Family Pictures

You've noticed the new header, right?  We were able to get some family pictures done last week and Kristy delivered the cd to us earlier this week.  Every time I look through the pictures, I love them more.  If you are local to me and want her contact info, let me know and I'll very happily pass it along:)

A few of my favs...it was so hard to decide which ones to order!

Oh no!

Owen: What is that girl superhero who flys a jet and dosn't wear a shirt?
Me: I have no idea what you are talking about.
Owen: Well daddy told me about her.
Me: ummmmm...
Owen: Wonder Woman...that's who it is.

Me, being the superhero novice that I am, went to find some pictures of Wonder Woman...she could definitely use some pants in addition to a shirt with more coverage.

An lady from church came up to me at Bible Study last night and said, 'I have to tell you what Anderson did in the church last Sunday.'  Insert groan!  She said, 'Owen, come here a sec.'  He turned around and said, 'Grandma, I Anderson, not Owen.'  Now, in his defense, she   is of 'grandmotherly' age.  :)

Good Sleep!

When he sleeps, he really sleeps!

I love the farmer's tan...looks like someone else's arm because of the color difference.

Soccer

We completed our first venture into organized athletics.  The league we did was an academy style league focusing on teaching the kids skills through games.  At the end of each session, they would break into small groups and scrimmage.  They had a showcase at the end where they spent the entire session scrimmaging.  Owen had some really good weeks...scoring goals (3 one of the weeks!) and being aggressive and some not so good weeks where he seemed pretty disinterested.  Overall, he did enjoy soccer and really improved in his skills.

Some pictures from the showcase...

 

Two Silly Quotes

Just 2 quick silly quotes for you...

Anderson sneezed and said 'Mommy, I did a bless you I need a tissue.'

Owen called Daddy was a 'silly duck'

Sleeping Arrangements

The kids have been trying out different place to sleep.

They tried the backyard with daddy last weekend after roasting hot dogs over the fire.

And they tried out Owen's bed together last night.

The tent was clearly a better option as they slept all night.  When they were in Owen's bed, Owen woke me up crying around 1:30.  It seems that his brother was taking up too much of the bed and he didn't have enough room.  I told him to scoot Anderson over and he said 'I keep doing that, but he just gets right next to me again.'  So, I carried Anderson back to his own bed and we had a peaceful rest of the night.

Owen has also finally decided that he once again sleeps better without a night light...yahoo!  A week or so ago, we moved it out of his room and into the bathroom.  Earlier this week, it wasn't turned on when he went to bed.  The next morning, he hollered down to me that he hadn't his light wasn't on and he wanted to know if it was on when I went to bed.  I was bracing myself for him to be all upset about it.  When I said no, he said 'I slept so much better without it.'  And has reminded us each night that he sleeps better without it.

Shrimp Chowder

This is the recipe I started with...Shrimp Chowder.

And this is what I ended up with....

• 2/3 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, diced
• 2 cups milk
• 3 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 pound shrimp, thawed and drained and shelled
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chicken broth
• To taste, 
• garlic powder
• pepper
• cayenne pepper
• cajun seasoning
• Texas Pete
• gumbo file
• parsely

Boil the potatoes and carrot in the chicken broth until tender.

In soup pot, saute the celery and onions in butter until translucent.

Add the cream cheese and milk to the onions and celery and cook until cream cheese is melted.

Add the potatoes, carrot and chicken broth to the soup pot

Add the spices and let simmer.  Stir occasionally so bottom doesn't burn.

A few minutes before you are ready to eat, add the shrimp and cook until pink.

Would have been especially delicious in a bread bowl!

Hey Good Lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'

He was helping me with a big pot of spaghetti sauce.  Then later on helped me make a pot of shrimp chowder...wowza...it was good!  I'll post the recipe soon...I used one I found online, but made several additions to it.

Random pics

Just a few fun pictures....

Owen tried Thin Mints...and then claimed them!  I can't say I blame him...these are my favorites too!

I love bath time pictures.  Owen has been taking bath/showers more and more by himself and I see fun brotherly bath time quickly passing us by.

I found this picture on my phone from last summer...I'm pretty sure this is Donner.

