Through The Eyes Of Child...

What happened to us? Along the way into adulthood we lost it. Have you ever thought about the life of a child? I have been a lot lately. I am such a lucky girl that for the last almost 17 months I've gotten to be a stay at home mom. So day in and day out I get to watch my son grow and learn. He is amazing. And just looking into his eyes you can see it, you can see what we lost. That everything is exciting. A stick, a rock, a dog rolling on his back. Things we look right past. Ok I know that a rock really isn't that exciting to an adult, we've seen plenty right? But if we started looking at life even smidge like a child I'm sure that we'd all be a lot happier. If we woke up every day eager to learn something new. That everything we came across we took in stride. If we worked as hard as they did to accomplish something? Wow what would that be like? I often find myself waking up feeling a little too much like Bill Murray in Groundhogs day. You know, the same wake up call (child ready and waiting to get up), same routine; milk, Mickey, breakfast, cleanup and off to the park, yada yada yada. But Quinten, although he does a lot of the same things everyday, couldn't be happier about it. Because he is so innocent. He doesn't have the full view of everything he doesn't have, he is so gosh darn happy with what he does. He doesn't look at his toys and focus on the Toy Store full of the ones he doesn't have. He doesn't go out back and think "man I'd be a lot happier if this yard were bigger." He doesn't notice his room is kind of small, or the house is kind of old, that we can't go to all these places because mom and dad can't afford it right now. He is happy in what he has. **sigh** How do we get back there? How do I ignore the world and all the don't haves and love and focus on the haves? We really do have so much! I challenge myself and all you out there, even for one week, look at life through the eyes of a child... if you need some inspiration I've got some photos... People always tell you when your young to not rush growing up, man I wish I would have listened.

Valentines Day

Valentines day is quickly approaching, and in the spirit of the holiday Paper Mama is doing a photo challenge... and I have decided to try and get creative and enter! I have to say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Check it!

*Sorry its GIGANTIC I tried resizing about 30 times so at least you can see it clearly :)

And on to the next one...

The new year has come again. Funny that some thought we wouldn't make it past the strike of midnight 2000 and look guys its 2011 and we're still pluggin away. As I get older the celebration of the New Year has really lost its pizzazz. Don't get me wrong I love to pop open a bottle of champagne and see if this somewhat still new mom can make it until the clock strikes 12, but really January 1st is just a continuation of December 31. Its not like we get to hit the reset button come 1/1. I love to look back on the year and remember all the good times, and think of the things I'd like to change in the upcoming year. But why does it take the calender to switch over for us to suddenly want to make a change? I saw something on TV about the billions of dollars magazines like US and People make on January editions concerning weight loss and the new year. The most popular resolution in America is to lose weight, get in shape and change! Why does it take a "new year" for us to suddenly want to fix who we are into who we want to be? Why can't February 2nd be that day? Or May 14th? We should want to be the best us everyday of the year, not just the new year right? I'm not against resolutions or anything, it just seems silly to wait for January to fix the things we want fixing. This year though I wish that the economy and our nation as a whole could somehow hit the "refresh" button and start a new. But as these last 2 weeks have shown not sure that is going to happen. What we need is a president and such that has a true passion for making this a better place to be. One day maybe. One day.

Here in the Cowan house we have had a somewhat bumpy start to the new year. Quinten came down with a fever Sunday the 9th, what we believed was the 3 eye teeth attempting to pop through. As days went on and the fever, lack of sleep, and crankiness continued we began thinking it had to be more. But he showed no signs of being sick so we kept watch and hoped it would pass. Wednesday(ish) his fever broke (woohoo!) only to leave this poor kid with a full body rash (wa wa wa..) so I called the pediatrician who wasn't concerned at all and said it was a classic case of Roseola (?) the infant rash. 72 hours of fever followed by 24-48 hours of rash and poof its gone. As of diaper change Saturday morning we are clear, and hopefully can get back to our normal selfs around here. Shannon and I can finally have our bed back, and our normal routine will one again, be. Other than that we are battling the all mighty dollar, and figuring out fun things to do that our away from the house, but don't cost a whole lot. Creativity is key around here! Quinten is learning new words, sylabils and signs. He is such a ham these days, I mean serious jokester. I love it. He, though has also really learned the art of the temper and is getting used to a wide range of emotions. That takes some getting used to and is truly teaching me what patience really is. Its a daily task to teach him how to handle anger, frustration and fear. But on the other hand, I get lots of snuggles, hugs, and kisses so that makes it all worth while! The life of a mommy :) We are hanging outside with dogs a lot while the sun is shining, going to the park and riding our bike around. What a life that kid has huh! I am continuing my learning and increasing passion for photography and Shannon is 110% back into the riding (downhill mountain bikes that is) obsession :) its great escape both mentally and physically for him and to tell you the truth I'm a little jealous I wish I had something like that :) I am so excited to see what this year has in store for us. It should be one crazy ride if I know us :) Wishing you all a wonderful 2011!! A few photos to start the year...

After our nearly 2 week rain storm we took a walk to our nearby park, and well this is what we found :( bummer!

Thats not a pool my friends... that is the playground under about 2 feet of water.... Thank God Quinten fell asleep on the way (which by the way never ever happens!!) so he wasn't too upset at not getting to play.

Quinten's cousin wasn't too fond of his Buzz slippers so we gladly took them off his hands. He LOVES them. I mean LOVES them!

Riding our bike at Grandmas house :)

Looking cool in dads glasses :)

Trying to get the glasses back...

And a little photo sesh to round out the day

Holiday Recap

Oh the Holidays! My favorite time of the year. This year though, was a little harder to get in the ho-ho-holiday spirit. The economy has taken a toll on our finances like so many people out there. Christmas is not about money or gifts, but Shannon and I love love love to give great gifts to those who have given to us. We love to spoil our family and knowing that we wouldn't be able to do that this year really put a damper on my holiday cheer. But on the other hand it reminded me of what this season is about; being thankful. And that I am. And regardless of how many gifts we were able to buy that couldn't change the happy, healthy and wonderful family that we got to share Christmas with. We were so lucky and blessed by those so close to us, we were spoiled and it made us feel so good :) Of course Quinten made out like a bandit. We did the all day family juggle like usual up to SLO to spend the 1st half of the day with Shannon's family and then back down to AG to spend some time with my family, and then to top it off we came home and enjoyed our little family Christmas. It was a wonderful day, Quinten was little overwhelmed at the get go, all the commotion and gifts. But he quickly got the hang of it and tore those presents to shreds! So anyways here are a few photos from the day, I hope that you all had a spectacular day and on to a new year!

We begin with Christmas Eve! Our wonderful little son in his "Dear Santa I Can Explain" shirt, chillin out on the chase lounge in front of the Christmas tree. Oh those dimples...

Christmas morning my husband woke me up at 6:45 and we snuck into the living room to exchange our presents to each other. Quinten slept in until 7:20 or so which is unheard of! Once he got up we gave him his stocking, and decided we would do the rest of our stuff that night once we got home from the family shuffle! So he got his new books and we got our tush's in gear!

We love us some books!

We got ourselves up to SLO for our first fun filled Christmas extravaganza! Do you see alll those presents!! Grandma had a good time shopping for all the kids this year!

Our handsome little man on his second Christmas :)

I can only imagine the things going through his head... I'm thinking "are all these presents for meeee Grandma???" :)

I think this photo captures Christmas day overwhelm-thed to a 'T'. All the noise, excitement and chaos. He was a tad "whoa" for a few, but once he realized that these pretty boxes contained lots of toys and fun, it was ON!

Quinten was more than spoiled this year. He got lots of wonderful and adorable clothes, some bath fun stuff, cars, blocks, a BBQ aaaaand his push bike! It is the most adorable thing EVER. Its a Specialized so it matches daddy's bike almost perfectly, it has no pedals to instill good balance and learn to ride a bike without ever needing training wheels! He absolutely loves it, he's still a little short so we have to help him out. The way this kiddo grows I'd give him another month and he'll be jammin down the road.

After our SLO fun we headed to my families festivities down in A.G. We snacked, laughed and tried to get some cousin photos. Oh ya and then we opened up more gifts! And you guessed it, we were spoiled again :) books and trains, tools, and clothes oh my! We have the best families.

Here is Quinten's glorious bike. Its tiny, red and white, and adorable.

His BBQ, it talks, it moves, and it sizzles :) its hilarious. He loves it and likes to pretend eat and grill.

Cruzin on his bike through the kitchen with dad :) I can't wait to watch him learn and grow on this and who knows maybe one day you'll see this kid on TV ( one can dream right :))

So once again we were reminded how lucky we are, and what really matters in this world. We are so thankful for what we have and have high hopes that 2011 will bring us new and fun adventures!