Jezzie Loves Her Daddy

She likes to curl up on his lap at night.  It doesn't bother her at all that he has a computer on his lap.  She lets him keep his hands on the keyboard.  Sometimes.

Sunset Is Coming Earlier

Todd took Owen out to the batting cages this evening.  Chloe played in the street.

She was excited that she got to ride Owen's rip rider (because Owen wasn't there to say no and Todd didn't answer his phone when I called for permission.  Mom chose to help Owen share).  But this expression was over the sunset.

It really was a gorgeous sunset.

The colors just kept getting more and more beautiful.

With every change, Chloe was even more in awe.  I loved her reactions to the oncoming evening sky.

I loved how she would stop just to watch and take in the beauty.  I love this girl.

Riding the Carousel

Chloe just loves this carousel.  She begs to ride it.  There have been trips to the mall specifically to ride this and do nothing else.

Owen wanted to ride it, too.  He looked bored the whole time.  Afterwards, he said he didn't really enjoy it.  He just rode because his sister was riding.  Note-to-self:  save two bucks on the boy child next time and let him stand with me!

Just Another Monday

School.  Dentist appointments before karate.  No cavities for Chloe!  Two for Owen.  Boo!

And then home to play with friends on skateboards.

And Rip Riders made by Razr (this is what all of Owen's birthday money went into purchasing).

The boys had so much fun hooking up the jump ropes to their rip riders and pulling Chloe on a skateboard.

An Afternoon at Two Parks

We're not even through September and the leaves are already changing.  I'm not ready for autumn yet.

The girl child wanted to play on the playground while Todd and Owen played catch on the nearby baseball fields.

This girl just loves to swing.

She is also a monkey and loves any kind of jungle gym there is.  Do you see her hiding from me here?

She climbed to the top and sat for awhile.  There was a little bit of pouting and grumping going on.

Todd got a good shoulder workout throwing the ball to Owen to both catch and hit.

We went home and cleaned up in new clothes (at least for the kids) to drive down to Sope Creek Farm to meet Tyler of Blue Lily for our first family portraits in years.

It was over a 20 minute hike through the woods from parking lot to the old mill ruins.

When we got to the spot, silliness was coming forth in massive quantities.

This boy loves rocks.  Not only does he search them out, save them, store them at home, he also needs to be photographed with his finds. Needs.

I should have known at this point this would be the mood for our family session.

More silliness and faces.

And very few natural smiles or cooperation.

Very few.  But I'm glad I caught these two.

She was full of energy and bouncing off the stone walls while we waited for Tyler to finish up the session before us.

We also had extreme seriousness, switched up with pouting, tears and possible toothaches.

I love these blue eyes.

We finished up after 7p and stopped at Ted's Montana Grill for dinner on our way home.  The kids menus have wax sticks instead of crayons.  Chloe reminded me of an Indian Princess with her long earrings.

If you want to see the family shots that Tyler got, you can click here.  I will tell you this one is my favorite.

Owen's Birthday Party Breakfast

The boys were up surprisingly early this morning and were excited when I took them to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.

Miles drives his mother nuts by wearing his hat to the side.

Lou makes his mother proud with silly faces and teaching his friends rap songs from the 80s.

When we got home, Owen opened the presents from his friends.

Note to others out there, the packaging likes and the adhesives will pull paint off your walls down to the sheetrock.

The boys started getting picked up around 11ish and were sad when the party ended.  The thoughtfulness of each of the boys in picking out presents and writing birthday cards to Owen was pretty cool.  Maybe we will let him grow up a little more.  He just keeps getting better and better (as do his friends)!

Owen's 9th Birthday - afternoon and evening

Owen's friend Preston's birthday is two days from now, but Preston's birthday party is this afternoon.  Owen was excited to go with Preston and two other friends to Mountasia for bumper cars and mini-golf.

Papa Ford came up in the afternoon and spent some quality time on the sofa rubbing Chloe's feet until Owen got back from Preston's party.

Then the two of them played baseball in the street.

And Chloe wore her helmet while she goofed around in the yard.

She knows she's cute.

When the Grandmas arrived, Owen took off running to give them hugs.

Owen invited three boys over for dinner and a sleepover to celebrate his birthday.

They are all silly boys.

This boy just loves to dance.  So when his birthday cake was brought out, naturally he had to stand up in his chair and shake his hips.

What does a newly turned 9 year old wish for, we wondered? 

We were told later in the evening. 

It was a simple wish, but not one I had guessed.

Papa Ford brought a cookie cake wishing O and C a happy birthday and TK a happy anniversary.  Thanks Papa Ford!

She turned off her hearing and giggled non-stop about this.

Owen was excited he got to open presents from the grandparents and Aunt Kiki after dinner and cake (although we made him wait until the next morning before opening presents from his friends).

Owen loves his Grandmas.  It is a common topic in our household how we wish ALL of the grandparents lived closer to us.

Since this was a birthday celebration with a sleepover party, we made an exception to the normal 8pm bedtime and headed up to our park after sunset.  The kids were FULL of energy and excited to be out in the dark.

This was also one of the first nights where I got to try out my new flash.  Um.  There's going to be a learning curve, here.

The kids thought it was uber-cool to play on the playground equipment.  In the dark.

The boys played a game named Sak that they created.  Which is basically to tackle each other to the ground.   It was near the time we were getting ready to walk home that Owen told us he got the wish he wished for when blowing out his candles.  It was that his little sister wouldn't bug him or his friends for the rest of his birthday.  Yay for granted wishes and little sisters who can take a break for a day!

They played so hard they were sweaty things and took off their shirts.  While walking home, they sang a song Lou taught them --> Baby Got Back.  Todd was amused.  I was in shock.   I was thankful they didn't know all the words and basically stuck to the chorus.

The boys were in bed by 10:30 and asleep shortly after 11pm.