Belly Pic 35.5 wks

Here's the latest.  No news.  Still pregnant...

All Grown Up!

Well, it's been an eventful week around the Derrick house. Owen's 3rd birthday party was this past Saturday. We had planned to have the party outside and use the camp's 15-foot water slide and various other water toys, but we ended up moving the whole party to our house due to rain! I was disappointed that the kids didn't get to enjoy the slide, but I was also kind of relieved that we were staying inside the A/C! I think the party was a little slow getting rolling...I think the kids were kind of let down...but it picked up and ended up being a great party! Owen had a great time with all his friends!

Also, Owen started preschool yesterday! He'll be going to our church for preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for 3 hours. Ben was able to go with me yesterday morning to get him settled in, and it was an emotional time for us both. I was prepared for that. I've been talking about it for weeks, what a big deal it would be. And Ben would kind of look at me like, "Really, it's just preschool. It's not like he's going to be gone all day long." So I think his emotions kind of surprised him yesterday.

Here are pictures of the party and of Owen's first day of school...

Here he is with his Gram, looking at all the cupcakes they had made together.  

These are the little "swimmer" cupcakes Mom and I decorated.  Remember, we were going with a whole water theme for the party.   Turned out pretty cute, huh?  Several weeks ago, I told Owen that Gram was making him swimmer cupcakes for his party.  He quickly told me he didn't want swimmer cupcakes; he wanted HORSE cupcakes.  Ok.  We had horses last year, but ok.  He loves horses!  So my mom found some tiny little plastic horses and she let Owen stick a horse in some of the cupcakes.  They were so cute.  A little off-center, some buried way down into the chocolate icing, but still cute!  And he really didn't care much about the swimmers.  He must have climbed up the barstools a dozen times the day before the party to look at those horse cupcakes.  By the time the party rolled around, he had named all of the horses and knew which one of his friends would get which horse.  And of all the toys he got for his birthday, he plays with that 2-dollar pack of horses just as much as anything else!!  He calls them his "cupcake horses."

Okay, on to the pinata.  Well, this was interesting.  It's hard to have a pinata inside. Ben stood up on a barstool and let the kids take a whack at it.  He ended up putting an oven mitt on his hand b/c his knuckles almost got smashed several times! 

Yay!  Candy!!

Here is Owen putting the new saddle and bridle that his Great-Granny gave him on his horses.  As soon as he opened up this gift, he ran to his room and started playing with it and just left a whole pile of unopened presents!

And this was the last pic I took of him from his party.  As soon as everyone left, we put him down for a late nap and he CRASHED!  He was so tired.  (Did I mention that he woke up at 6 a.m. that morning because he wanted to check on the horse cupcakes??)

This is post-nap.  We were munching on the party mix his Nonni made, and we put 3 Bugles on his fingers since he's now (almost) 3!

Okay, on to preschool.  Here he is eating his breakfast before school.  He obviously didn't want to be photographed.

Getting ready to walk out the door...  He's holding his bag of school supplies (box of crayons, two glue sticks, old shirt to paint in, zippered pouch), which he was so excited about!

Owen & Daddy, with matching shoes!

Owen and BIG MAMA!

Owen & his best buddy, Jackson.  They are a dynamic duo.  I'm sure we will hear many stories about them in preschool this year!  We go to church with Jackson and his fam.  Owen & Jackson always seem to match!

What a cute room!

He had a great first day!  He got a green light for the day, which means his behavior was good and he did not have to sit out on any playtime.  (Whew!)  If he gets another green light on Thursday, he gets to pick a treat from the treasure chest!  He came home with a picture of Adam & Eve that he had colored, a big apple that he had painted red, and a capital letter "A" that he had colored.  He recognized the letter "A" on a cereal box last night, and he told us all about Adam & Eve and how they disobeyed God. Pretty great!

It's been one of those days.

By 11:00 this morning, I just wanted to leave Owen inside, go deep into the woods in our backyard, pull my hair, and SCREAM at the top of my lungs.  You see, Owen woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  He decided that he was going to either say “no” or just whine to anything I said.  I could’ve told him to put his shoes on because we were going to Disneyland, and he would’ve whined about it!  I mean, really?  

Anyway, at lunchtime, he earned himself a spanking because he started being really ugly and then proceeded to tell me I was rude!  I think the spanking kind of made him miffed at me, because while I was calming down and getting lunch cleaned up,  he built a "gate" in the doorway of the hallway that goes to his room and told me to "keep out."  This "gate" was built out of his stick horse and a pink Little People bus that I just bought at a consignment sale for my niece, Berkleigh.  Anyway, I just had to capture this scene because it was one of many  moments I've had over the last year in which I'm so outdone with him but then he does something so hilarious, I can't help but crack up!