We taught Owen on the exact game board Gramma Jean taught me to play on 35ish years ago!
Category Archives: Flashbacks & Memories
35 years later…
See the tree right next to the stump? I planted it in elementary school with one of the tiny saplings they send home on Arbor Day!
Kid(s) in the window
And Owen in the same spot back in May 2011. 🙂 (As a sidenote, I didn’t think so at the time, but looking back…HOLY WAH does Owen look like Tom at that age.)
Owen’s last day of kindergarten!
Fun with Atlanta friends!
We stopped to see our good friends in Atlanta. It was actually Bodi’s 6th birthday weekend, so they had a bounce house set up for the party the next day and the kids had fun in that! (It was also a Ninja Turtle-themed party, so that’s what the masks and weapons are for.)
But first, the boys about 4.5 years ago (November 2010):
And today…
Same zoo, different grandparents!
Now that Katie was older and would hopefully enjoy it more and maybe even remember it, we wanted to go to the zoo like we did last year. Gramma Jean and Grandpa David had gone earlier with Doug, Marie, Gabrielle, and Robert, so we took Grannie Lin and Papa!
Shortly after she started pulling the wagon…she fell…
And scraped both knees in the process. 🙁 Thankfully it was over quickly and she was back to herself.
She loved the bunnies in the house!
Last year’s jump picture:
And last year’s family picture in front of the same sign (I almost wore that same outfit again accidentally!):
Upon walking up and seeing ALL the birds, Owen says: That looks like a big bird party.
Grannie: What are they talking about?
Owen: Birdseed.
Owen’s wingspan:
The kids were SO excited to ride on the train. Unfortunately, the train before us ran off the tracks so they were trying to get it fixed and we ended up having to wait almost another hour. We had debated getting our money back, but the kids would have been devastated…so we did our shopping first. 🙂
Last year’s mask:
Probably the cutest Katie picture of the whole trip:
Aaaand, zonked out within minutes of getting in the car.
Cousins!
2014:
2013:
Acorn Christmas Wreaths
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)…
He still sleeps like this.
Owen has been coughing at night so he’s often tired in the morning. I let him sleep in today since we have the time…but at 7:20 (he’s normally up by 6:30) I went in to make sure he was still breathing and I found this.
It brought back memories of how he often slept as a baby…
Throwback Thursday—A favorite picture.
Five years ago this month…
Another mom and Katie doll comparison
The one I posted a few days ago…
Then Gramma jean noticed that there was a second picture of me with the doll (she actually went and looked at the first link I posted) so I hunted the picture down and matched it the best with this one:
I still don’t think we look anything alike, aside from maybe both being blonde with blue eyes. Do you see it?
In mom’s dress with mom’s matching doll—Part 2!
See part 1 here!
Today Gramma Jean and I tried to get a better shot of Katie in the dress with the doll—and with the bonnet that I found (and didn’t lose after we moved!).
First, Katie was thrilled to get new shoes (I’ve had them forever and finally had a reason to get them out). Second, she loved her “long socks” and sat very patiently while I put her tights on. Third, she was excited to finally hold “her dolly” that she had seen sitting on the table waiting. 🙂
Here’s a comparison shot with the original picture and the closest one from today (out of 147 shots):
And a collage of the rest of the best:
Two of my favorites:
Some pics mom took:
Showing grandpa her long socks!
Heading to the bus stop to get Owen, with a brief detour to see the pumpkins and try for more pics:
As always, excited to see Owee getting off the bus!
Back at home, refusing to take off any of the outfit:
Throwback Thursday—Owen five years ago.
Throwback Thursday—Family Portrait
I am guessing this was around 1979-80ish…?
The tradition…at home this year.
Thirteen years ago tonight we were eating our post-wedding Chinese dinner…
Len Christmas in July
The family decided to have Christmas in July this year and the Besons hosted. It was a GORGEOUS Michigan summer day on the river spent with our AMAZING family! Timmy supplied about 32 different types of brats (okay, maybe only about 12) and we stuffed ourselves silly on them plus all the other good food everyone brought. A good time was had by all and I think we may officially be moving our holiday celebration to the summer from now on!
Owen was a bit shy at first, so he and Katie were both in Nick’s room playing by themselves.
Katie loved the boat. LOVED. LOVED!! She would have sat out there all day if we let her and kept wanting to go back.
Finally Owen wanted to play!
Owen is six months younger than Aubrey. I know, right?
