Owen's Christmas Concert - This Little Light of Mine

Owen's Christmas Concert-Little Christmas Trees

45 Month Update

Owen is seeing the world through rose colored glasses...well at least he was for 24 hours. Owen got his glasses last week. He looked adorable in his thin metal black frames and did pretty good at keeping them on his face and not thrown into a corner of his room. I wouldn't go as far to say that he enjoyed wearing them but he did surprisingly well for a three year old who was told now he has to wear glasses everyday from here on out. But less then 24 hours on the way out of school he managed to smash his face into the gate breaking his glasses and forcing us to make a trip back to the eye doctor exactly 24 hours since we picked them up. So needless to say he got out of wearing them for a whole week because they had to be reordered. I know he is a smart kid...but is he smart enough to know the consequences or should I say benefit of taking a small blow to the face on the gate outside of school? Hmmmmm.

Owen also got his first real haircut this month. We brought him to the salon we go to and our friend Krista gave him a real nice cut. It doesn't look too different but I figured something had to be done because every time I put his hockey helmet on him he would complain that his hair was in his eyes. This could not be, so I had to bring him in to get his locks chopped. He sat like a gentleman and was given a bag of old Halloween candy afterwards so he didn't seem to mind too much!

The Fall Season seemed to have lasted 2 seconds but we made the most out of it. The leaves changing color was breathtaking, we managed to hike down to the river and go fishing one day - Owen was an all star hiker and walked the majority of the 45 minute walk both ways, and I spent one afternoon on a horse up in the mountains...which I loved! So I guess it is now time for Winter...boooooo....

Darren dislocated his knee in hockey so our house has been a nursing station for the past two weeks. Owen has been a great doctor and on many occasions has given Darren his favorite teddy bear to make him feel better. The other day I came out of the bedroom and found Darren lying on the couch with about 15 teddy bears in all shapes and sizes surrounding him. I think it did make him feel a little bit better!

One of my best friends Deralyn came to visit this past weekend. She must really love me because she sat on a plan for many hours, rented a car and drove what took her 4 hours both ways on snowy mountain roads. She was originally supposed to come here in July but it turned out her trip was pushed back to mid November and of course we already got our first snowfall here the day before she arrived. So needless to say we broke her into Canadian living immediately! It was so nice to have her here and Owen loved her fun and energetic personality. We miss her already!

We are looking forward to our visit with Aimee and the boys! Can't wait to have so much fun with them!

Happy Turkey Day to all you Americans!

xoxo

Biderman

Zooming around

Gramps and Owen Skating

We are improving

Playing Hot-Cotch

Darren's friend Fricke is always a good time

44 Month Update

What a gentleman we have on our hands. One afternoon as Grammo and I were walking out the door Owen ran in front of us asking us to wait, he wiggled his way in front of the door so that he could open it up for us. After he got the door opened he waved his hands in front of him and said,"After you ladies". We BOTH got a big kick out of that. Not quite sure where he picked that one up, but that is something that will keep the girls thinking!

Grandma had her knee replacement surgery last month and is doing great. Owen and I called her to see how she was feeling and Owen said, "Mom I want to talk." So I gave bossy the phone and he said, "How are you feeling Grandma? How is your knee?" Grandma said, "I'm doing OK." Owen then asked, "Did Papa hold your hand?" The last comment is what really got us all...how totally and completely sweet is that? I think that made Grandma's knee instantly feel a little better!

We spent a weekend in Vancouver and braved the long 7 1/2 hour drive into the big city. It was amazing to both Darren and I on how living in a small town can quickly change your thoughts about big city life! We have both quickly come to the realization that traffic SUCKS. I honestly do not think that I could sit in a daily commute to work an hour each way again in my life! But besides the traffic, that in reality was not that bad, we had a nice time. We got to visit with Aunt Colleen, Uncle Al, Ashley and Travis, all of Darren's Vancouver friends and we brought Owen to the Aquarium which he totally loved. On the car ride home Owen got car sick an hour before we got home, which lets just say....made the trip memorable.

It is that time of year again. Skating season has begun and we took Owen twice this weekend. I am sure his bum was a little sore with all the contact it made with the ice. He is a little rusty but looks like we are going to make some good progress this year. The whining was kept to a minimum, a smile was on his face but the bribe of hot chocolate after skating was still a must...some things will never change!

