Thankful.

We started off Thanksgiving Day with our own makeshift Turkey Trot, both Jen and I were able to get out for a good run before we spent the rest of Thanksgiving with everyone in NOLA. When we got in town, we put the little kiddos down for a nap and went to town on the turkey. Owen stayed up with us to eat, as we figured there would be too much excitement for him to nap. Since he didn’t really go to bed the night before until 11pm due to a lengthy nap on Wednesday, he was exhausted and asked us if he could take a rest. WHAT?!?!?! Sure buddy, go ahead. GO RIGHT AHEAD.

Stuffed, we proceeded to watch the Saints comeback win against Dallas, while we enjoyed drinks and family (and of course more food).

We have so much to be thankful for, here are just a few of my top things this year:

My beautiful, lovely, and wonderful wife, Jen. She is my teammate, my soulmate, and my rock.  I thank God for her every day, but especially on Thanksgiving.

Our boys. I can’t imagine our lives without them. Jen and I love being parents. The guys make us laugh and smile and happy and proud. Sometimes, they make us frustrated and angry too, but its the ups and downs that make our lives so fulfilled. We look forward to all that God has in store for us as parents.

Our awesome family. With two wonderful sets of grandparents, along with sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins (some near and some far), we couldn’t ask for a better family. They are a tremendous support system and role models for us and our boys. We are so very thankful for all of them.

A wealth of Health, Happiness, and Love. These factors help make is easy for us to manage the sometimes chaotic lives. We have been fortunate to avoid chronic ailments; have strived to show those around us our happiness; and proven that we can get through anything with our love. We are so grateful to have full and happy, healthy lives to share with everyone.

And everything else, AMEN. God has blessed us in so many ways:  great friends, Daddy’s good job, a wonderful home, food on the table, and too many other things to count. We are thankful for everything in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving from Connisonville!

-Brett, Jen, Owen, Parker, Jack, and Ben

What a Turkeyhead

Owen had a Thanksgiving feast at school yesterday. Jen met me there on my lunch break and we got to see our little Pilgrim with all his school friends. They said a nice prayer saying they were thankful for their food, then Owen dug into the cookies and cupcake first...yeah, he's mine.

We found this on the wall outside of Owen's classroom. *tear*

On our way to see the Tigers play!

View from our seats.

A little blury and my head is cut off, but O looks like he's having fun...


After having LSU Football season tickets for the past two years, Vincent and I gave them up this year due to the new additions to our families (Ben in August and Little Melerine in December). We frequently spoke about how dumb it was to bring young kids (who we would later see sleeping) to the game knowing that they weren’t going to enjoy it nearly as much as they should. We also talked about how much fun it was going to be once they were old enough to enjoy it. Apparently that would come sooner rather than later for Owen…

On Saturday, Owen and I went to his very first LSU Football game. We got tickets from Aunt Karen and Uncle Tommy and all the stars aligned as were able to swing an early kickoff, a small crowd (because LSU was playing UL-Monroe), and perfect weather. We had 6 tickets so Rob and Mack and Dave and Daniel were able to come too. We parked and started to walk closer and closer to Tiger Stadium, Owen was just enamored with all the people, all the lights, and how big the stadium was. With the boys in tow, Rob and I made our way to the gate where we met up with Uncle Doose and Uncle Daniel before heading in to the game.

Jen and I kept telling him how loud it was going to be and how there were going to be a lot of people and he was going to stay up way past his bed time. He was super excited. I think the initial shock of loudness startled him, but he then got into it and was able to contribute his own high pitched yells. He even joined the crowd and put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem. Dave and I tried to help Owen learn a few of the dances from the band, specifically the first and second down chants and the praise the defense bow. He also helped us do the wave, though I am not really sure that he understood what was going on, but he was all smiles.

Since we always read Owen's Born to be a Tiger book, he kind of knew what was going to happen at the game. We grabbed a Tiger Dog, just like the book, and Owen scarffed it down. He asked for another one before the 1st quarter was up and I thought he was just trying to be like the book, but after about 10 times and him whining “I’m hungry,” I realized that he actually was hungry…sorry about that buddy. After a second Tiger dog, Owen was good to go again. We sent a few pics to Jen and she was worried that Owen was getting tired, but his blank stare was more shock and amazement of the sights than anything else.

