Before heading out to see Santa, we had Uncle Rob take a few shots. Amazingly, the very first one was the winner! We hadn’t even tried to get Maggie in it, but she jumped right up!
I don’t love myself in it, but since everyone—including the dog!!—is actually looking at the camera with eyes open and mostly smiling faces…I consider it a win!
Santa wrote Owen a long letter that came in the mail today. He pretty much read the whole thing by himself. He was thrown by a few words (like receiving and according) and by a hyphenated word but overall I was very impressed…and so was daddy who rarely gets to see him read.
Here’s the last part of the letter:
Look familiar, Gramma Jean?!
Each kid got their own wreath. For Katie, I glued the strips and then let her put them on. She was only interested for about eight strips, so we put it away then tried again another time—at which point we got another handful of strips on. I ended up finishing hers for her because I wanted it finished before March. She was, however, more interested in the acorns—she’d tell me where to put the glue then she’d put the acorn on.
Honestly, Owen’s attention span wasn’t much better—it took him two times to get the strips done and then another time for the acorns.
And Owen fixing my wreath by adding an acorn that’s been missing for as long as I can remember:
But, I think it’s time to finally retire the wreath I made in pre-school (age 3)…
Not horrendous, but we’ll try again. 🙂
(This was actually back on November 30! I take fewer pictures with my real camera now and I forget to take them off the card!)
Grannie Lin sent Christmas window clings in her care package…the kids LOVE them! We don’t have that many windows on the first floor so they’re all covered!
Katie’s version of Christmas favorites.
I guess that should be “helping.” 🙂
And a great one of Tom and the kids:
And a decent one of the kids:
And, of course, classic Owen! 🙂
All the kindergarten classes were having a combined Thanksgiving Feast today. We had all signed up to bring something and Owen really wanted us to come, so I kept Katie up from her nap and off we went.
To say it was all a bit disorganized would be an understatement. I joked that at least it wasn’t a state dinner—it was just a kindergarten meal. 🙂 The feast was supposed to start at 1:45 and at 1:35 the last of the kids were still eating while parents and teachers were cleaning the empty tables and taping colored paper tablecloths on. No one knew which teachers were going to sit where so all these parents had no place to put their food donations and just kept moving them around.
Katie was being good, actually, and kept herself busy with an acorn she had scooped up on the way in. And then playing with my Visitor sticker.
Then I realized that parents were just making plates ahead of time and putting them on the tables—so the kids wouldn’t even get to pick what they wanted. I knew Owen wouldn’t eat any of it (except maybe the corn and a roll) so I had packed his lunch. But with all the confusion (and seeing that their class assistant was running around setting up), I was positive the lunch would not make it to the cafeteria. I asked her if it was okay to get his lunch and she said yes, so I had to take Katie to the classroom. The classroom was dark so I figured the kids were all being held somewhere beforehand. So it was a quick grab, but I was glad I did it because I got to see the other turkeys that had been disguised! 🙂
On the way back to the cafeteria, I saw all the kids in a lower hallway with their feather headdresses and pilgrim hats. Owen saw me and got very happy. Katie, of course, wanted to go down and sit with Owee. 🙂 Back in the cafeteria, Katie wanted to hide.
The centerpieces:
I grabbed these entrance pictures from the school’s Facebook page. Each kid walked in with a “friend” from another class, so each Native American walked in with a Pilgrim.
Then it was time to line up for the exchange of necklaces:
And then the first few songs. Things seemed to be going as expected. Owen was happy and laughing.
Then the singing started. And he saw me. Remember his meltdown/panic attack last year when he was line leader for his pre-K graduation? Yeah, it wasn’t a one-time thing. I do not have a public performer. And I could slowly see it happening—he was getting shy and starting to tear up and definitely wasn’t participating. I’m not sure if it was performing in front of a big crowd or seeing me or a combination of both…but it killed me to watch.
Here’s exactly what I saw. Poor kid.
And then it was over and he got to come sit down to eat lunch and he was fine.
But he REFUSED to put his hat back on so I just took a picture of it.
