Happy 10 month birthday Owen!

Our sweet little boy is 10 months old today, time is going by pretty fast it seems. He "officially" took his first step this week and today he took 3 steps at once....I can see it won't be long and he will be off and running, literally. He is getting more and more teeth as well. He has had 2 for a few weeks, and this week, another one came in (and not without letting us know about it, he has been some kind of fussy!). I feel so bad for him, wishing I could make him feel better, but just doing what I can to make him comfortable until they come in. His hair is also growing as fast as he is...it is starting to curl in some places and it is SO cute. I used to make fun of mother's who said they couldn't bear to cut their boy's hair, but I am starting to understand what they meant, it will be hard to see those precious curls fall when the time comes, but I will hold on as long as I can get away with (or until I start getting the comments "are you ever going to let him have a hair cut" and "he's starting to look like a girl!"). Here are some pictures of Mr. Owen over the last couple of weeks:

Kentucky Weekend

This past weekend we took a trip to Louisville, KY - the main purpose was to pick up some chairs for a customers of ours at our business (Anderson Office Interiors for those of you who do not know) but we also wanted to do a couple of fun things too so we made stops at Churchill Downs, Jim Beam Distillery and the Nashville Zoo. We could not take the tour of Churchill Downs, much to my disappointment since it was Derby Week but I still snapped a pic of the new statue of Barbaro which they had just unveiled the day before we visited, so that was pretty cool. We just made a quick stop at the distillery, they are not yet set up to do "guided tours" so we just walked around and snapped a couple of pics and continued on to the zoo. Our family is big on animals and zoos, so this was fun for everyone! My favorite of which I'll post a pic, were the white tigers that were sisters roughhousing with each other, they were just like regular kittens, only way bigger and their teeth were biting completely through this rubber planter they were playing with. Here are some pics from our stops:

Miss Olivia is very happy to be at the zoo!

The gorgeous white tigers (big and small)

Owen enjoyed himself too (notice the zoo-themed shirt, the shorts matched although you can't see in this pic...yes, I do try to have my kids "match" for whatever activity they are participating in....just me and my OCD!

What a beautiful kitty....looks like a Bengal cat we used to have...about 80lbs heavier though!

Here is a meerkat...they are tiny little creatures.

Olivia posing with Mr. Jim Beam (I think so anyway, the original Mr. Beam that is).

The new Barbaro tribute statue at Churchhill Downs....very cool to see in person.

American Girl Fashion Show Day!

I am a little behind in posting, but I'll start with last weekend, which was the American Girl Fashion Show sponsored by Junior League of Morgan County. Olivia was not quite big enough to model the clothes that the fashion show provided, so she was instead a "VIP", which meant she got to walk the runway with her doll during the intermission. My camera was acting up of course when it was her turn to come out, but I took the pic on the left after the show with her standing on the stage...... the outside pic was her doing outside the country club....I guess you could say she's a "tree hugger". We (Me, Olivia and "Nomie" (my mom/Olivia's grandmother) had a great time at the show!

Soccer Mom!

Dad helping out with the coaching.....and above Olivia looking very serious about the game!

Getting ready to kick off!

Olivia taking a water break!I think I can officially call myself a "soccer mom", if volunteering to coach 4,5&6 year old's counts that is.....mind you I knew NOTHING about the sport up until the day I emailed the head of Decatur Youth Soccer Association and said "I will volunteer to help", as the thought of kids not getting to play because there was no coach made me sad.....having said that, I thought I was signing up to be an assistant coach, with a head coach to call all the shots, and me to just be, well, helpful! I found out to the contrary that I was in fact THE coach, the one and only. I will say though, after wondering what I had gotten myself into this time, I can now say I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and I think my kids are having fun as well. We actually WON our second game (mind you, we are not supposed to be keeping score in these games, but ask any parent watching and they can certainly tell you the score and who score each goal!). I love seeing the kids laugh, smile and give it their all while playing. Here are some pics from our game Saturday...note dad (a.k.a. my husband Jon) is standing in as coach because I was feeling quite under the weather.

It's About Time!

Ok, after reading many other people's blogs for months now and thinking to myself "I really need to make one for our family", I finally gave in! So, I just hope I can keep it up the way everyone else does. I think it will be a good way to chronicle what might seem like mundane moments but really are precious memories that will be gone far too quickly. I hope you will enjoy my blog as much I will enjoy creating it. I chose the title "These are The Days" because I remember it was a popular song when I was in high school. I think I even remember the song playing during a student council fashion show I participated in. I thought back then "these are the days", and while they were special, they can't compare to "these" days, meaning, right now, the days of being with and raising my two children, who do and say something almost every day that amazes me!