After the Lego build, the kids could create a Lego ornament. For every one made, Lego will donate a Lego box to a child in need in the hospital. These are what Katie and Owen made… Can you guess whose is whose?
Category Archives: Owen
Life is what you make it.
After a fun
(the kids finally got their phones back to play Pokémon for the morning)
and then challenging day with the kids
(it was basement cleaning day 😣 plus Katie’s reading drama),
this is what I needed
(a fire and a drink with hubby).
💕
Yes, the kids were out with us for awhile, too.
More trick-or-treating!
The kids got a surprise second night of trick or treating, thanks to a neighbor who took them to Lake Bluff with their boys. They were thrilled with the free hot dogs and chips at the fire station plus the great candy at the big expensive houses. Owen’s first words were “I want to trick and treat there again!” Sitha, your husband rocks!
Both kids are in gymnastics!
Katie has been begging to take gymnastics again and Owen was interested in boys rec… They were both offered at the same place at the same time so I figured it was meant to be!
Barn dancing!
Owen’s music class is learning barn dancing and parents were allowed to come watch! So of course I took advantage!
The whole thing was a hot mess from start to finish—you can imagine how much fourth graders really want to be dancing, right? That said, Owen did well and didn’t screw around too much (especially compared to other boys, some of which I wanted to throttle).
All I know is those teachers DO NOT get paid enough.
Halloween 2018
I may have tried a SeneGence cat face… and pretty much failed. I am definitely NOT an artist (this took WAY longer than it should have)…but at least I know it’s not going anywhere. 😂 Also, I’m lame. I don’t even have cat ears.
Katie has known she wanted to be Harley Quinn forever. Owen had no real direction and this is a costume I picked up at the resale shop earlier this week on a whim (I knew he’d love it but didn’t think he’d wear it for Halloween).
The girls wanted to be twins. 💕 I think Katie pulled it off slightly better since she had blonde hair and the hair colors showed up better.
The weather was actually decent and the trees were gorgeous! I had to take a pic of me with one since we don’t have any nice ones in our yard.
Tom ended up carrying the girls’ weapons pretty much from the start.
Friends had come with us, and this is the boys heading home after a successful trip.
The haul!
And sorted…because I like to see what we got the most of… AND because you have to keep the chocolate separate from the candy otherwise it gets nasty.
I have to say at first I thought it was way weird having trick-or-treating on a Saturday afternoon instead of on Halloween night… But I like that it’s in daylight and when it’s over we still have time left to chill and eat candy without having to go straight to bed.
The good thing about this year? Since the weather was nicer, we went farther into the neighborhood and they got more candy! Last year we only hit a few houses and then came home…and then felt guilty so we took them out another night in another city. This year it is one and done!
Surprise! Daddy started a fire after trick or treating! Unfortunately it started sprinkling so the kids didn’t last long… But I did get a cute pic of Katie.
Christmas in July in October!
Owen finally picked what he wanted from Amazon from Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim—a gem digging kit! (Huh? What? Okay, whatever!) He had a blast digging out all the rocks and reading about them.
Painting pumpkins!!
The last farmer’s market of the season had fun kids projects… I was surprised they both wanted to try!
Katie is also really good at hula hooping.
Love on a military kid. It’s worth it. I promise.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Every three years I get extreme mom guilt ripping my kids away from their good friends and wondering if and when they will meet new friends.
From Kayln Silva on Facebook:
I was talking to a civilian friend this morning and we were agreeing how hard it is to say goodbye to military families, and she jokingly says, yeah I always tell my kids don’t get too close because you know what will happen!! They just move away!!!
And with that my heart just sank, I know she was kidding and I know what she means, because she doesn’t understand, but I beg you please please don’t ever view military kids like this.
Please don’t distance yourself from them because it’s just a matter of time before they’re gone….again.
If we walk around this life viewing every relationship like that how would we get close to anyone? I understand this life is unique, and most military families jump into each new adventure with both feet, but for the rest of the world watching us, know that it’s hard.
Really hard. It breaks my heart every time we have to say good bye to yet another friend, someone they’ve connected with and someone they‘ve cared about.
