Jeff and Cwissy

Owen has recently learned that Jeff and I have other names besides Mommy and Daddy. He started out just saying "Jeff," but quickly learned to say "Cwistie." When we correct him that our names are Mommy and Daddy he responds with "Mommy Cwistie" and "Daddy Jeff!"

SNOW much fun... or not????

When we had our first good snow of the winter I could not wait to take Owen sledding. He is such a dare-devel, I thought he would love sledding. Not so much!!!!! I went out and bought his a snow suit and boots. We went to the hill at the church near our house. Owen was super excited watching the kids come down the hill. It did not cross my mind that I was going to have to carry the sled and him up the hill. I guess 7 inches of snow is a bit much to expect a 2 year old to be able to walk through! We finally made it up the hill, and he had a great time sledding down. I then lugged him and the sled back up the hill again. On our second sledding attempt, my boot hit the snow, which then caused the snow to fly up in our faces and Oven was DONE!!! I mean meltdown screaming kind of done. He tried to wipe the snow out of his eyes, which got snow from his mitten on his face and the meltdown got worse!! Needless to say we spent more time getting bundled up than actually sledding that day. After taking time to bundle up Owen I now realize why my mom would always gripe when we would come inside after 5 minutes in the snow and say we were done playing or we had to pee. It is a lot of work to get kids bundled up!
All excited to go sledding for the first time!
I'm DONE! Take me home!


We took him out in the snow a couple weeks later, and it went a little better. He still would not go anywhere near the sled. He spent some time standing in the driveway throwing snow. Jeff was throwing snowballs at me so Owen was trying to copy him.





The last time I took Owen in the snow was a day it was pretty warm and the snow was melting. We only had a few inches left on the ground, so Owen was willing to walk into the yard. I wanted Owen to be able to make a snowman before winter was over. Once we got all bundled up I realized that I did not plan what we were going to decorate the snowman with. We found a carrot for his nose, and used M&M's for the rest of his face. After a few minutes the coloring from the M&M's started coming off and he was one weird looking snowman! Owen thought it was fun to put the M&M's on his face, so he eventually had M&M's everywhere!


Owen got a bit crazy with the M&M's!

Sesame Street Live

On January 16th we went to see Sesame Street Live. We had great seats. We were center stage about 20 rows back. Owen had a blast! He wore his new Elmo shirt that he got from Papa for his birthday. He has seen Elmo DVD's before, but the rest of the characters he knows only from books and toys. He was shocked to see them dancing and talking right in front of him! The title of Sesame Street Live was Elmo's Healthy Heros and through the performance we learned all about staying health by eating right, resting enough, exercising, and having good hygiene. During the intermission we walked around to stretch our legs. I was hoping some of the characters would be walking around so I could get a photo of Owen with them, but we did not have any luck.

Owen's birthday party

On January 15th we celebrated Owen's birthday at Jumping Jax's. It is an inflatable play place. We had a good turn out of about 12 kids and many more adults. I know having a big party like this is a bit overkill for a 2 year old, and he will never remember it, but that is okay. Jumping and sliding are two of his favorite things to do, so I knew he would have a blast!

The party theme was Yo Gabba Gabba. I bought Owen a Plex tee shirt to wear to the party. He was super excited when the shirt came in the mail and wanted to put it on right away. We had an hour and a half in the play area. All the kids had fun bouncing, sliding and going through the obstacle courses. Lots of the kids also liked playing on the zip line. Owen watched then and really wanted to try it. He climbed up and got in line. I knew there was NO WAY he was going to hold on to the handle, and he of course did not!He tried a few times, and every time the party assistant was holding him to take him off the platform he immediately went limp and let go of the bar! I think he thought he was a bit bigger than he is!

After an hour and a half of play time all the kids looked pretty tired. We headed to the party room. The kids had sandwiches, chips and juice and then we sang happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream. And then it was time for more presents. They have a huge inflatable chair for the birthday kid to sit in while opening gifts. We sat Owen in it and he freaked out. For some reason he was scared to sit in the chair by himself. Once Daddy sat in the chair with him he was much happier! We quickly unwrapped gifts as the party time was nearing an end. After gifts the kids grabbed their goody bags and headed home. I think all the kids had a great time and were plenty wore out to sleep great that night!

I made goody bags of all the characters!

Owen having a great time at his party!
The Utz kids rock climbing
Jack on the zip line
Evan on the zip line
"I think I can....I think I can"
Or not! And he lets go! What a difference a year makes. Jack and Evan knew just what to do.

UP UP UP
ready to slide
Poor Xavie could not have any fun at the party :(
WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Cousin Elizabeth
Aunt Pammy and Xavie

So hungry after all that playing!

Yo Gabba Gabba cake


It's my party and I will cry if I want to!
This big chair is scary!
Much better with daddy!
Cousin Xavie does not like party hats

And then comes the AFTER PARTY! When we got home from Jumping Jax we ordered chinese for dinner. I had asked my parents not to bring the gifts for Owen from them and my brothers to the party because I knew we would be tight on time in the party room trying to get kids dinner, cake and gifts in 30 minutes! After we ate dinner Owen had even more gifts to open! He got a "mini" Mini cooper from Gramps and Mimi. Grams wanted Owen to have a car like his! Owen got a set of play dinosaurs from Uncle Kevin and Kyle. The dinosaurs were a big hit! Owen got tired before he even got to finish opening his gifts that night. First thing in the morning he realized that he had not opened the gifts from Matt and Grace and Papa. He opened those right away and then looked at me and said "More presents?' While he said that he was also signing for "more." Seriously.....he has gotten gifts at least weekly for the last month... All good things must come to an end!



WOW! A big brown box!
Driving his mini cooper in the box

Dinos!

2 year old professional photos

On Owen's birthday we took him to Portrait Innovations for his 2 year photos. His cousin Xavie came along also so he could get his 6 month photos taken and we could take some photos of the boys together. Owen was very uncooperative for the pictures. He was more interested in playing with the backgrounds than sitting still and smiling for the camera.