This weeks visitors & a few firsts

It's been a busy week at our house.

On Wednesday, Shirley and Don Livingston met Owen and myself for lunch at Blue Sky Cafe. Shirley had been holding onto a box of my things from work and was kind enough to bring them over from Cullowhee. Owen and I really enjoyed having lunch and catching up with two of our favorite people.

On Friday, Nana and Bobo called and asked if they could come visit for the afternoon. They got here just after lunch. Danny had a tee time, so Bobo drove out to watch him hit some golf balls while Nana and I visited. Owen thought it would be polite to nap ALL afternoon. I had to wake him up to visit just before they left to go home.

This week was also a week for a few firsts. Owen has started clapping a lot and all by himself. He was doing it when we would put his hands together and we would clap (like he was coping us.) Now, he does it all on his on.

He has also started sitting up by himself. My sister-in-law called yesterday to say Colin, my nephew who is 2 months younger than Owen, had pulled himself up into the sitting position. Owen must have overheard the conversation and was not to be out done by his "little" cousin. Just shortly after I talked to Alice, Owen pulled himself up into the sitting position and was banging a small ball on the wall.
Here he is sitting at Ali's house. He sat for 10 minutes without falling over. he played with his O-ball, a book and watched Ali feed the twins.

Here is a short (and very poorly done) video of him sitting.



And a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY Michael J!!! It was good to see you.

Father's Day

Danny's 1st Father's Day was spent in Denver at my Mom's house. Sunday morning we got up and went for Brunch at Lava Bistro. On our way there we almost ran out of gas. We probably passed twenty gas stations before Danny started to get worried (he was looking for one with the cheapest prices.) Once we got near the bistro, there wasn't a gas station in sight. We drove in circles and finally found one a stones throw from where we kept turning around. It was a BP, so we probably paid the max price per gallon. Go figure.

We finally made it to the bistro where we enjoyed a very nice brunch. We had terrible service and our order was not right, but once we finally got everything we had ordered, everything was very yummy!

We left the bistro and mom, Owen and I went to Tj Maxx while Danny went to Rack Room Shoes. Danny bought himself some old school Puma's and a pair of Converse All Stars for Owen. At Tj Maxx he picked himself out a Donald Trump tie (very cliche of Father's Day, right!?).

Owen did get his Daddy some golf balls and a utility knife (thanks grandma for doing O's shopping.)

When we got back to mom's, Danny decided he wanted to watch the US Open, so we decided to stay around until it was over. While he was watching oh so boring golf, Owen and I went and visited with my dad for Father's Day.

Do you think they look alike? I'll have to scan a picture of my little brother when he was 3 years old. It's amazing how much he and Owen favor.

A Beautiful Day.....

On Saturday my cousin Lesa exchanged vows with her new husband Ken at 1812 Hitching Post near Statesville, NC. Those of us in the wedding arrived around 11:30 am to start getting ready and to have a few pictures taken. The ceremony began at 12:30am outside beneath the trees and under a cloudy sky. The mothers were seated to "Colorblind" by the Counting Crows and the wedding party came in to "Kingdom Come" by Coldplay and Lesa walked down the aisle to "In My Life" by The Beatles. The aisle was lined with silver buckets full of daises hanging from shepherds hooks and the arbor was decorated with beautiful greenery and more daises.

The ceremony was short and sweet and ended at the perfect time. Just as Lesa and Ken shared their first kiss as husband and wife, the sun came out, the minister introduced them as Mr. & Mrs Collins and "A Beautiful Day" by U2 began to play. The timing could not have been any better. The way the sunlight was beaming off Lesa's white dress along with the excitement of the crowd and such an upbeat song, It was like something out of a movie.

The reception was held outside where it must have been 100 degrees or at least close to it, but thank goodness it was not raining!!!!

Lesa and Ken shared their first dance while everyone watched. The song was pretty long and the expression of HELP PLEASE by Lesa led the wedding party onto the dance floor with them.




Lesa, a daddy's girl, danced to My Wish by Rascal Flatts. It was a melt -your -heart moment!




















There was definitely not a lack of good music at this wedding. There was a little bit of everything from Outkast to Prince.

The reception ended around 4pm and Lesa and Ken along with some of their friends were off to an after reception party at the maid of honor's house. Lesa and Ken left that evening for their honeymoon.

CONGRATULATIONS Lesa and Ken! Thanks for letting us share this special day with you both!


(And did I mention Owen was the hit of the party? Well, second to the bride of course!)

See more wedding pics here
See engagement pictures here
See bridal portraits here

Owen and his dadu

Watch Owen Grow

If you can't tell, Owen is one happy little guy.

Click anywhere on the image to see it enlarged.

Mosaic Maker

Little O is 7 months old

(getting excited as he waits for his oatmeal)
(Being camera shy. I was trying to get a picture of him at 7 months)



This past month has been a very exciting one as Owen continues to grow, develop and bless us more and more each day.

Here are some of the thing the little guy has been up to:

* has started using his tongue to make talking sounds (la la la la, ya ya ya ya and dadu)
* rolls and rolls and rolls over (making for a very difficult diaper change)
* almost sitting-up, but not quite yet
* will try to sit up in his car seat and bouncy chair
* eating baby food. We started w/peas (which he does not seem to like), and then tried green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, applesauce, pears, peaches, and bananas.
* loves oatmeal and gets excited when he sees us making it
* trying to drink from a sippy cup, but does better from a regular cup
* sucks on his arms and ours
* blows bubbles on our arms and faces
* gives open mouth kisses (or at least that's what we like to think) on our cheeks
* loves to beat on everything. We bought him a Little Tykes baby piano that he loves
* likes to be held in the standing position (still jumps likes he's in his jumperoo)
* loves his singing frog (it's a frog wearing a Carolina Panther's jersey that dances to a rap song)
* is using a high chair to eat in now
* went on his first vacation to the beach
* visited Western Carolina University
* enjoys swinging at our community park
* is sleeping MUCH better through the night
* Owen is a very happy baby and we are always getting complemented on his behavior when we go out

For his 7 month birthday he got the ball you see him with in the picture and two new books (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to School.)

Looking like a BIG kid

My college roommate and good friend Lori is always so generous! While I was pregnant, she let me borrow all her maternity clothes and with maternity clothes being so expensive and only worn for a short period of time, she really saved me a lot of money.

On Friday I met Lori for lunch at Blue Sky Cafe and she so graciously let us borrow her little girl's high chair. And Owen LOVES it!!!He puts his feet on the tray like he does in his stroller and he can pull up to the table and eat with us. As well, he can reach some of his suction toys now. I think the whole new perspective thing is exciting for him. He can see Molly & Sam better, which seems to be the highlight of his day. I wish I could figure out how to put a sound bite on here of him squealing when he sees them.

How you doin'?

Around 4pm this afternoon I decided to take Owen upstairs (aka "Danny's man cave") to spend a little time with his daddy. Danny was taking a nap, so I am sure he appreciated me bringing the little guy, full of energy, to hang out with him.

Prior to dropping Owen off upstairs, I went through a few of our cookbooks in an attempt to be some what of a "Suzie Homemaker." If you know me well enough, you know I am not much of a cook. I found a few things I wanted to make including coconut bread with pineapple butter from the Tyler Florence cookbook.

OK, so I am getting around to the fun part..... I went to the grocery store. That's right, the GROCERY STORE--- all by MYSELF. This was the first time I've gone to the grocery store by myself since before Owen was born. That was at least 7 months ago. I had soooooooo much fun!!!! I started with a Java Chip Frapaccino (I have no idea if I spelled that correct and neither does spell check) from Starbucks and then I went down every aisle, picking out some of my favorites, a few staples and a few new things I wanted to try. I even managed to run into a few of my neighbors and good friend Kelly. I spent literally 2 hours at Ingles. After I had checked out and was pushing my buggy past the next cashier, a young bag boy looked my way and said, "How you doin'." I guess he didn't notice the nursing bosom and mommy pouch. Needless to say, he made my day.

After dinner I made the coconut bread and pineapple butter compound (by the way, if you need coconut milk for anything and you shop at Ingles, expect to find it with the ethnic foods. Everyone probably knows this but me, considering I don't cook much. I probably spent a good hour of my shopping trip searching for it. I expected it to be on the baking aisle; after all, I was baking.)

So, you’re probably wondering how the bread turned out. It was actually pretty good. Of course it was a Tyler Florence recipe. If you ever visit Château Johnson, maybe we’ll have it for breakfast.