Thank Heavens for Little Boys

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

People constantly ask me these days if I'm disappointed to be having another boy instead of a girl. Are you kidding!?! Who wouldn't want more of this?!?! I count myself blessed beyond measure to have two fabulous little boys so I can have moments like these. Thank heavens for little boys!

Coming Soon....

Sorry I've been MIA from the blog lately. We've had a very busy fall and haven't slowed down to stay home very much. I've got several new posts coming soon as we prepare for the arrival of Baby Aiden on Dec. 18th.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Eyore

Grammy sent Owen a special package in the mail. He was so excited to get new shoes, books, and an Eyore costume. He sat wearing half the costume for most of the day. Too cute!

Fair 2009

Fair week this year fell into what turned out to be the "rainy season" this year so we were limited on what we could actually do. Owen loves animals and especially farm animals so he loved looking at the pigs and goats. He played the "pick up the duck" game and had a choice between a backscratcher and a horn. Of course he chose the horn and played it nonstop.....we had to pry it from his hands after he fell asleep holding it.

Monkey See.....Monkey Do

Owen loves to copy his daddy's every move....here's just the latest example!

Goodbye Paci....Hello Big Boy

We have been crossing things off the "big boy list" this summer. Owen moved to a big boy bed, potty trained, and the last item on the list was the paci. This is the one we were dreading the most. I saw this idea on another blog (thanks Leslie) and had to give it a try.

Here are the 3 pacis that Owen was in a bad habit of sleeping with...

I cut the tips off two (and saved the 3rd one in case of emergency!) while he wasn't looking. At naptime one day when he asked for the pacis I brought them in and put on a big show of acting shocked that they were broken. The look on his face was priceless and it took all I had not to laugh. He was shocked and kept saying "oh no! I broke them!" I asked him if we should put them in the trash and he thought about it a minute and jumped up and ran to the trash can. He's only asked for them twice since then and was satisfied when we reminded him that they were broken and in the trash.

I caught this cute picture one afternoon after we had battled it out over naptime and he refused to take a nap. This was several hours later after he had played outside and completely worn himself out. He slept like this for an hour.

So, we've conquered the "big boy list" and are starting daycare for the first time on Monday. Owen is a creature of habit and gets very upset when his routine is disrupted so this probably will not go well. Stay tuned...

Lake DeGray

We took Owen to Lake DeGray a few weeks ago for some fun in the sun. He had a blast swimming and playing in the sand with the rocks.

We had a great time playing in the water with our little fish!

It's a Boy....Again!

Aiden (no middle name yet) Green is set to make his debut this Christmas!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This post may not appeal to anyone but me but I wanted to document some of the funny things that Owen has said lately because I know I'm going to forget them if I don't write them somewhere. So, here are some of my favorites:

"I s(t)uck!!" which of course sounds like "I suck" and he yells it at the top of his lungs no matter where we are if he's even remotely stuck somewhere.

"Me need Elmo!!" when requesting his Elmo underwear. These days I think he loves Elmo more than me.

"No Elmo! Me need....and then he proceeds to sing the song he wants Elmo to sing"

"Sing it!!" which he yells at us daily when he wants us to sing one of his many favorite songs.

"need it? NO!" the phrase he repeated over and over again yesterday at Lake DeGray while examining his rocks and deciding whether they were keepers or not. If he decided not to keep them then he threw them across the water.

"party!" which he yells everytime he sees sparkly streamers of any kind whether they be at an actual party, a car dealership, or a restaurant.

I will update this post as the situation arises so that I can keep a record of the funny things he's saying these days.

**As for the picture at the top.....now that Owen is sleeping in "big boy bed" he has taken to falling asleep in weird places in his room. He usually roots around in the bed until the whole thing is destroyed before he gets comfortable. The other day when I went to check on him I found him on the floor rolled up in the sheet.....and there he slept for 2 hours.**

Hilarious!

