New Sled

On Christmas Day, we decided to have Owen try out his new sled.  We had a little over a foot of snow in the yard so we decided to pull him around in the snow there.  It only took a couple of times around the yard to realize that the snow was deep enough and not packed at all to make it a little more difficult (and less fun) to pull him around. 

That's when we got the idea to pull him around the driveway...which only had about an inch or two on it at that time.  That is when we could pull him a little more quickly and get him to do some "doughnuts" etc...  He had a blast and was loving it.....almost as much as Emily was having.

Loving his new sled

 

 

A little more difficult pulling him in deep snow

 

 

Driveway sledding was more fun

 

 

Letting gravity do the work...instead of pulling him down the hill

 

 

Had a blast!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Morning

Sure it may be the worst wrapped Christmas gift of all time,

but it was easy to open for Owen &

we got rid of many rolls of wrapping paper that we only had a small amount of.

 

 

The Workshop that was inside that hideous wrapping job

 

 

Owen's personalized chair from his Aunts (Gen & Ang)

 

 

New Sled

 

 

New books and puzzle from Grandma Humes

 

 

 

 

Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's

After Ang's wedding, we spent a couple days with Grandpa & Grandma Van Ackeren and celebrated Christmas a couple days early since we were heading back to Wisconsin for Christmas.  Oma & Opa got to have some quality time with The Dude as well. 

Where is Opa's nose?  (Be careful if you ask The Dude where your nose is....

he will show you with great force.)

 

 

The Dude in his new shirt...sitting on Dad's lap with his new hat

 

 

Opening up presents with Mom

 

 

Big smiles from everyone

 

 

Good times had by all!

 

 

 

 

Decorating Christmas Cookies

Here are some pics of The Dude decorating some frosted sugar cookies that Em made.  (Basically, it consisted of Owen turning a bottle of sprinkles upside down over the cookies and holding it still until there was a mound of sugar sprinkles on 1 cookie that looked like Mt Kilamanjaro rising from the plains of Africa.....and then I would turn his hand back to get the bottle right side up again.)

Exactly as I described above

 

 

Decorating cookies with Mom frosting in the background

 

 

Sprinkles that fell off the 3 cookies he decorated

 

 

Beautifully Decorated

 

 

We finally got smart and strapped him in his high chair while he decorated

 

 

No matter how they looked....they had no issues getting eaten

Ring Bearer

Owen was the ring bearer for Emily's sister's (Ang) wedding this past weekend.  He is 17 months old, so everyone knew that just about anything could happen and that chances are.....everything wouldn't go off "perfectly".

It all started at the rehearsal.  The plan was for Owen and Wakeley (the flower girl and Owen's cousin) to hold hands and walk down the aisle right before Ang would walk down the aisle with her father. 

During the rehearsal Owen held Wakeley's hand and started off down the aisle.  (The aisle takes a 90 degree turn to the left to get to the area where vows would be exchanged.)  My job is to get the kids going and then run up to the front of the church area around where everyone is sitting so I could peak my head through the door and get the kids off the stage as Ang is walking down the aisle so they wouldn't have to stand up front the entire ceremony.

As I'm running up to the front I hear a fairly large "Gasp" and then an all-to-familiar sound of my son crying.  Evidently, Wakeley (who was SO excited to be the flower girl was just a little too quick down the aisle for Owen to keep up with her) so he fell down....and may or may not have been drug a little ways.  (I got conflicting stories.)

Practicing holding hands before the rehearsal

 

 

Walking down the aisle right before the Left Turn....and before the tumble

 

 

Fast forward to the next door.  Owen is "tuxed up" and Wakeley has a cute dress on that makes her look like a princess.  The 2 of them are next up to walk down the aisle, and Owen is still in my arms as he had been ultra-clingy all day (lack of a quality nap that afternoon probably didn't help).  At the last second I put him down and Wakeley grabs his hand.  I give her a quick "Remember to go slowly for Owen so he can keep up with you."  She understood.  And off they went.....

