Christmas morning...starting at 4:30am

We thought since Owen is too young to really get the "wake up early because of the excitement of Christmas morning" that we'd get to sleep in a bit.  However, little man didn't sleep very well and after waking up at 4:30 and trying for an hour to get him back to sleep, we just decided to start our morning with sleepy eyes.  (Brett and I stayed up until midnight putting together Owen's new wagon from Grandma and Papa)

Owen loves it though!

He snuggled in it, read in it, pulled it, rode in it, and was very sad after a walk that the wagon had to be left in the garage.

New magnets from santa!

Sleepy boys snuggling and having breakfast by the tree.

Merry Christmas 2009

Owen sat on Santa's lap briefly at his daycare Christmas party-giving him a good stare down.

  We're looking forward to mass this evening, Christmas morning at our house (for the first time) and celebrating the holiday in MT.  We're praying for snow too!  Wherever you are, we hope you're having a wonderful holiday with family and friends-

Merry Christmas! 

Thank God for neighbors

Yesterday morning, you could say I had a bit of a late start because of a minor and brief crisis.  Here is how it played out...

Owen and I were ready to head out the door by 7:20.  I loaded my purse, school bag and phone into the car and started it to warm it up.  I go inside, put on my coat and put Owen's hat on him and we head out to get in the car, only it's locked.  Hmmmmm.  Spare key-with Brett at work.  Landline-disconnected as of 1 year ago (remember my phone is in the car).  Skype someone??-no account set up to dial a phone and my credit card is in my purse in the warmed up car.  Use the key pad on the door to unlock the car-SORRY Dad, don't remember the number code, or where we may have written it down (probably in my purse...in the car).  So, Owen and I march up the street in the dark to find an awake neighbor.  I learned that although I love our neighborhood and our friendly neighbors, many of them are either gone for the day or not up at 7:30.  At the 4th house we tried (and  knew she was awake because I saw her through the window reading in her bathrobe) we were welcomed in by our neighbor who let us use her phone.  Owen thought it was awesome because she has two big dogs and a lot of magnets on her fridge, so that kept him busy while I called Brett, school and AAA.  Brett was already in his am meeting so I could reach him, my co-workers covered my classes for me because they are so great, and AAA said they would be there in an hour to unlock my car.  Owen and I thanked our neighbor a million times, Owen cried when we left the dogs and magnets, and we went home to wait for the nice AAA man that unlocked our car so that our morning could continue per normal.  So, I repeat, I am thankful for neighbors (especially the ones that are up at 7:30).   

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Along with an awesome Griz victory yesterday (they play in the national championship next weekend), we also got 6 inches of fluffy new snow!  This was Owen's first real experience with snow and he is a big fan.  There were a lot of "NOs" when it was time to come inside for dinner. 

Who needs a sled when you have a rubbermaid tub? 

(it also doubled as a swimming pool last summer)

Crash!  Snow is fun even in your face!

O Christmas Tree

Last Friday we ventured out to find the perfect Christmas tree-and we found it!  Christmas tree hunting is more challenging than I had ever anticipated.  First, you spot a tree from the road that looks like the size and shape that you want, but when you walk up to it, it's either 20 ft tall, two trees together, or bare on one side (or all of thee above).   However, we were very lucky and found this pine standing by itself that is the shape, fullness and size that we were hoping for so we took it home.  As it turns out, when our tree was standing in the forest with 200 ft ponderosas, it didn't look all that tall.  When we put the tree up in our house...it looks tall-about 12ft in the stand!  Good thing we have vaulted ceilings!  By the way...I love it. 

Owen is helping me put the lights on the tree.  He was not sure what to think about bringing a tree in the house (it is a little strange I guess), but he points it out and says "TREEE" a lot, so I think he likes it too.  

Climbing the ladder with Brett to get the lights on the very top of the tree.  

Light Show

Check out this light show that Brett's cousin does at his house in Fernley, Nevada.  His cousin Chad does a light show to music every year-and even did one for Halloween.  It's pretty impressive and although I have no idea how in the world you do it, I know it takes some serious programing.  Way to go Chad!  He also happens to be a metal lover, so take your pick...one show is Big Band and the other is Metal.  ENJOY!

Big Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZwB0wRNQkM
 
Metal (Eric, you should choose this one) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hbkk1nVuY

Happy Thanksgiving

Owen with his Papas-cute pic huh?!?

