Guess What Owen Got Today....

I have a few more pictures to share, although, I'm realizing how pathetic I am about getting shots of my munchkin. We had a nice birthday party for Dave this weekend and Owen got to play with Charlee and Jeda. But, I was too sick to even think about digging out my camera. What can you do. It seems like special events are the only time I take photos anymore, so I hate that I fell down on the job!!

Anyway, this is our little turd in his Halloween costume. He's been quite a handful the last month or so and has spent a lot of time thinking about his behavior alone in his room. Well, when you are a little manipulator and a thinker to boot, you don't just sit in your room without working up a plan! ;O) So, every time he's really in trouble, he gets the stool and pulls his costume down from the top of his closet and puts it on. Then he comes downstairs and asks for "a big hug" and tells me "I wuv you mommy". Fortunately, I have experience with this little trick thanks to my wonderful sister who reminds me more and more of my little troublemaker with every new "plan" he devises!!! Anyway, it just cracks me up because I know he thinks this costume puts him over the top on the cute meter as you can tell from this picture!!!



This picture is mostly for my mom. Shawn, Owen, and I brought dinner out for Gram on Easter and spent some time visiting. Dave had been at an indoor shoot and was sick to his stomach because the ventilation in the building wasn't working properly. One more reason to look forward to spring I suppose, the outdoor range! ;O)



And finally....the grand finale. Dave came home from work sick earlier today and he grabbed Owen's new glasses on the way! Owen had an eye checkup about two weeks ago where they decided he's fully recovered from his lazy eye, but, one eye has improved faster than the other. He's got one right where it's supposed to be at a 2 (don't remember if its "+" or "-") and the other is at 3.5. So, they want him to wear glasses now to correct the problem and prevent the need to wear them as an adult. I believe it is extremely short term, like just a few months. But, I have to say, he was made to wear glasses...although, he looks so grown up! ;O) We had a tough time picking the frames. 2/3 of all the glasses were pink and had something fun on them like stars and hearts engraved in the sides. The best we could do for a boy is blue frames with little sponge bob's on the inside of the things that go behind your ears. What the hay!! Being a boy sucks in that department! Thank goodness their toys make up for it!!!!





Hope you are all having a great day and looking forward to the weekend. We had snow yesterday and this morning, but it's cleared up and is back up to 50 degrees. Let's hope it stays that way!!! Shawnie's running a half-marathon tomorrow in Tennessee, so think good thoughts for her tomorrow! Hopefully, Dad is taking over my job as picture taker.....she loves pictures of herself at the end of the races.....;O)

More Catching Up....

Just thought I'd toss all of these into one post. We've been so busy, and quite frankly, so run down, I haven't taken many photos the past few months. But, here's a few highlights....

Owen's school recently called us into a meeting to discuss the fact that they are a 5-day program and they weren't aware that Owen was only going to attend 3 days a week. Never mind that he had been attending just 3 days a week for the past four months. Anyway, we agreed to start taking him 4 days a week beginning in March, but they had so many days off, he really only had one full week anyway. This picture was taken on a day that they were closed for parent/teacher conferences, we had such a good day. Do you think he could be any more relaxed? To this day, Max is his constant companion and does not let him out of his sight. They're so cute together, when they're both being nice anyway! Max seems to think that because Owen plays so rough with him, he should be able to be just as rough back. It makes for an interesting scenario, you'd think they were brothers as much as they argue!!! ;O) Just as an fyi, Owen's teacher pulled her claim that he was "falling behind" at our parent/teacher conference, but did say he wouldn't participate in the one on one "lessons" that the teachers do with the kids and it made it difficult for her to tell where he stood academically. We had a long talk with him (and started taking away things) and now he participates in lessons all day long. His teacher seems shocked with the overnight change...it would have been nice to know these things earlier so we could have nipped it in the bud!

We're waiting for a montessori program that's supposed to open just around the corner sometime around the end of August to see what we think. It's going to be taught by 2 teachers formerly from Owen's school and a retired elementary teacher. Plus, they are going to have a Spanish teacher on staff and next summer, they are having a 10-week Spanish intensive camp which is awesome because all of the kids around here are eligible for the Spanish immersion program. I'm hoping we like the school and can move him, it would literally cost us half of what we're paying now and we wouldn't have to take Owen on the highway at all. In the meantime, we're going to leave him where he's at and hope for the best with this other school.



Just a cute shot of our bubble boy! He' so goofy, I love his little grin.



Hockey is over and Dave's team one first place!!!! Unfortunately, the championship game was during nap time, so Owen and I missed it. But, Dave brought the trophy home for us to see...they have to share it with the whole team. The best part of the win was that it was against the team that the girl tripped Dave and tore that thingy in his knee....talk about vindicated! ;O) Now, if there were only some reward money to cover the MRI!!!



Hope you are all having a good week!

Shawn's Birthday

For Shawn's 30th birthday, she told us she wanted to go sledding and dye eggs. Well, the sledding would have definitely ended with a trip to the ER as it was too many Crouse's on a glazed hill with bare patches here and there. So, we managed to talk her out of that part. But, we did dye eggs!!! Note to self...no more glitter or foil egg dyeing kits! The eggs themselves end up covered in glitter and foil...I guess we didn't think that through very well! Anyway, we had lots of fun regardless and Owen I think Owen enjoyed it the most. He really thought that we'd have Shawn's party at the "bouncy place", but it didn't take him long to get over it since he got to have cake this time.

We had him on a milk/sugar free diet for over a month to see if it would help his tonsils, but it seemed to have no effect. The ENT specialist told us he isn't recommending we take them out as at this time they aren't interfering with his breathing/eating/sleeping and he hasn't been sick since January. But, to watch him and if they do start to inhibit him in some way, then we should be concerned. He did mention that he is a bit hesitant to keep them in only because they are not swollen at the same size, his left one is considerably larger. That typically indicates a tumor in older patients. Dave and I are thinking it over, they've shrunk considerably the last couple weeks and no longer take up all of his throat (just about half now). We know that they became swollen together and were originally the same size. But, with antibiotics, the right side would go down and the left always remained the same. We don't want to rush into surgery, but don't want to risk leaving a tumor in him. We need to do some more research I guess. The fact that they've changed size so radically over the past couple weeks tells me that its not a tumor, but we're keeping a real close eye on him and remain on the fence.













Shawn got this video of Owen singing Happy Birthday at her party. He practiced for weeks, he is so squeaky!!! He's taken it down a notch or two since, but we thought this was just too funny!!!

Happy Easter!!!

Things have been so busy around here, its going to take a while to catch-up. So, I figured I'd just start with today. Dave had to be in Palmer by 9 this morning for a shooting competition (I'm hoping since its Easter, there will be fewer competitors than usual and he'll be home early...who schedules a match for Easter???) . Because of that, we had kind of a rushed morning...the Easter Bunny had everything ready to go though and Owen was thrilled regardless. Dave was upset with the "Easter Bunny" last night because she insisted on hiding all 30 eggs. But, Owen wasted no time finding all of them...I guess the "Easter Bunnies" will have to be a whole lot more creative next year! ;O)





I thought this sweater was too cute, so this is kind of a non-traditional Easter outfit, but, what can you do! I didn't have a whole lot of picture success, but thought these were kind of cute. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter! We're going to take dinner out to Gram later and enjoy the sunshine today! (We still have about 2 or 3 feet of snow in the yard, but it still feels like spring with all the sunshine...kind of anyway!)