 

I watch them go a few steps without any problems....until I see Owen just turn his head and look right at me.  I could see his little face start to freak out and he started to turn around and come right back to me.  This is the worst thing that could happen because I knew it would be near impossible to try to convince the little guy to do it when he doesn't even talk yet.  Reasoning was out. 

 

I turned to Ang who was standing right behind me with her father waiting to walk down the aisle in one of the biggest moments in her life and I ask her, "Do you want me to go down with them?"  I wasn't sure what else I could do at that point. 

 

She quickly responded, "Yes, go ahead and go down with them." 

 

I took 2 steps, but as soon as I got that far, I saw Jamie (the groom) had already headed up the aisle to help them.  This was the absolute best alternative as he is fantastic with kids and he was supposed to be seen by the crowd.  As soon as I saw him get to Wakeley, I knew they were in good hands so I started to go around to the front of the church to handle the 2nd part of my duties (get the kids off of the stage).

 

About half way up to the front, I heard a thunderous applause.  My immediate thought was "at least it isn't crying", but I was thoroughly confused on what happened. 

 

I get to the front of the church and peek my head inside to try to get the attention of the 2 children.  Owen is still being held by Jamie, but when Ang is heading down the aisle I see Jamie give him to his parents who are sitting on the farthest side away from the church then I am.  This presents a new challenge to me...what do I do now?  Do I walk in front of the bride coming down the aisle?  Or just let Owen stay with his dad hoping that he doesn't freak out?  Not great options. 

 

Thankfully, one of the attendants (Cara) saw what was going on and took Owen and walked out the back of the church and handed him to me.  Crisis avoided. 

 

Here are some pics of the Dude (pre-ceremony).  Sorry I didn't get any pics of anything during the ceremony, but I was a little too preoccupied trying to put out mini-fires to even think about pulling my iPhone out of my pocket.

 

 

Stayin' Classy

 

 

Ring Bearer & Bridesmaid (Mom)

 

 

During the wedding (after their portion) the cousins playing (quietly)

 

Mrs. Claus

Getting a picture with The Dude on Santa's lap just didn't happen this year.  That isn't to say that he wasn't on Santa's lap......because he was.  We just happened to go to the mall in Lincoln, NE and I guess at that particular mall they wouldn't allow you to take a picture of your little one on Santa's lap with your camera unless you agreed to purchase a picture from them as well.  It probably is better that we didn't agree to that because The Dude just wasn't having Santa this year.  As soon as he got on his lap....he wanted off....and no matter what Santa did....didn't work. 

BUT, he did sit on 2 different Mrs. Claus' in Wisconsin earlier in the month. 

Reading a story with Mrs. Claus at the Pewaukee Library

 

 

Mrs Claus at a City of Pewaukee Christmas Hot Chocolate Get Together

(I'm not sure what the heck it was)

 

 

Christmas Lights

Very close to our house, a hotel puts on an amazing Christmas light display that you drive around.  Last time we drove through it there were lines of cars inching their way through the winding dirt roads that has all of these lights.  We decided to go early this year in an effort to not be caught in a crowd of other vehicles. 

As you drive through the roads behind this particular hotel, they have different scenarios set up that you can drive through such as a lighted up zoo type area where they have lights in shapes of animals, they have a bear town, and a host of other different lights.  It's pretty impressive for a small town like Pewaukee. 

After you are done with the driving portion, you can park your car and go into one of two other buildings that host a large nativity scene and a railroad exhibit (and you can purchase hot chocolate or gelato). 

Here are some pics.  (The pics do not do the lights justice at all.)

Outdoor lights (igloo, moose, and various other lights)

 

More Outdoor lights

 

At the end of the path, you go through a tunnel of blinking lights. 

(Still photography doesn't do it justice)

 

In front of one of the train exhibits

 

The Dude loves trains

 

In front of the big wreath

 

Nativity Scene

 

Toy Soldiers

Attack the Phone

This is a video of the Dude looking at himself in my iphone as I video him and deciding he needs to try to "attack" the phone.  He loves watching videos of himself (or just about anything else).  

