Vacation Bible School

Owen and I went to Vacation Bible School last week. I haven't been to VBS since I was a volunteer helper in Junior High. I forgot how awesome it is!!! I taught in the pre-kindergarten class. And since I was a teacher, Owen got to attend a special class for the 1 year olds. The theme of the week was African Safari and we learned about all of the things God created. My favorite part of the week was music time which was also Owen's favorite part according to his teachers. Apparently he loved dancing to the African drum music. At the end of the week, Owen brought home a creation book he had been making all week. I am so grateful for his Sunday School teachers who love him every week and are teaching him about our great God even at his young age. What a blessing!

Spaghetti Dinner

Preparing the meal- 35 minutes

Eating the meal- 15 minutes

Cleaning up Owen and his surrounding area after the meal- 20 minutes

Taking pictures of Owen while eating spaghetti- Timeless

Lego Land

You cannot go to Minneapolis without making a stop at The Mall of America. So the Friday afternoon before the rehearsal for my brother's wedding, we took Owen for his first visit to this mall of all malls. We were not there for 5 minutes before Ryan had identified the exact location of Lego Land which is a lego superstore with huge structures and characters made out of legos. I'm not sure who enjoyed Lego Land more, Owen or Ryan :) Here are some pictures.

Ben and Katie's Wedding

My little brother got married a few weeks ago in Minneapolis. Ben married the sweetest girl, so full of life and love for people. She is just perfect for Ben and I'm so excited to have Katie as part of our family. The wedding weekend was spectacular! The rehearsal dinner was at a swanky 1920's dinner club style restaurant with the most amazing food on the planet (thanks mom and dad for throwing such a fun party). The wedding was at the church Katie grew up in and the pastor came from our home church in Muscatine. The ceremony was truly a worshipful experience (even with Owen sitting at my side, he made it through most of the ceremony before Ryan had to take him to the foyer). I had chills as my friend Marcy sang Blessed Assurance while Ben and Katie took communion together. The reception was incredible! The desserts needed a room all to themselves!!! I got to see a ton of friends who I hadn't seen in years. I got to spend more time with my childhood friend Marcy than I have since our college dorm days (she was a bridesmaid in my wedding and her brother Andy was Ben's best man, oh yeah, and their dad did the ceremony). I also got to spend some good time with my family which is always fun! Owen especially loved playing in the hotel hallway with Grandpa and his bag of toys. On Sunday morning, we all got together for a little birthday party for Owen which was really special for him.

I always LOVE going home to the midwest to spend time with my family. Not only did I get to see Ben marry a super great girl, I also got to see old friends and my extended family. Here are some pics from the weekend!

Mom and Dad at the Rehearsal
Me and Aunt Jilly
Ben right before the ceremony

Mom and me
The dessert room at the reception: The reception was catered by a restaurant called Lake Elmo Inn and their signature dessert is called The Sin of the Inn.
The Bride and Groom

Our Little Boy Turned 1 (part 2)

Owen's birthday party was Saturday afternoon at our house. He invited all of his little friends (and their parents) to come play and eat cake. The theme of his party was trucks. So we filled the back of a dump truck with dirt cake and made a truck cake and homemade ice cream. We had all of Owen's favorite things to play with; balls, balloons, books, trucks and we even had a little dance party. It was a lot of fun!!! Owen is explaining to Terri exactly how to send the truck down the ramp. 16-month-old Henry demonstrates his expertise and shows Owen how to use the fishing pole. Thanks Henry, Owen has been fishing in the bathtub every night. Are all of these new toys for me? Cool!!!

When it was time for cake, Owen's first thoughts were "Why am I naked?" and "Are they really going to let me eat this?" But after a few hesitated licks of frosting, he dove right in and ate the entire piece of cake, and then moved on to the dirt cake.

Sharing cake with Daddy

After getting all cleaned up, Owen enjoyed pushing Ethan around on his new Dusty Dozer! It was good times for all.

Our Little Boy Turned 1 (part 1)

Owen turned one on July 3rd. I can't believe I just wrote that. Part of me feels like it was just yesterday that I was leaving the hospital with this precious baby boy, frantically looking for his instruction manual and really wondering if it was a good idea for the nurses to let me take him home with me :) But the other part of me feels like I have known Owen forever and can't remember life without him.

Owen has made this year the best one of my life. I love being his mommy! Owen's excitment for life is incomparable. If you've spent more than 5 minutes with him you know that every inch of his body from head to toe exudes joy over life's everyday pleasures. Owen loves to laugh and will take every opportunity to make a funny face or make a silly sound, just to get us to laugh. Owen is curious and independent. He keeps me on my toes by testing the waters and pushing the limits as he explores the world around him. Owen is a very busy boy. As soon as he arrives at one destination, he is ready to move on to something new. He is the only person I know that can read 3 books all at the same time. Owen is already demonstrating a rather determined (also known as stubborn) flair. He seems to always be very sure of what he wants and lets us know when things don't quite go the way he anticipated. We're working to channel that determination into future leadership qualities :) But my favorite thing about Owen is that he is very sweet and loving. He will crawl across the room and into my lap just to give me a hug. When he hears the garage door open at 5:15 every evening, he scampers across the floor as fast as his knees will take him to meet Daddy at the door and jump up into his arms for a great big hug.

