UNIMOG

Owen and I stopped at the local pizza shop for lunch a few Saturday's ago. When we were leaving, Owen spotted a Unimog in the parking lot and had to check it out. He was so excited to walk around and look at the "big truck" as he put it... I grabbed this picture on my phone.

When we got home, we watched a bunch of videos on youtube of people doing crazy things with Unimogs.. Owen was in his glory.

Owen's First Trip to the dentist

Owen had his first trip to the dentist on the morning of January 5th. One of Owen's classmate's Mom runs a local pediatric dentist office in Reading, and they came highly recommended, so we went there.

We had been reading a lot of "going to the dentist" books to get him interested in the whole process. Going into it, I think he was a little nervous, but excited too. When he was called, he got to first pick out his flavor of toothpaste and choose a new toothbrush and a kid's flossing tool.

The dentist office is setup for kids and they do a GREAT job at both keeping the kids interested in what's going on, but also providing good distractions... Note the TV above the chair that was playing a children's video.

He looks so little in the big chair...

Dr. Gordos was fantastic with talking to Owen, showing him all the tools and explaining what was going on.

He held my hand and squeezed while he got his teeth cleaned. No cavities!

Stapler Christmas Bonanza week!

Every year around Christmas we have our Stapler family fest week and this year was no exception! We do a lot of stuff in a few days with all the families... at the end of which we're all pretty tired, but it's fun and the cousins have a lot of fun hanging out with each other.

Christmas day we spent the morning at our house, and then went over to Grandma & Grandpa Stapler's for lunch. Later in the afternoon, we stopped by Uncle Donny & Aunt Patsy's for some more family fellowship and a light dinner.

Saturday we had the annual Ney family gathering in Bainbridge. The entire extended Ney family has a lunch every year which is organized by Uncle Don & Aunt Katherine. Saturday night, all of us parents had a chance to get out for a quiet dinner while Shannon & Amy watched the kids (Thank you!!).

Here's Owen with Aunt Danielle checking out his camping gear that Grandma & Grandpa gave him.

And the gang having some pizza before we left for dinner.


Sunday afternoon we went over to Hershey Park and spent the afternoon riding rides. It was unseasonably warm, which was nice for everyone and sure beat tromping around in the bitter cold...

Shaun and Luke loved their cheesy popcorn!

Grandpa & Shaun on the SkyView..

Uncle Steve & Luke..

Marissa, Owen & Allison

Aunt Danielle was a brave lady bug rider!

Riding the tram...

Owen, Grandma & Luke on the tram.

On Monday everyone came over to our house for dinner and our family gift exchange. Here's Owen opening his boat from Aunt Danielle & Uncle Steve.

Alex & Zachary checking out the new calendar with Grandma & Grandpa

Owen reading his Rhyme book and having a good laugh with Grandma & Grandpa

Christmas Morning Presents...

Our little Christmas tree...

Aunt Seth & Uncle Mary gave Owen a batting game that loads balls automatically to hit. Of course we had to set this up in the house and duck!

The shake and go airplane was a suprise hit! He loved it so much, he forgot about all his other presents and just wanted to play....

Aunt Jessica and Uncle Sam gave Owen some take-apart cars, airplane and motorcycle. It comes with a little powered wrench and he loves it!

Our gift to Owen was the Geo-trax station with the Aero train. He loves the short movies and we spent the rest of the morning setting up the track and playing with it.

Gingerbread House

Every year, we build a gingerbread house with Owen.... He get's a huge kick out of helping put all the decorations on the frosting. This year was no exception. Here he is deep in conversation about what color to put on next...

And here's the finished product. It is a work of art if I say so myself!

Christmas in Binghamton

This year, our extended Horvath family was busy growing, travelling and working, so we had a smaller Christmas gathering at Mom & Dad's. We enjoyed a nice afternoon with Aunt Karen & Uncle Larry as well as Grandpa Horvath. Owen thoroughly enjoyed his entire weekend of having Grandpa and Grandma to himself to drive tractors and play with!

Owen is mildly obsessed with Trains. Grandpa had his train setup around the tree and Owen made a beeline for it as soon as we walked in the door. There were a few hours of entertainment here..


Grandma & Grandpa gave Owen a tractor trailer toy he had seen earlier in the year at Cabela's. He was so excited when he figured out what was under the wrapping paper. Here he is hooking the trailer up with Grandpa!


And the trailer with a collection of cars... on the top of course... because that's where they belong... :)


Playing playdough with Grandma is always a big hit!

Plowing snow with Grandpa on the tractor...

Here's Bailey and his favorite Christmas scarf...

Three out of four looking at the camera is a win...

Four generations.

And the family...

Owen was officially tuckered out Saturday afternoon and crashed on the couch