Owen's Obsession...this week!

This week Owen is asking us to play "Hungry Hippos" every chance he gets. We borrowed it from Steve and Shonna's house, because the last few times we had visited too much was going on for anyone to sit down and play this game with him! He loves it and I must say it is a little addictive for me too!!:) Funny that the Hippo to eat the last ball is the winner, it doesn't matter how many total another Hippo may have eaten...gotta love playing by the rules of a three-year-old!

Splash Splash Splash

Max got to experience the water table for the first time on Sunday afternoon. He LOVED it! This kid loves to splash and couldn't believe he had a whole table full of water to splash in his brother's face!! All Owen wanted to do was drive his cars through the water and he was not impressed that his brother was having so much fun splashing!!

Lazy Saturday Morning

Saturday morning, Owen and Max had a prebreakfast snack of dry cereal. They looked so darn cute sitting side by side, drinking their drinks, eating their cereal, and watching TV.



Notice Max is stealing Owen's food!

Bath Time Fun!

The other night, the boys had such a great time in the bath tub, there was plenty of splashing, lots of giggles, and just plain silliness. Max even took the opportunity to get back at Owen for all the times Owen had poured water over his head!

Brotherly Love

Gavin took the boys to the grocery store today. They rode together in the little car that is attached to the front of the cart. At one point during their "ride" through the grocery store Owen wrapped both arms around Max and said, "I love you brother!"

Just melts my heart!

World's Best Big Brother

It often amazes me to watch Owen interact with Max. He can be so kind and gentle.

Here are a few examples of things that have melted me heart in the last couple of days!

Yesterday, Owen wanted to play in his room alone with Max. I allowed this for a few minutes and then went in his room. Owen had his tractors up on his bed and Max was up on his tippy toes reaching for them. When I asked Owen if he could put the tractors on the floor, he refused. I told him that Max needed something to play with. So, Owen picked up the car, put it on the floor next to Max and in a sweet high pitched voice said, "here Max, this will make you happy!"

Earlier tonight, Owen, Max, and I were leaving Subway, )I can't remember how the converstation started), but something about leaving Max at Subway. Owen said, "No, we can't leave Max here, I would miss him sooooo much!"

Then we were home eating our Subway sandwiches at the table and I broke off some of my bread to share with Max, Owen who uncharacteristically, was sitting eating his sandwhich like a little angel, ripped some of his bread off, walked all the way around the island and around to Max's side of the table dropped it in front of Max and in that same sweet, high pitched voice, said "here Max, here's some bread for you."

I hope he always looks out for his little brother like he does (most of the time) now.

Just Another Day in Paradise!

Below is a video capturing a typical rowdy moment with my boys!

The County Fair

Today was the Clark County Fair. The plan was to get there right when the gates opened so we could beat the traffic and the crowd. In the years past when we have left the fair, the cars had been backed up the full five miles from the expressway to the parking lot and even onto to the expressway. Owen is not patient enough to wait in lines, so we knew we needed to beat the crowd. We were there right at 10:00 and for the first round of rides Owen got to have the ride all to himself. We spent the rest of the morning riding rides and eating fair treats! A good time was had by all!!:)


The first ride of the day, the carousel with Daddy! He didn't ask to go on this one again! He must be growing up!


Max enjoying the sights!



This is my favorite picture of the day!
"Tickled Pink" to be riding in a pink car!
Owen loved riding on the motorcycle the most, it shows on his facial expressions!

The fresh air wore Max right out!

I am really hoping Owen doesn't have a huge growth spurt and become taller than he can be to go on these rides with his little brother next year!

BUNCO Streaker

The first Wednesday of every month I go out and play BUNCO with some ladies from my school or who were once at my school, but have now moved to on to other schools. There are 12 ladies total and we take turns hosting throughout the year. We have dinner first and then we play the very fun dice game that is BUNCO.

April was my month to host this year. Gavin helped me have dinner prepared and then took Owen out on a "date" just before the ladies arrived so that we could eat in peace! By the time Owen and Gavin got home we had started playing. Owen was very well behaved when he returned, he was interested in what we were doing and, of course, wanted to play too, but accepted my answer that he wasn't old enough. Gavin did a good job keeping the boys away from us and keeping them on their nightly routine. While, Gavin was getting them ready to take their evening bath, Owen escaped our bedroom and ran out into the living room to streak for all the ladies. I was sitting at the kitchen table, he ran through the living room and jumped into view of me in the kitchen and yelled, "hey, look at me!"

I bet non of those ladies thought they were going to have a show with their dinner!

After his bath and once he was fully dressed in his pajamas he decided we still needed some entertainment and had to get out his "rock star guitar" to play for all of us. After Max was put to bed, Owen asked Gavin to set up his train track. Right before we were done playing Owen announced that he wanted everyone to come check out his train! We distracted him by asking him to choose the door prize winner instead by drawing from the score sheets.

Apparently, while Owen was busy with all of his shinanigans Max was quietly stashing toys in a purse (he loves to put things away). When the ladies all picked up their purses to leave one lady found a couple of toy cars and some round wood stacking blocks. I was nervous that I may find more of my children's toys in my school mailbox the next day, but luckily he only chose one purse to stash things in!

All in all it was a successful (I won $15 for having the most wins)and entertaining BUNCO night at the Romzek household!

Who Let the Dogs Out?

No more "Boom Boom Pow," Owen's new favorite song is, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" While he was listening to the song on the internet I asked him if I could record him. He refused, than I told him I would give him a couple of M&M's if he sang close to the computer (so the microphone would pick up his voice), no argument that time, he belted it out and then enjoyed his M&M's!!! Click on the title to hear him sing!

Happy Easter!

Easter morning festivities were done in shifts this morning. Max woke up first and had breakfast while Daddy cleaned up the kitchen from the night before. We tried to keep Max in his high chair for as long as possible waiting for Owen to wake up, but you can only contain a 13 month old for so long. Finally, he got down to play. He amused himself for a while, until he spotted his Easter basket hiding in the corner. He crawled over and picked out a couple of toys. Then he spotted an Easter egg peeking out from under the coffee table. He continued to crawl around the house and found a couple of more Easter eggs in the playroom! Finally at 8:30 I decided that we needed to wake Owen up. He enjoyed his Easter egg hunt, but it took him quite awhile to find his Easter basket that was hidden underneath his train table in the toy room. He remembered how Gavin taught him to "crack" the eggs into a bowl last year and was very pleased to see M&M's fall out every time he did this! Later, we went to dinner at Shonna's parents house. They have a big Easter egg hunt every year for the kids. Lots and lots of eggs and lots and lots of prizes to go with them. Owen enjoyed this as well, Max enjoyed putting all the empty eggs back into the bin!
After the Easter egg hunt the older kids played a couple of games: balancing an egg on a spoon race, sack race, and real Easter Egg Bocce Ball!
We came home early so that Max could take a nap, since he skipped his afternoon nap with all the festivities and to just relax ourselves before we have to go back to work tomorrow!! It has been a fun and eventful spring break week. I can't wait until summer of 2011 when we will have the whole summer off as a family! My year round schedule has officially returned to nine month!:)

Cookies and Cleaning

Most of today was spent making Easter sugar cookies and cleaning. Gavin had the idea to invite the Oranchak's over to watch the basketball game, which makes cleaning the house faster because it gives us a deadline, had to be done by 3:00!

When 3:00 rolled around Steve arrived with Ally and Jenna, but Shonna had to go back to the house to pick up Steve's sister, who is here visiting, and her son Rocco. Rocco was still sleeping, she said they would be back in an hour or so.

Before they arrived, Gavin had suggested that I let the kids decorate the cookies that we had left to be frosted. That turned out to be a perfect idea since I was alone with all the kids for a little while.



All three decorated at least three cookies, but soon the youngest and the oldest lost interest. I was left with just Jenna helping. She sat there the whole time and decorated every last cookie. In response to this quality time with Jenna I told Gavin, maybe I could just "rent a daughter" every now and then!



A little while after the decorating was done, Ally decided she wanted to do a little art project. Soon all of the kids joined in. It was fun to watch them all sharing the art supplies and creating their own age appropriate pieces of art. Owen with stickers, Jenna drawing and coloring, and Ally practicing her cursive writing!

Then as the kids started getting crazy, I decided to try out the talking egg that Grandma Sue and Papa Dan sent Max for Easter. The kids took turns hiding it and retrieving it. Of course, they all cheated and peeked as the egg was hidden, but it did keep them busy for a little while!

