Sunday, April 29, 2012

Water Fight

 The sun is shining, the weather is warm.
We had to water the trees and strawberries 
because we've had no rain.
Why not water each other while they were at it.
I guess we need another water gun or two.
But that didn't stop them from having a lot of fun.
Next time Dad will be home to join in the battle.
I think there are going to be a lot of water fights this year.



Capture Moments

 We have had a fantastic weekend. After significantly helping me clean the basement living room and organize the toy room as well as do other chores around the house, the kids and I rewarded ourselves. We rented a movie, got Chinese takeout and had homemade sundaes for dessert.












We had so much fun and as I was sending them up to bed I made them stop for a minute for those few and far between captures of all of them together, messy hair, messy faces, dirty clothes, but that's our life, we are rarely all put together but we are almost always smiling. It's weekends like this that make it hard to send them off to school on Monday but summer is just around the corner.


 Owen showed Anna how to ride his duplos motorcycle yesterday, he thought it was hilarious when she got on it. I adore her smile in this picture and how excited Owen was. We've had fun this weekend.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Owen's World


Owen has been up to some strange activities lately. Last Saturday he was full of creating trouble and messes. After putting his milk in his front end loader, he dumped his bubbles in the kitchen. With those two messes cleaned up, I turned my back to find him feeding a whole stick of butter to the dog. While playing in the sand box I leave the door open so I can hear him while I work around the house, when I walked out of the room he brought his dump truck in the house and left behind a load of sand. That was all in one morning.
Owen's vocabulary went from single words to complete sentences overnight. We knew he was capable and just holding out on us, but I was still surprised when he started spewing.
Most things start with I want...
"I wanna eat."
"I don't like banana." Does he not realize he's been eating several a week for a long time, kind of funny to decide now he doesn't like it.
"I wanna eat cheese please."
"I wanna go out front ride bike."
"Mama, snake on back." My shirt had a snake on the back of it.
"I pooped."
"Goodnight Beau."
"Goodnight Na" Apparently Anna has too many syllables so he shortened it.
"Goodnight Wuke."
"I wub Beau" Yeah that is apparently the only person he loves."
"Goodnight Zip"
"Goodnight doggie" He refuses to call Oscar by his name, he remains doggie, but Zip is Zip.
He has only once said "Goodnight Mama".
"I want my bed." Until we get there then forget it.
"I want byyyye and blank" that is pacifier and blanket.
"Tanks"
"Fish in my bowl."
When  you show him a family picture he will name everybody in it, but will not say his name he will only say "me".
Owen and his chuggie track.
We are all learning to speak Owen language. When he wants to watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse he says "I want hotdog" He will also sing hotdog, hotdog, which is super cute and I hope to catch that on video someday. When he sees a train he says "chuggie" He loves playing with the train track that we have and I brought out from storage unfortunately we can only find one chuggie to play with on the track. He plays with "vrooms" and "frucks" all day long and has started to line them up in a row to play with them one at a time. He still loves to ride his fire truck and he got a new tricycle from Auntie Gail and Uncle Dave that he is getting better at every day. He is a force to be reckoned with but we sure do love him.
Milk in the front loader.
Hammering away, constructive play at least.

Friday, April 27, 2012

An Inside Look at Anna

This is what I found when I came downstairs from getting Owen to bed. Anna reading in our reading chair patiently waiting for me with a water bottle on her head. She has this inner comedian that doesn't come out often but when it does we all have a great laugh. Tonight she informed me I needed to do light drills. That's how Ben gets the kids to remember to turn off lights in the house. It was her funny way of telling me I'd left a light on. She's not afraid to be laughed at or with and both happen often. She gets life, she doesn't take it too seriously but it doesn't just pass her by, she remembers everything and uses it later. I love this girl of ours.

Girl Time Interrupted


Anna loves her American Girl Dolls. Bama recently sent her two tutus or skirts or whatever you want to call them. She loved them. She also sent a black leotard. I don't know how many hours she spent sewing but I do know the smile it brought to Anna's face was worth every minute of her time. My mom loves to create things for her grandchildren, if she can't spend every day with them because they live so far away she spends hours creating things for them no matter how frustrating the project becomes or how long it takes she always finishes it. Anna was playing quietly in her room and I remember Bama wanted pictures, so I went upstairs to grab a few.

Unfortunately Owen followed me, he had to pose with the dolls too.
 Then he insisted on sitting in Anna's lap since the dolls had been there. He's cute and Anna tolerates him well, but she loves being a girl and doing her own thing so it isn't often I let her girl time get interrupted, but sometimes it just can't be helped.

Time with Pepere


Owen just loves his vroom, and he loves to be outside riding something. "I wanna go out front" is a common sentence from him these days. While Pepere was here he obliged Owen's request and followed Owen around the driveway, pushing him and pulling him to Owen's delight. This is a memory that will forever stick with me and great grandfather and his grandson, not many kids get to have moments like this.




Memere's Secret Recipe


 Memere came to visit, oh yeah I mentioned that in a previous post, but I hadn't added pictures. I didn't remember to take many pictures but I did remember these
 I captured the making of the secret recipe, turtles out of rolos, pretzels, and pecans...don't tell anyone the secret, but it's that Memere always makes sure the bugs a.k.a. kids wash their hands.
 Memere and Owen were the taste testers.


