Sleepover!

Last weekend we invited Miss Alexa to come over to stay at our place for a sleepover.  John's sister Kristin had been in the hospital for three nights getting her gallbladder removed and had just gotten home from the hospital Saturday morning.  We felt like helping them out and taking Alexa off their hands since kids this age can sometimes be a handful.  I think we all had fun but quickly learned that our house isn't big enough for 5 people at the same time for 24 hours straight :)  John and I tried to keep the girls busy because if they get bored they make their own 'fun'.

Since John had to go running anyways that day the first thing we did with the kids was go to Safari Island so they could play in the ball pit and burn off some steam.  Alexa wasted no time going up and down the slides and through the tunnels but Megan pretty much stuck to the ball pits since she has a recent fear of heights.

  

We had some downtime once we got home until dinner so the girls helped me bake red velvet cupcakes and then we finger painted!  Alexa's got the right idea of how to lick the beaters!  She must have had practice!

We started with watercolors to make a get well picture for Alexa's Mommy but the real fun was the finger paints!

 

 

 

 

Rubba-dub-dub.  Three cousins in the tub!

 

 

I kept asking the girls what they wanted to do for the sleep over and they kept saying things like read books, eat crackers, brush our teeth... Obviously, they don't really know yet but that was just fine.  They actually couldn't wait to go to bed and were asking for bed the entire time they watched their bedtime show with John.  We blew up an air mattress for one girl to sleep on but because of the novelty of it we had to let both girls sleep there together.  We had them laying down by 8:15 and they were quiet for 45 minutes.  We realized then that they weren't sleeping and weren't going to just fall asleep on their own.  I felt bad for Alexa since this wasn't her normal sleeping environment.  I tried moving them to our bed, reading more books and lots of hugs but it was Uncle John who came to the rescue and assured her that she would be just fine and it was ok to fall asleep.  She loves you, Uncle John!

Sunday morning we all went to church.  Owen stayed with us during the service while the girls went to nursery.  When it was time for Sunday School the kids switched places.  I was impressed with Alexa because she actually sang along to most of the Sunday School songs!  

All this was about enough each girl could handle.  Megan was sick of sharing and Alexa missed her own home.  Megan was tired of enforcing household rules like only two sheets of toilet paper at a time and sharing her shows.  But overall it was a good experience and we'll have to do it again sometime!

Monday Funny Catch-Up

I was sick again last week and it just feels like it won't leave.  I am just hoping it doesn't return!  Megan's been pretty cute lately so I want to catch up on most of the funnies I can remember before I forget everything!

Last Monday morning as I was driving the kids in to their Lewis Grandparents' house Megan said she was hungry.  I had grabbed the bag of cut up apples that was left over from church the day before and handed it back to her.  I was surprised that she wasn't eating any of it and she said she wanted to save it and eat it when we got there.  I was kind of hungry and wanted just a couple slices but Megan kept telling me no every time I asked her.  Finally she said, "I know, Mom. Grandma will give you grapes if you want and you can eat them at work!"  Grandma was able to split the apples into two bags but Megan whispered in my ear that "now there's not enough apples for me". And you know what?  Her bag of apples came right back home with her...

Owen has been teething something awful lately.  Megan thinks his getting teeth is so cool.  Last weekend this is what she was telling everyone: "Owen's getting teeth.  And he's getting hair too!!"

Tuesday I stayed home with the kids because I was sick and Grandpa Lewis had a sore throat as well.  I told Megan that her and Owen had to stay home with me that day because Papa was sick.  Logically, she replied with, "Yep.  And Grandma and Keeper and Abby and the cats too!"

The kids kept me hopping on Tuesday.  I think we did everything but bake a cake that day.  One of the highlights was our mani-pedi session.  We sat on the floor and pulled up our pant legs so Megan could paint our toes.  I admit that I hadn't shaved my legs probably all month due to not feeling well and just winter in general.  Megan took one look at my legs and excitedly exclaimed, "Mommy, your legs look like Daddies!"  She thought it was so cool... 

Megan also found a tube of chapstick on Tuesday.  She kept applying it and twisting it out further and further.  I told her it would break - and guess what?  It did!  Right away Megan said, "Oh no.  Daddy will be real disappointed."  Every time she saw the broken chapstick I got the same 'disappointed' response.  Pretty sure Daddy's mostly disappointed with you not listening to Mommy tell you to stop, Megan!

