A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away

C3PO is the only character Owen refuses to correctly identify. (It is O and not 0, right?  I know details like that are crucial in the Star Wars Nerd Nation.)

Owen refers to him as 2PS.  I figure he's thinking,  Hey, if we're just stringing random letters and numbers together here I might as well pick ones that are easy to say.  

Owen took this all by himself.

All's fair

Just when the young warrior thought his campaign of sneak attacks and food tampering had swung the tide of war in his favor, the clever cat went guerrilla on him.

She peed in his beloved suitcase.




August 2009

Cool

Image via BananaRepublic.com

I saw this visor beanie at an after-Christmas sale, thought it fit my sartorial style (whatever that is), bought it and have proceeded to make it my little snowy weather friend this winter.  I have worn it dozens and dozens of times, each time feeling almost as cool as miss model with the fingerless gloves up there.

We woke to more fresh snow today, so when Owen and I were heading out for the morning I naturally grabbed my cable knit buddy and crammed it down low over my forehead.

"No hat Mommy.  Mommy take hat off!"

"What?  Why?  Don't you think I look cool Owen?  Like one of those Olympic snowboarder girls?"

With almost no inflection, Owen said, "No."  And he turned his back on me and walked to the door.

-------

Later, when we were coming back home, we got stuck behind a car with modified exhaust.  

"What dat no-eez?"

"That's just a guy who fixed his car so it would be loud and people would notice him.  Do you think he is silly?  Or do you think he is cool?"

"Cool."

"You don't think he is silly?"

"Cool."

So there you have it.  As if I didn't get a clear enough message in high school, my toddler has now verified that I am not even as cool as a guy who most likely spends his weekends in the McDonald's parking lot with his car hood raised. 

Dreamcakes?  Definitely cool.

Last of the snow

I tried something new and bombed. Just click on it to go to Photobucket so you can see the 4th column of pics. Any advice techie friends and family?  Nevermind... guess the 4th column was just feeling shy the first night I posted.

Row 3, column 2: Rabbit tracks

Row 2, column 3 and Row 3, Column 4: Our neighbor Kate

Snowy Sunset

1.5" and Counting!

Owen's love affair with snow continues.

Homemade Valentines

Ohhhh yeah. I'm the overzealous rookie mom who makes homemade Valentines for her kid to hand out. I figure I'll get the compulsion out of my system early while Owen only has 7 classmates and while he can put his name on heartsy stuff and still be able to hold his head high on the playground. Next year it will be mass-produced super hero cards from Target, I promise. But in the meantime, if I may, I would like to point out that the heart in the middle of the card is made by stamping the outside of each of his fists. I could weep it's so cute.

Finally, a creepy lizard to balance out all the pink, drippy sweetness.

Shy Performer

Owen surprised us with seven twenty-sixths of the Alphabet Song at dinner the other night. When I hurried to get it on camera, he began singing "A-B-C-D-AAAAACK!" instead.

Not to be outsmarted by a toddler, I pretended to give up and then filmed him from under the table. You'll have to survive a few random songs, comments and a booger picking, but the pay-off is at the end!

Everyday Owen: Pears & Chairs

Scored them off of Craigslist this weekend. (The chairs, not the pears.)

Yellow Machines

If you're planning to have a conversation with Owen anytime soon, you'd better be able to call that thing in the picture up there something more than Big Yellow Machine. That tactic only worked for me for about a week, and then I had to hit the internet and educate myself.

We've memorized all the active construction and road repair sites within a 10-mile radius of home, with our current favorite site being the "new why-bwear-ee". Today we saw a crane lifting steel beams and a bulldozer pushing dirt around. Score!

But I would caution you against flaunting your newfound knowledge. Throw around terms like boom, grapple, or skid steer loader one too many times in Owen's presence, and he will just calmly point out the passenger side window at something like this

Image via Astronomy Picture of the Day

and say, "Care to tell me what THAT is, smartypants?"

Clearly we need more chairs

or is it just a guy thing to watch sports at close range?

The Dining Car

Owen removed the panel from the bottom of the refrigerator, declared that it was the door of a train and invited me to join him aboard for dinner. He even requested that we get our suitcases.

How could I not oblige?

Once we were ambling down the tracks dining on ground turkey and pasta, I asked where we were going.

Hobby Lobby.

I'm off on a cruise with 5 girlfriends! See you back here next week.

How we spent the rest of Christmas

DD, Coach and Jen (who Owen is pretty consistently referring to now as Neenee) drove over from Texas on Christmas Day in a record-setting 9 hours. I will never drive to Texas again unless Jennifer is my chauffeur!

