Different continent, same Owen

We were visiting a 15th century palace, but our boy went straight for the Italian three-wheel farm truck. Any motor heads out there know the make of this thing?

We bought an app to see if we could blog more easily so let us know if it's working!

Settling in

Our waking view

Last day of MDO

On to preschool next year!

Counting Down

It won't be long now until we leave for Italy!    

We've been reading a children's book about Italy with Owen, and he's discovered two key takeaways.  (1) Italy has volcanoes.  (2)  Pisa has this cool tower that looks like it's going to fall over at any second.

I overheard Owen playing cruise director with his Noah's Ark the other day, informing all of the zebras, giraffes and monkeys that they were on their way to the Weaning Tower of Peeeeza.  And that's Owen's alphabet magnet version of the famous bell tower in the picture above.  We'll be staying just a 15-minute train ride from Pisa, so Owen will get to see plenty of it - but only from the ground.  Sadly he's too young to be allowed up to the top.

(If you're a sketchy person reading this, just know that we have 2 fearsome guard cats, a housesitter, a 6'4" handyman, and several fantastically nosy neighbors who love us, so go get your drug money somewhere else.  And if you're like my sister who once stole an exam just because her teacher bragged that it couldn't be done, please don't interpret this as a challenge.  Scott will be most unhappy if I'm sassy and get us robbed.)

What if...?

So when I was bellyaching back during the days of "why?", how is it that no one warned me that a far more sinister form of interrogation awaited me.

The "what if... ?"

I can usually work out the "why" of things for Owen.  Why do the birdies fly away when I get close to the window?  Why does the steering wheel make the car turn?

But it's all the supposition that's been killing me.  What if the birdie sees me through the window and flies away soooo fast he hits a tree and breaks it in half and the tree falls on a squirrel?  What if the car starts driving all by itself and goes faster and faster and faster and a policeman sees us and I have my seatbelt unbuckled?

Much of the time, he's not just going for a reaction; he really expects an answer.  And don't even think of trying to phone it in.  He'll just step up his game.

A conversation we had in the car today:

O:  What if I ate a tree?

Me:  That wouldn't happen.  Your mouth's too small.

O:  But dinosaurs eat trees.

Me:  Yes, and dinosaurs were bigger than the trees they ate.  You are smaller than a tree.

O:  Well what if I only ate a leaf?

Me:  It wouldn't taste good, but probably nothing would happen.

O:  What if I got sick and my stomach had to be cut open to take the leaf out?

Me:  That wouldn't happen.  If the leaf made you sick you would just throw up.

O:  What if I threw up the leaf all over a car or a house?

Me:  Uhh... I guess I would just take a hose and wash it off.

O:  But what if it dried before you could wash it off?

And at this point I start fishing through my purse for an Imitrex.

At the Y

Some of my favorite high school memories are of watching Scott play basketball.  It seemed like everyone in the stands would start raising their hands to signal "3" before the ball even left his hands.  But I was a lovesick schoolgirl, so some of you who were there and more levelheaded at the time may need to verify my story.  I do know that my own grandfather once traveled 30 miles out of town to watch Scott play even though I had a basketball game that same night less than a mile from his house.  Can't say I blamed him.

That much.

Owen got to see Scott play for the first time last week.  The two of them shoot around in our driveway together all the time, but Owen had never seen Scott play in a real game.  (Accountant rec league games at the YMCA are real, right?)

Owen sat in my lap and watched the entire first half without moving.  By the second half, he was much more interested in the cooling effects of lying out on aluminum bleachers.  I suppose we've done a decent job of hammering home the importance of sharing and cooperating with others, because Owen had a hard time understanding why some of the men on the court were actually trying to keep his dad from making baskets.  

Then Scott was clobbered while shooting a 3 but made the basket and the free throw for a rare 4-point-play.  I'm cheering away until I notice the look on Owen's face, and I realize he's thinking, that man just hurt Daddy, and not only does he not have to go to time-out, but Mommy is really happy about it.

Hats

Owen's MDO Art Show

Creek at sunset

Where my mind's at

From the basement, when the tornado was between Tuscaloosa and B'ham.

