Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Happy Birthday Owen!

Sweet baby Owen!
Happy First Birthday!



Started the day by playing with a massive amounts of balloons
Owen has been walking for a few weeks and thinks he's pretty hot stuff. I miss his little bear crawl and I'm so happy I got plenty of video of it before he started walking. He's wearing mostly 18mth clothing and is a big boy! I'm very curious what his height/weight is now but his wellcheck isn't until next week. He's much bigger than Norah was at a year! 
Cupcakes! organic, dairy free, gluten free, carrot cake, and it actually tasted really good!
 He will eat pretty much anything we give him and is almost done with pureed baby food. Dairy has still been an issue so we are a little restricted sharing food with him. His current favorite foods include blueberries, carrots, rice crackers, and well, the cupcake was a hit!
He ate the whole thing!
He has been saying Uh Oh for several weeks and it's so cute. Recently he's added Wow, Kih (kitty), and Dat (that) which he says when he wants something or wants to touch something. 
Birthday boy and the 'big kids', wish I had a picture with the three other babies too!
Personality has been developing by leaps and bounds lately. And not always for the best! He is very opinionated about things that he doesn't like, and will scream and throw his little body around which will be interesting as he gets bigger! Mostly he's super happy and funny and very brave. Unlike his sister he is not shy at all. He never developed stranger fear, and while he likes to know where I am when we are out somewhere, he is quite happy to wander around and visit new people.
He had plenty of help opening presents
 He has a funny little naughty streak too. Lately he's been trying to play in the toilet (EWW). We've had to keep all the doors closed and baby gates up or he makes a bee line for the potty. Usually if I can't hear him he's quietly walking down the hall to my room to see if the door is latched so he can get to the bathroom. If he sees me coming he laughs and does an adorable fast baby shuffle walk trying to reach the door first.
Sweet boy!
 While we had it rough for a long time, his nights have improved a lot and now he's general only up once wanting to nurse. He has two naps most days but can function on just one if he has too.
I'm sure there are a million more adorable things that I've left out!
We love Love LOVE him so much! It's hard to believe he's a year old already.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Fun with Leaves

Sweet Owen getting so big

Beautiful Norah having fun gathering 'acorns'

The kids with their best buddies Leland and Kinley

Monday, October 1, 2012

Farewell Summer, it was a good one!



We've enjoyed a fantastic summer! It's been busy and full of fun with family and friends. Here's a brief recap leaving out a TON of stuff, but alas, it will have to do. Perhaps the cooler weather will inspire me to blog more often

We celebrated Nana graduating from Clark! She worked so hard for the last few years and it paid off. We watched as she walked in the commencement held at the amphitheater.

Nannie's Graduation from Clark!

This summer was the first in five years that George was home for the 4th of July. For the last several years he has had Army commitments that have kept him from celebrating with the family. Although our budget was tight we did splurge on fireworks for the big day. Norah loved it! She stayed up late to watch all the big bright explosions. Of course, Daddy helped her light a few fireworks of her own too.
Loving the sparklers
Our little town has an outdoor pool that is open for the summer. This year I braved the waters with Norah so we could do swimming lessons! It was a parent/tot class four days a week for two weeks. Norah had a lot of fun and really likes the water. Hopefully next year she will be ready for some big kid lessons so Momma and Owen can do the Tot class!

First day of swim lessons
 This summer also brought it's share of birthday partys, playdates, picnics, parks & potlucks!
In mid August we went to a dinner potluck with a bunch of friends. It was super hot that day so we picked up water balloons for the kids. For the amount of time we spent filling all the balloons, the kids wasted no time popping them.

Norah and her friend Leland soaking from water balloons
 We've met so many great people over the last two years here, and most of us have children the same age.
Babies everywhere!
Kinley, Owen, Scarlet, Ries

The big kids
Norah, Connor, Lila, Lusa, Leland
 Road Trip!
We made our annual beach trip in August to celebrate our anniversary and Norah's birthday.
We found a beautiful condo in Lincoln City right on the bay. The price was amazing and it had two bedrooms seperate from the living space, set up much like an aparment. It was perfect!
Chillin with Daddy before heading into the Tillamook Cheese Factory
 This sweet girl, she was beyond excited to go to the beach. She loves playing in sand, this was a dream come true! Needless to say, we played on the beach several times a day, followed by many many baths!
We finally arrived! Quick walk on the beach before bedtime
 Five Years.
Two Kids.
A Beautiful Life.

(Love)

 An anniversary/birthday celebration wouldn't be complete without an amazing cake from Larson's Bakery
Chocolate buttercream with raspberry filling, please refrain from licking the computer!
 Happy 3rd Birthday Norah!
Waiting, waiting, waiting...it's finally time for the cake!
 This big boy, oh my...He has changed so much this summer. He crawls, eats amazing amounts of food, is so curious about everything, and loves following his big sister around.
First time at the beach!
 This is the common Owen position! He does what we call a bear crawl, up on hands and feet instead on knees. It's crazy cute to watch and he is super fast. He's also cruzing holding on to furniture and will probably be walking before his birthday.
On his nine month checkup in Sept he was 22lbs and 29in which puts him in about the 75%. He's already bigger than Norah was at one year.
At Norah's three year checkup she was 29lbs and 36in, which puts her in about the 30%.
He's catching up fast, soon he's going to be her Big little brother!
Bear Crawl!
  The summer also brought a few things we could have done without.
Wildfires.
There was a fire a few weeks ago just outside of White Salmon. Although we weren't in danger, it did come very close to friends of ours and was pretty frightening. The smoke has been awful. Currently there is a fire across the river from us which is almost out. I believe the fire by Mt Adams is also still burning. 
Milepost 66 fire, burning along the Hatfield trial, picture taken from our kitchen
As the summer comes to an end, we are starting new adventures. This sweet little lady is taking dance lessons! Tomorrow will be her second class, I have to drop her off this time which is a first for me and makes me a little nervous. She loved the first class and I know she will do just fine.
After the holidays we're considering enrolling her in preschool.
What a big girl!
First day of ballet class

 October is here and we are looking forward to the cooler weather.
Pumpkin patch here we come!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Pictures and a video

 -Norah what are you doing?
I'm playing Owen, we sharing
 Silly girl at the Park

 And it starts...Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!
I think she was trying to get him to play peekaboo,
whatever it was he thought it was really funny!
Owen can sit! Briefly, but he falls over if he reaches for anything.

And, he's trying really really hard to crawl!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Four Months

Gotta Love the Baby Chub!

Little O is almost 17lbs


He has the best smile and laugh

And those big baby eyes....are turning brown
He's napping about three times a day, and still up twice at night to eat.

He's getting over his first cold right now. It was a nasty one with lots of stuffiness and coughing that the whole family has been fighting.

When he's not sick he's a wiggly, noisy, adorable bundle of baby love :)


Easter in Pictures










Friday, April 6, 2012

Happy Friday!

What a great Friday! The kids napped at the same time, can you believe that?!

Awesome.

And the sun was out!

George decided it was BBQ weather so we had some yummy burgers for dinner.



I've been experimenting with graham cracker recipes lately. This batched turned out much better than the first one, but still needs some work.


Norah thought the burgers were great and ate a whole one by herself!


Since the bbq was going, and there were fresh graham crackers, we had to make smores!

Well, almost smores, we didn't have any chocolate.

This girl loves her 'mallows'
And this little cutie, what can I say?
He's adorable.