Tuesday night we drove to Spokane and caught a flight Wednesday morn to Portland.  We had wonderful dinners and visits with the Saris on Wednesday and then with the Roches on Thursday.  Thanksgiving morning the crew at 166 headed to the lake for a very rainy Turkey Trot-Owen fell asleep in the stroller all bundled in one of Grandma Sue's space blankets and two different kids asked why we wrapped our baby in tin foil!  We enjoyed a relaxing rest of the weekend visiting family and friends and eating great food.  Thanks Mom & Dad!

With G Sue and Auntie Connie after walking Mickey and Essay up the road.

Visiting the Rybar cousins and their dog Belle.

Owen had lots of fun playing with his awesome aunties too!

Here he is being silly with Auntie Maria

and spinning and falling with Auntie Lis!

Fall Fun

"Swing, Swing, Swing, Swing..."  Owen sings this and swings his arms back and forth when he wants to swing

Raking leaves with Dad

Playing with Dad at the bball court down the street

Thoughts and Prayers

Over the span on one week, my friend Kelly went to the doc for headaches, had an MRI, and yesterday had surgery to remove a brain tumor.  The surgery went well, and she'll be recovering for a while, but any extra positive thoughts and prayers that you could send her way (to Spokane) would be appreciated.  She is a super mom to 3 darling kids and has a great husband too.  She and I were roommates at Gonzaga and in the special ed program together.  Here is the link to her blog for more updates on her and a glimpse at their cute family.

http://thekettrickfive.blogspot.com/

Tonka commercial??

Thanks for the truck Jeff & Lindsey!  Owen is still enjoying it and will be for a long time.

The marriage wall...

I finished this project about a month ago, but it has been in my sights since Brett and I got married (four yrs ago).  I know it doesn't look like a "four years in the making" project, but, it took me that long to finally do it.  BF and I are in the middle at our wedding and on either sides of us are wedding pics of our parents and grandparents.  We feel blessed to be able to have such a symmetrical display-thanks for the great role models families!

Boxes are so fun!

Why buy any toys, when all the fun you ever wanted is in a box?  The inserts make nice bracelets, a box is a great place to sit, and a few boxes make the best drum set ever (except for uncle Eric's).

Happy Halloween!

My parents were here for the weekend and we had fun dressing up Owen and passing out candy (until our doorbell was still ringing at quarter to 10!).  Owen was two different clowns-one that Brett wore and the other that I wore.  Mya came over and the Dads took the clown and the flower to 2-3 houses on the block for trick or treating.  Owen was much more interested in wearing Mya's flower hood than she was, but they had a good time and crashed about 30 minutes later.

GIRL!

I really didn't have a preference either way, but we're excited to know that we're having a girl!  

Boy OR Girl?

I have an ultrasound on Friday so we should know then if we're having a boy or a girl!  I'll let you know...any guesses??

Dillon

I had last Thursday & Friday off so Owen and I joined Brett and Uncle Don on their hunting trip to Dillon.  I did not hunt by the way... the boys went out for antelope while Owen and I played with Aunt Sandy and Cousin Kyla.  We fed the llamas, went to the Patagonia store (there is not much in Dillon, but yes they do have a great Patagonia outlet), and jumped on the trampoline.  I'm not much for jumping these days, so Owen got in some more trampoline time when Brett got home from hunting.  He was laughs the whole time!  After 2 nights in Dillon, we came home with Brett's antelope.  I'll let you know soon how they taste!    

SNOW!

Missoula was dusted with an inch of two of snow Thursday night making our one week of fall shorter than expected.  Brett and I woke to the man on the radio saying, "...and with the snow on the ground...".  We both jumped out of bed and ran to the window to see our yard covered with fresh snow.  New snow never gets old for me.  I think it brings me back to the rare occasions in Longview when we woke to snow and knew that school would be cancelled, which meant sledding at the Country Club and chili or top ramen for lunch!  School is never cancelled in MT (except one time Brett remembers school being cancelled for freezing rain), but I still love the first snow.  The low today is 7 with a wind chill of 0...That means Owen and I will listen to the Griz game on the radio and won't be going to the homecoming parade.  Brrrrrr!  

Glacier Park (also last month)

We also went camping in Glacier to soak up the last of the warm weather.  