Our power was restored a few hours ago.  We are so touched by the number of out-of-town family members and friends who have called and sent messages over the past few days to check on us.  

There were anxious moments Wednesday evening as they tried to track the tornado out of Tuscaloosa and project its path.  After a little while, the weathermen ran out of superlatives and started repeating themselves and sounding generally helpless and frazzled.  The eeriest part for me was when I noticed the songbirds coming down out of the trees and flying low along the ground.  

But the monster went 10 miles northwest of all of us comparatively rich folks who were hiding in our finished basements and instead hit a lot of people who had nowhere to hide.  

Yeah I was scared, and I still feel all out of sorts, but mostly I just feel guilty for feeling out of sorts when the worst I have to report is that four trees fell in the woods in our backyard.  We won't even have to have them cut up; they'll just add to the wilderness ambiance we already had going out there.

There is urgent need for water and blood, and plenty of organizations are registering volunteers, so it seems the best way to quiet my mind is to get the rest of me moving.

We're safe. No real damage. Just no power.

At GG's

We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter at GG's house on Saturday.  Talk about a beautiful place to be in the spring.  When I was setting up our family picture on Easter Sunday I kept thinking, I wish I had a yard that looked like Grandmother's for a backdrop.  

Uncle Tommy taught Owen about the different kinds of fish you could see swimming in the pond, and a foam baseball won out as the guys' choice item of sporting equipment for the day (with bubbles coming in as a surprise second).  Owen's favorite thing to do was to get hold of the ball and throw it into places where it was nearly impossible to retrieve.

... like in a tree or on the roof.  

I got some tips from GG about caring for roses.  We'll see if I can get results half this pretty next year.

Surrounded by the day's loot and holding a half-eaten snack, Owen passed out on the way home.

Note:  My apologies to the rest of the Stevens/Hamby ladies for not getting any of us in a shot.  Gotta work on that next time!

Easter

Friday night:  Dyeing eggs

Owen wanted the eggs to be all shades of blue.  Then the next day he told me blue was his old favorite color.  His new favorite is orange.  

My first attempt.  Isn't there some saying about being such a bad cook that you can't even boil an egg?

Saturday:  At GG's house (gets its own post later!)

Sunday:  Dressed up and hunting eggs

Oh yeah, and Happy Earth Day!

If security blankets were capes

Soap graffiti

Someone gave Owen these cute Peeps soaps for Easter last year, so I ferreted them away until the beginning of Lent this year.  Turns out they fit Owen's hands so perfectly he's inspired to write on the windows and mirrors with them.  No sooner do I clean an upstairs mirror than I find Owen has tagged the downstairs windows.  It's not making me too crazy.  I mean, my right eye has been twitching for two weeks, but other than that I'm good.

And then I get my favorite magazine this month and discover they condone this type of behavior.  The nerve.

Dinobunny

Owen's school egg hunt is today, and it occurred to me at the last minute that all the other kids were probably going to be wearing cute Easter outfits. 

So necessity is the mother of the dinobunny, in this case. I whipstitched a white pom pom to Rex's back side and cut some bunny ears out of masking tape.  Ta-da.  It ain't smocking, but score me some points for trying.

Bags and Bunnies

Owen had his first overnight visit with Mimi and Granddad this past Friday and Saturday!

The photo is semi-authentic.  It really was taken before we left on Friday, but 1) we don't leave by the front door and 

2)  Owen is lacking shoes.

When we were driving home from Mother's Day Out yesterday, Owen told me the Easter bunny had been at school that day.  I commented on how exciting that must have been, and Owen countered with:

But Mommy, the Eeeter bunny is very big.  Not like wegular bunnies.  

And Mommy?  I don't like bunny hugs at all.

Sweet Monkeys

On a prettier day at a good buddy's house.

We've got more storms cooking around here, so I picked Owen up from school early, and the plan is to go upstairs, snuggle under the covers and watch Toy Story 3 (until weather sirens force us to the basement).

To our far-away family:  You know I just love the drama of an impending storm.  Don't worry about us!