Outside! Hooray!

Owen has been using the pedals on his tricycle! Hooray! He (okay, we...) hooked up his dump truck and his wagon so he could pull them all along the driveway. It made things more interesting for him since I was just lounging in a chair for most of the time.


And I got bigger and bigger and...
(photo by Owen)

A Small Celebration

Here are just a few pictures from Pat's birthday. I'm on partial bedrest which means I didn't quite get to treat Pat to the birthday celebration I would have liked. He made his own birthday dinner, we made the cake together and we went shopping for his presents together that same day.

Blowing out the candle! I tried to make a fancy bow-looking thingy out of the top of the Target bag but Pat said it looked like some animal had shredded it!


The yummy cake! I think it was called Black Forest Cake and it was basically one of those jello poke cakes with some flavors we hadn't had before.

Chocolate cake with cherry jello dripped over it. How did someone figure out that this would be so good?!

A nice picture of Pat.

Happy Birthday Pat!

Today is Pat's 29th birthday!! Hooray!

(picture taken by Owen)

Excitement at the Mall

Owen loves the mall. Unfortunately he doesn't actually like shopping...he just wants to go to the pet stores, ride the train and eat some food. So he was pretty excited when he spotted the Easter Bunny hanging out right by the train and told me that he really wanted to go see him (her?). I have no idea why the Easter Bunny is less scary than Santa but I was happy to find out that you don't actually have to buy their expensive photo packages and can just take pictures with your own camera!

Owen eventually got a little shy when his turn came and didn't want to sit on the bunny's lap.




We also came across the boy scouts having some car races. Owen could have sat there forever and kept inching up between races until he was pretty far beyond the line meant to keep people back.

Reception

Just a couple more pictures from the wedding...

Pat showing Owen how the cameras on the table worked.


They had a kid's area with some toys and crayons and other stuff (such a good idea!) but Owen scooted his train all the way back to our table.

All Dressed Up!

We went to a friend's wedding over the weekend and needed to pass some time between the ceremony and reception. We ended up finding a really nice park right along the beach that was perfect. The ceremony was so nice and the reception was a lot of fun. I forgot to ask the couple if they minded me putting up pictures so I won't be posting any of them. Here are some pictures of the park and I'll put up some pictures from the reception another day!

Owen getting ready for his ride on the merry-go-round (that's what it's called, right?). I seriously thought they had removed all of these from playgrounds, I hardly every see them and this was Owen's first time on one!


I rode too but I made sure to hold on since I didn't quite trust how fast Pat was going to spin us. I also don't trust my ability to balance anymore...


Family photo on the beach!

I was not wearing the appropriate footwear to venture out as far as Pat and Owen so they had a nice father/son moment.

Then and Now

Owen and his friend Stella
March 2008


March 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Baby Owen and a BLT

We're taking Owen to a class at the hospital tomorrow that is supposed to prepare kids for the arrival of a new baby. I'm pretty sure nothing is going to be able to prepare Owen for what's going to happen but I'm hoping it will still be a fun way to spend a morning. We're supposed to bring a current picture and a baby picture of Owen so I've been looking through and coming across a few favorites. I'll be nice and just post one...


This was last Friday's meatless meal. Fake bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo sandwich. Superb (again, all the thanks go to Lisa and Alex on this one). Initially I was going to try to make new/fun/interesting things for Friday nights but it's just not happening. Maybe next week...but probably not tonight...

37 Seconds of Joy

Owen went to a friend's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese yesterday and he really loved everything about it but was extra super excited when the actual Chuck E Cheese showed up! He didn't need any prompting to participate...

Dinner, Owen and Me

I tried out a new recipe from Rachael Ray called My Sister Ria's Lazy Chicken (or something like that). It was mediocre and had a strange combination of ingredients but mostly I think the problem was that I forgot to put the cheese on top! I got it from one of her books but click here for an online link.


Random picture of Owen and his super blue eyes



Owen surprised me with this picture while I was on the phone but it shows you how big I am now.

It's Salmon!

I've been trying to make an effort to cook something other than pasta for Fridays since Lent started. The first Friday was blueberry pancakes and then last week we had this. It was probably only my second actually successful time making fish. Normally it's very mediocre and slightly burnt. Check out the link for this recipe, Simple Citrus Salmon, because it looks much prettier than mine does (I used smaller pieces of salmon so you couldn't see it under the citrus slices!)

Fun Furniture

We've been assembling a lot of furniture around here lately...

The crib...


My most favorite warning on a box...


And...Owen's furniture! His old furniture got moved into the nursery.

Brand New!

This is Owen's reaction at finally being released to roam the house! I think he likes it.

A Glimpse

Here are a few pictures from our temporary stay in the kitchen.

Owen trying to hook up the tv.


Having a couch (also my temporary bed) and a tv in the kitchen is totally brilliant. Now we just need a bigger kitchen to pull it off all year long.


We made some banana bread to occupy our time (and to make the carpet guys jealous). Ok, really I offered them banana bread a few times and I think they aren't allowed to take any, or that's what I'm going to tell myself. I was pretty proud of myself since I couldn't get to the recipe book and made it from memory. My very faulty memory came through for once!

Handfeed a Chickadee

We were looking for activities on Sunday since our house was completely torn apart and decided to go to the park to try the "Handfeed a Chickadee" program. It sounds exactly like what it is except it didn't quite work out for us. We got there an hour into the program and as we approached we saw a large number of people silently (and somewhat creepily) standing in the snow with their hands outstretched waiting for a chickadee to land. I didn't see any birds actually eat out of any person's hand but Pat claims he saw one or two. Either way, any activity that involves standing still and being quiet is pretty awful for a 3 year old. We didn't try for very long but did discover a new park we want to explore when the weather gets nicer!

Pat is making a bit of an attempt here to feed a chickadee. You're supposed to stand by a tree so they can land on the branches and eat out of your hand. Pat decided a bench would work just fine.


We walked on a trail for a little bit since it was such a nice day and so the drive would seem more worth it:)

Almost Carpet Time...

Hurray! It's almost time for us to completely tear our house apart and have normal carpet installed! Can you tell how excited we are? We're pretty much going to be relocating everything to the basement so they can install the carpet. I can't wait to see how Owen and I entertain ourselves while it's being put in since we will really only have access to the kitchen and the basement (if there's any room left down there). Looks like we'll just be sitting around eating...

Pat and Owen before we ripped out the carpet in this room. I probably won't be posting pictures of every single room we're ripping up (you're welcome) but I'm not promising anything either:)

Conversations

Yesterday, first thing in the morning...

Me (and probably Pat too): Owen, Happy Valentine's Day!
Owen: Yeah, Christmas Eve is over.
Me: You're right, Christmas Eve is over.
Owen: Yeah. Let's go eat some candy!

So we did. Even before breakfast. Hurray for holidays!

Valentine

I may have coerced Owen into taking this picture...


A super yummy Valentine treat (Black and White Macaroons).

Pasta Casserole

I met Giada De Laurentiis a few years back. I said "I don't know what to say" while she politely shook my hand, smiled and moved on to the next person:) I'm smooth like that. Anyway, I have two of her cookbooks and I do believe that I've enjoyed every recipe I've ever made from them. This was called Baked Pastina Casserole from her book Everyday Pasta (recipe found here under a different name). You can watch Owen's review of dinner at the bottom of the page.