We were just lounging on the beach one afternoon when Stacy called my attention to this group of boys trotting down the beach. It was too funny not to capture on film!

Myrtle Beach

We just recently returned from a week in sunny Myrtle Beach with the Green family. We had a great time soaking up the sun and spending time with Grammy, Papa, Aunt Stacy, and cousin Jacob. This was Owen's first trip to the ocean and he is quite the water baby. It's late but I just wanted to put a few pictures up for those who haven't seen them yet. I'll upload the rest of the pictures in the next day or two so stay tuned....

Owen testing out the water for the first time

our silly boy

Owen has no fear when it comes to water (which can be good and bad). He loved jumping in the pool and amazed all the other hotel guests with his fearlessness.

loving the ocean....

riding a ride with daddy at the Nascar Speedpark.....this did not go over well and it didn't take long before Owen began yelling "get off! get off!"

napping with the sea breeze and the sound of the waves.....

riding the waves with mommy (or Maw as he has taken to calling me this week...more on that later). He loved riding the waves and would point and yell "way! way!....JUMP!" everytime a wave came toward us...

playing in the water....

Stay tuned for more vacation pics and one hilarious picture of something we saw on the beach!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! We had a great day together at church and then hanging out in the pool. Check out my two favorite boys sporting their matching look before church! Too cute!

these are a few of my favorite things.....

I just wanted to take a minute to document Owen's favorite things as an almost two year old. So, here it goes.....

1. slides.....or SIIIIIEEEEEDDDD!!!!!!!! as he calls it and he can make anything into a slide. One Sunday morning when we picked him up from the nursery we found him sliding down the back of an overturned chair. He also enjoys removing all the cushions from our living room furniture to create slides.

2. Animals....particularly dogs, horses, and cows. He can identify lots of animals and tell you the sounds they make but those three are definitely his favorites. He and poor Emma have a love/hate relationship most days. She can't get a moment of peace when he's around. He just loves her to pieces (literally) and wants to hug and kiss and play with her at all times. I try to remind her daily that she'll be rewarded in heaven for her tolerance and patience with him.

3. Tools......Owen is a little Bob the Builder in the making. He loves playing with tools and can occupy himself for long periods of time "fixing" various pieces of furniture in the living room with his vast array of tools.

4. The alphabet....we're so proud that he can identify all the letters of the alphabet and he loves to quiz other people on the letters. He's learning the letters that make up his name and has a particularly funny way of saying "w".

5. Micky Mouse Clubhouse (or hot dog as Owen calls it because of their theme song lyrics) and the Backyardigans (or yardigans as Owen calls it). When he's eating breakfast he'll yell out "watch a show!" and then either yell out "hot dog!!" or "yardigans!!" to tell us what to put on. He knows their theme songs and can dance like nobody's business!

6. Hugs and kisses or "awwwweeeee's"....Owen is a very lovable little guy and will stop to give any person, animal, or toy an "aaawweeee" when he thinks they need it whether they want it or not. A few weeks ago I caught him smooching the young girls working in the church nursery before he said his goodbyes.

7. swimming.....he hated swimming lessons but loves the water and swimming. He's got the Puddle Jumper floatie this year which allows him to be independent in our pool and he's in heaven. He just kicks those legs and goes all around the pool. We can't wait to go to the beach in a few weeks to let him swim at the hotel and the beach.

8. coloring....particularly with markers. He asks to color several times a day and is very particular about which coloring sheet he wants to do.

9. balloons and umbrellas......an unhealthy obsession! We have witnessed many meltdowns over these two things and have been known to "borrow" balloons from different events to avoid a meltdown. I once had to cut the string of a balloon that Owen fell asleep with a death grip on just to avoid a meltdown. He's broken two of my umbrellas trying to open them in the car. Needless to say he will be in absolute heaven on Saturday when he gets to have a lot of balloons at the house for his birthday party.

