Christmas highlights

"Merry Trismas!!! Merry Trismas!!! Merry Trismas!!!"--Owen, running around in a circle.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was sooooo nice not to be traveling across the country to be with our family. The furthest we went was WAY down to south Austin. :) We got to spend time with everyone, but somehow it didn't feel rushed which was really great. Even though this is not our first Christmas as a family, it sort of felt like it because we're in a much less transitional stage of life, plus Owen is getting old enough to start to understand things (he knows Christmas is Jesus' birthday--not that he understands what that means).

Here are some photos...

Christmas Eve morning Kyle, Luke and Joel went for a quick hunting expedition, so Bailey came over to play. Here are the kids eating waffles in front of our tree (our only picture of the tree with presents under it...)
We went to church with Bee that night before enjoying our traditional stew and opening the 1 Christmas Eve present allowed (always pajamas). Isn't this a sweet pic of Rebecca "sitting up" at church?
Owen actually did really well during the (short) service. He enjoyed the part where he and I went up to the front of the church for the kids' thing the pastor did (he kept saying: Momma, dad man is talking to us!). There was a (really long) prayer towards the end that I thought we might have to leave in the middle of because Owen wouldn't stop talking. I'm not sure where he got this (and the irony is pretty clear)--we are pretty sure he was mumbling "buy stuff, buy stuff, buy stuff". Great--the other meaning of Christmas. :( He definitely liked the part with the candle. I was a little nervous because he kept wanting to "do cheers" with them.
Here we are back at Bee's. Rebecca got a new hat with a fabulous pink embellishment from uncle Alex and Deidre. (Deer in headlights?)
Rebecca with Jo Jo.
Both Owen and Rebecca got the most adorable pajamas (she looked like a little elf princess) and Owen's had cowboys all over them--he has requested them every night since and would prefer it if I would let him stay in them all day!

Two other really special things from that evening:
1) Bee gave Owen his stocking. She has been working on it since before he was born (it was more complicated than she anticipated, and she had hand surgery that set her back quite a bit). It is adorable and really special. She even stitched a little bee (the bug, not the letter) in the corner as her "signature". I told her she could take a day or two off before starting on Rebecca's! :)

2) Bee serenaded us with a beautiful arrangement of Silent Night on the piano. She has been taking lessons since her quasi-retirement started. It was really beautiful, and of course, very well done. I took a video, but promised her I wouldn't post it.

I actually don't have hardly any photos from Christmas morning because we used our actual video camera...maybe I'll get the footage off and crop out a couple of short videos. Bee & Jo Jo came over first thing in the morning for presents and a breakfast casserole.

Since we have most of the educational/developmental toys for her age because of Owen we got to spoil her with totally unnecessary and girly things that she probably won't even play with for quite some time. A dollhouse, a tea-set, a Madam Alexander doll, 2 pearls added to her add-a-pearl necklace my Aunt Joyce started for me when I was born (so special)! Here is Rebecca with a little dolly she got--it crinkles and has rings for her to grab onto. She loves it.
At about noon, we headed over to Nana's for more gifts and lunch. Here is Owen and Bailey each playing with their hammer sets. This was a year of "classic" toys for Owen. He got a sit-n-spin (remember those?), some really great puzzles/games, wooden cars, and tinker toys. He and Bailey enjoyed opening presents together--they were always distracted by the gift they just opened and not quick to move on to the next unwrap job, which was fine by us!
After all the girts were opened and we ate lunch, the kids (and I!) took naps. Here is Rebecca hanging out with Nana.
Aunt Mel and Rebecca.
One tradition we started this year to try to help our kids understand Christmas is celebrating Jesus' birthday with a cake (like we do with all other birthdays). So, Mel came over on Christmas Eve and we made this delicious cake. We wanted it to look "Christmas-y" to reinforce the connection between Christmas and Jesus, but I think it ended up looking more like the Mexican flag. Feliz Cumpleanos a JesuCristo! Anyways...we'll see how the tradition unfolds next year.
Owen and Bailey playing with Kyle.
One of the highlights of the day was hearing Owen and Bailey have what we think was their first real conversation with each other in full/quasi-full sentences. None of us can remember what they were talking about, and it didn't last long before changing into a little yelling match about candles or something, but they were really talking about something--so fun!

