Thanksgiving Horseheads Style

Hope everyone is recovering from Thanksgiving like we are! We were able to make the trip to Horseheads for the holiday this year, which we haven't been able to do in awhile. I must say it was a very nice trip.

We got into town Thursday morning and pretty much immediately went to Gram's house for the Sullivan side turkey-fest. Owen didn't waste any time digging into the great food. Then he had some good playtime with all of the little boys running around.
Grace supervised and laughed at the boys of course!

The rest of the day was pretty low-key. We were able to relax a little bit. I went to my Mom's to help with the baking that night and Owen was adding his own spice to the festivities.

Dennis and I got the grand idea of going to Toys R Us when they opened at 10pm that night...not a good idea. We waited in line for an hour and a half in the rain surrounded by some interesting characters outside of the store. It starts raining about 20 minutes in and we are soaked, and the oh-so-helpful store people hand us an umbrella at the door! Thanks, would have been useful about an hour ago...We finally get into the store and realize that they are sold out of everything we're looking for and the line to checkout is at least another 1-hour wait. We left, wet and defeated. So much for Black Friday.

Mom had the great idea of having her dinner on Friday. Saved time and the button of our jeans. So we did the turkey thing again, and it was just as delicious. See that torch? Ma made creme brulee and didn't even burn the house down.

This meal ended as most Thanksgiving dinners do...
Down for the count, watching Christmas Vacation.

Saturday we went to Hollydays in the Square. It was freezing that day, but Owen looked pretty snuggled up. Natalie came too, which is a yearly tradition for us.

We all got to ride in with Santa on the Mark Twain float.
Natalie is almost as tall as Santa now!
Owen didn't even make it close to Santa's lap before he completely freaked out...oh well
The rest of the weekend was very fun. We did some shopping, had some of our favorite Horseheads treats (Pudgies) and even got to talk to Tim via Skype for quite awhile. All in all, it was a great trip. Thanks everyone!

Learning

It's so amazing to me to watch Owen learn. Sometimes it's easy to forget that he is experiencing many things for the first time. That must be so amazing! I have been trying to pay more attention to these little moments of learning and try to imagine what it must be like to be a toddler where everything is so new and exciting.
Even though Owen isn't saying too much lately, he is communicating quite efficiently. With a point and a grunt or a look on his face I can certainly tell what he wants most of the time. Today we went for a walk, and he kept pointing and "talking" about everything we saw along the way; a pumpkin, some dogs, a tree losing its leaves, a garbage truck, and wind chimes...all so interesting to him that he felt the need to show mommy.
He learned quickly as most kids do that banging on pots and pans makes loud noise...And at the end of a good song, we clap. This trick took me by surprise a few months ago. Owen and I were in the car listening to John Mayer's live version of "Gravity." At the end, of course the croud clapped on the track and from the back seat I hear "yay" and loud clapping. Since then, he claps even at the end of every song, even when Mom or Dad sing.
Here Owen tries to get my hairdryer to work. Of course it's not plugged in. Apparently he knows it's supposed to blow air somehow, so he started blowing into the back of it. Cracked me up!
He also loves to give his stuffed dogs "drinks" from Molly's bowl, but then he knows enough to clean up the spilled water with a towel.
Hmm I wonder where he picked up this nosepicking thing.

Sunset at the Park

Owen and I went to the park for what I am so afraid may be our last playtime until the spring. They already had the swings down for the season. He kept walking over to the set and looking up and pointing where they were. It was really pitiful. Anyway, here's some pics of our fun time.





I am still not used to how quickly it gets dark now, so we had to leave a little earlier than both of us would have liked. We will get back to swinging in the spring!

Fall Fun

Hello everyone! Well as usual we have been very busy here. I know you all must want to see some Halloween pictures of the cutie Owen, although I did post some teasers on Facebook for you. We had to make our yearly trip to the Pumpkin Farm. Owen was definitely more into it this year than last.

We saw some animals and headed over the the animated chicken show. Owen clapped and danced to the music while Daddy stalked Jason Pominville. Yes, pro hockey player Jason Pominville...and his cute wife with the 50 carat rock on her finger and Peg Perego stroller. I digress... anyway the animated chickens were enthralling for us all.
We moved on to see the pig races, which were so cute. I love pigs, and learned a few tidbits about them at this particular race. Did you know that on the intellegence scale, pigs are way smarter than dogs? Well spend a little time with cute Molly and you'll believe it too.
Then we went to pick out pumpkins. Owen decided to pick his out with his mouth.
Ultimately we picked this one and carved it with this very basic design because Owen was NOT into carving.
as you can see here
Here's the little guy all dressed up. He wore this skeleton during the day on Halloween
And Superman for the big night. He has also been obsessed with wearing it everyday since.
Dennis and I had our big Halloween party this year. He went as a scarecrow
And I was shrimp on the Barbie. Nobody got it. It's ok.
Here's the winners from this year. The mask was homemade.
Owen's friend Nathan came too dressed as a zebra. They played with trucks throughout the party and had a great time.
I loved Kristin's "beer" belly
a few more characters for you...

That's about all that's new here. Hope you are enjoying fall!