Christmas

Whew!! We've survived another Christmas and this year was so much fun. Owen's finally old enough to REALLY enjoy it all and make it through the many days in a row of family and being out of any kind of routine.

The cousins came in on Friday and they got to spend the weekend together. Owen missed the annual cookie baking due to a fever but was fine by Saturday. We had the McAfee Christmas that day and Owen got lots of great presents. One of the favorites was the grape Furberry.


On Sunday we had more cousin time and went out to lunch and then had all of the kids over here to play. It is AMAZING to me how well the three of them get along. They can play for hours with virtually no fighting and no tears for Owen (a rarity). I know I've said it a million times but we really need to get to Austin!

Then we had the Hulshof family Christmas. Liz and Jim and the kids came down from Saint Louis. Owen and Evan had a great time together and both seem to have a fondness for gambling as exemplified by the intense concentration with the scratch and win cards.

On a funny note, Owen got a puzzle for Christmas and isn't a huge fan. He opened it and said loudly, "I hate puzzles!" So below is a picture of me gently reminding him that you always say thank you even if it's not something you wanted. :)

And then happier times after he was more polite opening presents.

Then on Christmas morning Colleen and Wayne and Mimi and Popi were here for Santa gift opening. After all of the gifts had been opened, we gave Owen a letter from Santa that said one present wouldn't fit down the chimney and that he needed to go look on the back porch. I expected screams of joy when he saw the four wheeler but instead he just said that "this is really cool" jumped on and about took out the screened in porch upstairs by ramming it into a pole. He does love the four wheeler and it is now the official mode of transportation to get the mail. Below is the all time worst present ever. It's a voice changer that only has one volume level which is incredibly loud. I have NO idea what Santa was thinking when she, I mean he, decided that Owen needed one.


Instead of Christmas dinner this year, we had brunch and both sides of the family got to hang out. Leigh and Adam and Mimi and Popi posed for a photo shoot so they would make it on the blog :)




I also got to spend some time with my best friend from high school Kim and her fiancee Eric. It was SO good to see her and Owen thinks Eric is pretty fun to play Wii with. He woke up the next morning and asked if they spent the night and was sad to hear that they had gone home.

The best christmas present ever!!!

 

Not suprisingly, Owen loves his new 4 wheeler. It's really just a powerwheels car but it works in the backyard and he loves it. More Christmas stuff to follow when we recover!

Siamese cats

All right, I like the cats. They definitely prefer Bryan but I think it's because I am permanently associated with Owen aka the kid with the spray bottle. This is the cats sleeping together this evening and I am officially the crazy cat lady :)

Christmas Traditions

Things we do every year at the Hulshof house:

Putting up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving- I'm so glad I have Owen because now there is someone to decorate with!
Snowing on Mimi's village- On Thanksgiving, the cousins get to "snow" on the village at Mimi's house.
Elf on the Shelf- a new tradition this year but definitely a favorite so far.
Advent calendar- We've had a chocolate one the last few years and Owen gets to open it every night after dinner. Though he usually asks about doing it after breakfast.
Looking at Christmas lights- one night we all load up and go look at the lights. There was a great neighborhood in Pearland where we used to go but this year we found some great houses up here.
Undies in a can- I'm sure this is a Christmas tradition for many. When Owen was just born, I found these Guiness boxer shorts in a can at Kohls and got them because Bryan always used to drink Black and Tans. So now every year we make the trek to Kohls to get a new pair. Owen actually told me he was going to get me panties in a can this year :)
Christmas cookies- The cousins all go over to Mimi and Popi's to bake cookies and this year we even get a sleepover out of the deal!
Tamales- We get together with the Hulshofs on the day of Christmas Eve and hang out and eat tamales. I think we've done this every year since we started dating which was 14 years ago. Liz and Jim and the kids come from Saint Louis and we all hang out that day. It will be at our house this year so I've got to figure out what to make with Tamales!
Christmas morning- no matter how much we've had to drive around in the past, we've always spent Christmas morning at our house which is nice. Hopefully some of the grandparents will do it with us this year since we're close.

Turning your blog into a book

http://www.blurb.com/book/blogbook

My friend Dawn told me about this website where they will turn your blog into a book. I looked at pricing and for up to 440 pages in a hardcover book, it's only $80. Now I can be incredibly lazy!!! But it would be cool to have a book for Owen where he can see what his life was like on a weekly basis.

Morrison Annual Christmas party

Last night we spent the night in Pearland so that we could go to Jill and Josh's white elephant party. I think this year was the 4th year and it's always been a lot of fun. Even more so this year because we don't get to see everyone as much. I always end up with the most random gift from the gift exchange but this year we got a Chia Shaggy (something Owen had actually asked for) and an Amercian flag that Greg flew in his F-16 while he was in Iraq. Owen and Lauren spent the night at her house and we drove by the old house. So strange to see it now that it's not our house anymore. He recognized it but didn't seem too sad about it like he did the last time we drove by.

This picture is the ONLY one from the party that I'll include because this is meant to be a record of Owen's childhood and some things you just don't need to know about your parents :)

Hello Ladies

Owen has wanted a robe for a while but I could never find anything for a toddler. I generally think males and robes shouldn't mix but Owen looks pretty cute :)

We are one crafty family

This may look like an ordinary gingerbread house but it is actually a huge accomplishment for Owen and I. We tried to make one for Halloween and after many "naughty" words were said, I threw it in the trash. I could never get the consistency of the icing quite right and the thing kept falling apart. So we decided to give it another try and got a Christmas one that worked!!!! There's a huge crack in the roof but otherwise it was a success.



And above is Owen after he had his way with a bowl of melted chocolate. I'm not sure what the angry face is about.

Christmas party

Today was Owen's Christmas party at school and it was so funny to see him there. It seems that Owen, Brett, and Jake appear to have become attached at the hip. They have to sit together, play together, and act up together :) Bryan even got to come and I think the madness of a 4 yo classroom was a bit overwhelming. I'm really happy to see that Owen loves being there and would rather hang out with his friends than mom and dad. They made reindeer cookies and Owen oddly chose cream cheese over peanut butter. He served himself, poured his drink, threw his dirty plate away and used his good manners. Bryan and I silently looked on and quickly realized that there's a huge difference in what he's able (or more likely willing) to do at school and at home. They made reindeer cookies, sang a song (no singing for Owen of course), showed us their circle time and all of the stuff that they've made in school. Then we tried to corral them all for a picture and below is the result.

Watch out Martha Stewart

I seem to be missing the crafty gene but not Owen. Below is his masterpiece. And yes, as his Mom, I don't see 47 layers of puff paint squeezed onto it but rather my son's incredible talent of mixing colors and textures :) That ornament is going to take at least a week to dry!



And then Bryan came home and it was his turn to craft it up. The following picture represents the fundamental difference between he and I. I use one brush, slap some paint on, kind of try to stay in the right area and am done. Bryan on the other hand uses multiple brushes, paints every detail, and does this all silenty with the utmost concentration.



But with intense concentration comes a lack of supervision of the little one and voila, Owen's other creation completed under the watchful eye of his Daddy. Somewhere under the 2 inches of puff paint there is an ornament under there.



And then he tried to drink the paint. Just kidding, I made him pose for that one :)

Bathtub-1, Cat-0

I swear I'm not turning into the crazy cat lady with all of these cat pics but the inevitable finally happened today. As the bathtub was draining, Namey got a tad too curious and the above picture is the result.

Yee-haw!!!!!!!!!!!

When we got married, Bryan had a truck that he loved. But he had to sell it and has driven some interesting cars over the years. He and Owen had been talking about trucks for a while and Owen's specifications were that it had to have 4 doors, be really loud, and be black. Well 2 out of 3 isn't bad!!!

I'm really happy that Bryan got his truck. He loves it and I'm glad that he gets to drive something that he enjoys for once. We've been in this house for about 3 months and this is the first that the garage has been cleaned. I guess all it took was a new truck to get him to clean it out :)

Is that the REAL Santa?

We went to Mimi and Popi's golf course today for breakfast with Santa. Owen has a history of SCREAMING at the sight of Jolly Saint Nick but today he was fine with sitting on his lap. I really struggled with what to tell him when he asked if it was going to be the real Santa. I told him yes and thankfully after that he stopped asking questions! I don't think he told him what he wanted but told us on the way over that he was going to ask him for a Furberry. I am totally praying that Leigh actually got him one or it will be a sad day for all involved. Speaking of Christmas presents, Bryan got Owen something that he will LOVE but you'll have to check back after Christams to see what it is :)


We also got to celebrate Grandpa Mike's 65th birthday with the Hulshof side of the family. The highlight of the dinner was Colleen dumping an entire shaker of pepper on her salad. We were at Saltgrass and Owen asked Colleen if we were at "Peppergrass". Ha, ha. He's almost as funny as his daddy.


On Sunday, Owen, Colleen, Lita and I went to see Annie at a community theatre. It was cute but the theater was HOT and we may have exceeded Owen's attention span with that one.

Just in case Lisa is reading, Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!! We can't wait to see you guys next weekend.

Cats

For the record, the cats were TOTALLY Owen and Bryan's idea. While sweet, cuddly, funny, and entertaining, I think they have decided that demolishing our Christmas tree is their mission for the month of December. Namey, the crazier of the two, will take off from the other side of the room and jump into the tree. No amount of water from the spray bottle will keep her down. They were fixed this week and true to form, they were back in the tree within 24 hours.