I was just going to post this update and I looked over at Owen. He is standing on the couch with a blanket around his shoulders and arms. He said, "Mom, how about this. Pretend I am a bird and these are my wings. I could "fwap" my wings and fly off the couch". I said, "Well that sounds like a lot of fun but the problem is that you are really not a bird and those really aren't your wings, and the distance from the couch to the floor looks mighty high." He said, "That's OK mom, I can just "fwap" my wings and everything will be OK." So he "fwaped" and ended up unscathed but sounded like he almost went through the floor and ended up in the basement. I plucked his wings after that, no more "fwapping" for him.

Halloween is almost here, Owen is going to be "Biderman" this year. He is looking forward to trick or treating and legally getting to eat candy without his mom and dad telling him he can only have one treat a day....which by the way never really is adhered to!

43 Month Update

Well the end to summer doesn't get much better then spending a perfect week at Christina Lake with both of our parents. The weather more then cooperated providing us day after day of 90 degree sun soaking sunshine during the day and cooling off in the morning and evenings. We spent the mornings eating a late breakfast, the afternoons living off the dock swimming, boating, kayaking, fishing and the evenings eating a delicious dinner on the outside patio followed by a fire in the firepit on our beach. Owen had the best time jumping of the dock, swimming in his life jacket, tube riding, night swimming with his dad, catching minnows, playing dock baseball hitting the balls into the water and kayaking for the first time. Check out the video of Owen's mad kayaking skills, he picked it up like a pro! Papa and Grandma just left, and we miss them already. We had a great visit and look forward to the next one.

Owen started "gool" (preschool) this week and needless to say he loves it. I dropped him off on the first day and he immediately spotted the room with a million trains and their tracks. The room quickly filled up with 3 other boys all trying to strategically get their hands on the trains they wanted. I asked Owen for a kiss goodbye and he blew me a kiss. I said, "No way, you get up and give me a kiss goodbye!" He struggled with the fact that he had to get up and give his mom a kiss and possibly give up his space as train conductor at Union Station. But he did it by quickly running over to me, gave me a flyby kiss and hug and jumped back into his spot by the tracks still able to keep a hold of all the trains he started with. So it was a win win situation.

His teacher said that Owen is a very active boy and seems to be very happy, social and energetic. She had to laugh when the kids were given a bunch of buckets filled with water and paint brushes. They pretend to paint masterpieces on the outside of the building. With 18 kids in his class there was not enough paintbrushes for all the kids to start off. So Owen patiently waited for his turn to paint as he held onto the bucket of water he was given with all his might. The teacher eventually said, "OK no more water" and Owen quickly surveyed his surrounding areas and noticed a little girl with an empty bucket and paintbrush. He went up to her, using his top notch negotiating skills and said, "I don't think you need your paint brush anymore since you do not have any water, so can I have it?" The girl agreed and the teacher laughed, saying, "Wow what a negotiator!"

Owen also has been telling everyone he sees that he will be going to three "ghools", 1 ghool is Sunshine (the one he goes to), the 2nd ghool is the big school (the high school) and the 3rd ghool is the one that Aidan and Anson (his friends) go to which is kindergarten. Needless to say he will only be attending one ghool, I told him to hold tight a few years for the high school ghool, momma can't handle that right at this moment!

Hope you are all enjoying the final days of summer. Love you all!

Yea...I can kayak too

42 Month Update

The weather has been beautiful here in sunny Trail, or as Owen calls it, "Trail, BC Canada". We have been taking full advantage of the nice weather. We went camping with a few friends and their kids up to Champion Lakes campground which is a great place only 30 minutes away. Owen got to play with his friends, 4 other boys and go on some "A-ventures" right behind our campsite. There was a huge forest with fallen trees, small creeks and lots of places to explore! I also took Owen for two days to Christina Lake with my friend Steph and her daughter Karis. We spent the two days in the water absorbing up the summer sun and using up a bottle or two of sunscreen. Owen got really good at jumping off the dock and swimming to the ladder. I think he even surprised himself! Darren, Owen and I just got back from a short stay in Kewlona, which is the next "big city" close to us. We stayed in a hotel and it felt like we were royalty when comparing it to two nights of camping and peeing outside with no toilet paper! We spent the days at the great beaches, played in the city parks, swam in the hotel pool (check out the video below), ate a really nice dinner and enjoyed a quick melting ice cream cone down by the water.

