Conversations with Owen

Owen: Mommy, is my tummy angry?

Me: .....? oh, because I said that if you don't eat breakfast you will feel tired and cranky and your tummy might feel upset?

Owen: Yeah, can you look? ::pulls up shirt::


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Things I've said to Owen this week:

"No high fives in time out!"

"Honey, you may not pretend that the moon said "peepee" and then yell at it for using yucky words."

Breakfast Blunder and a Quote

The boys have been keeping me on my toes lately. 

So the rule in our house is that when Owen (our early bird) wakes up (at 5:30) he may come out of his room to go potty and then he needs to go back to his room, turn on his light, and play quietly until his clock says 6. That's when we get up. 

Yesterday morning, I woke up to Owen in the kitchen. Here's what he arranged for himself for breakfast. 

A tub of Tollhouse cookie dough, a container of strawberry cream cheese (which he was eating with a butter knife!!) and a yogurt for added nutrition. 

I was trying not to laugh. 

Then this afternoon, after getting Austin up from his nap, I saw that he actually had not napped at all but had spent his nap time out of his crib pulling every pack of wipes out of a Costco box, pulling the sticker opening off, and putting individual wipes back into the box. 

Funny that around this time I saw this quote. I think it helped me have a gracious response to all of these training moments that happen with my boys throughout the day!

As a mom I just totally agree that it's easy for circumstances to dictate my attitude about the day. To dictate my joy. It's a Tuesday afternoon and my kids are bored and getting into everything while I put away laundry? It's a bad day. A Saturday afternoon running errands as a family with the windows rolled down, Starbucks in hand, and the kids are behaving? It's a good day!

But God really wants to get after my heart. In those frustrating moments where I feel like if I have to clean up one more mess I'm going to scream, God wants my heart. He wants me to look to HIM to be my strength and my joy, despite my circumstances. He wants me to love my children with the love of 1 Corinthians 14:4. Not in my own power, but in His. God's word promises that he will give me the strength in those moments to die to myself and honor Him, to be joyful and happy despite any trying situation because He is my joy. 

Praise God for these little moments to trust Him. He's still working on me!

Insta-Friday: Bangs, Pumpkins and Park Days, Oh My!

So glad it's Friday. My day did not start out the best. {4 fillings. First dental procedure EVER. Ouch.} So glad that's over, now let the weekend begin! 

Here's a peek into our week! 

We are quite enjoying our "cooler" fall days. My pumpkin candle is often burning, we're baking all the time, and I'm enjoying starting my mornings with the yummiest coffee. 

Welcome, fall. 'Bout time. 

I also celebrated fall with a new haircut - bangs!

We've been spending much more time outside. 

Hooray for park days!

Owen and his BFF Luke

Austin found a softball at the park. Oh joy!

I love my husband, especially in his goofy moments! He gave Jeff a nice short ride in the wagon. 

Guess we never really grow up, do we?

I'm about a season late on this purchase, but I've been meaning to get one of these babies and I keep forgetting - until today! I make it like my mama did. Sweet tea with lemon!

Little pumpkin craft for the boys. They had so much fun sharing paint colors and trying to paint every inch of their pumpkins! Too bad, as they dried, the paint peeled right off of the pumpkins. I'm trying to market it as a "clean it off, let's paint it again!" scheme. Ya know, reusable pumpkins. 

That's all I have for this week. Starting next week our schedule is going to be crazy. We have lots to look forward to: the zoo, the fair, the pumpkin patch, a getaway for Ryan and me, to name a few. Stay tuned, I'll try to keep this 'ol blog up to date!

Insta-Friday

It's been awhile since I've done Insta-Friday so I have a ton of photos to dump on you. Let's get started. 

The weather in AZ finally got with the program and it's starting to feel fallish. The other morning I found Owen sitting out on the back porch, just hangin' out. 

We've been venturing out a little more

and leaving the screen door open.

Cuddling. We both had Benadryl in the morning because both of us had a major reaction to ant bites and we were miserable. Then we took a rest on the couch while Owen was at school. 

I love living 1 minute away from my BFF. Thanks for the egg, Ruth. 

Austin took over my dry erase calendar. 

Sometimes you just need a poptart. That's what I always say. 

Birthday presents are the best.

Read away, buddy. There's good stuff in there. (Jesus Storybook Bible)

Shopping with my main man. Yay for boots weather!

Oh, Austin. Stay out of the Aquofor, will ya? Especially right before we're supposed to leave to pick Owen up from school.

Take that, Tuesday funk. 

Those are some expensive "stickers", Owen.

Spaghetti O's and grilled cheese on a busy fall night

On my way to a Parent-Teacher conference. I felt like such a grown up. 

Next Up: Owen's 4th birthday and a trip to the zoo!

Owen Turns 4!

Phew! I am finally getting Owen birthday pictures up! 

Owen Parker turned 4 on September 19th. He requested a "donut cake" for his birthday breakfast. Uhh, ok? Well, what the birthday boy wants, the birthday boys gets! He was perfectly happy with the donuts piled on top of each other and some candles on top!

Bubs had school that day (he took Angry Birds fruit snacks to celebrate with his class!) so after we picked him up we headed to lunch with Nana & Papa. Owen's favorite lunch food is cheese crisp so Mexican it was!

And he got a birthday ice cream sundae!

After lunch we headed home and Owen opened his cool Hot Wheels toy from Papa & Nana. 

After naps we went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. This is Owen's FAVORITE place that he talked about ever since we had his big friend/family birthday party here last year. Since it's his "off" year for a party (we do 1 big party per boy every other year) we had Jeff & Ruth and the kids come celebrate with us!

(thanks to Ruth for taking most of these photos!)

I just love their friendship!

Back to the house for cake, ice cream and presents

Innotab 2 from us

Owen, Owen, Owen. What can I say about Owen? He's affectionate, funny, silly, stubborn, sensitive, impulsive, curious, loyal, handsome, and a host of other things! He keeps us on our toes and we just love him. He's changing and growing so much which is so fun to see!

Owen loves hot wheels, Dr. Suess books, games on the iphone, taking pictures, family movie night, popcorn, cheese, his ASU jersey, lunch at Chick fil A, garage sale-ing, riding his Lightening McQueen bike, sips of my coffee, the beach, fireworks, and helping in the kitchen (especially if I'm making cookies or sweet tea!). He's crazy tall for his age and people constantly think he's older than he is. His speech therapy is coming along great and he's right on course to hit all of his speech goals for this year! I can't hardly get a word in edgewise these days, he has a running commentary on everything (including a random obsession with cacti, haha). No complaints here! He's very social and is constantly asking "who's coming over?" and "where are we going to go next?" Boy likes to be busy! He has a love/hate relationship with school and doesn't always want to go, but I think it's because he feels like he's missing out on whatever Austin and I are doing while he's gone. He does have lots of friends that he talks about from school and often gives hugs to his friends when I drop him off. Sweet boy!

Happy birthday, Owen Parker! I'm so glad you're mine!