A Brief Stop...

And then on to Louisiana. We're home for just two days - enough time for laundry and catching up with work emails and then we're off again. We'll be gone till Tuesday.

We had a blast in Iowa. Owen was an angel on both flights and with all our side trips. We got about 7 inches of snow on Saturday night, which was fun. Pictures to come later.

One thing we will leave you with is a picture of Owen opening his first present. The kid had a blast. He knew exactly what to do. It was so funny.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Hammetts!!

We hoped to get a few more posts up before we left for Christmas, but it just snuck up on us! We leave Tuesday night for the frozen north. We're there for a week, back home for two days and then it's over to Louisiana to thaw out a little.

We hope you all have a great Christmas. It's been a great year for us and we're very thankful for all of our family and friends. We're also very thankful for a few weeks to lay low and enjoy life. We hope that you can all do the same.

And a very Merry Christmas to our friends the Johnsons who just made a big move back to the US with a 2 year old and a 1 month old - we hope you guys can get some rest over the next few weeks and catch up with everything that's happened over on this side of the pond.

We'll leave you all with these pictures from our church small group Christmas party. We made gingerbread houses. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies

When we were in Louisiana a few weeks ago we participated in the time honored tradition at the Hammett house of baking Christmas cookies the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Owen wasn't so sure what to think of all these big people acting silly and coloring cookies, but he thought it was a fun thing and he can't wait to be able to fully participate.

Owen's First Christmas Tree

We went a few weeks ago and picked out our Christmas tree - Owen's first one. We'd love to say that we went to the forest and chopped down the most beautiful, special tree for Owen's first Christmas. But we live in a large metropolitan area, so we did as everyone else - went to Home Depot. Didn't matter to Owen. He had a blast. After we got it decorated we hung two shiny ornaments at the bottom that he likes to sit and bat around.

Owen tells us that this one is good.

Putting the star on top

How 'bout them Cowboys

For having lived in Texas for over 4 years, we haven't really adopted many Texas teams. No offense, but college teams in Texas aren't all that to us. Although my Cubs have historically had about as much success as the Rangers, at least Cub fans stick by their team year to year. I have adopted one new team since coming here, the Mavs, but this post is not for them.

The team of my childhood is back! How about those Cowboys!! 12-1, NFC East champs and headed towards a first round bye. I think I have a man-crush on Tony Romo. Marion the Barber-ian is a stud! I'm even starting to warm up to TO. It's been a fun season. And with the new stadium within sight of my office, there's only more buzz going around. So, while I was one of people that voted against the stadium coming to Arlington, I must say that I don't really regret it now - until we have to live with the Sunday traffic!

Maybe I need to try to find my old Cowboys t-shirt from high school with the Tazmanian devil wearing a helmet....hmmmm, maybe not.

Owen's Favorite Christmas Decoration

Of all the things at Christmastime that we thought Owen would be impressed with (lights, ornaments, the tree, nativity finger puppets) we never would have guessed that he would love snow globes! We had a snow globe train that we didn't know what to do with so we just stuck it on a shelf above his changing table. Every time we go into the room or he gets up from the changing table, he immediately wants to look at and touch the snow globes. It pretty funny...and awfully cute!

Greetings from Balmy Texas

For all of our friends in places that actually have 4 seasons, we thought we'd send a quick greeting from always warm Texas, where today, December 8, it is currently 77 degrees. This is after it hit 80 yesterday. Tara went for a walk yesterday and had all the old ladies saying "Isn't it lovely today?" Sure...for September!

Here are a few more pics from Thanksgiving in Louisiana.

Talking to Granny

Meeting Aunt Robbie and Dixie (the dog)

Sporting the tie bib that Larry and Laura gave him.

Catching Up

There's no way to go into detail about all that has happened since we stopped putting up posts regularly. So we're just going to throw up some pictures of what has happened.

Halloween with Daddy Luigi

The cutest picture ever

Underneath Anne's Christmas tree

What do you think this is????

Does anyone have a clue what this mess is?

Would you have guessed that it is - or was - two pacifiers?!

This is what happens when you sterlize pacifiers a little too much. Tara put them in the boiling water to be cleaned and then we got into our tv show and forgot about them. They were on the stove so long that this is all that was left in the pan! And talk about stink!! This was the night that the cold front came through and we had all the doors and windows open and the fans on. It was absolutely putrid. It took almost 2 days for the smell to leave the house. So, lesson learned...hopefully.

We emailed this to some family members to see if anyone knew what it was and everyone blamed this on Tozer. Poor Tozer - gets blamed for Tara's mess!

Happy Thanksgiving

We just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends out there. We are thankful for all of you.

And a special thanks to Alicia who left a nice message on our machine yesterday. We know there are lots of people who come and check up on us occasionally, but Alicia made Owen's page her home page - now there's pressure to get new material up. Thanks for calling, Alicia. We miss you and will try to call in the next few days.

We're headed to Louisiana. We hope you have a grea time wherever you go. See you on the other side of the holiday.

Oh yeah...quick Owen update. He's eating cereal now and loves it. Here's a picture of him eating.

Breaking News...Ben's Getting Married!

