Swimming, Snow, and Other Fun Stuff

Gracie on one of the slides

Owen on the slide

Gracie playing a game at the carnival

She got her face painted!

More swimming fun

They still like each other

Sledding at Grandma Deb's

Owen sledding with Dad

The past month has been quite eventful. Wrestling has come to a close and we have found other fun things to keep us busy. The weekend after state wresling, we stayed at the waterpark/resort in Des Moines. This was so much fun for our kids and they were exhausted. It took Owen a little while to be comfortable with getting in the water. He is not a big fan of being cold. I sat with him by the hot tub for about a 1/2 hour and then convinced him that he could go down the slide. After he figured out that it was fun, he didn't want to leave the slide and Gracie helped him a lot, but he was doing it all by himself by the end of the night. Gracie, of course did not hesitate to get into the water. She played all night and went down the big slide by herself (with a life jacket on). We got to swim in the morning, too, since wrestling was done and we did not have a meet to go to.

We have only been able to go sledding on a couple occasions this winter, as the snow has been scarce. I'm not going to complain about that, though. The kids had fun at Grandma Deb's on her hill and this past weekend Nick drug them on sleds behind the 4-wheeler. They had a lot of fun and Gracie got to play outside with our neighbors, as well. Owen wasn't as impressed with the sled behind the 4-wheeler. He was more interested in the dog that kept coming over to visit.

Owen just had his 18 month check up with the dr. He is now 33 inches, 29 pounds, and in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. The doctor thinks he is doing pretty well. He did ok with his shots and was more upset about saying goodbye to the fish at the doctors office. Owen is saying more words everyday, at least sounds that indicate he is saying something meanigful. He says uh-oh, football, ball, bye-bye, book, mamama..., and no pretty consistantly. He is starting to try to stay Gracie and points to things that he wants to say or just that he wants in general. He loves playing with balls and loves trying to tackle/wrestle with Gracie. He brushes his teeth on his own and can follow simple directions. He knows where his boots go to put them away and can go get his coat to put it on when we go somewhere. The other night, before we ate, Gracie, Nick, and I were saying our prayer and I looked over at Owen and he had his hands folded and up against his forehead. It was so cute. It's amazing what he learns just by watching us.

Gracie is also doing really well and is getting so tall. She is such a good helper most of the time unless she is overly tired. She loves pretending that she's a cheerleader and still loves playing with her dad. It's amazing to me that she can still balance on his hands when he holds her up by her feet. She is getting good at picking out her own clothes in the morning and getting herself dressed, but sometimes needs a lot of encouragement to get out of bed. She's much better when she wakes up on her own, rather than one of us getting her up. She wants to help Owen with everything and they still get along so well! I know this probably won't last forever, so I'm enjoying it now. She entertains him just as well as she entertains herself. Her new favorite movies are Cinderella and Thumbelina. She also started watching Charlotte's Web. She has figured out Nick's Epad and can draw and play angry birds on that. She knows how to use it better than I do. She still likes doing art at school and is learning how to write. She can write her name and can recognize words. She can count to 30 and I can ask her to tell me what time it is and she is able to read a digital clock.

We were actually able to get outside last night for awhile and it was 70 degrees out. We walked all over our property and the kids played in our rock pile. I found that the field behind us has a lot of large rocks that I'm going to dig out sometime soon so I can use them in landscaping. Gracie told me she would help. It was so nice to be outside and I love watching our kids play outside at our new house. Can't wait for the weather to stay like this!

I think this is enough for now. I will try to get back to updating more often again. The time flies by so quickly!