A few new favorites

We went to watch the Monument 10K the other day (4th largest 10K in America!) here in Richmond. It was sprinkling and so there were some puddles. Owen enjoyed playing in the puddles while we watched the race. After the race his pants were soaked, and so while he watched a show and ate a snack, here is how cute he looked!



Owen "patting" Baxter.



Matt's new favorite picture! I don't know what life with 3 drummers in 1 house would be like!



My new favorite! Aren't they so precious?!

Easter 2008

We enjoyed a low key easter yesterday here in Richmond. We went to church and spent some time with some friends in the afternoon. We are thankful to be able to rejoice in the death and resurrection of Christ as a family of four.

Here are a few pictures of the day.

Owen in his Easter Outfit from Uncle John and Aunt Anna.



Baxter wasn't too excited about having his picture taken.



Self timer! Owen did not want to pose with Baxter, so we went for the family picture instead.

Our favorites

Here are a few of our favorite shots of Baxter from the last week or so...


This is a cookie from one of our favorite Richmond lunch spots - Superstars. Matt loved the fact that it was twice the size of Baxter's head!



Baxter sitting in his bouncy seat looking at his friends the lion, zebra and dragon fly.



Just resting on a blanket.

Happy Birthday!

On Thursday, March 6, we celebrated Owen's birthday as a family by welcoming Baxter Gillan Purdy into the world! He was born at 6:22 am and was 8 lb. 5 oz. Owen's birthday is March 6 at 7:01am! God was gracious to us and protected us all through Baxter's delivery. God has also been gracious in walking us through these first few days of life as a family of four. Owen has been adjusting remarkably well and Baxter is eating like a champ. We are all very tired and a bit anxoius about what life will look like the next few days and weeks, but we are seeking to hope in the Lord and His strength. Please pray for us!

First shot of Matt, Baxter and I.



Baxter soon after birth.



The Purdy Boys



Our family of FOUR



Owen checking Baxter out.



Baxter sleeping.



Brothers

Owen's 2nd Birthday - a little early

With d-day approaching, we wanted to be sure to celebrate Owen's birthday a little early. So, we were able to celebrate this past weekend with a few friends and family members. It was a sweet time of celebrating our precious Owen Matthew and the gift that he is to us. Here are some pictures that capture our day.

The main attraction of the day was the balloons. Just a simple bag of balloons. Owen and his good friend Luke had a blast with them!



Owen eyeing his cake.



We started a new tradition this year. At our boys birthdays, we are going to read them a passage of scripture that we will then pray for them throughout the next year. Here Matt is reading Psalm 71:17 "O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds."



Owen had been looking forward to eating his "pancake" all day! He loved it. He keeps talking about how the light on the cake went out (the candle) and how we sang Happy Birthday.



Our friend Jenny took most of these pictures. This one was too amazing not to post! Thanks Jenny!



We did a brief craft of "make your own placemats." Owen and Luke drew on a piece of poster board, and I am going to laminate them so that they can be used as placemats. Here is Owen hard at work.



Luke. A blessing for our sweet Owen!



This one is for you great grandpa!



We had to get a shot of our family of three. We are enjoying our final days(or week) as a family of three.

Big Boy Bed!

On New Year's Day, Matt and our friend Kyle painted Owen's room. We decided that it would be a good opportunity to switch the crib/changing table out of Owen's room and move his new bed and dresser in. We were given a toddler bed from my brother Bryan and a dresser from my parents. Owen was very excited to sleep in his "new bed." He's done great! I am surprised and we feel blessed. We wanted him to have plenty of time to adjust before his baby brother arrives. So far so good!

Here is Owen sleeping that first night when we went to bed. He was a little scared/sad when we put him down, so we sang a few songs to him and then didn't hear from him again until 7:45 the next morning! (Side note: Do you like the color on Owen's wall? It's called Water Fountain. We also painted our baby boy's room and it is called Pea Pod. We'll post pictures of his room when it's done.)



Here he is when we went in the next morning.



So proud! Way to go Owen!!