We have a dove on our front porch...the egg hatched and she's back.   I wonder if she's got a new egg?  Every time I go to check, she's sitting there.  She's much more faithful than Mazy, you know the lazy bird from Horton Hatches the Egg.  Aaron power washed the front porch and she stayed on her nest the entire time.

The babies were so cute and fluffy.  I had a moment when I found out there were 2 birds from 1 egg.  Yes, I know I'm nutty, but it had been a tough week and I miss Evan. 

And another oldish picture from my phone.  I try to take them to a basketball game and a baseball game each season.  They love to go and cheer for daddy!

Super Saturday

We had a super time at Super Saturday!  Super Saturday is a big fundraiser for the school Owen will be going to next year.  We went with Madelyn and Courtney and had so much fun getting faces painted, riding horses, playing games, jumping in bounce houses, doing the cake walk, seeing friends, eating lunch...and we didn't even make it into the silent auction!

I was a bit relieved that we didn't win in the cake walk.  When we were in there, there were 3 cakes left...2 of which were a Mountain Dew pound cake and a red velvet cake.  Aaron's favorite drink is Mt. Dew and favorite cake is red velvet...that would have been a tricky decision.  I told him I would have gotten the Mt. Dew cake since it was homemade and he said it would have been the correct choice.  The kindergarten classes are in charge of the cake walk, so I think I'll be making a cake for next year's Super Saturday.

This batman face literally took 5 minutes...it was amazing how quickly she did it.  

 Tractor pulled barrel ride.  They all wanted to ride in the red car...haha!

   Anderson's horse was huge!  He looks so little up there...and he loved every second!  She told him to say whoa at the end of the ride and told him that that tells the horse to stop.  He said, 'no whoa, keep going.'

Growing...and it's pains

Owen has recently hit a major growth spurt..like 2-3 inches in a month growth spurt.  He's about 45 inches now.  It was challenging for all!  Our little preemie has taken off!  He was in 4T pants this fall.  Thank goodness it is now mostly shorts season because he has outgrown some of his size 5 pants that he's only had for a few weeks!

He was having frequent nightmares (every 2-3 nights), behavior issues at school and home, and frequent growing pain in his knees.   I had no idea the nightmares were tied to the growth spurt until I was googling behavior issues and growth spurt.  I felt like they had to be related, but wanted to see if I could find some proof and stumbled upon the nightmare connection.  For what it's worth, the 'experts' disagree.  But now that he seems to be through the growth spurt, his personality is back to normal, so I definitely think it was that all of his rest time was going to growth and not to impulse control.  We also seem to be at an end of the nightmares.

However, the growing pains continue.  The other night it felt like we had a newborn again.  He was up hourly crying because his legs hurt.  I ended up staying in his bed with him several trips up by both Aaron and me.  He'd sleep for an hour or so and then wake up crying and tossing and turning in pain.  Poor kid!

Goin' to Grandma's

They kids recently spent a night away.  Owen was at my mom's and Anderson had his first solo overnight with Aaron's mom.  They were both so excited for their adventures and had a great time!  Owen left earlier in the day than Anderson did.  Anderson and I left to run errands shortly after Owen left.  Anderson was all worried that we'd forgotten his bag.  I explained to him that he'd get to go after nap time.  I told him that he and I would nap in Owen's bed and after we slept, he'd be ready to go to Grandma JuJu's.  Silly mommy!  I should know better by now!  After about 30 minutes, I told him he needed to lay still and go to sleep or he was going to have to go to his bed.  To which he replied, "I go to my bed now."  He went to his room and of course didn't nap.  I finally gave up on the thought of him taking a nap and went into his room.  He jumped off his bed and said 'Go to Grandma JuJu's now!'

Aaron and I had planned on going out to a late dinner, but a day of rain delayed Aaron's games and I don't eat dinner at 10:00 :(.   It was so very nice to sleep in the next morning though!

This is not a picture of Anderson's room that day, but it was similar.  And, this is why Anderson no longer has any toys in his room...this seems to be the normal naptime routine....all play and no nap!  Anderson, you are 2...you need to nap!

Happy Easter 3!

After church, we went to my sister's house to celebrate Easter and Will and Elise's 4th and 2nd birthdays.

We did another egg hunt...eagerly waiting to go outside to find eggs!

 Cutie pie baby Elise who isn't such a baby anymore.