We got the phone call last night that we've been waiting for the last several weeks - Ben and Katie are engaged! Apparently Ben had quite the plan, which included stringing Christmas lights all over a bridge and asking some random people if he could plug them in at their house! Ahhhh, love. Well, the end result is that she said yes and there's going to be a summer wedding. We'll keep you all informed.

Congratulations, guys! We're very happy for you. Welcome to the family, Katie!

Trip to Iowa:The Final Chapter

These are just a few more random pictures from our time in Iowa. It was a great trip!!!

Owen and Mommy ready to go to church. What a handsome young man!


Owen chilling with Grandpa and Willie. He loves being naked!


Playtime with Grandpa. Grandpa loves to sing to Owen and play games that make him laugh and laugh.


4 generations of Schmidts- What a special time together

Trip to Iowa Chapter 6: Ben and Katie come to visit

Ben and Katie came to see us the last weekend we were in Iowa. They hadn't seen Owen since he was 4 weeks old and just sleeping and pooping all of the time. Uncle Benner commented on how much more fun Owen is now that he is smiling and laughing. We had a great time with all of us together (we missed Ryan though). Here are a few pictures.

Owen is sporting his new stocking cap from Ben and Katie. He'll need it when he goes to Minnesota to visit them.

Uncle Benner and Owen watching the Iowa game together. Go Hawks!!!

Trip to Iowa Chapter 5: An afternoon at the Pool

Dad and I took Owen to the pool one afternoon. He had been to a few swim parties this summer, but this was the first time he really got in and played around. He loved it!!! He splashed and played for almost 45 minutes. I even dunked him under a few times and he didn't cry once. I think we have a little fish on our hands.

Owen got his first swim lesson from Grandpa.

Trip to Iowa Chapter 4: Owen meets a bunch of Turkeys

On Tuesday night we drove to Iowa City to have dinner with a bunch of friends that we lived with in Turkey. Holly was already in Muscatine, so she drove over with us and we did a little shopping before dinner. We hadn't seen everyone since Mandy and Mark's wedding a year ago, so it was great to catch up. A special thanks to Mandy (the master party planner) for organizing this little get together.

Trip to Iowa Chapter 3: Owen's First Campfire

After church on Saturday night, we all enjoyed an evening outside by the fire. The flames kept Owen mesmerized. And next year he will be able to eat smores!!! Of course he will have to learn how to roast marshmallows from Katie because she is the best.

Trip to Iowa Chapter 2: The Pumpkin Patch

We drove down to the south end of Muscatine for a photo shoot at the Pumpkin Patch. It was a bit cold and rainy, but we had a great time picking out pumpkins and gords.

Owen searched long and hard to find a pumpkin just his size. It really wore him out.

Trip to Iowa Chapter 1: Meeting Great Grandpa Schmidt

Owen and Tara just got back from spending 10 days in Iowa. So the next several posts will be pics and stories from the trip. Enjoy!

Owen met Great Grandpa Schmidt for the first time. They became fast friends immediately. They had their special time each morning that they spent together. Great Grandpa is very proud!

Our Confused Son

I heard last week that USC is recruiting a 14 year old basketball player to come play for them, so I know that the recruiting process begins earlier every year. But there has to be a line! Case in point, in the 3 weeks that we've been seeing aunts, uncles, grandparents and old friends (and not blogging!) Owen has received paraphenalia from 4 different universities - Louisiana Tech, LSU (boooo), Iowa. and Iowa State. He also picked up some Cubs pajamas, but that was a given - his dad wasn't going to allow someone else to pick his baseball team! When it comes time to actually pick a school he's not gonna know what to do!

So, let's see who out there has an opinion on this topic. Feel free to leave comments to vote for your favorite of Owen's new university outfits. Even if you don't care about the universities mentioned, you can vote according to color - remember, Owen's eyes are blue.

Looking good in blue!

You have to question whether Aunt Ta really wants what's best for Owen by putting him in such strange colors!

Uncle Benner got him the complete outfit - shirt, socks and bib. You know, Ben, just buying more stuff doesn't guarantee loyalty.
This is a full body bib that Aunt Jill got Owen. This will come in handy on those really spitty days.

News from Iowa

Owen seems to be the hit of Muscatine - but did you expect anything less? He's made all the rounds this week - up to the church, coffee with Grandma's friends, trip to Iowa City, hanging with Grandpa and Great-Grandpa while Mom went shopping! It seems that Owen has finally found his laugh. He's been laughing for a while, but you had to do some pretty crazy things to make him start. Tara said that he now laughs freely. Dad can't wait for him to come home and show off that laugh. Ben and Katie are in Muscatine this weekend and everyone seems to be having a grand ol' time. The report is that Ben and Katie find Owen much more fun than their last visit - when he basically just slept and pooped anytime Ben held him!

Don't Give Up On Us!

Yes, we know it's been a while since we put up anything new. But we didn't plan very well before the trip, so Tara has the camera with no way to download pictures. So, in the mean time check out Mandy's latest blog entry about seeing Owen and Tara Tuesday night.

http://www.mandybee.blogspot.com/

Tara and Owen are having a blast up in Iowa, where - check this out Texans - it's actually autumn! You know, leaves changing colors, a chill in the air, it doesn't get up to 87 every day! And apparently Owen went swimming at the Y! Tara claims to have pictures, so stayed tuned!

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