Weekend with family and friends

The air was a bit chilly in Nashville this past weekend, but it wasn't cool enough to keep us indoors. Here's a brief rundown of the weekend's events:

Saturday morning, Owen and I met my cousin Allison and her adorable daughter Mary Frances at the zoo. Owen specifically requested to go see the zebras...so once we made it to the zebras, we stopped to hang out with them for a while.

Upon arriving at the giraffes, Owen was kind enough to point out, rather loudly, that one of the giraffes was peeing. Gotta love little boys. :)

Sharing a sweet hug, despite the giraffe pee in the background

Sunday afternoon, we went on a family outing with the Conrans and the Cassells to the pumpkin patch at Walden Farm. None of the boys had a proper nap, so getting them to pose for a group picture was just simply not happening...

Getting them to pose with during the Conrans' family picture worked out a little better!

Walden Farm has lots of activities for the kids--face painting, sand art, a primitive water well, a petting zoo, hayrides...Owen and Dylan thought the chickens were a particular highlight...

The pumpkin patch closed early on Sunday, so we didn't have enough time for a hayride or picking any pumpkins out. We did devote a good chunk of time to the hay maze. Owen saw a large decorative spider web and really just wanted to stay inside the hay maze checking it out. We finally managed to get a family picture, though...FINALLY! :)

The Listers
October 2008

He's got the blues

A couple of days ago, Richie was playing around on the piano. Owen started singing along and before we knew it, he had worked himself up over this song. He put so much energy and excitement into singing...he must be a Lister or something. Watch at the end...it's like he is overcome with the music and runs to the bass guitar. Richie and I were both overwhelmed by Owen's natural ability to sing and the enthusiasm he has always had for music. Enjoy!

I was tagged!

So my friend Callie tagged me! The instructions were to open my pictures folder, then open the sixth folder and post the sixth picture. And here you have it...

January 2005: Gwyn, Richie and Jeremy

I threw Richie a surprise rollerskating party at the Madison Skate Center. We had so much fun, and it was one of the few surprises I've ever been able to pull on Richie. One of the high points of the night was getting to hang out with the Conrans for the first time. Not that they were regulars at the skating rink or anything...they came to the party with our friend Sunny. :)

So on that note, I think I am now supposed to tag someone else to do this little project. And since I only know 2 other people besides Callie who read this and have their own blog, I tag Maggie and Genny! I feel like an official blogger now!

hopefully callie won't mind...

But I just had to post this most adorable picture of Owen from our visit the other day. See more at her blog!

bad blogger mommy!

I've done it again...gone way too long without any updates! The weekend of October 4th, I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Nashville. It was an amazing, emotional event. Special thanks to Gigi & Granddad, Gran & Pop, and Jenn for their generous donations for the event. It was confirmed today that there were over 10,000 racers/walkers this year and over $1 million was raised by the Nashville race! I'm so excited to have been a part of such an important day! That night, I went to Aunt Gwyn's variety show at Exit/In. If you haven't checked out her link to the left, you really should! She is breathtaking!

After my long walk and late night on Saturday, Richie and I were relieved that Owen slept in for the first time pretty much EVER on Sunday! We got up at 10:30 and had a donut picnic in the backyard. :) Then we took Barrett on a walk around the neighborhood. It was pretty much a perfect morning!

Then very extremely mind-blowingly early last Thursday morning (hee hee!), Owen and I flew to Mississippi for a long overdue trip to Gran and Pop's house. It is hard to believe, but Owen had not been to McComb since September of last year! He had such a fun time checking the cows, playing with Sky (the cross-eyed cat), riding on the mule, petting the horsey, and especially eating powdered donuts for breakfast every day (thanks, Pop!) Here are a few pictures to sum up our fantastic visit home:

The first words out of his mouth at oh-my-lordy:30 a.m. were "I'm getting on an airplane!"

Pop driving fast on the mule to go check the cows...Owen kept yipping "Wee! Yeah! Shooey!"

Pop explaining the delicate art of casting to a very unattentive grandson

1st fish! Poor fish met his untimely end when Owen accidentally whacked him onto a rock. RIP little fishy

Uncle Minor introduced Owen to his new puppy Chip.

Swinging on the front porch with Gran and Pop--very relaxing way to end a fun and memorable day!

Who knew electric wheelchairs could be so fun!

...and wipes too!

We finally got to meet Hutson...PLEASE go see Hutson's blog (link to left). He is precious!

We found this awesome costume at a consignment store--Owen was naked within 30 seconds of seeing it. He wore it out of the store and pretty much hasn't taken it off ever since!

See?

Walking up to the dairy barn to pet a horse

Perfecting his Spidey skills on the windshield of Gran's car...great idea, Pop! :)

Poor little Spidey was all tuckered out by the time we made it back to the house.

Thank you, Gran, Pop, and Minor, for a very, very wonderful weekend! We love you!