Grandma Debbie

We spent this past weekend with Grandma Debbie in OKC. Her company had its yearly "picnic" at Frontier City - a local amusement park. The forecast was not favorable to a day outside, but we managed to have a great time in spite of the rain. The kids were able to walk up to any ride they wanted and not have to wait in line - the beauty of no one else wanting to be out! Ethan got to ride his first roller coaster, The Wild Kitty, which he LOVED. Owen rode several rides too, and he couldn't get enough of them. Both boys enjoyed having their older cousins to play with and having Grandma there to spoil them. I think they ate more cookies and drank more peach water (aka "Soury drink") than they have in their lifetime!

Miami, Sweet Miami

I apologize ahead of time for this entry...I am sure most of you don't care to know all these details of our trip. But as I have tried to tell people about it lately, the details are already getting fuzzy. Will I ever regain my pre-children memory!?! So, this is a selfish post in hopes that I can get all the details out before I forget everything...

A little over a week ago, Chris and I headed to Fisher Island, Florida for six days while the boys went and stayed with my parents. It was the first trip we've taken without children, and it was long over due. Chris was awarded this trip along with 20 other Cadbury employees, and it was all expense paid which made the time even sweeter! We met my parents in Tulsa to drop the boys off, and I was so very sad. I was honestly a little surprised at how hard it was to leave them, but once we arrived to the island, I quickly became okay.

Our first day there, we had a speed boat tour of the Miami coast. Afterward, they then dropped us off in South Beach that afternoon where we all ate at an incredible Cuban restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and getting to know new friends, Ron and Lisa. We then took a walk around the South Beach area and ended up on the beach. There was some seriously rich people watching...it's a different breed of people in Miami!

That evening we were picked up in limos and driven to Gianni Versace's house in Miami. It felt a tad weird going to the place where the famous designer lived and was shot/killed. When we pulled up in limos in front of his gated house (now a restaurant and hotel), people standing around the gate started taking pictures of us b/c they assumed we must be famous. If they only knew! The house was indescribable. The walls and floors were beautifully mosaiced, and the details were amazing. We ate dinner on the balcony area overlooking the pool and yard. This was my favorite evening we had.
While we were there, we had two different "excursions" planned for us. The first one was an everglades tour. It sounded like a great idea until it was scheduled on the one day that there was rain - and tornadoes. Even with our awesome yellow ponchos, we were SOAKED, and we were also completely freaked out as we sat on metal boats in the middle of the water with lightening all around. Our tour guide seemed to get a big kick out of it, though, and refused to take us back. There was talk of mutiny... We did manage to survive in spite of the pelting rain, lightening, soaking clothes and fun new hair dos. We got to see one gator, so I guess it was worth it.

The other excursion was swimming with the dolphins. We weren't allowed to bring cameras with us during it, so I wasn't able to document the fun. But we had a good time playing with dolphins in the pool.

My second favorite night was our evening spent on a yacht taking a sunset tour of the Miami coast. We had a great dinner, great drinks, and a friendly round of politics-talk with our table. The evening was finished off with dancing while the yacht dj played fun music. Throughout the night, we had to keep pinching ourselves...

The following day, after we had breakfast over looking the ocean, Chris went and played golf with several guys while I went for a massage and facial. (again, I was pinching myself!) I didn't think I could get anymore relaxed, but I managed to as I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach reading and sleeping. Yes, it was very rough.

The final night was the awards ceremony. We first met for cocktails at Lisa and Ron's condo and reminisced on what a great trip we'd all had. We then all walked over the patio where they had cocktails and a couple there salsa dancing for us to watch. The couple also attempted to teach some of group to dance, which was entertaining. We then had an amazing dinner while we listened to Chris' "big boss" talk about each one of the award winners and their accomplishments. It was a fun evening, but it was also bittersweet b/c we all knew we were going to be going back to the "real world" the next day.

