A Visit with Santa

Thanks Aunt Denise

Aunt Denise came to visit and gave Mom and Dad a small break. A trip to the lake provided some time for photos!

Enjoy :)

WOW MOM

Who knew that "Owen" spelled "Nemo" -- in the dyslexic penmenship of a 3yo boy :)

Anna's First Birthday

Yes, Anna is now 1! We had a standard first birthday: the grandparents and aunt and uncles came to the house for the weekend. We had food and, of course, cake. Mommy was too crazed to make a cake herself, but we got a delicious and beautiful cake from the Swiss Bakery. We have some video from Anna blowing out her candles, but not any pictures!


To make the party authentic, we had balloons. Somehow, mid-party Owen "lost" all the purple (his favorite color) balloons. It truly is a mystery, but I imagine there was an unsupervised visit outside at some point. Luckily, there weren't too many tears about it... and we all still had a great time.

Documentation

Just so you can all see... Anna is crawling all around and she can stand up by chairs, etc.

Celebrate Fairfax

So, in mid-June the family went to the Celebrate Fairfax fair with our neighbors (little Sarah and David - in the photo below - and their mom, Gulya).

It was a hot, humid June day in the south... but we persevered. The kids wanted to go on carnival rides.... which freak me out a bit. They went safely on a tot ride (a glorified carousel).




However, David (who is 6) wanted to go on some other rides... and Owen thought the cars looked cool and wanted to go, too. Scott thought it was OK (I was somehow convinced it was OK for him to go, too)... so he did. He sat in a car all by himself (the green car pictured below). The cars went on a rectangular course and at the corners the cars *whipped* around. It looks easy-going and fun enough... but Owen was not a fan. While he didn't scream to get off (like one other toddler), he was shell-shocked by the end. I don't think Owen will be going on carny-rides for a long time to come.


We were able to coax him on a train ride before we left - so he didn't leave scarred. I think I could walk in a circle faster than this train moved... but Owen (and Sarah) loved it.

Happy... but still teething

A theme for June: most pictures were taken by Aunt Denise! Yeah for her for keeping record of the good times... and the teething!

Food is fun

I wasn't there for this food-play event... but I bet Aunt Denise got a good laugh playing with Owen at the pool and eating fruit bars!

I thought I'd never get it

Thank goodness for a doting big brother!

Sibling love

So I don't get credit for these pictures. Aunt Denise took them while visiting in late June.

However, they show a wonderful progression of how Owen (1) shows Anna her toys; (2) lines up for the smooch; and (3) plants one on her forehead.

Please disregard Owen's "hat" (more commonly used as a hosiery laundry bag!). Those with toddlers of their own know what I mean!

After meal time

This is where most self-feeding sessions end.

Those that don't end up with the little lady getting hosed down... probably should!

The joy of self-feeding...

and the mess!

You'll notice a few themes in the following photos:

* mushed up food everwhere
* hands in the mouth
* a look of confusion

Owen & his bike

Just some assorted shots of Owen riding his bike. You can see he is very adept at riding... even standing up to get more umph when going uphill!

Owen & Brady Strawberry Picking

In early June, Mommy and Owen went strawberry picking with Brady and his Mom. Both little sisters were left home so the Moms could have a day with their sons.

It was the end of the strawberry season so the berries were a bit over-ripe... but we picked a lot anyway!

After picking berries, we had a picnic and the boys played on the playground and went down a really big slide (where Owen bit it pretty good... but was just fine).