One cool dude.

This cool dude loves to wear his sunglasses on top of his head just like mommy.
Lookin' pretty cool despite that skinned up chin :-(.

Weekends.

Whew-life seems busier than ever these days!

Up until last weekend we had enjoyed having family in town for the previous three weekends. Our weekends were full of fun trips to the park, Owen's 1st Easter Egg Hunt, a rainy but lovely Easter Sunday, Owen's 1st pony ride, Owen's 1st popsicle, a trip to the zoo, & lots of time playing outside.

Faithful Parenting.

This time last year, our pastor was finishing up an e-mail devotion series that he faithfulyl shared for over a year.

Earlier this week I stumbled upon one of these devotions that I had saved because it resonated with me at the time. As I re-read it, it reminded me of "the big picture" of my role as a parent. It's so easy for me to get bogged down by the smaller details of day-to-day life with a busy toddler and I lose focus on what ultimately matters.

So, I will share it in hopes it will resonate with you-whether you're a parent or not.

Faithful Parenting
April 19th, 2012
3 John 1:4

"I could have no greater joy that to hear that my children are following the truth."
 -3 John 1:4

"A closer pastor friend of mine recently turned my attention to our focus verse. He claims is as his favorite verse. In fact, when his children were young, he would tuck them in at night, touch them on the forehead as if bestowing a blessing, and then he would quote, "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth." Great thought, right?
What could give any parent greater joy than that of knowing that their children were following the truth? Let me remind you that children learn most of what they know from their parents. They watch the example. They listen to the words. They imitate the actions. If you want your children to follow in the truth, then you have to role-model truth for them. Your faith...your fidelity to Christ...your commitment to the church and its ministries, will all be clearly communicated to your children. If you want them to care about matters of faith, then you must care about matters of faith. Why would they develop a passion for things in which you have no interest. Faith matters. Truth is important. The promise of the Gospel needs to be told. If you want to have the joy of knowing your children care about such things, then pour out your life doing the things that matter most. Live with consistency, devotion, and authenticity. What if your child one day turned the phrase and said of you "I could have no greater joy that to know that my parents are following the truth." Remember, you can't leave a legacy if you don't live a legacy."

Father, burden us with the responsibility of carefully role-modeling the faith for the next generation. May we never mar the image of Christ in the eyes of our children. Amen.

-Jon Roebuck

One big guy.

Owen,

I feel like just in the last 2 weeks that you have grown up so much. You're just so big in size, personality, and skill.

You are constantly chatting. You have lots of words that we can't quite understand, but many that we can- mama, dada, hi, bye, dog, cat, brush, bath, teeth, cookie, cracker, cheese, side (for "outside"), crash (your newest word which you learned when I was stacking blocks & you were busy knocking them over). You make animal sounds for cow, sheep, horse, monkey, dog, & snake.

You are always moving. You run all over inside & outside, scatter toys all over the house, chase after Sadie...you rarely stop-even when you're exhausted! Your favorite thing to do is be outside. You cry sometimes nearly uncontrollably when we come back inside. It's just precious to watch you run all over the yard carrying your dollar store shovel!

You're becoming a big boy eater. You're a little more picky than you were a few months ago,but still a great eater. You're willing to try pretty much anything & right now your favorite food is broccoli :-). You are becoming pretty skilled at using a spoon to feed yourself oatmeal, and you're making improvements with the fork too. At school, you now sits in a little chair at a little table rather than in a highchair. At home, we have taken the tray off of your highchair and sit your plate on the table. What a big boy!

You are learning so many new things every day. Watching you learn new things is such a joy for me. You are always watching & imitating what we do which has been a very humbling experience for daddy & I. You have learned that we do certain things in specific rooms of the house so if we tell you it's time to do laundry, you runs to the laundry room or if we say it's time for dinner, you run to your chair in the kitchen. I am so proud of how much you have learned in your 14 months of life!

I love that although you're getting bigger every day, that you still love to run over and kiss me, hug me, & snuggle up. I can't express how much I love you and how proud I am to be your mom.

I love you Owen.

Mommy

Dragon Park.

We had a glimpse of spring a few weekends ago, so we took advantage of the sunny, 70-degree Saturday & headed to "Dragon Park".

This was Owen's 1st  real playground experience and to say he enjoyed it would be an understatement. He played for nearly 2 hours and might have kept going if we hadn't decided that it was time to go.

He had very little interest in the "little guy" playground equipment and went right on over to the bigger equipment. His other favorite activity was playing in the mulch-he's easily amused!

Owen has been back to the park twice since our first trip (once with us & once with Papa & Grandma). We're definitely looking forward to spending lots of time at the park this spring & summer.

Holy Week.

This week is probably my favorite week of the entire year. I love Christmas and all of the preparations that go along with the season, but when it's all said & done I am usually left feeling exhausted despite all of the fun.
The Easter season is just the opposite for me. I enjoy preparing just my heart for Easter and am left feeling renewed and amazed by Christ's love for me.

This past Sunday at church, we had 3 children who gave their lives to the Lord. It was so joyous & touching to me and reminded me of when I too first believed. It also reminded me of how easy it is for me to loose sight of that moment in the busyness of everyday life.

My prayer for this Holy Week is to truly reflect on the sacrifice that Christ made for me. The chorus of the "Shadow of the Cross" resonates with me especially this week...

In the shadow of Your cross, I will live for all my days 
How could I forget the price You paid 
In the shelter of Your love I will give You all my praise 
In the shadow of Your cross I will stay 

A boy & his dog.

Owen & Sadie are becoming the best of friends.
I'm still pretty sure that he loves her a bit more than she loves him, but she's come a long way.

