JTOK Chatter > Friends & Family > Page 69

Category Archives: Friends & Family

Fire trucks, a helicopter, and robot, oh my!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Our local volunteer fire department had an open house and we thought Owen would love it since he loves big trucks (especially fire trucks) so off we went. And of course, since we were SO excited about it (for him) he wasn’t nearly as thrilled as we hoped he’d be with his first up close and personal viewing. Even with the helicopter. Kids!

He had to take his B with him.

B!

He wasn’t too sure about the dog…then got closer…and eventually did give him a high five, but that was it and then he was done!

Unsure about the dog
Getting closer to the dog

I think he had more fun with the bracelet and the cone, for as much interaction as he had with it!

Sitting in the helicopter (after a bit of coercion).

Getting tired (it was very close to nap time).

Sitting in the fire truck!

Sitting in the fire truck

Pressing the button to turn on the fire truck!

Turning on the fire engine

It was really noisy and he didn’t really like it—but there was a very brief moment of calm where I got this great shot…

A brief moment of calm

…before he was DONE, which you can see by him pointing his finger down!

Done!

Walking back towards the exit, we saw the robot (and you know how much he LOVES robots!) but again, he gets shy or a little freaked out—and he didn’t get very close.

Unsure about the robot

Hopefully he still had fun…because we did!

Grammas and Presents

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Well, a Gramma and a Grauntie. 🙂

Owen gets very excited about presents, and he had a pile from both Gramma Jean and Grauntie Marge! Grauntie Marge helped show Owen how to open presents, and now he’s really good at it!

And the cutest thing is that after he rips off a piece, he hands it to you. 🙂

And of course there were lots of Thank You kisses…

EWWWWWWWWW

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Outside on the porch today, I happened to look up and see this. EWWWW. What the >:XX is it? I’m not sure I want to know, but it gives me the heebie jeebies. And it’s staying there until Tom comes home and takes care of it.

And leave it to my Facebook friends to make me laugh…

Paul O => Aliens
Lesleigh T => Ewwww
Tony K => Gorbachev’s eyebrows?????
Richard J => Don’t worry, they’ll eventually hatch…

Sara D => That right there is a fine pair of Muppet larvae.
Sara D => Or Chenille Pods.

Hiding!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

He loves playing in/around/with our neighbor’s tree (between our driveways) and this is one of his favorite hiding spots!

I posted it on Facebook, and enjoyed the comments…

Jeremy R => Who’s hiding? The tree??? I don’t get it. 😉
Steven N => Needs a bigger tree… 😉
Therese K => Awesome for the seeker!
Christine V => wow, you can’t even see him!

Sunglasses, pizza, and Skype!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

He saw these sunglasses sitting on the counter and has co-opted them as his own. He was super excited to wear them and wore them around the house for quite some time. He just LOVES them.

Tonight was the first night we gave him mini slices of pizza instead of cut up pieces—and he seemed to do just fine!

The glasses make another appearance during a Skype call with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob!

In a nostalgia-related funk.

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So this past weekend was my 20th high school reunion…which I missed. 🙁

Now, before you think I’m going insane because I actually WANTED to go to my reunion, let me assure you I am mentally stable.

Well, wait. At least in this case, anyway. :p

We had a great class—we had cliques of course, but everyone was still friends. And we haven’t had the typical five-year rotation of reunions—we didn’t have a 5, I went to our 10, and we didn’t have a 15—so it’s not like I was burned out on them. Besides, 20 is a nice round year to attend. And it was going to be convenient since we were actually living in Michigan!

But, as fate—or rather, as life in the military—would have it, after almost three years of living in Michigan, we moved back to North Carolina 1½ stinking months before the reunion. GRRRR. I have to admit, however, that a small part of me was ticked because I had wanted Tom to have to reciprocate for me having to go to his 20th reunion! :>

Anyway. People are finally posting pictures and it’s just bizarre to see everyone again. I mean, I’ve been keeping up with some of them on Facebook, but it’s different seeing them in pictures TOGETHER. Knowing I was thisclose to being there, as well. And everyone is saying what a great time they had.

/sniff

Are reunions the best thing ever? No.

Did I want to talk to every single person? No.

Would I have been a bit of a wallflower? Yes. (I am still an introvert, no matter what anyone wants to think.)

Would I have had a good time? Yes.

