Oh Christmas Tree

Putting up the Christmas tree is always a special, sentimental time, but it is made even more wonderful by sharing it with our son. He was so delighted with each and every ornament!

Let It Snow!

We got out to enjoy the frigid temperatures when it snowed a couple of weeks ago. Boy was it COLD!! It did not put a damper on the fun times though! These are pictures of Jeremy and Joel sledding with their Boys for the first time on a sled they used when they were little. I, being great with child, was in charge of the camera. (We have no mittens for poor Owie, so he had to wear socks on his hands.)

Christmas Picture Day

Taking the Halpin Family Christmas picture is always an adventure. Just try to get six squirmy kids, three years old and younger (who all need naps badly!), to cooperate and look in the same direction. We just pray we got one good shot out of the bunch! Here is a picture of my handsome men before anyone got too crabby. A smile was a little too much to ask for.

Operation Big Boy Bed: Day 5

Day 4 was a repeat of Days 1-3. The only variation was that we said a prayer together after our story that Jesus would help O to love his Big Boy Bed, to adjust quickly and to sleep soundly. Once again, he ended up in his crib after 45 minutes of screaming with me laying there beside him.

This picture was taken 30 minutes ago! SUCCESS!! We read, prayed, and I laid beside him until he drifted sweetly off to sleep. No tears. No screaming. I am listening with bated breath for him to wake up, hoping he will not be terrified that he is not in his crib. My precious Owie...So big.

A Little 'Gator says "Hello!"

Pancake Tradition

Every Saturday morning growing up, my Dad and I would make our special pancake recipe. Owie and I decided to carry the tradition on to the next generation. We had a great time, and it brought back so many fond memories! I look forward to many more pancake mornings with my Boys!

O is a very zealous stirrer!

Evidently the inside of a pancake is the very tastiest part!

This is Owen signing for "more" pancakes, even though he has a whole stack in front of him. They were a hit!

Operation Big Boy Bed: Day 3

Day 2 was a repeat of Day 1, except Mom did the resting. We will not be discouraged. Charge onward to Day 3!

We started out so well: a good story, Lovey, Baby, pacis galore. This is going to be just fine...

Or not.

This is us not napping.

Shortly after this photo, I attempted to make my break for it (He was fully relaxed, deep breathing and all!). Screaming and escaping the bed followed. What are we going to do with you, Owie?

Has anybody seen the O?

It was way too quiet in the House of Halpin. This is where I found Owen!

Operation Big Boy Bed: Day 1

We are attempting to transition O to his Big Boy Bed before Baby Brother arrives. It is not going well. Here is documentation of our first try, this past Sunday. It is appropriate that this picture is all blurry and out of focus since I think all three of us felt a bit blurry and out of focus ourselves. The only one who did any resting was Dad.

The Awe and Wonder of a Child

Owen had a great time at the Dallas Arboretum Pumpkin Patch and Petting Zoo last week. He is at this really fun stage where absolutely everything out of the ordinary results in a gasp and high pitched sqeal of delight. ( Thus all the pictures with his mouth wide open. He is gasping or squealing!) Living life with O is teaching me to appreciate all the amazing things God has placed in this world for our pleasure. So often, I pass right by in a hurry. Not Owie, though. He is teaching me to take my time and just enjoy creation!

Owen found a pumpkin stem laying on the ground and was very concerned that it was not attached to a pumpkin. He spent the longest time trying to find its rightful owner.

My Future

With the soon-to-be three boys living in our house, I am sure to encounter many more "Sports Illustrated moments"! When my creative ideas of how to pass a rainy afternoon run a bit dry, looking for balls in SI never fails to entertain.

Self Portrait

The O has a newly discovered talent! Despite neither of his parents possessing any artistic talent whatsoever, Owen has quite the knack for self portraits. If only he understood that a self portrait is a picture of himself, not on himself! (At least his Dad can feel good that he used red crayon, rather than his son being a very zealous applier of lipstick!)

Lazy Sunday

Playing in the rain. We both got a little damp, but the wonderfulness of RAIN was too precious to pass up! No harm done!

Cheering for a football game with Dad, a very important component of any true "lazy Sunday"!

A Welcome Diversion

Doctor's orders, Owen has to sport an eye patch for two hours every day. As a distraction, The O and I venture to the park every morning, to try to keep our minds off of it. We have a great time playing in the cool morning weather! Sometimes Daddy gets to join us, and then it is extra-special! Poor O, though. With the patch on, his peripheral vision and depth perception are terrible, so he takes quite a few tumbles as he plays. He never complains, just points to the patch to make sure I remember that it is there.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Uncle Joel shared GREAT tickets to the Ranger game last Saturday night. It was such a nice, cool evening. We had a wonderful family-fun time!

The LONG hike from the parking lot to the ballpark.

"This is great fun!"

The O is getting sleepy. Notice crazy cousin Clayton in the background, who is far from tired!

Curls Be Gone

I finally bit the bullet and took O for his first haircut. I kept his beautiful curls as long as I thought decent, but there comes a point when his masculinity comes into question. O was so well-behaved with nary a tear! What a man!

Note the luxurious curls

There was a moment of concern right at first, but only a puzzled expression resulted.

He looks so much older without the baby curls!


So handsome and grown up!

Mama's Little Helper

Last week, The O and I endevored to make a batch of good ol' chocolate chip cookies for Bible Study. It's probably a good thing our fellow studiers of the Bible did not see the cookie-making process or they might have hesitated sampling one. Just kidding! We kept everything very sanitary, although Owie had quite the sugar buzz afterwards!

Owie is doing a good job helping Mom "stir"

"Mama turned her back for a second! I'll just taste a tiny sample!"

After the cookies were all done, I discovered that Owen is a very zealous spoon-licker. He must get that from me! The cookies turned out great!

Happy Half Birthday to O!

July 21 was Owie's one and a half year birthday. This is a holiday, known as the "half birthday" and not recognized universally, that gets high status in my eyes. We made it a great day of small celebrations for O. Jeremy was off of work, so we got to spend the whole day together.

We enjoyed fig newtons at Owen's Big Boy table and chairs...that he is now big enough to sit at alone.

We opened gifts, including a wonderful new counting book, O's first box of crayons and a new Boz DVD.

We tried to hit the sprinkler park, but alas the water was off for the day. Instead, we went to Wendy's, where O was allowed to make as huge of a ketchup mess as he wanted (wish I had a picture of that!) and then straight home to play as long as his little heart desired in the tub.

O got a popsicle in the tub ( a treat that speech therapy recommended to help O learn to keep his lips closed). It is working beautifully!

Quite the jokester!

That's a suspicious little face. I probably don't want to know what just went on in the tub!

I had to get at least one "artsy" shot!