If you ask Owen if he loves Sadie, he runs to her, throws his arms around her & leans in to give her a kiss...it's just precious!

Our days.

The last month has just flown by. We all had our turn battling nasty ear & sinus infections, and I am so thankful to say that we're finally all back to normal.

Our days are filled with chasing our sweet little Owen all over the house & yard. He's not walking anymore-he's running!...Enjoying these extra hours of sunlight (thank goodness for the time change!)...Playing outside-Owen can't get enough of being outdoors...Reading-next to being outside, it's Owen's favorite thing to do...Gearing up for a fun summer of playing & traveling while mommy's on summer break...Just soaking up these sweet moments of watching our little man grow up-it's happening w-a-y too fast!

My boys.

I love my boys....so much!

Lately.

This little man is walking everywhere & at times practically running...keeping us on our toes!

 We've had a couple of "little" snows in the last month. Owen wasn't quite sure what to make of the snow, so he decided to see if it was edible!

 Owen has finally adapted to sitting in the "big tub" for his baths. We kept him in the baby tub for so long because he only wanted to stand up when we put him outside of it. He loves "big boy baths" now.

 Owen has new "big boy" shoes. He's looking pretty sharp!

 Owen loves mommy's stethoscope...practicing to be a nurse already!

 Love my little man!

 Owen's favorite thing to do-read! He carries books all around the house & hands them to me saying "booook, reeee" (book, read). We read so much & I love how he enjoys reading.

Valentine treats.

I took some time to make some fun Valentine treats last week, all Pinterest inspired.

I took no pictures of my treats, so had to share these pictures instead...

Valentine cards for Grammy & Grampy and Grandma & Papa...I wrote "Blowing Kisses your Way on this Valentine's Day" on the inside of the handprint.

Strawberry Valentine wafers for my wonderful co-workers

And, "I'm hooked on you" Goldfish Valentine's for Owen's classmates at school.

Love.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. I counted that it was the 11th Valentine's Day I've celebrated with Chris.

Unfortunately, he was not feeling well & Owen wasn't either so it was not a typical Valentine's Day. However, I am so thankful that I feel loved everyday not just on this one day of the year.

I have been thinking so much this week about the love of Christ. I am so thankful for the ultimate example of love that Christ showed to each of us & for the character of his love that...

never fails,

never runs out, 

& never gives up on me...

What amazing love!

1 year stats.

It's been a very hectic few weeks around here with Chris being sick 2 times in 3 weeks & Owen now having an ear infection. So, I'm just getting around to posting the run-down from Owen's 1 year check-up.

Height: 31 inches (75%)
Weight: 22 lbs. & 5 oz. (60%)

Dr. Rauth was impressed by all of Owen's words/sounds & his mobility. He could hardly stop moving around the room long enough for her to examine him!

So thankful for a happy, healthy little man!

New recipes.

Since discovering the wonderful world of Pinterest, we have been trying out new recipes every week. We have found some wonderful new favorites that I wanted to share. Click the recipe title for the full recipe.

Bay Scallop Gratin

I love scallops but don't cook them often at home. I definitely will now!

Zuchinni Soup

I multi-purposed the recipe by following the directions but adding no water. It was thick like pasta sauce & I mixed some of it in with cooked, whole-wheat ziti and baked it....yum! I took the rest, added some water to thin it out & ate it as soup. Loved both variations!

Pesto pasta with Sausage & Brussel Sprouts

Chris was entirely skeptical about this one, but it has turned out to be our absolute favorite Pinterest recipe find. Even Mr. Owen loves the combination of fresh roasted brussel sprouts with pesto & chicken sausage. It's a must try!

I'll have more new tasty recipes to share soon.

Owen is 1!

We celebrated Owen's 1st Birthday on Saturday, January 29th.
Owen's party was a First Class-themed celebration.

The Story of our theme...
Beginning when Owen was very small, I walked him to our mailbox late every afternoon to collect our mail (I love mail & check our mailbox religiously every day!). It just became "our thing", and now that  he's older, he has learned to open the mailbox and reach in to grab our mail. I chose a "First Class" theme to reflect our love of the mail!

The menu...
Whitt's BBQ pork
Baked beans
Pasta salad with fresh veggies
Chips
Birthday cake & ice cream

The details...
I decorated our dining room where we served the food & where Owen devoured his smash cake.

Inspired by Pinterest, I made the felt party hat and the highchair birthday banner. I used primarily reds and blues and also used Kraft shipping paper to bring in more First Class elements.
I used mini scrapbook envelopes as cards to label the food.
I selected one of our favorite pictures of Owen from each month and hung them on colored paper along with "long" wall of our dining room. I had 4x6 photo frames scattered around surfaces in the dining room & living room for our guests to take one of the pictures from the wall home in their frame.
We also put out Owen's baby book &  photo albums of pictures from the last year for our family and friends to reminisce about our little man.
We asked our guests to start a tradition that we plan to continue each year-We asked each one to write Owen a letter in a journal. We can't wait to share everyone's letters with him when he is older.

Our guests...
Grammy, Grampy, Auntie Abbey, Grandma, PawPaw, Aunt Erin, Pop, Marion, Ms. Laura, & Mr. Steven

The highlights...
Owen loved his smash cake (as evidenced below)...He wasn't just smashing it, he was eating it. The boy knows what to do with food! We in fact had to take it away from him after 35 or 40 minutes because we're pretty sure he would have eaten until he either fell asleep or made himself sick.

We made a day of opening gifts as there were so many. Since Christmas, Owen has definitely figured out a little more about opening presents. He loves the tissue paper & the ribbon.

Owen's First Class birthday was such a fun and special day. We so enjoyed sharing it with our family and friends!