Owen's Belated 1st Birthday Bash!!

We had such a fun time celebrating Owen's 1st birthday this weekend!  Both boys had an awesome day hanging out with AmMa, Mimi, Papa, Aunt CaCa, Uncle Nick, Aunt Geri and Uncle Carroll!  Owen didn't do quite the damage on his cake that his big brother did, but he certainly enjoyed it and mama appreciated that there was little mess to clean up!!

It really was a fun day and I'm pretty sad that it's over and everyone has gone back home.  Thanks to everyone who came up to see us and to celebrate such a big milestone.

I still can't believe my baby boy is 1!!

The birthday boy loving his balloons and getting ready for cake!

Austin was cracking himself up, as well as everyone else, singing his silly songs.

"Happy Birthday dear Owen, Happy Birthday to you!"

(Or in Austin language, "Happy Dirtday")

The only picture of me and my baby boy...

...might need to give Aunt CaCa some lessons in focusing the camera!  ;-)

Delicious!

Austin thought Owen needed to pick up the pace.

He also thought his baby brother needed some help eating that big 'ole cake!

Mama getting a hug and a big icing kiss from her birthday boy!

 The damage

Time for presents! 

Owen would rather use the boxes to climb on than try to get to what is inside them.

The push car from AmMa!   

Enjoying the dancing Mickey Mouse from Mimi and Papa!

It's an Austin in a box!

To a 1 year old and a 2 year old, the boxes are almost as good as the gifts!

Finally, an evening stroll in the perfect car....

Owen gets to ride,

Austin gets to push, 

Mom & Dad get to follow!

Owen's Red Wagon Birthday - The Details

I would have liked to do more, I had wonderfully cute ideas coming out my ears, but with all the craziness surrounding the move, the extreme lack of time and fact that only a few close family members were making the 2 hour drive up anyway...I just couldn't do it all.

I was very pleased with how things turned out in the end, however, and the day ended up being pretty darn fantastic!!

One Year

I know I'm about 2.5 weeks late, but here's the rundown of Owen's actual birth day!

We woke up the morning of May 4th, 2011 for the first time in our new home.  We had been in our new town for less than 24 hours but figured there had to be an IHOP somewhere.  Ryan and I had stayed up until 4am trying to unpack some of the boxes, but the kitchen was still in NO shape for me to cook!

Owen enjoyed a great first birthday breakfast of french toast and milk and wore his party hat with pride.  All the waitresses were fussing over him and finally decided to come over to our table, singing, with a bowl of ice cream.  This was Owen's reaction:

Poor little guy.  I completely understand though, I was so painfully shy growing up that I used to cry too every time people came up to me singing at a restaurant.  Seriously!  I doubt IHOP gets too many first birthday breakfasts, however, so I'm sure they didn't know any better that 8 people suddenly approaching our table while clapping and singing loudly could scare a 12 month old.

Later than morning when we got home it was time for present opening.  It proved it be a bit challenging for Owen to open his presents since Austin is still a little young to understand that people other than him get gifts on occasion too.  I think Austin opened most of them, but it proved to be alright because Owen wasn't all that interested in the opening part anyway.  He did really enjoy what was underneath all that wrapping paper, though.  The LeapFrog Birthday Cake was a huge hit as was the ball pit and Angel Dear blanket.

And what's a birthday without a little cake?

That evening we once again headed out to eat, and this time we went to Owen's favorite restaurant, Outback.  And yes, my 1 year old really does have a favorite restaurant.  He enjoyed his "usual" which consisted of lots of bread, the cheese from my salad, and a delicious sweet potato.  Once again he ended his meal with a few bites from a bowl of complimentary birthday ice cream.  No singing this time, though.

What a sweet day to celebrate my sweet little 1 year old!!

Moving Day

This was what we saw when we looked out our front door a couple Tuesdays ago...

A certain little boy thought that having an 18 wheeler sitting in front of his house couldn't get any cooler.

Any guesses?

We had to peel him away from that truck, even to go to Monkey Joe's!  We spent most of the morning there while our house was being loaded and let me tell ya, there is nothing better than Monkey Joe's at 10 in the morning.  We had the place to ourselves!!

But after a lot of jumping and sliding, it was time to get back to the house and say our goodbyes.  A few last minute details and we were off to our new home in North Carolina!  

It was a long trip with two over-tired boys who hadn't had beds to nap in since they were being moved, but we finally made it and I hadn't lost all my sanity, yet, thanks to a couple of very important electronics.

I don't know how I would have kept those two entertained without my cell phone and the portable dvd player.  Ryan had a softball doubleheader and I had to stay at the new house with both boys while the truck was being unloaded...and keep them out of the way!!  We stayed in that one little room for 4 hours with only a bed, cell phone, dvd player, some food and the dog.  It was a looooong day and one I don't ever want to repeat, but boy has this move been a wonderful thing for our little family!!

Garage Sale

We had a community wide yard sale a few weeks ago which was perfect timing since we had a lot of junk to get rid of before our move.  This was my first yard sale and I actually thought it was pretty fun!  There are some crazy people out there who take their yard sales very seriously though and will fight with you over a quarter if they want to!  We had one family who left after we agreed to come down any lower on the old jumperoo and then they stalked it until the end of the sale when we finally decided to give in.

Overall we did pretty well, cleaned out a good bit of our stuff and made about $400.  Surprisingly, out of the 2 tables and 4 boxes I had lined with baby clothes...I only sold 3 or 4 clothing items total.  I was shocked because I thought the clothes would be the biggest seller and I was selling some really nice things for a steal!!  We're talking a Ralph Lauren polo and pants set that was maybe worn twice for $3!!!  Maybe our shoppers that day didn't understand the value or didn't have baby boys to buy for, but now I don't know what to do with all these clothes!?  E-bay was a bust and now garage selling is a bust....what else is there besides a consignment shop?

Another item that didn't sell too well was a box of some of my old (and I mean like from high school old) shoes.  No real surprise there as I figured they'd end up at Goodwill anyway, but at least someone had fun with them...!!!

Ryan kind of watched on in horror as Austin put on a bit of a fashion show and modeled all my old high heels.  The blue hair (from mine and Ryan's Thing 1 and Thing 2 Halloween costumes several years ago) really brought the whole ensemble together if you ask me!  

Austin turned out to be a pretty good pitch man though, because a couple ended up buying that blue hair right off his head a few moments later!!

Saying Goodbye...

One of the hardest things, if not THE hardest thing, about leaving Greenville was that we had to say goodbye to some really great friends.  We were lucky to be able to see most of them before we left and just hope it's not forever before the next time!!

Austin & Caleb

Austin & Tyler

Tyler's 3rd Birthday Crew

Owen & Bailey Beth

Austin & Sofia

Favorite Books

I'm playing a bit of catch up today, so bare with me and get ready for a plethora of posts!!

Let's start short and sweet...just take a look at my little book worm...

That's Owen reading his favorite book, "Where's Spot?" I remember reading this book when I was a kid and loving it just as much.  Owen loves his books, especially ones with flaps and sounds, but this one seems to have made a serious impression.  He will drop whatever he's doing and head in my direction as soon as I start to read it!  

I'm really digging the fact that both my boys enjoy books so much and I'm always amazed at how much they learn and recall from reading.  Here are some of our current favorites:

Any suggestions on some other great books to add to our library?