Stay calm Owen, stay calm. Look for postcards.
Mama! Look! A postcard!
I love this game. OUCH! I don’t like cactuses.
Category Archives: Playing
My little hunter
Owen: Mama, I’m a hunter. This is my rifle and my pistol.
The pistol was his reward for being a good boy during his haircut yesterday. 🙂
We have a semi-floater!
Tonight’s project was trying to get him to float better. He could do it a little bit during the completion of his jump…but I wanted him to do it longer. It took quite a while—and daddy finally getting in the pool—before it actually happened.
But first, the prerequisite underwater shot…
A cool shot that looks like ice…
And cool new underwater blowing bubbles shots…
Attempting to float but really just jumping at me…
A cool faux-hawk…
Making mama happy…
Floating!
And on video!
When it was almost time to go in:
Me: Daddy, I think it’s time for I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M. Owen, do you know what that spells?
Owen: I got no idea.
Tom: What does I-C-E sound like?
Owen: Ice!
Me: Yes, so ICE-C?
Owen: Cake!
Me & Tom: [Laughing] Nooo.
Me: ICE-C-R?
Owen: Cracker?
Me & Tom: [Laughing] Nooo.
Tom: ICE CREAM! Doesn’t that sound good?
Owen: Ah, no thanks.
🙂
I love how his mind works.
Katie + Outfit + Hat + Charlie
Here are the skorts in another color!
And later that day…
I wanna see out there!
As soon as you open the blinds, she’s RIGHT THERE trying to climb up and over the couch to see outside. Especially if her brother is out there!
Me, too! Me, too!
And a great picture of her mis-matched jammies. It’s what happens when you have three-piece sets (one top, shorts, and pants)—you end up with odd pieces for a night here and there!
Deckwarming & Katie’s Third First Birthday
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!! 🙂
Owenisms 21
Me: If you’d like, your milk is in the fridge.
Owen: [Thumbs up.]
Owen: Mama, you watch your TV. I’m going to go play with my Legos.
Owen: Mama, can I have my dessert? I was a good boy sleeping long.
Me: No. You haven’t even had breakfast yet.
Owen: OH DANGIT!
It took me awhile to figure out what he meant because he was up at 7. But then he hopped into bed and cuddled with me while I slept to 7:30. 🙂
Owen: Mama, I need a new B.
Me: Why?
Owen: Because I lost my next one for good.
Owen: Holding up a Lego trident.Mom, what’s this gold thing?
Before I can answer—
Owen: It’s a trident. Who’s the underwater king?
Me: King Neptune.
Owen: Mom, thanks for saying King Neptune.
As I’m lifting Katie up onto the couch…
Owen: I want to hold my sister.
Me: Okay, on your lap?
Owen: NO!
Me: ???
Owen: I’m done [with dinner].
Tom: Let me stick a fork in you.
Owen: No! I don’t want to get little holes because I don’t like it and I’d be sad.
Trying to put his scabbard in his underwear and finding it difficult.
Owen: Mama! I need pants!
Sword Play
Just Owen being Owen.
Before & After
Every month or so we gather all the Legos, put all the correct pieces together, and see what’s missing. (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before.)
Well, this month it was a net loss. We found four pieces that had been missing, about six of the same pieces were still missing, but then there were about eight new missing pieces. Ugh.
BEFORE
AFTER
DISFIGURED LEGOS
Jumping in the pool
At first it was the same old same old…putting his face under water and generally being a ham.
An underwater picture of Spongebob floating face down. It’s confusing because the sky was completely cloudy.
And then daddy came out and joined us once he put Katie to bed.
And then things got a little crazier.
His “Superman” jump!
She loves laying on her brother.
Happy first birthday, Katie!
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.
Katie’s Birthday Peek
Trying to play peek with Katie
Of course she was doing it perfectly and super cutely BEFORE I started recording. But she still gives me some über cute faces. 🙂
Our own wavy tube man!
Owen LOVES this tunnel…and he came up with this ALL on his own.
Then repeating it for me so I could record it. 🙂
Smile & Standing
Someone feels better today.
Standing up like it’s cool!
She’s getting SO close to walking!!
More pool fun with the kids
Daddy and Owen went in the pool tonight…and after awhile, Katie peeked behind the curtains and saw them out there…and went CRAZY so I took her out, too.
Now, he LOVES going under water!
Katie butt!
It only took about 25 shots to get this one!
Owen advances in the pool!
So Owen and I went in the pool when Katie went down for her morning nap. I worked with him on sticking his nose under to blow bubbles…which he eventually did. I really tried to get him to stick his whole face under—even tried getting him to plug his nose to do so—but he was having NONE of it. Okay, fine, I was content with what we had achieved.
Fast forward to Katie going to bed for the night and all three of us get in the pool. I had gotten a new waterproof camera so I wanted to test it out.
I told him to stick his face under—and you can see he barely got his chin and the very tip of his nose.
So then I told him to show daddy what he learned with me today—and imagine my surprise when we witnessed this:
WHAT?! He went under JUST like that! Like he’d been doing it all summer or something. The stinker!
Testing the stop-action setting with splashing!
And Photoshopped to adjust the colors (though it washes out the rest of the picture—I’m sure it could be done better, but I’m NOT a Photoshop wiz):
Photoshop version:
Katie takes a surprise tumble.
I was just snapping test shots of her on her downstairs basket…
When this happened.
Katie and her basket
(These are all photos from the new camera.)
She loves—LOVES—playing in these wicker baskets upstairs in the living room. In and out. Around. Over. Back in.
She’s also getting really good at standing!
And she loves cuddling in the big frog!
July 4th Party
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.
Left to their own devices…
This is what happens.
They make each other happy.
They were both cranky before she climbed over to him.
Moments after this picture, Owen says “Katie, I love you.”
Awwww.
Busy busy.
She’s a damn cat.
Put something new in the room and she’s on it immediately.
The last 300 miles.
The only good thing about driving too far the first day is that the second day is a lot shorter. BUT…the day started too early with Katie screaming good morning about 6:15. 😐 But it meant we were on the road at 7:30 again.
As usual, we stopped at our favorite park near Raleigh and Owen had a blast.
He’s getting SO much older. Now, he just takes off across the park without telling us…so we had a few chats about that. 🙂
And here’s how packed in things are—including Maggie! And it’s missing the last outside row that we had to take out at the park (the stroller, backpack, Maggie’s bag, etc.).
Look at that pathetic face. But don’t let her fool you…she’s perfectly happy. We had to literally DRAG her out when we stopped at the park.
Also, does Katie want her bottle at the park, when it’s convenient to do so? Of course not. She wants it 10 minutes later as soon as we’re back on the highway. Babies are annoying. But at least it put her to sleep so both kids thankfully napped almost the last two hours home…
Whose toy is it?
Poppers & Fire Snakes
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…
Missiles!
Grandma Marsha bought Owen some Captain America missiles so Uncle Rob and daddy took him out to play before dinner. Grandma and Katie came out to watch.
A one-in-a-million photo: Grandma Marsha looking at the camera with her eyes open and nothing blocking her face! And as a bonus, Katie is ALSO looking at the camera with her eyes open! 🙂
