New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year!

(ok, technically this happens tomorrow but in case I don't make it to blog land, I wanted to wish everyone a happy one.)

Over the last few days I was thinking about my resolution and I decided it would be to enjoy life more. Stop worrying so much about the errands, etc. and do things that make me happy like spending time with my family and crafting.

Yesterday at bath time, Owen reminded me how truly important this is. He always loves bath time, but the tub is usually filling up while he finishes dinner. Last night it was still filling up when we were getting him undressed in the bathroom and he noticed the faucet running for the first time and just thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Brett and I had a ball watching him laugh and laugh at it while he played in it. He also almost dumped himself in which is why you should always watch your child near water!

2009, here we come.

Toys, toys, toys

We got home today and Owen was so excited to play with some of his new toys. My mom got him this easel that teaches numbers, shapes and letters. We were surprised how quickly he figured it out.

And Brett's mom got him this horsey that you jump on and is attached to a game on the TV that teaches all kinds of things. It's so cool!

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Things Owen did this Week:
Amidst all this holiday fun, Owen has actually been talking up storm. Although sometimes his words aren't totally defined and he may only say them once, this is a list of the words he has said so far. (I'm sure there's more, but this is what I can remember.) He's growing up so fast it's scary.
Thank you, cup, picture, big bird, kitty, dada, mama, uh-oh, tree, cracker, get down
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Christmas with the Cousins

On Sunday we had a second Christmas with Owen's cousins. Caden (on the left) is 6 months older and Bennett (on the right) is 3 1/2. It is Brett's brother Thomas and his wife Stacy's children.

They are so cute together! Although it's like herding cats trying to get them all to pose together.

Once again Owen had fun shredding paper

They do have so much fun together. It's such a joy to watch.The funniest thing about this picture is that Owen is crying because Caden kept hugging him. Too much love I guess.

What would Christmas be without Easter eggs???? Pat has a bunch of plastic eggs at her house which the kids absolutely LOVE. All these new toys and they play with a $1 bag of plastic Easter eggs. Nice.

When it was time for PJs, they had lots of fun running around the house naked. It was quite comical.

Snip Snip- Owen's First Haircut!

Since Owen was beginning to grow a rat tail we decided it was time to get his first haircut while we were in Toledo. We were joined by my mom and Brett's mom. We went to Cookie Cutters, a child's hair cutting place. It was so cute!

Much to our surprise, he was amazing. There were a few moments he got nervous, but never really cried. He had a ball, cell phone and baby Noah video for distraction. The video was key. He also enjoyed sitting in the car and driving the steering wheel.

Getting started

Distraction #1- A Ball

Distraction #2- A videoTime for waterFirst Snip

Not so sure about this

This video is great! (mommy has to go buy it)Driving and talking...I even let her use the clippers:) I'm such a big boy.

Brand new boy

It was worth it all to get a balloon

Having fun in the play equipment before we left

Merry Christmas!

Hohoho. The holiday season is upon us. On Christmas Eve we headed to Toledo for some Christmas family fun.

On Christmas Eve we still had a few presents to wrap and Owen has enjoyed nothing more than he did the empty wrapping paper tubes. (And he's still enjoying them.) Made us wonder if we should have even bought presents...
Brett's mom got Owen this adorable plate to put cookies on for Santa.
Hopefully Santa likes his milk a la sippy cup.

I'm ready for you Santa!

Christmas morning came and it was time to open presents after church. Owen did well in church up until the Liturgy of the Eucharist and then he wanted to walk around. By the end of the mass he was done.

Owen is making his last-minute Christmas calls in front of the tree

Our little angelOwen and Papa JimLet me at the presents!Tearing tissue paper is fun

Pure Joy

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas!

Like mother like son

As I mentioned in a previous post, Owen is now squatting when he plays which is something I did up until I was about 20. (Ok, I wasn't playing anymore but any time I was on the floor working on something that is how I sat.)

I took this shot especially for my family to enjoy:)

Christmas Countdown

The holidays are almost here, and it's hard to believe. Just like every year... Up north it's really sad when the holidays come to an end because you are just left with winter. Cold, cold, winter.

Anywhoo. This past week was a super busy week, but mostly just filled with errands, getting ready for the holiday and work. We took some Christmas photos of Owen.
It shows a nice progression of pushing your kid to do something too hard;) Guess that's what happens with stage moms.

Back to the winter weather- we had lots of snow this week. Since our garage only has room for 1 car and we keep the new one in it, the poor 10-year old Nissan gets left on the street. After 2 major storms and snow plows, it was pretty much buried and we haven't driven it in at least a week. So, Brett cleaned it off and started her up. No problem!
We didn't take it anywhere, but watched at least 5 people dig out their car. The black car in the upper left just got itself out when I took this picture. People were carrying boiling water from their houses and trying all sorts of things. Too bad for our ice scraper.

And lastly, we'll leave you with our Christmas Kitty.

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Things Owen did this Week: (we'll try to get some pictures this week)
Squatting to concentrate on doing something on the floor (I did this until I was about 20)
Sticking his butt up in the air with his head on the floor and looking through his legs
Gave up crawling
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