My Very Own Mother...

has taken to threatening me for not posting anything recently. We have maxed our hard drive with pictures of the sweet boy, so I can't download new pics (but there are 258 waiting on the camera!) In the meantime, she will just have to relish this picture of her two favorite people.

Full Body Experience

The other day I saw popcorn kernels for 99 cents at the grocery store, so I bought a big bag thinking I could do something fun with them for Owen. I poured them in a big tub today and threw in some spoons and pots, thinking he would enjoy all the mixing and stirring and pouring. I turned my head for a second and Owen climbed right in, so happy to feel the kernels between his toes. He stayed in there for 45 minutes and got out only because it was time for lunch.



Given his love of small spaces, I should have predicted he would feel nice and cozy in his popcorn box.

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.