Halloween

This weekend we attended a Halloween party. It was Owen's first Halloween party and the first time he stayed up until 9:00. Way past curfew!!



Owen dressed as a lion. He only managed to keep the head piece on for about 10 seconds. Mommy dressed as Einstein and won first place in the costume contest. We hope her eyebrows will grow back by Christmas. Daddy originally planned on dressing as the golfer Jack Nicklaus. Turns out he's still alive, so instead of finding a new costume he was dressed as golfer Ben Hogan.

The tail is used to swat insects off the lions back in the wild.

For Owen, it's just to make him look cute.

Owen was very upset with Mommy. Not only was she trying to tie the headpiece on, she wouldn't let him have any beer.

Owen earned third prize for his pumpkin interpretation of Kanye West entitled, "Orange Digger"

Another Installment In The Never-Ending Series, "Owen Visits A Farm"

Owen had another visit to a farm this past weekend. This was a short and precarious visit for the little explorer. Not one to normally cause mischief, Owen's wandering apparently irked a few of the farm's residents ...

Owen has never been sure what to think about cats. But he was feeling adventurous and decided to make contact with his new "friend".

Suddenly! Owen was surrounded by a small army of cats.

Convinced it was an ambush, Owen made a break for it.

Luckily he learned how to run last week.

Desperate, Owen attempted to climb a fence and escape. But it was useless, his 2'1 frame could not scale the wall.

Realizing he had nowhere to run, Owen turned to look at his aggressors. It was only then that he realized the folly of his fears ...

... how can you be scared of this face?

Owen also operated his first tricycle. He couldn't reach the peddles and every time he pushed with his feet his heels hit the rear tires. But that wasn't enough to stop Owen from inching across the sidewalk.





Owen attended a wedding. Here he is showing off his first tie to Grandma. Because we were pressed for time, Owen was only able to master the "Half Windsor" and not the "Windsor" knot.


On a final stop before heading home, Owen helped Great-Grandpa celebrate his 80th birthday at the Fox & Hound in Hubertus, WI

Leaves ... everywhere

The annual agonizing leaf clearing has begun! Last year Owen just sat in his car seat and slept while Mommy and Daddy raked and raked and raked. This year he got in on the action. Although we didn't let him run the leaf blower, there was still plenty for him to do.

After surveying the field, Owen felt he was up to the challenge.

With speed and agility, Owen made quick work of the leaves. He did leave a few ... but since he's only 1 year old we let it slide.

As fatigue set in, Owen began to have issues with the equipment.

The lawn was no match for Owen.

Forget raking - lets just play in the leaf pile.

Who needs swim lessons when you have a leaf pile?

Is anyone getting any work done around here??

As Owen struggled to free his car from the leaf pile, we realized that this image will probably repeat itself once Owen has a real car in 16 years. Make sure the AAA membership is up to date.

Why wouldn't you put the basket on your head?

Future site of Owen's swing set.

We didn't even get to this side of the house ...

To The Pumpkin Patch!!!

Last weekend we made our first trip to a pumpkin farm. It was just outside of town and Owen seemed to really enjoy himself. There was a animal petting area (all the animals were sleeping) a lot of pumpkins, watermelons, gourds and other pumpkin farm things.

Owen took charge right away. Nothing was going to stop him from finding the "good" pumpkins.

Owen insisted that dressing like a Pumpkin would allow him to blend in to the surroundings and sneak up on the perfect pumpkin. We just nodded our heads and let him think whatever he wanted.

Hips parallel to the ground, head up, feet square to the pumpkin ... do we have a future Olympic weightlifter in our presence??

Riding back to the Jeep - Owen was happy with the results. A job well done.

14 Month Update

At 14 months Owen...

• has found a new gear in his walking. He is no Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, but he is proficient and on the verge of running all the time.
• throwing balls. If you chase him, he will run with the ball and will do an over-the-head throw when you get close.
• can go down the toddler slides by himself. He also upgraded to the real swings. He still loves the park and goes during daycare. Daycare told us that when Owen was trying to climb out of the crawl tunnel at the park, he wasn't sure he could do it himself. Little Evy was behind Owen waiting for him to decide what to do. Owen held onto one of Evy's pig tails to steady himself and then climbed down. Evy looked worried the whole time, but Owen did not pull anything (not sure if that qualifies him as a gentleman).
• still loves paging through books and pointing at Bob the Builder a lot
• can turn the toy truck he is pushing before it crashes into the wall - most of the time
• sits in a forward facing car seat
• still loves his Push Around Buggie, but his legs are getting a little too long
• loves his rocking horse. He isn't big enough to get on it himself, but he can "rock" when he gets on it.
• loves his sandbox. He can take the cover off and can put it back on. He would spend hours out there
• loves the outdoors. After a big digger at the park, he has rebounded and has mastered the uneven terrain of the woods and grass. Lately he has realized that he can not only step on the twigs, but pick them up too. He tries to "reattach" the twigs to the tree. Very cute! He is very random with his walking outside. We expect him to follow us, but he likes to randomly stop and change direction a lot.
• has mastered the temper tantrum. Anything taken away from him or refused results in high pitched screams, arching of his back, rolling around on the floor, running to you when you walk away only to push you away a moment later
• is very vocal in a caveman sort of way. The daycare teachers describe him as "enthusiastic" and "animated".
• can feed himself with a fork and spoon. He can stab with the fork but needs assistance with scooping. He hasn't figured out the purpose of the plate yet, other than something to wear like a hat.
• is a messy eater. After a slight lull the last few months in the level of mess after dinner, things have picked up again.
• still loves raspberries and Colby cheese
• has a long attention span. He seams to have a "mission" he is working on everyday - most of the time it is top secret as the rest of the household does not know what Owen is doing other than it is important.
• loves adult items with long handles. He tries to help us rake and sweep - unsuccessfully, but don't tell Owen that - he will scream at you.
• loves the front closet and will stand there for hours picking through shoes. When we put his coat on, he will go there to find and bring us his shoes.