Two Blessings

Two blessings since moving to Richmond are our friends the Brocks and our new pizza place. I lived with Jenny at JMU, and she and her husband Kyle live in Richmond and go to West End. We're so glad they are here!

We have also found the best pizza ever! Mary Angela's Pizza in Carrytown is our new pizza spot. It's delicious classic NY Italian pizza. Every time we leave there I say to Matt "We don't have to go to any other restaurant, I'll come here every time we go out!" It's that good!

The Purdys and the Brocks at Mary Angela's.



Owen walking with his daddy and his good buddy "Kyye".

Football Season

Owen with his two favorite teams.

(Notice also his new expression for taking pictures. He says "CHEEESSE" and squints his eyes and smiles. Just a phase I hope. We'll see how he does next week for his 18 month pictures!)

Catching Up

We have been quite delinquent yet again in our posting efforts. So sorry! So, here is a marathon post to catch up. I think the main reasons for the lack of posting are 1) Most of what Owen is doing is not photographable (like all of the words he is saying and him running around and such), so it's harder to remember to take pictures; 2) WE ARE PREGNANT! We are 14 weeks, and I have not been feeling great, so I have not had much in the way of blogging energy. We'll try to do a better job in the coming weeks/months!

Owen has started feeding himself SOMETIMES - mostly with his yogurt at lunch. He's very Type A, so he doesn't make too much of a mess.



One of Owen's favorite past times is building with blocks. Here is a big tower that he and daddy built one day while I was out having some mommy time (most Saturday mornings I'll go to a local bagel shop and read and enjoy a bagel while Matt and Owen get some good time together).



For Matt's ordination, my brother Bryan and his family came up. We enjoyed time with them. Owen really loved having them here. We didn't take many pictures, but here are Reese and Owen building a tower. Reese is a lego expert, so he was teaching Owen some good building technique I think.



One blessing of our time in Richmond is a playgroup through church. There is a group of moms with kids Owen's age that get together at the church to play during the week. We've enjoyed being a part of this group and will continue in the fall. (Owen has enjoyed spending time with Luke Farkas (bottom right) and Kylen Zollinhoffer (second on bottom right) and Matt and I have enjoyed spending time with their parents too.)



We recently bought a drum and other instruments for Owen. He loves to play with the instruments. We usually turn on his favorite song on the Indelible Grace album - "Arise My Soul Arise" and sing and play.



There is a botanical garden in Richmond called Lewis Ginter. We went with our friend Blair Brown and Jeb and Anna Roe. This is Owen climbing under a big tree. (Joe and Matt were at work - Joe is the Children's Ministry Director at West End.)



We haven't done a bath picture in a while.



Uncle Bryan and Aunt Becky gave Owen this great bubble machine. He is COVERED in bubbles in this picture. He loves to stick his hands in front of the bubbles and let them collect on his limbs. At least it's a clean thing, right?

Trip to Charlotte

We had the chance to go to Charlotte for part of Labor Day weekend - it was so great to be back! We were able to spend time with most of the folks that we had intended to - others were out of town. One of my favorite parts was that Owen remembered everyone and still really loves them! It was so sweet to see his face light up every time he saw his old buddies - young and old. He and Bennett especially enjoyed eating their meals next to each other. They'd just keep looking at each other and wave and say "Hi". So sweet. Thanks for a great weekend guys!

These are some of the ladies we spent the most time with (Me, Mary, Melissa, Lindsey).



Here are Owen and Celia watching a show together one morning. Celia kept remarking that Owen could walk on his own. She thought that was very neat!



And of course, we went to Chick Fil A on our way out of town with the McCanns, Kulps (minus Mr. Dave) and the Hunts. This is a picture of us with Mr. Jake and Miss Melissa (Missa for short). Their sweet baby Sam was doing a great job sleeping in his car seat.