Disney On Ice

Since we have had Autumn, Brandon and I want to make sure Owen still knows we love him and don't ever want him to feel replaced. We decided we would try to have special nights where we take him to do something fun, just the 3 of us and get a sitter for Autumn. Well, a couple months ago we saw an ad in the mail for Disney On Ice, perfect! We decided this would be a great special night out for Owen. We invited a few friends of ours to come along and the Poe's and Altman's were in. My parents agreed to watch Autumn so we bought our tickets and after months of waiting, the night finally came. We had everyone over for Pizza before the show and then headed out for a night out with the toddlers. Wow, what a fun time. I think at first the kids were in shock but they loved it, especially when Mickey & Minnie were skating around. Owen had a little bit of a hard time sitting still, but he is a two year old boy on the move. Really what do you expect? At intermission we let Owen get a special treat, Cotton Candy & a Flounder Hat, and let him stretch his legs a bit and then headed back in for the final show. The cotton candy was a big hit with him and he loves to wear his cool new hat. All in all it was a very fun and special night for Owen.

Here is Owen and Livie playing in the backyard after dinner waiting to leave. They were very anxious to go since we were talking about it all day!

They were having so much fun together we even let them ride together on the way to the show. They looked so cute in the backseat. We put on Veggie Tales for them to watch and they danced in their seats the whole way there.

Here is the whole gang before the show. We decided getting our picture taken was a great souvenir to take home as a keepsake. I think the lady taking the picture was getting quite frustrated with the kids because they were all looking different ways, but after lots of attempts this is what we got. I think it came out rather well in my opinion.

Owen and I waiting for the show to begin.

Abby & her Daddy Andrew

Matt Kaitlyn, Livie, Laura & Andrew.

The kids were so excited to see these two!

Of course, after about 10 min into the show Livie & Owen insisted on sitting next to each other. They are so adorable.

Timone and Pumba (sp?). They were great!

One of Owens favorite parts was clapping at the end of each act. So funny.

Flounder & Ariel

Owen wearing his flounder hat with Daddy at intermission.

And here was the final act after intermission. Peter Pan, it was awesome.

Halloween 2010

Thanks everyone for being patient with me. I know I am a few days late getting these up, but hey I have 2 kids what do you expect? Halloween was an absolute blast to say the least! This Halloween was by far the funnest I have ever had. I think having a 2 1/2 year old makes it that much more enjoyable. Owen went as Mickey Mouse and Autumn was a Mermaid. Friday we took Owen & Autumn all dressed up to my Grandma's Assisted Living facility for her annual Halloween Celebration. They have lots of goodies and a Magic show for the kiddos. Owen had a blast & Autumn pretty much just slept. Then on Sunday we had a Halloween party at our house. It was so much fun! We had some delicious Chili/Frito Pies and way way way too much sweets; cookies, lemon bars, peanut butter chocolate bars, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin seeds, candy corn, and smores. Yes way too much sweets and that list doesn't even include the mounds of candy we had. O well, once a year won't kill you. After we all ate dinner we took the older kids around the block to do some good ole Trick or Treating while the parents of the younger kids stayed at the house and handed out candy. They kids loved Trick or Treating and were very polite and said "Thank You" after they got their candy or as Olivia would say, "There prizes" too funny! There are lots of pictures for all you crazy grandparents and Aunts & Uncles so please enjoy!

Before heading to my Grandma's Party we did some practice runs with Owen on how to Trick or Treat. He caught on really quick once I dropped the first piece of candy in his bag.

Here is my little Mickey Mouse! His face is so funny, he was saying cheese if you can't tell.
I thought Owen may be a little scared of some of the Halloween decorations, but to my surprise he thought they were fascinating. Especially the ones that lit up.
Here is my Beautiful Mermaid with her Beautiful Nana. I used to love Mickey Mouse when I was younger and now I have my very own. Awe.

Here she is after the party. She is so stinkin adorable in her little fall dress.

Hangin out with Great Great after the party.
Here are the kiddos on Halloween morning. Owen started the morning off asking to go Trick or Treating. Needless to say it was a very long day when I had to keep explaining that it would be about 8 hours until we could go. He was very consistant and asked about evey 30 minutes if it was time yet. Patience is the key to parenting. Here are the spider pumpkins with the word EEK! in the middle. The pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch this year were pretty small so we had to get creative since they weren't the best for carving!

Owen's Best Friend, Olivia, went as Minnie Mouse. I know it is absolutely adorable! They had so much fun together and thought it was so cool to be dressed up as their favorite characters. I know its a long shot, but if these two ever got married one day they would have some awesome memories and a huge photo album. I can dream can't I?

We tried having them hold the spider pumpkins but Owen would cooperate. O well, Livie looks adorable.

All I can really say is, "A-DOR-A-BLE!"

We let them run around and play in the backyard to pass the time until we could go Trick or Treating. They had fun playing all dressed up. Owen's other good friend Abby came over and was dressed as Super Girl. It was so cute and she played the part so well. She made everyone freeze before crossing the street to look both ways. She was so SUPER!
We started up the Fire Pit, or I should say piro Brandon & Matt started up the fire pit, before we went Trick or Treating and the kids all stood by to warm up their hands mesmerised by the flames. I love them.

Here is Owen in the act. He waited all day for this moment!
Here they are all lined up for a picture.Kaitlyn was very patient and waited a long time to get Autumn in her arms that night. Can you tell how happy she is to hold her. Autumn loves her Auntie Kaitlyn and smiles everytime she sees her!

Here is Lindsey holding her precious baby Caleb and her husband Mark holding my precious daughter. They are such a great family. And here is part of the party outside roasting marshmallows and making smores. This concludes Halloween 2010! Can you believe the next big thing is Thanksgivingwhich might I remind you is in 3 weeks! Ahhhhh......

