Rory's 1!

Our niece, Rory Ann, turned 1 on March 21st. Brittany and Pat had a great party for her at their house the next day. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I watched her grand entry into this world. She is such a special baby girl, and I continue to be so happy to have a niece! Being an aunt is so much fun! Here are some pictures and a little video clip from her party.

The Birthday Girl with her beads

Hmmm...what's this?

Hey, this is pretty good!

Quincy thought the ice from the drink bucket was great.

Owen enjoying a cupcake at his cousin's party

Here's a video clip of Rory. It's the tail end of her birthday song. Notice her signing for "more." She loved everyone singing to her! What a smart little girl!

3 Already!

I don't know how 3 years have passed already, but Owen turned 3 on March 13th. We celebrated his actual birthday by having dinner at the Mongolian Grill and then having gelato (both Owen's choices).

Here is the pirate costume that Abuela sent to Owen for his birthday party. He was so excited!














A few days later we had his pirate birthday party. We went on a treasure hunt and had so much fun! Grandpa Stan worked hard to convert our wagons into pirate ships.
The kids had to follow treasure maps and find pirate scarves, followed by sashes, and finally swords before we encountered Captain Greybeard at the play structure at the park.
The kids then battled Captain Greybeard and recovered the stolen treasure that was hidden all over the play structure.
Once Greybeard had been defeated and the treasure recovered, the kids swung and swung at a pirate ship pinata until it broke open and showered the kids with chocolate gold coins.

Then we made our way home to where the real birthday treasure was waiting. Everyone had a great time!


I really can't believe he's 3 already. He's a bona fide kid now. He is so amazingly wonderful in so many ways, and I'm the luckiest mom in the world to have him for a kid! He's sweet, empathic, curious, talkative, funny, cuddly, inquisitive, silly, beautiful,...you know...I'm his mom, I think he's the most wonderful 3-year-old in the world, just like every mom thinks that about her own kid.

Pics and a Clip

Here's a short clip of Quincy crawling. He starts with a traditional crawl and then goes to his two arms, one knee, one foot crawl.




















Here are a few pictures of morning playtime. Fixing the red eye in these pictures of Quincy makes his eyes look really dark, which makes him look even more like Owen's baby pictures.

Owen Hooper

So, even though the Hooper part of Owen's name actually comes from the movie Jaws and isn't a reference to basketball, it does seem like a basketball reference would be oh-so-fitting these days. We play so much basketball! He is always asking me to go out in the garage to play basketball on his hoop. Additionally, he plays phantom basketball all over the place. He runs around pantomiming dribbling, passing, and shooting--all the while with a verbal play-by-play of what's going on. It's pretty cute.

Here are some pictures of him playing basketball in the garage. I took these a few weeks ago, so they're recent but not totally current.





And here's Quincy discovering how much fun the play kitchen and food are.

On the Cusp of 3

The following is an excerpt from our dinner conversation tonight. To set the stage: Brady, Owen, my mom, and I were at the dinner table. Quincy had had enough of his high chair and was on the floor playing at my feet. He was standing up holding on to my mom with one hand and to me with the other.
Mommy: Quincy, you were just my tiny baby. What happened?
Owen: What, Mommy?
Mommy: Oh, quincy is just growing up so quickly.
Annanne (my mom): Owen, you used to be her tiny baby.
Mommy: That's right, Owen, you were just my tiny baby, and now you're about to turn 3! How did that happen?
Owen paused for a second, threw both arms up in the air, and shouted, "LET'S PARTY!"