Christmas Eve

Today was nice and relaxing, exactly what we needed! Mommy & Daddy didn't have to work, Owen didn't have school, so we just had some fun, and started mentally preparing for some very busy days ahead.

We did go to church this evening, and Owen was very good, but boy was he a ball of energy. Could that be because he was juggling a cup of juice, a candy cane, a lolly pop, and a bag of M&Ms? Hmm, no wonder why he wouldn't sit still.

After church, we got home and put Owen in his PJs, and started getting ready for Santa. Owen was running around like crazy, and positively adorable. It was hard to get him to settle down and get ready for books. He didn't really grasp what was going to happen tomorrow, but he just kept saying Presents! Santa!

Today, I asked him if he was ready for Santa. He would say "Yes". Then I'd say what is Santa going to bring you. He answered "presents". I asked him then what kind of presents. He would answer "two please". He's going to be shocked tomorrow when he sees so many presents under the tree...

We did leave cookies and milk for Santa. Although, Owen was quite tempted to eat them...

Merry Christmas!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Owen helped me make some home made bags today for some gifts. Very fun. He's so very excited about arts and crafts and has such a good attention span when we do these projects!

He even helped me cook dinner tonight, stirring everything, and pouring in the ingredients. He's very interested and content when he's helping me out.

What a cutie!

Birthday & Christmas at the Farm

It's been a very busy weekend, after the party on Friday, we cleaned up, so that we could be ready to head over to visit Grandpa and Grandma Bev. We celebrated Owen's birthday on Saturday and then Sunday morning celebrated Christmas.

Owen just sees presents now and assumes they are for him, and he should be able to 0pen them immediately. We're trying to teach him to be patient and he has to wait till everyone is ready to open, but it's a tough concept for a 2 year old.

Owen got a bunch of really nice birthday presents, he particularly loved a garage for his match box cars. They also gave him a really cool set of squishy cars that bounce and crash into each other. Very neat.

He enjoyed yet another birthday cake, especially the chocolate cake and mousse that were inside. Delicious! Owen is going to be in shock after Christmas, when the supply of cake, cookies, cupcakes and other "special treats" diminish. In fact, he's holding out for the sweets now. Tonight when I fed him dinner, he said, "NO Dinner... CAKE!" We're creating a sugar monster!

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast and then we celebrated Christmas. Owen could hardly wait to tear in. Grandpa and Grandma Bev gave him some really neat puzzles, some clothes, a scooter, playdoh and tools, and an awesome mountain railroad.

It was such a nice weekend, but exhausting as always, we are always so busy chasing Owen around their house, and the dogs never sit down the whole time we're there, but it was a lot of fun...

Owen's 2nd Birthday Photos

The Man of the Hour

Tonight we had a little party for Owen at our house. Some of Mommy's family came over to help celebrate. It was probably one of Owen's finest evenings. He usually doesn't do well in large groups, as he has a tendency to be quite shy, but tonight, it was as if he understood the party was for him, and he was the man of the hour. I was so very proud of him, and it made me really enjoy the party, because the guest of honor was having a blast!

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and have fun...

He loved playing with William & Mitchell, and just especially loved running back and forth through the rooms, eating M&Ms and giving tours of the house. Great Mom-Mom, Great Aunt Niecy, and Great Aunt Kathy had never been to our new house, so they got a chance to see our house and especially to see Owen having so much fun.

And he especially loved opening all his presents. At one point, I turned my back, and he darted to the pile of presents and just started pulling them open! I had to explain to him to wait until later, and he tried, but he really wanted to see what was inside... So cute!

He played strong all evening, even long after everyone left. I don't think he went to bed until after 9:30! It was so nice to have Owen enjoy himself and show everyone his fun loving personality.