It was truly an amazing trip, and probably one that we'll never be able to come close to duplicating again. We had such great experiences, met wonderful people, and were able to enjoy the time as couple... I keep telling Chris he needs to get his numbers up so we can go again next year. :)

Easter

We had a good Easter this last weekend - complete with a Sunday church service, matching clothes for the boys, and a wonderful dinner with friends that night. I had great intentions of getting some good pictures of the boys in their clothes from Mimi, and it started out well with asking Ethan to pose (I'm not sure why this is his "go to" pose!). But when we got Owen up from his nap, thing quickly digressed. He wasn't feeling it, hence the screaming in the above picture. Oh, well...

13 Months

My "Big Top" turned 13 months this past month, and he's hit some big mile stones. He's officially walking now...I encouraged it for so long, and now I am kicking myself... He's into EVERYTHING. He loves climbing up the step stool in his bathroom and getting out his tooth brush and toothpaste, and he's constantly trying to get the gate open so he can climb up the stairs. He's had two more teeth come in, and he's also experienced life away from mom and dad for 6 whole days. (he was SO mad at me when I got back) He's added some new words to his vocab, my favorites being: Batman, Ironman, and Brown Bear (his favorite book). Of course they may not sound like the actual words to an untrained ear, but I know what he's saying. :) We have an exciting spring/summer ahead. My leisurely time of sitting at the park watching the kids play is officially over.

Lions, Tigers and Cows

We went to the Gentry petting zoo/farm/safari last week with our friends the Crawfords and the Erbs. It was hard to tell if the kids were more excited about seeing the animals or just being outside on a beautiful day. (this was the day before the big blizzard hit...crazy Arkansas weather)

There were a ton of animals for the kids to feed, and the whole day went surprisingly smooth considering we have 7 little ones and a ton of wild animals. Addie did have her bow ripped from her hair by a monkey, but that was about the extent of excitement. (lucky for that monkey he was in a cage - Addie was MAD!) Ethan's favorite animal was the baby porcupine, and he enjoyed riding the camel. Owen was very excited to "moo" at the cows, and he also felt the need to tell EVERY animal we saw "bye bye". Poor Owen could hardly stand being in the stroller and watching all the big kids run around - hence the "stink face" in the above picture. Us moms realized that if we ever recover and decide to do this trip again, we need to brush up on our types of animals...the kids would ask us what they were feeding and we'd all look at each other and then pull our phones out to look it up. Yes, we're city folk!

It got quiet...

...and I got nervous. Only to find my very studious kids doing this...

Okay, so it didn't last long, but I thought it was pretty cute.

The boys had their 3 and 1 year well-check ups yesterday, and thankfully they both were deemed healthy. Ethan was in the 5th percentile of weight and 10th in height. When I asked our doctor if I should be worried about him not putting on more weight, she looked at me and asked if I was expecting to produce a linebacker! Good point. Owen still is earning the title "The Big Top"...he was 5th percentile in weight, 40th in height, and 99.98% in head size. That's right. Ginormous noggin. No wonder he wears Ethan's hats better than Ethan does!

A Spiderman Morning

This morning Ethan was Spiderman. Our super heroes vary from morning to morning, and they're largely dependent upon which super hero t-shirt or costume is readily available. Owen and I get to play whatever supporting roles that are involved...I am currently Mary Jane. Anyway, Ethan was singing the Spiderman theme song for us this morning, and I had to capture it on video. (One of my favorite parts is Owen dancing in the background. He's never lacking entertainment!)

A Trip to OK

Chris was out of town again this past week, so the boys and I headed to Oklahoma to visit my family. We spent on night in OKC at Jon and Katie's house so that I could go to Katie's baby shower. Jon won the Super-Uncle award - he watched, fed, and put to bed all four kids all by himself while Katie, my mom and I went out for a leisurely dinner before the shower. It sounded like all the kids had a blast. Jon even managed to capture some video of Jack and Ethan doing some very entertaining dancing.

We then headed to Stillwater to see Mimi and Papi, and Jack joined us for the trip. Jack and Ethan had a blast together. It was very interesting watching them be boys...every time I turned the corner they seemed to be throwing punches at each other. But, amazingly, it didn't seem to bother either one of them. They'd fight and then be fine. Apparently this is something I need to get used to? They both also seemed to attach to being "bad guys". We had to put some limits on being "bad", but before I put an end to it altogether, I had to get one picture of them both making bad guy faces.

Owen and Claire seemed to bond as second-borns. Claire was very nurturing towards Owen - something that he's really not used to from someone relatively close to his size. They kissed each other a lot and Claire was continually patting him to make sure he was okay. They were very cute together. I think I may some some tea parties in Owen's future....

It was a wonderful trip with lots of good memories made! Thanks to my family for helping me survive being a single parent!

Grandma Debbie

Grandma Debbie came last weekend to spend some time with us. She came in her amazing motorhome, and the boys thought it was the coolest thing ever. I think Ethan would have stayed on it the whole time! She even watched the boys on Saturday night for us while Chris and I went on a date. It made me wish she lived closer!

Owen's 1st Birthday!

My little man is a year old! I know I say this over and over, but it's been a total blur. He's proven to us repeatedly this past year that he is a completely different person than his brother...I'm still trying to figure the little guy out. He's seems to be extremely independent (for example, he doesn't want anyone to feed him...he wants to do it himself), but he's my cuddle bug. He's super laid back, but when when he and I have "battle of the wills" he generally wins (and that's saying A LOT!). He loves engaging people, but he's really content sitting back and watching. He's not overly talkative, but when he talks he's so loud. One similarity to his brother, though, is that he does not sit still. Ever. This year is going to be a lot of fun getting to know Owen even better and watching him experience even more "firsts"!

We had family come celebrate Owen with us, and he seemed to love observing all the chaos. He was put through "Mimi Walking Bootcamp", and while he took several steps on his own, he hasn't decided that he is going to walk quiet yet. He loved being held by his big cousins, Alex and Alyssa, and he loved drinking out of his Pa Pa's cup (as usual).

Owen seemed to be a little freaked out when everyone was staring at him in his highchair! He was slow to warm up to the cupcake, but once he got going, he was fan.

The Many Faces of Ethan

Ethan has become very fascinated with facial expressions. Mostly thanks to watching "Thomas the Train" and seeing the different faces on his super heroes. On command, he enjoys giving you the different expressions..."give me mad"..."give me sad"... His favorite is "mean" (the middle picture), and at first is was really funny to see him do it. That is until he started doing it to people when they were talking to him and he wasn't in the mood to talk back. So we've had to work on when it's appropriate to make that face (only at the bad guys?!?!). Parenting is only getting more interesting as we're trying to figure out how to guide emotions and facial expressions...in hindsight, working on "no touches" was SO much easier!

Brothers

It's amazing how quickly a picture can turn from two happy boys to one getting in trouble and the other one screaming...

11 Months Old

Owen is getting closer and closer to turning 1 years old! He's experienced many firsts in the past month like: snow, learning not to eat the yellow snow, getting a stomach bug (not related to the yellow snow), how to walk with a "walker", that bouncing to music gets crazy squeals and claps from mom and dad, and that without fail if you take an action figure of your big brother's it also gets crazy squeals (but not of the happy variety). I am loving this age. Everything is so new and it seems like he's learning something new every day. We're waiting for him to take off walking, but I know that I need to enjoy where we are now...he's already in to everything that he can cruise to!

The Best Laid Plans...

Our family has had a rough last couple weeks, and poor Ethan's birthday suffered because of it. We had planned a super hero party, and Ethan got a full Ironman costume for his gift. He got a "big boy" hair cut. Food was bought, party favors ready, the makings of a Bat Cave in process. I had my dear friend, Elizabeth, make Ethan a Batman birthday cake, and my parents picked it up on their way to celebrate with us. Unfortunately, the night before Ethan's party, he woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. The next morning Owen started. So, my parents went home and we canceled the party. I did 9 loads of laundry in the 24 hour period... All Ethan wanted to do was to eat his cake, so by the end of the day we let him have a little bite. I felt so sorry for him!

The following week, the boys and I went to Oklahoma while Chris was out of town on business. We planned on celebrating Ethan's birthday with my family then...until my mom got sick. (this is the SECOND time we've given my parents the flu!) So the boys and I packed up and headed back to AR to let her be sick in peace. My dad got sick the next day. (SORRY, parents!) Needless to say, we didn't have a family party for Ethan.

Ethan's handled it quite well. We're going to try again when the weather warms up. Until then, I am praying like crazy against all illness!

