How our days end

Some of my favorite moments with Owen are spent hanging out with him in his room at night before he goes to sleep.  I think the busy-ness of his days finally catches up with him by then and he's eager to just lounge and talk.  We'll read a book or two, and then he likes to sing "A Bushel and a Peck," always interrupting me in the same places to ask What's a barrel and a heap? and What's beat me all to heck?  (Probably should just stop singing that line altogether.)  And this is when he wants to talk about the heavier stuff too, like death and God and whether Boba Fett from Star Wars is a good guy or a bad guy.

I showed Owen this picture I took of him sleeping, and he said Dats funny... I usuwally sleep with my eyes open.

Conversations with O

Mommy, I don't jus' give you hugs because you buy me LEGOs and Oreos.  I hug you 'cause I love you too.

*Actually he only said that about the Oreos, but I needed the quote to work with the pictures he ASKED (!) me to take of him this morning.

Everyday Owen: Helping with Dinner

Safely Aboard

It's no news to you locals, but we had really bad weather in our area overnight.  The sirens started blaring around 3 AM.  I don't know if it's because we're on a ridge or near several schools, but we hear them.  Really well.

And to break it down for you Stealers Wheel style, by 3:00:45 AM, I had this one to the left of me

this one to the right

and there I was stuck in the middle with her.  All 14 pounds balanced on my hip.

Owen occasionally likes to play on our bed and pretend it's a pirate ship.  He'll walk the plank, but if things get too scary out there in the open water of discarded pillows, he quickly scrambles back 'aboard' our metal canopy bed and finds safe haven.

It felt like that to me last night too.  I was so unreasonably content, hearing the storm approaching, and knowing I had many of the creatures I love most (furry and otherwise) nestled around me. 

Side note:  During the storm, Owen  said, "Dat funder jus keeps running and running and knocking on our fwont door!"

B & A: Lamp

Snooze alert.  We've all got colds and I've had blogger's block, so I'm just going to break the ice with a scintillating post that involves a glue gun and ambient lighting.

Ignore the unattended baby on a changing table and focus on the lamp.  It was cute enough in Owen's nursery, but I have to admit nesting syndrome and the clearance aisle at Target really worked against me on this one.  Lime green?  And dangle beads?

It's been hanging out (and ruining the vibe) in the recently finished guest room.  Which reminds me, I don't think I ever followed up on this post, did I?  

Well, anyway, last night I got out a seam ripper and removed the beading and green fabric.  Then today I took some maple banding left over from our stair rail project and starting experimenting.

I struggled a little with how to finish the edges, but it's not too bad for a zero cost update.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

What I did in Hilton Head

• Wandered around the shops at Sea Pines and other places - including a day of antiquing in Savannah.

•  Hunted for starfish and sand dollars.  Amused slash annoyed my friends by making them return starfish that were still alive.  Had no idea how to determine viability of sand dollars, so they were on their own.

•  Practiced photography since I'll have to submit samples for the next class I take.

• Played fetch with other people's dogs.

• Had lots of affirming, soul-restoring conversation with incredible friends.  (Oh, and we talked a lot about hairstyles too.)

Conversations with O: Oedipal edition

I'm leaving this morning for a five-day girls' trip, and even though I know I'm going to have a ridiculously good time, I've got a little case of pre-homesickness.  So I'm going to be self-indulgent and reflect on sweet things Owen has said to me lately.

O:     Mommy, I love you five hundred!

Me:   Well I love you five hundred and five!!

O:     Well... I love you fourteen seven six nineteen eleventeen five hundred!!!

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Mommy, you are the girl in the world.  (Translation:  I'm the best girl in the world.)

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O:     Here Mommy, I picked you some flowers.  

Me:  Aww, thanks O!  Here, I'll put them in my hair... What do you think?  How do they look?

O:     Thaaat's... that's good.  'Cause... we'll need some for our wedding soon anyways.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Got a light?

We're cleaning out the playroom to make space for Owen's bumper crop of new toys, and I was amused to discover he owns no less than 15 flashlights.  I asked if there were any he would be willing to donate (he's pretty good about that), but he professed his love for every single one of them.

If, by chance, he'd chosen to part with the headlamp, I would have overruled him.  No way am I giving up this particular form of comic relief.

Tree-dition

I knocked it out of the park with that blog title.  Mmmhmm.  

After I saw a coffee table made from cross-sections of Christmas trees last year, I decided to start saving a little piece of each of our trees at the end of the holidays.  I'll put the date and a little memory from each Christmas on the back of them.  For the second year, our neighborly neighbor Chris donated his chainsaw skills and hacked up the trunk of our tree for us.  I hope to eventually have enough to do something like this.  If only I'd started 14 years ago.