Cooper's first Snowman

Today we were surprised to wake up to a couple inches of snow. The boys were so exited. Cooper came in and woke us up telling us it snowed. He let us rest a little bit longer until we told him he could go out and play. He didn't even want to eat breakfast he was so excited. As soon as Charlie got up he was out there with his brother. Cooper got to make his first snowman and was so proud. The first snowman was only two sections. Sticks were used for the arms, rocks for eyes, mouth and buttons and a pine cone for the nose. We then left to go to see, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." When we got home Cooper wanted to try making another snowman with all three sections. He worked very hard for over an hour at it. Here was the outcome:

It had a very long skinny neck. He was so proud! Yeags was checking it out.

Charlie checking things out.

Cooper was a hard worker shoveling and Charlie was making snowballs and throwing them at his brother.

Cooper did such a good job. Here he is working on the steps.

Progress of House Addition

The last two weeks have been very busy at our household. The house addition is coming along nicely and should be close to finished when the baby comes. The roof is completed. This last week they put up all the drywall, enclosed all of it, started siding and broke through our house into the kitchen. We really like what they have done. We are in the process of picking out the fixtures, trims, lighting, flooring, etc. It is very hard. Enjoy the pictures.


This is where they broke through into our kitchen. Where the stove is now is where we cut off a couple feet of the counter. If you walk through this walkway into the addition that first room is the new dining room.

In the dining room you will either be able to go left into Emma's room or right into our master bedroom.

This will be our bedroom. The window on the back wall there is a picture window. There are two windows on the right looking out towards the backyard. They are long windows. There is drywall leaned up against that wall so it blocks seeing them.

This is our walk in closet.

This will be the bathroom. Shower to the left and double sink vanity.

Toilet will go below that window. Linen closet will go in that area to the left. This is still part of the bathroom.

This is Emma's bedroom and she has a walk in closet to the left. I couldn't get into this room with the stand up furnace in the doorway.

And this is walking back from the bedrooms through the dining room into the kitchen.

And a worn out little boy who was unable to take a nap because the electricians were installing extra outlets and new electronic smoke detectors upstairs. This is the first time he has ever fallen asleep outside of his bed or car seat.

Ice Skating

Today we took the boys ice skating for the first time. Or should I say Nate took them. I enjoyed watching them and can't wait for when I can go with them as well. It didn't start off too well. We locked the keys in the car, but the Locksmith was able to get to us in about 5 minutes. Cooper started out using a little walker and was soon on his own. His technique is very unique. He skated around the edge where he could hold on and was soon out in the middle going around on his own. He skated until it was closing time. His feet are a little sore this evening, but he really enjoyed it. Charlie is still a little young. He used the walker and dad helped him go around the rink. By the end he was able to hang onto the walker all alone without dad holding him. He wanted to go faster and faster each time. We had a great day together.

Charlie's helmet kept coming off. Isn't he cute.
Nate and Cooper starting out. Check out Nate's balance. :)


Here is Cooper starting out using the walker. He went pretty fast.


Here is Charlie ice skating. It took him until the very end when he was able to stand holding onto the walker without falling. I laughed so hard. It was so cute. I noticed in this video my laugh sounds like my mothers. :) I still cry when I watch it from laughing so hard. He had a blast.

Christmas with the Owens's

Nate's side of the family came to visit the day after Christmas. We were all very excited to see each other. The boys had a second Christmas and loved it. We gathered together with the whole Peterson side of the family last Sunday. There were about 23 of us out at the farm. The boys had a great time. They enjoy hanging out with Stacy and Suzen. They do like those girls. There was a lot of music playing, Nate got to go see Avitar with his cousins, and he did some 4 wheeling with his family. We had a fun week.

Setting up the new train. We eventually moved it to go under the tree. The boys LOVE it! Thanks Nanni and Boppi!

Opening gifts.


Charlie was fascinated with his new flashlight. Cooper was excited he got a Cars story book that plays a little movie on the wall in the dark. It is like a little movie theater.

Christmas 2009

Well another Christmas has almost come and gone. It is hard to imagine this time next year we will have a little girl to celebrate the season with. We had a nice holiday as a family. We celebrated Christmas Eve baking cookies for Santa and getting everything ready. We made chicken and dumplings for dinner. Nate cut open our first pomegranate that we have ever bought. It was really good. Thanks PS for introducing us to this wonderful fruit. Nate played music throughout the Christmas Eve service this year. He enjoyed it. We were sorry to miss it. The kids have colds and were in bed by 6:50pm. Nate and I had fun playing Santa after he got home.