Owen wearing Kyle's new lightweight backpack. Bailey got inside it at one point and tried to walk around the room with it over her head--hysterical.
Lucky for us, my dad isn't particular about holidays or schedules so we were able to celebrate with he and Pam on Saturday. We went over to their place for breakfast and stayed all day just hanging out. (I'm realizing that I have very few pictures of Owen from these celebrations--I think because I'm paranoid about not having enough pictures of Rebecca, but also because he's so active, it's hard to catch a good photo of him right now!)

Here is Grandad Stan with Rebecca.
Kyle with Rebecca.
Owen got a remote-control car and a kazoo (or, tazoo, as Owen says) from them...which conveniently got left at their place. :) Owen figured both out very quickly, and remains a better kazoo-player than the rest of us. Call it natural talent.

So, that's the run-down. I can't express enough how great it is to be in Austin and able to celebrate with family with such ease. What a blessing for our kids to be able to spend these special days (but also all the days in between) with their grandparents, uncles/aunts, cousins. We're still thinking about and trying to develop a lot of our family traditions (like the birthday cake) but this year was a really good start. Owen really enjoyed his "little people" manger scene and his advent calendar and (thanks to Melissa) I have some great ideas for how to build up on that for next year. We're also thinking about ways we can incorporate more service into our celebration--difficult with little kids--so if you have any ideas, let me know.

Okay, that's it for now. Happy New Year all!

Stats/Updates

Rebecca had her 4 month checkup today. She is growing strong and meeting all the milestones. She weights 15 pounds, 9 ounces and is 25 inches long/tall. That puts her in the 75th-90th percentile in both. Here are some things she loves or is doing right now:

-sucking on her fists, playing with her hands

-she discovered her tongue the other day which means she likes to stick it out and sort of chew on it

-she loves sitting in her bumbo chair, especially now that it has a suction-cup toy on it for her to play with and try to eat

-she loves to sleep in her swing and/or in momma's arms (yes, we're going to have to work on this in the coming weeks...it has been the path of least resistance, but it's time for tough-love)

-we are able to elicit belly-laughs if we tickle her in just the right way--such a sweet sound!

-tummy time (she actually doesn't seem to hate it, like Owen did)

-Owen...it won't be long before he's really able to make her laugh

-"Moosey" and some of Owen's other favorite toys from when he was this age (boy am I glad he doesn't remember that those were his toys so we don't have to hear his "mine, mine, mine"!

And a few Owen items of interest:

-the other day Owen got out his doctor kit (stethoscope, etc.) to "fix" his doggy who was "sick" by listening to his heart (conveniently located in his head and then his tail)...afterwards, the stuffed animal felt "all better"

-Owen says "Iwudu too, momma"...melt my heart

-Owen has been playing a game where he pretends to find things in his crib (when he's in it, say, for naptime). I'll hear him have the following conversation with himself through the door:
"Ummmm, someping greeeeen! Nooooo, just green blankie. (pause) Ummmm, someping blue! Nooooo, just blue blankie." And on and on and on through all the colors of his blankies.

-Owen got a little bit of a shiner (and a nasty cut) over one of his eyes (he tripped over Kyle's foot and into the edge of his bedroom door. My dad taught him to say "you should see the other guy" when asked about his eye...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...
Owen used the "potty chair" for the first time!!! We're not pushing it yet, but he's showing interest in potty training and he went pee pee in the potty for the first time about a week ago (on Kyle's watch--Dad is very proud). He asked (unprompted) to go. It hasn't happened since, but we were all pretty excited. He got a sticker of a digger.

Well, that's it until after Christmas...Merry Christmas!

