Sleepy Bubbles

We had a rather large family gathering for a BBQ tonight at my Mom's house. Owen looked pretty tuckered out before we left (hence him resting on the cold hard tile floor for a little cat nap). He perked up once we got there and he was surrounded by all the excitement of other children and new people. Pappy and Austin were great bubble blowers! I think they got a little tired of blowing for so long, but the kids enjoyed it.

Owen was a tired little wet noodle in my arms just before I put him in his car seat to go home and go to bed. By the time my mom pulled out the camera to snap the snuggles, it was over, and this is what we got. Oh well. These moments go by too darn fast!

Lil' Picasso

Today I decided to try finger/ brush painting with Owen. Doing this with out another adult was probably a bit risky, but hey, the paint is washable, and we both survived. It proved to be a lot of work (for me) for only a small amount of amusment time. He really wanted to dip his little fingers in the paint and eat it, so it was a bit of a battle to put his fingers on the paper. However, we did get 3 original works of art that we can now proudly showcase on the fridge : )

We are also working on brushing his teeth regularly. As long as he has an Elmo toothbrush, it's not a problem, except he would rather suck off the toothpaste (strawberry banana flavored ...yuck) than brush them. We're gettin' there!

Owen was digging in my beach bag and turned around the corner wearing my hat and cracking up! He kept it on for quite a while and played peek a boo with me as well as watched his reflection in our dishwasher and oven while he took it off and on.

There was one very sad part of today. I decided to wash his blanket (binki) while he was playing outside and I stuck it in the dryer during dinner. It was not finished drying by the time he realized it was missing and was more upset than I have ever seen him. Talk about heart breaking! The neighbors must have thought I was torturing him slowly, it was pretty painful for both of us! After his bath he got his blanket and should be sound asleep by now. From now on I am washing that thing in the middle of the night and putting it back before morning.

Visit to Daddy's Work

I came home from work today just in time for Adam to go to work. Owen was quickly filling up on snacks when I decided to head down to the harbor for dinner since it was such a beautiful day out. I couldn't bare to be inside any longer. I met my Mom and David at Endless Summer. I told Owen that we were going to see Daddy, Nanna and Pappy and we were off! He will do anything to see any of these people! (It's my new bargaining tool : )

Owen's attention span isn't so long these days for a high chair in a restaurant. He ate crayons and colored for a short bit before he was sitting on the table tossing sugar packets and plastic table menus out the second story window! Thank god he didn't hit anyone! Jeez, he is so fast! Once the food came Owen was pretty psyched to see ketchup in a cup on his plate w/ french fries, and a garden burger. He quickly dipped his fries in the ketchup and sucked it all off. Gross.

Before we headed home we walked to David's new Porche so we could check it out. Owen looked pretty darn comfortable and happy in the driver's seat I tell you. He certainly didn't get his love of cars from my side of the family!

Needless to say, when we got home Owen was pretty hungry. Guess the ketchup didn't fill him up! I fed him a late dinner and played briefly with a new quacking duck puppet that my friend Sherry gave him. I think this is MY new favorite toy. He was a little unsure about the quacking at first, but next thing I know, he is giving the duck kisses and quacking back!

Gardening, Beaches and Friends

We had so much fun yesterday that we got home too late for me to even think about updating the blog. We started off by finishing the garden in the morning. We put up a little fence around the border to keep Owen out of our new plants. He put it to the test today. I think the fence is going to loose this fight in the long run, but we will do what we can.

Later we went up the coast to Refugio beach to meet some friends for a BBQ. Owen spent about two hours finding rocks and throwing them in the ocean. He had a blast. Adam was able to go surfing for the first time in a long time, and we just got to enjoy a BEAUTIFUL sunny warm day together. It was great!

We were meeting some friends for dinner and games so we rushed home to shower off the sand and get dinner ready before Nanna came over to babysit. Owen was saying "Nanna, Happy" over and over again until she got there. He just adores my mom. (so do we!) We had a fun night of Thai food, good wine, lots of laughs and a great game of Balderdash that Adam creamed us at.

A Hard Day's Work in the Garden

Adam brought home 14 tomato plants as well as lettuce, mini bell peppers and spinach to plant in our garden! We only had room for 12 tomato plants however. If anyone needs tomatoes this spring/ summer, come to our house! ; ) Owen has been allowed to play in the dirt for quite a while now, so he isn't too thrilled with not being able to stomp on our new plants. Tomorrow we are off to OSH to get some fencing to keep our little King Kong out of our garden! Maybe we should get a sandbox while we are out to take the place of his old play yard.