Cousins Katie 2, Owen 5, Aubrey 6, Gracie 8, Nick 10, Alex 12, and Jess 15. We never actually got Owen back-to-back with Nick, but I think they were within a fraction of an inch of each other (with a five-year age difference). And Katie seems to be pretty close to Aubrey, who is four years older. I guess we really DO grow them big. 🙂
Last year:
Lisa B. made these AWESOME ladybug cupcakes for Katie’s birthday.
And these for Greg’s birthday. (I missed a pic of the ones for Aubrey’s birthday, but they were Frozen-themed.)
We did pretty good keeping track of Katie all day (when there’s so many people around, there’s always someone half watching) and then we failed right at the end. People were running around cleaning up and putting things away…and before I know it, Tom is carrying Katie back from the front yard. Apparently Katie was wandering down the driveway and Greg caught her and brought her back. Phew.
And before we knew it, it was time to head out. Katie didn’t make it to the end of the road before she fell asleep, and Owen lasted about 15 minutes.
We helped save the Rialto!
We donated to the Restore the Rialto Kickstarter campaign and used our two free tickets today to take Owen to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.
The first thing Owen said when he sat down is “Where do I set my drink?” Spoiled kid, used to newfangled seats with attached cup holders. 🙂
Happy 2nd Birthday, Katie!
And a TBT birthday along with today’s version, both taken in Gramma Jean’s back yard!
Throwback Thursday—Our last move
Lunch on the road, July 2011!
At the new (old) house before our stuff arrived:
Can you believe I’ve been carrying this around for 20 years?!
I had to go in the file cabinet today and happened to pull out a huge stack of REALLY OLD credit card statements. While on one hand I was surprised (I was positive I shredded all that stuff years ago)…it brought back good memories!
Throwback Thursday—1991 Senior Prom and Grad party
Senior Prom with my best friends Shannon, Laurie, and Joell:
Some random end-of-year senior program with Pete, Joell, and Mike:
At my graduation party:
In mom’s dress with mom’s matching doll!
Grauntie Marge made this dress and doll for me when I was about Katie’s age. (Well, she actually made matching ones for my cousins Lisa and Lori, too.)
I figured I’d better get Katie in it before she outgrows it and the moment is lost forever… Of course, the bonnet has been misplaced—this whole time I thought it was with the dress (at one time it was, but we’ve been moving it around for almost 15 years now so I’m impressed we still have these parts)—and I didn’t have the first clue where to start looking…so it was just the dress and doll. Then, because I wasn’t thinking clearly, her hair was still wet and therefore looks kinda scraggly and not very cute. And of course she wasn’t the best at sitting still.
There’s no way to match the professional picture taken of me in the same dress with the same doll, but I may at least try again—there’s still enough wiggle room in the dress to try again within the next month or two. She did love the doll, though!
Katie in Owen’s old PJs
From April 23…I forgot it was on my real camera. 🙂 And then I had some Photoshopping to do.
Throwback Thursday—My first mommy group!
From a group play date at our house in June 2009…
The end of an era…
Pulling recipes out of sheet protectors in a 3-ring binder. Ditching most of them and scanning a few to Evernote.
But the best part was finding all of the recipes from friends and family that I’d asked for at my wedding shower that I’d since lost track of!!
Like mother, like daughter.
Okay, maybe we do look a little alike. 🙂
Throwback Thursday—Tom’s Dinner
The first dinner Tom cooked for me—a week after we met in February 1997—at my mom’s house in Grayling. I drove over from Traverse and he drove up from MSU. Neither one of us can remember what he cooked (it looks like maybe chicken?) but I’m laughing at three types of alcohol on the table.
Throwback Thursday GMS-Style
This is what you get when you’re decluttering old boxes to sell a house: GMS Students of the Month 1984-85
Katie loves chalk!
This is one area Katie definitely differs from her brother—she loves drawing at a much younger age! She saw the chalk sitting out and wanted to use it…so we went out to the driveway and she Had. A. Ball.
The tongue is out!
“Here, mama!”
She was scooting all over, legs and feet going a mile a minute…
And then she’d lay her face right down on the driveway…
She was covered.
Then she stuck her hand in the exhaust pipe and was covered in black. 🙂
She did this by herself! No prompting from me!
Stinky!!
Like brother, like sister…just a bit apart in age. Owen’s was at 25m, Katie’s was at 20m.
Owen:
Katie: