Weekend in Newport

This past weekend Brady's parents treated the family to our second annual weekend trip to Newport for the Sea of Lights event at the aquarium. They rented a house across the street from the beach with a gorgeous view. The weather was crystal clear, which made the view that much better.

Quincy and Rory looking like twinsies in their monkey jammies...

Grandma Linda brought stuff to make dough ornaments, and I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the grown-ups...

Later we went for a walk and look who we found wandering the streets! Owen told Santa that he is hoping for a telescope for Christmas. He also put in a good word for Quincy who was napping back at the house.


Even though it was cool and crisp, the sun made for a beautiful day at the beach. I love this action picture of Owen running on the beach.
Rory on the beach...
Owen and Mommy...

The cousins spent a lot of time in the back bedroom reading, playing, and making mischief. Here are Quincy and Rory playing and maybe wrestling a little...And here is the end result...Quincy commandeered Rory's pacifier from her. You can see the look of utter pride in his accomplishment on his face.


I love this picture! Quincy is feeling his new baby cousin move in Aunt Britt's belly.
When it got dark it was time to head to the aquarium for Sea of Lights. They put thousands of Christmas lights around the outside parts of the aquarium. All of the indoor part of the aquarium are open. They have carolers and face painting. It was so pretty.

Last year Owen chose a reindeer with a scarf. This year he chose a harbor seal with a Santa hat.

I was amazed at how still Quincy sat to get his face painted. Here is the end result...a sparkly snowflake. In this picture he is pointing out a huge halibut to Grandpa.

Here are Owen and Quincy touching the anemones and sea stars.
It was such a fun weekend! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Sleep Laugher

So, we've all heard of sleep walkers and sleep talkers. Tonight I witnessed something that I've never even heard of before...sleep laughing! Here's what happened...
Owen had been asleep for about 45 minutes when I took Quincy up to the boys' bedroom to put him to bed. He had finished nursing, and I was just leaning over to put his groggy little self in bed when suddenly all of the smoke alarms in our house started going off.
Noni Jo was downstairs preparing Milanese for tomorrow's feast, and the smoke alarms started going off. All of them. Seriously. Every single one...including all three upstairs, which are located in the boys' room, in the bonus room, and in the guest room. All three of the upstairs smoke alarms are located within 20 feet of Owen's bed. Why am I telling you this? Because throughout the cacophony that was ensuing in Owen's bedroom, he did not budge. Not an inch. My point? Only that he was deeply sound asleep.
About 15 minutes later, things were all calm again, and I was again in the boys' room attempting, for the second time now, to put Quincy to bed. I was swaying with Quincy in my arms and softly singing "Lady Moon" to him when I thought I heard a little giggle. Then it was silent. Then I definitely heard another little giggle very clearly coming from Owen's bed. Pretty soon he was chortling and then full on laughing. It was so funny that it was all I could do not to laugh out loud myself. I nuzzled my face into Quincy's blanket and tried to stifle my own giggles as I thought about children's laughter and how it is one of the things that I am so thankful for.

Halloween

I'm so behind with my blog (as usual). I figured I should at least get our Halloween pictures on here before Thanksgiving gets here.

We went downtown and trick-or-treated the businesses. It's always a lot of fun. We paused for dinner at our favorite taqueria before coming back to our neighborhood and trick-or-treating a few houses. Then it was home to hand out some candy, and the kids were in bed by 7:00. The perfect Halloween!

Farmer Quincy and his ridiculously awesome barn that Grandpa Stan made for him

Sir Owen of Midvale and his buddy Batman (that's our friend Caden)

Farmer Q riding in his barn

QB1Our friends, Alex and Mia

This particular Snow White is Owen's friend, Livvy D. Never have I met a little girl with more character than Livvy D. I'd love to write a children's book about her.
Trick-or-treating at our friends, Tana and Jeff's, house

Quincy thought it was really fun to rifle through the candy we were handing out at home.

Pre-Halloween Festivities

First the pumpkin patch...Then the jack-o-lantern...
And, finally, the Monster March Halloween parade in Britt, Pat, and Rory's neighborhood...

Election Day conversation

I still can't put into words my thoughts and emotions on what transpired in our country yesterday, so I'm not even going to try right now. However, I do want to capture in writing a little conversation that Owen and I had on Monday night.
Mommy: Tomorrow is Election Day!
Owen: I know what that means!
Mommy: You do?
Owen: Yeah, that means they're going to count all the votes and either McCain or Obama will be our next president.
Mommy: That's right, Owen! And what do you think...?
Owen: (with a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face) Obama!

Sweat Pea

Owen took a nap at preschool yesterday, which means he was up very late last night. At 10:00 I knew he was much more awake than I, so I decided to just have him go to bed with me in our bed. That way if I fell asleep before him, it wouldn't matter. Owen and I snuggled into bed (Brady was still out in the living room watching basketball), and he said to me, "I had so much fun with you today, Mommy. I love you. Thanks, sweat pea." It was so funny. I have called him sweat pea on and off since he was born. It was so funny to have him call me that.

Bedtime Books

Owen and I were lying in his bed last night, and I was reading books to him. We had two left, and I asked him which one he wanted next. He told me, "You can read both of them at the same time, Mommy."
"No I can't," I said.
"Yes you can because you have two eyes."
Kids are so logical!