The Adventures of Chase, Owen & HATTIE!

Friday, May 13, 2011

May Day and Jeff's Birthday

May has been a fun month for us. We handed out May Day baskets and celebrated Daddy's birthday. When I was little we always made May Day baskets. We put popcorn and gum drops in the. So, to continue the tradition, I did the same with my boys this year. We added other candy too. It was a lot of fun and Chase and Owen really enjoyed helping. Some cups ended up with 10 tootsie rolls, other with one. I think most of the candy ended up in the mouths of C & O.

21 May Day baskets for the neighbor kids

Chase enjoys his candy

Owen is telling me his tootsie roll is stuck in his teeth!

Mommy and her May Day Basket making kiddos.

Daddy is teaching Chase how to open the tootsie roll-big mistake!

Daddy picks tootsie roll out of Owen's teeth.

It was a freezing day of delivering baskets. I think it was about 40 degrees, burrrr. The boys ran to the door of our friends, knocked and ran like the wind, as to not be caught. Many a basket got dumped out but we had a lot of fun!

Jeff's 35th birthday on 5-5

Chasey gets to help blow out candles

Owen helps blow the candles out.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mother's Day

Post nap

At Jake's. It was very windy!

Mother's Day this year was a really wonderful day, thanks to my wonderful husband and boys. We went to church, had brunch at Jake's in Eden Prairie with the Bergers, took a nap, had some free time (got flowers and groceries) and then planted my pots with the boys. It was a lot of fun to be with my family and enjoy motherhood. I'm so fortunate to have had a wonderful model-my Mom. I love nothing more than being a mother!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Notes

I really truly am amazed daily by my children, Owen and Chase. I'm amazed and in awe each time a new word comes out of their mouths. For example, today Chase said, "pizza" and he just looked at me with awe and a sparkle in his eyes and was so proud. So was I. Have I talked about the sparkle in Chase's eyes? There's no denying it's there. His eyes sparkle constantly, when he's laughing, being goofy, getting into trouble, doing something new, it's a pleasure to watch.

I'm amazed as I watch Owen play over and over with his cars and his little legs bent at the knees splayed out to the side. I'm amazed at how he knows each car individually and enjoys playing so nicely with himself. I love to hear him talk to himself and pretend play. He calls the cars Daddy and will say, "daddy this?" and the other car will respond, "no, go." or something along those lines.

The other day Chase was being whiny. I told him to, "Stop" and when he had a nice voice I would listen. About 20 seconds later he said Mommy, and I looked at him. There was that sparkle, a small smile and he was rubbing his tummy-doing our sign for "sorry." My heart just melted and I could feel God working in and through him. God is teaching this child about asking for forgiveness, knowing when he has sinned and done wrong. God has given him a sensitivity to this like no other. Chase is very helpful and empathetic. He likes to get things for us and for Owen and helps a lot. He loves to cuddle, put his nose on my nose and move his head back and forth as he stares into my eyes and smiles. On Friday Chase gave me my first dandelion bouquet. I cherished it! He gave it to me with a big small in his small little fist.

Owen loves to put his nose on my nose and rub it around while giving me kisses on the mouth and staring into my eyes. He loves to have his head and hair rubbed and this typically calms him down. He loves to snuggle up, putting his head on my shoulder. He likes me to sing to him at night and asks for "more" when I try to stop. When he sits with me he likes to cuddle into the crook in my arm, with his legs under him, all bundled into a ball with his blankies with him. Owen is very strong willed and determined. I love these qualities about him. He is self assured and independent. He is very kind and has great manners, saying "s Mommy"-which means, "thanks Mommy" after everything I do for him. After he has had a meltdown or crying session, he seems so much better, like he just had to get it out. Then he looks at us, throws his arms around my neck, looks me in the eyes and says, "HAPPY!" and he is back to happy go lucky Owey. The other day Chase wanted Daddy. I said, "You don't want Mommy? Don't you love Mommy?" He shook his head no (which didn't hurt my feelings). Then Owen looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and his sweet smile and says, "Me!" I said, "Owen you love Mommy?" and he smiled big and said, "Yeah." Melted my heart.

The boys love to eat breakfast with Daddy.

Chase has a whole pile of worms in his scooper shovel-he just loves them.

Owen gets ready to instruct Chase as to what they will build. Owen always wears that hat with the elastic part on the back of his head. Cracks me up.

hiding behind blinds is so much fun!

Each day, no joke, I'm amazed by my children and am overcome with love. I do not know how I could love them any more than I do. I want to hold them, cuddle, play and learn more and more about them. I love to teach them and show them new things. Their eyes light up and Owen says, "ooooohhhh" and he slaps his hands to his cheeks with his mouth wide open. I can't get enough of them. i can't stop thinking of how this time is so precious and will soon be gone. I think this helps me to appreciate the moments I have with them. God has truly blessed me beyond measure.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Easter Stories

I was reading the story of Jesus' death and resurrection to Chase the other night. I got to the page where Jesus is on the cross. He has some bruises and scrapes on him and looks sad (rightly so). I was telling Chase about what happened to Jesus and that he had owies and hurt and why it all happened. Chase kept saying, "Owie" and had this sad look on his face. Then he grabbed the book and brought it to his face so he could kiss Jesus' owies. It melted my heart.

Later I was reading the Easter story-a different version-to Owen. I told him the same things but we didn't have the picture of Jesus on the cross. I said Jesus died, but then he rose again, and Owen kept saying, "Me die" I'm not quite sure what he meant but I kept reassuring him that no he was not going to die any time soon.

I think it's great they show compassion and interest in Jesus' "owies" and his death. Most importantly we talked about his resurrection and how it brings new life and freedom for all who believe! Yeah for Jesus!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Easter 2011

Easter 2011 was a grand time. We attended the second annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt on Saturday. It was very chilly but a lot of families came out. Chase and Owen said "hi" to their buddies and got 12 eggs each! Lots of candy!

Chase collects eggs

Owen finds an egg in the rocks

Owen is moving on to find more eggs. Owen doesn't like peanut butter and ironically the main candy he got was Reece's peanut butter cups. I swapped them out for a candy he liked when he wasn't looking.

Chase shows off his loot. He was very happy.

Daddy and Owen and Chase

Mommy, Owen and Chase

Easter morning.

I put their baskets and treats on the stairs after we got up. Then we pretended they had just arrived.

Chase and Owen very quickly climbed the stairs to see their baskets. Notice the jammies? Chase will only wear footy jammies and Owen will only wear mismatched jammies of his choosing.

A bug net! Yipee.

Owen brings his goods down the stairs to show us.

Owen's pretty proud of his stuff.

Chase finds and egg and wonders what is inside!

Owen finds some eggs that were hiding!

Owen looks over the contents of his basket. He got a new trowel and rake for the garden.

I found Chase sneaking another piece of candy. He is not happy about me seeing.

Sword fighting with bug nets.

My little angel Chase all decked out for church. We went to church at the Chanhassen High School. Because Westwood has so many attenders on Easter they also have services at the High School. It was a great service.