Weekend Recap

We had such a great, kid filled weekend! I had off of work on Friday ( a just because day) and went to lunch with a girlfriend. It was so nice to sit outside and visit, unrushed. should do that more often. Friday night Hunter went to the big high school football game. In preparing, he came downstairs wearing his high school t shirt that highlighted that he was class of 2015. Way to go Hunter- announce to everyone you are a Freshman! Sean marched him upstairs and helped him get dressed so he looked a little cooler and on the way they went. Sean dropped him off and he was off to meet friends.

Saturday we woke up early and headed to HHGregg to appliance shop (for Sean's mom) and TV shop (for us). we walked out with a 50inch TV for our living room so now need to work on redoing the rest of the room. I found an entertainment unit I like...but I think we want to head to Amish Country to see if we can have it replicated (with better quality).

I believe it measures just the size though of our wall....so we may need to play with the numbers a bit. Or- we look around to see if I like anything better. We also want to purchase new couches (Sean wants a sectional) and a leather chair along with a coffee table. So- fun times in the future for us.

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to a birthday party. It was at a local park and the kids had a blast and barely ate as they were so busy playing.

Luckily Sean and Hunter were with me so I could visit with some friends a bit too. We came home and Hunter babysat after the kids went to bed and we went down the road for some wings and to watch the Tribe game.

Sunday was a fun day. We met up with some of Sean's buddies from high school and their families and went to a local kiddie park.

It was hilarious to watch the kids there. They enjoyed themselves and rode the rides like crazy. Quinlin cried through the Ferris wheel and needed to get off the roller coaster but other than that, success! We came home and built forts until fantasy football draft 2 at night.

Poor Hunter spent the day in bed- puking in the morning for some reason... better today though and off to school!

High School

Oh my goodness... I don't know where the time went. Today my baby starts high school. Hoping he has a great day! I know he was nervous. Such a small fish in a big school- yet such a big guy as well!

Good luck Hunter!



Wordless Wednesday

Diva... wearing her new bracelet from her teacher Karen- even while feeding the ducks.

She is a riot.



Owen's Summer Vacation

Owen started preschool yesterday and this weekend he worked on his homework I completed his homework assignment of what he did on his summer vacation. We were given a yellow star and told to put on it all the fun things, pictures, momentous, etc of his experiences. It was a little star, so I tried to fill it out as best I could. For not really going anywhere, I think he had a pretty good summer!

3 Year Well Visit

Owen finally had his 3 year well visit last night. I picked the babies up from school and dropped Quinlin off with Hunter and rushed Owen to his appointment. He didn't want to go because he didnt want bandaids (aka shots) but he did really well. Stood like a big guy on the scale to get weighed, stood next to the wall to get measured for his height, and walked all proudly into the room thinking his appointment was over.

Height was 37 1/2 inches and weight was 32.6 pounds. Very average for the most part. They also checked his BMI (which I think was at 17) and did his blood pressure. Hilarious that at age 3 they start checking that. He did everything his pediatrician asked him to do and happily walked out with 2 new stickers and the appointment behind him.

After the appointment we were off to the fish store to pick out a new fish for the tank to replace the little fish we lost the first night. We ended up bringing 2 home. If Owen had his way, we would have brought home this "little" guy:

um, yeah...no thanks.

Wordless Wednesday- A little golf anyone?

Maybe we have the next Phil Mickelson in the making...



Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend. Busy as usual. I don't think we ever really sat down. I find it sad when I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Friday I left work early and met my MIL and SIL and continued to look for homes for my MIL. Every home we saw, something was wrong with it... mold, water in the basement, etc. We walked in many and left disappointed. We then went Friday night to Jennifer's house to celebrate Sean's brother Chuck's birthday. It was nice- we got Mexican and hung out.

Saturday morning we were back at it again. We walked in a few homes and then started looking in a new city. We found two we really liked. One was a for sale by owner "farm house". The other in a development. The farm house was definitely more her- on an acre of land, completely redone, huge barn, nice kitchen. There were a few concerns with it- would need a new driveway, would need to address a drainage issue by the back of the house and barn, otherwise, it was totally her. The development house was totally redone. She could move in and enjoy. The fact that it was in a development scared her. She's used to having space, not having to worry about my FIL roaming free, etc. We decided to sleep on it and go back to both of them the following day. Saturday night was the first preseason game and so we brought Owen and Hunter with us. They had a blast!