If you have the opportunity to know a military child, please take a moment to realize that the constant state of transitions and unknowns is tough. We smile and laugh and make the most of every day we are together because the reality is, it very well could be. You never know when orders drop, or news comes that someone is moving away.
If you know a military child, take the time to hug them, understand them, invest in them.
Whether they are here for a few months or 4 years, to know that someone genuinely cares about them means so much to their little hearts 💕
School pics 2018
School pics were waiting for us when we got home! YAY!
I hate to say it, but I don’t love Katie’s. She looks just fine, of course, but it doesn’t have THE sparkle she normally has in pics. And I always put Owen in blue but this year it just fades into the background too much. They’re both perfectly fine, just nothing special. (I think this is what happens when you take 10,000 pics of your kids a year—school pics have a lot to live up to!) There’s always spring photos…
Roar Run, year 2
Of course, yesterday was the most gorgeous fall day and today was rainy and chilly.
They had a bunch of activities in the gym. Katie is a hula hoop rock star.
And they both had fun on these. Katie called them feet puppets. 🙂 Tom and I got a good laugh out of that one.
Owen actually looked like a serious runner.
Katie did well this year, too—she knew she couldn’t sit on Tom’s shoulders at all. And she wanted to beat Sophia (since Sophia can’t in right before her last year)… And she did!
Tom and Katie actually both qualified for a medal, but we didn’t want to wait around 1.5 hours until the end so they’ll just get them at school eventually. They all did awesome!!
Back to school beach party
Owens school had a beach party and Tom was working late so Katie had to come with us.
This is Wiley, the district mascot.
Beach volleyball. We were the first ones there so it was just Owen, Katie, and a teacher. They had a blast!
Katie did the limbo about 10 times but she’s never ask for it to be lowered.
We also spent time at the floor hockey station (pool bottles as sticks and blow up balls as pucks), the dance party, and origami (which kicked my butt). Friends of ours were also there so Owen was running around with them. After, we took the kids to Culver’s. 🙂
Date night face!
We were going out to a nice dinner with friends in another city so I decided to do a full face! This is how many pics I took trying to get some good new ones. Of course they aren’t all winners…but I did get some great shots.
I spent a lot of years hating how I looked and having to take 50 pics in the hopes of getting a single decent one. So it still blows my mind when I take pics and can’t pick a best one…because there are SO many good ones. Of course it helps that I have awesome anti-aging skincare and makeup products to compete the look!! 💄
I don’t often get this dressed up–and I use fake lashes even less–but it’s fun to do now and again. I considered this a dry run for formal night on our upcoming cruise… 🚢
I couldn’t decide on the best pic from the night, so here’s 16 because why not. 😍
And then to these. 🙂
Of course I had some photobombers.
But that was okay because I needed Owen to take our picture. 🙂
And the impressive before and after…showing that even plain janes can look gorgeous with a little bit of work!
Free wood cost us damn $75!
Someone on NextDoor was giving away free wood—plus they actually delivered it—so we were excited because we can always use firewood. However, the pieces were soooo big that there was no way Tom could chop them with his axe (he tried, and after 30 minutes he just had a few shards off one piece). So we had to rent a log splitter. Four hours and $75 later we have a huge pile of wood! 🙂
Owen helped but he wasn’t thrilled about it.
My face when Target has great clearance deals!
I got $359 worth of kids summer clothes and shoes for $232 after the clearance prices, coupons, and REDcard savings.
I had Owen write down the numbers and do the math, so this might be a hair off but you get the gist. 🙂
RETAIL PRICE: $359
CLEARANCE PRICE: $232
I’ll take a 35% savings! 🙂
Hot dogs on the fire!
Owen is now obsessed with the fire, so we thought we’d let the kids cook hot dogs tonight. Owen was ALL about it but Katie wanted no part of it (you can see her pouting).
Owen did it but complained that it was too hot.
Happy boys having fun!
Mom, how was the universe created?
When your 9yo asks you how the universe was created, you go to Google. Here’s your lesson for the day—it’s actually very interesting and at a level we cloths BOTH understand. 🙂 It’s only like four minutes, too!
Big Bang: How the Universe was created
What created all the planets, stars and galaxies? BBC Future presents a four-minute animated guide to one of the greatest questions we’ve tried to solve.