We were able to enjoy Christmas dinner with them, along with Scott's parents and grandmother GG. Yes, Owen has a DD, Mimi, GG and now a Neenee. The lesson? If you want Owen to call you by name, find a syllable with a long E, say it, then repeat.

We spent most of our time just visiting and enjoying being together, but I was also a bad hostess and put them to work while they were here. We primed all the paneling and wallpaper in the living room, so farewell 70s! It kind of looks like the video below was made in a hospital waiting room, huh?

Before......................................After the before, but before the after (that pic to come later!)

Happy New Year!

Chocolate soul patch

How we spent Christmas, Part I

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

Speck & Joe's Wedding Day!

Pre Wedding Fun

Love and Sippy Cups

Watching fireworks the night before Speck and Joe's wedding

The wedding photo slide shows begin tomorrow, I promise!

Another conversation with Owen

On the Dumbo ride at Disney World

(Hey family, I have no photos of the wedding on my camera! E-mail me some to post please.)

While we were driving down Hwy 31 today, Owen called out from behind me, "Mommy, Owen have two noses!"

I glanced in the rearview mirror to see him sitting in his car seat with one index finger shoved into each nostril.

Math grade: A+

Anatomy grade: C-

Free to a good home

One toddler. Has all his shots. Good with cats and other children. Needs to be kept outside in fenced yard.

SsssssNoNoNo!

It snowed overnight-- our first snow here on Viking Circle.

So why is Owen absent from these picturesque scenes?

He didn't want to get his new galoshes icky.

It's someone's special day!

Try to ignore:

• the cat hair on the sofa
• the fact that Owen is wearing tennis shoes with pajamas
• that Owen's parting words mistakenly wish me a Happy Birthday

So glad you were born Scott! We love you!!!

Conversations with Owen

SCENE-- The Target parking lot just after sunset.

DADDY-- Where is the sun Owen? It was up there when we went inside, but where did it go?

OWEN-- Sun went time out, Daddy.

SCENE-- OWEN's room at nap time. (Coincidentally also the time he realizes he has a million questions to ask.) DADDY has gone downstairs to lower the thermostat setting because OWEN's room is hot as blazes.

OWEN-- Daddy go turn heat off, huh Mommy? Daddy turn off heat?

MOMMY-- That's right. Daddy went to turn off the heat.

OWEN-- Where heat go?

MOMMY-- It doesn't go anywhere, honey. It's just off.

OWEN-- Where heeeeat go, Mommy?

MOMMY-- I don't know what you're asking baby. The heat's just stopped.

OWEN-- Where heeeeat gooooo, Mommy?

MOMMY-- Ummm... heat rises? Heat goes up? I don't know.

OWEN-- No Mommy, heat go night, night.

MOMMY-- You mean you knew the answer all along?

OWEN giggles.

SCENE-- Repeated throughout every single day (with a few specific examples thrown in).

OWEN-- Whadat, Mommy?

Whadat part, Daddy?

Whadat do, Daddy?

Whaaaadat no-ise, Mommy?

------------------------------------------------------------

OWEN-- Whadat, Mommy?

MOMMY-- That's cake. It's a piece of cake.

OWEN-- What cake do, Mommy?

MOMMY-- Well, it makes Mommy fat.

OWEN-- (Giggling) Cake make Mommy fat! Cake make Mommy FAT!!!

------------------------------------------------------------

OWEN-- Whadat, Mommy?

MOMMY-- That's a fly.

OWEN-- What fly do, Mommy?

MOMMY-- Well, that fly doesn't do anything- it's dead. Can you put it down, please?

-------------------------------------------------------------

OWEN-- Whadat, Daddy?

DADDY-- That's soup. Mommy made soup for dinner.

OWEN-- Dat's poup, Daddy.

DADDY-- Sssssss. Soup.

OWEN-- Poup.

Dat poup hot, Daddy?

What poup do, Daddy? What poup dooooooo?

------------------------------------------------------------

OWEN-- Whadat, Mommy?

MOMMY-- Aww- you know what that is honey. It's your stuffed giraffe.

OWEN-- Whadat part Mommy?

MOMMY-- That's his eyes

OWEN-- Whadat part Mommy?

MOMMY-- Umm. I think those are his antlers?

OWEN-- (Lifting the giraffe's tail and pointing under it.) Whadat part Mommy?

MOMMY--

-------------------------------------------------------------

SCENE-- Nap time today.

OWEN-- Whaaaaadat no-ise, Mommy?

MOMMY-- That's the heat going off.

OWEN-- Where heat go, Mommy?

MOMMY-- (Smiling to herself and feeling wise.) Heat go night, night honey.

OWEN-- Heat go night, night.

(OWEN takes contemplative pause.)

Mommy?

Where heat's bed?