Christmas 2009

This year we had a $20 limit on Christmas for each other. Our gifts had to be "creative" gifts. That is rather hard for me since I am very literal and easy on gifts. I would rather do gift cards for everyone than scour the town looking for gifts. I do find gifts for everyone, unless they want gift cards. I found a coffee mug for Steven this year and had the boys picture put on the mug. It was a surprise for Steven and he really liked it. He uses it every morning now! Steven got me these pictures of the boys. He took their pictures and then mailed them to someone who did some creative photoshop things on them. I framed them and hung them in the entrance to both of their rooms. I love them. I think Will's picture captures him well. Owen's is good but a baby doesn't have as distinct features as a 3 year old so I don't think it completely looks like him. Plus, my little O doesn't have any hair still and she put hair on him so I think that makes him look a little different.

Our little family had our Christmas on Christmas Eve. We can never figure out the tripod-timer combo on our camera so thus, we didn't get a family picture of four this morning. I took one with the boys and Steven took one with the boys. For those of you who know my father...note the eerie resemblance to him and Owen in the picture where he is on my lap. Just too strange!!!!!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Love, The Kueny's

Rhema 2009

Just so you all know....Owen was with us on this his "first trip to Rhema." He decided that he wanted to nap in the stroller while we were there, so since he rarely NAPS I decided to allow him to not be in the picture. I have had so many people ask me why he wasn't there. That is the story. Will loved Rhema this year. I think he is really getting old enough to understand and enjoy the lights, ducks, other people, and of course the BRIDGE!!! He could not get enough of that. He would run ahead of us, behind us, everywhere...without even waiting. It was actually sort of scary because there were so many people there!

Here are a few more pictures of that night. He really did enjoy being in the tree even though the picture doesn't look like it. He thought it was neat, but was very serious about not falling out as I think the picture shows:)

Will's Boo Boo and Owen's Playtime

Will got his first major boo boo of his life this week. I am actually surprised that this is the first one he has gotten with how hard this 3 year old boy plays! Daddy and Will were playing football (which happens everyday of his life) and a major mishap occured. Will's leg got got in Steven's legs, Daddy went one way, Will went another way, and SNAP! It was so loud. I thought for sure he broke his leg. I took him to the minor emergency clinic here in Broken Arrow, got x-rays, and sat for 2 hours. Thankfully, no break, but a major sprain. We had to splint it, do ice packs, heat packs, and keep him off of it. No problem there...still 2 days later and he will NOT stand or walk on it. Poor little guy!

On a brighter note, Owen has found a new toy he enjoys! He is always so full of life, smiling, talking, and overall a happy boy. He LOVES the exersaucer. Actually, both of my boys did. They just sat there and pushed all the buttons and music until I can hear ( I know I do) it in my head every night as I am trying to go to sleep. Here are a few pics of Owen getting all happy about his new exploration toy!

Puzzles and Sinks

Will loves him some puzzles! I don't know if I have blogged about his love of puzzles yet, but he sure does them ALL the time. If he is not watching Dora, Diego, Thomas, Clifford, George, or other programs...he is doing puzzles. The boy still can not use the toilet but I can't seem to find puzzles that are hard enough for him. This one is for kids 5 and up. He can do this one with some help from me, but other puzzles that are around that range he can already master all by himself! Once he built this new floor puzzle he had to take a picture by it. He is about the same length as "Wonder Boy" and thought it was hilarious that they were the same size:)

On another note...Here is a picture of Owen in the sink! NO, I am not a completely horrible mom and just leave him there. That would be unsafe! I do like to place him in there though when I am getting ready. I just don't totally trust my 3 year old around Owen when no other adults are present. Sometimes Will is trustworthy, other times I hear screaming. The screaming is always from O! You will notice how Owen is looking in the mirror and smiling at himself. He loves to lay here and watch me, talk to me, and study himself those few moments when I am doing my hair and putting on my makeup. So cute! This will be funny to show him one day when he is 6 feet tall!