We have spent the majority of the summer in some form of water and this did not stop when it came to this weekend. Darren and I just celebrated our 5 year Anniversary kayaking in Slocan Lake. We had such an awesome day in the water, and laying out on the rocks in the warm sunshine. We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Owen is growing up quickly and has been such a sweet and loving boy to be around. He is super cuddly and loves his mom and dad. Every once in awhile, he will just look at me and say, "I love you mom" and my heart just melts. Let's hope that this loving feeling lasts a lifetime and he always thinks I am such a cool and lovable mom! I don't see why this should change, do you?

We are looking forward to the visit from my mom and dad, they get here in a few days! We have been counting down the number of sleeps until they arrive.

Pool shark

Look at me...I am a fish

41 Month Update

The summer is moving along way to quickly for my liking, but as always we are making the most out of our days and weekends. While enjoying an ice cream cone on the first warm summer evening up at the Kool Treat in Christina Lake, Owen decided to show us how many swear words he has saved for a rainy day in his "swear bank". This is how it went down. As a McCarthy, ones daily conversation usually contains a few swear words to really get your point across. Darren without even realizing looks at his ice cream cone, feels the warm summer air around him and said, "Wow, this is f'n good." Owen similar to that of an excited parrot just learning how to talk repeated back in a rather loud voice, "This is f'n good". He got so excited by our reaction of hysterically laughing that he decided he had to stand on the chair and repeat it louder two more times so other people around us could hear how f'n good the ice cream and the first warm summer evening was up at Christina Lake. If that wasn't enough, Owen must of felt that it was open swear season, since he was able to say the one swear word without getting reprimanded he better take the opportunity to tell us what else he knew. Owen again in a rather loud voice, muffled by our laughter then said, "I will kick your ass dad". The swears and the laughter ended quickly after that, but the smile did not leave our face for a few days.

I asked Owen to clean up his toys so we could get going to a birthday party. He started to clean them up then came up to me and said , "Mom, I don't think I can finish cleaning up my toys. My cheeks are going to get red and then I am going to have to rest." Hmmmm, I hope the kid takes after his dad and not his mom when it comes to exercise!

But speaking of exercise, I redeemed my lack of sweaty workouts in my past with a crazy 7.5 hour hike up a very, very tall mountain while Aimee, Dayne and Chad were visiting. We hiked up Old Glory which is the highest peak in the Rossland Ranges. The intense hike that has left me nearly crippled the next morning was a total of 17km, 1000m gain and took us 7.5 hours to complete. 4 hours up, sometimes straight up to probably one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my life. It felt like you were on top of the world. After we shared some victory high fives and a packed lunch we headed back down the steep path which took us 3.5 hour. Going up is really, really tough but going down really, really hurts. Needless to say we were all pretty sore the next morning! But we did it, and can check it off our bucket list.

We had a great time with Mi-Mi, Dayne and Chad and Owen already missed them like crazy. We packed a lot of fun things into the 10 days when they were here which included camping, hiking, berry picking, hot springs, beach day, swimming in the freezing cold Columbia River, and some nice meals! Owen went to bed at night saying how he missed his Mi-Mi, Dayne and Chad, and I couldn't agree more....so hurry back!

Swimming at Ainsworth

Fishing at Davis Creek

Tubing at Christina Lake - Owen is in the middle seat

Our new Palamino Yearling Tent Trailer

40 Month Update

A Happy Mother's Day from the last blog update to a Happy Father's Day for this blog update. Owen and I made Darren a nice breakfast and bought him a special blown up photograph shown in the photos above and Owen made a picture with the word Dad spelled out in almost perfect penmanship to hang on the wall. Our weekends have also been consumed with camping trips, as we recently purchased a tent trailer/pop up camper. We absolutely love it so far and have many other camping weekends booked for the summer. Owen loves to be outdoors, go on "adventures" through the forests, throw rocks in the lakes, catch minnows with his dad and eat smores with his mom by the campfire. We saw the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen, I swear we could see the pot of gold and a little leprechaun on the one side! Darren and Owen also caught their first fish of the season at Davis Creek campground. Owen was very excited and Darren had to remind him not to poke his eyeballs out when he tried to help get the hook out of his mouth! This weekend Owen experienced his first tube ride at Christina Lake, which of course he absolutely loved! He has also taken the luxury of being able to pee freely wherever and whenever he wants back home with him. For example, we were playing out in the side yard and Owen had to pee so he dropped his pants and wrote his name in the grass. Of course he had impeccable timing...the soccer game down the street just ended, so he had many spectators driving down our block just in time to catch a glimpse!

