What a Pair

Owen and Paige are quite a pair and for the most part get along so well, we're very blessed. This past summer was a different story but for the past few months they've done great together. A new favorite is playing hide and seek - Owen always hides and Paige and I seek. After we count Paige yells really loud "Owo" (her version of Owen). We always find him as we have a small house and Owen is still refining his hiding skills. Aunt Kim's favorite is when he would hide in the middle of the bed.

Owen has given Paige her nickname of "Paigey." He started it on his own and almost always calls her this. We went to the zoo last week and they were sharing a container of yogurt and spoon fed her her share, it was pretty cute.

I find I don't have many pictures of the two of them together - it's just hard to get good ones. But here are a few we've taken recently.

Owen's Joke of the Day

Owen's new joke:

Why do salads sit on shoes? Because they don't have chairs!!!

Pretty funny, right? I think Owen heard a variation (and one that made sense) on one of his favorite shows, Sid the Science Kid. Since he heard it he makes his own jokes up and we hear several a day. It's always, "Why do "X" sit on "Y"? Because they don't have chairs!" He gets so excited to for this last part, with the biggest smile on his face. I'm not sure that he has a future as a comedian but we can't help but laugh because he's so darn cute.

Paige Update

Our sweet little girl is a year and a half - where has the time gone? It is so much fun to watch her change on what seems like a daily basis. I've mentioned before that her language has really taken off and she is now putting multiple words together. She still is completely uninterested in the television (exact opposite of Owen) and would rather read (or chew) on books. Her hair is really growing and I was able to put it up in little pigtails the other day- it was very cute until she yanked them out. She loves to walk around with her play phones (or the real one too if I would let her) and she says "yo,yo" ... Paige speak for "hello."

Owen Update

Owen is now 3.5 years old and is anxiously awaiting his 4th birthday. He even has his cake picked out - a crocodile cupcake cake. I'm just glad he picked an easy one. I ask him, "whats wrong with being three?" and I get a one word answer "nothing." Owen is a thinker and a planner...often planning out our days for me and then says "what do you think of that" or "is that a good plan?" Ahh a planner...so much like his mother.

Owen loves sliding down the firepole and crossing the monkey bars at the park- all by himself of course. He took quite a big fall last week but was quite brave.

He really enjoys being in the kitchen with me while I make dinner and always wants to be my helper. I need to be better at letting him help and wish my kitchen was a bit bigger (and that I had more patience).

Here are pictures of our big boy from the last few months.

Owen at the park

Owen came in to wake us up, it was a bit early but we couldn't be upset. He was naked except for his shirt and part of Paige's Halloween costume around his head. Silly boy! Owen close-up

Owen at the zoo on the tractor

Christmas time while waiting to see Santa, we took a train ride (around the parking lot)

Hats

Isn't she cute!!!! I couldn't help but doing a post of just Paige wearing her hats. She loves them for the oh - three minutes she keeps them on but at least it's long enough to get a picture.

Santa's helper

Blue hat, Blue eyes!

Sporty Paige

Firewoman Paige

Christmas 2009

We were able to make it to Houston for Christmas this year and had a great time. We enjoyed our little family celebrations while in the Azores but it was nice to celebrate with both Jared's and my family again. It was also so nice to spend so much time with Jared's sister Kacey. She was home from Maryland almost the whole time we were and it had been since Paige was only three weeks old that we had spent any extended time with her. Her fiance, Jonathan, also flew in for New Years and it was wonderful to get to know him better.

Jared and I are trying to create some Christmas traditions, like singing Christmas carols, reading the Christmas story from the Bible, reading Polar Express.... Below you'll see a few pictures of our "caroling" as Letha is playing the piano. No easy feat with two toddlers on the bench with but she did great!

The Solether family singing a few carols

Daddy reading Paige a new book from Santa

Paige enjoying her stocking stuffer ... I wasn't very creative this year

Granlee and the kids playing the piano

Owen and our little Christmas tree

I had big ideas of really decorating the house since I had all my holiday stuff again (it stayed in storage while in the Azores) but I just didn't get to it. And neither Jared or I wanted to face putting up our bear of a fake tree we bought overseas but we couldn't have nothing...Owen wouldn't stand for it. We compromised with this little tree on our file cabinet - pretty festive right? Owen complained, wanting our big tree but we got away with this because Pops and Granlee would both have big tree for him in Texas. We'll most likely stay here next year and I'm sure I'll really get into the spirit then.

Another shot of Letha playing piano with the kids - Paige's feet really helped!

Owen and Paige discovering the "loot"

Rainy Day Fun

I can't believe I haven't posted these pictures yet. This is from early December and our first rainy day in San Diego. It rained a lot in the Azores but is pretty much a rarity here (which I am okay with). We usually spend the mornings outside walking in the stroller and at the park - not an option on rainy days.

To entertain himself, Owen decided he wanted to practice using scissors. I gave him a sheet of paper and he spent over two hours cutting one piece of paper into confetti. There was a mess all over the floor but I didn't mind, he was so entertained!

Of course the ten minutes I leave him unsupervised to use the bathroom trouble erupts. I come back into the kitchen and he is poised with hair in one hand and scissors in the other. Much to my dismay - I was too late, he'd already made two good cuts into his hair on the top of his head. I had to get a picture before I gave him the scolding about cutting his hair (never do it again, or your sister's hair either!)

The funny thing was, not ten minutes before I had made an appointment to have the kids pictures taken for Christmas for the next day. I had to call and reschedule for a week later.

Santa Sightings

I think we saw Santa three different times this year. Jared told Owen that these men weren't the real Santa Claus but rather Santa's helpers. Owen didn't question it. We certainly felt like parents really sacrificing for our kids a few times ... we waited in REALLY long lines just to sit on Santa's lap (an also to get free Legoland tickets). Oh - it was also pretty cold too.

Owen saw Santa come out of a helicopter and got to talk to him. I think he asked him for a Marble Run. We explained that Santa probably would not bring a marble run because Santa knew Owen's baby sister could choke and hurt herself on marbles. Owen told my mother-in-law that Paige wants a marble run for Valentine's day. He sure is persistent!

We also had a Santa sighting during story time at the library. So glad I had my camera that day!

Gig Em

Every year after the Texas A&M vs. U.T. game we take a picture of Owen wearing Jared's Aggie jersey. It's a fun way to capture the change from year to year. The first two pictures are from this year - Owen almost 3.5 years, the second two pictures are from last year - Owen almost 2.5 years. If you go to older blog posts you'll see pictures from Owen as a baby in the jersey too.