scissors...

A couple of friends recently relived the story of their daughters finding the scissors and of course, giving themselves a haircut. One ended up with a mullet. Seriously. You'd think this would motivate a mother of a preschooler to take heed and hide said instruments in her own home. Oh, but no, I DID just have a baby right? So I forgot.

This morning Owen strolled into the kitchen with holes in his pajama pants - one on each side. When I inquired, his response was a huge smile (bursting with pride) and "look Mom! I made POCKETS!" Because everyone needs pockets in their pajama pants, right?

The scissors are safely away now. Take heed you mothers out there.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Owen and Lyla were super sweet Valentines yesterday!

Reading Owen's shirt...the ladies love it!




She loves her daddy!



sweet girl...

Couch to 5k...

Well, it's official. I need to lose weight. After three months, I can no longer claim "I JUST had a baby." Now, it's more like I RECENTLY had a baby. So I've decided to take up exercising on our treadmill - the one that's doubled as a second closet bar for a couple of years now. I found this program online called "Couch to 5k" that's meant to get a person slowly acclimated to running. I've just completed the first week - all three days of it. To celebrate, I'm baking a Paula Deen Bag Lady chocolate pound cake. hehehe. Sad, but true.

say it ain't snow...

You really have to see this to believe it. The snow is still coming down.




No need for a cooler...



my attempt at taking a photo at dusk in the snow (the flash reflected on the falling snow)...


We spent some time making Valentines


Owen's block tower...

Happy Birthday Grammie!!!

Happy Birthday to Grammie! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

this one's for you mom...

My mom is not a fan of black and white photos. She'd rather I take my kids to a big box department store photo studio to pose in front of a fireplace, frosted snow painted backdrop than to ever have their faces altered gray through my lens. So, I've decided to post them - unedited COLOR photos! Enjoy!

cousin Gracie...

Lyla LOVES Gracie! Some of her first smiles were when her cousin held her a few weeks ago. She didn't stop smiling the whole time!

sweet tomato...

Anyone who knows me well knows I LOVE tomatoes! So imagine my excitement when I found an adorable little sleeper on clearance covered with my summertime favorite. I think Lyla's expressions sums up my satisfaction. She's two months old now - just had her first round of shots yesterday. She was much braver than I. We suspect she may have some food allergies as well (eczema at such an early age is an indicator - along with big brother's long list of them). Let's hope we're wrong this time!

(Just a note for grandparents and all else who can't stand the small photos - click on the image and it'll get larger)

the best kind of snow....

Just after the new year, we had the best snow - just the right texture for a snowman! Owen and Papaw built a little family of them. It seems we've received several "snowman kits" over the last few Christmas seasons, so it was nice to get to put them to use!

catching snow flakes...

I KNOW it's been forever since I updated this - please forgive me! I promise to post some photos of Lyla soon. For now, enjoy these of Owen and our neighbor Ray in the snow yesterday. It was one of those soft snows with big, beautiful flakes - you just have to stick your tongue out and catch one!

Sweet, sweet baby...

Here's our little Lyla Joy - http://ruff811.cmdwebsites.com/?slideshow=meet-lyla-joy-ruff. She arrived last Wednesday, November 28th at 11:49am. Of course, we are in love already.

family of three no longer we'll be...

No baby yet. I'm scheduled to be induced next Saturday, December 1st. That said, this was our last weekend as a family of three. Owen had a fantastic Thanksgiving playing with his cousins. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday just hanging around the house. After five hours of contractions on Saturday, they just stopped and I went back to waiting.
I love Christmas movies, so this was the perfect weekend to be on the couch. Turns out, Owen is much like me in his liking of the season. We've watched Elf, A Christmas Story, the Wizard of Oz and Max and Ruby's Christmas. I never realized "A Christmas Story" had so much profanity in it!
We had some snow here in Chicagoland over the holiday - not enough to make a snow angel though, much to Owen's disappointment. The forecast is calling for more snow this week, with accumulation likely on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Looks like Lyla will come home in a blanket of white.

