Catch Up

The last time I posted anything was at the end of January.  That was the exact time that MJCL Follies began and my life turned upside down.  Now that it is officially over ($50,000 raised!) I'm trying to catch up.  I'm going to break every blogger rule and do an iPhone photo dump in order to quickly catch up.  So, you've been warned.....long post of photos ahead!

 first time sitting together in a restaurant booth....they did great!

 picnic and a movie night!

 making cookies

 Aiden loves to wear hats

 this is typical Owen.....he stayed like this for a long time watching tv

 such a cheeseball

 a few photos from Owen's class Valentine's party

 Aiden checking out the toys at the preschool.

 This kid LOVES yogurt!

 Cousins make the best buddies!

 Owen;s handwriting is coming right along.

 having fun at a birthday party

 Aiden's babysitter took the kids on a field trip one day and they had the best time.

 enjoying a Happy Meal with a friend from daycare

 Aiden loves the dog cage at Missy and Josh's house.

 A glimpse of the Owen that we know and love for all those who only see him going 90mph.

 Owen found a new favorite outfit while we were getting out our summer clothes.

 someone dressed himself :-)

 He loves this bike helmet and just cracks me up with this face!

 A few follies pictures thrown in for good measure.

 This is what consumed my life for 6 weeks.

 Some of my Thriller peeps!

 Someone is a big fan of toast with Nutella too!

 This is Aiden's superhero pose :-)

 The boys had a great time playing in the extra Follies props!

 Owen's sailboat with sun at the top.  It had a steering wheel and a pirate!

 Aiden doesn't look like a baby anymore :-(

This has been a week of milestones for little Aiden.  He is officially potty trained and he started sleeping in his toddler bed.  He's doing great with both!

Whew!  That is the end of the post with too many pictures!  We have a lot of fun things coming up and I hope to be back before 6 more weeks pass!

Weekend Wrap Up

We've had a fun and busy weekend full of time with family and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Thursday night I took Owen to a gospel concert and we had a great time.  We enjoyed some great Southern Gospel music and Owen enjoyed practicing his choir director skills.

 Friday we went to look at some vehicles for Chris after school.  The boys enjoyed running laps around the car with some balloons.

 Chris had a fabulous weekend because he got a new truck!

 After 10 years of driving the Neon they had a moment together before saying goodbye.

 Driving the new truck home!

 We went to eat before heading back home.  We let the boys sit on the same side of the booth for the first time. They actually did well and were so hungry after being at the car dealership for several hours.  Owen ate nearly an entire child's cheese pizza and corn (gross but that's what he wanted) and Aiden ate some onion rings, half his pizza, all of his oranges, and half of my french fries.  They were starving!

 The rest of the weekend Chris helped my sister and brother-in-law put some flooring down in their new house.

 Today is Chris' birthday and he decided to go back out and help finish the flooring.  The boys and I went to church and then enjoyed Happy Meals for lunch.

 After naps, I took the boys to run around and enjoy some fresh air.

 We had a great time enjoying the weather and visiting some animals.

Hope you've all had a relaxing weekend filled with sunshine and time with family!

Silly boys!

He said "I'm a reindeer!"

Owen - age 4 1/2

 playing "Bro. Stan"

I came around the corner one day and found Owen doing this.  Typical Owen!

These two pictures certainly sum up what Owen is like at 4 1/2.  He is hilarious and growing like a weed!

The following are things I want to remember about Owen at this age:

• He still has an unhealthy obsession with Bro. Stan.  We have to play "Bro. Stan" often which results in me being the choir and he directs me.  He is always finding things to use to direct his choir.  Maybe a future Minister of Music?
• Owen is a little Macgyver.  He is always finding ways to rig something up, tie something together, etc. We considered getting him some rope and various kinds of tape for Christmas knowing that it would thrill his soul.  I'm still thinking we should've done that.
• He LOVES building things.  Legos, Lincoln Logs, wooden blocks, etc. are his most favorite toys and he is so OCD about how things look. He stresses over everything being perfect.
• Owen loves to sing and remembers words to songs he's only heard one or two times. We find him singing songs that he heard on the radio weeks before and he remembers most of the words.
• Of all the cartoons currently on tv, Owen prefers to watch Tom and Jerry, Gumby, and Fat Albert.  Cracks me up!
• Owen has changed a lot during his 4 year old year.  He's gotten taller and looks more and more like a kindergartner every day.
• His language skills continue to improve and he's asking lots of questions these days. 
• He loves to learn and loves to look at books.  He's majorly into drawing and writing words these days.  He spends lots of time wanting to draw people and wants to know how to spell lots of words.
• He is very loving and has been going through an extra loving stage at the moment.  He tells us he loves us at least 25 times a day and wants to give hugs and kisses constantly.  
• Owen still doesn't eat a lot and mealtimes are a big struggle but it's getting better slowly but surely.
• At age 4 1/2, Owen weighs 42.5 lbs and is 43 inches tall (just 10 lbs heavier than Aiden).

I'm enjoying this stage and his eagerness to learn.  While I'm definitely sad that he'll be going to kindergarten next year, I'm excited to watch him go through those big changes that I know he's more than ready for.  We sure do love our sweet Owen!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Aiden turned 2 on December 18th and we celebrated with a "Milk and Cookies" themed party. 

I wanted to upload the video of everyone singing Happy Birthday but it didn't work.  As expected Aiden didn't care for all of that attention and ended up asking to go watch "mousie in woom".  Bless his little heart! He doesn't like being the center of attention for very long.  I can't believe my baby is 2!

Aiden - age 2

I'm so behind on blogging but I'm determined to catch up tonight.  Here is the first in a series of posts I need to catch up on.

These two pictures completely sum up Aiden at 2 years old.  He is the happiest kid I've ever met.  He exudes joy and you can't help but be happy when you're around him.  He never misses an opportunity to say "cheese!" and has been known to say it if I'm holding my phone to check email or text and he thinks I'm taking his picture.  He is starting to climb more and turning into more of a big boy.  He is the complete opposite of Owen which is honestly a little refreshing at times.  I can sum Aiden up in a list of adjectives:

• shy
• sweet
• joyful
• easygoing
• cautious
• cuddly
• loner
• loyal
• mama's boy
• baby

Aiden is just our baby that's the only way I can put it.  We aren't pushing him to the next milestone like we did with Owen and so we just let him be the baby.  That may come back to bite us later but for now it's just fine.  He is rarely seen without his "banks" that he's holding in the second picture.  He is the biggest fan of Mickey Mouse I've ever met and sees them as comforting.  When he's upset or just needs to be alone he begs for "mousie in woom!".  He loves to go in our room and lay on the bed with his banks and a milk and watch his "mousie".  He plays well with Owen, adores him, and can often be seen copying his every move but he really likes playing alone.  He doesn't seem to like a lot of commotion and attention.  He'd rather just be doing his own thing.  He is VERY verbal and we're always amazed at the sentences that he puts together.   We are working on potty training and he's doing fairly well.  He's highly motivated by Mickey Mouse stickers (no surprise there!) and has made a lot of progress in the last few days.  

That's about the only milestone we're pushing forward on.  Other than that we just let him be the baby.  We have no plans to move him to a toddler bed anytime soon and we let him drag his banks everywhere we go and always have  milk on hand.  

The rest is just a few facts I want to remember for later:

weight: 32 lbs

height: 34.5 inches

things to remember: Aiden drinks a gallon of milk per day that we're home....should've invested in a dairy cow!

*struggles with some probable environmental allergies and excema

We just can't imagine what our family would be like without our sweet Bubba!