 Beau, Anna, and Luke take this recipe very seriously. IT is not a laughing matter, and they though Owen was tasting too much. Although it looks to me like Memere was the instigator in the tasting marathon.


 These are the things memories are made of, the kids love the traditions they have with Memere and Pappa Lloyd, they talk about them all the time.

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Zip Stunk

 Before Ben left for one of his work trips last month Zip got into something. It was right before company was coming and we needed him to smell better. I however do not wash dogs, it's just on my list of things that I'd rather not do. SO the task fell to the kids. I got everything they needed then stood back and let them work. They did a great job and had a lot of fun in the  process, glad they did because I wouldn't have.




Boys Being Boys

Owen and his tractor.
 Owen and Luke had an afternoon with just me recently. I don't even remember why, but we played outdoors for hours. Owen pushed his tractor and played in dirt. Luke played in dirt, watched bugs and then killed bugs. These boys won't be little forever but sitting back and watching them explore their world is one of my favorite things. Owen would live outdoors if we let him, Luke has to be urged out the door but once he's out he doesn't come back in easily. It's funny how sometimes they just do their own thing oblivious to each other. That's how this day was I, I was reading on the porch, and the boys were in the yard each doing their own thing. There was no time to stop to see what the other one was doing they were too engrossed in their own activity.





And our biggest boy, was keeping watch over all of it, good doggie.

A Little Clip of Owen

Oh boy blogger has gone and changed up its stuff. Now I have to figure this new format out, hope it doesn't take too long. It doesn't look any different once it's done but there are lots of different buttons to push. Owen was playing in Anna's room the other day while she was dressing her Am Girl Dolls. So we asked him to kiss the doll. It was so cute and he laughed afterward every time. Love having his laughter on video, I miss when the big ones were two, but not all the time just when he's being cute.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Easter, Wedding, Family

It was a very busy beginning to April. The kids started the month with a week of spring break. We did nothing special, but spent lots of time together at home. Go Fish, UNO and movie time was the theme of our days together. Ben went out of town for a couple days and the kids cuddle in close and relaxed. The end of the week brought Memere, Pappa Lloyd, and Grand Pepere to our house, we had been counting down the days and we were so excited when they finally got here. We fit a lot of stuff into a few days and it was so much fun. Friday night was a fish family dinner at our house with aunts and uncles, Saturday was movies for the kids and grandparents and yardwork and time with Pepere for Ben, Owen and I. Then it was off to Auntie Christine's (and Uncle Ken's) - who just moved here from New Hampshire, yeah! We celebrated Auntie Annette's birthday with another fish dinner this time salmon on the grill, yum. Easter Sunday dawned bright and early with children eager to see what the Easter Bunny brought. It was so fun to share the morning with M, PL, and P. They had to get up extra early though, but there were smiles all around. Off to Mass with the whole family, we took up a pew and a half. How I love to have lots of family around us to celebrate the love of God. Then it was home to quickly throw the ham in the oven and prepare the other food for all of our guests. We had both sides of Ben's family the Marnell's and LeBeau's, 25 adults and 5 kids. We are blessed to finally be able to celebrate the holidays with family and host it in our home. Food was good but the company was better, and the day was completed with an Easter egg hunt in the yard for the kids. Monday the kids were supposed to go back to school, but we gave them a mental health day and took Memere, Pappa Lloyd and Pepere to the GA Aquarium. It was fun filled taking in the dolphin show and the 4D show there, we caught a quick lunch and were back home in time for the kids to show off their stuff at martial arts. Pizza for dinner and then to bed. The days were filled. Tuesday brought the packing of our current guests as they were moving on to stay at Auntie Annette's house and the welcoming of Aunt Gail, Uncle Dave and Jessica. The kids got to go to school, they were thrilled. Tuesday night brought more fun memories and Wednesday brought another birthday celebration for Aunt Sharon. Thursday we began the real wedding festivities for Auntie Annette was marrying our Favorite Uncle Ray soon and we had to have a bachelorette party. We also slipped in a trip to Broosters for ice cream with Memere a tradition with any visit to or from Memere. More family arrived for lunch on Thursday and I finally got to repay lunch to Uncle Dennis and Aunt Marie, we always crash their place for lunch when we are in Connecticut and for the first time I could let them crash ours. Friday was a day filled with prom dress shopping, I thought I'd have a few years before I got to partake in such an activity but thanks to cousin Jessica I got to do it this year. We really had a lot of fun with lots of laughs particularly trying on the Little Bo Peep dress...wish I had a picture. She chose a gorgeous yellow one that she only makes more gorgeous. Can't wait to see pictures of that day. Cousins dinner at our house Friday night was filled with lots of memories and good food and ended with some of us around the fire talking about things that only family shares, ah lots of laughs about disgusting topics. Saturday we partook in the wedding that has been long in coming but we are all so happy that they are finally together forever. It was a beautiful Mass with a fantastic homily that culminated in a wonderful reception. Sunday brought one last family picnic before everyone headed home. The memories from that week plus will last forever and I'm so thankful for all the wonderful family we got to share them with.