And by then, all the plates of food the parents had set out were ice cold. Which didn’t really bother Owen as he was eating PB&J—though he did have three bites of corn and a roll. I picked at the rest of the plate but it wasn’t very appealing cold.
While everyone was eating, they were playing a slideshow of drawings the kids had done in the computer lab.
This was Owen’s:
The music teacher came up while Owen was eating and asked him what was wrong because she saw how he had been acting. She told me that he was amazing in class and loved to sing!
They had a second set of songs planned for after lunch so I tried to tell him that he didn’t need to be shy and that he just needed to look straight at me and pretend that no one else was there…and that I really really wanted to see him sing and I knew he could sing the songs because he sings them at home all the time. He would barely even look at me or acknowledge what I was saying! He said he didn’t want to do them and wanted to come home with me. I told him that wasn’t an option. I told him again if he was scared to just look straight at me and don’t pay any attention to anyone else. I got him to laugh a bit and kept my fingers crossed.
Lining up—so far so good.
And then he actually participated in the closing songs! Without melting down! YAY! I’m guessing it was more luck of the draw then my pep talk but I’ll take it. 🙂
Proof I was there! (I found this pic on Facebook afterwards!)
Heading back to class!
I’m behind in posting Owen’s school work, so here’s some from around Halloween.
He had to list and draw five orange things: crayon, orange, bib, pumpkin, trick-or-treat basket
I used the wrong send-home sheet for the orange assignment, so this sheet was things to do with Halloween: pumpkin, bat, moon (the C thing in the upper left is his first attempt at the moon)
They had a whole project with pumpkins:
I don’t want to be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. Please help disguise me and bring me to school.
Owen noticed it! He said “I’m a problem solver!”
That’s a board game, a skateboard, and Legos. 🙂
I clarified which board game, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mean a real skateboard (he has a cheap 3″ toy one from a birthday party that he loves so I’m guessing that’s what he’s thinking), and any Legos will apparently do. 🙂
I’ll get him to write a REAL list soon. And hopefully nudge him in the direction of some things I already have (though the Legos won’t be a problem)!
The last hour post-dinner/pre-trick-or-treating was the worst (ToT didn’t start until 6:30). Owen was asking me every minute if it was time yet. We just kept the Tivo playing and hoped for the best.
We started getting them dressed (SLOWLY) about 6 and then started inside pictures about 6:20 (none of which turned out)…then outside pictures at 6:25…and it was a good thing that didn’t take too long because Owen started to see neighbor kids come out and he WANTED TO GET STARTED. 🙂 Tom was super excited, too, as he has missed the last two trick-or-treat nights. The weather was chilly, but not bad. I just had on a sweatshirt, Katie had a turtleneck, and I layered two long-sleeved shirts on Owen.
And then one quick cell phone shot as we were headed out!
We ran into one of his friends at the second house.
And then the house that he visited with Grannie Lin with the RIP sign with glowing eyes!
Katie did pretty good walking and keeping up, but when there was a long stretch with no houses, Tom would carry her (and when her pumpkin got too heavy with candy—as it did towards the end of the night—I’d carry that). She would repeat everything we said—like we’d say “Owen, go up to that house” and she’d parrot back “Owen, go up to that house!” The whole night. And she kept saying “I trick or treat! I trick or treat daddy!” It was adorable.
About 10 houses in, they were finally getting the hang of walking up together, actually saying TRICK OR TREAT, and saying THANK YOU. They didn’t have it mastered until almost the end, as usual. 🙂
When we were done with our street, we asked if they wanted to do more or go home. Both immediately said MORE! But, by the time we were done with the second street and we asked the same thing, Owen said he was ready to go home! They had plenty of candy so home we went.
The first thing Owen chose to eat? Pretzels.
Katie? Milky Way.
Giving daddy a big smooch!
She did well for being up way past her bedtime, and we let Owen stay up later as well…but he was definitely ready for bed at 9.
I was originally excited thinking that kids would dress up for school today but with the school-wide party last week and early dismissal today, today was a “spirit day” and they were supposed to dress in orange and black. And Tom actually was home this morning and got Katie dressed—and then I remembered at the last possible minute before heading to the bus stop that I had to put her in the sweater that I’ve been waiting a year and a half for (a hand-me-down from the Beson girls!).
Owen’s class has been learning about pumpkins. (These pictures were stolen from someone else who was there helping out the class and posted them in Facebook.)
Today they cut some open!
And got to see what was inside!
And even helped scoop them out!
Any excuse for a cake, really…we celebrated all of our birthdays!
Papa was elected to blow out the candles since I was still sick, Tom and Grannie Lin were getting sick, and Owen and Katie would likely spit on the cake. 🙂
Having fun with the party horn/birthday whistles, which actually THANKFULLY didn’t make any actual noise. 🙂
I had to make her an MSU Cheerleader today!
Craft table! Which I had to do while also carrying their bags, his light saber, and my camera. 🙂 Tom was running late because he was finishing up the back steps.
Katie LOVED the train. This was the first of many rides.
Snack time and water break!
Costume contest! (A puppy won it.)
Attempting the Mummy Race. Owen understood he had to wrap Katie up, but he wasn’t careful and the toilet paper kept breaking and he just kept wrapping it around her neck so she was screeching “I’M STUCK! I’M STUCK!” It lasted maybe all of 45 seconds. 🙂
Piñata!
Anakin meets Darth!
Owen’s school had a Halloween (Halleyween) party tonight with games and snacks and dancing! It was quite loud and chaotic, so we didn’t stay really long, but we did stay long enough for Owen to play a few games, see some friends, and have a cupcake!
Anakin!
Katie was screaming inside the house so we let her come out to take pictures, too.
Using the Force!
Decorating his goodie bag.
Pin the nose on the pumpkin.
Broom race!
Witch hat ring toss—his first attempt made it!
CUPCAKE!
Build-a-skeleton!
More broom racing!
We ended the night with a stop to get frozen yogurt! 🙂
It was Linda’s idea to make a Halloween cake and let the kids frost/decorate it.
He was invited to a birthday party at a local martial arts place…and boy did he have fun. We would actually have been interested in sending him there, but it’s expensive (not to mention 4-5 days a week).
Here is a video compilation of some of the stuff he did.
But I had to put this video in all on its own—he was SO excited and SO proud of himself for breaking the board! GO OWEN!
Owen’s first out-of-school class field trip was to a local nursery that has a pumpkin playground. I really wanted to go and help chaperone but I couldn’t take Katie on the bus, so we just met them there.
I actually went to the school first so I could follow the bus, so we got to visit Owen’s classroom for a few minutes. One of Owen’s classmates said to him “Owen, your sister is sooo cute!” and Owen said “Thank you!” 🙂 The classroom assistant said the two looked a lot alike and I said “Really? You think?” But then she said it was the eyes. 🙂
It was only about a 10-15 minute drive from the school. We parked while the busses unloaded so this was waiting for Owen.
Owen’s class (the assistant is on the left in the green tee and his teacher is on the right in the white tee):
Owen grabbed the hands of two of his classmates in his group and off they went!
Their first ride on an old-style merry-go-round. THEY LOVED IT.
A quick climb on a train…
And then off to another merry-go-round!
Time for a hayride! Well, a tractor ride—there was no hay.
He went right down this slide with no hesitation!
Katie wanted to go down the slide so I sent her up with Owen and instructions to help his sister (or go down with her), but of course it didn’t happen!
After I helped her up the slippery walk twice she could manage on her own!
I think these were her first horsey rides! It was great because they didn’t take coins—you just pressed the button!
You can see how dirty she was. It had rained A LOT the day before and everything was wet and muddy. I had thought about the ground being gross so Katie had boots and Owen had old tennis shoes…but I hadn’t thought about the climbing things being covered in muck…so they were both a mess.
We got to pick a small pumpkin on the way out!
She loves pumpkins and wanted another one!