Jesus' Birthday

We had a great Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ both as a family and with family. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning here at our home just the three of us. It was a really special time. Christmas Eve we went to the 4:00 service at church and then enjoyed some Chinese Food (a Purdy Family Tradition) and a funfetti birthday cake for Jesus. We read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2 and then went to bed. Christmas morning we enjoyed monkey bread and scrambled eggs before opening gifts. Owen thought it was funny that it was called "Monkey" bread! Opening presents was fun too - Owen enjoyed both opening the paper carefully AND seeing what was inside. After he opened his presents, he said "yay!" and then "opit" (open). We went to Matt's parents for the rest of the week and enjoyed spending time with his folks and siblings. We then spent one night with my parents too. It was a busy time, but a great way to celebrate! Here are some pictures to capture it all.

Self Timer family picture after the Christmas Eve service.



Our sweet Owen in front of the Christmas tree.



My family has a tradition of taking our picture on the steps Christmas Morning. So, here we are in our PJ's.



Owen saying Thank You after opening one of his gifts.




Related to his daddy? Owen is quite bothered by the small piece of tape stuck on his finger. Like father like son. I pray he is like is daddy in more ways than one!

In the Words of Owen

Owen is constantly learning more and more words and phrases. It's quite precious. Here are a few of the latest.

-This morning after Bible Study, we asked Owen what he learned about in his "Bible Study" (nursery with a Bible Story). He quickly answered "Jesus." Nothing better than that!
-Whenever we see a fire truck, Owen tells a mini story including all of the following - "fire truck"..."flashing lights"..."loud"..."where'd it go?"..."help"..."bye bye truck". The noise scares him, but we've told him that the truck is going to help somebody and that seems to help.
-Owen can recognize the letters "O", "W" and "P". For "O" he says "Owee". For "W" he says "double p". And for "P" he just says "P". Double P (aka "W") is our favorite!!

Advent

We have now officially entered the advent season - the time where we eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ's Birth at Christmas. Here are a few pictures of how we're celebrating thus far. We've been talking with Owen about how Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' Birthday. But, whenever we try to talk about it, he keeps saying "Happy Day Cow" or "Happy Cow" because there is a birthday party for a cow on one of the shows he likes to watch. So, I think we'll be celebrating two birthdays come 12/25 - Baby Jesus and Sarah the Cow.

We bought a Little People Nativity set that Owen can play with. He mostly likes playing with the sheep, box of hay, and pushing the angel causing an instrumental version of "Away in a Manger" to play.



This is a sweet picture of Owen that we took Saturday when we cut down our own tree!



I was very proud of Matt - he did a great job cutting down the tree, bringing it to the car, putting it on the car, and setting it up in our stand. I took a picture at every step of the process, but decided to include only one for your sake. Owen loved the whole process EXCEPT for when Matt cut the tree down. Owen started crying like we killed the tree...he's a little too observant/aware of things at times. He recovered and is now glad to have a tree in the house. We'll post more pictures when it's decorated. It's a very cute tree!

It's a ...

BOY!! We just found out this morning that we're having a boy! A playmate and "friend for life" (as one friend put it) for Owen and another sweet little boy for us. We are so thankful that the Lord has been so good to us and has cared for and formed this little boy thus far. We trust Him to continue that good work.

We'll try to get a picture from the ultra sound up soon. I didn't want to wait for that to get figured out before I posted the news though.

"Da Be"

This past weekend, we were a part of the Young Adults Beach trip through our church. Part of Matt's position at the church is to provide pastoral leadership to the Young Adults Community. One way we decided to kick off the fall was through a trip to Corolla, NC. One of the guys in the group has a house in his family. It sleeps 24. We brought 32 adults and Owen. Lots of people! It was a great weekend to get some time with this group of people that we are ministering to. Matt taught a series on Knowing God which provided the group with some great truths to think and talk and pray about during the weekend.

AND Owen LOVED the beach! He had been less than impressed with the beach in the past, but now he is hooked! He loved looking at the water and the birds and playing in the sand. From our house we could see the beach and he would constantly say "da be" which translates to "the beach." It was a joy for us to see him enjoy it so much. We had a very sweet time as a family Sunday morning before the worship service on the beach playing in the sand and going for a walk. Here are some pictures from our time.

