Tag Archives: Papa
Fire truck field trip!
It was only outside to the school parking lot but it’s still considered a field trip. 🙂
The class got to see a real fire engine, walk through it, and talk to the firemen. He also got his own fireman’s hat (though I didn’t get a good pic of him in it).
We were all asking him about it on the way home from the airport…
Grannie: Did they sound the siren?
Owen: No, you only do that in an emergency.
Papa: Did they shoot water from the hose?
Owen: No, you only do that when there’s a fire.
Well, he IS right. 🙂
Happy birthday, Papa!
Feeding the ducks!
Since the temps really dropped today (with it being overcast and off-and-on rainy) I thought it would be a good time to go feed the ducks!
Me: Owen, do you want to go feed the ducks?
Owen: No.
Me: Why not?
Owen: Papa isn’t here.
Me: That’s okay. We can still go feed the ducks.
Owen: No! I told you we only go with Papa!
Me: Well Papa isn’t going to be here for a long time, so if you want to go now, we can go. Then when Papa comes down, you can go with him.
Owen: OKAY!
So off we went, with Katie in the stroller (I didn’t have the patience to have her walk and try to contain her by the ponds).
Then there was a female duck that Owen called a baby duckie because it was so much smaller than these other birds. I hope you can hear him in the video—it was windy and he was pointed away from me.
And see…Katie really was with us!
Then Owen told me we had to go to the other water to look for ducks, so we trekked across the course. No ducks. But he wanted to roll down the hill! I convinced him to wait and roll down the big hill that WASN’T covered in duck poop. 🙂
A good time was had by all.
Happy Early Birthday, Katie!
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…
Playing with the grandparents
I want to go outside, too!
Playing music!
I’m free!
No fear!
Papa and Grannie taught Owen croquet today!
And of course it turned into a gun!
Bedtime story with Papa
Hotel fun with Papa and Grannie
We were on our way to the Ramada to go swimming with Papa and Grannie.
Tom (jokingly): We have to follow them—I don’t know where we’re going.
Owen: We’re going to the hotel, silly!
Tom taught him “time out!”
Playground at the hotel:
He climbed up all by himself! Grannie was a nervous wreck…me, not so much. 🙂
Daddy did most of the work but Owen understood the process.
Tom waiting to surprise owen!
In Grannie Lin’s socks to be more slippery for going down the slide!
Then in her sweatshirt so he could more easily go down head first!
Muffin time!
Papa’s Bracelet
Owen got this out today and wanted to wear it. I asked if he remembered who made it for him…and of course he remembered. 🙂
Papa went shopping!
When Papa and Grannie were here in February, they went shopping—and apparently my dad was adamant about finding something for Owen. This was his choice. I love it!
Owen and his chick!
“It’s cracking! I love this chick!”
(Grannie and Papa, he LOVES this thing!)
Milk Goggles
These were in the Easter stuff Grannie and Papa sent. He LOVED them.
And he loved the flashlight…
And the magic Captain America washcloth!
Attempted nap time
Tom came home from work early today and surprised us! I’ve recently moved Owen’s nap from 1:00 to 1:30 (as he only sleeps maybe 1.5 hours anymore) so he was still going to be up when Tom got home.
Tom wanted to nap (since he was up at 3:30 this morning) but Owen wanted to be with him, so Owen promised to TRY and nap next to him. I was downstairs with Katie and heard activity so knew it wasn’t going well. Then Tom yelled down that he was getting the Xbox ready for Owen.
Later, Tom told me what happened. He said it was so cute because Owen was really trying hard to be still and stay quiet but he was a ball of energy. Tom was sneakily watching him and saw Owen just grinning and grinning.
Tom: Owen, what are you thinking about?
Owen: Grannie and Papa.
Tom: What about Grannie and Papa?
Owen: They’re at home.
And then he was intrigued by the ceiling (which has an octagonal cut out). So nap time was over. 🙂
Egg noses
Owen found half of an Easter egg, which immediately became a nose.
Then he got Papa involved after showing him how to hold it up without using your hands.
And Eskimo kisses!
Fighting!
Owen with a stainless steel jar top and rubber baby spoon…and Papa with a Captain America shield and ruler. 🙂
Soccer Break
Soccer, then off to feed the ducks!
Cookie Monsters!
Yet another in the series of matching tee shirts!
Owenisms 13
Me: Owen, why are you chewing on that [the tail of the rubber snake, which is wrapped around his wrist]?
Owen: Because it gives me energy to run around.
Owen: Can I watch my TV now?
Me: No.
Owen: Please? Please? Triple please?
Me: No.
Owen: I need watch some TV mama.
Grannie: Why?
Owen: Because I have to. Pretty please with peaches on top. Very please. Very please. Very please. [Climbs on top of me and snuggles in.] VERY PLEASE. VERY VERY PLEASE.
Owen is dancing around.
Me: Owen, do you have to go potty?
Owen: No.
Dances around some more.
Me: Owen—GO POTTY!
Owen: OKAAAAAAAAY!!!
