Owen's Alphabet Book - S,T,U,V

Owen's Alphabet Book - O,P,Q,R

Owen's Alphabet Book - K,L,M,N

Hide n Squeak Eggs

We gave these to Owen for his birthday, and they've been a HUGE hit in our house ever since.  Between our two boys, those eggs are played with almost nonstop.  The chicks squeak, the eggs are also shape-sorters, and the faces on the eggs match the faces on the chicks.  Owen loves just clicking the top of the egg onto the bottom of the egg.  A great go-to present for any young toddler. :)

I love this

We don't watch a whole lot of television in this house, but when we do, this is a really familiar scene.  It's soooo cute that sometimes I feel bad when I turn the TV off!

Owen's first birthday party

Yesterday afternoon, we gathered with our family, our furry friends, and a few local friends to help Owen celebrate his first year.  We had a beautiful day for it (sunny and upper 60's) and I hope it was a wonderful time for all. I never like to have crazy parties for the first-birthdays because if you continue to have birthday parties for your kids, each bigger than the last, then you're going to be in a whole lot of trouble by the time your kid reaches 5.  I also try to steer clear of any definitive kiddie theme (Elmo, Cars (the movie), Thomas the Tank Engine).  For Isaac, we did "dots" because that's how we decorated his nursery.  For Owen, I was going between "wheels" or "food."  In the end, food won out because I think a "wheels" theme will be more fun for him if it's something he's still into in a year.  So, we had a little foodie party for Owen.  The entire guest's menu (except the drinks) consisted of foods that Owen loves.  It was just perfect. :)  I love small, low-key, low stress parties.

Menu:
Chicken on a stick
Down-home Mac and Cheese (recipe here)
Fresh Fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, cherries)
Carrots (raw, but we usually cook Owen's!)
Cupcakes (vanilla or chocolate)
Spaghetti (in cupcake/cake form!)

I also brought in three different flavors of Juicy Juice boxes for the older kids - to keep some color in the palette. :) We also served coffee, soda, water, and milk.

Thanks to everyone who made the trip out.  Here are some pics of the food and the fun. :)

Summer harvests

I love home grown produce. Lots of zucchini bread, stir fried zucchini, other zucchini recipes and Apple crisp in our future.  Yum.  Thanks for the produce mom and dad!

Thursday Deals - 9/1/2011

Happy September!  I'm back in the saddle again.

1.  FREE sample of Dove body mist here.

2. Visit your local L'Occitane boutique and get a FREE hand massage with a dab of their new Lavendar relaxing roll-on and a FREE sample of their lavendar hand cream.  Sept. 2-5 only.  Details here.

3. Know someone with a hearing aid?  Get a FREE 4-pack of hearing aid batteries here.

4. Buy one cone, get one FREE at Baskin Robbins with this coupon.  Mmmm!

5. FREE sample of Huggies Snug & Dry from Sam's Club.  Available in sizes 3-5. You don't have to be a member to request this one!

6.   If you've got little ones, you might want to download this FREE Wiggles 2011 Sampler.  Nothing like some toddler tunes to get your head bopping. :)

7.  For our furry friends, get a FREE sample of Rachel Ray Nutrish, Just 6, dog food here.

8.  Add 10 points to your Gifts to Grow account with code 2beginearning10.

Owen is 1

 When did that happen?  All of a sudden he's a little man.  He's walking everywhere, grew his fifth tooth a few days ago, and almost always eats more than his brother.  He loves his mommy, adores grandpa and grandma, thinks Dad is the most fun, and aspires to be just like his big brother {which means trouble for us in a couple of years!}.  He loves dancing and singing.  I'm pretty sure he's going to be my little musician.  Lately, he's been trying to verbalize a lot more, sometimes he gets his words pretty spot on.  His usual go-to words are mama, dada, this, done, eat.  He's had the tendency to say difficult words like, "virtue" when we start with the old adage, "Patience is a....." but it's still kind of hit and miss there.  We had two of his fave meals today {mac and cheese for lunch, Spaghetti for dinner}, gave him a chocolate cupcake to smash/eat, and a box of Hot Wheels cars to celebrate.  He looooves his cars, tractors, or really anything that he can make a "bbbb" motor sound for.  Another reason for loving the cars, he can just hold them in his hand.  All day.  Seriously, he's gone hours just holding a car (or a small ball, or circle puzzle piece, or other small object) in his hand. never letting it go. Fascinating.  I don't understand the psychology behind that one yet, but it sure is cute!  Happy first birthday to our little cuddle-bug, chub-a-lubs.  We couldn't be happier to have you as a part of our family.  Thank you for being a part of our lives!

And, here's a video of Owen playing with his cars.  He makes the cutest face when he makes his "bbbb" sound.  Please excuse my terrible grammar, "What do you got Owen?"  I'm so embarrassed!

Fantasy football time

This time of year brings fantasy football to our household.  Blake does 2+ different leagues every year, and takes each one very seriously.  He has a whole set up.  A blank roster sheet so he can fill in his draft picks, a top 200 hundred player ranking sheet with his ideal choices highlighted and color coded by field positions and defenses, some other stats jotted down in pen, his laptop, a beer, and a day-long, "you better not make me late for my draft" attitude. Yep. Watch out world.  This stuff is serious around here!

Groceries

Grocery shopping with my boys can sometimes take forever.  Owen likes to push the cart, Isaac likes to ride in the basket, and Blake is usually eyeing some goodies.