Sunday was my nephew Charlie's baptism. We went to the church and watched him get baptised and then went to Chuck's house for a get together. It was fun- the kids played, the food was great. Aside from the rain, a perfect day. We left Chuck's to get to the two homes with MIL for second showings. We got to the farm house and found out from the rain, the basement flooded. Red flag, sign from God to move on. So- off the list the farm house went. We then went to the development house and we all loved it again (minus Sean and Jen who weren't sold on the development). MIL again wanted to sleep on it and after talking to Sean, I thought would have lost interest. But- on Monday I found out she was putting an offer in. I was so excited! It really is a great house- and at .36 acres, still shows enough land and privacy. Between taking care of my dad, I think she realized it may be time to give up the land dream. She was either going to find a house with land that needed a ton of work, or a nice house on not so much land that was move-in ready. So- fingers crossed that the bid goes through, the sale of her own house goes through and she could move closer. Ok- and not to jinx it, will just post a few pictures!

We have Fish!

Now that Owen is healthy again, I can get back to my neglected little blog. On Tuesday night, we ventured out with Sean's sister to dinner and then to the pet store. We stopped at Boston Market for a quick bite and ran into Sean's friend Joe's parents. Joe was a Master Sargent in Special Forces with the Army and was killed Christmas Day, 2005 in Iraq. We hadn't seen his parents since a benefit for him in 2006. It was so nice to see them and visit, to hear stories of their family, to hear that the Army is naming a building after Joe in Ft Bragg, to be able to tell them that Sean's brother names his son after Joe, to tell them that Jen started running marathons because of Joe. It really was a nice visit, minus my crazy kids at Boston Market.

At the pet store looking at the fish

we brought them home and placed the fishtank in the kitchen. The kids love looking at them.

See the colored fish in the top left?

Yeah- the one and only picture of the colored fish. We bought 2 kissing fish, a headlight fish and another one with a really pretty tail. Colored little guy got caught in the filter. We woke up to find him in the morning pulling his own nemo stunt....only not as successful. Fishy heaven.

So crazy story... yesterday I attended a funeral for a local Marine killed in Iraq. Who do I see there? Joe's parents. It was almost fate bringing us together Tuesday night so that I would see them again yesterday.

ick

I was all set to post an update to Owen's new fish tank...but he got sick. We were up all night with him- from about 11:45pm until about 5am with him puking. So- I am beat. At work at 8:30 and am just waiting until 5pm rolls around so I can lay down. Let's hope it gets here fast. Sean's home with Owen today. I think the puking has stopped so we'll see if he can hold anything down. It's the worst feeling to be so helpless.

Golf Tryouts

So I have been swamped so much with work lately that I didn't have a chance to write about Hunter's golf team tryouts. All summer long, I knew in the back of my head that tryouts were the beginning of August. We never heard anything, so I finally emailed the school on August 1st. I emailed again August 2nd and finally got a call that night that tryouts had happened but the coach would be happy to have Hunter try out the following morning at 6:45am. Hunter was at his grandfather's for a few days while his dad was in town so I called him over there and told him to come home. He got home about 10:30pm and Sean was out there in the garage getting his golf bag ready, helping Hunter pick out his clothes to wear for tryouts, etc.

They got the golf course about 6:15am and Sean prepped him and left. The course is hard- and hilly- and Hunter was just not prepared. He had only golfed 18 once, and that was with a cart. The tryout was 18- walking. We were nervous for him. If he could shoot between 100-105, his chances were good of making the team. He shot an all time best for the front nine- a 57! but then fell apart on the back end. He finished his tryout with a score of 126 :(

I picked him up and he had the best attitude. The coach saw potential, said he'd work with him and even gave us some names of golf pros Hunter could see to improve. So- we'll keep trying!

My dad actually arranged a lesson for him tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I was so proud of him for trying. He said to me "I'll come back and make it next year." Now it's up to Sean and I to get him the tools he needs to succeed.

Owen's Birthday and Party

Owen decided McDonalds for his birthday. Not so much for the food, but to play as he was definitely too busy to eat. He had a blast!

We came home and opened presents.

Quinlin and Hunter watched and looked cute.

what a great time we had on Sunday for Owen's 3rd birthday party. He went down for a nap and knew as soon as he woke up that it would be party time. So- of course, he woke up early to see Sean and Jen putting together his new fishtank. He was so excited!

The party started with Owen happily greeting guests and instantly wanting to open presents. I gave in, probably shouldn't have, but it actually worked out to get it out of the way and then let the kids play. It was nice to visit with everyone even though it was such a small little gathering.

a successful attempt at a cousins picture



Happy Birthday Owen!!!

Today Owen turns 3. OMG- when did that happen?