I asked Owen the other day what we should get Papa for Father's Day and he said, "Mom, I know, I have a good idea, we should get him a garbage truck, a cement mixer, flowers and some gum." I thought those were all brilliant ideas, ones that I probably would not have thought about ever getting my Dad for Father's Day. So we decided to go with the cement mixer, Dad we hope you like it! It should be arriving sometime soon via UPS.

Owen has a new big boy bike, one that actually fits him and his growth spurt (he is sooooo big now). We had to buy him a 16 inch bike. He got to pick one out from Gerrik's, the sporting store in Trail. He got a new Norco Scorpian. It is a pretty sweet ride and he cruises around on it all over our neighborhood. He makes sure to tell all the neighbors that he can ride super fast on his new bike. During one of our bike rides he found a small silver screw on the ground. He said, "Hey Mom stop. I found something." He pulled over, got off his bike and picked up the screw. He said, "Wow, look what I found. What is it for?" I said, "I don't know, what do you think it could have been used for?" Owen said, "Hmmmm, I don't know, I think we need to go home and investigate." I couldn't help but smile...investigate? Too cute!

The weather is finally warming up. The other day Owen and I were playing outside in his blow up pool. We were laying on the cushions in the sun. Owen looks over at me with his hands behind his head and says, "Mom it sure is a beautiful warm summer day". I couldn't agree with him more!

Jumping in Puddles

Owen and the Baby Chicks by Aunty Deb and Uncle Gary's

39 Month Update

Wow let me tell you we are super busy. Darren and I signed Owen up for swimming lessons and soccer. He absolutely loves both and looks forward to it each week. His swim class is on Monday and Wednesday mornings and there are 3 three year old boys in his class. Last class I think the young teacher, Miss Nicole, realized what a pain in the butt 3 three year olds can be, especially when you get them in close quarters of each other with access to pool water which can be used for splashing. Owen has become a really good swimmer and will easily dunk his entire head under the water, blow bubbles and follow along with the instruction of the teacher, the other two kids in his class are still not so sure they want to be there!

Soccer is on Thursdays and there are about 35 3 and 4 year olds. It is pure chaos but the cutest thing you would ever witness. The kids start by dribbling the ball from one side to the other and then the second half they split up the group into 3 and 4 year olds and the actually play a game. Owen is pretty good and gets right up there, trying to kick the ball in the right direction and to keep it away from the other hungry soccer monsters that surround him! On the first day of practice our sugar motivated son went up to Coach Sid and said, "Hey Coach, Hey Coach, do we get any popsicles after this!", Coach Sid couldn't help but laugh. Owen's last practice scored 5 goals, he basically did not have too much competition because on the 3 year old side we lose participants by the minute, a three year olds attention span lasts only so long, especially when they would all rather be playing in the park they can see in the distance.

To give you a glimpse inside a three year old boys imagination can be shown by what they would wish for given the option of three pennies and a wishing well. We went for lunch at this great Mexican restaurant and there was a wishing well, I gave Owen three pennies and told him he had three wishes. He walked up with his first penny and I heard him say, "I wish, I wish for a dinosaur." He came back to tell us what he wished for. Twenty minutes later after lunch he got his second penny. He came back and told us that he wished for a monster. And right before leaving he got his last penny for his last wish. I was standing next to him and he said holding his penny, "I wish, I wish for ummmm, I wish for a baby giant." With that said his three wishes were spent on things that are very near and dear to a three year old boys heart...dinosaurs, monsters and baby giants....baby giants???? who knows!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and my two boys took really good care of me. Darren and Owen made me a great breakfast and gave a beautiful mini rose flower pot in a small ceramic watering can and of course a tear jerker of a card. We had a nice dinner with Mo and Dan and then Darren, Owen and I spent the evening fishing together down by the river. We didn't catch any fish but Owen played and played for 3 hours casting his Toy Story fishing rod into the water until his fake fish fell off the line, throwing rock after rock into the water, hunting for sticks that could be used to search for buried treasure and rounding up the evening with pretending rocks where race cars and trains. He can play for hours with no complaint. We got home at 9:00pm and he would have stayed out longer!