Here's an adorable video of him blowing out his candles. He's either getting better at this, or spitting on them, I'm not sure... :)


Happy Birthday Little Man, we're so proud of you!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

What a fun day! I can't believe that Owen is 2!!!! Last night Daddy worked very hard, and had the entire house decorated for Owen when he woke up, even though he had to be out of town for business. Owen LOVED the balloons, but thought the streamers were lots of fun to rip down! He didn't want them on the columns, so he single handedly ripped every piece down... All Daddy's hard work...Mommy spent all morning chasing Owen picking up pieces of blue streamer... I kept calling him Confetti Man...

Overall, Owen and I had a busy morning. When he finally woke up at 9am!, he spotted all the balloons and immediately had to head downstairs to check it out. I couldn't even change his diaper! I finally got him changed, we had breakfast and then headed to the grocery store to pick up some of the things we needed for his birthday party tomorrow.

Then we came home, and did Owen's favorite thing... vacuuming! We did the whole upstairs, and then Sofia and Ms. Robyn came over to play. We had such a fun morning, and Owen was in rare form, enjoying running around with all the balloons! Sofia also enjoyed them, and since her birthday is tomorrow, we had a little birthday party, playing with Play Doh, and just overall good time. Owen had a really fun play date - he even ate a HUMONGOUS lunch, considering he had been snacking all morning!

Owen got quite a few phone calls today, Pop, Granny, Mom-Mom, Great Aunt Denise, Great Aunt Kathy, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Bev, everyone wanted to wish Owen a happy birthday. He liked getting the attention, and enjoyed the birthday phone calls from everyone.

After Sofia and Ms. Robyn left, Owen and I played a bit longer and then Owen went down for a nap. He slept well, and Mommy made cupcakes for his class party tomorrow, and also made him a birthday cake.

After Owen's nap, it was almost time for Daddy to come home, and I had been telling Owen all day that when Daddy comes home he can have presents, so after nap, he kept saying PRESENTS! (Also, all day today when you said Happy Birthday, Owen would reply - CAKE?)

Daddy got home, and Owen was again running around pulling the balloons behind him. He loved opening his birthday presents. He got a really cool remote control dinosaur, he was very excited about (he's been eyeing it up in Target for months).

He also got a spinner bike, which is so fast and he's having a blast on the hardwood floors spinning around (he might actually give up his favorite pooh car).

He also got a really cool pair of boots from Uncle Steve & Aunt Lisa, as well as some moon sand...

He also got a package with a bunch of frog things (cards, book, stuffed animal) from Aunt Christine. He loved the book, one of his favorite songs (Five Green & Speckled Frogs), and sadly Uncle Henry passed away today, so the present was happy for Owen but bittersweet for Mommy and Daddy...

Owen had such a fun day... Mommy baked him a cake, and we sang happy birthday to him. He even blew out his own candles! He loved the cake... More celebration tomorrow. He'll have cupcakes tomorrow at school, and then Mommy's family coming over tomorrow evening to celebrate. Then a busy weekend too...

He was still wound up when it was ready for bed... after a nice bath which got all the peanut butter, chocolate icing and cake out of his hair, ears, etc... He was cracking himself up with the sit and spin... too funny.

Loving his birthday presents.

Blowing out the candles...all by himself!

Happy 2nd birthday Owen... We love you very much!

Lots of Ginger Bread

Today, Owen and I started working on Christmas Cookies. Today we made some Ginger Bread Men. He was very helpful, and loved painting, then at some point he realized all the decorations were edible, and then he stopped the decorating... It was quite fun to do this with him, and he was so patient, waiting for them to cook and cool. Very cute. I'm hopeful we'll get another chance later in the week to make some other variety of cookies, but we're running out of time! The week is already jam packed with activities, Owen's birthday and parties... Will just have to make the time.

Tonight, the country club had a family buffet followed by Ginger Bread House Decorating. I have never seen so many children at the country club at one time. The entire dining room was jammed with people, they even brought in extra tables to accomodate everyone. It was a long line to get the food from the buffet, but it was well worth it. Our dinner was delicious, Owen was fantastic during dinner, and was very excited when we got to the banquet room that was again full of people. There must have been over 100 kids. They were all so patiently decorating and having lots of fun.

