Morning dance show

Jedi in training

May 2014

We just got back from an amazing family trip to Palm Springs. We stayed at the most beautiful Marriot - that was perfect for a family with two small children. Complete with 5 pools, waterslide, splash pad and baby pool. Owen perfected his front flip and Harper got real good at jumping from the side making a big splash. Everytime she jumped in, she would count "six, nine" and then would jump in. Not sure why she choose 6 and 9 rather then the old standby or 1 and 2, but it seemed to work!

We also made a trip to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! Owen and Darren braved all the great rides - Owen even went on the Tower of Terror. Needless to say he was quite terrorized when it was all over and in no way gong to be talked into going on it one more time with me! Owen even was selected for Jedi Training and was able to fight Darth Maul with his newly acquired Jedi skills. Take a peek in the video.

We are finally into almost summer time and the weather has been beautiful! We have spent lots of time weeding our yards  holy man there are a lot of weeds out there! We also planted our garden, complete with green peppers, tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, sweet onions, garlic and basil! Owen and Harper were great helpers and had more then a green thumb when we were finished - the bathtub water was black with dirt. I think Harper ate a pound or two of the good stuff too!

Blast (literally) from the not so far away past...

Shooting Pucks

Finally an update - February 2014

 

I have been the worst mother, daughter, sister, niece (whatever I am to you reading this) this year. I told myself as I sat swollen, large and pregnant with baby Harper in my ever growing belly that I would not neglect the blog just because I had two kids. I would update the world on the ever so many cute things my sweet Miss Harper decided to showcase that month and highlight the never ending busy life of O-dog. Hmmmm, looking back at what I have contributed, it does not seem to be the case. So let me take some time to make this right in the world. I will try and be better, I will try to keep you posted on how Harper loves to take her singing teapot and walk a million circles on the living room rug until she is dizzy and falling down with a huge baby smile on her face and giggle in her belly and how Owen is getting to be a really good writer due to his dad's nightly sit-downs of working on his letters.

So let's begin...

Harper is an extremely funny character. Anyone who gets to spend some one on one time would let you know that they cannot stop laughing when she is in the room. She loves to read books and will grab every single book off her bookshelf (and let me tell you, there are a lot of books) and then makes you sit down on the floor, she will wiggle her little body up close and personal to you and begin reading in her newly formed Miss Harper language. She really gets into it, complete with facial expressions, hand movements and long winded story telling. She tends to want to read the books about dogs the most but when actually seeing a dog or cat in person is a whole other story. Harper loves animals but when they decide to notice who she is, she slightly freaks out. She points her fingers and yells, "No,No,No Ruff, Ruff" to her babysitters dog Pixie when I drop her off. She is just making it clear that Pixie needs to settle down and keep quiet if she is to spend the day there. Our neighbors have a big, fluffy, extremely friendly black outdoor cat that likes to sneak up to us as we are getting into our car. One day Harper was walking out our front door and the cat walked up to her and started to rub against her, as cats tend to do, and she let out the loudest blood curdling scream. Her body froze and she did not know what to do...(run for the hills, asked to be picked up, or stay very, very still and maybe the cat wouldn't know she was there.) She opted for the quick hands raised in the air for a quick saving pickup by her mom.

Harper is the most annoying eater, well I should not even associate the word eat with her. She doesn't eat a single thing. It is total payback, because when I was younger, I also graced my mom with the frustrating trait of not liking a single food item. It is coming back to bite me. One day she will eat a banana then next day she tells you no. I finally got her to eat one piece of chicken the other night and it was a very happy moment in our household!

Harper has a certain swagger that just makes you laugh when you watch her walk around the house with such determination. When others see her in public they cannot help but smile. She is just like Owen when he was little saying hi to all strangers that walk by. I was in the pharmacy with her the other day and there was a lady in an aisle squatting down reading greeting cards. Harper walked past her, realized she was there then made it a point to walk back to her, swagger and all, and walk right up to her say "Hi" wave and then turned around and walked back over to where I was standing.

She is really trying to talk now. She will say all sorts of words, not sure what the most of them mean, but she gives it a go. She can say Momma, Dadda, Uppa (means pick me up), Na (means thank you...yea not sure where that came from), More (and does the sign language movement), Olive (but she can't say Owen, go figure), Papa (when we skype Papa and Grandma she goes crazy yelling on the top of her lungs over and over...PaPa, PaPa), and a few other random words. She also loves to read the back of the Desitin diaper rash ointment tube while I am changing her. I think she even throws in  the word bum a time or two while telling me what the back of the tube says!

Her hair is getting linger (still very mullet like) but Grandmo gave her a little trim to even it out. She still has some baby rolls, but is starting to thin out bit as well. It is sad to know that she is growing up so quickly, but it is so fun to watch.

Now to talk about my handsome, talented young man. Owen is getting to be a pretty good hockey player. He spends a lot of time out on our outdoor hockey rink that Darren and I made for him. Yes, we actually made a rink out back. (Us...non carpenter type people). We were even so smart to build this 20x40 rink in the back yard in the middle of the night with only a weak side light on our house and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle flashlight. Somehow it is built, functioning and we didn't kill one another and are still married. So it all worked!

Owen's 6th birthday is coming up in 5 days, we have been having the countdown each night before we go to bed. He is planning on having a bowling birthday party with his friend Noah at the end of the month. We invited all his kids in his class, 22 of them and a few others. I am hoping they all don't come! hahaha! We decided in lieu of presents for everyone to bring a toonie (for you Americans, a toonie is a $2 coin) and then the boys will split and buy a present they would like. This way I don't end up with 30 toys we do not need. Owen told me one night, "Mom, I have so many things, I want to give my money from my party to Cadance so she can buy something nice for herself." Now this made my heart melt because Cadance is a little girl in Owen's class who has recently been diagnosed with leukemia and has been in Vancouver for treatment. Owen is such a thoughtful little person, and he makes us proud to be his parents everyday.

Owen plays pretty good with his sister, though lately I have been noticing a few more stiff arms, pushing and slapping. Though I know that Harper deserves every single one of them. I have to remind him that she is just a little girl and that usually settles him down. But overall he is sweet to her, reads her books, snuggles with her (when she lets him) and is a good big brother. They love to take baths together. Owen's favorite thing to do is to take the empty bubble bath bottle, fill it with water, tell Harper to look inside and then blast her in the face with a stream of bath water right up her nose. She actually doesn't seem to mind and usually cracks up and is smart enough to let him do it again and again to her!

They LOVE to have dance parties in the living room. I put the music on and they both gather in the middle and start grooving. Owen usually does a quick step, where his feet move so fast you can barely see them. While Harper does the circle walking thing and a few squats her and there. She does this move that Darren has coined, The Black Swan, where she thrown her hands and head back and walks forward. It is quite comical.

Well that is all for now, I will try and be better. We love and miss you all very much! xoxo

The Polar Bear Swim - crazy boy!