We have began to enjoy the great outdoors of British Columbia and ventured out to both Syringa and Kokanee Creek Provincial Park for a night or so of tent camping. We had a great time and the scenery cannot be beat! Owen likes sleeping in a tent if he has the luxury of a portable DVD player to watch his movie before bedtime, oh how times have changed, it is so 2011. Note to parent of a three year old when taking him camping: Make sure the portable DVD player is fully charged when it is time to play his video in hopes he will stay in the tent while you and your husband enjoy conversation and the fire you just made. When it is not charged, you will not be enjoying conversation, fire or anything for that matter! Take a look at the videos below, Owen found a few funny gophers to chase around in the morning in Syringa. It was just like what you would picture gophers to be like in a cartoon setting!

Missing you all very much! Lots of love sent your way!

Gopher Chasing

Adorable Gigi and Owen (1 year) video

Gone fishing

Back float at swimming lessons

Riding the motorcycles at Silver City Days

Owen's First Day of Soccer-He is waering blue with a blue hat

38 Month Update

Grandma and Papa visited us for a week, and we had a really nice visit. We did not want them to leave and can't wait for them to come back. We were pretty busy showing them first hand all of Owen's activities. We spent a morning up at Red Mountain and Papa got to watch Owen ski the slopes. He did such a good job, the best all season. He really got into the "Pizza" and was even starting to turn trying to avoid having to ski into Darren's arms. (Little stinker) They also made it to the last night of skating for the season and got to see Owen skate around the ice like a pro with and without the bar. We spent a sunny afternoon outside riding bikes, gooters and playing hockey and baseball. Owen gave Papa a few pointers on how to improve his game and also an afternoon at the aquatic center swimming and splashing at the pool! So all in all it was a busy week in "The Day in the Life of Owen McCarthy". I think they enjoyed it!

Steve, Mel, Morgy and Jack have also been visiting for the month of April and we have spent a lot of quality time with them. The kids play sooooo good with one another and I think truly missed each other and all of us. It has been so nice to have them here.

We have had some classic Owen moments throughout the past month, here are some I would like to share with you...

Owen and I were visiting my friend Sarah, her husband Chris and their two year old son Thane. The boys were playing in the basement and Chris sat both boys up on the bar stools at their bar. Chris asked the boys what they wanted to drink and Owen looked at Chris and said, "I'll have a beer" Chris laughed, and said, "Well I think we ran out of beer the other day." Owen looked at him and Chris said you could tell he was thinking of something. Owen said, "Well I am a customer, I guess I will have a juice box." Needless to say they all got a big kick out of the very witty 3 year old comment, but next time give the kid a beer, he is a customer after all!

Darren and I put Owen down to sleep for the night and he was laying in his bed, so not sleeping, chatting away to himself. Darren was watching game 1 Chicago vs. Vancouver, which obviously was not going our way, so there was some yelling from the living room couch. Owen felt the need to speak his mind yelling from his room, "Hey Dad, can you be a little quieter please?" Darren obliged and I think that made Owen giggle in his bed...just a little!

Owen and I shared another cool British Columbia experience and drove down to the Hugh Keenleyside Dam near Castelgar to be part of releasing some juvenile White Sturgeon back into the waters. Owen got to release two and I got to release one as well. He did great and of course was not scared by the way these prehistoric fish look with hard bony bodies and a not so appealing face with catfish like whiskers on the underside of his body. He picked them right our of the bucket, looked at them and sailed them away into the deep blue abyss. Take a look at the video below, I was able to capture the moment....imagine that!

Releasing the Sturgeon

Well versed in my National Anthems

Last Day of Skiing

The letter C

While driving in the car my 3 year old said, "Mommy look there is a letter "C" in the clouds up in the sky. I looked up and there definitely was a PERFECT letter C in the clouds, up in the sky. I just love this kid! :)

Owen bowling

37 Months

Whoever coined the term Terrible Twos, should be shot. Because the Terrible Twos have NOTHING on the Torturous Threes. Owen has been testing the waters and trying to figure out his limits on pretty much anything and everything. He likes to see how far he can take things before the veins start to bulge out of my neck and my nostrils begin to flare! There have been many an incident on removing Owen from a playdate situation due to hitting, not sharing, yelling etc. I have become really good at being that mom that can yell at her son very quietly yet ferociously under her breath to get her point across. Though I LOVE that our son is a very energetic and spirited kid and would never wish him to be a quiet and shy toddler, he sure is making me work at this "Mom" thing on a daily basis. We are hoping this is just a fun phase that he will soon shake..for my sake, sooner then later! Though there are some hard parts to the day it is always surrounded by some really awesome parts, that makes up for everything above. Owen is a very thoughtful boy, has a kind heart and says some really funny and cute things.

