Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great this year. I did the turkey for the first time ever and he turned out FANTASTIC! This is the first year Daniel and I have had Thanksgiving dinner at our house, so having his family and mine together was a good way to go...it was great to get everyone in one place. Prior to all of the feasting, my mom, my sister and I walked in the Grateful Gobbler walk in Chattanooga. That was neat as well and we will probably do it annually. The walk benefits the Homeless Coalition in Chattanooga...it's sad to see folks who don't even have housing when we have all been blessed to be able to keep our jobs and our homes this year. So the three of us may not look like hotties in our photo below, but I assure you, we were a thankful bunch!!!

I took this week off of work to spend some time with Owen and even with all of the rain, it has been a wonderful week. Monday and Tuesday were full of rain, so we didn't do much. Still, I think Owen enjoyed being home with his toys and his favorite cartoons...we spent the day working puzzles and read ALOT of books since we were without power for part of the time. We were blessed that our home was not hurt by the rain. On Thursday, Granna took the day off to go with us to the Creative Discovery Museum. We took Owen last year, but I think he enjoyed it much more this time. We spent a good portion of that time in the "drum room." Friday the sun was shining so we took a trip to the playground. I kind of dread going back to work on Monday but I know Owen has to get back into his regular routine...still, it's been a FANTASTIC week off!

Third Birthday!!!

I CANNOT believe my baby is THREE years old! Last Saturday was Owen's birthday party and as you can see from the photos (courtesy of Christy), he had a great time. Uncle Lewis was kind enough to bring over his John Deere (which was our theme for the day) and give wagon rides--THANKS TO UNCLE LEWIS! Owen also had a great time in the pool with Gracie, who is amazingly comfortable in the water for such a little chick. :) Birthdays come around so quickly I feel like I already need to be planning for next year!




Owen & Gracie
Yes, I let him lick the icing off the tractor... :)

July

July is always a busy month. Between the Fourth, my mom's birthday, my sister's birthday and Owen's birthday, all I do is eat cake! :) We had a wonderful Fourth of July this year Downtown with Christy and Burt. The best part was letting Owen slide down this GIGANTIC grassy hill on a boxtop--I ask again, as I've asked so many times--WHY DO WE BUY TOYS? He had a great time! Thanks to Christy for the photos below!!!



Owen on his boxtop--absolutely LOVING it!
Burt, trying to convince Owen to slide--or maybe that was the other way around, I'm not sure...
Me and Owen...very tired and still two hours to go before the fireworks!

As always we have been very busy and I have not made time for blogging. Now that my mom has made me feel guilty for several weeks for not updating the blog, I have decided to do so. :) These past few weeks have been crazy because there have been so many different events. We had a huge family reunion in Alabama a few weekends ago, a friend of Owen's had a birthday party (with a petting zoo!), and Ashley graduated with her education degree (go sis!!!). Now it's time to plan Owen's birthday party--the action never ends!!!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is one of my favorite days of the year. Even though I don't think that I need a special day to tell my mom how much I love her, it is nice to have a day just that can be set aside to do that. This year, is seemed like the easiest thing to do would be to get all of the moms in the family together rather than trying to be in two places today. So that's what we did--Daniel's parents came to church with us, then we spent the afternoon picnicing and playing at Chesterfrost Park. This was WAY better than waiting around for two hours at a restaurant. Overall, it was a good day. Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done, and sometimes I feel like I'm not very good at it. Raising a child is a mission that gets constantly criticized by others, which often causes a parent to second-guess themselves. But I try.... :) And I know that at the end of the day, what is important to me is that Owen knows I love him.


Posing for photos is not at the top of Owen's priority list...

Okay so it's been awhile since I posted anything new because I have been SO busy! For some reason, this time of year always seems busy to me. This post is about Easter and Spring (which really has not seemed that "springy" to me since it has been somewhat cold and we have had all of these storms). Let me begin with Easter...We had a fantastic Easter Sunday. Daniel, Owen and myself had dinner at my parents' house. Daniel's parents came over as well. We had a ton of food and I tried (without success) to stay on some sort of reasonable diet. :) My mom and dad bought Owen this t-ball thingy that can be used in three ways and can shoot balls out. Owen is a little small and lacks the coordination to hit the balls as they spit out of the machine, but he thinks it is really funny when they pop out. We spent nearly the entire day outdoors playing with that thing and also had a major Easter egg hunt. All in all, it was a really good day--the weather was great!

Now to Spring...I don't know what's going on with our wishy-washy weather and all of these storms but I am OVER it! Don't Christy and Owen look really cold in the last photo??? This was just like two weeks ago...it should have been warm! Owen's great-aunt Biddy bought him gardening tools and, as you all can see, he is using them whether it is warm or not.

Healthy...

Today US101 held their annual St. Jude Radiothon...Now anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a crier--I can sit through funerals and not cry (not because I'm not sad, but I just don't tear up easily). However, the St. Jude stories get me every year! And I was in the car traveling with work all day long, and I kept trying to change the channel, but I just couldn't. So...basically, I was teary all day. I never really paid much attention to St. Jude until I became a mother. Thankfully, Daniel and I have been blessed with a healthy baby. But if Owen ever needed the kind of help that St. Jude offers to families whose little ones have cancer, I certainly would rest easier knowing that there is a place like that there to help. From what I understand, St. Jude provides treatment for children free of charge, and even provides a place for families to stay while their children are being treated. Today I took Owen to donate some money, and even though he is too little to really understand, I explained to him that it's important to help others when we can. We didn't donate much because right now, we don't have much, but I challenge anyone who has children (healthy or not) to give if you can.

*Oh, and the photos below don't really have anything to do with St. Jude, but they are proof that Owen is surely healthy. :)

Funny Photos

As I have said many times before, our family is blessed to have friends who will tolerate our screaming, whiny two-year old weekend after weekend...(Yes, folks--I know it's hard to believe but that precious Owen does scream and whine from time to time). Owen loves Christy and Burt so much. Here are some recent, funny photos from our weekends together....there is also a great one of Owen and his Granna, which my mom will be so angry at me for posting...oh well....I like it.