Home Sweet Home!

Well, after 4 months of waiting, we finally found out we are the new owners of this little cottage. We put our initial offer in mid-July and closed on Friday. It was a long, drawn out process but we are so excited about the new pad. It looks small from the outside but we have 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a basement. The most exciting thing about the place, other than being across the street from a great little park, is that we have closet space!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Big Boy!

Cautiously approaching the smush cake!

Tasting lessons from Emma

Oh yeah. I think I'm getting the hang of it!

Cake Face

Dear Owen,

You are 1! It's so hard to believe this year has come and gone. You have kept us busy and on our toes. We loved every minute of it.

You have come a long way in this past year. You are now doing what I like to call the Frankenstein shuffle. You're walking skills are well on the way. You look a little like Frankenstein but that's okay. I'm sure you will be running before long.

You have 7 teeth- 4 up top and 3 below. You are trying more foods but still like your old standby- anything with cheese.

You have a developing vocabulary. You have "dog" down pat. When you hear a dog barking or when Carter comes into the room, you say, "Dawwwgg". You can also say hi, dada, tree, and occasionally you say momma. You make the same sound when you point to things, so we are sure that means something to you. Once you can translate that into standard English, we'll get it too.

You are very curious, too. You point to things and say, "day?" looking for a name for the object. Actually, we aren't sure what you say when you point but you have the intonation of a question.

Here are some more highlights:

• You like to put things in boxes and take them out.
• You like to bang on things.
• You are a crazy clapper. When music comes on, you start clapping or swaying. We aren't sure where this comes from- neither mommy or daddy has any rhythm.
• You like to play ball, whatever kind it is. You can throw the ball, roll the ball, and chase the ball. The football throws you off because of its shape- you're not so good at anticipating its next move.

There is so much going on with you! You're learning and growing so much right now. You seem to come up with a new trick each day. We can't wait to see where the next year takes us!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Owen's Baptism

Owen had his baptism this weekend. It was a special day surrounded by our family- Nanny, Baba, Grammy, Aunt Darcy and Uncle Jeremy, and his beautiful cousins Claire and Emma. Owen behaved great. Pastor Jim tried to get the hair to lay down with the water, but popped back up once it dried.

Halloween

Zee lil' bee

Ridin' in the bye-bye buggy at the day-care party. Ms. LaPrecious, pushing the cart, is his teacher.

The Bee Family- a honeycomb, a beekeeper, and our little bee!

It's Owen's first Halloween! We carried over the Evans' family tradition of sporting the cutest bumblebee in town. Owen had plenty of opportunities to show off his look. He had a fall festival at daycare, a trunk-or-treat at the church, a surprise party, and a party in the park with a playgroup we do things with. He was not so sure about the whole look at first but then warmed up to it. It's only going to get more exciting as the years go on, but this first one was great!

Just 'cuz

Hi!

A Visit from the Cousins!

Party at my crib!

The cousins came for a visit this past weekend. We haven't really had the kids together in a while so it was big fun! We scooped out pumpkins, did science experiments, partied in the crib, pushed shopping carts around, and had an all around good time. Owen loves Claire and Emma to pieces and I'm sure they feel the same way!

First Haircut!

Our Spikey-headed friend was getting a little out of control so we brought him in for his first haircut. He took it like a champ. I am pretty sure that I could have done just as good of a job as Owen's "stylist." After all, the whole point of paying for a cut was so it didn't look like I did it.

Fall Getaway

Owen and his Sherpa

Tunnel Time!

Babies gone wild! If you could only hear the "conversation" going on here...

Overlooking the canyon

My school had a fall break this year. Chris and I took advantage of the extra days and headed up to North Georgia. On the way up, we stopped at a few of the vineyards in and around Dahlonega. Both of us were quite surprised at the quality of Georgia wine. We hit Wolf Mountain, FrogTown and 3 Sisters wineries. Owen was a trooper and was chatting up all the ladies. We spent a few nights at Lake Winfield Scott, where we had a cabin and had easy access to Blood Mountain, at Slaughter Gap. Very peaceful sounding, I know. (Side note- this is where the Trail of Tears- the Creek and Cherokee relocation- started). We made the 7 mile hike with Owen strapped to Chris' back. He seemed to enjoy it. He was yapping the whole way, which was a nice way to frighten the bears away. We saw a couple of piles of scat along the trail. Put that with a couple of "High Bear Activity" signs, and you've got one nervous mom. Our friends Pat and Amy, and their 2 kids joined us for a night while we were there.

After our Lake Winfield Scott stop, we met up with some friends at Cloudland Canyon. We love to go up there and play disc golf. It was perfect weather- warm in the day and cool at night. Owen continued to have fun and loved rolling around on the hills. An impromptu fall vacation, right out our front door. Love it!

10 Months!

Dear Baby Owen,

You are so amazing! It's fun watching you grow and learn things each day! We lost your 9 month monkey picture so this letter covers the last 2 months.

You have shown us that you are a boy that's on the move! You are crawling at top speed and you can pull up on just about anything. You can even stand up from sitting without holding on to anything! You want to take your first steps and we can see you thinking about it, however, you just don't trust yourself yet. That's okay with us, buddy. We're not ready to see you running around the house. You are still our little bitty baby and to see you walking would mean you are growing up.

You are becoming very vocal. You have a little friend at school that you like to talk to. One of you will make a sound and the other will mimic it. Your teachers say you 2 can yap it up for a while, going back and forth. You can say mama and dada. I'm convinced that you are learning to use them in context and it melts my heart. I love your voice.

You are still a pretty chill baby. Mommy and Daddy are learning how to schedule our plans around your schedule. If we get it right, you are a ton of fun to take out on the town. You are making your way through the Atlanta festival scene. I think you enjoy seeing all the fun crafts and weird people they have to offer. We like taking you out to dinner, too. We have discovered that Mexican and Italian are your favorite foods. We had to order you your own bowl of guacamole because you were about to eat all ours!

Feeding you has gotten fun too. Mommy isn't making as much baby food for you as she used to. You prefer to eat table food. Pizza, ravioli, cheese, pancakes, cheerios, yogurt, fruit (any kind and lots of it!), avocados, corn, turkey, hummus, and sweet potatoes are the main staples in your diet. We need to work in some more vegetables but we are happy with how you are doing.

You are a great little fella! Please don't grow up too fast.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

More Late Summer Fun!

Pool time in the (arid) front yard

Peek-a-Boo!

Real men eat Cheerios out of pink cups

Sweet Nora, wondering who stole her Cheerios

First Day of School!

Mommy and Owen on the way to school!

Owen and his buddy Jonah in the ball pit!

Seriously Mom! I'm fine!

Owen, June, and Jonah!

Owen and I had our first day of school together. He was starting a new daycare and I was starting a new year. Summer flew by and the real world was calling us both. I'm glad Owen had some buddies in his class to entertain him and keep him company.

The Lost Photos

Owen's first lake trip

Cousins!

Pre-bedtime wind up with the cousins. Yes, most people wind down before bed, but not these 3.

Emma snuggles or Emma tackles. Not sure!

Bubbles!

Owen and his buddy, Caden

Our first trip to the emergency room- Owen fell and bit the bottom side of his tongue but we couldn't see the cut. His pediatrician was closing so they sent us to the emergency room to be sure he didn't mess up his teeth. Mom learned that the mouth bleeds. A lot.

Story time and rhymes at the Decatur library with his buddies, June and Jonah.

Okay, okay. I admit it. I've slacked off on the blog updates. I'm going to play the working mom card, though! Here are some photos from the end of the summer!