Owen did such a good job, and really didn't want our help, but needed our help to get the icing on. He was the youngest child in the room, and his house really is cute. He was quite proud of it too, kept saying House on the way home. And at the country club he never tried to eat the decorations, which I was shocked... One taste of the icing would have been all it took...

The finished product.

Little Party Animal

It's been a very busy weekend, but we sure had a blast! Friday evening started off a bit rocky with a major temper tantrum at dinner... but we managed to salvage the evening, and did a little unexpected Christmas shopping. Thank goodness for short term memory... One of the things that we had bought for Owen last weekend, was on sale at a Toys r Us, so we ended up buying it, and then returning the original purchase. We ended up getting him an even better gift (I won't disclose, in case Owen reads my blog)... :)

Then Saturday morning, we headed off to Towson Town Center to try to pick up a few gifts for some other people on our lists. Owen was such a good little shopper! He sat very patiently in the stroller enjoying his lolly pop and M&Ms. He was so good and we got so much accomplished in about 2 hours! Then we came home, Owen took a nap, and then it was PARTY TIME!!!

First stop - Sofia's 2nd Birthday party. Owen, who is frequently timid, ran right into the house and demanded to go downstairs to play with the toys. I was so proud of him for jumping right in, and he played very nicely downstairs with the other kids. Owen was the only boy there, and there were quite a few little girls. Finally, Owen had enough of the girls, and we went upstairs and played with the toys in Sofia's room. He played so nicely, and so independently, I hardly recognized him! Such a change. We only could stay until about 5pm, because then Owen had another party to run off too...

Reagan's party was next, she's in Owen's class, and her 2nd birthday party was held at Gymboree. We haven't been to Gymboree since March, so it was kinda neat to be back there, and Owen really had fun. He enjoyed being able to run around and played nicely with the other kids. It was quite a big party, with kids ranging from 1 - 8 yrs old. The big kids were a little rough for Owen, but he managed to find his classmates, and played nicely with them. He also enjoyed eating the ice cream... for once he didn't really care about the cake but dove into the ice cream cup.

It was quite a fun night, and we really enjoyed both parties. I wish we could have seen Sofia open her presents, because she was dying to get at them all evening, and I heard she had a blast opening everything... When we got home it was hard to get Owen to wind down after such a fun night, and boy was he wired when we got home! So, we let him run around for a little bit to wear off the sugar... and Owen discovered that just because it has wheels, it doesn't mean you can ride all the toys... But that didn't stop him from trying!


Sunday morning we got up, and headed to church. We decided to go to the late service (11am) instead of rushing off to the 8:30 service. Owen was very good, but quite chatty during the service! Every time it was quiet, Owen would blurt something out like - BOO! I kept telling him we need to be quiet in church and he'd say SSSSHHH CHURCH! He was just too funny. I told him to sing a song with me, and he said - NO - Sing ABCs! Guess we need to get to church a bit more often... :)

Sunday afternoon was great... Owen took his nap and then woke up in time for the Ravens game. I didn't think I'd get to see any of the game, since he wasn't napping, but he was quite cooperative and played nicely with us in the family room... too bad the game was not how we envisioned it! We even had a picnic on the floor, it was quite fun.

Today, was so nice and warm, after his nap this afternoon he rode his bike and we played outside. It was so nice, how many 60+ degree days do you get in December? Not many! Then we went back to the mall, hopefully for the final time, and got Owen's haircut and had dinner. It's been so busy, I sure am excited to have NOTHING to do tomorrow, except maybe bake some Christmas Cookies with Owen.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy now?

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas...

Owen loves these musical cards... He can't get enough! The latest came from Grandma, and Owen has learned some of the words to the song. Here's a video when he's singing & dancing to some to - I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

The funny thing about these cards, is that, now he's getting all his birthday cards, and he opens every card as if it's going to start singing to him... His reaction to the non-musical cards is priceless.

