Babies! Babies! Babies!

I want to congratulate two of our friends that both just had babies!!!

~Scott and Liz Payne just had their first baby!
Allison Elizabeth was born today weighing in at 8lb. 9oz.

~Beau and Ashley Whitaker just welcomed their second daughter on Saturday!
Kaydence Reese

We are so excited for you both!!! Congratulations!
These two preggos met at Owen's birthday party and were due within a couple of weeks of each other. We will have to get you all together again now that the girls have arrived!

Green River Ordinance's video!

My cousin's band has made a video! Check it out!

http://www.mtvu.com/music/video-premiere/green-river-ordinance_come-on/

We have always joked about my sister and I being back up dancers when my cousins got to the point of making videos... unfortunately, I didn't get a call for this one :( Maybe next time!
You can also visit their official site at www.greenriverordinance.com

Batman Begins

I got Owen the Dark Night Batman costume for Christmas. I don't know where his fascination with Batman came from... He has a cup with Batman on there and Aunt Kelly got him some Batman PJ's (complete with a cape) for his birthday. We don't have any Batman movies and if there is a cartoon I am not aware of it... but you would think Owen knows all about it! He gets so excited about his Batman stuff. I held back the costume as long as I could because I knew once he put it on he would not want to take it off. It is already a battle to get him out of the PJ's on the nights he sleeps in them. (I have to admit he has worn them to school once or twice... hey, you have to pick your battles! And I am pretty sure it is not the first time a two year old has worn his PJ's to school)

ANYWAY, here are some photos of the first time we tried on the costume. He was so funny! He didn't want to put on the full suit... he told me he was "too big" but I think it was too hot for him. So that is why you only see him here in the cape and the mask. I tried on the mask first to show it to him and he insisted that I "put Batman on his nose". So here you go....

After running down stairs... he jumped off the bottom step and gave us this first pose... pricless!

Apparently, Batman does a bear crawl.

Another Batman pose...

And then the muscles came out ;)

As you can see... he put on quite a show! He was running around giving us his best Batman impression... it was great!!!

Sea World

We lived in San Antonio for a few years when I was a child so you can understand how excited I was to share the magic of Sea World with Owen! I waited all summer to try to avoid the heat and we finally decided to go with the Faskes in October. We started off with the Shamu show and Owen thought that "big whale" was pretty neat. There weren't many rides he could ride but we did manage to get him on the log ride and he really liked it! He wanted to go down that "big mountain" again and again! We got an annual pass so there are several trips in our future :) AND I CAN'T WAIT! We were all exhausted by the time we made it home but it was well worth it! Sea World anyone?...

Ashlyn (John's niece), Owen (would not look at the camera), Cason, Erin and Anna (John's niece)

Back row: Parker :)

A Nashville Wedding!

My cousin Matt got engaged last week! We just met his girlfriend last month. Her name is Brittany and she fit right in with the family! Looks like we will be going to a Nashville wedding next February! I can't wait!!!!

Happy Campers

We went camping this last weekend with my dad at Inks Lake State Park. This was only my second time to go camping and Owen's first :) Owen LOVES to be outside so he thought camping was pretty great! We got a great site right on the lake, close to the playground and bathrooms (this is important when you are "roughing it". There was fishing, smores and a cave tour at Longhorn Caverns. We had a great time and we look forward to camping again soon! I totally recommend Inks Lake; it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Dad, me, Stef and Hannah in the cavern. Notice Owen behind Hannah... mesmerized by the rock that looks like a bear's head... very cool!

Rachael... playing with the worms.

Me and Hannah in our "taj-ma-tent"... snuggled up on the air mattress with my electric blanket... sorry people but that's as close to "roughing it" as I am going to get!

Andy, Owen and me outside the caverns.

Look out Gabby!

Owen and I went to stay with my dad early this month. We went swimming and Owen wanted to play with the creepy crawly pool cleaner. He quickly figured out that the tale squirted water and he thought it was HYSTERICAL to get Gabby with it!

It's a little late for Frankenstein

Last year Owen was sick on Halloween and it certainly wasn't cold enough for him to wear the costume I had bought him. I brought it out to see if it would still fit and he was so excited to put on his "monster". Well... it's a little short and gives him a wedgie... and he can only wear it for about 5 minutes before he tells me that it hurts his chin... but he sure does look cute in it! I don't think we'll get to wear it this year. He is all about Batman right now so we will be on the hunt for a Batman costume. It is a battle every morning at our house b/c he wants to wear his Batman PJ's with the cape every day to school or anywhere really ;) It's pretty cute. Here's the Frankenstein pic...

90!

My Papa celebrated his 90th birthday this past Sunday. It is quite amazing! You would never guess he is 90! We celebrated earlier this month when my cousins were in town. Nana will be right behind him next year... she is turning 89 next week!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Friday, August 28th was Andy's "golden birthday". Do you know what this means? I am suprised by the people who have never heard of a "golden birthday"... for you that don't know, I will fill you in...your "golden birthday" is the day you turn the age of your birth date. For instance, Andy turned 28 on the 28th.... he's golden! We celebrated with a trip to the bowling alley with friends! Happy GOLDEN Birthday Andy! (I've always thought you were golden!)

Progress, Vol. II

The walls are up, the windows are in, and the roof will be put on this week :) We are in the process of making a final decision on the stone for the exterior. It's a slow process but still very exciting!!! Owen is also very excited. As soon as we head towards the new house he always says "go see my new house". And he is also very excited about his room. It's really cute!

