Photo dump

Oh my! Did I really go the entire month of September (and the beginning of October) without a single blog post? Um, whoops! Not sure what to say to explain myself...just haven't been feeling the urge to blab on about life, I guess.

A friend suggested that the best way to get back into the swing of it (rather than trying to recall each and every blog-worthy thing that's happened in the past 40 days) was just to go through the pictures on my camera. So, here we go. Here are a few things that we've been up to lately (in no particular order).

Cheering on the Hawkeyes during the big Iowa v. Iowa State game. Too bad Mommy's Cyclones beat those Hawks! Heh, heh!

Owen now sleeps in a "big boy" bed. Really, it's a toddler-sized bed, but he has the freedom to get out of it as he pleases. I really expected this transition to be a huge nightmare since he is often so restless when he first lies down for naps and bedtime. But he took to it right away and — although very recently we've had some issues with him not wanting to nap at all — the past month or so has gone remarkably smoothly.

Here he is the morning after his first night in bed. I snapped three of these photos (with flash) and he still didn't wake up!

And here he is helping Daddy take down his crib. (We left it up for the first week or so just to be sure there wouldn't be any set-backs.)

We planted a tree! We live in a neighborhood full of beautiful, mature trees, however the original owners of our property were apparently not big fans of them because there was only one tree in our yard and it is about as far away from the house as it can be. It actually looks like it belongs to the neighbors. So, we've been hoping to get a few leafy beauts planted and finally, that day arrived. Well, for one anyway. (There's more to come...)

Here's Owen helping Daddy dig the hole...

...and discovering worms! Shortly after this picture was taken, he tried to taste the worm with his tongue. Ack! Gross! I flipped out. But then laughed heartily at my tough little boy who loves to dig, play in dirt piles, and touch worms. I've been dreaming of this day, actually.

This one, taken today, is him standing in front of the new tree — an Autumn Blaze Maple. It will be fun to take a photo of him next to the tree every year to measure how both of them grow. (That's the neighbor's house in the background; maybe I should take this facing the other direction so you see our house instead.) You can see how much the weather has changed in the past week. Pants and sweatshirts in the photos above. Shorts and t-shirts today. Gotta love Indian Summer!

Our day at the zoo with some friends. Funny how playing in the fallen leaves was even more fun than all the animals!

My sister, Rachel, and I traveled to St. Louis for my youngest cousin's wedding. Here's a very blurry cell phone picture from the reception.

And the following day we visited the St. Louis Arch, just for kicks.

Owen enjoyed his very first lollipop. (Photo courtesy of Jackie Petersen Photography.)

And, although he kind of messes up at the end in this video, O knows — and can perform — all the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. He does it often. Love!!!