Owen cracks me up when he grabs hold of a remote, aims it at the TV, pushes a few buttons then looks in that general direction waiting for a sound.  He's going to have the remotes all figured out at a younger age than his sister!

Bath night again on Wednesday.  I already had Owen out and in bed but Megan stayed in extra long to do finger paints.  One of her other favorite bathtub things is swimming like a mermaid.  That night she told me I could leave my shirt on and pants on and still put my legs in the tub to be a mermaid too.  I always love when I get pampered while taking care of the kids.  And luckily she didn't comment on my leg hair again :)

"Megan, why are you throwing those things on the floor?"  These are the kind of responses we are getting lately.... "Because I love you!"  Can't argue with that one, huh?

Bedtime routines are both quite frustrating and comical lately.  More than a handful of times in the last couple weeks it's taken close to two hours to get her to fall asleep.  Even though it has been quite entertaining.  I've found out that either John or I need to brush our teeth with her to put her mind at ease.  The other part of our nightly routine is having Megan put on the heater in her room to "cool it down".  She also has not only one but two cups of water at bedtime - one for each book!

Lastly, Megan spent a great portion of Saturday morning playing with water.  She likes to pour water back and forth in her tea set but she also likes to fill her Tupperware cups up with water in the bathroom too.  I gave her a tall bench so she could fill up the cups on her own and then she would dump the water into the toilet.  When I asked her how she was doing she replied with, "I'm just fine, Mom.  I'm in my workshop!"  True Lewis there, right?

My 3 Musketeers!

Waiting for Sunday School to begin.  She's really more excited about it than it looks :)

Megan, I said to give Owen some puffs, not all the puffs!!!!

Owen at Nine Months

Here we have it folks - Owen's nine month stats are in!  (Actually, they had been in last week but I think we're all finally feeling normal again so we can get some things accomplished again!)

We sure have a growing boy on our hands.  Here is where we stand:

Height - 29 1/2 inches - 90%

Weight - 22lbs 2oz - 86%

Head Circ - 18 1/4 inches

Owen's doing well all around and now I know exactly why he is so hard to carry around.  I am so over lugging him around with us both wearing winter coats - when will spring be here?  Hopefully he'll be walking then too and it'll be easy sailing, right?

If Owen was Megan he'd be walking already but he's not and that is just fine.  I have a feeling it will be within the next month since he seems to be a daredevil but he can go at whatever pace he wants to.  He already is walking around furniture with much ease and confidence, pulling up on anything and anyone and occasionally will let go.  Crawling is super easy by now and I like to say that he crawls with a strut or some swag.  Once he gets going towards something he wants he can get some pretty good speed and he looks so cute getting there!

Owen's little inquisitive mind is getting him into lots of trouble as he is quickly learning how things work - like doors!  He loves opening and closing doors of closets and cupboards and drawers.  My pans don't stand a chance and he's already broken a cover to one of my mom's casseroles.  We have safety locks on the doors they need to be on but don't want them everywhere.  Eventually he'll grow out of this phase. Eventually he'll get over the toilet too, right?

I learned while Owen was sick that he really likes soft fuzzy blankets and is quite a good cuddler.  I love holding my little boy!

Owen's second tooth came in on his 9 month birthday.  The doctor looked in his mouth then and said the top two are making their way down too.  Hopefully he has a full set of four soon!  The two that he does have are pretty sharp and Megan even notices them now and is soooo proud of her little brother!

Now that Owen is a good stander (against furniture) I've noticed that he is starting to boogy when upbeat music or cartoons come on.  He will stand and pump his legs with a great big smile!!!  He is also finding his voice so our house sounds like all the birds of a tropical rainforest when him and Megan get going.  Grandma Lewis said he talked almost the entire day on Monday!

Then, what's a post without cute pictures?  Here are a few recent ones of our little Owen!

Megan won't mind if I play with her Home Depot balloon, right?

One of my favorite things in the living room is this drawer!  Let's see what's in here today!

Remotes are my friends!

Mmmm.... French Toast!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Megan and Owen are hoping everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with lots of love!  

