Buds

On another sunny and warm Seattle day, Owen and I met Koen and Shelley for a little walk near Lake Washington. The loop is only a mile long and with lots of ponds and mulch pits, we figured we would have lots to entice the boys onward to complete our trek. The sunshine must have filled the boys with love of nature and each other because they kept stopping to hug each other and roll around in the grass. Forty five minutes later, we were only a quarter of the way around and Owen fell into an irresistable pit of mud and gunk and other unidentifiable wet, slimy stuff. I carried my soggy boy back to the car and Shelley promised Koen a visit to the fountain in the parking lot to make up for the shortened trip. Ring, ring went my phone as Owen and I were speeding home to get him into dry clothes, "Koen fell in the fountain and is soaking wet!" Good thing for all of us it was a sunny day.

Oldies but Goodies

I took these during the snow storm that hit Seattle right before the holidays. This was the storm prior to the snowmaggedon you may have heard about on the news. John and I felt a bit sad to have missed such a historical Seattle episode, but hearing friends' tales of being snowbound for days with toddlers gave us an even greater appreciation for the Houston humidity we were enjoying.

PS The pink beauty is our neighbor, Lili, who christened Owen, "The O's" which has stuck. Her family graciously left their christmas lights up in one window for Owen, he adored them so much and still demands that John pull back the curtains at dinner so he can admire them.

California Dreamin' on Such a Winter's Day

It has been so embarrassingly long since I have posted that I won't even insult you with lame excuses...we are experiencing a winter heat wave in Seattle, meaning no rain and temps in the 40s and 50s. Owen and I have been spending a lot of time at the beach lately as if we lived in warm sunny California, but when you are as deprived of Vitamin D as we are, you take what you can get. Yesterday we had a lovely morning in Edmonds at the ferry terminal (who would have thought lovely morning and ferry terminal could go together) with our dearest friends Shelley and Koen. It was truly a toddler fantasy land - we saw ferries docking, fire engines boarding the ferry, cranes and bulldozers working on the terminal, and perhaps the best sight ever - a TRAIN carrying PLANES! The boys were near hysteria.

Contender for Best Picture

The funniest part may be how hard John and I are laughing, but can you see his new little cha-cha-cha stepping? Hilarious. And the jumping part? Too much.

Tis the Season

It felt down right Christmas-y this weekend with temperatures dropping to the twenties and an inch of snow on the ground. We even had a little boy who woke up way too early in the morning, as if anticipating many presents under the tree. (If you have been a long time Owenjoe reader, you have no doubt figured out that Owen is an early riser and perhaps think we should just get over it and stop complaining, but we are talking 4 am people, 4 am on the weekend!!) We took the boy out for a few holiday festivities, including visiting reindeer, playing in the snow, and being mesmerized by Santa's train. It was hard to figure out if Owen liked the train, he would get so excited that he was borderline crying every time it came by.

In other news, Owen got his first haircut today! I didn't bother to take the camera because I figured I would be busy pinning him down, but apparently cartoons and sour apple suckers are his weakness. Gone is the Van Halen mullet and we now have a very sophisticated looking little guy.

Maybe next year..

Thanksgiving was a bit of a bust for us this year. In summary, we all had a virus that mutated a few times with varying symptoms that is still keeping us coughing and feverish, Owen had bleeding, oozing diaper rash, we had to call poison control after he sucked down a good dose of diaper cream, and he also got a bloody, fat lip after a nasty fall. The meal itself was a blast at our good friends' home - 8 adults, 7 kids ranging in age from 6 weeks to 8 years. Our little 2 year old host, Koen, clutched his stuffed frog close to his chest the entire time - we think he was a bit shell-shocked. And even though we kept Owen up way past his bedtime, he let us sleep until 6:30, and for that we were thankful. We did manage to make a few treks to the beach and some nature areas to let our little naturalist run wild.

Pre-Thanksgiving Thankfulness

Right before Thanksgiving, John's parents came for a short visit. Sadly, our little family of three got sick and then sent the germs on to Houston. Sorry for that! John and I missed a date night, but I had my eyebrows waxed and took lots of naps - nearly as wonderful.

Owen is obviously getting some important fashion and grooming advice from his grandma here..


Nicely dressed and coiffed, he reads with grandpa