The Society

We are proud members of the "Hill Country Camping Society," or "THE SOCIETY" for insiders. Its founder and acting president is our friend Trey (of Laity Lodge fame). The Society puts on a monthly camping trip somewhere in Central Texas and members can take part in as many trips as the like. And let me just say that this is my kind of camping--mansion tents, air mattresses, gormet food prepared by men using dutch ovens, kids painting rocks and generally running wild. :)

This was our first outing with the Society--we went to Inks Lake State Park with two other families--the Tulls (as in Trey) and the Other Mezgers (or Mukes, as many of us fondly call them--think: Mel/Luke). Luke was the "Camp Master" for this month's trip and he did a great job coordinating everything.

Two brothers and the Coleman stove they grew up using.
The Society's youngest member, Rebecca Salem. She and I ended up having a rough night of sleep (which had little to nothing to do with camping), but prior to that, she had been unanimously voted the "Camper of the Day" in true Buckner fashion. Seriously--for less than 4 months old, she was such a trooper! We think she actually enjoyed it!

Owen and Bailey helped Kyle put our massive family tent up. This is a far cry from the cut-your-toothbrush-in-half-to-save-an-ounce light-weight bare-bones camping/backpacking that Kyle loves. Did I mention there are bathrooms? :)
I think I posted that Kyle and Owen did a trial run sleeping in a tent in Luke's backyard a few weeks ago, however, Owen still refused to sleep in his sleeping bag. Everything else went great, but we're going to have to keep working on that. The funny thing is, he probably got the best night's sleep of the four of us!
Sweet Rebecca and I all bundled up in front of the fire. The kids did such a great job not messing w/ the fire and making s'mores.
Our crazy schedule means it may be a few months before we get to make it out with The Society again, but it was a great first outing!

Christmas Cookies

I have extremely fond memories of making and decorating Christmas (sugar) cookies with my mom growing up. We made everything from scratch. We wore matching aprons. We always ended up with flour everywhere. We couldn't help but taste everything along the way, and eat a few cookies before they all got decorated--hopefully leaving a few to fill our cookie jar and give to neighbors.

What a special treat to get to continue that tradition with Bee and Owen (and someday Rebecca). Owen doesn't look like it in this picture, but he's about to have a LOT of fun!

Rebecca was so sweet to just sit back and watch us cook...next year she'll be able to join in the fun (and mess)!

Of course, we tasted as we went. Owen kept saying he needed "ooooooone more" (holding his pointer finger up--my mom said he looked/sounded just like me when I tell him he needs to eat one more bite of something). Yummy!
The dab of flour on his nose is also a little tradition--not sure how/when it started but you can't make good Christmas cookies without a dab of flour on your nose. (Just remember to wipe it off if you leave the house after making the cookies). In this photo, we're wearing the aprons my mom and I wore when I was Owen's age. Awww, how sweet!
Decorating the cookies was a hit. Owen's turned out surprisingly good for a 2-year old. And regardless of the uneven icing and sporadic mounds of sprinkles, they tasted really good!

ABC Song

Wanted to get this on video before he gets too good at it and it starts to sound right...

Tis the Season

We have so much to be thankful for...

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving--we spent the day at Bee & JoJo's house and had a wonderful meal and enjoyed a beautiful day outside.
Rebecca LOVED being held all day! Here she is with my sweet cousin Megan.
Rebecca with my sweet Aunt Debbie (Megan and Melanie's mom, Bee's little sister).
Rebecca with my sweet (and youngest) cousin Melanie.
Owen "hiding" in a tree...
Kyle's mom (Nana) was part of the festivities too!
Rebecca with Bee--laughing it up!
We actually got a GREAT family photo of the 4 of us (meaning we're all looking at the camera, which is a feat!) but you'll have to wait for a Christmas letter to see it...

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went to get our tree. Didn't get any photos of Owen because he was too busy running through "the forest".

Hopefully we'll get our tree decorated before Christmas Day, but no promises...

I must have eaten "Post" cereal for breakfast...