If you haven't been to Glacier-it's beautiful and we would be happy to host anyone that may need a pit stop in Missoula on their way to the park (about 2ish hrs).  OR we may just want to go with you!  This is a little lake we hiked into on the first day.
This is our little camper!  The headband...well, Owen found it while we were packing and wanted to wear it.  He wore it in the car, through his nap, on our hike and while helping with the fire.  Awesome huh?

We stopped a few times on our way home for only very important things...like ham and ice cream.  I was in back with Owen halfway supervising him while he devoured his kiddie cone and also savoring my blizzard.  He was a pretty messy little fella.  As for the ham...as long as Brett has been a part of the Sari fam, my Grandpa (Papa Bill), has raved about Montana Ham and orders them every year from a small town near Flathead Lake.  Living in MT we have not heard anything about the famous ham, but driving along Flathead on our way home the name of a town jumped out at me.  I told Brett that I think it's where the ham comes from, and jokingly I said, "If we see a big sign in this tiny town that says HAM, we have to stop.".  About 1/2 mile later we saw it (the sign in the pic) and pulled over to buy a ham.  Sure enough, after talking to Papa 10 minutes later, it is a Montana ham from Rollins, MT that he loves so much.  That day also happened to be his birthday! 

Weekend in Woodinville

Okay, so this weekend was really last month, but I didn't want to leave out the end of September... 

playing uncle Eric's drums
Christy and Cassie=super fun babysitters

Here are some pics of our weekend in Woodinville for Drew & Emily's wedding.  We had a nice visit with Maria, Eric and my parents, and the wedding was beautiful!  Owen had some of the hottest babysitters ever while we all enjoyed the wedding and reception.  Thanks Cassie and Christy!

Tube Day

We recently met with an ENT doc and decided that Owen should get tubes in his ears.  Today was the big day!  We literally rolled him out of bed and were at the surgery center at 6:45 am.  I was crossing my fingers that he slept until we had to leave because he couldn't eat or drink anything as of midnight last night.  He happens to take after me and wants to eat at soon as he rolls out of bed, but we headed straight for the car and he did great.  After viewing the fish in the waiting room (very exciting), we went back and met the wonderful nurses and doctors that did the 5 minute surgery.  They gave him a yummy little drug that made him loopy so he had no problem being taken away from us.  I was just about to find a good article in the waiting room when the doctor came out and said they were done.  He was still a little nutty and having trouble holding his head up when we got to see him, but in no time at all we were home.  We're snuggling and watching movies now and he seems to be himself! 

Here is our little patient in his hospital pjs!

Due in March!

If you haven't seen me lately to wonder if i've gained 10lbs...I have because (well, I like to say it's because of this) I'm 4 months pregnant with #2!  We've been a little slow to get the word out so i'm sorry about the late blogging.  Anyway, the due date per the first ultrasound is March 5th.  So, in my head, I do the math based on Owen's date of birth and +10days to equal a due date of around March 15th.  We'll see how fast this baby feels like entering the world though!  I have another ultrasound in a few weeks to find out if we're having a boy or girl, so I'll keep you posted!

Yay Labor day!

Owen and I enjoyed our Monday morning off (although I would have opted to sleep in past 5:58) so I thought I'd share some of the fun...

I got out of the shower to see this...hmmm, where's Owen?

I found him!  He loves emptying the laundry and is apparently pretty good at TPing too!

He also found a red tank of mine that he put on and wore for the rest of the morning-we'll try not to make borrowing mom's clothes a habit!

After ditching the red tank, we headed out to feed the ducks with Sarah and Syd.  Syd was more into making sandwiches for herself and watching the ducks.  Owen threw bites in the water for a while, but then thought eating it was a better idea too.  Sarah and I had fun feeding the ducks though!

Zucchini bread anyone?

Paul stayed a night with us on his way back to Indiana to start the school year-and brought us this huge zucchini from Stephanie's garden (his girlfriend).  Owen wasn't sure what to think of it, but we've grilled some of it and made 6 loaves of zucchini bread so far.  I shredded some and froze it, so we can still make 4 more loaves!!  That is one big veggie!  Thanks Steph!  And thank you Paul, it was so fun to visit with you!

Breakfast with Uncle Paul...eggs, toast and plums from Papa Bill's tree!

huge zucchini