost 40 years apart (1974 and 2013).
I have been looking on and off for YEARS to find the Christmas outfit (see here)…and I finally found it today at our new Once Upon A Child!
These were in the Easter stuff Grannie and Papa sent. He LOVED them.
And he loved the flashlight…
And the magic Captain America washcloth!
I had the bib sitting out to use on Easter but then I just completely forgot it so she didn’t wear it until today. Oops! Thanks, Grandma Marsha!
Owen got a few Lego minifigures from the Easter Bunny…and he LOVES playing with them and rearranging parts like hair and accessories…and then apparently stacking them. 🙂
We were invited over to our friend’s house (Tom and Karen) for Easter lunch, and then the guys decided to take the kids to hit a bucket of balls. These are the pictures Tom texted me:
And our friend, Tom.
Once again, Owen loved looking for eggs! It was a bit rainy, but that didn’t dampen his excitement at all!
Now, how did the Easter Bunny know that Owen wanted Lego minifigures? Amazingly, he got three new ones! (Unfortunately, it took the Easter Bunny eight new packs to get those three. 🙁 )
As Owen picked up each egg from his basket, he’d say “There’s something in there!” Like he couldn’t believe EACH egg had something in it, even though he’s never had empty eggs before. It was funny.
Oh! And before he even went outside to get the eggs, he noticed his easter basket that the Easter Bunny had hidden in the new playroom cubby. I thought he’d have to hunt and search and look high and low…and he saw it almost as an aside. Kids!
After a brief meltdown when Owen couldn’t remember where he put the bunny ears (after I’d left them on the table for the express purpose of using them after both kids were dressed), I got these:
Today was Owen’s first honest easter egg hunt with a bunch of kids! One of the moms in my mommy group had organized a get-together with some of her neighbors and the mommy group moms. I am SOOO glad we decided to go… It was the first time Tom had seen Owen with more than a handful of kids—and it was amazing.
This was his slam dunk:
Tom trying to show Owen how to hit the ball:
He did, but then that was it and he was off to the next thing:
The start of the egg race, which was taking place to keep the kids out of the back yard while the older kids were hiding the eggs:
Slow but steady…
Race over, no one cared who won!
Getting ready to go hunt for eggs!
Rushing in! Half the kids came in each side of the yard. Owen was just thrilled—and it was hilarious because he could see other eggs while he was picking up the ones in front of him, but had a hard time actually getting the ones in front of him because he was so enamored with seeing all the other eggs that he wasn’t close to yet!
He even braved the bouncy house (which he DOES NOT like to play in) because there were a handful of eggs inside!
His successful haul!
The entire gaggle of kids! I think the youngest was 2 and the oldest was 6.
A family shot, taken by a friend. (Then I took their family shot—she’s like me and rarely is in the photos!)
Owen torturing the girls on the trampoline with a fake snake! They were all screaming and he was just laughing and having a great time.
Swinging the snake around. All I could think of was my mom telling me how her brother did that to her WITH REAL SNAKES when they were kids…
Then he got all sneaky and shoved the snake through the opening in the side of the net. He was so proud of himself! What a stinker!
Then, right as we were getting ready to leave, they were handing out popsicles. Owen didn’t want one, but then asked a little girl if he could have a bite of hers. The mom was standing there (and knows about Owen’s food issues) so told her daughter it was okay. So Owen took a bite! He didn’t love it, but at least he tried it!
Owen was really interested…for about three minutes. 😐
Thanks to friends Tom and Karen for this super cute outfit!
Dressed for the occasion (thanks, Grannie Lin)!
Enjoying her first actual teething biscuit!
