Catching up- Cowboy Festival!

The first weekend of May we all had weekend two day passes to the local Cowboy Festival held at Melody Ranch, a local movie studio old west town. It was so fun! Can't wait for next year! The kids enjoyed the music and momma enjoyed people watching and eating Indian Fry Bread! yumm-o! Daddy enjoyed the cobbler. Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed it all!

Easter in August!

Haha! not really- It's just that I am finally catching up to the end of April here on the good old family blog. It's only been 4 months. That's nothing. ha! no really. Click this link to go back to the post from April about the Easter Egg Hunt to finally see those pictures I promised 1/3 of a year ago. That was Saturday. And below are egg dying and Easter morning baskets pix! See? Easter in August!

Owen at 2

Stats
At his two year old appointment on June 13, Owen was 29 pounds and 37 inches. He is a busy, happy guy.

*Motor skills-kicks, throws, catches, walks up and downstairs,blows bubbles in water
*Language- when you explain something, he often says "that's why." Last week the garbage bag left some liquid on the floor and he said "It's leaking." He often says "My ___ hurts." to describe a body part that's bothering him. He has said nearly all the body parts in this context!
*Cognitive development-What he knows: counts to ten (except 4), the names of letters in his name, how to make an O, most colors (yellow, orange, green, blue, pink-he mixes up black with white and vice versa)
*Potty training (exploration stage)- he has earned 28 stickers on his potty chart and uses pull-ups in place of diapers. He often sits on the potty after meals or first thing in the morning/last thing at night. Next week we are thinking of trying the two day potty training.
*As a big brother-loves to run in and say good morning, when she cries, he says "It's Ok." Once Laney was frightened of the vaccuum cleaner so when it's time to vaccuum he runs over to her and says "Don't hear it, Laney. Don't hear it." When others come near her, he runs to her side and says "That my baby."
Owen enjoys music, yoga, bathtime, and playing garbage trucks. He loves to watch garbage truck movies on youtube and never misses watching the truck come to pick up his garbage on Friday mornings. "Garbage truck pick up my garbage, momma."
He likes a variety of toys including his bike, balls,trucks, instruments (ukelele, piano) and new baby doll.

what he loves: garbage and garbage trucks, getting the mail, keys, cords, tools, fixing things, cooking

He sometimes takes a 90-120 minute nap either around noon or 4 pm but other days goes without naps.
He is a great eater and still loves fruit in any form. He also loves broccoli, eats green beans and peas, carrots and will try almost anything at least once. If it's a no-go, he will simply say, "I don't like it."

Owen we love you at two!

Playing catch up

Whew- I've spent the last hour catching up a little more on the blog. I am now up to mid-April and have about 10-12 major posts from April, May, June and July in order to catch up completely. It has taken me all summer to do, but I WILL do it! Maybe it's the pressure of only having a short amount of time left before going back to work, but I will be caught up on both blogs by August 15!

Some of the major posts I will cover include three birthdays (including O's), a baptism, our amazing trip to Costa Rica to visit Gramp, and lots of summer fun. We have been enjoying days filled with play, art, music, trips to the library (Castaic and Acton/Agua Dulce), water play in the backyard, community pool and Aquatic Center and lots of playdates and day trips. We've also spent lots of time playing at My Gym and checking out fun places with daddy on the weekend. I will also have to dedicate a post to Owen's development as a two year old so far. He amazes me every day.

Just today we had a reading party on mommy's bed, made pillow mountains, did yogastories, made yogurt popsicles and blue cream cheese, painted three banks (saving, spending, and sharing) and decorated water cups for Fall. We have missed Grandma and Grandpa who have been at their Naples condo all summer. They are now on their way back and Owen couldn't be more excited to see them. In fact, he couldn't nap today because he thought they were coming today. "Tuesday, momma." Skype made the summer a little easier but he loved to play "going to naples" and pretend to fly there on the airplane like he did when we visited Gramp. We miss Gramp a bunch and keep trying to Skype but so far the schedules haven't aligned. Maybe tomorrow, Gramp?

This week we are excitedly awaiting the arrival of Aunt Susie and Uncle Dallas for a Southern California visit too! We may be at the end of summer, but there is lots going on! What have YOU readers been up to this summer?

momma and her kidlets-April 14

Owen is 22 months and Laney is almost 3 months here.

A Boy and His Uke-April 7

First Hike-April 3

O. at the farmer's market-March

O. on the truck-March 25

During the late Spring my parents spearheaded our garage renovation and on one day we rented a truck for some hauling. O. was in heaven!

More catchup- March 13- Day trip to Descanso Gardens

For our last outing before I went back to work we went with my parents to beautiful Descanso Gardens and out for Japanese after. It was a great day. (picture heavy post/double post with Casa Luna)

A Wonderful Day

Monday morning I watched K. for the morning and she and O had a blast! Six year olds are very busy and have LOTS of ideas! In 3 1/2 hours we played Fisher Price, had a dance/music/instrument party, played hide and seek, played playdough, made and decorated kites, had a campout snack in the backyard beach tent (watermelon, water, and snack bars), played campout, and went to the park to fly our kites! Whew! Then we came back for a second round of snacks (crackers and water in the backyard). Very fun morning. Laney had a blast hanging out and watching, but was too excited for a nap.

Consequently she fell asleep the moment K. left, O had lunch and also fell right to sleep by 12:40 so I had two sleeping babies for a good hour and a half. Time for a shower! When Laney woke up, she and I read books on the couch. Once they were both up, we headed to castaic library to return DVD's and get our summer reading club prizes, then to Trader Joes for some groceries and veggies to start pureeing and freezing for Laney girl. We got home around 4, O had a snack (peanut butter banana happy face pancake with grapes and milk) and I started dinner prep and fed Laney.

Dinner was broccoli, cauliflower, two kinds of pasta and peas/mushrooms. O ate a TON! Daddy got home at six and momma left to meet some colleagues for coffee (I actually had tea- vanilla rooibos). I got home around 9:30, fed Laney and went to sleep. What a nice day. Too soon it will be back to work.