2

Owen turns 2 today!!! I cannot believe that my baby boy is already two, I might cry about it at least once today.  When he was born, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a little boy, but now I couldn't imagine my life without him.

Owen was born weighing 10 lbs 3oz and he was a week early.  He was gigantic... I basically gave birth to a 3 month old.  By two weeks, he had gained another pound.  He continued on the weight gain until probably the time he started walking and then he started becoming more lean.

Owen is such a fun kid to have around.  He is very independent and doesn't mind playing on his own, but definitely enjoys a little horse play.  When Owen was younger he looked much more like his daddy's side of the family, but now that he is a bit older, he is looking more like his mom's side.

Owen has the best smile, lucky for us, he's always happy so is almost always flashing it.

Some of Owen's favorite things are cars, trucks, planes, trains, books, dress up, shoes, shoes, shoes, did I say shoes?

Speaking of shoes, Owen has huge feet.  His feet are already bigger than Ellie's and they are just getting bigger and bigger!

Owen's favorite foods are chicken nuggets, corn, rice, noodles, chocolate milk, milk, cookies, fruit snacks, cantaloupe and yogurt.

While his older sister is pretty obsessed with rubbing mom's elbow pit for comfort, Owen likes to rub her arm continuously... we have feely kids.

Some phrases that Owen is now saying include:  "Where's Ese? (Elise)",  "Careful Ellie", "Hi Mommy, what doing?", "Wanna watch cartoons", "WOAH!", "It's ok Mommy", "Ok, I do it", "I did it!", "It's stuck!"... and many more that I can't think of this second.

Owen, we love you so much!  I can't imagine our family without you.  You are everything boy, everything sweet and everything happy all wrapped up into one, plus your cute to boot!  You are a wonderful little brother and big brother and we hope that the next year of your life is even better than this last one. 

Happy Birthday Son!

28

Daniel my love,

You are 28 years old today and I figured you deserve a birthday post just like the kids get each year.  You are getting to be quite a big boy now.  28!  I mean, can you believe it?  You are getting pretty darn close to 30 buddy!  For some reason each year I am attracted to older and older men.  Weird.  I am excited for your 28th year, but I thought you might want to know a few of my favorite things about your 27 year old self first...

BTW-  We have got to take more pictures of you... this one is like 4 years old.

While 27, you

-celebrated your son's 2nd birthday, your daughter's 3rd and welcomed another daughter into our family.  You also celebrated your wife's 26th, but let's not talk about that. 

-This past year you were a great husband to your wife.  You basically ran the home for several months while still going to school and trying to work on your dissertation. 

-You took over dish duty-- which, let me tell you, is very attractive. 

-This year, you took your wife on lots of dates.  This has been precious time for us, and I am grateful that you take that time to spend with me. 

-You have swung many a child over your head and played "Tick Tock" more times than I can count

-You interned at Shell and moved us to and from Houston for the summer

-You accepted your first job

-You put lots of things together... toys, beds, computers, etc.

-You became a dad of 3 kids (woah!)

These are just a few things I have loved about your 27th year, but most of all I love that you wanted to share it with me and your children.  We love you and are so happy that you are you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

What's been going on around here...

What's been going on around here? Well...

Sister loving brother

Sisters loving each other
Elise has been going to preschool

Owen has been cheesing it up at home with mom

Mom has no where to sleep (all three kids are in there)

Maggie has been holding her head up

And attempting a crawl, but not crawling

Lots of Fall artwork

LOTS

Owen sleeping all over the house in all different positions

Maggie's exersaucer was raised up

Mom's hair got cut

Maggie continues to look like her dad's twin

Owen teaches Maggie how to use a laptop
Owen demonstrates the reason for frequent time outs at our house

And that is what is happening at our house. Life. Isn't it wonderful?

FHE-Hot Cocoa Video

Fall Crafts and FHE Hot Chocolate

Since it is fall and I am excited that it is fall, I've decided that we are going to do crafts everyday (minus preschool days).  There are so many fun crafts we can do this fall!

For our first Fall craft., the kids painted Turkeys.

They did pretty well I think and they always love doing stuff like this!

For our FHE treat this week, we had hot chocolate.  It just FELT like a hot chocolate night.  The kids haven't ever had any and it has been ages since Daniel or I had, so it was definitely a fun treat.

Weekend in Review

We had a pretty uneventful weekend for the most part.  Friday night, Daniel and I went and got new cell phones.  I like them and I think Daniel is still undecided.  We got ones that have keyboards for texting even though we don't text that often.  Who knows, maybe we will be texting fools in no time!

Saturday, I took Ellie with me on a few errands.  We went to the car wash to get the van cleaned.

Here is Ellie waiting for the car to be finished.  It was sunny outside so she wore mom's glasses.

Here Elise is looking through the car wash.  If you'll notice, she has my old pink cell phone in her back pocket.  She has been carrying it around all over the place.

On the weekend mornings, the kids just kind of hang out and do their own thing.  Ellie has been big on crafts so I had her busy doing a tiger magnet.

Meanwhile, Owen was getting educated on his laptop.  I really like this toy because he has learned letter recognition and both kids have been learning letter sounds from it as well.

Meanwhile... Maggie is still sleeping.  In Mom and Dad's bed.  She usually wakes up at about 4 and I make Daniel go get her and bring her in our bed and then she conks out until about 6:30 or 7.

Miss Mags enjoying her exersaucer.

The kids have been LOVING playing outside lately.  The weather has been great for it.

They literally spend hours out there every day.

They play with chalk,

And collect leaves, but my favorite is when their little imaginations really get going and they tell me about the dolphins they see in the sky, or the snakes in the grass (that one scared me of course, but I investigated and realized they were just playing) or the wolves in the backyard.

Still waiting for Sleeping Beauty...

When Maggie came home from the hospital, she slept through the night on the very first night at home.  She slept through the night every night for about 4 1/2 months.   But, she has turned on me.  Sure, I am a little annoyed at her, but really, I can't be mad when she is this cute....

I think I need to resign myself to the fact that this mom will not be sleeping until she is done having kids and they're outta the house!  I'll catch up later... don't call me when I am in my forties, I will be sleeping.

November Book Picks

We like to read... a lot.  Here are some of this month's favorites:

"Alice the Fairy" by David Shannon

"Count My Blessings: 1 Through 10" by Salina Yoon

"The Farmer in the Dell"--- Classic!  This is Ellie's current favorite. 

"Fall is for Friends"-- Have to have a favorite fall book.  Elise and Owen are noticing the changing of the leaves.  Ellie has even been collecting leaves on our walks.  She is very into the changing of the season.

Reading in action. (excuse the hair... we hadn't gotten to hair yet this morning)