The weather has been looking up and the sun has been gracing us with its presence. We took advantage of the spring like conditions and Owen and I went to wash the car and vacuum the 6 month old cracker crumbs, raisins, dried up fruit snacks and lost pieces of "O" bars in the great abyss of his car seat and the surrounding areas. And boy did it need it! In the mean time Owen got to pretend to drive the car while I vacuumed and somehow pressed a "special" button to turn on the anti-theft system in our car. Thus the car did not start when we wanted to leave. I was not happy but Owen told me, "Mom, I know what to do. We can just buy a new car!". What a stellar idea, and I wish things could have been that easy! Oh to be 3 years old! I magically got the car started after 10 minutes of cursing under my breath and reading the car manual.

We have been frequenting Darren's hockey games and Owen has of course made two new friends. Their names are Paige and Graydon. They are the kids of a guy on Darren's team. They spend the hour running around the rink, going up and down the stairs and eating the required microwave popcorn that Owen has to bring to each game so he can share with his friends. Owen also likes to test the limit and jump down each individual stair and give me a minor heart attack each time he does since they are cement stairs...and a lot of them. I told him the other day to stop jumping and he looks at me and says, "Sorry Mom, I can't. I have to do my exercises." Haha...how do you argue with that?

We were just talking with Owen about babies and asked him if he wanted a brother or sister if we had another baby. He told Darren, Dad you have to have a "brudder" in your belly because you are a boy and mom you have to have a "sisser" because you are a girl. But they wont know how to talk because they are babies." Darren asked, Are you going to teach them how to talk?" Owen replied, " I don't know how." and gave a sad face. So needless to say if we have another boy in the future, Darren is going to have to give birth to him because he is a boy. Sounds A-OK by me.

I celebrated my 35th birthday yesterday and got to spend the morning and afternoon with my favorite guy Owen at the park, had a great dinner with my other favorite guy and sang and danced the night away with a few girlfriends at karaoke night at a local bar. All in all it was a great day and it started out with a very cute moment. My birthday morning Owen woke up and came into my room. He said, "Mom guess what, it is your birthday! Hold on I will be right back, I have to go check sumptim." He proceeded to fly out of the bedroom, around the corner and into the living room in hopes to see the room decorated with a Toy Story theme and a handful of presents on the dining room table. I heard him say, "Oh No" and he ran back into our room and said, "Oh mommy, you don't have any presents...I'm going to have to call daddy." I couldn't help but laugh. I had to expain to him that when you are old birthday presents are better spent on a nice dinner and glass of wine. Of course he didn't get it and was wondering why I didn't get a Buzz Lightyear bicycle to celebrate my big day!

Grandma and Papa are coming in 5 days for a visit! We are sooooo looking forward to seeing them!

Owen is a customer at the McCarthy Store

Welcome to the McCarthy Store

Running laps in between periods at the Smokies Game

Friend Day at Gymnastic Class

Gone fishing, for boots, tigers...

Skating without the bar

3 Years Old

Three years ago, our lives changed with the birth of our baby boy Owen Daniel McCarthy. The past three years he has brought an abundance of smiles, love and laughter to our family and friends and continues to do so with his non stop energy and attention grabbing personality. Darren and I threw a Toy Story themed birthday party for him and it was a smashing success. The day was filled with games, crafts, good food and fun. Owen started the party with a Sheriff Woody costume complete with cowboy hat, cow print vest, red bandanna and sheriff badge and ended the day with a costume change into Buzz Lightyear. A party is not a party without a costume change!

Owen received a lot of wonderful gifts which Darren and I have been forced into playing with! We now have access to the complete Toy Story product line and have become well versed in all the Toy Story characters and character phrases. Yes our three year old has officially been spoiled! We decorated the house on his birthday morning with colorful balloons and Toy Story pictures. Owen woke up and asked, "Is it my birthday now?" After a month of the same question every morning, we finally got to answer, "Yes! It is your birthday". He ran out of his room and into the living room, said "OH WOW" to the decorations and then ran over to his creatively wrapped present. Under a bath towel was his new Toy Story big boy bike, from Darren and I. The weather here has been mild so we have been able to go outside and take a few spins in the bike. The concept of peddling has yet to be mastered, but he does look pretty cool on it and seems to enjoy himself.