Will's 3!!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving came and went. Will's birthday (the day after Turkey Day) came and went and I am JUST NOW blogging about it. Oops! Will has turned 3! Still not using the potty but that is a whole other story on an entire new blogging day. He decided he wanted to eat pizza on his birthday. His three favorite foods are: pizza, chicken legs, and tacos. I gave him the choice on which one he wanted. He decided on Mario's Pizza. You can see his little "3" candle in his pizza slice! Yes, he did eat the whole piece and No, he didn't eat for a week after that! Just kidding. He did eat again in like 2 days:) He had a bowling party because as I have stated in earlier posts, he is all about the sports! He loves to bowl and lasted longer than anyone at the party. He was going to other people's lanes as we were leaving and bowling for them, while crying that he didn't want to leave. He had about 10 kids show up for his party, they bowled an hour, opened presents and ate cake for an hour, and then we were off. He loved it immensely, I thought it was stressful, and Daddy thought it was too expensive. I guess not everyone can be happy all the time:) Happy birthday to my sweet, type A, loving, playful, obedient, THREE year old son, Will!

3 Years and 4 Months

Will is going to officially be 3 next week I can not believe it! On the other hand, my "baby" is beginning to not be too much of a baby anymore. He is 4 months next week as well! Owen's biggest accomplishment this week is that he has learned how to roll from his back to his tummy. Once he is on his tummy, he has no idea what to do and wants his Momma to come rescue him quickly:) Will is still the same. Any kind of ball, sport, show on Nickelodeon, or puzzle will entertain him for the whole of the day! Next week I will be posting some pics of my favorite decorating holiday. I am just waiting to get Owen's stocking hung and then I will finish the decorating and do some yuletide blogging!!! Happy weekend everyone!

A Weekend Away:)

This weekend Steven and I are going to Dallas for a much needed weekend away! We haven't gone anywhere since I was pregnant with Owen and now we haven't even seen each other for about 9 days thanks to Christmas light hanging. I am not complaining....it is great extra money. Although, I would still love to see my hubby more than 20 minutes a day. My brain is going to mush from not being around adults for so long, so this trip is just what the doctor ordered. Thank you to both sets of parents who are helping out with the boys while we are gone. The Kueny's will have Owen and Mom and Dad will have Will. We have a lot planned while we are gone and I am really looking forward to Shogun's on Friday night with Ashly and Poncho. Always great to see old friends! Hope everyone else has a great weekend!

Family Picture Time

Here are some of the shots that we took with our great family and wonderful photographer, Angela Roadman. Check out her website of her work angelaroadmanphotography.com Hope you all enjoy the pictures:) We all had fun posing for them except for when the squirrel decided to take a load off and it landed on my face and hands. Fun times!

Hodge Podge

This entry is going to be a hodge podge of the things that have been going on this week with our family. Crazy is a good word to explain this week. We haven't been able to go outside much due to the fact that apparently we now live in Seattle and it will NEVER STOP RAINING here. On this day we took a car ride to go get some much needed ice cream. Will has decided he likes to sit on his knees and make police, firetruck, cow, horse, etc. sounds for whatever he is seeing around him. I know it might not be the safest way to travel, but as you will notice he is still buckled in somehow. I thought it was pretty funny when Steven and I had not heard anything in a few minutes, look back and he is out of it. No nap=tired boy even though he doesn't think he requires a nap anymore. Hence the reason he has been going to bed at 8pm every night for two weeks!


On to Owen now. He is growing by leaps and bounds. He officially turned 3 months this week. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Sometimes I am too tired to think 3 months has flown by, but I do think overall it has gone too quickly for my liking. He still looks so much like my dad that it amazes me sometimes. It is like I am holding, feeding, changing, bathing a version of my dad as a baby. Strange!