Then, at last, Shonna, Andrea, and Rocco arrived and I was no longer in charge of all the kids!

And at the end of the day the status of the playroom and the kitchen proves that a good time was had by all!!!

Don't Make me Call the Monsters!

Ok, so we won't be including this story in our "Parent of the Year" application, but for the past week and a half or so when Owen has been misbehaving before bed, we have threatened to call the monsters. This threat works wonders. It gets him to brush his teeth, stay in his room, and go to sleep in a timely fashion. I know most kids his age would have nightmares if their parents threatened to call monsters, but we just don't have a normal three-year-old.

It all started one night when Owen wanted Gavin to check for Monsters in his room. Owen used to have a tendency to go to sleep with his music blaring, so Gavin told him that he better turn it down because Monsters like loud music. This started a trend.

When Owen starts to run into our room instead of toward his room at night, all I have to say is, "do I have to call the monsters?" And he stops dead in his tracks.

He will occasionally test us and I actually have to pick up the phone, but he quickly straightens up and follows the rules.

Well, tonight, Owen was supposed to be going potty. He was sitting on the toliet, goofing around instead of taking care of business. I told him I was going to leave for a minute and let him go potty. He didn't like this. He said, "I'm going to call the monsters on you." He continued to hold his right hand out like it was a phone dial it with his left hand, then he put his hand up to his ear, and started talking to the monsters, telling them to come and get Mommy!

I thought for sure this was the end of the monster threat, but it continues to work.

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum. Owen, Max, and I went with Grandma Debbie and Papa Steve when they were here visiting in March. I purchased a family pass good for unlimited visits for a year. I thought this would be a perfect break from the heat for the boys in the summer, while I am at work. Anyway, since being there Owen has talked nonstop about the activities there and has been begging to go back with Daddy, so we made sure to include it in our Spring Break activities! Owen had a blast. This visit the two activities that held his attention the longest were the grocery store and this giant wheel that he turned to make the foam blocks go up the conveyer belt. While Owen was busy with that I put Max in the "Oasis," which is a no shoe zone for 0-18 month olds. He had a blast, he was a crazy man crawling super fast around and around!

He even climbed up onto a second level part, I was shocked!
We were home in time for lunch and for Max to take a nice long afternoon nap (that was the plan anyway)!

We made a trip to the gym and Owen insisted on wearing his Santa socks!











The rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying the last offical day of our Spring Break!

Change in Plans!

Thursday morning, Owen slept in long enough for Gavin and I to watch a show. Max, however, was up bright and early lounging with us. Gavin and I were sitting on the couch with our coffee and Max thought he should be "grown-up," too and asked to sit in the chair. We put him up there and he was so silly. He sat back, then got his milk, sipped it, then put it back on the table. Then he would sit back again, rock the chair a little, ect. It was quite amusing for all three of us!

When Owen got up, I decided we had plenty of time before we had to leave the house to bake the two batches of cookie dough we had in the fridge. We were doing great, Owen and I were rolling the dough and Gavin was decorating. But then Owen's patience wore thin, he wanted to start the second batch, he got it out of the fridge, set it on the counter where I was still finishing up the first batch. He kept pushing it trying to get it open, until he pushed it right off the counter. It was an accident, but it still ended the cookie baking session!

The plan for the rest of Thursday was to meet up with the Oranchaks and Rudolphs at the Shark Reef! Between Gavin, Steve, and I we were going to be able to get all the adults in for FREE! When we got there, the line for the Shark Reef was at least a quarter mile long, it was insane. We only had a two hour time frame before we had to be at Max's head doctor appointment and even if Owen would have stood in that line it would have been a quick and crowded visit with the sharks! So, instead we decided to head to Town Square and let the kids play at the park there!



The weather turned out to be gorgeous, that is of course, until we decided to go get ice cream. Then the clouds came over head and dropped the temperature a good 5 degrees! This did not stop us from indulging in the ice cream!





The head doctor gave Max great news, we will be taking the helmet OFF next Friday! It will be a whole hour appointment as they will take three D images of his head again and compare to the original images taken so we can compare his old head with his new and improved head! We are all very excited for April 16th!