Thank you again to everyone's thoughtfulness...Owen had a great birthday!

Owen has grown up so much. He is now officially a good sleeper! He has past the "test of time", it is going on a month and he still goes to bed on his own and stays there! YEAH! That was the best present anyone could have given us! He also is very polite. He amazes strangers on his use of please and thank you and is one of the friendliest kids at playschool, always greeting his teacher and friends when he enters the room with a, "Hello Miss Donna and Hello guys!" He is getting to be a really good skater and decided he no longer needed the bar to skate the last time we were on the ice and skated all by himself, and the "Sucker" bribe wasn't even utilized to initiate this desire, IMAGINE THAT! Check out the above video. Most importantly, he fills mine and Darren's days with a lot of love, still making sure that Darren gives me a big kiss, knuckles, high five and big hug when we drop him off at work and tells Darren that he is his favorite guy! He is such an amazing kid, we just love him to pieces!

Our downhill skier

A few good laughs with friends Aidan and Griffin

I want my Gates to go fast

35 Month Update

1 month shy of a 3 year milestone and I think Owen experienced his first crush! Darren and I took him skating the other day and my friend Elaine was there skating with a friend. When she came up to meet Owen and say hi, he instantly got shy and turned his baby blues away from her. When she skated away he looked at me, smiled and said, "Mom I have to go say hi to her". As the hour went on he skated on the ice like he was his Uncle Steve during one of his practices, skating fast and furious and working up a sweat just to get a little closer to Elaine. He stopped behind her when her back was turned and when she noticed a little someone was behind her, he skated away really fast. It was absolutely adorable and I must say Owen has good taste, Elaine is a cute 23 year old blond. So far so good, it looks like he knows how to pick em', blonds do have more fun by the way! :)

I think Darren and I have FINALLY won the bedtime battle with our strong willed, stubborn and independent almost three year old cutie pie. Our bedtime routine now consists of reading 5 "new" books we got from the library, one of them always having to be an I Spy book (which he is REALLY good at by the way), and explaining every picture on the page because you can't turn the page without a question of "Why" or "What's this for" or "Who's that mommy?". After book time I lay with him for 5 minutes and then as I kiss him good night and am about to leave for the evening I am informed that I need to basically turn on every light in the city of Trail before the room is no longer "Booky" (Spooky), "Gary" (Scary) and light enough to even keep "Biderman" (Spiderman) away. Though we inform him every single night that Spiderman is a good guy and has a mommy and daddy just like him, Spider Mom and Spider Dad, he still isn't quite buying our lines! So I turn on all the lights in the house, and do not care if our electric bill is a million dollars as long as my guy goes to sleep on his own without me having to lay in his bed until he falls asleep. AND HE DOES, and has been doing this for the past two weeks. Fingers crossed this isn't a fad!

We have been touching upon all the winter activities that are at our disposal living in a mountain town in British Columbia. Darren, Owen and I went show snowshoeing the other weekend up the water tower hill behind our house. The three of us hiked for over and hour and Owen go the royal treatment being pulled on the GT snowracer the entire time. I was exhausted from carrying my own body weight around, I could not imagine pulling an almost 3 year old behind me, good job Daddy! We had a great time and Owen loved the sledding opportunities throughout our hike, one time crashing straight into a tree. Usually the kid has pretty good maneuverability, so that is why I am thinking he meant to hit that tree! You could tell by his laugh in the video below!

Our winter activities do not stop at skating, sledding and snowshoeing, we have now added skiing to our list. We took Owen skiing for his first time up at Red Mountain and he was a natural. He didn't fuss putting on his ski boots and listened to his dad on how to snap his boots into his bindings. Red Mountain has a Magic Carpet Ride, shown in the video below, that is like a moving walkway and brings the kids to the top of a very small bunny hill. Owen was able to get on it by himself and after the third time, no longer wanted me to help him. We had to remind the speed demon to form his ski's like a slice of pizza and snow plow in order to keep his speed to a minimum. That was the tough part because all he wanted to do was "Go really fast on his gee's (ski's). But similar to skating Owen is easily bribed with a sucker or hot chocolate at the end of his sporting event, though he really wanted to keep his "Gee's" and didn't want to give them back to the girl.

Next time we talk will be when our little guy is a three year old, hard to believe! Love and miss you all!

Magic Carpet Ride

Learning the basics

Wow look at me

Watch out for that tree

Vroooom