So, I’m in just a bit of nostalgia-related funk today…

Owen vs. The Sprinkler

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Aunt Rose bought him this cool water toy awhile back, but we left it in the package so it would be a special treat once we moved. Well, he keeps seeing it and getting super excited..so we finally got it out…and it kinda freaked him out. 🙂 He wasn’t too sure what to think of it…and he’s still not sure but he did have some fun with it.

FAIL! x 3

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Fail #1

We had made plans to go visit friends overnight in Raleigh on Wednesday. So we got up early this morning, packed up the car, and set off. Five minutes down the road I remembered we forgot Owen’s bed. In the driveway it hit me that it was Tuesday. Ugh. Tom had even asked last night “Are we going tomorrow?” And I said yes, because I thought it was Tuesday at the time. And I even had the dog sitter neighbors set up a day early because I thought the days were off (well, I had them set to come on the right days, but I gave them the keys a day early since my days were off). It wasn’t a big deal (and I’m really glad we were only five minutes down the road) but it was frustrating. :meh:

Fail #2

Since Owen was excited about the car ride we’d told him about…and since we were already all dressed and breakfasted and in the car…we decided to take him to the local elementary school playground, thinking it would be a big treat since we no longer have a park down the street. Yay, right? Nope. He hated it. It was all sand and I guess maybe that freaked him out to start with, but even with Tom carrying him over it and setting him ON the structure, he wanted nothing to do with it. :**:

Fail #3

Once we were back home 10 minutes later, I thought we’d play outside in his water table since we haven’t done it for awhile and the temps were still cool…and he threw a tantrum. |-|

All this by 8am.

Reversed!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Owen has been doing great in his new room—and hadn’t tried escaping at all—until it was Gramma Jean’s turn to watch him during his nap while Tom and I ran some errands. He decided to keep following her out of his room and refused to stay in his bed and take a nap. The stinker! (And smartypants, since he knew not to try that game with mom or dad!)

So, following the advice of some friends, we reversed his door knob so we can lock it from the outside. And it worked like a charm!! :up:

Tonight, I put him to bed, locked the door, then stood outside his room to listen to what happened. I heard him get out of bed, rattle the knob, announce that it was locked—and then he cried and whined for a few minutes before he got back into bed and settled down.

Moving dates–finally!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

The packers will be here Monday, June 27. The movers will be here Tuesday, June 28.

The carpet cleaners will be here Tuesday evening. We hope to do the checkout with the landlords (so we can see exactly what they see and be here to fight anything they might come up with—we don’t trust them to do it without us) Tuesday night as well.

If all goes well, our two-car caravan will leave sometime on Wednesday the 29th after we get the U-Haul packed. (We are still waiting to see what my mom’s schedule is, as she wants to come down to North Carolina to help watch Owen while our stuff is delivered, we unpack, and paint some rooms in the house. She’ll get there one way or another, we’re just waiting on final details. So, we MAY leave on Thursday the 30th.)

Whenever we leave, we’ll end up in Jacksonville the following day. I would love to do the drive in one day, but it’s just not going to happen. It was a 14-hour day when I did it by myself, stopping for quick bathroom breaks and take-out food—stuff not possible traveling with a U-Haul, a toddler, a dog, and two cats. Unfortunately, that also means we get to deal with a toddler, a dog, and two cats in a hotel room.

WISH US LUCK!

Weight loss!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

If you may recall, at Owen’s 24-month check-up, the doctor was a little concerned about his weight, and mentioned that she would like to see him lose a few pounds. I thought that was pure lunacy and didn’t worry about it at all—and just thought she was crazy. :crazy:

So my cousin’s kids were here today and I swear Owen felt heavier than the two older ones (their mom said the 7yo weighs about 45# and the 5yo weighs about 28#) so I wanted to weigh Owen just to see. I knew he was more than 28# but I thought he might be close to the 45#, seeing as how he was 38# in February.

So imagine our total surprise when he weighed 36#—which means he’s lost 2# since February! (His pediatrician would be thrilled. :meh:) He’s apparently losing some of his baby fat (which we’ve actually been noticing) and is getting more lanky.

I guess a height measurement is next on the list.

First trip to the zoo!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

The first stop? Penguins! He loved them!

Group shot!

There wasn’t much action in the arctic circle…except a tiny seal.

Watching the train pull into the station:

First train ride! We thought he’d love it, but he was fairly 😐 about it.

Owen did an amazing job during the three hours we were there—we had the stroller and gave him rides between stops and he was a perfect little angel. He enjoyed the animals we saw (a lot of them were hiding or sleeping) and said “hi” to and waved to them all (sooo cute!). He never ran off when he was out of the stroller and he would run back to the stroller to ride to the next spot. Such a good kid!

