Will's Big Day

Today was a biggie for Will. He was a trooper and never shed one tear. Such the big 5 year old boy. We found out in October at his last cleaning that he had a cavity. Oops on not brushing well enough:( Anyways, seeing as how they are an arm and a leg I had to wait till after the holiday gift buying season to get it filled. Being the cheap (money wise) Momma that I am, I wouldn't have even filled the thing if it weren't such a back molar that he won't loose for several more years. Those baby teeth are going to fall out anytime. Why couldn't it have been one of those??? He was great though! He really enjoyed the clown nose and got verrrryyyyy still. I have to give a shout out to Dr. Owens. He is an amazing dentist and the very same one I went to when I was a youngster about 25 years ago. He's still got it and I have never seen a dentist so awesome with kids before! Will was a trooper and I was so very proud of him. As a reward he got to spend some time with these two sweet kiddos: Aubree and Paxton!

Aubree and Paxton were our neighbors for quite a long time (in 2 different neighborhoods). Now that they have moved to another city (Owasso) Will and his "girlfriend" Aubree don't get to see each other very much. He was so excited about them coming today. For the 2 hours before they arrived he asked me about every 15 minutes when they were coming:) In just about 10 minutes they were all playing together like they hadn't even missed a beat. Thanks to the 64 degree day in December they were able to play outside a lot too. I enjoyed that also:) Of course, Owen had to get some swing time in as well. I think that, and the sandbox, are his two favorite things to do outside. Once I am rich enough to put in a basketball court I am thinking the swing will be forgotten.
Until that swing is forgotten I am going to enjoy the "little baby" moments I have with the O Man because he is getting way too big too fast for this Momma.

The Final Christmas Blog

I promise...this is it about our Christmas activities! We are busy people as many families with young children are. We had 3 Christmas celebrations this year. One in Norman, one at home, and one in Coweta. EVERY SINGLE PICTURE I took in Norman turned out terribly for some reason. I hate doing blogs without pictures, so today I had the idea to show off a couple of the new toys the boys got IN Norman as opposed to Norman itself. If you can not tell in the picture on the right, Will is singing in the "rain". He thought that was funny when I started to sing the song and he sang along wit me even though he had never heard it before. Silly boy! Both of the boys LOVE with a capital L the umbrellas their Aunt Rachel got them. I told Rachel, "hey, it would be cool if you could find Thomas and Cars because those are the characters of rainboots they are getting." She went above and beyond and I am sure made more trips than necessary to find the Thomas and Cars umbrellas. Will and Owen thank you (as so does Momma)!

Another gift they received in Norman was a super cool workbench. I put it in Will's room so he and brother could go in his bedroom and "construct" and hammer, and pound, and saw all to their little hearts content. No really, it is not that loud, I just didn't need one more toy in my living room. The boys are really liking this toy and I can fine one, sometimes both, boys in there playing at some point every single day.

Thank you Kueny family for making our first Christmas this holiday season so awesome. The food was great, the family was fun, the babies and all the kids were adorable and Steven and I even got to throw in a matinee movie one day. The time was great with Steven even though I would not suggest you see "Young Adult". Not that great! Thanks to Nana for watching the boys so Steven and I could spend a few hours together. Happy holidays from the Kueny side of the family!

Christmas AGAIN!

This year for Christmas (like on the ACTUAL day) we were at my parents house for the festivities. Angela and her family were all there too (see left). Emma is now 3 1/2 and Ava turns 6 in February. Total girls with drama and tears but I love them to pieces! Will is 5 now and Owen is 2 1/2, but if you read and follow my blog you probably already knew that. I will leave out the ages of all the parents but let's just say I am 27 and call it good:)

Christmas this year meant boots. It was the Christmas for boots I guess for some reason. Ava, Emma, Will, Owen, and Nini all received boots as gifts this year. I snapped a picture of the 5 of them proudly displaying their new footwear. Pardon the demonic eyes in the shot. I guess I needed my flash and I didn't use it but I think the eyes are pretty hilarious!


We all had a great Christmas and enjoyed getting time to spend with family. All 4 kids are tuckered out and I think most parents are as well, but it is so worth it!

On the way to Nini and Pappy's house I looked back in the backseat and saw Will pimping his sunglasses and earphones with his khaki pants and dress shirt. He just looked too cute to not take a picture and document how handsome he was at the age of 5! Merry Christmas from the Kueny's! Here's to 2012!

