The Magic of the Magic House!

We took Owen to the Magic House a few Thursdays back with Mom and Dad...and we had a blast!!!

Standing out front...I think he needs a smaller hat ;)

Grandma and Grandpa proving big kids can have fun too!

These were neat.  For each letter you lifted up, there was an object inside that started with that letter!

There was lots and lots and lots...did I mention lots of noise?  This big wheel was next to about 3 other giant contraptions that you could make music/noise with.  Owen just liked watching it spin around.

Grandpa checking out Owen from the other side!

This was a long little tunnel that Owen went up and back a few times.  I even crawled through with him...which he thought was pretty great.  I thought it was pretty small! 

This is one of my favorite pics of the day!!!

Checking out a colorful kaleidoscope with Dadda!

It was so chaotic that I didn't get a photo of the entrance to the area just for kids Owen's age called Little Bit of Magic.  But we spent most of our time in here.  Everything was on their level and there was LOTS to do and see!

The water tables.  I think we took 20 photos here...all of them were adorable...but these were my favorites!

The ball pit!

I think he could have stayed here all day long!

Climbing out!

A jungle gym for little ones.  Of course...he's heading down head first.  Go figure!

Thank you Magic House. You opened up a world of imagination and fun for us.  We didn't get to see everything in our first visit...but we can't wait to visit again!! 

Feeding the Geese!

I will never ever forget the story my Mom, Grandma and Pap all tell about how my Mom once got chased feeding geese.  She was chased around a whole pond if I remember the story right.  The goose hissed at her and pecked at her and basically scared the living mess out of her.  That always has given me a healthy respect for geese and what they can do. Regardless of this experience though, Mom and Dad took us everywhere to feed geese as kids. You name it, if there were geese, I guarantee we fed them.  It's another one of those rosey childhood memories I wanted to share with Owen.  It's cheap. It's away from TV and electronics and most importantly it's family time together! 

I honestly haven't done much feeding of geese since I got a little older...but I thought since Owen loved to be outdoors, he would enjoy the tradition of saving stale bread and taking it to feed animals who live on water!  We took him and our stale hotdog buns for a trial run last weekend...and it sure was a lot of fun! I'm still not sure if Owen thougth so...because we did not get one single smile out of him, but I think he could sense my hesitation around the geese. They did a lot of hissing at each other and pecking of tail feathers.  Owen stayed very contently contained in his wagon and just watched us withthis of amazement and fear!  I hope next time we can convince him to throw something to the geese and ducks himself ;)

Dadda and Owen feeding the geese

The geese and ducks!

In deep thought...

Are you guys seriously sure they want us to feed them?  Really? 

More deep thinking...

Getting Domestic!

A week ago Sundays we had completely open and free day on our hands. We started the day with some donuts, thunderstorms and PJ’s. Followed it with a great sermon at church. Then we took Owen out to feed the geese at a pond we know they frequent (photos coming in another post!).

BUT…the biggest accomplishment for the day was making pickles!!!! One of the blogs I read did a post on making pickles and ever since reading it was craving some homemade pickles!  My mother-in-law Linda gave us a TON out of her garden and I thought what better way to use them! She also just so happened to have a wonderful recipe for Bread and Butter Freezer pickles that she gave us as well! We ended up with 8 jars of homemade pickles and they are delicious!!! Thank you Linda and Gary for the great summer treat!

Oh and where was Owen during all of this?  Well after he ransacked the recycle bin until he found a suitable item, he grabbed his lizard (his new favorite buddy that goes everywhere in the house with him) and watched Cars in our bedroom!

I love wonderful blessed day like this!!

A Visit to The Butterfly House!

For a perfect recap of the day, please check out Steff's blog.  We had a blast!  Since she did the perfect job, I'm going to keep this to just a few of my favorite things from the day...along with some photos!

Courtesy of Little Miss Josie there were many laugh out loud moments...some of them include...after asking Owen “How ya doing bud??” Josie told me “Don’t call him Bud. He’s not a bud.” How right you are Josie. He’s is in fact an Owen! Owen was called Lil’ Owen by Josie several times, which made me giggle.  She also had me in stitches while touring the butterflies because she opened her map and showed us how far we had to go and which way.  After awhile of running around she started staying she was sweating and hot while brushing her hair out of her face. This was followed with “When are we going inside? It's so hot!” It was classic and absolutely adorable!