OUCH! GRRRRR!!!!

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

>:XX

Coming home from the zoo, pulling out into traffic, a GMC truck/trailer hauling asphalt changed lanes (merged) and smashed into our right front bumper tearing it off.

Everyone was fine, though my back was sore almost immediately.

But my poor car. This was her first accident ever at almost 10 years old…and with one fell swoop she lost her $10k resale value. It was drivable to get home, but not again until it gets fixed.

And the topper? Our fault. Failure to yield, since we were the ones at the stop sign. The cop said he didn’t want to write Tom the ticket but he had to. It was just a matter of bad timing—the guy merged over right after Tom looked and saw that it was clear.

We were at the bottom arrow at a U-turn/turn-around stop sign needing to turn directly onto the 696 on-ramp.

There are three lanes of traffic at that point, and the guy that hit us was NOT in the closest merging lane—but moved over at the last minute, after we had started to pull out (he said his blinker was on). I saw the truck go by, heard the screeching of the brakes, and just as I thought HOLY SHIT HE JUST MISSED US—his huge work trailer (filled with asphalt) slammed into the front right bumper and tore the whole thing off. Luckily it was just the bumper and it doesn’t seem to be anything more internal.

And what actually hit us (and had no damage, of course):

>:XX

The guys in the truck were really nice and were only worried about Owen, who was just fine and didn’t even realize anything had happened (though when he saw the front of the car, he said “broken”). And he did notice the police car there. 🙂 The cop was going to let him come sit in the car, but he got a call right as we were headed over so we didn’t get to do that. 🙁

First sandwich!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Owen usually likes taking a bit of whatever papa has (cookie, cake, sandwich), so he’s had a few bites of PB&J along the way…which was surprising, because every time we’ve tried to give him jelly, he’s refused.

But apparently papa was the key, and Owen ate part of a PB&J sandwich while Tom and I were out. Of course, I require photographic proof or it didn’t happen 😛 so I got this video today!

Going Away Picnic

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

We wanted to have a picnic like last year…perfect weather, fun for Owen in the pool, a bunch of friends over, some good food, and a new family photo. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate…and neither did Owen. We got a decent photo out of the 25 attempts…

But it doesn’t even come close to the apparently once-in-a-lifetime shot we got last year (one of two attempts).

But he was super cute the morning of the picnic when he discovered he could climb up onto the bay window ledge in the living room. What fun!

And he loved Gramma Jean’s mower…when it was turned off. She turned it on to give him a ride and it was “NOISY!”

Then Tom helped him pick a flower for me—my first flower! Sigh. :heart:

And last but not least…Gramma Jean got Owen a pop-up tube/tent contraption…which he LOVED. I’m not sure where it’s going to fit in either house, but we’ll have to find a place.

Busy, busy day!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

We went to the park with Gramma Jean and showed her how much Owen liked the slide!

Playing with ants!

Then we came home and Owen and Gramma were reading a new book—and Owen was telling us a big story!

Then we went out for pizza—and Owen sat in a booster for the first time! And he did great! And ate two pieces of pizza!

Then, Tom and I went to Costco…to pick up the huge bear I saw earlier and had decided not to get…but Tom wanted to get it.

Owen wasn’t too sure about it at first…but now he loves it!

Owen went potty!!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Owen peed on the potty chair tonight! Totally unexpected! We went to change him into his night diaper and he was dry. So my mom (Gramma Jean!) said “Let’s put him on the potty.”

And we did.

And encouraged him.

And waited.

And after a few minutes we pulled him off since it seemed like nothing was happening…but there was a full potty!! Oh my god—we screamed and clapped and practically threw a party!! He seemed happy, but I’m not sure if he really even knows what he did (other than from us making a fuss over it) because he was watching TV while he was on the chair and he seemed way more concerned with that than with what he was/wasn’t doing on the potty.

Oh, I know it could just be a fluke and nothing else might happen for a long time…but I have to be prepared either way.

What a way to celebrate his 27-month birthday. 🙂

Attempted Easter kid photo shoot!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

We wanted to get all four little ones together for a photo…my mom and I were both snapping away at the same time. I put all mine (I think it was 129 or so!) into a slideshow because it’s funny to watch the whole thing in one shot. I think there are maybe two decent ones overall where everyone is looking at the camera!

2011-04-24owen146