HO HO HO

Here are some of our Christmas family photos! Enjoy :)

Tis the season! Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday with the ones you love!!

I Could Make A Fortune!

If I could bottle this guys energy... a 14 month old knows no bounds! Quinten has never been much of a napper, good night sleeper, not a good napper. The world is just such an exciting place to explore that he has no time for sleep. In fact he has no time to sit still... at all! We are always running a muck through the house getting into this and that, and making mom's daily tasks just that much harder! But really though we have a lot of fun. The weather man was calling for some rain for the weekend so we tried to burn as much energy as we could outside so that being cooped up for the weekend wouldn't be as painful :)

Our summer harvest is about done, we plan to garden before the rain hits so Quinten and I went out to pick the last of our yellow pear tomatoes...

Unfortunately more ended up in the dogs mouth than the bowl (well at least his) :)

When we were done outside (haha we're never really done) We came inside changed our clothes (because we ended the day in the dog water...) and acted like a silly guy until daddy came home from work!

So I guess thats what the Cowan's have been up to. Growing faster than mom can keep up. Learning and playing, playing and playing :) We are trying to learn what "no" means, which with this guy isn't going to be easy. He is one persistent and stubborn little guy. But we'll get there! Because guess what? Mom is stubborn too :)

Picking a Favorite?

Photo Freak is having a challenge to pick your favorite photo you ever taken.. ! Wow that is near impossible... but I gave it a shot and here is is;

My sleeping angel behind his favorite book

Heat Wave

So us central coast-yins were hit by a heat wave for the past week or so. Topping the charts at 103, I know for some that may not seem to bad, but for us that is HOT! Thank God we have an air conditioner, even just the window one helped a ton, our house was not made for that kind of heat! So with a little one we got a little creative on keeping him busy, but cool.

Obviously before the heat came into town, we went to the park by the house. Quinten loved watching the big kids play, pick grass and hand it to mom and Grandma, and pull a big leaf from the tree and try to put it back :)

Day 1 of the heat wave, not realizing how hot it was supposed to get daddy and us went back to the park. By the time we got there it was already 91 at about 10am... so I got some shots for my class and let the kid play for a minute and then we bolted! :)

So we went home (inside the cool air!) and played in our new tent courtesy of Aunty Liz :) The game started by piling his toys into it instead of himself. But once dad got in a whole new game began!

I think this was day 4 of the heat wave... I started to lose track. I just new it was hot. Really hot. And I don't like hot. I'm a winter girl. You know, sweaters, scarfs, rain and snow. Thats me. Not heat!!! Anyways back to the photo, Quintens new favorite place is Slim's dog bed. Once he goes outside I turn it over so Q doesn't get covered in dog hair (anymore than normal at least). He snuggles it, plays in it, and even brings a book into and "reads". How funny is that?

We bounce in our jumper every morning while mom pumps and has some breakfast... I think the cooped up-ness was finally getting to him. Or he was just pondering the big questions in life...

Getting a little cooler! It was still 100 at my house, but my folks live about a half hour north, about a mile from the beach so the temps there had finally dropped to about 80. So Quinten and I went up for the day. They have a pool, which he LOVEs, he stood there banging the fence for about 5 minutes before I put the camera away, we changed and did some swimming.

I am thankful for air conditioning. I am thankful popsicles. And I am thankful that this usually only happens once a year for a week or so! Can't wait for fall weather, swinging in the yard and not hiding in the house :)

Animals

A fun contest for the week... animals. We have 2 crazy dogs, our lab Felicity and our pit/queensland Slim. They are quite the characters, I wish we could embrace they're whole personalities on camera but that would be quite a task.

I Love Dogs :)

This Is How We Bounce!

As soon as I read the Shoot N Tell task for this week these 3 pictures all in my archives popped into my head...

You Can't Have "bounce" without a ball right? Here's one of our pooches catchin the ball after one big bounce!

Not long after our little man arrived we went to our friends baby shower which of course had a bounce house... no need for explanation right :)

And this is what happens when you bounce toooo much!! The night our bouncer arrived Quinten took a nap after about 5 minutes of bouncing :) Aint he precious?!

