Laughing

To get Jack to laugh we just tilt our head to the side and then tilt it to the other side and say "do". It's so cute to watch him get so excited and almost everytime he gets the hiccups.

Also he has rolled over from his tummy to his back about 4 or 5 times now, but we've still haven't seen it!! He only does it in his crib. Cute little stinker!

Surprise!

Yesterday afternoon when I went in to get Jack from his nap I walked up to his crib and he was on his back looking at me. Surprise!!! Jack rolled over!!! He had this surprised look on his face like...how did this happen! He also is getting really close to giggling. He doesn't fully laugh, but he smiles and half laughs and then he gets the hiccups!

My new favorite picture!

Wanted: Mole Killer

We...I mean Michael has worked so hard this summer to get our yard looking nice and we do have the nicest grass we've ever have, but we are being tormented by a mole. We had a mole problem last summer, but we weren't really worried about it because we knew we weren't ready to fix the yard yet. Earlier this summer Michael found 3 dead moles in the backyard. We think either the neighborhood cats or a raccoon got them. But now we have a new mole that is driving us crazy. Our grass is so nice and green and he has to mess it up with all these dumb holes. One day last week I even saw the ground moving and so I ran outside with a hand aerator and started stabbing it in the ground. The neighbors probably think I'm nuts! We did go and buy some mole bait hoping he'd eat it and perish and we thought he did since we haven't had any new mole holes in about 4 days, but this morning we woke up to a new one. ARGH!!!!

Owen loves using his mower just like Daddy!

Playing with friends

Last week Owen, Jack and I went to visit some friends. Jen has four boys and is expecting a girl in December. Her two younger boys are right near Owen's age. Evan is 3 and Charlie is only 5 months younger than Owen. The boys were having fun playing with the slide that's inside the house.

What a bunch of goofy boys!!!

Owen says, "Watch out Charlie I'm gonna slide down."

Charlie says, "I dare you!"

"Okay here I come!!!"

Kodak Moment

I know what you're all saying, "How could you sit there and take a picture while you're child's head is stuck in the banister?" Okay for one thing I checked his head and neck first to make sure he wasn't really in pain and second I only snapped a couple pictures and then got him out of there.

How did he get in his position in the first place you ask? Well Owen and I have been playing this kissing game where I will kiss him through the slats in the banister so while I was downstairs he tried it by himself. The only thing keeping his head stuck was his ears! All I had to do was hold them close to his head and he came right out. Let's hope he doesn't try this again when his head is bigger and the only way to get it out is slathering it with butter. Does that even work???

I'm a farmer!

Last week I got my first ripe tomato so Owen and I went out and picked it. I finally got a picture of it before Owen snatched it from my hand to eat it. He was sure it was something good since I was trying to keep it from him. When he took a bite of it he was sure surprised though!!!


Next summer I want to plant all sorts of vegetables on the side of the house. We have this perfect section for growing them. I'm going to try to grow - corn, lettuce, peas, green beans maybe some onions and more tomatoes and zucchini. I've heard that if kids help out with growing and cooking the vegetables they will be more inclined to eat it. Let's hope so!

Truckin'

On Saturday Owen, Jack and I went down to Ga-Ga & Pa's to hang out. Pa had been hard at work getting the truck sandbox painted. It looks so great!!

Owen was having too much fun turning the steering wheel to smile for the camera. Pa also added some other cool things to the driver side of the truck...a horn and an old bicycle bell.

Peety (PT Cruiser) did a good job hauling all the sand from Lowes. I think my dad brought back the whole beach for Owen to play in! :)

Pa showing Owen what this whole sand thing is all about.

I think he's got it now!!!

Knuckle Head

Owen is such a clumsy boy...I swear people must think we abuse him. He has bruises all over from falling down and/or running into things. This latest injury happened yesterday when he was out in the driveway with Daddy. Owen loves to run up and down the easement in between our property and our neighbors and he just fell over head first and hit the pavement. He also scrapped his knee pretty good. The nice thing is kids heal fast and it's already looking much better.

Blackberries

Last week I took the boys for a stroll to see if the blackberries in our neighborhood were ready to be picked yet. There were some so I picked them and then Owen and I enjoyed them. YUMMY!

Photo Session

Owen is wanting to be involved with Jack more and more each day. He loves to hold him and help burp him. Last week I tried to get some cute pictures of them together.

I love my baby brother!

This is after I sat Jack back up. He fell over on Owen and Owen didn't really like that at all.

It's okay Jack I forgive you for hurting me.

Oh Jack let me help wipe your face.

Okay outta my way I'm done!

Thumb Sucker

Jack is such a thumb and finger sucker. He gets really mad when he can't get his fingers to stay in his mouth. Although he is getting better and better at controlling those little hands of his. He can even suck on his hands now when he's not laying on his tummy.

Precious Moments with my Boys!

Hi Mom!!!
That flash makes me open my eyes REALLY big!
Cute little smoocher!!!
That's all Folks!!!