I think, however, the most memorable (and scary) part for me was when I took a step back to photograph Owen and Josie admiring the waterfall. Owen did not stop where Josie stood. He barreled right on through, landed on his hands and knees in a muddy puddle just at the water’s edge!  I’m glad he didn’t end up in the pond…or I’m pretty sure we would have gotten black listed from the Butterfly House.  Oops!

Isn't Josie cute?  She was loving it!  AND I should have been watching Lil' Man as he ran as fast as his chubby legs could take him toward her.  It was my warning...and I missed it! 

Right before the crash!

Some Aunt Steff hugs (and restraint) as we convinced him the second time around NOT to go in the water!

We capped off the afternoon at this Carousel.

It was $1 a person and so much fun!  Steff and I had a blast chasing kids, taking pictures and running around like banshees! Here’s to the days of summer!!

I want to remember always

Owen does so many things that make me stop and think...I want to remember this forever! The list below is just some of the things over the past few months/weeks I've been collecting in my head. Writing this post gave me a great idea! I’d like to start doing something like this…maybe even once a week…where I post a list of “Remember always” along with photos. I know we photograph Owen on a weekly basis. We’ve also been doing a lot of video capturing. This may be a bit of a overlap with my Thankful Thursday…and I’m not sure how I’ll keep them separate...but I’ll find a way to fine tune it! It’ll be like my little journal of Owen and also my gratitude journal. I’m thankful everyday for the blessing I received the day I met my son. Now why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?

The following things are things I want to remember about Owen...always.

How you grab my pointer fingers and pull me all around the house…taking me any and everywhere you want to go and showing me things you want to do and play

That you pull Chicka Chicka Boom Boom off the shelf no matter where I put it in your mix of books…and the way you stomp your feet with excitement as I flip to the first couple pages and started reading. Even if after 2 pages you wander into another room for something else!

How you and your Penguin climb into your Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ball pit and roll it over on its side and sit and watch Over the Hedge from inside of it.

That you LOVE Bananas, yogurt, chicken nuggets, ice cream and chocolate milk!

That Dadda tells you to crush your sippy cup on your forehead after you slam down a 10oz cup of Chocolate Milk in under a minute...ok two minutes!

That you run around the house saying Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah really loud

That you love my ladybug apron

That you like to pull me under the dining room table and have me sit there with you…and just sit...

That you play with your stuffed animals in your crib for 30 minutes every morning before you are really ready to get out of bed.

That you play with and throw your stuffed animals out of your bed at night if you aren't quite ready to fall asleep…I wish I had a video of you doing this!

That when I ask you for a kiss you stick out your bottom lip and your tongue and toddle over to me

That you like to freeze dance (something we learned on Disney Channel) with your Dadda and I’m not sure who laughs harder…you or Dadda or me

That sometimes you give me a kiss without having to ask for it

The way you look when you’re sleeping in your car seat

That you snore a little when you sleep in your car seat

Hearing you figure out your oh’s and oooo’s.

That you like to stack things on top of each other…even if they aren’t supposed to be that way

That you LOVE being outside and you will sometimes wander to the back porch and grab the back door knob to show us how much you want to go outside

That when you don’t get what you want…you throw your entire weight into a limp noodle and pretend to cry

That the other night while playing on your slide you chose to go head first down it…not once, not twice, but 3 times!! Daredevil!!

That you love water…so much so you super manned through landscape rocks at Butterfly House just to get to it

That just this week, you walked over and sat down in my lap after you drank your milk and we were watching a movie…and you sat there watching the movie and snuggling in my lap.

I love you little man.

Iced Coffee Heaven!!

