Owen got together with Brenna over the weekend. You'd never guess that she is only two weeks older than him! She has always been so tall and long...Owen? not so much. He still has that golf ball...watch out!
He defends that ball...I'm tellin' ya, watch out! :-)
There we are, playing nice. :-) He's still got that ball!

We really should visit more often with Brenna and her sweet pair-o-nuts! :-)
Brenna lives across the street with her mommy and daddy, Renee and Jeremy. Yeah, I tried to get both of them to smile at the same time...yeah, not so successful. But good times were had by all!

Only my dear Aunt Karen would notice there are teeth marks on our gate. :-) Those are not from Owen--Owen only has 1 tooth(kind of, maybe sorta two teeth) anyway. The gate was used before with Taz, who is now living with gramma mama and grampa phil where he gets to run around...they have a few gates up regardless! :-) I think everyone is happy with the current arrangement. Thanks gramma and grampa!

We had to put up the gate cuz someone is cruisin' around! I was talking to Auntie Lori on the phone when I took this picture. Sorry for being so distracted, Lori, but you gotta see how cute he was trying to get through the gate. :-) Auntie Emmy saw Owen tonight for the first time in about a week. She thinks he grew! I'm sure he has. He's not a big fella, but he's healthy! That is all we ask for...

It has been so nice outside lately that Owen and I have gone a few times to the park that is right next to our house. Owen got to ride in the swing, go down the slide, and play in the grass! You can see in this picture that Owen is clutching something quite tightly...it's a plastic golf ball. Of all his shapes and toys, he grabs and holds on to this little ball for dear life! He won't even drop it to hold his bottle! Hmm...golf player???

Hey You...
Guess what?...
I had a monthiversity today!
I'm 10 months old! My mom and dad are my favorite things, and I love crawling around naked! I can pull myself up on just about anything, and I only have 1 1/2 teeth! My eyes are the brightest blue that the ladies just love, and my hair is blonde. I love to ride the swing at gramma's house and eating sweet potato puffs. heehee!

Here he is! Climbing and reaching...having a ball! He doesn't care what is in his way; he wants what he wants.

Some adorable moments: he finally reached for his blankie last week for the first time. He wraps his fingers through the holes and buries his face in the softness. He giggles and smiles like he is utterly satisfied! He fell asleep hugging it tonight. Also, grampa phil wanted to give him a big bunny for Easter, but gramma mama made him get Owen a small one. It is perfect. Owen smiles when I ask him if he wants "Bunky." He grabs the little bunny and "kisses" it. What a little snuggle bug!

Easter weekend was fun with lots of family. Owen crawled and climbed and kept everyone on their toes all weekend. He's working on his second tooth and can't seem to eat enought these days. He "found" his Easter basket, but I won't let him have any candy yet. :-) We saw all the Hall's, including baby Maely, the girls, and Kate and Aaron, of course. We love time with family, and we miss them when we don't see them.

I'm sorry! I started this 2 days ago, but Owen has kept me from punching the right keys. He does like buttons, afterall.

Baby Hall number three: Maely Lu, 8lbs. 9oz., 21 inches long. We visited Kate and Maely in the hospital-of course, ,both looking as beautiful as ever! Tomorrow Owen gets to meet this new cousin. Should be lots of fun in years to come.

Today I met baby Asher: our friends Bill and Jill had their number two. Jill met a few of us out for lunch, toting both little ones. Children sure can be tiring and demanding, but we want to do this: have and raise our own. I guess that is reflection of God's sense of humor and goodness, rolled into one great miracle: Growing Life...

I have so many pictures of Owen in the sink getting his bath...but here is one of him crawling out! Yep, today was the first morning I found Owen standing in his crib and at daycare he learned how to crawl up the stairs! Yikes! Being naked is definitely Owen's favorite thing! He's realized that he goes peepee...he is startled when he accidently pees on the floor...

Last weekend Owen and I travelled with Auntie Emmy, Sash, and Diego to Gramma mama's and Grampa Phil's house to play! We had so much fun laughing and giggling and being a perfect boy. Gramma Mama did so much sneezing (just to watch Owen laugh) that she woke up with a sore neck! I'm seeing more and more of Roger in Owen these days. Hmmm...

