Owen is Four!!!

I can't believe my baby is four-years-old! I can still vividly remember driving to the hospital at 4 o'clock in the morning for our planned induction, how scared I was when I was wheeled into the operating room to have an emergency c-section, and the amazement I felt when I looked at his face for the first time!

Now I continue to be amazed with him everyday! The things that come out of his mouth crack me up on a daily basis, the knowledge he already knows makes me proud, and watching him interact with his little brother makes my heart melt.

Yesterday (his actual birthday), we of course, had to work, then we had an OB appointment, so we didn't get to pick him up until 5:00. Owen did have a birthday party at preschool, though! We did, however, celebrate by going out to dinner at Chili's (as requested by the birthday boy), then opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles, and had a little cake before bed!

Today, was the day of his party! I had such a great day with him. Gavin needed Owen to be out of the house so that he could get his presents out of hiding and wrapped, so I took Owen on a lunch date. First, we had to stop at the library and trade the old DVD's for new ones. Next, we took a quick trip to Kohl's in search of a new shirt for his birthday party, of course their was an awesome sale and as I wandered around the boys section looking for possible items to buy, Owen followed me around and was such a good listener. We have come a long way since the days where he would run away from us in department stores! I picked out about seven shirts and then asked Owen to choose which ones he liked. He narrowed it down to three. I happily purchased all three for a less than $10. Finally, we headed to MacDonald's for our lunch date.

I took him to the MacDonald's that had the play equiptment in it. While I waited for our food order, I decided to let Owen venture into the play area ahead of me. (I could see him through the window). He took his shoes off, placed them neatly in on the shelf, and then climbed into the tunnel, at every window he looked out at me and waved!

After I got the food, I settled down at a table and ate, while Owen played and came to get bites and then back to playing. At one point when Owen was actually sitting down and eating I asked him if he thought we should bring Max there. First, we discussed whether or not Max would be able to climb up the tunnel by himself, Owen assured me he could. After our little converstation I asked Owen, "so, should we bring Max here or should this be our special spot?" He decided it should just be our special spot!

When we got home from our date, I decorated his birthday cake (Thomas the train), and then it was time for his party! He told me he had a great birthday party, and out of the blue after everyone left, he said, "I love you, Mommy!" Ahhh, music to my ears!!

I look forward to another fun-filled year with our little man complete with the sweet little moments and all of his shinanigans, too!

It Happens...

Tonight, Owen was jumping on the back of the couch (something he is not supposed to be doing). During one of his jump he missed the back of the couch and landed on the couch on his back, he laughed, looked at us and said, "It happens sometimes!"

Daddy has not Learned....

Tonight, Owen was sitting on the toliet lid brushing his teeth, Gavin was standing in the doorway. Owen says, "Hey daddy come here and turn around." Gavin walked over to the toliet turned around and Owen says, "I see a dupa to spank," and hit his dupa! Apparently Daddy has not learned to not trust this sneaky guy!

Seriously, where is this attitude coming from?

Owen just walked down the stairs to the landing, where he spotted me standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him (he does not walk down the stairs very quietly). When he saw me he said with his arms folded across his chest, "Max and me are serious?"

I said, "Really, about what?"

He replied, "About not going to bed."

Needless to say, he is now upstairs in his room, because Daddy and I are serious about them going to bed!

The funny part is Max had been asleep for an hour and a half already!

A Special Request

Last night, (New Year's Eve), Owen was sitting on the couch, reading a book, and eating a sucker, Gavin was in the kitchen making us (Gavin and I) dinner, and I was sitting at the table patiently waiting for dinner. Owen calls from the couch, "Hey Daddy, can you come here for a second?"

Gavin walked to the middle of the family room and said, "Yeah, bud?"

Owen reached out his hand to reveal the sucker stick with the sucker gone and said, "Could you throw this away for me?"

Seriously?? Where does he get this stuff from?

Christmas Season Tradition

Last year, Gavin and I decided to start a tradition of driving around neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights. A couple weeks ago we took our first drive of the season. Owen was much more verbal than he was last year about what he was seeing. He was so excited at times that he could hardly get the words out of his mouth that he wanted to say! He was pointing out all the "Frosty the Snowmans" and Santa Clauses. The ultimate favotire however, is the "spinny thing" aka carousel blow up decoration that actually spins around with Frosty, a Penguin, Santa, and an elf. (Fortunately, for Owen, and unfortunately for us, this spinny thing just so happens to be three streets away from our new house, so we see this almost on a nightly basis when the request is made to go see it.)

At numerous houses along our ride, I pointed out my favorite decorations, the candycane lights that run along the edge of driveways. At one house, when I pointed out the candycanes Owen said, "I don't like to look at candycanes, I like to eat them!" :)

Tonight, we went for another ride. This year we heard about the "Gift of Lights," drive through at the Speedway Racetrack and decided to check it out. We had to pay for the car full of people, but it was totally worth it. It was two miles of lights on both sides of our car. Owen enjoyed this display as well, and at one point struck up a converstation with Max. He said, "look Max, see the lights, do you like them? Look out my window Max, see the stars?"

I just love those moments of true brotherly love, of course, followed by Owen stealing Max's puppy on the way home and making him cry, but oh those precious moments!

Kick off to the Christmas Season

Although the temperatures in Las Vegas were below normal this Thanksgiving holiday, we stayed true to our tradition and headed out to Opportunity Village last night. For those of you that don't know Opportunity Village is a place in Las Vegas, where you can go walk through the Magical Forest of lights, get your picture taken with Santa, enjoy a warm cup of hot cocoa, and a train ride. There are also other fun things for kids to do like a giant slide, a carosel, and this year a putt-putt golf course. But the hightlights are Santa, the train ride, and the magical forest.

Owen was excited to talk to Santa this year and even took a decorated pinecone he had completed at preschool to show Santa. Max was mesmorized by Santa, which surprised me. I was anticipating him not wanting to be placed on his lap.

I loved watching Owen walk through the Magical Forest this year. He stopped at every display and took it all in. Max on the other hand just liked the freedom of walking and as a result he and Gavin were way ahead of us, so most of the pictures are of Owen. A great time was had by all.

The video at the top of the blog is a result of our evening!