 

 

Professional Photos

A few months ago, we had a photo shoot as a family (mainly photos of Owen since I'm about as photogenic as Steve Buscemi pre-makeup). 

The photo shoot was not the best experience as Owen spent the day in his daycare....and probably got about half the amount of needed naps.  It was about an hour before his bedtime, so he was plenty tired and letting whoever that was in the sound of his voice know it. 

It is nothing short of a miracle that the photographer got as many pictures of him not crying as she did. 

I hadn't posted any of them before because we are using one of the pictures in our Christmas card (and I needed to know which one we would be using so as to not post that one prematurely). 

(Each time you look at a smiling picture of Owen in one of the following pictures, just also try to envision me and Em singing, smiling, dancing, doing O-H-I-O, and anything else short of standing on our heads to get him to stop crying and throw a hint of a smile towards the camera.)  This was the one time in my life I thought the photographer was underpaid (and that was prior to me seeing any photographs). 

Enjoy!

This was the "happiest" expression we got from him on the bridge

 

This would've been a good picture if we had gotten ALL of the wood chips, he inexplicably shoveled into his mouth, out of his mouth before the shot was taken

 

For whatever reason, he was fine as long as we left him alone hanging out by a fence

 

This angelic face was screaming bloody murder a mere 2 minutes before this shot was taken

 

At one point, our photographer started taking pictures of Owen from behind.  My guess is because she ruined so many pictures that were of him screaming.

 

Most of the pics with just Em & Owen turned out great for the following reasons:  A) Owen likes to be held by his mom, and B) Dad isn't in the photo ruining it with his Lurch like quality

 

He might not be smiling, but if he wasn't screaming.....the photo was a keeper.

 

Doing the "H" in O-H-I-O

 

Part of me likes this background with the rocks, and

part of me is like "why is the kid playing on train tracks?"

 

Love this Dude....happy, sad, or screaming his head off

Larry, Mo, & The Dude

I realized what makes my son laugh uncontrollably as I was holding him and trying to put on my shoes.  I was standing on one foot (still holding him) and just started leaning one direction.  I ended up just catching myself (never in danger of actually falling) but that little jolt just cracked Owen up hysterically. 

I decided to see how far I could take this "fake injury" thing and pretended to fall and catch myself while holding him.  He just cracked up each and every time until he could barely keep his breathing up with his laughter. 

Then I just started saying words like "Ouch", "Ow", "Oooof", etc....with the same predictable result.  He loved it.

Maybe the 3 Stooges really is a "male type of comedy" after all.  I never watched the 3 Stooges with him, but maybe that needs to be on the agenda some day.  He just cracks up with that brand of humor. 

Here is a quick video that I took of me just saying "Ouch" and other such words and acting like I tripped or something.  He just loved it and couldn't stop laughing again. 

There is absolutely nothing better in the world than a little kid laughing.  You can't be in a bad mood afterwards.  Impossible.

I'm Gonna Get Ya!

One of The Dude's favorite games is "I'm Gonna Get You".  Although he may react a little differently with each game, the same smiles and giggles are always present. 

Sometimes, he may play the game "right" and recognize that I'm coming after him....so he runs/walks quickly away.  Other times, he gets so excited that he starts coming right after me when I'm supposed to get him.  I guess he has already figured out that sometimes the best defense is a good offense. 

Here are 2 videos that show both options:

 

 

 

 

The Bi-Polar Bear takes Pewaukee

Pewaukee had a little Trick-or-Treat activity for the kids in the community.  They gather together on a Saturday afternoon, have a parade (which means that all the kids and parents walk behind a police car through the downtown area), then trick or treating to all the different downtown businesses. 

The Bi-Polar Bear did great at his 1st Trick or Treat outing.

Getting Ready

 

 

In the parade, by the lake

 

 

Parade?

 

 

Saying Hi to the Pewaukee Fire Dept

 

 

On the Firetruck

 

 

A well-behaved bi-polar bear

 

 

Worn out