Most of you have probably already seen Megan and Owen's Valentine's Day cards but I wanted to put them up on my blog too just for fun.  I was hoping to get one more use out of their Halloween costumes plus I think they made for cute Valentines!  And then I printed these two pictures to a 4x6 photo for wallet sizes for the kids to hand out :)

 

Megan and I made red velvet cupcakes last Sunday and had been eating them the entire week plus had enough to share with both sides of her family and some of my co-workers.  She was pretty proud of her cupcakes and I think it's safe to say she liked how they tasted too :)

Megan was lucky to get some pretty nice presents from her grandparents for Valentine's Day and has been playing with everything all week.  G&G Lewis gave her some jewelry and then a Minnie lunchbox which she is so excited to use for picnics or preschool!  The chocolate candy is always a hit.  Armed with a Valentine card holder she made at the last Home Depot Kid's Workshop she could put all the little cards she received too!  Then lastly she got a jack-in-the-box from G&G Gennrich which was pretty her entire activity all day on Thursday.

Megan and Owen even came to visit me at work on Thursday which was a treat to me and my co-workers as well.  Finally last night John and I had our usual crab legs and shrimp scampi dinner.  It was delicious but would have been better had Megan not stayed up until 10:30 that night to make sure we brushed our teeth before bed...

Anyways, wishing you lots of love this Valentine's Day.  Love you all!!

Owen at Eight and a Half Months

Owen's been battling a pretty tough cold and cough combo the entire last week.  So not fun for a boy who just wants to move and be on the go!  Owen had a lot of milestones the first weeks after turning 8 months old so I'm going to recap them now before I get the 9 months stats in just a week!

Owen's first tooth popped through on the 14th of January!  It was his bottom left tooth.  Owen still only has the one but we're happy the teeth are finally coming.  He was pretty drooly for awhile but I don't think the actual cutting of the tooth was as painful as feeling all the teeth move under the gum.  I'm hoping the rest decide to follow suit pretty soon so he'll be able to eat more foods!

Owen would only eat spoon fed baby food until his tooth popped through.  Ever since then (and before his cold came) he was loving the finger foods.  We finally gave him cheerios and also a variety of crackers.  He was doing pretty good on chunks of bananas too!  I started trying to bulk up his foods more by getting him stage 3 jars of food but also by grinding up noodles to put in plain strained veggies.

The latest adventure Owen is taking us on is the land of steps.  It was about a week after turning 8 months that he climbed just one step but curiosity was only stilled a few days before he wanted to do more and more steps and actually climbed the entire flight of stairs!  He's been doing the entire flight at least once a day for almost the last week!

Does he look like he's ready to go or what?!  He is so proud of himself too, as you can imagine.  Megan thinks we need to have the gate up all the time and is so worried about him on the stairs.  John and I have no problem with him playing around on the steps as long as there's supervision.  How else is he supposed to learn his way around the steps and get comfortable on them?

So smiley!!!

The one minute he actually laid still on the changing table after bath time :)

Owen is obsessed with baths and now the water (along with the drains and faucet parts).  He loves trying to grab for the water only to have his hand go right through it!

Friday Funnies - Bathroom & Beyond!

Since I didn't post my funnies last week I have quite the collection for you!

I'll start you off with a couple pictures of Alexa and Megan at Ethan's baptism a couple weeks ago.  You can tell they love each other very much but that's quite the grip Alexa's got on Meg!

 

I forgot what Megan was throwing around in her room, but she would hunch over and throw real gentle.  Then she said, "That's just like how Grandma throws the bone to Keeper!"

I heated up some frozen green beans for dinner one night and Megan started picking them apart.... "There's a bean in my green bean!"  She was just in awe as every single bean on her plate got investigated.

As Megan was putting on her pretty green princess tiara on my head she said, "Here's a crown, Mommy, now you are a king!"

"When Grandma's a baby she'll wear diapers too!"  There seems to be some confusion where Megan thinks everyone is going to be babies again when they're done being adults (I think).  Or else maybe it's just because we keep pointing out that she used to do the things Owen does when she was little.  Either way, it's pretty cute.

Now, onto the bathroom portion of the post... We are ready to insist on a closed door policy when Daddy uses the bathroom.  Read on to see why :)

First, it's never too early for good hygiene!

"Plunk!  I show Daddy my poop!"  For a while Megan was obsessed with showing John her poop after she'd gone.  She was so proud but Daddy was sooo grossed out by it!

Early this week Megan was playing with her privates as she was going potty.  I think she started doing it because she's trying to look and see if she can see her poop coming out.  Anyways, out of the blue, she grabbed it and said, "I can't use it like Daddy!"  It gets better because last night as my mom was taking her potty she said, "When I get big, I will squeeze my butt out!"