I have said before it’s the little things…and boy oh boy…this time it was nothing short of the truth!! I was so ridiculously excited about this indulgence that I felt like little kid at Christmas! Ridiculous people. Ridiculous!
So after months of watching our account drain at McDonalds for Iced Coffees, I finally broke down and purchased one of these:

All I can say…is AMAZING!! If you are contemplating getting one, or if you even simply enjoy cold-brewed coffee occasionally, this will not disappoint. For around $35 (plus the cost of your coffee beans) you can have some brewing in your fridge in a matter of 10 minutes!

Directions and ingredients are listed on the pamphlet, but they go something like this:
*12 oz Course Ground Coffee (this time we used a Seattle’s Best Summer Edition called Beach House…I spoiled us and had it fresh ground before I went home! TO.DIE.FOR!)
*7oz cold water

* Once you’re done assembling the simple plastic steeper (literally 3 steps, wash, insert filter, insert cork), you pour in one cup of water.

* Then 6oz of ground beans.

* Then slowly in a circular motion you pour 3 cups of water over the beans.

* Then the remaining 6oz of beans over that.

* Follow that with your remaining 3 cups of water…again in a circular motion.

* Then you gently push any dry grounds with the back of the spoon to make sure all grounds are   

   dampened. (You are told repeatedly…do not stir them or you will clog the filter!)

* Then you place the steeper in your fridge! In the morning walah…you have 7 delicious cups of coffee

   concentrate. It goes into the glass carafe and can be stored for 2 weeks! 

I made my first ice cappuccino with 4oz of coffee, 12oz of skim milk, vanilla extract and sugar. It was simple, healthy and as I stated earlier…AMAZING!!!!!

We purchased ours at Borders, but you can also find them online as well at toddycafe.com. It’s true love!

Thankful Thursday

Making a trip to the Butterfly House with Owen, Steff and Josie

Visiting Mike at Rosewood Friday evening and enjoying some time together

Spending some time with Mom on Saturday

Lunch at My Just Desserts – delish!

Some new wardrobe additions from Old Navy

That Jer found jeans for $19!

Grilled Filets from Food and Fermentation

A Sunday spent with Jer and Owen

Spending the day doing all of the following…snuggling during a thunderstorm, attending a great church service, feeding some geese, getting rid of stale hot dog buns by doing this, making pickles for the first time, having a couple glasses of wine with my hubby, sitting on our patio and enjoying the breeze.

A quiet work week

Figuring out there is nothing better after a LONG Monday that coming home, spoiling yourself by ordering pizza instead of cooking and crawling under the covers with a good book!

Watching Signs with Jer and laughing at how silly we were because the movie scared us all over again!

Working virtual

Waking up with Owen two whole extra days this week...and how stinking cute he is!

Spending a day at the Magic House with Mom, Dad, Owen and Jer...more pictures to come...but here's a sneak peek!

Eat Pray Love…the half-way-through book report!

Eat Pray Love…also lovingly referred to as EPL by my best friend…has taken up residence in the "book I’m reading” spot on my night stand. Steff mentioned to me that Julia Roberts was on Oprah promoting the movie. We both watched it and decided we wanted to read the book and then do a girls night to see the movie.  During the interview with Oprah, Julia Roberts mentioned that she and her best friend read it at the same time...so I picked up a copy for each of us.  I’ve loved having a partner to read along with me.

If you haven’t done so yet, I would recommend picking up this book. I’m currently not completely through it (as you probably guessed by the title of my post!), but I’m still enjoying it. So far I’ve LOVED everything about Italy. India is taking me more time to get through, but it’s more intense and less familiar to me in its subject matter. I will say that through all that I've read so far, I’ve found enlightenment in many of her words…and I’ve also found myself wanting to highlight passages. There are lots of pearls of wisdom that Gilbert shares that ring so true to me. She finds clarity in odd places and somehow gets it down on paper.  I can see the light bulb dinging over my head. “Oh yeah. That’s what I can’t put into words about life!”

Anyway…in my humble opinion, it’s not a light read, though there are some really funny parts (my favorite so far is the soccer match with Lucia Spaghetti! I think it's Steff's too!).  I am looking forward to finishing it, seeing the movie and moving onto a bit lighter storyline. In some ways I’d say it’s been a good stretch book for me, since I’m reading something that isn’t my typical novel genre.  But I’m glad I’m reading it. It’s rekindled my LOVE for reading and I’m finding myself hungry to dive into more.

