When Daddy's Away . . .

Here are my two adorable kids.  They have been absolute troopers this past week since Daddy was at a theater conference in Fort Worth, TX.  They got to spend the week doing things with Mommy.  Most of the week was our normal schedule, with Owen going to school, MayLynn helping Mommy around the house, and piano lessons in the afternoons.  But we did have two special outings this week that helped make it a little more fun, and made the evenings without Daddy not quite as hard.

On Tuesday evening, our local Chick-Fil-A restaurant was having a super-hero night.  They had a fire truck, ambulance, and police car for the kids to see and they also got to dress up.  Owen was once again Captain America - his favorite super hero - and MayLynn was a very cute little fairy - the only costume I can get her to wear.  We had a nice little dinner and the kids got to play in the indoor playground for a little bit before it was time to call it a night.

On Friday evening, to reward the kids for being good this past week, we went to the mall - specifically to the Lego Store.  I had a couple of promotions left over from Christmas, so Owen was able to get a box of Lego pieces and MayLynn was able to get a small set with a couple of fun new pieces.  We also tried out California Pizza Kitchen for dinner (not quite as good as I had hoped, but it was okay for a dinner with the kids). When we got home, the kids got to try out their new Legos.

And now, in just a few hours we will be able to pick up Daddy from the airport and hopefully life will return to some semblance of normal.  We're still going to be busy as we work on packing, cleaning, and getting ready to move, but Daddy will be home and that makes all the difference.

Blocks, Crafts, and Dinosaurs

Last week was Owen's spring break, so I had both kids home with me all day.  We had a whole lot of fun playing together.  We discovered that they both really enjoyed playing with wooden blocks, coloring, playing outside, and playing with lego duplos.  They got along a lot better than I thought they would, and it gave me hope for a good summer to come.

Both of the kids really like doing art projects, so while MayLynn had fun with her crayons and coloring books, Owen tackled a big project that took us a few days to finish. Owen has been very interested in dinosaurs, so we made a dinosaur world.  First we went to the store and found some small dinosaur figures. We brought them home and researched what types of dinosaurs they were and determined that most of them were dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period.

Using that, Owen decided that his world needed a desert, grass land, water, a forest, and a volcanic mountain.  We created a plan, made some salt dough, and then shaped the dough into the dinosaur's world.  We even added some coniferous plant cuttings and rocks to make it more "realistic."  After it dried for a few days, we brought it to life with paint and a little bit of sand for the desert. While Owen was doing his painting MayLynn got to try her hand at watercolors for the first time.

After the paint dried, the dinosaur world was able to come alive.  Owen set it all up and took pictures to show how good everything looked.  MayLynn snuck in once or twice to play with it too, and I was able to snap a couple of pictures; but to keep the peace we then moved to the floor to play with the big dinosaurs to keep Owen's model world intact.

Dinosaurs can make quick work of a block city, so Owen joined in to help with the building and to help make it a very fun conclusion to a week of fun and dinosaurs.

Spring Break at Lake of the Ozarks

Both Bryce and Owen had no school last Friday, so we decided to take a short trip to our resort at Osage Beach on the shore of the Lake of the Ozarks.  We stayed in a nice one bedroom condo right on the shore of the lake.  One of the first things we did when we arrived was take in the the view from our balcony. Then we decided to get a bite to eat at Golden Corral.

We all had delicious food that we loved.  Along with the regular buffet fare Bryce had a lobster tail, Owen had ice cream and chocolate covered marshmallows, MayLynn had a strawberry on a stick, and I had steak and shrimp. 

The next day we went shopping and found hats for both of the kids.  Owen is a dedicated Cardinal's fan, so the logical choice for him was a Cardinal's baseball cap.  MayLynn had no interest in the baseball caps, but she found a Tinkerbell hat that she has worn as much as possible since.  After shopping we all went to see the Lego Movie.

The days were warm enough that we were able to spend quite a bit of time playing outside, and although the resort only had a small playground, the kids just loved being able to be outside after being cooped up inside so much this winter.  We even tried playing some Frisbee, but there was a bit too much wind to make them go where we wanted.  Instead we played a modified version of fetch that the kids seemed to enjoy for a lot longer than I would have anticipated. 

MayLynn also showed that she's getting bigger as she mastered the art of climbing up ladders and even tried to imitate Owen's climbing prowess - though lucky for me, she kept herself fairly close to the ground.

On our way home we made a short stop at Meramec Caverns to stretch our legs.  We didn't do the cave tour since it would have been a little bit too much for little legs, but it was a nice break in our drive.

I also had fun watching Owen and MayLynn learn how to cope with limited space and short attention spans in the car.  I especially enjoyed it when Owen pulled out his books to read, and MayLynn lost interest in her activity to listen to him.  I have hopes that despite their age difference they will be able to get along when they want to.  Ultimately we had a wonderful weekend trip. We had fun as a family, had a chance to relax, and had a chance to see more of this state that we have called home for the past 3 1/2 years.   

Owen's Spring Concert

Owen had his spring concert at school yesterday.  Their theme was "Oceans of Fun" and they sang several songs about the Ocean and fish.  Each kindergarten class had a special song that they had prepared and a poem that they recited.  Owen's class sang the song "1-2-3-4-5." Here's a video with the song:

The poem that they recited was called "Five Little Fish:"

I was very proud of my boy.  He did very well in his program and he looked ready for a party in his Hawaiian shirt. We love you Owen!

Catching Up

So, I'm a little over two months behind on letting the world know what's going on with the Allen Family, so let me try to remember and share a few pictures from that time.  Our Christmas was wonderful. We had a nice quiet day at home with just the four of us.  We spent time together, played with new toys, and shared a lot of hugs and smiles.

Next on the list of things to catch up on is the fact that our little of family of four will become a family of five this upcoming summer.  Our baby girl is due on July 4th, and she will be born in Utah, after we move back to the Davis County area in May and June.  Bryce is going to start working for Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, this upcoming fall and we're getting everything ready for us to move our family across the country.

We've also been having a very cold and long winter here in St. Louis. Owen has had at least 5 snow days so far and with all the snow, ice, and frigid temperatures (as cold as 30 below zero - brrrrrr!).  We've had a lot of snow, but we haven't really been able to enjoy it because it's been too cold to go outside in it.  We've found other ways to keep entertained inside and we've read a lot of library books and practiced our writing and coloring skills.  I'm soooo ready for spring through and hope it comes soon.

Then we have the event that finally prompted me to get caught up on my blog.  Today MayLynn turned 2 years old and I feel so blessed to be her mommy.  She is cute, energetic, and very charismatic.  Her favorite things right now are fairies and teddy bears, so we incorporated both into her birthday celebration.  I made a simple birthday cake for her (sky blue with white cloud lettering) with a Tinkerbell cake topper.  I finished it last night, and first thing this morning she was asking for birthday cake and Tinkerbell, so we had birthday cake for breakfast.  

As her birthday present this year, Bryce and I took her to Build-a-Bear and she got to make a new best friend.  Savannah the bear was born and they have been inseparable since.  They've had dance parties, had lunch together, watched cartoons, and even walked Owen to the school bus together.  

So, despite my lack of blog posts, we are still here.  Our kids are growing, we're getting ready to move, and we are wrapping up this chapter of our lives and looking forward to the next one.