Katie took a tumble right as we were leaving so she was really muddy. We got to the car and I literally stripped her down, changed her diaper, then put her in the car seat. 🙂
We had one of these growing up and I always wanted one of my own but I never lived anywhere with a lamppost!
Until now!
I asked, and Gramma Jean made one for us when she was here! After seeing the neighbors with their decorations, I put it up after getting Owen on the bus.
Katie was first to the bus stop this morning and I heard the shrieking from there. Look what was at the corner house!
Both kids were enthralled! And pointing to more decorations on the porch!
Hell, ALL the kids were enthralled!
We had been planning on him being Superman because he had the costume last year and it was a bit too big—but we’ve temporarily lost the cape so I wanted a backup just in case. He picked Anakin Skywalker. I had told him he could try it on when he got home from school, so within minutes of walking in the front door he brought it to me. 🙂
Yes, it’s a little big. To get the waist to fit, I have to order a bit larger-than-necessary size, which makes the rest waaaay too long. I think a few well-placed rubber bands on his legs will work well enough for an hour of trick-or-treating.
Now with light saber!
In action!
Short story: I had lunch with a new mommy-group friend and then went out to dinner with the fam.
Long story: The original plan was for me and said friend (and our two toddlers) to drive/metro in to DC’s Union Station to see a free 30-minute Joshua Bell violin concert. (Joshua Bell is playing in the Metro again. This time, maybe you won’t pass it up.)
The stunt was seven years ago, but no one will let him forget it.
Hey, did you hear about the famous violinist who played in the Metro and no one paid attention?
Yes, Joshua Bell must say. That was me.
Technically, 27 people did stop the day The Washington Post asked the Grammy-winning violinist to don a baseball cap and pose as a street performer playing for change in the Metro. It was a social experiment for a magazine article: If a world-famous musician and his $3 million fiddle brought some of history’s most beautiful music to a rush-hour crowd, would people stop and listen? “In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?,” the story wondered. The answer: 1,070 people passed Bell without paying him any attention.
Now, after being asked about it nearly every day since, Bell is bringing his violin back to the Metro. This time, on his own terms.
I had heard about the 2007 stunt and thought how cool that would have been to be there, so this time, I figured since we lived THISCLOSE and it would be a cool thing to do—and it would be on my birthday—I wanted to go. HAD to go, in fact. But I also get SUPER anxious doing new things like that so I was sure I wouldn’t actually do it. But then this friend said “I’d love to go! We’ll do it together!” And so we planned. And commiserated about having to take the kids. And planned some more. She would pick us up after her doctor’s appointment, we would drive to the closest metro station that didn’t require an extra transfer (a 20-minute drive), take the metro in (about 40 minutes), watch the concert, then reverse the process home. It was going to be tight, but we were confident. (Well, I was filled with anxiety but was mostly confident!)
So the morning of, things were on schedule and I felt like I was going to throw up from anxiety. And then the doctor’s appointment went awry…he had never run late before but of course ran late today. So we didn’t go. At once I breathed a huge a breath of relief…and also felt a bit of sadness because I really did want to see the concert. But it was all good as we went out for lunch and had a great visit…which I am so thrilled about because before today, we had literally only met once and talked for maybe 30 minutes total at a playgroup at the park. She lives close (maybe two miles at most) and we really get along and are very similar in a lot of ways. So it was a good day, even considering we missed the concert. 🙂
These are our girls at lunch (her daughter is five months older than Katie):
We picked a local place we hadn’t been to yet. It’s a sports bar/restaurant and they had a paper football on the table, so we tried to teach Owen.
He doesn’t quite have the gist of flicking the football with just his finger, but every once in awhile he’d connect and he even landed one in my glass!
Since we have time in the morning before school, I had Owen make a birthday card for Tom. He’s doing well with letters, but we just need to work on keeping it on a straight line. 🙂
It was also just supposed to be Happy Birthday but since the first happy went a little wonky he wanted to try again. 🙂
The heads are, in order, daddy, Owen, and Katie (you see she gets the big eyelashes)! The other circles are the cake.
Thirteen years ago tonight we were eating our post-wedding Chinese dinner…
<