Christmas Morning 2011

Pardon the messy hair. It is Christmas morning and all. The boys were super pumped about opening their gifts this AM. Will was very aware that I wasn't there yet (I was in the bathroom) and said, "Wait...we can't open till Momma gets here. She's peeing." Thanks Will. Always looking out for Momma! I took a "before" shot with the boys and their presents. They each got 6. Owen could care less about the number but I knew Will would figure it out. I was right. Last night when I tucked him in he wanted a story about opening gifts. I made up a story like I do every night and when I came to the gifts part, I said that the kids got 10 gifts. He stopped me in the story and said, "No Momma...we only have 6 each. Not 10." Oh, my anal math boy. I guess he had already gotten under the tree and figured out that there were 6 for him and 6 for Owen. He cracks me up!


If you know me at all, you know how much I desire/love to read. I would hope that I pass that on to my boys. They do love the normal boy things (more than reading I will admit), but they also enjoy a good book once in awhile...see.....
Here is Will posing with another one of his special "boy" gifts. Hope everyone enjoys this holiday season and has a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Activities

Christmas is always fun for doing some really interesting activities that you don't normally get to do because of crazy work schedules or school. Last night Will and I had a "date" at church for Celebrate with Family. He was so pumped about being in big church for the first time! He did a great job and thought the music was a little loud (not shocked here...it was pounding in my chest).

The next morning we woke up and it was off to his best friend, Mason's, house to construct some gingerbread houses. He had quite the time! He was super stoked about icing and coloring and candying up his house. This was the before house in the picture above and the after house looked a little like this:
He had a great time getting together with Mason and some other friends for this fun morning. Here are a few shots from our time building the houses.

A Day at Home

Staying at home during the cold winter months is fun to some. To me, it can get rather boring. A lot of days Steven is home too due to the rain, snow, or ice. This week it has been because of the rain. What better time of the year to whip out all of Will's new birthday gifts that SOME we have just not had time to get to yet. Most of his gifts were out and played with already, but today we got out the repairman kit that Sophie got him. Man, was he excited! Brother loved it too later in the day when he got a shot at playing with it. During Owen's nap time it was all Will "fixing" things around the house for about an hour. It was so cute. Here is a picture of repair man Will coming to "fix" your ailment in the house.
This kit also came with some rainbow suspenders (which we found out later Will really did need). While trying to take off his work belt, the belt, his pants, and his underwear all came down with it. I walked in the living room to find a half naked boy (still no shame here) working on hammering something into the rug. Nice. The suspenders are now fit for Will and will be used from here on out.

Later in the day the boys were busy doing something in the living room. They were quiet so I didn't really give it much thought. Sometimes that is bad, sometimes I just don't care anymore. On this occasion they were actually quiet and not fighting so I didn't worry. Will had gone into the laundry room and grabbed the laundry basket. I guess the basket then became a chair. They got this put together all by themselves and weren't fighting at all. They were just enjoying being brothers, spending time together, and being small enough to both fit inside a basket at the same time:)

Preschool Christmas Party

Today was Will's last day of Preschool before Christmas break. His class had a little "Winter Party" as they now call them so they won't offend anyone who doesn't believe in Jesus. I think it is absurd, but hey...it is the times we live in I guess. Anywho...onto the party. Will was classic Will and only wanted to hang by Momma and Daddy. The whole class made snowmen shirt earlier in the month and were asked to wear them today. They all looked so cute in their Winter shirts:) Will made several crafts, ate a snack (which is a very special treat since his classroom is a no food room due to allergies), and had a gift exchange. The gift Will got was a Batman car racer thingamagig. Who knows, but he liked it. Not as much as he liked his Daddy being at the party. Steven doesn't get to come to too many school events so Will was super stoked that his Daddy made it today. See....

Kansas City Weekend

Merry Christmas from the Legends Shopping Mall in Kansas City! This weekend Steven and I, and Mom and Dad went to KC for the weekend for some shopping, relaxing, and LOTS of eating. I forgot about not eating junk this whole weekend and just ate whatever I wanted. Wait, I always eat too much junk so I guess this weekend wasn't too much different than most all others.

Friday night was BBQ. We learned while we were there that Anthony Bourdain of the Travel Channel was there just the night before eating there. I guess that place really is good. It's called the Smokestack. I guess as BBQ goes, it is good. I got chicken and a baked potato though, I might not be the best judge.

Saturday's food of choice was Cold Stone Creamery for Steven and Mom. I know it might sound crazy but that ice cream does not tempt me. I think it is too thick, they love it, and Dad just waits patiently as he never eats desserts. I wish I had that problem. Lunch was 5 Guys Hamburgers. Once again, delishiousness wrapped up in a greasy bun. Oh, so yummy! Dinner was supposed to be Bucca de Peppo at the Plaza but seeing as how the nearest table available was not until 3 hours later we wandered off to the rest of the Plaza to see where we could eat. We didn't factor that this was the last shopping weekend before Christmas and failed to realize that every single restaurant would have an incredibly long wait. Guess what....Mom and Dad found ANOTHER Smokestack and waited 1 hour and 45 minutes for a table to eat BBQ AGAIN! Mom is such a good sport. Steven and I found a Hibaji Grill and were given a table about 15 minutes when someone decided not to show up for their reservation. Thank you Jesus! Our restaurant didn't have any tables open until 9:30 unless you just wanted to wait and see if people didn't show up. Wow, we were lucky!