My life is so crazy, chaotic, and busy right now that sometimes I just flat don't have time to style my hair out of the shower. I know other mom's understand this feeling. On days like this, that would be today, when you exit the shower....step 1-get dressed, step 2-throw some color on your face if you have time, step 3-style your hair. On days like today, step 3 got thrown out the window. These are the days that you are at least a little thankful for some curl and wave that God gave you because you look like you at least TRIED to do something with it:)

Carmichael's Fun

Yesterday we went to Carmichael's Farm at 171st and Mingo. 45 minutes was worth the drive. It was nice due to the fact that both of the boys napped on our way there. Not so much on the way back. About 2 minutes into the trip on the way home Owen decided he did not want to be in his carseat anymore. Oops. Quite a long way to ride with a baby in that condition (as most parents can agree to). The trip to the Farm was actually quite entertaining. Steven and I had no idea about this place until we heard about it from some friends. Apparently, we were the only ones in Tulsa who had never heard about it. This place was PACKED! They had pony and camel rides, hay and corn mazes, and a petting zoo for the kiddos to feed overly feed, nasty, dirty animals (although I did allow Will to feed with a hand washing afterwards)! Owen slept through most of our adventures, but when he woke up he was promptly placed in a bucket of pumpkins. So cute:) Hope you all will get time to go to a Pumpkin Patch this Fall. Enjoy! P.S. on another note....it is virtually impossible to get two kids under the age of three to look at the camera at the same time, so please excuse this photo!

Pumpkin Boy

Owen loves his new pumpkin hat! My good friend Emily knitted this hat for Owen for the Fall. He loved wearing it! I just thought he was too cute in it and looked so grown up. This makes me both happy and sad. He is growing up so fast, and I know I said that was what I wanted but sometimes he looks so much like a big boy that it makes me sad to know I will never go through this stage again. Believe me, though, NOT SAD ENOUGH TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY!!!! Anyway, Owen loved his hat and I do believe I will allow him to wear it again tomorrow when we attempt the pumpkin patch. Now that the sun has decided to come out, I think we will venture there tomorrow. Here is another shot I took of Owen in his new hat! Happy Fall!

Pappy's Mini Me

October means Pumpkin Patch! This year the only difference is that we now have Owen to enjoy the pumpkins with. Of course, at this age he doesn't care too much about it....he just loves to be outside. We loaded the kids up last week on one day where it was 78 degrees in October (this is the way to go to the pumpkin patch!). Will rode the "train". Basically this so called train is a tractor with some seats in the back that the kids can ride in. It is a rip off at $3 for about 3 minutes but it never fails to excite him and he wants to ride it "one more time". He will say that about 10 more times before finally I have to sidetrack him with some other adventure at the patch.

This year Mom and Dad (Nini and Pappy) joined us for Owen's first trip! Like I said earlier, all Owen cares about is being held and getting to enjoy the fresh breeze and outside sun. Pappy was holding him and I snapped a shot. I thought it was neat how they actually kind of coordinated on clothing this day as well. When I look at my little son all I see is my Dad in him. I think this picture shows what I am talking about. If you can't see it, then maybe I am going crazy. I think little Owen is going to look much more like a Fournier instead of a Kueny. I guess that works since I think Will looks more like Steven's side of the family.

Here is our first family picture ever taken. It is not a great one because it was getting a little dark and Will wasn't totally "involved" in the picture taking process due to the fact that he wasn't on the train:) I had to include it in this post since it is our first picture as a family of four!!! Happy Fall!

Dress Up?

Can anyone tell that Will dressed himself this day? We were in the middle of potty training (hence the underwear underneath) but then he found an actual diaper of his that HAD to be worn. He woke up this morning, put on his own shoes before even coming out of the room, and asked for cereal. He is a trip. He looked like this for the better part of the day, although eventually I was able to get the diaper off of him. What a busy guy!

On another note....I got my hair done yesterday. That was long overdue! I haven't gone to the salon since about two weeks BEFORE Owen was born. I got my hair a lighter blond, went shorter in the back with it getting longer towards the front (like a slope). I really like it! Here are a couple pictures although I don't know how well you can actually see the cut.

Who Wants to Mow?

This is JUST ABOUT how tall our fescue grass is right now. I don't know if I can remember a September that has been so wet. I can't get out there and mow when the tires on the mower won't even spin in all the mud that used to be dirt in our yard. I guess it is a good thing that we got all this rain because now I virtually will not have a water bill this month. I guess I will try another attempt this weekend. I will post "after" pictures IF IT ACTUALLY gets done:)

Possibly the Best Cookies Ever!

Okay everyone...I am not a baker. Everyone that knows me, knows this! I had these cookies at a friends house last week and had to come home and try them out myself. TO DIE FOR! Here is the recipe. Let me know what you think of them if anyone makes them. Warning...they are NOT fat-free!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies:

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 bag (12 oz) mini Reese's cups

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add flour and baking soda. Add peanut butter cups (chop each one into 4 or 5 pieces). Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

First Smile

Well...here it is! Let me tell you that it is pretty hard to capture this baby smiling with a camera. He doesn't do it too often. I guess he is just not a huge smiler! Will was smiling all the time by this age. He would do the gigantic open mouthed smiles and would coo. Owen is a little more low key. He smiles some, mostly in the mornings, and will "talk" to me then too. They are quick and there is not much to them but I was able to catch one this week. Everyone is saying ( and I see it too) that he looks like my dad. If that is the case, my dad NEVER smiled in his baby pictures either. Maybe Owen is more like his Pappy than everyone thinks:)

Sticker Mania!

Will loves many things. Two things he absolutely loves to do are playing with stickers and having his picture taken. Stickers and the camera all together is Nirvana for my son!!! The other night he was sitting contently on the couch playing with his sticker book. I did not bother him (who would bother an almost three year old when they are playing on their own?) and he walked into the bathroom to show me what he did to himself. He thought he was the most hilarious person on the planet. I thought it was pretty funny too:) Of course, he HAD to have his picture taken then because he realized he had done something that was making us all laugh! He is quite the ham when he wants to be. Good thing he didn't get a hold of Owen...... Here is another picture of him posing after the sticker incident was over!

Dr. Sood Visit

Owen had to go visit his doctor this week for something other than a "well baby checkup". Since he was born he has had some problems with his eyes matting and pussing. Everyone told me that he had clogged tear ducts and that they would go away on their own. Now here it is 8 weeks later and he still had the problem. Here I am giving Owen a little "encouragement kiss" before Dr. Sood came and examined his eyes. He was such a good boy. He only cried when she kept pulling them apart and massaging them over and over. Wouldn't you cry too???? Anyway the diagnosis was a double eye infection and double clogged tear ducts. What's the luck that he would be struck with that ailment in both eyes. Poor little guy! He is such a trooper though. He lets me put in his medicine every day and doesn't cry at all. They are already looking so much better. Thank the Lord for doctors and medicine! Here is a picture of him after the medicine and once they had started to get better. He is looking much less scary now:)

More Pictures

I thought this one was so sweet. These pictures were taken when Owen was one week old. The photographer came to our house and spent three hours working with us to get the best shots. Owen peed and pooped on Daddy and the floor. That was fun! There were times when we had to stop to feed and times when Owen should have been sleeping but never did. Oops! There were many other shots taken and purchased but these were just some of my favorites. The one in the following blog where Owen was in the sling was interesting. Steven and I dropped him out of the sling and onto the floor about two seconds after that shot was captured. Another oops! He was fine though, not to worry. You will notice also in the family foot picture that Will's finger is NOT, I repeat NOT, in his nose but rather in his mouth:) We enjoyed capturing this time in our lives and will look back on it with great memories!

Professional Baby Pics

Rest of Rhema

Here are the rest of our pictures from the recent trip to Rhema. I wish I could have a backyard that looked like this. I would be in it every night sipping hot tea and reading a book!
Will had a great time feeding the ducks. He enjoyed just as much feeding the turtles and fish as well. I think he actually liked that better. Here are a few pics of him feeding with Daddy!