Bearish Halloween

Owen had his first fall party at school this year. 

We were responsible for treat bags. 

I made plans to attend the party, but I just confused the poor boy.

I got there, camera in hand, ready to take part in the toddler fun.

He hops up and heads to get his jacket and papers.

He was ready to go, and there was no talking him into staying.

The boy was not happy.  I had planned to take him into work, but decided we should just head home.

He had dressed as a superhero, but I didn't even get a picture!

At some point in time, I will dress him back up to get that picture.

Sorry, Owen...I take my job as family historian very seriously.

:)

Once we made it home, he was tugging on his pants.  

I went to change them and found a bad case of diaper rash.  

Poor guy.  There was a reason for his bearish behavior.

I doctored him up and we spent our extra time cuddling.

By the time Grandma and Grandpa arrived, he was finally happier.

We ate a little dinner and got him into his second costume of the day.

When Nate made it home, we went to the neighbors to trick-or-treat.

We only made it to one house.  Next year, we may shoot for more.

The rest of the night, our bear helped hand out the candy.

And by help, I mean took a handful for himself every time a kid came to the door.

It was hard to get our bear to smile all night long.  

But then, the candy started to kick in and our silly boy was back.

Attacking Grandpa and creating a disaster area of toys.

We even got a few "roars" out of him.

We hope everyone had a beary happy halloween!

Turning Thirty and Winning

No, not me.  I'm not that old. Nor do I win anything, besides an occasional lotto ticket.

I'm referring to my dear brother and the K-State Wildcats.

The whole fam got together to celebrate Travis turning the BIG 3-0...

and watch the Cats, of course.

The celebration was a success.

The kids got a chance to play together, which worked well with 

our attempts to wear out Owen before game time.

It was chilly, plus we were in the shade.  

The man sitting next to me kept commenting on Owen.

"Poor boy, he looks so cold."

"Feel his hands, they're freezing!"

#1 Mom.

My parents were sitting in the sun, so attempting to redeem myself a little,  

I took O over to sit with them.

I kept my eye on them (see below) and was shocked when I saw Owen sleeping.

(I'm surprised he is still able to snooze with all the noise.)

He made his granny nervous.  

He was pretending like he was sleeping, as he likes to do.  

And then all of a sudden, he really was.  

It happened so fast, she had to check his pulse.

Silly Grandma.

After a little catnap, he was good to sit a bit longer.

But before long, Owen had met his quota on game watching.  We left a couple minutes early.

And after making our way through traffic and waiting too long for dinner,

our little man was too far gone.  He cried for nearly a half hour before finally falling asleep.

Despite the journey home, we had a great day.

Celebrated a BIG birthday with a BIG win.

Here's to turning 30 and winning!

Pumpkin Patch

This fall, Owen made his very first trip to the pumpkin patch.

And these days, you can find much more than pumpkins at the ole patch.

We saw goats walking on rooftops, farm animals playing musical instruments,

pumpkins getting shot out of cannons, 

we saw it all.

Owen's favorite?  The bouncey tarp thing.  

Not sure of the actual name, and a little unsure of why he enjoyed it so much...

He spent most of his time getting knocked over.  Loved it!

All boy, this one.

The pumpkin patch will definitely be an annual trip.

*Warning*

I got a little picture crazy.

Shout Out to All the Villagers!

I don't know that I could tell you anything else that Hillary Clinton has ever said.

But, I do remember her saying that it takes a village to raise a child, I believe she wrote a whole book about it.

Well, I couldn't agree more.

If I couldn't call on my village,

Owen would be one hungry, deprived little guy.

The fall is, by far, the busiest time for me at work.

It requires longer hours and nights away.

I am so happy September is behind me.

I had a dreaded 3 day trip.  It had been looming in my future for quite awhile.

Not dreaded because of the work.  I enjoy my job.

But, it was the longest I have ever had to be away from Owen.

All throughout the month, I had a few late nights here and there,

but if I missed him before bed, I could at least catch him in the morning.

I was not looking forward to the three-day-away.

Thanks to all my villagers, I worried less.

Nate's mom came in to help us. 

Thanks to her, Owen got to ditch school for two whole days!

He went to the nature center and the zoo. 

Fed everything from ducks to giraffes.

They had a great time and we were so happy to have her here.

My madre and padre are villagers that I could absolutely not live without.

Whenever I have an evening event, Granny is there to rescue O.

I still haven't brought myself to find a babysitter outside of Owen's school, so any

Christmas party, birthday party, fundraiser, wedding, etc. that is not kid-friendly means that Owen visits the grandfolks.  See, I told you I had great villagers.

And my greatest villager of all?  My dear husband.

I can say with certainty that our household would be an utter disaster without him.

For one, we wouldn't have electricity.  I don't pay the bills.

Two, we wouldn't have food.  I do manage to cook, but we wouldn't have ingredients because I don't manage to make it to the store too frequently.  These boys go through milk like you wouldn't believe. Three, we'd have no clean clothes.

I marvel at this man's efficiency. 

Our computer crashed on Friday and, all thanks to him, a new one will be delivered this Friday. 

We all know it would be at least Christmas before I could make a decision and get one ordered.

:)

In the words of my lovely sister-in-law Jamie, another villager who baby-sat for me last weekend,

so blessed.

So unbelievably blessed.

Per ususal, I've been slipping with one of my only duties as family historian. 

But, I was in town every day last week and made myself get caught up.

If you are wondering what we were up to in September,

take a look here, here, here, here, and here.

Villagers, my sincerest thanks and appreciation.

Love you all!

Never Ever Getting Back Together, Like Ever

It is with mixed emotions that I write this post.

Owen recently lost a life-long friend.

A friend that has been with him since...well, pretty much since day one.

A friend that has helped when no one else could.

They were together through thick and thin.

He was just as good of friends with Nate and I as Owen.

We never went anywhere without him.

We loved him.



Along for our first walk.



Paci + lamb chair = magic

No paci, but such a cute pic



Always a great friend when little O started to get sleepy



I did it again, couldn't pass this one up.



Our #1 compadre through every sickness.



Never embarassed of his friend, no matter how ridiculous.

But, It was past time.  We pulled the trigger.  Went cold turkey. 

Owen has, surprisingly, handled it like a champ.

Well, minus a few major meltdowns.

Now, it's been three weeks.

And we can officially say,

We are never ever everrrrr

getting back together.

Like ever.

Cue Taylor.