Owen, thanks for being such a fun little boy so full of life and love. Mommy and Daddy love you so much and I am so thankful that I get to be your mommy for many more years to come!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Here are some pictures from Owen's birthday weekend! I'll post the rest in part 2.

Owen got to eat pancakes with syrup for his birthday breakfast. When Daddy got home from work, went to the spray park with Anne and Papaw. After the park Owen a got to eat his first snowcone. To say he liked it is an understatment.

On Friday we went to the 4th of July Parade with all of our friends. Owen's favorite parts were the horses and the marching bands.Here is a picture with Donen, Ethan and Anne.When we got home from the parade, Vallie and I made Owen's birthday cake. Owen got to lick the bowl!That afternoon, Owen got to Owen presents from Anne, Papaw, Uncle Brent and Aunt Sassy.

Thank You

No, we're not actually thanking anyone for something. We're telling you that "Thank You" is actually Owen's new word. This has been verified by an independent source (thanks, Adraine), so we're not just crazy doting parents.

It's not all the time, but he specifically says it after we say it to him. We've heard it 4-5 times now. All the single words out there he could easily learn and he chooses this. Fine with us!

Swimming

We're trying to turn Owen into a fish. In the last week he's been swimming 5 times! The Arlington Parks Department operates different types of pools all around the city. For $60 you can get a pool pass and go all you want.

Well, there just so happens to be a play pool specifically for young children less than a mile from our house. It's very shallow and there are lots of things spraying and waterfalls. They even have valves scattered around that turn sprayers on and off. You'll be sitting in an area you think is safe and whoosh - some kid turn on a valve and you get soaked. Even on the climb up the stairs there are little areas to stop and play. Owen loves to climb up the stairs, but when he gets to the top, there's a tube slide that he is enraptured with and he heads straight to it. You really have to watch him at the top because he wants to go in the big blue tube! They also have a tunnel that they can crawl through that has water up to their knees - Owen loves to play in there and go back and forth between Mom and Dad. Matt and Donen brought Ethan over Saturday and the boys had a good time playing.

Owen's New Hat

We tried, but we just couldn't let Owen keep going around with these little cutesy, kiddy hats. The boy needed a real hat. And after watching his fascination with Ryan's and Papaw's hats over the last few weeks, we knew the time had finally come. So, Owen got a camo baseball cap last weekend. He loves it. He wore it for almost 2 hours at the zoo the other day. And his Dad even bent it right for him and everything!

Cats, Javier's & Dallas

For her birthday and Mother's day, Tara got tickets to go see the musical "Cats" and dinner at her choice of restaurant in Dallas. After hearing Mary Beth rave about it for years, she chose to go eat at Javier's. Javier's is a swanky Mexican restaurant that serves authentic gourmet Mexican food (not Tex-Mex). The food was great, but we observed two things there that will be commented on in the "Dallas" section of this entry.

Cats was...interesting. We like musicals and have seen quite a few. Most musicals are stories. Unbeknownst to us, Cats isn't - it's a collection of poems by T.S. Eliot. So, we spent the first half of the show trying to figure out what the story was. They were throwing out all these words like "Jellical cat" and explaining how cats get their names, like "Rum Tum Tugger," "Rumpelteazer," and "Jennyanydots." We were so lost. At intermission we looked at each other and Tara said "Please tell me there isn't a story because I'm so lost!" We looked in the flyer and found that it is a collection of poems. Once we stopped trying to determine a story line, we enjoyed the show so much more. It was a lot of fun and we recommend it, but if you go, don't expect a story!

Living in Arlington, we've gotten used to the Tarrant County lifestyle. Those of you who have never spent extended time in DFW can't understand how opposite Dallas and Ft Worth are. The entire culture seems to change at the Tarrant/Dallas County line and Arlington is in Tarrant County. Two examples from our 1 hour at Javier's.

We got to the restaurant at 6:00 so we could have time to get to the show on time. When we pulled in the parking lot was empty. There's free valet, but with the empty parking lot, Ryan signalled to the valet he would just park. But they said we had to be valeted - ok, no problem. But when we came back out our little red Toyota Matrix was not in the parking lot. Instead, it was full of BMWs, Mercedes, Jaguars, Hummers and an Aston Martin. Our car was two blocks away parked on the street. Apparently the Matrix doesn't make the prestige cut!

Most of the couples in Javier's spent their time of their phones, not actually talking to one another. There was a couple about our age at the table next to us. We first noticed them because the guy had his Blackberry and a rolled up wad of cash sitting on the table next to him. It was very strange - when have any of you carried a roll of cash and then set it on the table? Then, when their order came, they both looked at their food for a second, called the waiter over and sent it back. Not because it was wrong, but they just decided it didn't look good. The guy pulled out a credit card, they paid for it and left. What?!?! That was at least $50 of food that they just threw away. That's Dallas.