The Past Couple Weeks...

I first want to apologize for the extreme delay in blogging. The past couple weeks in the Burgess household have been pretty exhausting. Last week all of us came down with a nasty cold. It started with me, then Autumn, then Brandon and I think Owen has the tail end of it now. We have used boxes upon boxes of Kleenex, endless amounts of cough drops and lots of Advil cold and sinus. I have also had some struggles with Nursing. After a lengthy conversation with a lactation consultant we decided it was time to switch to bottle feeding. It was really hard to accept since I didn't get to nurse Owen either and was bound and determined to make it work this time. The pediatrician and the lactation consultant were both concerned with Autumn's weight gain, or lack there of, and were also concerned with my milk production and both agreed they would like to monitor the amount of milk she was consuming in a day. Luckily I had a large milk supply in the freezer and I have been pumping, as much as possible with 2 kids to care for, that we haven't had to switch to formula just yet, but its only a matter of time now until we do. Autumn is already showing lots of progress from eating more on a daily basis. She is much more alert, awake more during the day, and showing great signs of weight gain. O yea, and she is working on cutting her first 2 teeth. Yes, 2 teeth coming in at 3 months! Crazy, I know. Owen was a very early teether too so I guess we knew it could happen. Orajel here we come.

As for Mr. Owen Potty Training is going great & Temper Tantrums are still the daily norm. We have very minimal accidents and he is loving all the M&M's he is getting on a daily basis. Yes, we need to start cutting down the rewards now that he is going regularly or the dentist isn't going to be very pleased. We have not fully tackled the public Potty Training just yet but I bought a bag of Pull Ups so we can start that real soon. Now we are just getting ready for Halloween this weekend so check back in for some adorable pics of the kiddos all dressed up. Here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks to tie you over until then.

Did I mention how cold it is getting now? Here is Autumn all dressed in her adorable sweat suit.

Owen & Autumn are getting to be little buddies. Autumn loves to watch every thing Owen does and is even starting to smile at him. It melts my heart.

Little Stinker loves to get his picture taken.

See what I mean. They love each other.....at least for now.

And here is what I mean by more alert!

And here is the little Angel after her last bottle for the night. So Happy!

Here is a quick Halloween Sneak Peek. Owen and I made spiders out of his and Autumn's pumpkins they got at the pumpkin patch. I stole the idea from a good friend so please don't give the creativity credit to me. Thanks Ann.

Here is Owen and Nana singing "Take me out to the ball game". Owen loves playing with Nana.
Nana brought Great-Great over the other day to visit the kids. Autumn loved her arms. Yes, my grandma gets cold really easily, hints the attire. Lol.
And here is what a typical day looks like for us.

Autumn is starting to love her bouncer. Do you see she is even holding a toy in her hand, what a big girl. She loves chewing on anything she can get a hold of because of her aching gums. Poor Baby!

She is so stinkin adorable it kills me!

How am I ever gonna say no to that face?!?!?!

2010 Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend Mimi came down for a visit, Yay! Since it was about time for our annual family trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty, NM, we decided to plan our trip now so that Mimi could join us. We also invited my Parents and my Aunt who was also in town visiting and some good friends of ours the Poe Family. We had a blast and there is so much fun stuff for the kids to do. Owen got to go on a Hay Ride, see the rabbit farm, feed goats, go on a giant tunnel slide, play in the Corn Box and eat an endless amount of kettle corn. Seriously, how much better could his day have been? Here are some pictures from our wonderful day...

Brandon, Autumn and I on the Hay Ride.

Mimi, Owen, Pampo and Nana on the Hay Ride.

And here is the whole gang, minus Mimi who was taking the picture.

The Hay Ride took us out to a giant pumpkin patch where we all got to walk around and pick out a pumpkin to take home. Here is Owen and Pampo on their mission to get a pumpkin.
Me, Autumn and Mimi picking ours.

Not sure if you can tell but Owen is holding a giant grasshopper in his hand. We found it hopping around the patch so my Dad grabbed it to show Owen. Well, of course, Owen was not satisfied just looking at it he had to hold it too. Eeeewwww, gross! Don't worry I cleaned his hands super good with hand sanitizer after! Yucky, I hate bugs, even the nice ones!
Meet Rabbit Owen.
Owen was so excited to go play in the giant box of corn. This is one of his favorite parts of the trip.
Mimi and Autumn watching Owen play.
Owen saw a few older kids who were burying themselves in corn so he decided to give it a try.
And here is the silly boy all buried! He is too funny.
And this is by far Owen's favorite part of the Pumpkin Patch, the giant tunnel slide! There is a giant mountain of dirt with two tunnel slides built into it and Owen absolutely loves it. They actually go really fast.
And yes, Mommies and Daddies can have fun on them too!
Here are our friends that went with us. Above is Andrew and Abby and below is Laura and Sam.
And while Brandon and I were having fun on the slides with Owen, Autumn was hanging out with the rest of the fam.

And here is Brandon and Owen feeding this adorable baby goat.

2010 Family Picture at the Pumpkin Patch!

So once we got home we were all a little exhausted. The kids took nice long naps, while Brandon, Mimi and I hung out and relaxed on the couch. Since we enjoyed a nice fall morning outdoors picking pumpkins I decided to make a nice fall dinner to go along with our day.
Here is the amazing Roasted Chicken and Butternut Squash soup I made. It tastes just as delicious as it looks. If anyone wants the recipe let me know. Its a little time consuming but well worth it.
And after dinner, we all slipped into our comfy PJ's and watched some TV, cartoons of course, thanks Owen!