Following dinner, because I was not stuffed enough, Steven and I waited in line for 20 minutes just to get cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. This was to be enjoyed while playing dominoes later that night in the hotel room. I decided on Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Steven got Peppermint Bark. Yuck, but he thought it was heavenly. After a 3 mile walk to our car (we all needed to work off some carbs here), we finally made it home after 12 hours of entertainment.

The next morning it was time to head home and get our boys. Of course we missed them, but I sure do love spending some time together with just Steven. I fixed my hair with a curling iron as I am still getting used to doing. I wanted to see how it looked in the sunlight and snapped a picture. After I took it, I thought it was funny because it reminded me of Joey on Friends and his "smell the fart" approach to acting. All of my friends that loved Friends will know what I am talking about:) Merry Christmas from Kansas City!

And Yet ANOTHER Birthday Party for Will!

If you are counting folks this is birthday party/celebration #3 for Will's 5th birthday. We do not normally go to these extremes but it just sort of worked out that way this year. "Party number 1" if you will was our little family of 4, Nini and Pappy, and Kasey. We just went to eat pizza and open a few presents on his actual birthday. "Party number 2" was in Norman over Thanksgiving weekend with his other 2 cousins that have birthdays all in the same week. Today was "Party number 3" where we actually had his BIRTHDAY PARTY! He requested bowling once again. He also had a bowling party for his 3rd birthday. I guess he still likes it:)

He had all his cousins (on Momma's side) at the party. All the usual friends too! Ava, Emma, brother Owen, Mason, Addison, Sophie, Piper, Riley, Emily, and these two Jared and Jack. How handsome are they? I don't think I got everyone in that kid shot but, let's face it...that's sort of an impossible feat with 12 kids under the age of 7. Not gonna happen! I think they all had a grand time though. I saw lots of smiling faces. Maybe that was because these boys and girls had such a good ball boy. Seriously, until Owen realized there was a basketball shooting game in the arcade...this was his job and he took it seriously!That's pretty much all he did for the better part of an hour was monitor all the balls going out and coming in. He would assign which ball went to which kid, make sure they had the right selection, and make sure no ones fingers got stuck in the ball dispenser. What a boy!

Happy birthday to my little man who is not so little anymore. 5 is a big birthday for this Momma. I feel like I can now say I have a toddler and a young boy. Not a baby/toddler in any sense of the word. Kinda makes me sad but I knew this day was coming and I will remind myself of that when he turns 10 and I am really sad. 5 can still be a baby in my eyes. Now..on to play some Operation before bedtime. Thanks Mason for the fun nighttime activity:)

Christmas Train 2011

Hello Christmas! Hello Christmas Train! Howdy 23 degree nights! It's always fun to go to the Christmas Train and experience the lights, sounds, and smells of Dry Gulch that make it so incredibly special. The boys really enjoyed the train this year and would have taken the ride all night had the line not been about 45 minutes long from open to close. I have never been to Train on a Friday night and don't know if I will ever do that again. Just too many people! Pardon Steven and I looking like we just came out of a tanning bed, but I think the picture with Santa (FIRST EVER AS A FAMILY) came out pretty nicely! Don't know why the boys look normal color but Steven and I look like we work full time at Paradise Sun. Oh well, I just said in my last post that I was tired of looking like Casper:)

We went this year with Angela and her family. For the most part, the kids wanted hot chocolate. Not that I blame them due to the incredible cold but that stuff was boiling temperatures and took about 20 minutes just to cool down enough to not let your 5 year old scold his lips off. Luckily, the kids were pretty patient so we all took this opportunity to snag some family pictures by the fire.

Emma even let me hold her for longer than 2 minutes while we were waiting in line for the hot chocolate!
Another fun activity the kids all enjoyed doing was riding the carousel. In other words, the spinning vomit machine for this Momma. I do not ride carousel's! Thankfully, this one was only about 2 minutes (if that) long. Nothing negative towards the Christmas Train staff but I think this ride could be a tad bit longer. You wait in line forever and then you get on, just get situated nicely on the freezing horse butt, and then you spin twice around and it's time to get off again. Just something to think about Willie George....
Look at that cute face though:)

Eating, eating, and more eating is a little of what the Christmas Train is all about for us. Here was one of our several stops along the way for a special treat. This one was a cinnamon roll lathered in hot vanilla icing. Daddy and the boys ate it. I was tempted but was holding out for a later treat of a funnel cake (more on this later).

