Nap time project

Owen's bathroom, aka the main bathroom in the hall, has lacked artwork for quite some time.  There used to be a huge black and white picture I took in there, but since I painted the master bath, it went better in that bathroom.  I have struggled with what I wanted...and I didn't want to hang something just to have something on the wall.  Brig prefers that I use my own art (if you can call it that) but I just don't have the time to go out and take pics like I did in the past.

We bought a map of St. Lucia while on our honeymoon four years ago.  And it's sat with several other unused frames and miscellaneous pieces of mat board in a corner of our office.  I've always intended to frame it, but it's an odd size and would require a custom mat.  I could pay a framer, but that is very expensive.  Or, it used to be.  I haven't priced something like that in 10+ years. I'm getting off track...this was supposed to be a quick post.  

I do have a mat cutter and I do know how to use it.  I finally bit the bullet and framed it during nap time today.  And of course it turned out so well I can't believe I waited so long.

I knew it would be too small to fill up the entire wall, and that was part of my hesitation.  I found several shell prints (for free!) online from old books and I printed and framed them too.

The wall is complete and it feels so much nicer and warmer now.  I waited to hang these until after Owen got up since his room is on the other side.  He even helped me with his Handy Manny tools.

Easter weekend wrap-up

We had a busy, yet tremendously fun Easter weekend.  Friday morning Brig took Owen to Kim's for a much needed haircut.  Afterwards, I met them at the mall to take a pic with the Easter Bunny.  Owen cooperated and the pic is actually good, but really bright.  In fact, I tried to scan it and it's even brighter so I didn't include it with these pics. 

Saturday morning my parents hosted an egg hunt in their backyard.  All of the younger cousins on my side of the family came to look for eggs.  We were the first to show up and the eggs were already hidden in plain sight.  Owen immediately started collecting.  I think he found all of them and we had to re-hide them later.

Here's Owen waiting patiently for Uncle Chauncey to finish grilling the burgers...

All the while eyeing these delicious cupcakes Aunt Sibby made...

Before we ate, the kids changed into tye-dye t's so we could dye eggs.  My mom made the shirts ahead of time.  We're glad she thought ahead, b/c if not they would all be sitting out there in nothing but diapers/pull-ups.  Well...all the kids under three.

After lunch, we cleaned up and everyone dispersed for nap time.  That night, right before bed we put out carrots for the Easter Bunny.

No surprise here, the next morning he had nibbled them down to the nubs...

The Easter Bunny did leave Owen's basket in his room, but we don't think he noticed until we pointed it out.

We headed to Aunt Sibby's house for lunch, but before that we stopped by my parents to see what the EB left there...

And then we had an impromptu photo session in their front yard.

And since I'm trying to keep it real, here's a few outtakes of Owen being silly for the camera...

After lunch, the cousins splashed on the steps of the pool, but Owen wasn't interested.  We went home for nap time, and then headed to the MIL's house for dinner.  The EB left another basket of goodies at her house.  We were all wiped out last night.  I don't think I've eaten that much food since Christmas.

Fun at the festival

We're a little behind around here.  It's Easter weekend, and I am just posting about last weekend.  

We headed out to the Azalea Festival last Saturday morning to beat the crowds.  It was great.  We got there when they opened and there were no lines and hardly no traffic.  The only downfall was the temperature.  It wasn't quite 50 degrees so we were pretty cold until around 11:00.  Owen was still leary of the carousel, but absolutely loved the huge slide.  He didn't want to go down but I forced encouraged him to try.  As soon as we took off he said "wheeee!".  We went through so many times the attendant wouldn't take our tickets at the end.  Hopefully his boss isn't reading this.

Recent Shots

These were taken for a post about St. Patrick's Day, but since that has come and gone, they are just shots of us playing one day in his crib.  We have all had a cold or allergies or whatever you want to call it the last week or so.

Yard Work

I have been working in the yard the last few afternoons.  We have a horrible problem with weeds in our swamp of a backyard and it takes a tremendous amt of money energy to keep it under control.  Since it's Spring, it isn't looking great yet.  Come Summer, it will be much nicer...after I've dropped a load of cash on Scott's.

Owen was at my parents house the first afternoon, but yesterday he lent daddy a hand...

...and played t-ball with mommy in the much more cooperative front yard.

Potty Progress

You may remember this post about Owen's potty.  Since then, we have continued to take a very laid back approach.  We have not been pushing him, but rather asking every night if he would like to try.  He always tries and is successful about half the time.

About two weeks ago, he went 3 or 4 nights in a row.  We noted this change and thought he might be really ready for this.  We decided to keep plugging along until the weather got warmer.  We figured it would be easier and he would be more cooperative if he was running around in a tee and a pull-up. 

Then on Sunday, I was changing his diaper and asked him if he had to go and would like to try.  He said yes and he went.  A few hours later I asked again, he said yes again, and he went.  This was right before nap time.  When he got up from his nap, I immediately asked again.  Sure enough, he went again.  You can see where this is going. 

He was very cooperative each time, until it was time to put on a new pull-up.  He thought it was funny to run down the hall sans undergarment.  I had to hold him down two separate times to get the darn things back on.  I quickly realized the pull-ups would now reside in his bathroom so they could be replaced as soon as the deed was done. 

Yesterday he went to Sarah's, and today he went to school, so we are back to our weekly routine.  I don't want to put this on Sarah or his teachers, especially since we won't be carrying his potty with us when we leave.  I think using the potty at home and away are very different and might make our progress go haywire.  For now, we are just going to keep asking and see what happens.

For the record, he was not dry in between sessions on Sunday.  We aren't that far yet.

75 and sunny

The temps since his party (grrrr...see previous post) have been climbing. Tuesday was awesome so after I got home from work we headed to the park.

Some other folks had the same idea and this particular park was more crowded than usual.

Owen is very interested in balls lately so we took one with us. Big mistake! He abandoned it early on and some of the other kids took possession of the ball. I had every intention of getting it back on our way to the car...but this one kid was hacking up a lung all over it so we left it with him. It was $1.00 at Party City and I think Owen will survive. I really bought it, along with another one, for the party. I just forgot to take them out of the bag and blow them up.