Ahh, do we need an anatomy lesson already?  Kristin - are there any good "body" books for toddlers? :)  We just may need it!

Family Portrait by Megan

My heart melted a little bit tonight when Megan drew these little pictures in the bathtub.  This is the first time I've ever seen her actually draw something that looked like anything.  I asked her where she learned to draw like this and said maybe it was Grandma Lewis?  She replied that "No, Grandma Lewis does not have crayons :)"  Anyways, I don't know where she picked this up from but we might have a budding artist on our hands!

You can see big circle bodies, eyes, straight lines for mouths and little stubby arms and legs.

This is a picture of Mommy and Daddy.  

 

This is Megan and Owen.

 

Sesame Street Weekend

Last weekend John and I took Megan to see Sesame Street Live.  We're not big Sesame Street watchers at our house but Megan watches it occasionally with her Lewis Grandparents so she's more than familiar with the characters.  Our pastor ordered tickets for a group of five families from our church so we could all sit together and overall it was a fun time.

It was a 10:30 show but we got there around 9:30 since we left early to allow time to drop off Owen.  (We dropped off Owen at John's parents' place on the way down to the Target center since we didn't want to deal with a squirmy baby during the show and I do not regret our decision.)  There was a little activity before the show where kids could get an up close look at the characters and do some activities.  We didn't do too much on that level since it was just packed with kids but we took time to get a picture of John and Megan with Cookie Monster.  (This one's for you, Grandma Lewis!)

When we left home I said that we weren't going to spend any money there and I kept to my word - aside from the $10 parking ramp fee.  Megan got this cute little pig tattoo on her hand and also got her hair sprayed purple (hard to see in these pictures) both for free.  I was nervous when we went to the bathroom and all the kids were walking around with Abby wands and spinning Elmo toys and Megan did say she wanted one but I held my ground.  We had a snack of blueberries, apples and pumpkin bread before the show started instead of all the cotton candy, lemonade, donuts and other concessions.  I did feel a little guilty for not buying anything but also didn't want Megan to get the impression that when we go to these things she can have whatever she wants.  It was especially bad since our seats were right behind a major walkway and the cotton candy kept passing by us at eye level.  My proudest moment came when I pulled out a light-up toy out of our bag (a spinning Easter egg toy that Megan got for Easter last year) and gave it for her to play with during the second half.  She squealed and I confirmed that it was hers and I got a big hug.  A big win for Mommy!

 

The title of the show was Can't Stop Singing.  Abby loses her wand, Elmo finds it and casts a spell which makes everyone sing instead of speak.  Abby looks for her wand the entire time until she figures out that Elmo had it all along and had used it.  I think Megan liked it and definitely caught the emotions of Elmo and Abby from both sad to happy.  There were a couple songs after the intermission where she was even clapping along and doing some actions!

On the way out we stopped to say hi to an Abby cutout.

On the way back to pick up Owen we stopped for a little shopping.  I took this picture so you could see the purple hair!  Megan was also so concerned about her pig tattoo the whole time.  Even during her bath she kept her hand above the water the whole time so it wouldn't wash off!

 

We did break down and gave Megan a ride in this Mickey car for being a good sport during our errands!  Look at that smile!

There were a couple other highlights from last weekend.  We took the kids swimming at Safari Island right after church.  Owen hadn't been in the water since just a couple months and he was in absolute glory!  He totally soaked up every minute and there was no fussing for the entire time we were there - close to an hour! Megan loved it too and is testing her limits in the water.  I no more than opened up the door to the pool area and she was in the water.  And she also doesn't know when to stop - she'll keep going deeper and deeper.  I did get her to jump into the water from the edge into my arms and that was pretty fun!

Sunday night John and I went to EP Home Depot's holiday party at Brunswick Zone.  We had a buffet dinner and then spent time doing laser tag, arcade and bowling alley.  This was my first time playing laser tag and it was pretty fun.  I didn't know what to expect but at least I didn't come in last on our team!

Friday Funnies

Hey everyone - It's getting late so I am going to keep the funnies short and sweet this week.

I'm starting out with one that I forgot to add to last week's post but Megan reminded me of it again during church on Sunday.  Megan's new thing is picking off crayon wrappers.  She likes to take the church activity bags and pick at the wrappers during the sermons.  I probably should just be taking the crayons away from her but I try to get her to stop picking on her own so I will talk to her and tell her to stop.  Megan replies with something like this:  "Shhhh, no talk to me.  Listen to Pastor, Mom, listen to Pastor!"

