3rd grade and 9th B-day party

Last week was back to school for Taylor. Her third grade teacher is Ms. Grose. She was super excited to return to school because two of her friends from our neighborhood are in her class. Here are a couple pictures of Taylor looking super cute (as always) before school on her first day of third grade.

**Click on the photos to enlarge**

New backpack and back-to-school outfit. Stylin'!




Today, we had Taylor's 9th birthday party. She decided she wanted her party to be held at the bowling alley. 10 of her friends arrived and they had a blast bowling and playing laser tag. Then they ate pizza, cupcakes and played video games. It was a great day and a lot of fun for everyone!

Putting on their bowling shoes-

Some cute pics of Taylor and her friends-





All ready to go in their laser tag gear-

Time for pizza and cupcakes-


Taylor's cupcake cake- Camp Rock!

Taylor and Sydney on the virtual roller coaster ride-

Daddy and Taylor playing a dance video game-

Time to blow out the candles-


And here are a couple photos of the kids playing in their box- a box we had left over from one of Owen's new car seats. They have had so much fun with this cardboard box- makes me regret buying all of the expensive toys we have :)

Garden Spider

We have a HUGE garden spider that has made his home outside our shed. I think he likes it there because the huge butterfly bush nearby attracts tons of bugs. He is a well-fed spider for sure.

Big Boy Car Seat

The time has come for Owen to switch from riding in his infant car seat to a forward-facing "Big Boy" car seat. His infant car seat was just too small for him anymore. His legs hung off the end horribly, beside the fact he was about near impossible to continue lugging around in that thing. We checked into the weight and height specifications and found that it would be safe to make the transition.
Unfortunately, we couldn't use Taylor's old car seats because apparently car seats have an expiration date. So, here we are stimulating the economy- one car seat at a time.

Enjoy the pics!

12 month Dr. Visit

Owen had his 12 month well-child visit yesterday- he is 22 pounds 4 ounces and 29 inches tall. He is in the 50th percentile for both his weight and height. Our baby boy is growing fast! He had two shots yesterday and did very well with both of them, no fever or side effects. He is perfectly healthy and happy! In fact, Owen has only had one cold, which was only a month or so ago. And, he has never had an ear infection! I attribute a lot of his healthiness to breast feeding. The doctor was super surprised that he hasn't even had one ear infection. I guess that means we're doing something right! :)
I had to work the late shift last night. Twice a month we are required to work 11-8 because we've had such a large amount of work. But hey- job security is good, right? Anyhow, Jason called me at work so I could say goodnight to Owen (Taylor is a Nana's house visiting until Saturday). When Owen heard my voice over the phone he started to giggle- it totally made my day!

It's Fun to be One!

Well folks, Owen is officially one year old! We had a small party for him this afternoon and he opened his gifts and had his first taste of birthday cake. When we sang the birthday song to Owen, he started to dance. It was the cutest thing to watch- take a look in the video below!
He wasn't quite sure how to dig into the cake but he enjoyed the frosting. He got tons of adorable outfits from Grandma and Papa- I cannot wait to dress him up! His toy collection grew today with a new Leap Frog Learning Table, also from Grandma and Papa, a toy train from Taylor and an interactive stuffed dog named Scout, from Mommy and Daddy. Aunt Karen and Merrit gave Owen the cutest toy submarine for the bathtub- it was the perfect toy for bath time after our cake!
It's so hard to believe that our baby boy is already one year old. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. Now, we simply cannot imaging life without him! We are truly blessed to have two beautiful, happy and healthy children. Happy Birthday Owen!!!




Opening his first gift- from Taylor



Opening Grandma and Papa's gift





Yay Cake!!









Playing with his new Leap Frog Learning table






Taylor reading Owen his new Scooby Doo book



Bath time fun with his new toy submarine

A monkey cake for our little monkey

Owen's 1st birthday is tomorrow, can you believe it? One of Owen's nicknames is "monkey", and in honor of that, Taylor and I each made him a monkey cake. Taylor did such a great job- her cake is adorable!!

The eyes are made of York peppermint patties, the nose is made of licorice Jelly Belly jelly beans, the hair is made of chocolate sprinkles and the ears are mini chocolate donuts. The only part missing are three little shoots of hair at the top of the cake that are supposed to be made from chocolate Twizzlers, but I couldn't find chocolate Twizzlers anywhere. The cake is still darn cute without it though- don't you agree?

Check tomorrow for pictures of Owen tearing into his cake. No worries, we will be sure to remove the peppermint patties, donuts and jelly beans before giving the cake to the little guy :)








Here is the original cake design. I think we did a pretty darn good job (even though it's sans Twizzlers).

Cooking lessons with Daddy

Sunday night, Jason asked Taylor if she would like to cook dinner. He let her choose the dish- Taylor decided on burritos. Jason helped Taylor every step of the way and he even let her use the "real" knives to cut up the veges. Taylor did an EXCELLENT job! It was so cute how much fun they were both having, they really enjoyed this time together. I enjoyed being the photographer :)

Jason explaining knife safety



Taylor cutting up the tomatoes...fresh from the garden!



Chopping up the lettuce



Measuring water for the seasoning





Mixing the meat



Putting the burritos together



Look what I made!!!

FIRST STEPS!!! (sort of...)

Owen has been taking a few steps here and there for weeks now but like "Bigfoot" he has managed to avoid all of our attempts to capture video evidence. Here is a short video of him taking a few steps before reverting back to all fours.