I was soooooo behind on blogging, I know (and my Aunt Joyce reminds me)! So, Owen was with Nana this morning at Gymboree and Rebecca has been taking a really long nap, so I've been busy posting! I think there are 6 new posts below this one...whew. I'll just warn you--this post is going to be a jumbling mess of thoughts/updates so hang in there...

Sweet Rebecca is now enjoying lots of new toys including her bumbo chair. Don't you remember pictures of Owen just like this??? She's also really really liking her play gym on the floor, but doesn't last very long on her tummy. Still haven't really caught it in a photo, but she is the smiliest girl ever. She loves loves loves our faces and pretty much lights up at everyone she recognizes. Then the squeaky, breathy, cooing begins. I've started keeping my camera with me most of the time so I can try to catch both the smiles and the coos but I think she's shy, because she stops smiling and talking as soon as I pull it out!
Here is my beloved Aunt Joyce. She's holding the most precious tutu outfit you've ever seen--a birthday present for Miss Rebecca. She'll probably be big enough for it in the spring--I can't wait to have pictures of that! Joyce was in town for part of last week just to see us and hang out with my mom some. We had a great visit. She got to play with both of the kiddos and us girls got to escape to the "Christmas Affair" for some really fun shopping for part of a day. It was an overwhelming experience (you've never seen so much stuff and so many women!) but was a lot of fun!
Owen has a special project at Bee and JoJo's house right now. He helped Bee plant an amaryllis for Christmas and its his job to go water it once a week (after school on Tuesdays). He knows that a green and red flower is going to grow...not a blue and purple one (a little joke of theirs).

This video is priceless to me. It's some of the first real playing Owen has done w/ Rebecca. He's starting to pay a lot more attention to her--beyond just telling me to put her in the swing or her jungle chair (so he can have my full attention). Oh, you can very clearly hear him call her "Betta" which I love (all his c's are t's right now).

Okay, here is the random list of funny (to me at least) Owen-isms and recent happenings:

-I didn't realize how often we say "how about _____" because now Owen begins almost every sentence with it. "How 'bout I have some juice," "How 'bout no night night," "How 'bout 'where's my other shoe?"...

-Owen has also recently discovered "maybe," "neither," and "too". Like I'll tell him we're going to go to the grocery store and he'll say "maybe we see fire trucks, maybe we see school buses too!". And after the trip he'll be saying "we didn't see any fire trucks. we didn't see any school buses either". It goes on and on and on and on.

-Owen has gotten really good at trying to play Kyle and I off of each other. He has figured out that if one of us tells him No about something he should go and ask the other. Of course we try to be on the same page (and are about the big stuff) but if we're busy or distracted we won't know that one of us just tole him no more juice, for example... One time he came to me whining, "Dadda said no milk. Dadda said no juice. Dadda said no water. Dadda said no milk..." on and on and on as if he was truly being neglected. Smart.

-Owen has always really liked to draw. I keep poster-board on hand so he can sit on the floor and just go crazy. And he got an easle for his birthday which has a white board and a chalk board and paper which is a lot of fun. So, really, there is no reason for him to need to use his poop as means for artistic expression...but recently his Picasso-side broke free and he "drew" all over the floor and wall in our hallway. As soon as he heard me gasp his full name he knew he had done a BIG no no. He immediately started crying and asking for his dad. We spent the next few minutes giving him a bath and him telling me all the things that were no no's about what just happened--"no no touch poop," "no no draw on walls"....I think he got the point.

-We had a "standoff" at dinner the other night because he refused to eat the one tiny piece of carrot on his place that we told him he had to eat. He ended up sitting at the table until bedtime. He never ate the carrot (even though he had it in his mouth and chewed it up half way and then spit it out) but he didn't get to play with any of his toys for the rest of the evening. I'm not sure who won...

-He likes to practice telling flies (and anything else unwanted) to go away. I'll hear him just walking around the house waving his arms saying "shoo shoo do away" even though there are no flies in the house. He'll be ready the next time he sees one!