Owen hard at work ;)

Progress

We officially broke ground on the house about three weeks ago and the slab was poured last week! They started the framing on Monday so it should really take shape soon! YEAH! There are lots of decisions ahead! Below are a few progress pictures... I know it's not much to look at now, but it's still really exciting!

The lot prior to any clean up

After the tree clean up...

And now... the slab.

July 4th

We had a wonderful long weekend to celebrate the 4th! We kicked it off Friday by going with John and Heather to take all the kiddos to see Ice Age. It was really cute and Owen especially loved it because there were a lot of dinosaurs in it ("ROARRRR!" - as Owen said throughtout the movie) Saturday, we took Owen to the parade in Belton, had dinner with Beau, Ashley and Peyton and then watched fireworks in Temple. Owen watched the fireworks for about 5 minutes and then proceeded to dig in the dirt. Peyton on the other hand watched them very closely but she wasn't too sure about them... she wanted as far away from them as possible... that happened to be Andy's lap so she sat with him for the whole show ;) Sunday, Andy and I took Owen to a water park at the city park in Gatesville. He loved it of course... anything outside and with water will make his day!

Owen and Peyton waiting for the fireworks...these two are a mess!

I can't get a good picture of me and Owen to save my life... this is as good as it gets.

The best seat in town!

My baby is a PRESCHOOLER!!!!

I receive weekly emails about Owen's development from a wonderful website at http://www.babycenter.com/. I have been a memeber of this site ever since I was pregnant and it's fantastic! While pregnant, I got weekly emails about my baby's growth and development and the membership has continued since I had Owen. Just after I had him I would receive emails titled, "Your 3 Week Old"... after his first birthday I was shocked with the new titles, "Your Toddler-Week 6". But most shocking of all was last week when I received my weekly email and it was titled "Your PRESCHOOLER..." WHAT?! I couldn't believe it! Is he really now considered a preschooler? He's only two! Just like that my little baby is a preschooler! I wasn't ready for that one... they should give you a warning before sending out emails like that. We survived another birthday party ;) It was extremely hot but we made it! I had rented a bouncy house but I could have skipped it b/c the kids mostly played on the slip 'n slide and in the pools I had set up... I can't blame them... I was melting myself. Owen had a blast and got a lot of great new toys along with some adorable new clothes :)

I can't believe it's been two years since he arrived! He has been such a joy and a blessing to our family. This last year has been so fun watching him learn and watching his personality bloom. I am looking forward to the coming year as he has really started talking and I know he is going to have a lot to say... although, I think I will still call him my baby... even if he is a preschooler!

Unfortunately, the only picture I got of the bouncy house was after the kids left and Andy and Scott decided to give it a try... did that thing have a height requirement?...

Scott really enjoyed the slip 'n slide after the kids left... boys will be boys ;)

A Hair Cut.. FINALLY!

We finally took Owen for his first hair cut... can you believe it! It was the day before his birthday... I never thought he would be two before we cut his hair! Despite the taxi chair and Elmo movie in front of him, he was NOT having it! I ended up holding him while he screamed

through the whole thing but luckily it didn't take long. He looks adorable with his "little boy" hair cut ;) Sorry I don't have an after picture... we had to get out of there quick!

ALMOST TWO...

Owen will be two years old a week from today and I just can't believe it!!!! The first year went by really fast and while this year didn't seem to go by quite so fast, it's still just unbelievable that we have a two year old! He's definitely NOT a baby anymore! He is talking all the time and more and more words come together each day! He has been flexing that independent muscle and we've caught a glimpse of the "terrible 2's" but this truly is a very fun age! He is so loving and often stops playing just to give us a hug or a kiss ;) He brings such joy to our whole family; I can't imagine life without him. It must have been pretty boring before he got here... we just didn't know it at the time.

SUMMER FUN!

Owen has already been enjoying the water activities that come with summer ;) He especially loves the pool. He's been asking about it ever since I put it up last Sunday so I'm sure we'll get it out again this weekend :) Here's some pictures of my sun baby!

Relaxing on the Slip 'N Slide

Slip'N

"napping" on the Slip 'N Slide - with a golf club ;) (if only you could hear the "snoring"! LOL)

Loving the pool


And then we lost the swim suit ;)

Saying Goodbye

It was a bitter sweet day this Friday as we closed on the sale of our home. It was pretty tough to say goodbye to our first home and the only home Owen has ever known. We have had it up for sale by owner since January and I am proud of us for selling it ourselves and not listing it with a realtor. The truth is I called to list it about a month ago (it was a Wednesday) and made an appointment for a realtor to come that Saturday to list it. As I was getting off the phone with the realtor he said "maybe you'll get lucky and sell it before I come out on Saturday." Well...the day after I spoke to him I got a call that we would be receiving an offer that evening from someone that looked at the house in January! They didn't even want to see it again! (a single man, go figure) Amazing! So we have been moving for the last three weeks and officially said goodbye on Friday :( I will miss that house but we are excited to move on to a new chapter and build our own home. :)

Stop and Smell the Bluebonnets!

I was off work for Good Friday so Owen and I did a little outlet shopping and then met Heather and the kids at the park. Then, we headed home for a nap before meeting up with Heather again to take some bluebonnet pictures :) Here are some pictures of our Good Friday!

Erin, Parker and Gabby

Cason - riding a bull ;)

Parker loved the swing!

So did Owen, especially when Erin was swinging him HIGH! :)

Not too sure about these bluebonnets mom!

Owen LOVES Erin!

Owen and Cason - better keep an eye on these two ;)

No way were we going to get a picture of all of them looking at the camera.