Dear Dear Friends

We were blessed a few weeks ago to be visited by our dear friends Ann, David (whom Owen calls Dabid) and Lauren Ketch--the neighbors from Winston-Salem we miss so much (they moved to Nashville when we moved to Austin). We had a great (and somewhat eventful) week. They stayed at our (not huge) house which was the first challenge--Owen was in Rebecca's room, Rebecca was in our room and all 3 ketches were in Owen's room! Hey, it worked!

As you can imagine, with 4 kids it wasn't easy to get many pictures taken. This is one of the only ones we got of all 4 kids and it was at like 5am the morning they had to leave. Everyone looks so happy to be awake!Lauren and David were soooooo sweet with Baby Rebecca. (In fact, I think Owen's interest in her started to really increase during/after their trip because he saw how much David and Lauren liked her). She was good practice for them since they're going to have a new baby sibling in January! David told me several times that he was going to go play with Rebecca now "to make her happy". He also (in his new grown-up uber-serious voice) told me that he was going to organize my house. Too cute! (Here is Lauren paying some special attention to Rebecca.)
Having recently been to Uncle Doug's dock to fish with Owen, we decided that it would be fun to go w/ all the kids! Luke and Bailey also came. It was a real circus, but worth it!
David caught his first fish ever--actually, he caught the only two of the day. And when I say that they were the world's smallest fish, it is not an exaggeration...Can you see it in the photo? We were all soooo excited for him.
After the fishing we took a "Texas jeep tour" in Luke's truck and spotted lots of cactus and a few moo cows. Good times.

We also had a great time taking a walk at Town Lake and riding the "Zilker Zephyr" train at the park. But for Ann and I, I'd say the highlight was getting a flat-tire on Mopac (the highway) on our way to have a little kid-free girl time at some neat shops nearby. Yes, having to be rescued by family and a motorcycle cop with a too-big helmet was lots of fun. (You're probably thinking--isn't this the same friend you had all those crazy adventures with at the beach? Yes, as a matter of fact it is. We like to challenge our friendship by always involving policemen and mechanics in our get-togethers...)

We're already planning a post-Ketch-baby-#3-trip so who knows what will happen! :)

Come on Fishy Fishy

Kyle took Owen for his first fishing trip a few weeks ago. Kyle's Uncle Doug has a dock on Lake LBJ that is perfect for this and they had a blast. Owen's pole was made out of bamboo and they used worms for bate. Kyle tried to keep his pole away from Owen so that it might actually catch something because Owen liked to smack his pole in the water (which isn't exactly good fishing etiquette). Owen didn't like this and kept telling Dada to get his pole. Miraculously, they did catch something--a little perch. We have it on video but it's too long to post.


"Come on fishy fishy..."

Happy Halloween

We had a lot of fun on Halloween. It was our first year to dress up as a family--something that is "strongly encouraged" if you're going to attend the (Luke and Melissa) Mezger Halloween Party!

Here are all the kids: Owen (as Boots the Monkey from Dora the Explorer), Nathan (as a Nascar Fan--you should have seen his dad's mullet), Cousin Bailey (as Elmo--daughter of Cookie Monster and Oscar), Abby & Emmy (Princesses whose names I can't remember). Owen actually really enjoyed the "tricter treat"-ing mostly because he got to knock on people's doors and look at pumpkins, etc. Luckily he didn't even really care about the candy so we didn't have to deal with telling him he couldn't eat it all.
If you are familiar with the show, all I have to say here is "Backpack, backpack"!
Here is the whole family: I am Dora (duh), Kyle is Diego, Owen is Boots and Rebecca is Baby Jaguar. We are quite the attractive crew--actually I can't believe I left the house looking like this.
Our involvement in Halloween brought my mom a lot of joy...here she is "Bee" with "JoJo" the Clown...
Happy (belated) Halloween! Already thinking about ideas for next year...

Prayer Time

Dada: Okay, Owen, it's time to pray before night-night.

Owen: No, jus' Dada pray.

Dada: Okay, Dear God. Thank you for Jesus, who takes care of everything we do wrong. Thank you for Momma and Dada. For Luke and Bailey...

Owen (interupting): AND TRUCKS! And School Buses, and cars...AND TRUCKS! And cars.

Dada: Amen!

Owen: Thank you Diggers!!!

2 month update

Just got back from the pediatrician for Owen's 2 year old appt and Rebecca's 2 month old appt. Both got 2 shots but did fine.

Rebecca:
12.5 lb 75-90th percentile
23 in 75-90th percentile

Owen:
31.5 lb 75-90th percentile
35.4 in 75-90th percentile.

I guess we know what percentile our babies fall into!

