New House Resolutions...Revisited!

About a year ago, Richie and I were anxiously waiting to move from our rental house into our OWN house. After a cramped, cluttered couple of years in a house we eventually hated, I made a list of resolutions for how I hoped life in our new house would be. Now that we've gotten settled, I thought it would be fun to see how I'm doing on my goals!

1) Learn how to wash clothes with bleach. I am pleased to report that I now wash 1 load of laundry per week in bleach. I'm sure I will end up getting some weird nose disease for sniffing all that Clorox, but there is just something about the smell of bleached sheets and towels that I just love.

2) Don't keep things I don't really need. I guess to be honest this item is still a work in progress. I did create a filing system that has worked out pretty well. Organization takes a heck of a lot of work! But I am very happy to say that so far we've managed to do light years better than we ever have before in this area!

3) Create a place for every thing. This ties back in to the previous item. I think we've done pretty well with keeping things organized and clutter-free. I've really been enjoying my label maker, and amazingly, a little $20 mom toy really does make a big difference!

4) Start fixing the house up from Day 1. I've got to say, we've blown this one out of the water! When we moved in, we came up with a pretty nice sized list of things we want to do. We still have lots of projects to tackle, but as of today (and with the recent help of Richie's dad) we have managed to accomplish quite a bit...painting, new lighting, knobs and pulls, landscaping. I'm excited to see what we'll do in the year ahead!

5) Decorate in a way that really reflects our taste. When we moved, we sold just about every significant piece of furniture we owned: couch, tv, entertainment center, tables, lamps, beds. I had fantasies about how much FUN we would have taking a (small) wad of cash out on the town to buy our dream (budget) furniture. Let's just say my high hopes were not met. The process of decorating has proven to be longer and more difficult than I imagined. But although we don't have all the furniture we need and want, what we do have, we really love.

6) Invite our friends and family to come enjoy our new home! Mission Accomplished! We celebrated my birthday and Owen's birthday at home, as well as hosted a big Thanksgiving Day get-together with our friends. We bought a new bed and moved our bed to the extra bedroom, so the futon has been temporarily retired. Whew!

7) Meet our neighbors. We've also done relatively well on this one. Being the Type A that I am, I drew out a map of the houses around ours and have managed to fill in the names of most of our neighbors. Really we only converse with our direct next-door neighbors....two Mississippians!

So, although this is yet another post that has nothing to do with Owen and is probably one of the most boring things you've ever read, I've had fun taking a look back over the last year, so thanks for indulging me.

Oh, and that swing that the front porch was just begging for?

Done and done!

Mother's Day

I'm a little behind posting about Mother's Day, but I wanted to show off Richie and Owen's handywork...

We spent Mother's Day afternoon at a baby shower for some friends. That evening, I was invited to a Mother's Day Mothers Night Out with a great group of mommy friends! We all wore our aprons out to our neighborhood bar for a few hours of chatting and enjoying each other's company.

But by far, the best part of Mother's Day is just being a mother to this little guy...

Mudbugs

Saturday, we were excited be invited to a birthday crawfish boil for our friends Erin and Rebecca. When I RSVP'd, I let Erin know that Owen and I don't eat crawfish, but that Richie is a big fan. What I didn't take into consideration, however, is that Owen will pretty much eat anything. ANYTHING. Please take a moment to check out my friend Maggie's blog post about our afternoon:

Just say NO to Mommy Brain!: Boys are from Mars.

A&P with Owen

Quick funny...
Owen had an accident in his pants this morning....lots and lots of tee-tee. I commented, "Wow, where did all this tee-tee come from?!"

His matter-of-fact response: "My penis!"

Goodnight already!

Most nights, Owen goes to bed without too much of a fuss. After using the potty and brushing his teeth, he will jump (literally) into his bed, mandate a couple of books to read, and settle in with his numerous bed buddies (monster, 2 Curious Georges, lamb, 'spider monkey', parrot, and little horse, to name a few). We will read, chat, say our goodnights and i love you's, turn on his baby Beatles cd, and turn off the light. Some nights, Owen will request "wabes." Oh, you've never heard of wabes before? Well, that would be Owen's way of saying he wants one of us to lay in bed with him and try to make ocean sounds. As you can imagine, that is no problem for Richie. My ocean sounds, on the other hand, generally come across sounding more like a tv that can't find a functioning channel more than relaxing waves gently lullabying our sweet son to sleep.