Gymnastics Class

Today was Owen’s final gymnastics class for this term. We’ve already signed him up for next semester, but he’ll have a different teacher, because he will move to a class for 2-3 year old kids. He did very well today. It’s amazing how much stronger he’s gotten since we started this class in September. And worlds above where he was at the end of the class last June… He’s so much more confident and knows where he can climb and what he’s able to do, and is so proud of himself when he does something new or by himself.

They gave each of the kids a certificate and Owen was one of the first kids to walk across to get his.

Gymnastics Party Photos

Owen's 2nd Birthday Party

Hard to believe that Owen will be 2 in just a few days... The time is flying, and we are having a lot of fun. Today we braved having ten 2 year old boys and girls for Owen's 2nd Birthday Party at Harford Gymnastics. Owen's been going there since March, and I think he was proud to show his friends some of his Gymnastics activities. The kids all have a mind of their own, and naturally went in 10 different directions, but I think they all had fun.

Probably the highlight of the day was Owen opening his presents. We came home from the party, Owen took his nap, and then came downstairs, and kept saying "open presents, open presents" he was jiggling the bags and could hardly wait to tear into it. He was patient and waited for Daddy to come into the family room. Then he began. The funny thing was every box, he had to open and play with it, before he would move onto the next box. If Christmas morning is going to be anything like this, it'll be fun, chaotic, and last forever! It took us almost 3 hours to open the 9 gifts. He got some great things, probably his favorite was a Cash Register and Microwave Oven from Sofia. He has been carrying around the Cash Register and scanning everything. I'm so afraid he's going to break it! He cooks everything in the microwave, including my camera, money, chapstick, and play food.

This is just the start of the fun, because his birthday is in 2 weeks, and we'll have our family party too. I think come January, he's going to be in shock that we don't serve cake and cookies, and have presents every few days...

Decking the Halls

Now with Thanksgiving behind us, Christmas is right around the corner! We started out the week by bringing up our tree, and starting to bring out some of the decorations. Then we realized our tree from last year was just too small in the new house. So we found it a new home in the upstairs hallway, and bought a new tree for the family room.

Owen loved putting on the decorations, and making trip after trip to the basement for more surprises. He loves the star ornaments, and really enjoyed helping me. We started by decorating the upstairs tree when Daddy was out of town. He had a blast. Friday evening, we all decorated the big family room tree. We kept all the fragile ornaments towards the top of the tree, so that everything within reach is OK to touch. There are about 10 ornaments that have really captured his attention, and he loves to take them on and off the tree. Other than that, he's been very good with the tree, loves the train, and is very into helping with all the projects.

Thursday, Daddy was traveling back from his business trip in New Jersey, and Owen and I met up with Sofia and Ms. Robyn at Kenilworth to check out the train display. Owen has really been interested in trains (and planes) for months now, so I thought he'd love it. And he did for about 15 minutes, then he wanted to go. He enjoyed pushing the buttons that made things move, but the bigger kids seem to push the little kids out of the way, so Owen got frustrated that he couldn't keep pushing it. Oh, and he wanted me to buy it and take it home... He couldn't get that it wasn't for sale, he kept saying - get it... open it in car - which is what he says when I buy him something at target, and I let him open it in the car... it was kinda funny actually. I think we were there about 45 minutes, before we had to head over to Aunt Jess & Uncle Tom's house for dinner. We also did our Secret Santa draw. It was such a nice evening.

Today, Aunt Jess & Uncle Tom came over in the morning, and played with Owen while we got some much needed birthday and Christmas shopping done. They enjoyed playing with Owen, and we were quite productive! Then this evening, we braved the snow, and headed up to Valley View Farms to pick up a few ornaments and look at the trees. The roads were sketchy, but it was worth the trip, Owen was so good, and loved seeing all the trees and ornaments. And he loved eating an entire bag of M&Ms.

Here's a cute little dancing video of Owen jumping around to the Jingle Bells Dear... He pushs this song day and night, and never tires of it...