We cheered on the Tigers (and their terrible offense) until halftime where it was 23-0 in LSU’s favor. We walked back down the tunnels and paused to take some pictures closer to the field before leaving and heading back to the car. With O on my shoulders, he proceeded to use my head like a drum and beat it until we could no longer hear the music from the stadium…thanks big guy.

It was a definite “W” for Rob and me, and of course for LSU (final score of 51-0). Our offense was terrible, but that is another story…

Some of Owen’s quotables:
“I’m all done with Tiger Stadium.” (after the first quarter)
“I’m all done with the football game.”
“I want another Tiger Dog, please.”
“I love Tiger Stadium.”
“I love Tiger Dogs.”
“I want to go closer on the grass.” (yeah, me too buddy)
“Look at all those men on the grass.”
“It’s dark outside, but the lights are bright in here.”
“We are up WAY past our bed time.”
“It’s gonna get REAL LOUD!”
“GEAUX TIGERS!!”
“I see the cheerleaders; they spelled L-S-U.”
“We got to get that fumble!”

It was awesome to take Owen to his first LSU game, but I wish Jen would have been there with us. I can't wait to take the rest of the guys to their first Tiger games and to take them all as a family, but that is going to be a few years from now.  Regardless, I'm sure this whole family is going to bleed Purple and Gold (whether they like it or not!).

UPDATE:  Every couple of days since last Saturday...Owen has thanked me mulitple times for taking him to the Tiger game.  I just love that kid. 

Babbling Boys

I just read an article about how twins have delayed speech, potentially months behind singletons, especially for boys. We are officially witnessing this firsthand. I don't think Parker and Jack don't have the vocabulary they should for their age.

Because there are two guys to focus on, they obviously don’t get enough one on one time. Jen and I do our best to spend individual time with both Parker and Jack, but they just don’t get the same amount of time that Owen had at their age (since there was only one). We read every night to them and try to do as much teaching and learning throughout the day, but the simple fact is, the one on one time is crucial to speech development. Parker and Jack are competing for time, not only between each other, but with Owen, AND Ben. Poor guys, they have a clown to the left and a joker to the right, and they are stuck in the middle with each other.

As far as their development, the boys know certain words, but are not always ready to express them. Owen repeated EVERYTHING, but Jack and Parker only try to repeat specific things. For some reason, they prefer more complex words…Parker loves to say “volcano” and Jack always says “exercise” but they don’t always want to say the easy ones like “mama” or “tubby.” Jack tends to babble way more than Parker, but says less things clear. Parker babbles less, but annunciates better. That all happens right now, I’m sure in two weeks, they will flip-flop and do things exactly opposite. I just think this proves that all children are different and they are going at their own pace.

The boys know their alphabet already and are really picking up their numbers too. They aren’t even 21 months, I can’t remember when Owen learned this, but I know it wasn’t this early! Regardless, I know those little brains are working hard trying to learn all they can. I know that they are developing at their own pace, but it is so cute when they talk that I want it to be all the time. I will probably regret that when our house becomes exponentially louder than it already is…but oh well.

Update: Just today, Jen was singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Jack and he was saying the last word of each phrase (star, are, sky, high). Out of the blue, he knows this? I guess they really are picking up every bit of information that we are putting out there and they will express it whenever they darn well feel like it. Way to go Jack, you made an awesome face when you said each word...you were so proud of yourself.

My Little Computer Nerds

Just watching some vids

See Jack, this is how you download music.

Owen has always had a fondness for technology, tapping away at our phones and laptop that used to live on our end table. He used to say it was his and he had to "go to work" so we would open it up and he could type on it. Once we replaced the old laptop, Owen frequently got mad when we didn't let him play with our new one. He knows what a mouse is. He used to help PawPaw "work" by typing different letters into a command prompt. At an early age, he could say "unrecognized command verb" because that was the error message that came up when typing with PawPaw. At school, they have "computer class" but neither Jen nor I really know what they are doing in there...but we think it is funny that a 3 year is taking computer classes.

Owen got a play laptop from Emily and Adam (our two most computer friendly friends) and he loves playing with it...and taking it away from Parker and Jack who also love to play with it. It is a really great toy but it causes many fights in our house, so we may need to get another one (or two, or three). I guess Parker and Jack are following in Owen's footsteps...

It is funny to see how they are growing up with all the technology in their lives...just think, they won't know the world without the internet, TiVo, and smart-phones. Now that is awesome.

UPDATE: Jack is now bringing me the laptop and asking me to "o-pa" after Owen closes it on him.