Tonight, it's been quite a challenge to get Owen to bed. I have tucked him in now FOUR times. Just as I get settled, I hear his little feet charging down the hallways. Here's how the conversation goes once he barges into our bedroom:

Owen: "I've got to tell you something."
Me: "Okay, buddy, what is it?"
Owen: "Spiderman."
Me: "What about Spiderman?"
Owen: "Spiderman."
sigh
tuck in
kiss
settle in
aaaah
darn...door
Owen: "I've got to tell you something."
Me: "Owen, I asked you to stay in your bed. What do you need to tell me?"
Owen: "Spiderman."
tuck in
kiss
settle in
door again
Owen: "I've got to tell you something."
Me: "Owen, what is it you need to tell me?"
Owen: "Lamb."
Me: "What about lamb?"
Owen: "Lamb."
tuck in
kiss
(uh, maybe a threat about popping his behind if he gets up again)
settle in
yup, you guessed it...
the dadgum door

Sounds like all is quiet on the other end of the monitor.
Oops, think again....

Happy Earth Day!

Spring has finally arrived in Nashville! Most of April, we've had chilly, damp, dreary weather...until the past week or so. We're finally seeing mid-60 and 70 degree weather and lots of beautiful sunshine. Owen has always loved being outside, so he's been spending most of the daylight hours running around the back yard, playing with the dogs, finding sticks, and just generally being his awesome little self. Tonight, for example, Owen fixed me a lovely dinner of gum and squash casserole (more commonly recognized as a pebble and a clump of grass) while I worked on sanding our front porch swing. :) Here are some fun pictures of Owen enjoying spring...

"It's easy being green! Hug a tree"

Comfy new sandals from Gran and Pop

Picnic lunch with Uncle Tom at the Earth Day celebration last Saturday at Centennial Park...

followed by a little yard work...

and dinner outside by our veggie garden.

Aah...springtime and the livin' is easy!

Hope you haven't been holding your breath!

Well, I am just barely getting in under the wire--it's almost been a month since my last post...but not quite! So, without further adieu, I present to you a little post about our Easter Weekend!


We started off by visiting (and joining, thanks to Gran and Pop!) the amazing Adventure Science Center...Owen and Miriam could barely contain their excitement waiting for the crew to arrive...
One of the highlights of our day was spotting this T-Rex....just like the T-Rex on Owen's shirt!

We also had a lot of fun watching the big kids figure out the pressure-launched two liter cola bottles...

Friday night, Owen spent the night at the guest suite with Gran, Pop, and Uncle Minor. Miriam and I joined them for lunch and some play time on Saturday...

Saturday night, we all headed over to the Grand Ole Opry House for a fantastic night of country and bluegrass music. Owen really seemed to enjoy himself...he clapped and pretended to drum his popcorn bucket along to the music. We did have to take him out to the foyer for some "run off some steam" time, but overall he did great!

Sunday morning, our awesome friends the Cassells and Uncle Tom came over for an Easter egg hunt! Owen and Dylan did a great job finding all of the eggs that Aunt Mimi hid.

We capped off our morning with a delicious brunch at the Nashville Biscuit House. Once we made it home, Tom convinced me that we just had to plant a garden right then! After Gran, Pop, and Uncle Minor headed back to Mississippi, we got started. Miriam and Owen were busy finding worms...

and climbing our very favorite magnolia tree...

What a wonderful visit! Somehow, regretfully, I didn't get any pictures of Owen with Gran and Pop! I have no idea how that happened, but I'm hoping that, out of the FOUR other cameras that were carefully documenting the weekend, someone got at least a few cute ones of Owen with Gran and Pop. That's right....FOUR other cameras. :)

Happy Easter to all of our friends and family!