Happy St. Patrick's Day

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Grandpa Joe and GiGi invited us all over to their place

to watch the river being dyed and hang out for a little while.  We didn't make it quite

in time to see the river, but we had lots of fun spending time together.

 Thank you for the great day!!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

 

Puddle Jumper

Another 50 degree day, another walk outside with the stroller.

I had been dreaming all winter about the day when I could finally get back outside to walk,

so I'm taking full advantage whenever I get the chance.  The one downside is there are

puddles all over the place which makes for a messy walk.  I made the mistake a few days

ago of dressing Owen in his regular shoes.  Now that Owen is more vocal, he lets me know

exactly what he wants.  That meant that as soon as we were a few blocks into our walk I

heard the repeating chorus of "Walk, walk, walk, walk..." until I addressed his obvious

request to get down and walk.  We returned home with sopping wet pants, shoes and socks.

This time I was a little smarter.  Knowing full well what was in store for us I put Owen in his

fancy little rain boots.  Without fail a few blocks in I started hearing "walk, walk, walk, walk..."

I put him down and he took off sprinting towards the first puddle he saw.

Owen walked close to a mile in his rain boots, stomping in every puddle along the way.

When he got bored with the puddles, he searched the ground for sticks to play with.

  And we finished our walk meeting up with his cousin Ruby, 

or "Bee-boo" as Owen now refers to her.

 After all of that fun in his rain boots, somehow we still ended up returning home with sopping wet pants and socks, but it was well worth it.  We love you Spring!!

 

TV Buddies

Every now and then everyone needs to unwind with a little TV.

Much to Joe's delight, he is now big enough to share the kid's couch 
with his older brother while doing so.

Finally!!

It was finally warm enough and the sidewalks were finally clear enough to get outside for a

walk with the stroller.  I have been waiting the past 4 months for this day to come!

 And with the temperature in the 50s, it gave Owen some fun puddles to run through.

Too bad we're expected to get snow tonight.  What?!?  Spring, quit teasing us!

 

Thumb Sucker

It looks like we are going to have a little thumb sucker on our hands.

 

 

 

Mall Walking

The longer winter drags on, the more creative we need to be with our activities to keep

Owen busy.  Our most recent new hobby...mall walking.

 

You may laugh, but it is awesome!  We get there around 10:00 AM before all of the

stores open.  It is still fairly empty, except for our fellow mall walkers, 

and Owen can just run until his little heart is content.

He goes up the ramps,

 down the ramps,

 stops a few times to check out the scenery,

then up the escalator and down the stairs,

 And at last, time to rest.

 By the time he has run off all of his extra energy, the stores are open and he is more than

happy to ride in the stroller while Ryan and I look in a few stores before we head home.

It is the perfect Sunday morning activity during these long winter months.

Little Jumpers

Dear Old Man Winter,

You may beat us down with your below zero temperatures, endless piles of snow, 

force us to stay inside day after day with no end in sight, but this mama has 

one last trick up her sleeve....

 Say hello to the newest addition in our basement

 Now even though we might be stuck inside for a few more weeks,

Owen can jump, jump, jump and burn off all that pent up energy.  :)

And while Joe saw Owen jumping he decided he wanted to get in on the fun, so we let him

try out his jumper for the first time.  Looks like I have two happy jumpers on my hands.