-I guess Owen has become accustomed to receiving praise at the dinner table (when he DOES eat his carrots) because the other day I gave him some ice cream and he kept telling himself "good job" while he was eating it!

-Another anti-discipline tactic of Owen's is that if we're in the middle of scolding him or instructing him about something he just looks at you and says "fire trucks" really loudly as if we'll be so distracted that we'll let him just change the subject on us. Right...

-Owen has actually started joking with us. For a while now he and Kyle have had a running joke about whether Owen can put lotion in his eye (no). And now Owen has started requesting songs he knows don't exist because he knows we'll say "there's no truck song" and he laughs. Ah the sense of humor of a 2 year old.

-Owen likes to say "bwess you" after you sneeze or cough but he also says it to himself (bwess you still, not "me") after he toots or makes any sort of noise.

-Owen's has added some new songs/poems to his list of favorites to finish: Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious (sp?)...if you sing the words he finishes w/ the "docious" but it sounds like "Do Shush!" and is either shouted or whispered. He also really likes "the Vision song" (Be Thou My Vision) which makes Kyle and I really happy because we've been singing that one to him at bedtime since he was born.

-As if it would change our minds about things, Owen has started saying "I said no" when he doesn't want to do something instead of just "no". Makes sense since that's what he hears us say.

-Owen can count to 10! The funny thing is we taught him to count to 3 but he figured out the rest on his own. We were both shocked the first time he did it. What a hoot!

Yea! You made it! Now feel free to peruse the other new posts below...You're a trooper!

Happy Thanksgiving...I'm off to make some casseroles!

Laity Lodge

One of Kyle's college roommates, Trey, works as the summer camp director at Laity Lodge Youth Camp outside of Fredericksberg. He and his family (wife Leah and kids Ellie-6, Claire-3 and Luke-9 months) live there during the summer and we got to go for the weekend to see them. The Fosheas (Joel, Katie, Emmy and Boone) came, as well as another one of Kyle's former roommates, Carlos. The boys went deer hunting a few times (no luck...) and the girls and kiddos just did a lot of hanging out (and nursing, it seemed).

Here is Trey and Leah's oldest daughter Ellie with a cup tower she built. Her next one was even taller and more impressive!On Sunday afternoon (while I enjoyed a LONG nap) the boys took the kids canooing. Isn't it beautiful there? The trees had actually changed color...something you don't see in TX much, but this part of the hill country is really unique in its beauty.


What must Emmy be thinking here???
Ah, young love.
So, I know we took a picture at the end of the weekend with the entire crew, but of course it wasn't with our camera...who has it?

We're hoping this can be an annual trip--it was so beautiful and really great to hang out with these friends.

Happy 90th Birthday Granny!

My Dad's Mom, "Granny," turned 90 years old last week and the entire family gathered for a big surprise party at her home in Ralls, TX (outside of Lubbock). It was a great trip. The four of us flew up with my Stan and Pam (who pretty much took over parenting Owen for us for the weekend) and Alex and my cousin Jolie. We saw pretty much the entire family--and met a few new additions which was a lot of fun.

As you would expect, Owen loved playing in the dirt of the cotton ("totton") field right next to Granny's home. We got to watch the cotton strippers (which Owen calls "bines" because they look like combines) harvest the field. We saw tractors of every color and even one funky (or "funkty") one with huge wheels that was not a real tractor but some other obscure piece of farm equipment I should but don't know about.


Here is my sweet Granny with Rebecca. I know we got a picture of her with Owen, but I think it's on my dad's camera and he's the worst about giving me pictures and videos that he's taken. You checking this Dad? :)
Happy Birthday Granny, we love you!!!

Diggers with Stan & Pam

One of the many blessings related to having lots of grandparents around is all the outings Owen gets to do! Here he is with Stan (Granddad????--we're trying this one out for size) and Pam checking out the diggers at their project site.


After he got to sit in it the nice man who was driving it started doing his work again. Owen kept saying "my turn dribe, my turn dribe"! Not yet buddy...