V-Day Update

Sorry for the sporadic blog posts lately. We've been busy around here! The weekend after our painting project, Ryan tackled a new one for us - kitchen tile backsplash. It took a little longer than expected, but otherwise went fairly smoothly. I give Ryan ALL the credit (he did awesome!), though I helped keep Owen away from the mess, which was a pretty big job in itself! We are delighted with how it turned out!

And for the big reveal....our kitchen is finally complete! (Oh, except for those shiny, new, stainless steel appliances we hope for someday.)

Here's a "before" from when we first moved in.

(Well, even this isn't a completely accurate "before" shot. We had already replaced the gaudy, brass overhead light fixtures and tacky cabinet hardware here, but I don't have an earlier photo of the kitchen than this one.)

In other news, Owen has another cold. (Dear winter, we are DONE with you! Go away already!) Apparently his cold symptoms manifest as gunk in and around his eyes, poor baby! He looks much worse than I think he feels, though.

He's into climbing now. He's expert at getting up on things, but hasn't quite mastered the getting down part. Ugh.

Getting jazzy with buddy Matthew (and Mom's pal, Mary with baby Owen [oh yes, it's true!] in the background.)

Two fun activities - coloring and eating Hershey Kisses - sadly, don't mix well.

We've recently discovered the joy of balloons!

And we attended Owen's very first Hawkeye sporting event - a (lost) basketball game.

He espcially enjoyed all the clapping and cheering. Fun stuff!

It's hard to keep up with all of Owen's new vocabulary because he will really attempt to say most words now, but here are a few worth noting:

• Elmo - "Eh-Oh" (which is distinctly different from "uh-oh.")
• Help - "How"
• Kinnick - "Kiki"
• There you go... - "Dehgo" (which, apparently, is something I say often, as in, "You can do it, there you go.")
• Water - "Wah"
• Thank You (sort-of) - "Day-day"
• Please - "Peeeee!"
• Snack - "Sack"
• Color - "Cuh"
• Bird - "Bird"
• Car - "Car"

We leave for our Peterson family Disney Dream cruise on Wednesday. I am VERY nervous about the flight primarily, but think I've done as much prep work as I can at this point. (I have a bag of tricks fully stocked to hopefully alleviate any major tantrums aboard the plane.) Pictures and details to come upon our return next week.

Happy Valentine's Day all!