Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tractor, bus, copter

Everything these days seems to revolve around tractors, buses, and Owen's new helicopter ('copter in his own words). They are his favorite things. :)





Thursday, February 25, 2010

Playdate with Sarah Catherine


Today was our first playdate with Sarah Catherine since January! Our vacation, then the weather, then a cold all prevented us from getting together for a few weeks. It was great to catch up and the kids had a ball playing in Sarah Catherine's awesome new playroom!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Ben's birthday. Owen and I decided to go shopping for him this morning. Then after lunch, we cleaned and were about to start baking his cake, when who walked in the door but the birthday boy (home early from work)! Luckily we had wrapped the gifts before lunch, so they were ready to go. The cake is in the oven. Cake is Owen's new favorite word.



Happy Birthday Ben (Daddy)!!! We love you!

Friday, February 19, 2010

17 months old

Our little guy turned 17 months old today! He continues to amaze us with his ever-expanding vocabulary. It is so fun to watch him take everything in. Each day it seems as though he says three new words.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Playdate with Colin

This afternoon we headed out to Maryland to visit my good friend Heather and her 7-month old little boy, Colin. Heather is one of my oldest friends ~ we go way back to the middle school years. I'm so glad we live somewhat close now so that we can have "regular" playdates. Owen loved Heather & Dan's puppy, Brewster, and kept pointing to him saying, "puppy! puppy!". We had a great time catching up and then walked over to a nearby restaurant for lunch. The boys were very well-behaved at the diner ~ it was only Colin's second time sitting in a highchair but he looked like a pro! We left around 1:30, and I was amazed that Owen stayed awake the entire drive home and took a great nap then once we got home. It was a great day. :)


Strawberries

Friday, February 12, 2010

Puzzles with Kayla



Kel and Kayla came over this morning so that we could start setting up for Molly's baby shower tomorrow. The kids had so much fun doing puzzles, but that only lasted about 5 minutes. The real fun was had when they chased each other around the house. They were giggling like crazy! It's fun to have a friend who is a year older than you.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

YAY for front-end loaders that move snow!

The plow first came through our neighborhood around 1:30 this afternoon. It was closely followed by a front-end loader. I caught it on video.



Snowmowing. Almost as good as snowblowing. Almost.

The storm started late Friday morning and lasted until late yesterday afternoon. When it was all over we had 30 inches of snow. Sheesh.

Ben did a great job of keeping the driveway clear. But our street did not see a plow until this morning. Before the plow came by we were out playing in the snow.

I'm so ready for spring. Ben on the other hand, gets giddy at any talk of snow, let alone a blizzard. He never complains about shoveling.

Lucky for him, the weatherman is calling for another 6-10 inches on Tuesday night.











Saturday, February 6, 2010

January blizzard

So we left the 80-degree sunshine behind in Cancun to come home to the forecast of 12-24 inches. {sigh}

It started last night and continued all through the evening and all day today. Here is what our deck looked like at 9am:




It was almost as tall as Owen!



Ben took a very strategic approach to the ordeal of shoveling. He was out four times last night to keep up with it so that he would be able to tackle what would be waiting for him this morning. I got Owen bundled up to join his Daddy to help.



"Mommy, my mitten fell off. I think I'm ready to go inside."


But not before Daddy deposited him into the snow to see if he would sink.



He didn't sink. Too light still.

Then it was time to curl up and watch a movie. Ben picked up the animated movie UP at Blockbuster.


It was pretty good. The big pot of chili that Ben had put on the stove before we started the movie was pulling me away though, so I didn't catch the ending. But given how much snow we've gotten, I think I'll have plenty of time to watch it again.

Here's what the deck looked like at 4pm:



When it was all said and done we ended up with 29 inches. We have yet to see a plow. Grandma and Poppie's flight tomorrow is cancelled, and they are re-booked on the Monday afternoon flight. Hopefully the airport will be functioning by then.

Friday, February 5, 2010

While we were away...

the monkey played! Owen had so much fun with Grandma and "Poppie" (his new name for Grandpa). Here are the pictures from their five days together:



































































A huge THANK YOU goes out to Grandma and Poppie for leaving the Florida sunshine and warmth to come up into the Virginia cold to stay with Owen while we went on a vacation!!!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Our first "baby-free" vacation

Thanks to Grandma and Poppie, Ben and I were able to sneak away to Cancun for a much-needed early birthday gift to each other. Our wonderful travel agent Scott booked us an amazing room at Secrets Silversands and we had a great time.






It rained the day we arrived and the second part of day 2, but we did get some sun and enjoyed many tropical beverages and incredible food. Our favorite of the many restaurants the resort had was the Mexican restaurant. Fitting, I guess, since we were in Mexico. We ate there for dinner two of the four nights we were there. Another favorite was the ceviche ~ I had it for lunch four times! YUM!








I did yoga two of the mornings we were there. It was held poolside, with the sound and view of the ocean right in front of us. It was so relaxing.










We returned home well-rested and tan, and so happy to see our baby. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Grandma and Poppie!!!