At the park, to Tom:
Owen: Don’t follow me. Go stand by mama.
I told Owen to go downstairs and tell Papa that he had to put on his matching Cookie Monster shirt later tonight so I could take a picture. I’m listening from the stairwell.
Owen: Papa. Papa! Excuse me—I have to tell you something. You need to put your shirt on tonight. TONIGHT! Mama is going to take a picture of you and me.
Football with dad and Papa
Owen has a great stance, throwing arm, running game, and blocking technique…and can catch quite a bit of the time. It’s actually impressive for a four year old.
Katie and Papa
Sharing Papa’s Apple
Katie was very intrigued by Papa’s apple…first enjoying just nomming on the whole apple:
Then the actual apple itself—grinding those two little teeth and scraping off tiny bits of apple. She LOVED it!
Take your time.
Owen: Holding out his broken-apart Lightning McQueen Lego car We have a problem.
Papa takes it from him to look at it.
Owen: Take your time.
Katie and Papa
Sharing a PB&J
Owen always seems to sidle over to Papa when he’s eating a PB&J…and of course Papa shares it with him!
Soccer!
After practically DRAGGING Owen outside, he had a BALL (no pun intended) with Papa playing soccer and practicing catching the ball!
He kicked it under the car and said “SCORE!!” 🙂
This is how he catches the ball about 90% of the time—LEG UP!
Throwing the ball to Papa!
Katie is 7 months old!
We were out of town (for the first time ever on a birthday-month photo day!) so Papa had to take the picture! He had just about as much luck as I do—there were about 30 attempts! 🙂
And apparently Owen had a good time with Katie, too!
Bubble gun with Papa
Owen got a bubble gun for his birthday, so he was testing it out with Papa!
And this is how he apparently hides now:
Happy 4th Birthday, Owen!
Fun with leftover Lego parts!
Balloon fight with Grannie Lin!
Posing with his presents—and in his birthday shirt—for another birthday picture!
Katie in her new party dress…with Grannie (and a gift from Grannie):
And trying to peek around me to watch TV like Owen does:
Owen’s finished (lame) Lego cakes:
The appetizer set up:
Attempting to Skype with Gramma Jean/Grandpa David and Grandma Marsha/Uncle Rob (it didn’t work too well—our network couldn’t handle it):
Most of the attendees:
Singing Happy Birthday:
Really excited about his new Xbox Sesame Street game from Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob:
And the guitar I found on clearance for $3 (and took the batteries out ahead of time!):
He did pretty well opening presents…except he really loved the first things he opened (Lego Cars and a Ninja Lego) so he wanted to stop right then and play but we made him keep going. 🙂 We did stop about halfway through, though, because he was losing interest and really wanted to play. Which was just fine.
One last attempt at a good Katie pic:
Our attempted family photo:
And just for comparison…last year’s photo:
What I did all day.
It took me about five hours to bake four double layer cakes for Owen’s birthday cake.
Why so many?
Well, for starters, the theme was Legos, so I wanted to make a bunch of Lego blocks (squares and rectangles) and I knew one cake certainly wouldn’t be enough so planned on two from the start. Then as I was making the second cake, I realized I left out an egg…so called dad and Lin who were at the store and had them pick up two more, just in case the minus-one-egg cake didn’t turn out plus an extra in case I had a kitchen catastrophe. 🙂
I was exhausted by this time (about 5pm) but still had to make the frosting and get the first layer on. What a mess—and I was being careful!
Facebook post, 4:49pm: Someone slap me if I decide to make Owen’s birthday cake next year. I’m 5 hours in and not even close to done. And the *hard* part is next.
Unfortunately, it was a nightmare. I didn’t love the taste of the frosting (made with Crisco and powdered sugar) and it was an absolute mess to work with. And I can’t frost a cake to save my life— which I already kinda knew but thought I could certainly do some square cakes—so that didn’t help. And trying to frost the marshmallows (what was suggested for the Lego pieces) was the absolute worst. THE WORST. Betty Crocker can kiss my ass (though, to be fair, I didn’t use their pre-made frosting). But I still don’t think it would have helped.
Facebook post, 8:55p: WHY DO I EVEN TRY? Ugh. I can NOT frost a cake. These look nothing like Legos. And there’s no red. It’s dark pink. And I don’t think I like the Crisco frosting. Too much work and frustration. /cry
Yeah, I so didn’t get the true, vibrant Lego colors I had wanted—even with my special purchase of gel food dyes. (No, I don’t even have pictures of those monstrosities.) At that point, I was tempted to just toss everything in the trash and go buy a cake. Seriously. But then I was more logical and thought since I already had HOURS and MONEY and TIME invested, we’d eat these cakes.
And the kicker is that I know Owen won’t care at all so I really shouldn’t be putting myself through the stress of it…but I honestly thought making a Lego cake would be, well, a piece of cake.
LESSON LEARNED? From now on…I will never make a birthday cake for Katie or Owen again unless it’s a 9×13 in the pan or possibly a layer cake. Nothing fancy. No designs. No themes. Ever. EVER.