"hmm...what shall I read today?"
"oh, hi mom...I wasn't doing anything!"
"seriously!"
"see?! Perfect angel!"

The last couple weeks I have been working hard on finishing up my masters degree capstone. It is a major project where I researched writing assessment and instruction. I ended up developing a writing assessment model; all five chapters drafted - 66 pages all together. I just have some revising to do and organizing of the appendices and then I mail it on Friday. I am not as sick of it as I thought I would be. I am actually quite excited about the model I can actually use in my classroom. However...I am sick of not spending time taking care of my boys and my home. While I've been busy, Roger and Owen have had to keep each other company and my house has gotten quite messy!
I spied on the boys from the balcony while I took my eyes off the computer screen...here they play with toys...
Here they have successfully made a mess...
Here it looks like it's getting to be snack time...
Hey, at least one of them is wearing pants!

Owen got new PJ's so we were havin' fun trying them out! He and daddy played around on the floor and then Owen stood by the toy chest gigling and smiling and pounding. He's got the ye-bye wave down and I think he knows what it means too. This morning when I left him at daycare and said bye-bye, he started crying. He's never cried when I left him. Oh, so sad. But then, I gave him a big smile and said everything will be okay. He then waved bye-bye without crying. Big smiles...I think he knows what that means too!

Cousin Skotty sent this home with Owen last Saturday when he went to see G-Gramma Mae. Owen loves the noises it makes and how he can scoot himself around. However, we have carpeting so he can't go too fast! :-) I guess that's alright. Boy at play-nothin' better than seein' him smile!

Don't know if you can tell...I got 6 inches cut off my hair...Gramma Mimi, can you tell??? Owen doesn't seem to mind...he still knows it's me!

I don't even bother to clean up...Owen's toys find their way out & about! After a bit of throw-up last week (sweet potatoes and peas) we got our carpets cleaned. Is Grauntie Karen glad? :-)

"I'm sorry, Owen. I couldn't resist!"

Here's yet more evidence of Owen getting away from me at diaper-changing time. He wiggles and squirms and wobbles away to find something fun to play with. He is enthralled with the powder bottle and has figured out that his door swings open and shut. He loves the spring on the back of the door too! He is an adventurous little tyke! Only when we are in a hurry and I can't get a diaper on his wiggly little body does it frustrate me just a wee bit.

Life with little Owen is never dull: He's learned to wiggle away from the diaper and now knows how to get away when it's time to put jammies on...
Owen has found his knees and wobbles and wiggles his way-some of you call this crawling.

:-)
He may want to "get away" but he has to make sure I don't get too far away from him.
"Here I come, Mom!"
"Mom! I did it! You can hold me now!" heh heh (Owen really has a funny giggle-his raspy little voice has a way of charming and swaying the toughest of crowds!

Many of you didn't know that we took a trip! We had to keep it a secret from Gramma Mama because we were surprising her for her birthday last week! For over a month we kept the secret from her: all her girls, Owen, and Rog flew down to Florida to surprise her on her own vacation. It was so much fun! Here Owen is looking out the window of the airplane. :-)
I'm not surprised that Owen was smothered by Auntie Lori and Auntie Julie upon arrival--they have not seen him since September! So much fun to be together again.
Great Gramma Mimi even came over to Orlando from her stay in Cape Coral (visiting Vivi and Jim). She picked Julie, Owen, Rog and me up at the airport--she rented a car and found her way! The joke all weekend was asking her to "act her age." But then again, how many of us "act our age?" :-)

Rog soaked up some sun too!

Grampa Phil was busy teaching Owen to crawl.

We spent some time out on the porch too! So much fun chatting it up and laughing about all the same stories that make up laugh every time we are together.

We ate, smiled, laughed, played a very interesting game of pictionary, laughed even more, and enjoyed all our time together. Friday was a day in the sun, and Saturday was a day at Universal Studios. Too much fun!

Here they are! All covered up and protected from the hot Florida rays.

Owen didn't mind the water, but he was still waking up when I thrust him into the experience.

Here we are at one of the pools...

The fountains and gardens were beautiful and we enjoyed our walks around the grounds. We will miss that place, but we are already in the midst of discussing where our next reunion will be! Owen sure will be the travellin' kid!