Owen turns TWO

Well, my lil’ man has turned two. I cannot believe my baby is becoming more and more independent each day. Owen’s independence makes me kind of sad, but he still needs mom and dad a lot so that is good too. We took the kids and my mom to the Jenks Aquarium the afternoon of Owen’s birthday. The kids had a great time looking at all the fish and going in the shark tunnel. One fish splashed Tim, and Owen quickly started pointing and telling the fish “no-no” – it was very cute. We really had a quiet birthday and it was nice. Owen enjoyed his monster cookies on his actual birthday – he got icing all over the place.

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We celebrated his birthday with family on Jan 2nd with Will. Owen got an awesome train table from his Grandma and a Sweetpea3 (first MP3 player) from Nana and Papa. He loved his gifts. Owen now walks around with his new “choo-choos” and plays on the train table nightly. The Sweetpea3 was a definite hit – this kids LOVES music. Owen specifically enjoys Simon and Garfunkel and The Beatles. He puts the mp3 player to his ear and just dances around the house – it is absolutely adorable. At night time he wants the mp3 player in his bed and not on his dresser – he is so opinionated (I wonder where he gets that?). As such, the mp3 player has miraculously disappeared before bedtime as I do not need him rolling over and waking up the house in the middle of the night. Ha – wouldn’t that be a treat!

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After his birthday, we welcomed in 2010. This year, Josh starts Kindergarten (another milestone that is breaking mommy’s heart – he cannot be ready – can he?). Owen is going to start potty training – yippee! To be diaper free again … ahhhhh … sigh. As for me and Tim we are preparing for Tim’s busy season – yuck. Tim is preparing to work some crazy hours and I am preparing to be a single mom for awhile. I just have to remember it is only a few months and it is over – well, not really – but we like to pretend. ;o)

Well, until next time.

Christmas 2009

What a White Christmas! The snow in Oklahoma has been crazy. Oklahoma had its first ever BLIZZARD warning – yuck! The cold weather has been very rough for this sun-loving girl, but I guess it is part of it. I want to sit in the sand and sun so bad right now. Wearing an undershirt, sweater, cuddle duds, pants, gloves, coat, scarf and more is not my cup of tea – I want warm weather, I need warm weather! How do you people in the north do this???

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As for Christmas, it was wonderful. Christmas with children makes the season come to life and I am so grateful and blessed to be the mom to two wonderful children. Once again, Josh’s excitement with Christmas is intoxicating. He is so excited and so eager to see what Santa will bring. Our little Elf, Thomas, came to visit again from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve and as usual we had a few weeks of behavioral bliss. I wonder how long I can pull this off? I wish there was a year-round solution. Ha!

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I had to learn to take a step back this year as I wanted Santa to bring the boys a trampoline. I kept showing it to Josh and he was just not impressed. I finally had to step back and remember this is about what he wants not what I think he should have. What was the no.1 thing on his list? A batman castle. Easy, easy – and about $150 cheaper! Works for me! Josh was very excited on Christmas morning, in fact - he wanted it to start at 3:30 a.m. – however, we managed to hold him back until 6:30. Owen is still not really grasping the concept of Christmas, but he managed to perfect his unwrapping abilities. He enjoyed all his new toys – and was not impressed with his practical gifts. Owen got a small battery operated ride-on tractor for Christmas and when it warms up, I think he will really have fun zooming around the yard and chasing his brother.

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We went to the Spencer house on Christmas Day and barely made it to my mom and dad's home. We went to pick-up my grandmother and got stuck in the snow and ice several times. You can only imagine my husband’s gracious temperament as he was struggling & slipping on the ice while he pushed our car out of problem after problem. We finally got out of the parking lot and were on our way. Christmas was wonderful and everyone enjoyed their new treats. Owen and his "melmo" (a.k.a. Elmo/Sesame Street) gifts were very cute.

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The day after Christmas was our time with the Govier family. Once again it was entirely too cold, but Gene made some awesome snow slides for the kids. The kiddos had a ball and the cold did not seem to affect them in the slightest. As always we had a great time and enjoyed spending time with family.

Batman & Robin - Halloween 09

Well, our Halloween weekend was interesting this year. We were all being treated for H1N1 and it was without a doubt, horrible. Luckily we started Josh’s breathing treatments when the virus first came closely into our path and I think that really helped his lungs prepare for this illness. However, he will now be on strict breathing treatments for the remaining of the winter. Owen was diagnosed with the Flu and Strider which is a horrible combination (he sounded like Wheezy on Toy Story). Owen needed steroids for Strider, but could not have steroids because of the Flu. We obviously treated the flu and will go back on Wednesday of this week for steroids to treat Strider. After crazy medical expenses on Friday (OMG!) … we all started to feel better.

We were all feeling 95% better by Saturday morning (Halloween) and since we were through 48 hours of Tamiflu before Halloween night we decided to let the boys have a very LIMITED Halloween experience. Although we were not out long I think they had a great time and it helped to make up for the fact that Josh had just missed his class Halloween party the day before (wow, was that traumatic). The last picture below is how we wrapped up Halloween ... Govier style. ;o)

In the end, Batman and Robin were the cutest kids I have ever seen – and they had fun even playing at our house in their costumes.

We are all feeling better now! Thank goodness.

OKC Trip

We decided to go to OKC to see Tim’s sister’s family on October 24th and just hang out with their family. I really wanted to make it to Norman to take some pics of the kids at OU, but the timing did not work out. Instead, we made it to downtown OKC for some pictures. Getting 4 kids to cooperate was a challenge – but thanks to Photoshop, I think we managed to get some decent pics. I really enjoyed spending some one-on-one time with my nieces, they are such great kids and they constantly make me smile.