Opening presents via Skype, part 3!

Tonight was presents with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David!

The kids loved everything, but Katie really loved her Olaf hat and tea set (they’re having a tea party in the picture) and Owen picked the Magformers as his favorite! We ALL loved Owen’s MSU PJs and he was thrilled with his Lego Movie PJs, too!

Opening presents via Skype, part 2!

Today we opened presents from Grauntie Marge!

They got to see Katie dance around with her dolly in their new matching outfits (I didn’t get a picture of it because they were watching live and I can’t take pictures at the same time!).

And Katie loved her new Frozen sheets!


And Owen LOVED his Robot Turtles game. We watched some videos online about how to play, then we played, and after we put it away he kept running around the house playing a full-sized version. 🙂

Owen’s first shopping spree

Owen’s school offered a Penguin Shop for the kids to shop for inexpensive gifts for their families. I volunteered one afternoon and it was…a little crazy. 🙂 Owen had $10 to spend on gifts for me, dad, and Katie. He came home with something for each of us (plus about $3 left over) and he was SO excited for us to open them…so we finally did tonight.

I got a cupcake pencil sharpener, Tom got a purple high-heeled shoe pencil sharpener, and Katie got a barrette with a feather on it! Our very first gifts from Owen with no parental input whatsoever! I told Tom I would switch him sharpeners, but he said no way—he was keeping the very first gift his boy bought him! 🙂

Katie LOVED her feather…

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Christmas with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob!

We celebrated Christmas this morning because Owen was home from school…due to ongoing constipation issues (he had been heavily medicated but NOTHING was happening and I hadn’t wanted to send him to school just in case).

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She LOVED her princess tutu, crown, and wand! After about 10 minutes, we were all tired of the wand because it lit up AND made noise! (The crown lights up, too, but thankfully doesn’t make noise!)

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Uncle Rob helped Owen with the Legos after Owen got stuck and I tried and gave up. 🙂

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My ornament hanger!

Katie LOVES hanging ornaments on the tree! As it happens, we’ve actually received a few ornaments since we initially decorated the tree, so she’s gotten to hang a few. This one today came from Grannie Lin and Papa and she had to run right to the tree to hang it! She does a pretty good job, too!

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And a closeup of the Michigan ornament. I think the UP has grown since we’ve last been there. 🙂

Papa + the iPad, matching outfits, a ball, and Star Wars

Owen showing Papa ABCMouse on the iPad.

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The boys in matching outfits courtesy of Grannie Lin. 🙂

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Kicking the ball around.

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Showing Papa his Lego Star Wars book. Owen saw me with the camera and immediately gave me a good smile. I love that he’s somewhat trained. 🙂

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Then we had to have Papa look up for a good picture, too!
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My mother’s day do-over!

Since Mother’s Day was spent house hunting/traveling, I officially declared MY Mother’s Day would be this weekend. 🙂 So our day started with a trip to Costco, Owen’s face-painting at the farmer’s market…and then since it was a GORGEOUS day, time spent outside using the deck/pool/yard/playset (we’re trying to use it as much as we can since we will have NONE of it at the new house)…

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We were playing music outside.
Owen: DJ Shuffle is in the house!
Us: Whaaaaa?!?!

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Owen hurt himself with that jump/landing, but felt a little better when I showed him the cool picture I got of him in mid air!

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While we were outside, Tom went and got the mail…and my mother’s day present (that I ordered for myself!) had arrived! I LOVE IT SOOOOO MUCH! (It’s an 11×14 wrapped canvas.)

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Then Tom grilled super yummy BBQ chicken (which Owen tried and liked!) and I made a huge batch of our favorite tomato and basil bruschetta and we ate on the deck!

And even though I got these from Owen awhile back (done at school), I forgot to post them, so there’s no better time or place than right now!

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I love his answers! And he didn’t do too badly…though I can’t believe he said salad instead of any other number of things! 🙂

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So overall I had a GREAT mother’s day do-over!

Happy Easter 2014!

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So Owen was up early with Tom as usual and told Tom that there was an R2-D2 downstairs. That’s one of the “eggs” we hid, and Tom knew he hadn’t been downstairs so was perplexed as to how he knew about it. So he had a talk with him about lying. But Owen claimed he wasn’t lying so Tom finally said “Okay, show me.” And Owen took him to the landing which overlooks the entryway…and part of the toy room where Katie’s changing station is…where Tom had, in fact, placed an R2-D2 on the corner in plain sight!! Mr. Eagle Eyes strikes again!!

Then, surprisingly, when we headed downstairs, he completely missed the egg on the windowsill on the landing…Katie actually saw it as she was coming down (in video).

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Owen sharing his eggs with Katie because we warned him not to grab all the eggs before she could see them!

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He loved the R2-D2 containers!

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She found about three eggs and then she was done—she was opening them and eating the candy as fast as she could!

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We tried to get a double bunny ear picture but it wasn’t happening. This was all we got. 🙂

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She wanted her bubbles right away!

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Dinosaur apron from Grannie Lin!

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Chocolate bunny and Lego from Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob!

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Some of the eggs had barrettes and hair ties for Katie! She’s putting one on her wrist here.

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Owen REALLY LOVED his chick!

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Both kids ate a package of the Despicable Me gummies Grandma Marsha sent!

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“Open please daddy?”

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Now watch me as I try to shove all four eggs in my mouth at once!

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This is daddy laughing at how piggy Katie is being.

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A full mouth!

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“Bunny!!!”

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The aftermath!

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You can see her hoarding her Robins Eggs. 🙂

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Overall it was a great success! I think they missed a few eggs so they’ll find them throughout the day. And while candy and chocolate was their pre-breakfast snack, they didn’t do too badly!