3 Years Old!

My little man turned three years old! I have felt a bit nostalgic the past week or two and have been going through pictures and journal entries of Ethan's life. It's been crazy seeing how he's changed but has yet stayed the same independent, easy going but passionate baby that he was. His single-mindedness has only increased with each year...last year we were PASSIONATE about anything and everything sports, and this year we only have super heroes on our mind. He knows every theme song to all the super heroes as well as who they are when they're not saving the world (ie: Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne). He's now trying to learn how to temper some of the passion especially when it comes to having to do things he doesn't want to do! And he's been such a good big brother to Owen. I think he can hardly wait for Owen to get bigger so they can wrestle...

He told me tonight as he was getting ready for bed that he would never marry a girl and that I was his "Mary Jane" (from Spiderman). If that doesn't melt a mom's heart, I don't know what will.

Could it be?

Could I have another little artist in the house?? Okay, so it's probably waaaay too early to tell, but a mom can dream. Owen has enjoyed standing at the easel, holding a crayon or piece of chalk, and bouncing while his hand marks the board. Of course he also enjoys dumping it all on the ground and putting an occasional piece in his mouth too...like I said, a mom can dream.

Christmas Pt 2 & Nanny

This year, Christmas with Chris' side of the family was over-shadowed with the passing of his grandmother, Wilma Sue Smither. It's still pretty surreal that she's gone. She was a strong woman who loved her family to pieces. Going to Mulberry without her there isn't going to be the same. (this is a picture of her with Debbie and Ethan last Christmas)

We did have a good time with Pa D. Owen LOVED being on the pool table. Anytime he was put on the ground, he would yell until someone would pick him up...then he'd lunge for the table. I think it's b/c he could actually see everything that was going on. He also was initiated into the grandkid's favorite past-time...drinking out of Pa D's cup. He wasn't really sure what to think of it, but he kept going back for more.

Ethan, of course, loved playing with his big cousins. He seemed to be Adam's shadow the bulk of the time we were there. This is a picture of them "rocking out" to singing dog.

Christmas Pt 1

This year was our year to spend Christmas day with the Dodson clan. We ended up going to Stillwater early to beat the "Blizzard of '09". It was fun getting my parents to ourselves for a few days and to let Ethan experience snow to its fullest. My brothers and their families arrived on Christmas day, and we had a blast eating my mom's amazing food and opening gifts. Claire, being 110% all-girl, opened her shopping cart, purse and tea set and played quietly by herself the entire time. Jack and Ethan, however, absolutely loved their knight costumes and spent the bulk of the time with Uncle Josh sword fighting. I can't remember laughing so much... Owen seemed to enjoy taking it all in and trying join in the fun. The poor guy couldn't keep up with the big guys, and since he couldn't fit into Claire's shopping cart, she wasn't all that interested in playing with him!

My parents watched the grandkids one the nights so we could all go out. We hit the Stillwater "hot spot" - the wine bar - and enjoyed good conversation and watching all the random Stillwater alums walk in the door. It was such a fun time with everyone, it left me wanting more. Which is probably a good thing...I think it means we didn't overstay our welcome...

10 Months

Man, I can't seem to keep up with the months! Owen has had another big month full of learning to pull up on to everything, starting to crawl (although his "Army crawl" is still his preferred method of getting around), and walking while someone holds his hands. You can see his frustration as his brother runs circles around him and he can't keep up. He says "momma", "da da", and "bye bye" pretty clearly. We could have sworn he said Batman last week too...oh, his big brother was so proud! Owen seemed to enjoy his first Christmas - wrapping paper was much more fun than any gift he got, of course. And he also got experience his first snow, although the closest he got was looking at it through the window. It's crazy to think that in two months we'll be celebrating his first birthday!

Train Ride

We've started another tradition this year...riding the local "Christmas Train". We met several friends and their kids for the hour long train ride that went from Springdale to Centerton (yes, very sexy). The kids seemed to love it, and I think the adults were really thankful we didn't take the three hour long ride instead! We drank hot chocolate, watched tractors and cows out the windows, and devoured tons of snacks. Good times!

(and the picture of my guys in the middle seemed to capture the moods of them all that day...oh, Ethan...)