After school PTA playdate
It was a gorgeous day so I took the kids to the PTA after school playdate at Owen’s school playground. It’s always disappointing to see how few people show up for these things—I think there were like 10 kids there when we got there (for a district-wide event that’s nothing). That said, it was terribly mosquito-y so we didn’t stay long, but the kids had fun with a parachute!
Playing with fire!
Under direct parental supervision of course. We are trying to get them to not be crazy scared around it…but still have a healthy fear. And having some fun!
Who does Owen think he is?
This was one of his first projects of the school year.
Owen’s crab.
Owen and Katie were building with the magnets and Owen came upstairs with these and wanted me to take a picture of his crab.
Mom and Owen cuddles
Owen came home from school with his ear still not feeling better—and he actually wanted to cuddle with me on the couch. He’s 9 so that doesn’t happen much anymore…so I relish when it does. He also let me run my fingers through his hair which he doesn’t like but I love… 😍
Double swimmers ear and an ear infection.
Both kids started complaining of sore ears and headaches Tuesday afternoon so it was off to the doc today. I had a feeling they had swimmers ear since that’s what happened to Owen the last time we had the waterslide…and the doc confirmed it. Plus Owen also had a mild middle ear infection. And Katie has generic first-week-back-to-school crud from the Petri dish that is a school with 1200 kids.
Braces, part 1: the expander
He was’t terribly excited about me taking a picture before getting his expander.
Being his silly self.
End result:
She said it would take him a few days to learn how to talk with it—and that is definitely the case. He mumbles a lot anyway so this just makes it 10 times as hard to understand him.
I got a little parched waiting for the elementary bus…
Buses always run late the first few days and today was no exception. But we were all there waiting on time…in the sun…and it was hot…so at about 30 minutes I sent Owen home to get me a celebratory drink! It really hit the spot!
First day of 4th and 1st grades!
I tried to get pics on the front porch but the lighting just wasn’t right (well, the lighting was good but it was too bright and they wanted to squint).
So we tried elsewhere, but it still wasn’t right…and Katie was cold.
First day of 4th grade. What?! So serious.
Okay, a tiny smile.
Owen and Xavier are the only two at their bus stop at 7:45. Yes, 7:45AM. Needless to say this is the ONLY day I will be going with him. 🙂
Katie’s turn…in her annual T-shirt pictures.
We found the perfect lighting! She was pointing to geese flying overhead.
First day of 1st grade. I can’t even with this outfit and the shoes.
With a backpack almost as big as she is!
At the bus stop with Linkin and Nate (Sophia will be there, too, but she was parent drop off today).
My happy face!!
And later on Facebook I found these pics of how the elementary students were welcomed to school. How cool.
Meet the teachers!
Our official anniversary dinner!!
Why not let our month-long anniversary celebration continue with dinner out on our actual anniversary?! We opted to take the kids with us…and they were really good. And we got complimentary Prosecco and truffles!!
A successful play date!
My new friend that I met at the playground (LOL) invited us over today so that was right after the orthodontist. They live in a new subdivision in a huge new house and it really made me miss our new houses… And yes, I told her I kind of hated her a little bit. 🙂
The kids all got along—even with Katie! They jumped on the trampoline, played Xbox for a bit, played Legos, had snacks, then played board games.
Anna was really impressed since she said normal playdates only last about 20-30 minutes before one of the boys is done. So apparently Owen and Katie are magic.
Her husband happened to come home early and he was just as great and easy to chat with as she is and we had a great time. I can’t wait for them to meet Tom!
Oh, and you know how I said it was weird how similar we were? Look what she has?
We have the same exact secretary. I have only ever seen one other of these in person and it was at antique store. Bizarre. (Truth be told, I might like ours better if it looked like this. In its current state it is NOT my style.)
The time flew and suddenly it was 3 hours later…
Getting braces is much different these days.
Today Owen had his first orthodontic appointment—getting his mouth scanned for many thousands of pictures of his teeth/mouth to be stitched together so he doesn’t need impressions! Technology is awesome.
They also put on the two rubber band spacers to prepare for the expander.