My new way to give myself a manicure

I usually don't have long fingernails. I usuallly don't paint them. But right now all of my fingernails are a nice length and they would look pretty painted-- but the reality is that whenever I take the time to paint them I lack the time needed to let them dry and they get ruined so fast. But not today. I bought a new polish at CVS and then put Owen in the car and buckled him in. Then put on my seatbelt. Then started the car. Then pointed the air vents at the steering wheel and then did a first coat of polish. Then I drove 15 minutes to Costco. By the time I got to Costco the first coat was dry enough to get Owen out and do my shopping. When I got back to the car I repeated the same steps and painted the second coat. Then I drove home. (20 minutes) It is seriously the best manicure I have ever had -- apparantly the 20 minutes in the car is the time when I have to use my hands the least!

The Wall Mural

I got the last metal print and hung it on the wall (round was the final choice). Now I just need to decide what wording I want in the middle . . . "the kids" or "our kids" or something else. Any ideas????

Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings (such as sadness or happiness) that are being experienced by another

Today I tried to capture Owen's cute walking while pretending to talk on the phone in a video.  The problem was that every time he saw me holding my iphone he would throw the regular phone on the floor and walk toward me begging for my iphone and then when I didn't give it to him he would cry. 

So after several attempts (which all ended exactly the same) I gave up and let him watch those videos of himself.  It was hilarious.  Every time the Owen in the video started to cry, Owen would cry as well.  He would be so distraught about the plight of himself in the video not being able to get his mother's iphone. 

I probably had him rewatch the video 4 times before I called and had julianne come take a  video of Owen watching a video of himself.  Check out the sad face he gets when he sees himself sad in the video. 

We took our Christmas pictures today!

The weather was unseasonably warm (even warmer in CT today than Houston, TX???) We went to Irwin park and got so many great photos. But here is just a quick peek of sweet silly happy Owen!

Minute to Win it!

While most of the Christmas decorating was completed on Friday, we decorated the tree early Saturday morning!


Then this evening we had 2 families over to play Minute to win it.  (or at least our best attempt at it).  We have a lot of fun.  For each challenge we had one person from each family participate.  If they finished the task in 60 seconds they all got one point and if they finished it first they got an extra point.  The first challenge was Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.  The participant had to wear rudolph antlers, put vaseline on their nose, and then using only their nose transfer pompoms from one plate to another.  The person who transferred the most won! Owen enjoyed all the entertainment! The next challenge was to unravel 2 rolls of crepe paper in one minute. Then we had to balance 6 dice on a plastic knife while holding the plastic knife in your mouth.    Then it was who could build the tallest tower in a minute.   Then it was drink 2 cans of soda to just the right amount left in the can so that the can will balance on its edge.   Next -- golf ball balancing -- we started out with balancing 3 golf balls on top of one another, but that proved to be too hard so we tried 3 sets of 2 balls.    Then we rolled golf balls into hula hoops (the first one to get 3 balls into a hoop).  Too soft of a roll?  doesn't get over the edge of the hoop.  Too hard a roll?  rolls right out the back!  Then it was stacking 5 baby blocks on top of a plate on top of your head.  This one had a kids round and an adults round.  Then it was cup stacking -- who could build the highest pyramid.    Then it was 16 piece cereal box puzzles.  And last of all with the score tied 10, 10, 9 we did the last challenge.  Solo cup, plate, 1 portion cup, plate, 2 portion cups, plate -- all the way to 7 portion cups with a plate.   And Catherine won!!!!    Then, we got regular white dimpled golf balls and after much persistance and patience-- Trent was able to get all three golf balls stacked!!!   It was a really fun evening!