Somersaults

Owen just started doing somersaults on Monday night. It was a little random. They aren't very graceful, but he is obviously having lots of fun! I hope he doesn't hurt his neck!

More fun with Grammy...

Tuesday morning, Owen, Grammy, and I went to ride on the train at the Kohl's Children's Museum!


Owen was so excited, despite the fact that it was 40 degrees out at best and very windy.

Grammy and I were slightly lest enthusiastic, but loved watching Owen have such a wonderful time!

After our train rides, we found a new resturant in Glenview called the Railroad Junction Cafe. It is much like the resturant we went to for Owen's birthday where your food is delivered by an electric model train. Owen absolutely loved it and was in heaven!

Though they do have more food options than the Choo-Choo Resturant in Des Plaines, but the Railroad Junction Cafe is much louder and a little less organized. Thanks Grammy for such a great time. It was so fun to have you here!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!!

Here are a couple of picture of our snuggle bunnies! Poor Lola has been wearing those ears for the last 4 Easters. This is just Owen's second Easter wearing his bunny ears, though it is his third Easter. Crazy, huh?! I can't believe he has been around for three of any holiday yet!

The Easter Bunny brought us lots of holiday company! We were lucky enough to have the whole Schieber clan :o)Owen, Grammy, and I had fun dying Easter eggs. It was the first time Owen was able to partake in the festivities. I think he enjoyed it :o)

Amazingly, he only cracked one egg!

Sunday morning, we went to St. A's for the egg hunt after 9:30 mass. The gang didn't really want to go to 9:30 mass, but we made the 10:30 egg hunt and stayed for 11:30 mass.

Owen had a bit of a rough time in Church, after all of the excitement and the waiting around. I guess it is to be expected, for a two year-old with his grandparents and uncles sitting behind him at lunch time on a holiday :o)

After Church, we picked up a smoked duck from Hecky's (Mike's Easter fantasy come true) to accompany our Honeybaked ham and other Easter fixin's. It was a fun day and a great weekend!

Big News!!!

Guess what??? Em got engaged!!! It's kind of old news, as it happened a couple of weeks ago, but I am a little behind on the blog! Here is a picture of the happy couple...

I made them come over and tell us in person after Em called and tried to tell me over the phone :o) They are planning a Jan '10 wedding in KC. We are going dress shopping on Saturday. So exciting!

The Big #2!!!

Owen's 2nd birthday came with lots of celebration, as you might have expected!


He started out the day with a birthday doughnut. Then, we visited the Kohl's Children's Museum with our friends Andrew and Liane.

The water room is always a big hit...

The boys loved giving "Lola" a bath! I hope they don't try this at home :o)

Owen always just has to get in that kennel for a picture!

Possible future career options: cat groomer or sandwich artist (following in Dad's footsteps!)

After Owen's nap, we picked up Daddy at work and went to Red Lobster for a Lenten Friday night birthday dinner. Owen had a birthday sundae and they sang Happy Birthday. He loved it!


I had already worked Sunday so I could take Friday night off. After Owen went to bed that night, we got everything ready for the party and Mike put together Owen's birthday gift...

Saturday morning, Owen woke up and was quite excited about his gift. After a stroll outside with Mike and Lola, Auntie Em and Jim came over to go to lunch at an extra special birthday lunch... We went to the Choo-Choo Resturant in Des Plaines. Your food is served by an electric train that comes right to your table. Owen loved it! He was so excited but he surprisingly ate a good portion of his lunch, too.

They also had this old fashioned train you could ride on. As you can see, it was the perfect resturant for a 2 year old boy!

After lunch, we hustled back to Evanston so Owen could go down for a quick nap before his birthday party guests arrived. After he went to sleep, we frantically decorated and did all of the final party preparations. We woke Owen up about 10 min before the party was to start and he was in a good mood (luckily!)

You'd never guess it, but we had a heck of a time finding a Sesame Street cake. We went to 5 different bakeries that couldn't help us. Finally Mike started calling around and Tag's Bakery in Evanston came through for us!

I think the kids had a good time! Here are Owen and Andrew hugging. We always have such a hard time getting a good picture of them.


Eva won the game "Pin the nose on Elmo." Here she is modeling her prize slippers.

Here are the treat bags Laura and I made while she was here. They turned out pretty well, if I do say so! We hope everyone had a good time at the party. Thanks to everyone who was able to come. Owen loved being the center of attention. It was a very fun weekend and we look forward to celebrating many, many more birthdays with the big O!

Fun times

We haven't blogged for awhile... we've just been having too much fun, I guess! March kept us very busy, perhaps trying to beat the winter blues of chilly Chicago!

One morning, we met our friends, Katie, Abbie, and Izzy at the Children's Museum of Dupage county. The kids loved it, as always. Owen has so much fun with them! He asks for Abbie and "Zizzy" almost every day!

Here are some pics of the kids in the wind tunnel. What a great place for kids to run and yell! Doesn't Owen look like he's taking after his Dad in the goggles?!! A mad scientist in training!

On this particular evening, Owen was being extra snuggly with Lola and Daddy! And, I actually caught it on film! What a nice looking bunch!

Here we are at Wagner Farm in Glenview. It is owned by the park district and a fun, free thing to do. We saw ducks, geese, horses, and cows. Owen loved the tractor!

There are check some fun exhibits in the barn, too. Owen loved "milking the cow." Let's just say that it seemed very lifelike. Then, true to form, he found the dishpan and broom and cleaned up. He has radar to find those things everywhere we go! So funny!

Auntie Kathryn came into town for a conference. We don't have any pictures of her because she was quite the busy lady during her trip. Here are some nice pics of Owen and Lola snuggling in her blankets...

Here is a cute video of Owen, Mike and Kathryn singing a song for your listening delight...

After Kathryn left, my good friend, Laura, came to visit. We didn't do anything too exciting, but it was so fun to catch up! A highlight of her trip was a visit to Hyde Park and the Museum of Science and Industry.

I haven't been to the Museum of Science and Industry Museum since we went to see "Body Worlds" almost 4 years ago. I had forgotten about all of the cool airplanes and electric railroad sets they have. It was pretty much Owen's heaven!!! We'll have to check out the free day schedule and go back again!

Laura grew up in Paola, KS on a farm, complete with cows. Who knew she'd reconnect with her roots on a trip to Chicago! Thanks again to Laura for coming to visit :o) We can't wait for your wedding in June when we will finally make it out to Portland to visit you! Sorry there are so many pics of udders in this post!