10. his daddy.....his hero. Owen wants to be just like Chris and has been pretty successful thus far with this mission. He follows Chris around outside "helping" him work in the yard and he repeats any word or action (including sneezing) that Chris does. It's the cutest thing ever to see the adoration he has for his daddy. The most recent example of this love and adoration can be seen in the picture below.......


.....Chris has the typical "white guy" tattoo of barbed wire on his bicep so Owen attempted to copy that with his markers!

So, there you have it....Owen's Top Ten Favorite Things. We've got Owen's 2 year birthday party this Saturday, his actual birthday next Thursday, and then vacation the week after. Stay tuned for lots of updates of our fun with our sweet little guy.

My Boys

Aren't they cute!?!

Countdown

Five weeks from tomorrow we'll be on the road headed here.................


.......... I can hardly wait!

J-O-Y

'Nuff said.............

First Set of Wheels

Owen got his first set of wheels last week. Our riding lessons are progressing as well as can be expected. Here are his two preferred methods of riding:

He loves his little trike and we know it won't be long before he's zooming down the street!

drawing the line in the sand

Hi, my name is Jennifer and I'm a parent who spanks. Agree or disagree that's totally up to you. It's what works for us and our particular child. However, we've recently realized the virtues of time-out. There are those instances where removing your child from the situation that's causing them to get in trouble truly works wonders. So, we've been giving it a go and it's been very successful. Owen is a very stubborn and hard-headed child who isn't fazed much by spanking. There's something about standing in the corner that's working much to our amazement. So, I'm going to make the proponents of time-out proud and say that I'm starting to see your point.

Ignore the dirt all over the poor child...this was immediately after I removed him from the sandbox/umbrella incident and he decided to lose his mind. I will post a little disclaimer and say that we're doing time-out "Super Nanny style" meaning that we kneel down on his level and explain to him why he had to go to time-out and then finish with a hug and kiss when he's finished serving his time. So far it's working.....I'm saying a little prayer right now that he will continue to respond well to this type of punishment. Pray with me folks!

Umbrella-ella-ella

Owen has a few weird obsessions that we've discovered here lately. One of the weirdest is his thing about umbrellas. He goes crazy when he sees an umbrella and he's already broken two of my umbrellas by insisting on holding them. That's another post all by itself because he doesn't get the connection yet between umbrella and rain but I'll save that for another day. Owen's sand/water table has an umbrella on it that we normally keep closed because the wind just kills it. He was insisting on opening it the other day and I kept putting him off. Stephanie came to pick up Reece and I had my back turned talking to her so when I turned around this is what I saw.....

One thing you can say about Owen is that the child doesn't give up.....EVER! He stood under that umbrella for a long time until I physically removed him to get him to come in for dinner which didn't go well and leads me to my next post.....

J-E-L-L-O

After we realized how much Owen loves pudding on Easter, I bought him some pudding and jello to try out at home. He's such a weirdo at times about texture and food so I figured the jello would be a disaster, but he surprised me and really loved it.

I can't believe I'm this bored on a Friday night to post about Jello but oh well! I just can't believe how big he looks sitting at the table eating that jello. Time sure does fly when you're having fun!

the infamous tent

Owen got this great tent for his birthday last year that he was able to play in for several months. Then, overnight he turned into this wild and crazy little boy so the tent had to go away. We brought the tent out on Sunday afternoon to see if he was ready for it again. We quickly realized....it's a definite no!


the tent "at rest"
Owen sees the tent.....runs full speed into it....then proceeds to tumble around the room inside the tent. It was pretty entertaining to watch but definitely not something you want to witness on a daily basis. This picture captures the tent in "mid-flight" so you don't really capture the essence of what we witnessed.

peeking out to see why he's getting in trouble...notice Chris is in the background either looking bored, nonchalant, or completely ignoring what's going on!

he may be wild and crazy but who wouldn't love this face!?!

So the tent has been away for awhile longer....stay tuned!