Jesus flies kites...

At dinner tonight, Owen began to talk about Jesus. A friend had told him yesterday about a man who died and was buried in a neighboring town. Friend said "that's not good," to which Owen replied "yes it is good if he's in Heaven." You can imagine my tears welling up.

Anyway, I was telling Kevin this at dinner and Owen chimed in saying, "Heaven is good and maybe Jesus is flying my kite." Took me a moment, but then I remembered - he was flying a kite last week with Uncle Bryan when the string broke and the kite flew away.

At least someone is enjoying the kite. =)

I vant to show you some pics....

After literally months of anticipation and countless drives by the "Halloween House" on our block, the day has come and gone - though the sugar high wears on. Monday Owen settled on being a "cute little vampire" who's "scary" (all his words), so I finally decided to go and purchase the items needed to create a costume. All he really wanted was the teeth with "drippy stuff," aka blood.

So without further adieu, here's our little vampire...

lucky shot

Owen rarely looks at the camera, so this was definitely a lucky one.

bedtime rituals...

For most kids, it's a story or two, some soft music or even some warm milk or something - the bedtime ritual.

Owen has created his own ritual, of sorts. Just after bathtime, his current favorite thing to do is get into mommy and daddy's bed, watch "that running show" (aka "The Biggest Loser"), and eat concord grapes. Not regular grapes - has to be concord grapes. For those who haven't tried them, concord grapes are ones you eat the insides and discard the skin. My three year old has perfected the process.

Did I mention he likes to do all of this in his towel? Thus, there is no picture with this post. Some things are better left to imagine.

giggles

Owen was just relaxing outside one day in the sun and I captured this photo - one of the few times he willingly smiled for the camera!

what a difference a year makes...

Many of you may remember that Owen's transition to preschool last year was difficult, to put it mildly. Having never been from mom or dad's side for more than a couple of hours (and then it was at grandparents' sides), let's just say he didn't appreciate the wonders of fun toys and friends in a new environment. For six full months.

This week marked his first full days of three year old preschool. He was disappointed the first day last week when moms HAD to stay for the hour. Yesterday, he ran straight into class and disappeared before my eyes. very nice.

Photos here are of ice cream to celebrate the first day and of Owen and Kevin in his newly finished room. It's all decorated now and if I ever get around to making both beds and putting the books away, I'll post a picture of the new room. Kevin really is an amazing man - he renovated the room, built a new pantry, ripped up basement carpet and padding (after moving all the furniture) and put it all back together again in less than two weeks!

On top of all that, he's hot. I'm a lucky lady for sure.

letter of the day...

Owen's special day, according to Sesame Street. He was thrilled to see the letter of the day was "'O' for Owen!" He ran to the refrigerator and grabbed the "O" letter magnet, sitting with Cookie and Prairie Dawn to celebrate. Then, like most other episodes, Cookie ate the letter of the day. It was fun while it lasted.

last day of summer break...

It's official - tomorrow marks the beginning of a new school year for Owen. Little Angels three year olds, here we come.

We spent the weekend getting Owen and Lyla's room and the basement all put back together. What a difference a week makes. We've reclaimed our living room and dining room for living and eating, and the laundry room is now functional without couches and other furnishings crowding into it. The carpet is dry - complete with new padding and deodorizing, though the latter is still questionable to my pregnant nose (no, my nose isn't really pregnant - you know what I meant).

We celebrated Kevin's 31st birthday with dinner and a cake which Owen had proudly decorated with every candle we have in the house. I think there was more icing than cake somehow, but it was pleasing to both Kevin and Owen, so no worries.

My belly is getting huge! Not sure who came up with the idea that pregnancy was some lovely glowing state of existance, but I'm convinced it was not a 150+ pound woman who carried a baby to full term. There is nothing glowing about me - now the refrigerator light at 2am is another story. hehehe.

Have a great day!