Stay tuned for the finished book report and movie review...soon to come!

Speaking of the backyard escape...

One Friday night we were sitting out back after Owen was down for the night. A cool breeze had picked up and we were relaxing and enjoying our new space. It was just me, Jer, Deci and some fireflies.  After we’d been sitting outside for a bit, Jer ran inside to get something, a beer, a beer making kit...I'm still not quite sure what he was doing.  Regardless, he was gone for quite a little while. I sat outside waiting for his return. At first I just admired the breeze and enjoyed the fireflies. But then something started my brain’s crank to turning. Before the thoughts could surface very far I told myself…No silly. You are a big girl. You can certainly handle sitting in the dark. Next to our neighbor’s jungle. Alone. Ok sure…the jungle has more overgrown vegetation than a forest has, but that’s ok. It’s all good. Breathe. Enjoy the peaceful serenity. Chirp chirp chirp. I listened as crickets were going. Locusts were going. And so were my thoughts. Ok brain…you are correct…his yard has vines from one end of the yard to the next. Yes there are all manner of bugs, snakes and frog current reside over there. Ok AND it is pitch black…even during the day. But you are fine. So I continued this self monologue for awhile. And it worked. For awhile. But then I began to let the real fear creep in. Fear of what you might ask? Oh I don’t know…maybe that someone could drag me off into said vegetation and it’d take days to find my body. Or that someone was sitting there watching me and it may not be tonight…but another night when my husband just so happens to be gone…and I am all alone in the house with Owen. That that night they would come looking for me. You get the idea. Irrationality can sometimes invade my thoughts, just in case that wasn’t clearly stated in the above mentioned monologue. Then I heard a few snaps and rattles amongst the vines to my right. And suddenly the fear turned into panic. What am I talking about? Suddenly I was a little more like panic stricken. I decided I MUST immediately go inside…find Jeremy and demand to know what the $&*%& he was doing. Beers take 30 seconds to grab!  So I ran for the door and pulled on the knob. My turning motion was rejected as the realization hit me that the porch door was locked. My fear only worsened as I realized that not only was the porch door locked, so was every other door in the house. The house was completely locked up. My garage door opener was staring at me from inside a locked car door and the keys to unlock that door sat right next to my house keys. Inside. So I had no way to get in. None! CRAP!!! My interior monologue began again. Breathe. You’re being irrational. Breathe.  With no other choice I sat down on our patio…this space is well removed from the woods/jungle area. I also told Deci to keep her eye out and be a good guard dog. As if by some miracle, we left our radio out on the table. So I turned on the radio and just tried to keep calm. At least our neighbors garage cast some light on me. And at least Deci wasn’t barking obnoxiously (she does this often) to add to my fear. My behavior was ridiculous. I knew that then and I know it now! But I couldn’t help it! I didn’t even go back to the table for my frosty delicious beer that had been sitting there. I abandon it and my cozy chair and lovely pillow to sit nervously alone on the patio waiting for Jer to return. And few minutes (hours!) later Jer re-appeared and when I regaled him with my tale…do you know what he did? He laughed his butt off. IT IS NOT FUNNY! And I told him this several times to no avail. It was funny...I guess. Now. That’s it’s daylight and days later. And he made sure to tell me just how funny he thought it was! Anyway…we’ll see how he does the next time he is stranded in the dark alone next to a black forest like mass. Give it a try. I double dog dare you!!!

Pottery Painting...The End Result!

I was so excited to get my pieces back from Pottery Hollow. (Steff, my partner in crime at pottery painting, rocked this amazing Tuscan pitcher.  It's amazing!) I decided to make Garden markers for our garden that we put in this year.  I decided that because the herbs and plants could change every single year, rather than put the names of the herbs on the markers, I wanted to put our names on them.  And honestly...though there are tons of imperfections, I LOVE them.  Especially in their current locations.  It was just the touch I wanted.

We have STRAWBERRIES!!

I know this may not impress a single soul out there…but I was excited! It’s amazing what a little dirt, rain and sunshine can grow!