Owen did however do a great job using his shovel to help Mommy plant the new veggies! He had fun with two friends that came over to play today. The boys were all great little helpers. They helped keep Owen busy while we did the gardening. He is getting pretty good at giving kisses out now, it's the sweetest thing ever to watch him give a kiss to another child. Melts my heart.

After everyone left I turned around to catch him with his blanket (that he has become very attached to), his pacifier and his feet up on the couch relaxing for several minutes (which is a pretty long time for a toddler to rest). He must have been pretty tired after all that digging!

Play Day!

Today started with me catching Owen in the act of snagging a bag of muffins his Nanna made on the table and picking out and eating all the dried cranberries. I thought it was a bit too quiet for too long in the kitchen : ). While I made his breakfast he sat quietly in his new booster seat at the table and colored with crayons. This is fun at first until he decides to toss each crayon one by one off the table and watching them break in half. Not so much fun for Mommy and Daddy.
I let Adam get some writing done while I took Owen to his play group where he got to drive a car all by himself (a Little Tykes car that is powered by little feet of course), and go up and down the slide about 20 times. We then went inside to sing songs with the other kids, however, Owen gets a little antsy and would much rather be outside, so needless to say it was a lot of chasing inside and out! After snack time we played with a table of plastic food and I watched him grab a plastic apple, run like lightning outside and throw it in the public park trash can (I thought about fishing it out, but it was deep and disgusting, so I let it go and hoped the teacher didn't see!). He saw lots of old and new friends and had a great time.

Later in the afternoon we went to Goleta Beach for a bit. Owen had a blast in the water, walking in a sand castle that some people spent 3 hours making today, and running up and down the jungle gym at the park on the beach. He was wet and covered in sand, he couldn't have been happier!
We came home and made margaritas to wind down our day. Owen got a much needed warm bath and I was able to make dinner (stuffed shells with spinach...deelish!). We are all pooped after such a
long fun filled day. Good night!

Mammoths, condors and bears, Oh my!

Today we went to Santa Barbara's Natural History Museum. We loved it! It was very kid friendly. Owen could run around and interact with lots of different parts of each exhibit. He really enjoyed the gem and mineral room which was cave like and he could touch anything he wanted! We also got to see the skeleton of a wooly mammoth which found on Santa Rosa Island, not far from Santa Barbara. The bird exhibit was really cool. The eggs from some hummingbirds were about the size of a tic tac, amazing that an entire bird emerges from such a small egg. He also got to excavate a fossil with a small brush in a sand box. I think he had the most fun throwing the sand out of the box however.

We had a slight emergency in the first 10 minutes of our arrival. We forgot the diaper bag at home and had no extra diapers in the car, which left us in a stinky situation! Fortunately I found another Mom in the parking lot with a daughter (Bella) who was the same age and had an extra diaper for Owen. Thank Goodness! The kids met in the planetarium section and it was love at first sight! Owen kept chasing her around trying to kiss her. She was playing hard to get, but they sure were cute together!

Overall, it was a great day.

Ernie's New Home

I just got back from a girl's weekend trip to Seattle with a close friend. We had a great time, but I did miss my "boys." As usual, Owen was spoiled at Nanna and Pappy's house when Adam was working. I came home to a happy boy who was just as thrilled to see me as I was thrilled to see him.

After his bath, Owen couldn't have been happier playing with his new potty chair. He really got a kick by stuffing Ernie in the bowl and closing the lid. By the time I grabbed the camera, Ernie had a bit more room and he just wanted his paci in there. (By the way, for those of you wondering, he has never peed or pooped in the bowl, so I let him play away).

I think Owen was excited at his Mommy's return (or the fact that Pappy and Nanna came by to say hello) that it took a while to settle down and go to sleep, but he is finally in dream land and I can't wait to spend the day with Adam and Owen tomorrow!

Rocky Balboa

Today was a long tiring day for the Anton family. We decided to take a break and get out of the house (on a foggy day) and go to Owen's favorite park. He has become very brave lately and is going down the BIG slide that twists and turns all by himself. Well, he was getting pretty good at it, except today he went a little too fast and ended up getting a bit of a black eye on his way down. He has a cut above his right eye, it's a little swollen with bruising and two broken hearts of his parents! He kept saying "eye" over and over again and pointing to it (or poking it rather). So sad. He is fine, nothing a few days, some neosporin and a cookie can't fix. Adam was calling him Rocky after that happened. In 18 months this is probably his biggest "owie" so we can't complain, as it is pretty minor. Anyway, just wanted to share.