They also love to drink out of the toilet. The mere sound of the toilet flushing will bring them running from anywhere in the house. Whenever he goes, Owen yells out "fresh bowl" to let the cats know they can come have a drink.

The Elf on the Shelf

I got this for Owen today after hearing about it from a friend. It comes with a book that tells you that you've adopted the elf into your family and that he will live at your house for the month of December. Every night while you sleep, he flies back to see Santa to tell him if you've been good or bad that day. And each morning when Owen wakes up he has to go look around the house to see where his elf landed for that day. Owen of course loves it BUT after putting him up in the kitchen this evening, I walked by and decided that while cute, he's creepy. Maybe it's my long standing fear of clowns but I actually felt like the thing was watching me!!!!! Owen also got to name the elf and it started out as Namey (sound familiar???) but ended up Rainbow. So Rainbow the Christmas Elf will be watching us for the next few weeks.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!! It is SO nice to be up here in the Woodlands so that we don't end up on the road for most of it. We actually got to spend time with family and not have to deal with a cranky Owen. I think a lot of it is that he's older but it also helps that he gets to spend some time at home.

The week started with tons of cousin time. We went to the zoo, ice skating, hung out at Mimi and Popi's and the kids got to have a few sleepovers. Owen loves spending time with Cam and Kayla and its amazing how much time they can spend together and really not fight. Owen's always been the type to like his routine and want to spend time with Bryan and I at home. This year he asked to spend the night away which is a BEAUTIFUL thing :) We also got to spend some quality time with Dave and Mel at the Goose's Acre in the Woodlands. Lots of food, drinks, and discussion of our crazy fam.

Leigh and Adam were only able to come in Wednesday night and had to head back Thursday evening. They spent the night and it was nice to get to spend some time with them. For Thanksgiving dinner we went to Uncle Dick and Aunt Sue's house in Conroe. It's always loud and crazy over there but Owen loved having more cousin time and getting to hang out with Estelle (she's my cousins daughter, whatever that makes her to Owen I have no idea). Dick tried to take some Christmas pictures for us which was ended by Owen stepping into the pond. He ended up in his skivvies for a while which for anyone who knows Owen knows, that's just how he likes it to be :)



On Friday we headed back to the Pear to watch the Aggies beat the hell out of Texas. It was an awesome game and Owen loved getting to hang out with his girlfriends Lauren and Hope.



Then finally today we had the Hulshofs over for Thanksgiving dinner. Colleen and Wayne brought Owen over a giant snake which Grandpa seemed to REALLY like. It was a nice low key day and Owen loves being the center of attention because he's the only grandkid :)

Tomorrow we are doing NOTHING!!!! The weather's supposed to be nasty so we'll try to talk Bryan into getting all the Christmas stuff out. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is staying dry and warm!

Does anyone else have a birthday?????

It is completely birthday season for the Hulshofs and for all the complaining I (really Bryan)does about having to go again, it's always fun. We went to James' party Saturday morning and Owen had a great time in the bouncers. He and Caroline are buddies from playing when I take him to work with me at James' house. Then Saturday afternoon we went to Cooper's party and if Owen had his way we would have never left. We got to see friends from Pearland which is always fun.

Couple of random Owen thoughts. I talked earlier about him not wanting to sing. Well this weekend we went to a karate open house where Owen got to participate in a class. He sits quietly and watches but didn't do any of the things that they demonstrated. We asked him afterwards why he didn't try and he said that he just likes to watch. Then at Cooper's party the clown would ask the kids to participate and Owen didn't do any of it either. Now given that my job is to get my clients to participate, it drives me NUTS that he doesn't do it. I know it's my issue and not his but I wish he would do something :)

Lita

Since Lita is a loyal reader, Owen and I made a video just for her. She always tells him that he's her favorite grandchild and he hasn't quite figured out that he's her ONLY grandchild :) She comes to watch Owen a lot when I need to work later or on a day that he's not in school and he loves her for her ability to hang out for hours on end just being at home. Something he loves to do but his Mommy is not as good at!!

Vegas baby

We went to Vegas at the beginning of November with the Morrisons, Ogburns, Hopkins, and Holts. It was just a long weekend but almost too long based on our consumption of adult beverages. We didn't win much but didn't lose too badly which I think makes for a successful trip to Las Vegas. Owen stayed with Mimi and Popi and they drove down to Corpus to visit Leigh and Adam. He had a great time hanging out at the beach, harrassing their dog beans, and making Popi get in the ice cold water :)

Flemings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Flemings are good friends of ours from Pearland and decided to come spend the night and hang out in the Woodlands for the day. We used to see them just about everyday before we moved and the kids went to the babysitter together on the days that we worked. Owen and Emma were SO sad when we moved because they really were like best friends. The Flemings are moving to Dallas soon and we'll hate that they're too far away to come up for the day but will do everything we can to get up there and visit them!!