While driving to John's parents' place last Sunday night I kept turning around to look and see what Megan was doing.  She told me that she was watching the trees and that I should turn back around.  John asked Megan what kind of trees she was watching and she replied with, "Real ones!  Not pretend ones!"

The girls thought this was funny until John yelled at them for spilling crackers all over the bedroom floor.  If you look closely at the picture you can see that they are crying because they have to clean up the mess...  I will probably be finding animal crackers for weeks!

Megan and her "flute"...

Daddy goofing around with the kiddos!

I think Megan is really enjoying princess stuff lately and also watching princess shows and movies on TV.  When I dropped her off at my parents' this morning she ran right to her princess dress up outfit and said, "Bye, Mommy-derella!"
When I picked the kids up after work we dressed up Megan in the dress I wore as a flower girl when I was 6.  She's all ready for the ball with her gown and crown!

2013 Goals & Resolutions

I was really feeling motivated right around New Year's.  As we took down the Christmas tree and decorations we also moved out a bunch of baby-baby stuff.  With getting rid of those things it seemed like we gained a ton of space in our house and I just really wanted to get organized.  There are so many things that I want to get organized and I am notorious for starting a ton of things and not following through on anything.  Hopefully I can change that this in 2013.  Everything I come across that has anything to do with organization says to start small and work in stages.  I am hoping to run this out large-scale throughout the year.  Each month I am going to dedicate to a specific area or idea.

January:  Organization month.  Probably my most ambitious month right off the bat.  I want to go through EVERYTHING and organize, get rid of things, and get everything where it belongs.  I want a place for everything and everything in its place.  Kitchen stuff might carry over into February but I'm ok with that.
February:  Finance month.  Figure out budget, get all passwords and accounts in a central location, see if we can start paying for things with cash instead of credit.
March:  Coupon month.  With so many deal sites and apps for my new iPhone I need to get in a groove for using my coupons, where I save them all and how to use them at the stores.  How can we save the most month?
April:  Grocery month.  I want to know how much everything costs so I know if it's a good deal or not.  Make a list of things we buy often and also so we know when we need to stock up or run out of products.  With this also comes meal planning and possibility of doing freezer meals.
May:  Recipe month.  May get tied in with April I want to get all recipes in a central location.  Maybe put a cookbook together of our favorite meals?
June:  Garage month.  Lots of room for improvements here.  Maybe put a pegboard up for John's tools?
July:  Photo month.  Need to archive our blog and also work on backing up photos.  Perhaps start scrapbooking projects?

Besides these monthly objectives, here are a list of other goals I have for this year:

• Do more as husband and wife.  This was a rough last year with a new baby so focus was on myself and Owen.  We are hoping to do at a date the first weekend of every month (or at least once/month). I am also trying to make a conscious effort to give John a kiss before leaving and after getting home from work.
• Learn the in's and out's of my camera and experiment with manual mode.  Goal is to take at least one picture per day on some sort of camera.  I want to focus on learning the camera but also work on composition and lighting techniques as well.  Also, experiment more with Photoshop.
• I want to lose 8 pounds, hopefully to get down to 115 and a size 6 pants.  I also want to lose my baby belly :)
• Use up all the old food in our deep freeze.  You know, the turkeys and other things that make their way to a permanent spot at the bottom :)
• Read more - preferably one book per month.  I said this before I realized the book I just started had 600+ pages so probably not going to happen, at least with this book.  But, I guess the real goal is just to start reading something.
• Be in the Word.  Again, just need to start reading something so off to a good start with a devotion app I found on my new iPhone!
• Learn iTunes and use it!
• Try to incorporate a vegetable into every family meal.
• Finish wedding scrapbook and start/finish Megan's digital scrapbook ages 0-3.
• Try hard not to stress out and also make time for ME.
• Get more sleep.  I'm starting to realize that I am not in college any more and actually need more sleep than what I've really been allotting for myself.  It also might help me be a better wife and mother.  

John had a few goals too.  He is hoping to get under 200 pounds - currently only 25 more pounds to go.  He also wants to keep up his Calorie counting, eating right and exercise routing.  John also wants to do a few daddy-daughter outings this summer including a Twins game!

Guess it's going to be a busy month!  I'll try to keep this updated with each month's progress - with me luck!