The Big Owen Update

Here are our favorite photos from Owen's 2-year old photo session. (I apologize for the orientation of these photos-they're scanned and I can't figure out how to rotate them).

He'll probably hate us for this one some day. It's his "kissy face" and well, what can we say...Here is our little MAN! He looks soooo grown up to us here! Wow...the time really has flown by!
This smile just makes my heart melt.
Okay, so here is the rambling update of all that he is doing/saying these days...it's why you're here, I know. :) Most of these things are probably not really amazing, but they are either funny or memorable or something to us.

-"I need tape" or "I need batteries" when something is broken. The first time he said this we were totally in shock.

-"I see no ______". I especially like "I see no Mopac train" (when we're on the highway and the train isn't running.)

-In response to Pam greeting him in the morning and saying she was ready for some coffee: "I'm ready for juice."

-"Oh Brother!"

-"Listen Momma! I hear something!" (He likes to precede lots of statements with "Listen ____". now)

-"I do by myself"...about everything.

-"I hear music!!!!!" (listening to Grandpa Stan's ipod through the ear-buds which was a new treat and I think thoroughly surprised him--hey, there's music in these little things!) Now almost every time he sees my phone he says he wants to hear music. That or he wants to draw lady-bugs (the Doodle-Budy app that Kyle and I both have--awesome for toddlers in a pinch)!

-When he saw me with unruly, curly, bed-hair before I straighted it one morning: "Wha happen Momma hair? Fix it Momma! Fix it!"

-He is good at giving us directions (or repeating directions we've at some point given him). After a bath yesterday: "Floor all wet. Slippery--be careful!" After seeing a spider with Dadda: "Momma, no eat spiders."

-In response to the question "how old are you?" Owen usually answer "1, 2, 3!" because he likes to count to three.

-Since his birthday he has requested we sing "Happy Birthday" at bedtime a few times. I think it's because he's figured out that that song is almost always followed by cake. Smart boy!

-I let him sit in the driver's seat of our car the other day while I was loading some stuff up (don't worry, it was off and I had the keys). Ever since then he tells me it's "my turn to drive" and gets upset when I tell him that in fact, no, it's momma or dadda's turn to drive. Speaking of driving...we were loading everybody in the car out in the rain after eating dinner out the other night and Kyle put Owen in his seat but got distracted and didn't buckle him in. About 2 minutes after hitting the road, we hear Owen talking but seemingly from further away... "I in backseat now! I in backseat now!" We looked back and there he was--in the 3rd row of the van, happy as a clam, trying to buckle the big boy seat belt.

-Songs/Poems: He is becoming quite the literary/musical enthusiast thanks to Pam. She has him finishing the lines to 15+ songs and poems. Everything from "Twinkle Twinkle" and "You are my Sunshine" to "The Fog" by Carl Sandburg and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. It's hysterical to listen to. My dad keeps promising he'll get it on video for me since its usually when they're babysitting and I'm not there. So, feel free to send him hatemail until he gets me a video that I can post...

All in all, two is so much fun--we love our little guy and can't wait to see how he grows over the next year!

FYI: There are 3 other new posts below this one all from today. It's a blogfest.

The Farm

After a week of being sick (me, then Owen and pretty much all of the rest of our family, except Kyle who was in Colorado and Rebecca who was miraculously spared) we finally got outside to enjoy some of the beautiful (read: not so blasted HOT) weather we're having! We went with Melissa, Bailey and Nana to Sweetberry Farm in Marble Falls to see some animals, take a hay-ride and do some "pumpkin' huntin'".

Here is sweet Rebecca enjoying her first ever farm experience. She is such a trooper when it comes to car-traveling and eating/sleeping on the go. She makes things as easy as any 2-month old baby can, and we thank her for it!

Here is Owen chasing after Bailey down a field. He liked to walk "on the pillows".
Here he is telling the horse to come "right here". (He seemed really comfortable around the big animals which was great!)
He decided that the mule might be thirsty and offered him some juice from his sippy cup. How nice...and sanitary.
Here we are on the hay-ride. He wouldn't look at the camera because we were sitting right behind the tractor and he couldn't take his eyes off of it. He loved the big wheels.
Owen and the baby goats--Nana's favorite.
Owen the Pumpkin Boy.
Owen and Bailey driving the pumpkin boat. You can see who's in charge here...
Both Owen and Bailey loved to pull the wagons they had available around. Fun to put pumpkins in, or try to pull each other. After trying to pull 2 wagons at the same time, Owen ordered Nana to pull one for a little ways.
We had a great morning. Lots of running around and fresh air--Owen took a super-long nap that afternoon, so the trip was worth it on so many levels. (The piece of pie at the Bluebonnet in Marble Falls on the way home was a treat too!)