Three years ago, I became a mom for the second time. Though it totally felt like the first for everything. Owen was five days late but made a fast entrance into the world and wiggled his way into our hearts. He is such an amazingly bright guy- bright in the aspect that this kid will make it in life. Hard to believe that at 3, he has a lot of street smarts to him.

• He is in size 3T clothes and size 9 shoes
• His hair is blonde- but just starting to get a tad darker. Both Sean and I had blonde hair as babies so we will see how blonde he stays and for how long.
• He's an athlete- loves baseball, football, basketball and golf.
• He loves to swim- and pretend he's a fish. Swimming though is a lot of jumping in the baby pool, or swimming in the bathtime. Must get him in for some lessons.
• I believe he's about 32 pounds. His appointment is in 2 weeks so we will find out for sure. This year though, he really seemed to grow taller and thin out. He has such a great little body to him- definitely got Daddy's legs.
• He's in underpants. Has had an amazing month (one month to the day in fact) of being potty trained. He wears only underpants- no pull ups or anything and has had only one night time accident. He really has done amazing with it. He also is to the point where we don't even ask him if he has to go. He happily goes on his own, washes his hands with the "pretty soap", dries them, etc. Such a champ.
• He is so clever- and very fixated on things. He knows he has to look both ways when crossing the street so he doesn't get hit by a car (and then he'll go in the sky and we'll never see him again).
• Favorite foods- pizza, pb&j, anything sweet, strawberries and whip cream, and lately chicken
• He talks in fantastic sentences- and loves to talk and talk. Funny things said referenced here.

The Quiz
I asked Owen a series of questions and will be asking this every year on his birthday. Here are his responses:
1. What's your name? Owen Patrick ______
2. How old are you? 3
3. Where do you live? at home
4. what is your favorite color? purple
5. what do you want to be when you grow up? a football player
6. who is your favorite person? Hunter
7. who's your best friend? Mommy, Quinlin, Daddy, Hunter and Nora (I think he couldn't decide)
8. what is your favorite tv show? football games or The Simpsons
9. what is your favorite food? cake
10. what is your favorite drink? Milk
11. what do you like to do for fun? play Home Run Derby
12. what do you like to play outside? Basketball (pronounced basket hall)
13. what is your favorite song? Take Me Out to the Ball Game
14. what is your favorite movie? Toy Story 2
15. what is your favorite book? The Allie book (book about Boxers and he refers to it as the Allie book for the boxer down the street

we asked Owen what he wanted to do for his birthday for dinner. His response last night was peanut butter and jelly, followed this morning by hot dogs. Not sure what we will end up doing, but I have a feeling we'll go to McDonalds or something so he can play at the play land.  His little party is this weekend- little as it's just our parents and Sean's siblings/ families. My sister is out of town. I'm thinking next year though we may have to start doing the kid thing and inviting friends from school.

Happy birthday little man. We love you so much!

Weekend Recap- Crazy Stupid Love

We had a really nice weekend. On Friday, we ventured out to dinner at Olive Garden. For those of you who know me, or if I've written this before, it's rare when we take the kids to dinner because they are crazy (well not Hunter at least). But- they are now getting to an age where they will sit and listen, or be entertained by crayons or our phones (it's sad when Owen can go direct to youtube for the Simpsons or Football hits to entertain himself). After dinner we came home and attempted family movie night in the basement. We had rented The Other Guys from netflix. Not so much a fan. I didn't even finish it.

On Saturday, we went to feed ducks in the morning and walked around a local park and then I went off with my girlfriends that night. I saw Crazy Stupid Love- and loved it!

I think it's my second favorite movie of the summer so far (first being Horrible Bosses). It was a really cute flick- and I now think I have a thing for Ryan Gosling- yummy! After the movie, we went to TreBelle for dinner. I had never been there before and always wanted to go. It's next door to Ken Stewarts Lodge and was as fantastic as that restaurant is. Well...let me re-phrase. We got there at 7:30pm. By 9pm, we still hadn't gotten our food. The manager came over and apologized and said the computers had gone down. They said our meals and drinks were on the house and could she get us another round. How nice was that? They definitely made right of the situation. And none of us complained- it was just nice to visit with everyone that I honestly didn't notice the time it was taking for the food.

Sunday was more low key. The kids played in the pool, we napped, and then my parents came over. We celebrated my mom's birthday with dinner at Creekside and then had Oreo pie at home. Sean's sister stopped over as well to drop off Owen's birthday gift (needed to hide it in the basement).

This week shouldn't be as busy at work for me. I just need to find some time to go birthday shopping for Owen. Oh my goodness...the kid is going to be 3. Yikes!