Owen enjoying the sand.



Owen and Matt looking at the water. He didn't want to get close to it, but enjoyed looking at it.



A few of the folks on the trip made a turtle out of sand - Owen was thrilled!

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!)

PK

It's official, Matt is an official Teaching Elder and Pastor in the PCA and Owen is a PK (Pastor's Kid). Last night was Matt's ordination service here at West End Presbyterian Church. It was a great celebration of God's faithful guidance and provision in calling and equipping Matt for the ministry as well as a commitment by Matt and the Session of our church to this ministry and to the work of the Lord. In all of the excitement, we did not take any pictures. I think that my dad got one and Matt's parents may have a couple, so we'll post those at a later time. For now, I just wanted to share this exciting news. It was a big day for our family. We are thankful to the Lord for the work that He has called us to and equipped us for and will continue to equip us for. We can not do it without Him!

Congrats to my sweet husband, The Reverend Matthew T. Purdy.

Lots of Words

I think this will be one of our first posts without pictures. But that is appropriate. I wanted to share some of Owen's newest words with everyone. He's been talking up a storm and it's so much fun.

Our favorite is turtle. We saw a turtle outside of our house one day 2 weeks ago, and Owen has been talking about it ever since. He looks for the turtle under our porch EVERY time we leave the house and EVERY time we come home. Since the turtle has returned to his pond, Owen says "no no" and shakes his head. Other times he'll say "Bye Bye Turtle." He is very excited whenever we see a turtle in a book or on a show.

He calls my watch a show. I think it's because we say "Owen, do you want to watch a show?" So when he points to my watch and I say "Watch" he says "Show".

His sign language has picked up too and it's very helpful - he'll say more, all done, please, thank you, your welcome, no-no and help.

It's amazing to see how grown up our sweet little baby boy has gotten! Now that he's walking he seems like he's 3! The other day Matt said "Don't grow up too fast buddy!" I agree!

Thanks for reading my stories about our sweet son!

Cousins Camp 2007

We have just returned from a great week at "Cousins Camp!" We'll try to capture all that happened by sharing some pictures with you. WARNING - when I say "some" pictures, I mean a lot!

Here are the cousins from Cousins Camp 2007 - Reese (9 1/2), Megan (almost 7), Anna (17 months) and Owen (almost 17 months)



The guys got to spend one morning/early afternoon on the golf course. One of the holes runs past my parents house, so the ladies went out to cheer them on. Owen, Aunt Carolyn, Anna, Megan and I walked a few of the holes with them to see them in action. They did a great job!



My Grandma and Grandpa were able to come for a few days of cousins camp too. It was a blessing to spend time with them and for Owen to get to know them better too.



One of the fun things that Gramma and Grampa had at the house were these huge bubble makers. All of the cousins enjoyed them!



There were tournaments as well - Air Hockey, Fusball, XBox (Monkeyball), and Chess. Here is a picture of one of the games - between Matt and my mom. How does one play Air Hockey with his mother in law?



Here is a practice match of Monkey Ball. Owen LOVED watching it!



We went to the park a few times throughout the week as well. This is the park that Matt and I would always go to during college to run or talk or play soccer with friends. It was fun to have Owen there with us.



Here are Anna and Owen enjoying the swings.



Anna and Owen enjoyed a cousins bath one night - they are at the age where I don't think they really even noticed that the other was there. We enjoyed it!



We went out to dinner one night at our FAVORITE mexican restaraunt El Charro.



Here are the cousins walking together after El Charro.



We went for a hike one day - it was quite an adventure with the little kids. They enjoyed it in the end. And so did we!



Mom and dad treated us to the new Water Park at Massanutten. It was a blast! The Lazy River was a highlight for all!



Here are Owen and Anna holding hands - something they did a lot of this week. Sorry it's sideways.



Owens new TV watching stance. HE got so excited he stood right up!