Soooo, we wait in line for the train, it's almost 9pm, my boys are extremely tired of pictures being taken of them, and they (and by they I mean Will) are already asking to go home and sleep. What 5 year old does that besides my son? Here is Owen's last attempt at trying to take a picture for Momma. He was so tired of them by this p0int and just tired in general. Owen, who rarely even sleeps in the car, was out after about 15 minutes in the warmed up Buick. He snored the whole way home. Needless to say, I DID NOT get my funnel cake because both boys by this point were tired and ready for sleep. This was wayyyy past their bedtimes. Oh well, probably better that I didn't eat one of those. I will try to remember that today as my mouth is still salivating over the powdered sugar goodness.

The boys were worn out. Steven and I were also worn out from about 7 hours in the car that day, a trip to Norman for a funeral, and Christmas Train. It made for a long 18 hour day, by the time I went to bed, but it was worth it. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Longing for Summer

I guess I am not the only one longing for the warmer days of summer. Let me clarify...not 117 degrees summer days but just a good 90-100 degree days perfect for the pool. I need the pool. I am desperately turning into Casper. Owen wanted to wear his floaties, ring, and play toys all while I was attempting to shower. Every 2 minutes Owen would walk in and want me to blow up another pool toy. It made me long for the pool days again. Clearly my pool closest does not have child proof locks on it:) Happy pool day everyone! It's a pool day for someone in South America today, right????

Balloon Fun

This weekend the family went to a BX (business exchange) fair. Steven is a member of the local BX trade group and twice a year they have a trade fair where people can come and buy items from other members using their BX points. Imagine a huge room, with tons of people, tons of crap, and stuff everywhere and that is the BX fair:) The only thing the boys were interested in were the giant python and cobra that Safari Joe had set up and the balloon man. Seriously, every second we turned around Owen was headed or already at the Safari Joe booth. That child loves ALL ANIMALS!

We did end up purchasing a few items but the highlight of the day to a 2 and 5 year old was the balloon man. He wasn't making any money shaping balloons there...he was just there providing a service and to let all the parents know he did birthday's. Well, it worked on the Kueny boys. They both want the balloon man at their next party. Fantastic! The balloon man, I am sure he has a real name but I didn't ask, made 2 balloons for the boys. Will got a giraffe and Owen got a snowman. The cutest balloon snowman I have ever seen!

That was about it for this blog. Seriously, how many more things can I think to write about for balloons and a big garage sale. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Brotherly Love Part 2

I have written before in my blog about Will and Owen's brotherly love. I know this blog is mostly dedicated to the boys anyway, but usually I don't sit down and actually write about specific times when they show brotherly love. It's pretty much every day, not all the time, but every day. They love each other so very much and I count my blessings that they are not fighters. I know that will probably change when they become teenagers, but for right now there is no one they would rather play with, run with, throw with, swing with, wrestle with than each other. That warms this Momma's heart!

Of course, Will being the oldest you would think he would be the leader. God didn't create my little Will to be the leader. As strange as that sounds for a male, firstborn...he is just not. Owen is my leader. Owen is my fearless one. Owen is the instigator for many things. Will follows. Will observes. Will copies (unless Owen is doing something bad and then Will finds it imperative that he tells me!).

Two of the activities that the boys love to enjoy together are chalk time outside and the trampoline. I am so glad that we actually made the investment of the trampoline. Even on cold days the trampoline is good to bundle up for a few moments and go jump just to release some energy from being stuck inside the house. Just when they are freezing they run back in from jumping and can easily stay a few more hours inside before getting stir crazy again:) My cousin Kasey took this picture of the boys showing their brotherly love on the trampoline. They were probably wresting and trying to tackle one another in reality, but from my perspective it just looks like they are hugging and loving on one another!

Chalk time outside is always fun because they can get as messy as two little boys would like to get and I don't care at all. The only thing I really do care about when it comes to chalk is when they start "coloring" the house and windows. That's usually where I draw the line (no pun intended). I believe Owen was mostly naked in this picture because he was drawing shapes on his belly and then proudly showing them off to anyone that would look. I am sure right after this picture was taken Will promptly took off his shirt too and began to draw on his belly. He is the follower, remember???

Will and Owen are my life. One of the biggest things I try to teach them in life is to love and love everyone unconditionally. I am not sure, to be honest, on how to teach those things all the time to a 2 and 5 year old but the only thing I know to do is to show love, compassion, and honesty to those all around me at all times. The most important person being their Daddy. They know I love Steven with an unconditional love and that nothing will ever change that. Showing that to them simply teaches them how to love too. Lesson learned from my parents and lesson being passed down to my children!