Pillar Falls

Emma loves Cheerios. If she goes missing for a while, you can bet your buttons she is in the kitchen ..having gotten herself another bowl of Cheerios. Munching away. She was outside trimming my roses with me and cleaning out the flower beds. Trying to reclaim my yard from the long winter. Emma went inside to go to the bathroom and never came back. I went in to check on her, and surprise surprise where did I find her..........

 these particular ones taste like cough syrup on a cheerio. YUM!

In other NEWS. Owen is MOBILE. He can and does go EVERYWHERE, army crawl style. He is LOVING his new freedom.

These were all taken within a 5 minute time frame.
For our weekend adventure we hiked down to Pillar Falls.

Okay, we TRIED to hike down to Pillar Falls. The trail(if you can call it that) was a mess. The whole bottom was flooded anyway so we couldn't get very far.

THis is what it's supposed to look like.

Yeah couldn't get down there at ALL, too much water.

I did suspect it would be that way, but I wanted to check out the trail for future hikes. 

Barry had run 15 miles that morning and was more ornery than usual, but we did our best and I think the kid's had quite the adventure.

 THen the trail ended...... in Water. We were not prepared to wade, so we turned around after exploring a bit.

 OWen loved being outside.  He was perfect and even feel alseep on the way back up.

 We gave Emmie and Barry and Owen a head start and the older kids and I crawled down a crevice and scrambled up a rock face to see if we could get a look at the falls.

 You could sortof see it, through the trees,

 Scary woman on the top.

 waking up from his nap.......

 Owen is EXCELLENT at Jenga, if you redefine the rules a bit.

 There had a princess ball at Pizza Pie Cafe, so the girls dressed up as Princesses, but when we got there there was at least 1000 people there and parking lot full, cars up and down the street, the line wrapping all around the parking lot. We decided to go to Sizzler instead. The kid's sat in one booth, us in another. It was almost like a date. :D

 Keeping my eye on James while doing his Math. He needs constant supervision to stay on task.

First bite of pumpkin pie. We made a couple of Pumpkin pies for President's day.

this picture is included because i like the color of my hair here. Purdy. :D (Mom stays in the picture, ...haha at least her hair.)

Owen Bear

It's early Monday morning. Barry spent the weekend skiing at Yellowstone, there was no adventure with the kid's this weekend. We were all sick.

But I wanted to write this down, because I want to always remember.
Last Tuesday, I took Owen to the Doctors for his immunizations and checkup. He was too sick to get his shots. It was a really bad night, the night before and I'm not sure I even closed my eyes. I was super tired.
When I tried to take Owen's traditional photo at the doctors office, I honestly could not figure out how to take the picture on my phone.  I was THAT tired.  Here are a couple tries. :D

 Sick Days, Snuggles with Mom.

Owen is still 50 percentile for his height
80% for his weight
and 97% for his Extra-large Noggin. :D

After his appt, I decided we would go home and take a nap.

When we got home, I put him in the baby swing and started to make lunch. He was unhappy, sick, and tired and didn't want to be in his swing. He started to cry, then he looked at me and said "ahhhhmaaaa ahhhmaa" I had no doubt what he was trying to say, and it melted my heart.
He tried over and over and over again "ahhhMm" "ahhMm" until he got it right...... "Maaaa.  Maaaa Maaa"
I stopped making lunch, gave him my biggest smile, he reached up for me, and snatched him right up out of the swing.

I took him to bed and I fed him and we snuggled the afternoon away.  It was priceless.

He continued practicing throughout the week. Sometime starting with Ahhhmmm Ahhhma again, but most of the time getting it right. "MAaaa Maa"

It would make him so happy, and it made ME even happier.

it's been six days.

This morning(early), as per tradition, I was snuggling with Owen and he was babbling to me. He loves to grab my ears or hair and pull me close and give me kisses. This morning he pulled me close and instead of saying "mmm" he said Mmmmaahhhhhmmmm. I gave him some kisses and asked him if he was trying to say "Mom?" He grinned at me so big and said "Mom." Clear as day. And then over and over again. "Mom, Mom Mom Mom." Just short and clear

Barry came into the room to get his running clothes and heard Owen talking. He was super impressed, He said he could hear Owen saying "Mom" from the other room. He bent over Owen to give him a kiss good morning, and Owen grabbed his ears and pullled him close, and gave him a slobbery kiss and said an appropriate "mmm".

Ahh I love my sweet little boy! He is such a joy, even if his favorite and happiest time in the world is 4 or 5 in the morning!

I could not imagine my life without you Owen Bear! You were soo worth the wait.

 Happy Half-Birthday. I cannot believe you are six-months old already, the time has flown by.