Mimicker

Owen has turned into such a little mimicker. Not really with his vocabulary yet, but with his action. He's has to do so many things just the way we do them. For instance if we are dipping food into something he has to dip it too. He LOVES ketchup and the other day he actually ate chips and salsa because we were. Yesterday morning he was having yogurt and buttered toast and I was having Cream of Wheat and buttered toast. I use my spoon and put the Cream of Wheat on the toast and then eat the toast. He saw me doing this so he started using his spoon to put yogurt on his toast and then eat it. Totally adorable!!!

A few weeks back when we spent the night at my parents house he was playing with the Q-Tip dispenser and then I noticed he was actually using the Q-Tips just like we do. I took Owen downstairs so I could show everyone and then I grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures. I got this really good one of him and then I got another blackmail picture!

That look on his face is totally priceless! Michael and I laughed so hard! He just cracks me up!

Flowers and Vegetables

Last night we planted some new plants we got down at Lowes. They are perennials so hopefully we won't have to plant new ones each year. I love that Lowes has a 1 year guarantee on their plants too. I'm keeping my receipts just in case we kill them somehow we can take them back and get new ones. I also got some close up pictures of my zucchini and tomatoes. Something keeps eating the tomatoes though so I'm not sure if we're going to get any!

Michael picked out the banana tree and I picked out the grasses and the tall purple things. Those rocks on the right are rocks he dug up while digging the holes for the fence posts.

In the middle is our hydrangea bush. I love hydrangeas!!

Free Slide

On Friday the customer Michael was working for had a slide they wanted to get rid of so Michael brought it home. It's so awesome and FREE!!! These types of outdoor toys are so ridiculously expensive. Michael put it together on Sunday night and Owen knew exactly what he should do. He went right over to the back of the slide climbed and went down. He's such a big boy! He does get a little nervous about sliding down, but most of the time it's too late for him to climb back up so he just has to go down anyways. He's so cute too because he clings to the side and closes his eyes all tight, but then he just goes back around and does it all over again. Tough kid!

Big Enough

One of the days last week Michael worked most of the day at home rebuilding these railings for a customer. Since he was outside Owen and I wanted to be out there with him. I also decided it would be a good time to vacuum out all of that sand that had accumulated from when we were out at Ocean Shores. Owen just hung out in the car climbing from the back seat to the front seat and pushing all kinds of buttons. Jack was asleep in the house for the most part, but when he did wake up I just brought him out so he could enjoy the fun too. I nursed him and changed him in the back of the van so we could just sit there and hang out with Daddy. I love it when Michael works from home!!!

The Bumbo that Aunt Linda got Owen last year was just sitting in the garage so I decided to see if Jack could sit up in it yet. His head is still a little too wobbly, but I propped it up with a blanket. Not sure if he enjoyed it, but I'm sure in a month or so he'll love it!

Alki again!

Last Thursday Michael had to bid a job in West Seattle so we went with him. While he was bidding the job the boys and I stayed in the car. When he was finished the homeowner who lives right across the street from the water let us stay parked in her driveway so we could go on a walk. It was really nice walk and it was fun being out as a family. Owen was so cute on the way back Daddy held both of his hands to walk up the stairs and after that Owen didn't want to let go...

Change of plans

Last Tuesday my Mom and Dad came over to watch the boys so Michael and I could go on a date. We planned on going on an Argosy Cruise with the City Pass tickets we had left over from when my family was here. Michael got home with JUST enough time for us to make it to the pier. I've never driven directly to the pier so I didn't take West Marginal Way like I was suppose to, but Michael thought there would be an exit off the West Seattle Bridge to North 99. Well there isn't! By this time there is no way we can make it to the pier in time to catch the last boat of the night so we decided to just go to Salty's on Alki for dinner. On the way there we stopped at a viewpoint and took some beautiful pictures of the city.

Dinner was awesome! I had salmon stuffed with dungeness crab and Michael had a whole dungeness crab. YUMMY! While we ate we got to watch the Elliott Bay Taxi and a HUGE cargo ship come in. We also got to see the Argosy Cruise we would have been on and we both started laughing so hard. People were stuffed in there like sardines. We wouldn't have had that much fun so I'm glad we didn't make it in time. After dinner we drove down by the beach, but decided not to walk since we were both wearing flip flops and we thought it would be nice to get home in time to put the boys to bed. It was a great night out for just the two of us.

Hanging with the boys!

Last week Micah, Kim and Andy came over. They took our old couch and had forgot some of the cushions so they needed to pick them up. It was so neat to see all the boys together.

I can't wait to take more pictures of them like this as they grow older. It will be fun to compare!

Owen is such a BIG boy!

Boatloads of Fun

Last week I needed to run some errands and it included going to the mall. After I was done shopping I let Owen play on the boat for the first time. I've never let him play on it until now because he's still so little and it would be quite a long fall if he fell from the top. He still wasn't feeling 100% better from the stomach thing he had, but he still enjoyed himself. Of course in the end he just wanted to push the stroller around and when it was time to leave he started making a scene. Oh the life of a toddler!

He wiped out here at the bottom of the stairs. What kind of mother am I instead of rushing to his aid I take a picture of his fall?? At least the carpet is cushy!

This was the very next day when I went back to the mall with Daddy this time. Owen remembered falling the day before so when he got to the top of the boat he wouldn't come down.