Our Christmas sugar cookies. Cooper didn't want to be in this picture, but he helped make, cut out and decorate all the cookies.

Christmas morning didn't come as early as we thought it would which was nice. The boys came down together around 6:45am. Cooper thought it was still night time because it was dark out. I think Cooper was in shock because he wasn't saying much. Charlie on the other hand was whispering quite loudly, "Do you see those, these presents, on and on." It was so cute and then they came to get us out of bed to tell us Santa had come. They enjoy cooking with their new kitchen set with all the food. Nanni and Boppi Stalling spoiled them with gifts. Mom got a rememberable CD with the boys singing and playing instruments. They also picked out some earnings for her. It was amazing that they kept these a secret until today. Megan enjoys her new back massager. Nate likes his new hiking boots, playing play station (when kids go to bed), his new drivers cap and he will be starting voice lessons in a week.

The day was spent with playing doctor (Nate got five amputations), music and cooking. We watched UP. Our dinner was DELICIOUS! We cooked our first ham. We didn't go crazy with all the fixings. The boys loved the sparkling cider and called it pop. We talked about how we celebrate Jesus's birth today with the boys and what the holiday is all about.
Trying out moms new present.

The boys thought this was the best part of the meal. There was not a drop left of the sparkling cider.
CHEERS! We tried to all get in the picture, but we were having trouble so dad and mom took turns. :)

The boys love making forts so we thought they would enjoy this new Cars tent.

The boys like to play cars, especially Cooper. This little structure is fun for them to put cars through and watch them go. The dinosaur trys to eat them as the cars go through it. A car comes out of the dinosaurs mouth below, then hits something, triggering the next car above to go. They have fun with it.

We look forward to Nanni, Boppi, Uncle Nic, and Uncle Patrick coming to visit us tomorrow.

Merry Christmas! Love the Owen Family.

First week of Christmas Break

We have had a very busy week since preschool has ended for the semester. We are trying to keep the boys busy. Sledding was very fun over the weekend. Nanni went home on Monday after Cooper's conference and made it home safely. We enjoyed seeing her. Cooper's teachers had many good things to say about him. They mentioned how he is a leader and has grown in many areas. They go through every area and explain them all with examples. We are very proud of him.

Wednesday we met some of our preschool friends to play and the boys enjoyed that. We attended out last Soup supper/advent service at church Wednesday evening. We enjoyed going to those this year.

Today we went to PS I love You and introduced Cooper. Cooper was able to go to the 4-6 year old classroom because they are on vacation. Both boys had a good time. Charlie colored dad a wreath picture. He seems to really enjoy snack time. We do feed him. :) Cooper made a Star of David ornament for the tree. He wanted dad to hang it up at work so we took it to him after. We will sneak it home to put on the tree before Christmas. Cooper also made a bracelet and did puzzles. He enjoyed it. Today was craft day for the moms. Megan enjoyed hanging out with all the moms and getting to know some of them. She made a glass ball ornament for the tree. She added decorative items in the glass ball to make it festive looking. The last half an hour was music time and the kids all jumped and danced around singing. Our boys participated the first song and then sat on mom and watched for the rest. We did miss the worker guys this morning and he was upset about that. They started on the walls. Here are a few pictures of the progress:


Tomorrow is the Christmas Party at the library here in Genesee. They will be making covered dipped pretzels and having cider, stories and carols. Nate will be taking the boys since I have a doctor appt. I am currently 32 weeks. Getting so close to meeting this baby girl, yet it feels so far away.

Enjoy a video of the boys sledding.

Gingerbread House

Nanni Vicki came to visit us yesterday and is staying for a few days. Today the boys had a fun time decorating a gingerbread house with Nanni Vicki. I think we all enjoyed eating the candy and licking the frosting. Yummy! It also started snowing today and the kids loved going sledding. We have the perfect hill, on the side street from where we live. Nate started them at the top and let them go. The boys loved it. Most of the sledding was done in the dark since it was dark when the boys got up from their nap. Mom and Nanni got the rest of Christmas shopping done today and are ready to start wrapping. We are enjoying Nanni's visit. Hopefully she doesn't get snowed in. We are expecting up to 6 inches by morning and more snow to come.

Nate is concentrating very hard here.