Turning 27

Yesterday was my 27th! I can't believe I'm 27... I still feel like I just got out of high school. I had the most wonderful birthday. It began a little earlier then I would have like (hello 5:30am) but Quinten's smiling face is enough to make even the wee hours of the morning bright and cheery! My hubby got me some hot new jeans, and a new 50mm lense for my camera! My first new lense since he got me the camera for my last birthday! My mother in law is paying for one of the photography courses I wanted to take ( SOOO excited!) my parents got me a pedicure (heaven!!) and kitchen fairy spoon holder (adorable!) and a lunch and our dinner :) I also got another cool kit for my Cricut machine from my brother and sis in law and a yummy bottle of wine and some smelly stuff from my brother and sis in law, oh and some cute dresses and shoes from my Grandma. So all in all I got spoiled beyond deserving and spent the day with the family at the beach and then a wonderful dinner at Cool Hand Lukes! What a wonderful blessed day, I felt so loved!

I think 27 is going to be a good year!

Wonder Where He gets It?

My husband is quite the comedian, always finding new ways to make me laugh. The other night after Quinten's bath I was putting on his diaper and heard Shannon doing something behind me. I turned around and to my surprise I saw my full grown husband climbing into his little boys crib! See we had watched this video on YouTube of a dad climbing into his daughters crib to soothe her to sleep. And not only did we think that it seemed a little nutty we also thought there was no way that crib could hold him! So I guess my hub's felt the need to test it out himself...

I think he was pretty excited to have a friend in his crib with him. And well I guess if he gains 160 pounds we know he can still go in his crib :)

"Oh come snuggle"

I wonder where Quinten gets his goofy-ness from?

My Boy

I swear I'm going to start blogging again... I guess my life has been a little hectic. Being a full time mom is one crazy busy rewarding and challenging job! So until I find the time to catch up with a blog here is a couple of pic's to tide us over aint he cute!?

Mother's Day

Being a mom is everything and nothing like I thought it was going to be. I can't believe how quickly my life changed, and how easy it was to let it. To be responsible for another human being is so scary- so much pressure. Knowing that every decision Shannon and I make will have an impact on his entire life can sometimes get overwhelming. But really being a mom is about tuning out everyone but your own instincts. Every parent is as different as every child is. What works for one baby won't work for another. Just as what works for one parent won't work for another. With that said this year I got to celebrate my first mothers day, one day before Quinten turned 8 months old. My day actually started Saturday after Shannon's ride he brought home a beautiful vase full of flowers! Then Sunday began a little earlier than I'd like (5:25 to be exact) we are cutting through tooth #5 so our sleep and eat patterns are just a little off! We ate and went back to bed till about 7:30. I got a wonderful card from Quinten (thanks dad) and a #1 Best Kitchen Fairy (you'll see the pic) and 2 new 8gig cards for my camera! Then Shannon's mom came over and Shannon made pancake and eggs. After the food settled we all took a walk to the new local park. We all had a blast (yes even I played around). We then walked home, showered, napped (well the babe did), and then headed off to my Grandma's house for an afternoon linner. We celebrated mom's with my parents, brothers family, and 2 of my aunts and uncles and my little cousins. It was great. We came home relaxed a bit and then put the kiddo to bed and enjoyed some parent time. It was a wonderful day... here are some photos of the day.

My Flowers :)

My New Fairy

Wildflowers on the way

Walking

Playing

Monkey Bars!

My Family

Smiles

Grandma!

Playing

Fun

Holdin On

Playing with mom

Smiles

My Mom!

Being a mom is that I started this post 2 weeks ago and I'm just able to finish :) Being a mom is scary, exciting, entertaining, busy, exhausting, trying, and most of all blissful. Its as if this little man who really has only been in our life for a little over 8 months has truly been a part of us forever. Its learning something new about yourself every day, good and the bad :). Its opening yourself up more than you ever have. Its just sitting back sometimes and smiling thinking to yourself 'I love my life.' Mothers day is supposed to be a day for others to celebrate the mom's in their life. But I also took advantage of it and celebrated my little man, because really I wouldn't have had a mothers day if it weren't for him. And he is something to be celebrated.