Owen turned 3 on December 21st. I will never forget that first glimpse of his quivering lip! The nurse said “oh boy, watch out for that pouty lip”.  His round little face. His new baby smell. His daddy passing out just after his birth. His flipping and flopping inside me going breech and back to head down and back again. We were hooked up to an IV on December 19th for a c-section but the snow storm blew into Northern Virginia as Owen decided to flip head down so we were unhooked and sent home to wait out the storm.  That silly boy.  He was born a few days later via C-section because he went back to breech. The swine flu had broken out so we weren’t allowed to have visitors except for my mom, sister-in-law and a friend. Jackson couldn’t come meet his brother…which at the time was so sad but meant we spent lots of time resting and cuddling those first days! Owen has had quite an adventurous life with a move to Switzerland at 6 month, lots of travels and then another big move at 2 1/2.  He may be the younger brother but he is doing his best to at least make as big a presence as his older brother.  His favorite things to say are “yea, that’s right”, “hi guys”,  “and then…and then…”. His favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…correctly pronounced as “peanujelly sanwich”.

For his birthday this year we kept it to just family. My parents had flown in from Texas for Christmas and my brother and his family live about 25 mins away with my two nieces and nephew so it was a crowd! Our friend Bonnie also joined in on the fun.  Owen requested a fire man birthday party and we just so happen to have a fire station around the corner from our house.  We took the kids over for a tour of the station and then came back to the house for dinner, presents and dessert.

the kids colored at the table while we pulled dinner together. We served giant hot dogs and chili with fixings so people could have chili or make a chili cheese dog,  We also served loaded baked potato dip with chips and fruit.

Owen didn’t remember opening gifts from last year so he was pretty comical. He kept telling people not to look and then when he had a gift opened he would lift it above his head and yell triumphantly “here it is”.

the cake tasted great but was by far not my most creative creation. The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting which worked well per Owen’s request for a red cake. The flames on the chandelier might have been Owen’s favorite and accompanied by the red table cloth were my minimal attempt to make the house look appropriately dressed for a Fire Man party and not Christmas.

Happy Birthday little man!

Merry Christmas to all of you!  We started our marathon with a birthday party for Owen on Sat, followed by a baby shower Sunday, Christmas eve on Monday and the big shebang yesterday. We have had a merry time but I won’t lie, this extrovert has been stretched if that ever was possible. We are all tired and using this day to re-coop and enjoy the surprise snow!  My parents arrive this afternoon to stay at our house. We are planning a less exciting and lower calorie few days before they have to head back to Texas

Before I jump in to pictures of our holiday festivities I thought I would share a few holiday superlatives!

Most applicable book

I won’t be shocked if someone writes on here that this book doesn’t exist in real life and appeared miraculously for our family. Jackson came home with this from the library and as I read it I laughed out loud. Grab The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. This child, Teeka, is supposed to train the reindeer for guiding the sleigh and they are wild and keep fighting and locking antlers. Teeka realizes that she continues to lose her patience and raise her voice and that doesn’t help the reindeer obey. So she determines to not yell and the reindeer begin to obey her. Hmmm. If that isn’t a Christmas miracle I don’t know what is.

Most likely to cancel each other out?! 

the chia and flax seeds are camping out on top of the Christmas cookie tins. Hmmm. I just gave in to adding the seeds to yogurt and oatmeal, but I haven’t totally given up the tin contents. Is that like ordering fries and a diet coke?

Most likely to be treasured forever

Jackson gave us the first gift of the season. He made this pinch pot in his class. I love that he used his little fingers to craft each part. It was wrapped in crumpled tissues paper and a little frayed piece of red yarn, such sweetness.

Least likely to stand still award

Owen performed a few Christmas songs with his bible study class. I hadn’t really prepped him for the performance but for those of you that know Owen I was fully expecting him to be jumping off the stage, calling out about going to the bathroom…instead he held his hands together and stood perfectly still, and he didn’t sing a single word. He did flash a few smiles!

Most comical Bedtime song

Silent Night…they just aren’t so silent around here. Between casts and dreams and earning stars on sleep charts we are just in a funny season of life. Sure glad the stable was silent and baby Jesus didn’t make a peep but mine sure make a peep.

Most memorable Christmas gift of Christmas past!

tiredest elf

Best Joke-ster Award

Santa brought Jackson a joke kit and he was cracking himself up all day. PopPop was the recipient of the bug ice cube!  and we’ve all got snapped fingers from his gum offers!

Most Helpful Husband

Seth and I hosted a Christmas eve buffet for our family and my sister-in-law’s family. He worked all day with me to pull it off!

Most unexpected treat!

snowy day!

Biggest Christmas surprise of 2012!

my little brother is going to be a daddy in June!

Hope you all are enjoying a cozy holiday season!