We’ve had some ups and downs…Owen continually plays with the pieces and builds other stuff and then ends up LOSING them…so he’s actually almost gotten it taken away a few times. But today we soldiered on and he finished through bag 6.
Category Archives: Owen
Owen as a fire-breathing dragon
Owen has had a cough for going on 3-4 weeks now so we finally decided to get it checked out. (He’s never had a temperature or anything that made us think he needed to be seen. Google said to take him in if the cough didn’t go away after three or so weeks. He seemed to be getting better…but then got worse again.)
Sharing the iPad:
Owen relaxing on the “beach.”
Katie sitting in the “boat.”
There’s always a bow and arrow involved.
The doc examined him and said it sounded like something viral and thought a breathing treatment might help…so we did that. The doc said he’d look like a fire-breathing dragon. 🙂
The doc said it helped a little so prescribed an albuterol inhaler so it was off to the pharmacy, otherwise known as the seventh circle of hell. Today we had a screaming toddler sitting across from us…for about 45 minutes. And then…we all had to leave since there was apparently a small fire somewhere close. NOOOOOOO!!!!
First we moved to the hallway. Then we got moved outside. Then we got moved across the street. We had no idea how long it was going to take, but thankfully we were headed back inside within about 10 minutes (it was windy and freezing). And then had another 15 or so minutes to wait for the script.
We arrived at the hospital for a 9:10 appointment at 8:50 and were leaving the pharmacy at 11:20. Yeesh. And our fingers are crossed that the treatments help.
Happy 7th Birthday, Owen!
I wasn’t able to find a cool birthday shirt and forgot about buying a pin or anything, so I just printed out a sticker for him!
I let him open one present before school—a Lego birthday cake.
Of course, building began immediately.
He finished it before he left for school but it was really close and we didn’t have time to get a picture of him with it…so this is from Thursday morning:
When he got home we quick Skyped with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David (in Florida) and Grannie and Papa so everyone could sing Happy Birthday and he could open their presents. Then it was off to the Lego store for the monthly mini build which he completed in under three minutes:
5:16pm
Katie playing while Owen builds:
5:19pm
He bought a Minecraft Lego set that was on clearance with some of his birthday money.
And then it was off to Red Robin for dinner (his choice)…where he got surprised with a song and a sundae!
Then we stopped at Ikea to get Katie’s new nightlight and then home so Owen could Skype with Uncle Rob and open our gifts. He loved everything (a birthday Dr. Seuss book, a book of pirate mazes, a shooting/target set, and some perler beads and boards), but took the Minecraft book to bed with him. 🙂
I think he had a good day. 🙂
Such a cute boy this morning I had to take a picture.Â
I can’t believe he’s turning seven tomorrow. SEVEN. SEVEN, people. Where did my baby go?!
Showing off one of the home-printed cards to one of his favorite iPad games.
Toilet Seat Training
We’re trying to teach Owen to put the seat down after he pees so every once in awhile when he forgets Tom jokingly makes him do a few push-ups. 🙂
Snow Day 7.5
If you can believe it, we had a 2-hour delay today! On a day that’s supposed to be 63°! I think you could hear the collective gasp throughout the county as the text came in!
Following an assessment of roads and sidewalks throughout the county, despite rising temperatures today, a significant number of sidewalks and crosswalks remain impassable. In order to provide additional daylight for morning travel, including more than 40,000 students that walk to school, all Fairfax County public schools will open two hours late Monday February 1, 2016.
We watched a neighbor kid because his parents had to go to work…and Owen and Katie were in heaven. You’d think we never had friends over before!
Katie showed me!
I was actually considering stopping Katie’s swim lessons because I wasn’t sure she was still progressing and $75/mo is a decent chunk of money for her to just be splashing around for a few hours. So of course she completely amazed me today! I asked the instructor to have her practice her floating (since she hasn’t done that in months) and she did great at that—along with actually swimming!! Holy cow! So…lessons continue!
Playing together after their lessons were over.
Pie Face!
We got the kids this game for Christmas and we finally played tonight! It was hilarious and well worth the $10. Poor Tom. Lucky Jen. Smart Katie.
And a few pics from the videos:
Thrift store scores!
We scored big at the thrift store today. We found Qwirkle, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, and Chutes & Ladders Sesame Street for $1.50 each!
Here, Owen is currently “battling” with the Qwirkle pieces (his own creation—nothing to do with the actual game):
Daddy Owen Game Time
Snow Day 6: Flight
I had to get them out of the house to burn some energy. Thankfully it wasn’t crazy busy when they first opened.
She really catches some air when she jumps. It’s VERY impressive!
Owen catches some decent air, too!
Katie really wanted to play basketball with the kids, but they were older and weren’t interested in giving her a chance. The few times Owen gave her the ball, she immediately handed it off to someone else. 🙂
Katie’s fall really looks much worse in slo-motion.
Jonas: Snow Day 4
It really warmed up today so with the melting, we FINALLY had the perfect snow to build a snowman! The government is still shut down as well, so daddy was home again, too! YAY!
While Owen and I were starting to build the snowman on the deck…
…Katie was building her own little mini snowman. 🙂
Putting on the headband that came in Gramma Jean’s Snowman Kit.
Dressing the big snowman!
Owen wanted to build “an ice wall” so I helped him. Meaning I pretty much did it all while he played. 🙂 Of course, it’s hard to see white on white, but it was a pretty impressive wall.
Sea Cow progress!
Progress! It’s slow going because he keeps stopping to play with the pieces and build other stuff with them. And while I hate telling him to stop being creative, he also keeps losing pieces. And we’d much rather have him build/lose random pieces instead of the $250 set of pieces.
Owen made a difference.Â
We were grocery shopping today and Owen asked what the bags were for at the end of the register. We explained they were bags of food for people who didn’t have any. He seemed interested so we asked if he wanted to get one as part of his birthday present (or using his birthday money). He eagerly said yes. 🙂
Jonas Day 3 / Snow Day 3
After MUCH drama getting dressed—in which Katie almost got banished to her room—we made it outside. We had hoped to be able to build a snowman, but the snow just wasn’t good. AT ALL. And Owen lost his boot again within the first five minutes…so I came in and let them play in the back yard. After about 20 minutes they wanted to go to the front, so they had to trek through the house (since there’s no way to open the gate, and even if we could get it open, the snow is 3′ deep between the houses). They played out front for probably a half hour before Tom went to check on them and then I went out to take a few pictures.
And this would be why we can’t see anything out our bedroom windows!
Jonas, Day 2
Subtitled: Too. Much. Damn. Snow. And that’s coming from a Michigander.
Plowed and sanded…but only one lane.
So here, the kids are technically playing in the street.
The bus stop is still a little buried.
Looking up the main street.
Snow angel…in the street. 🙂
Taking a flying leap…
The landing!
Rule breaker!
Playing across the street.
Tom wanted to check out the town…and see how his new car did on the roads. 🙂 (He said it did great!)
The Wall O’ Snow.
Pouting because I wouldn’t give her the water spray bottle she remembered using this summer.
Using a net as a shovel.
Brushing off my tires with a scrub brush.
Owen’s thank you to the Mythbusters
We watched a recent Mythbusters with the kids. Owen drew a picture and wrote a thank you to Adam and Jamie and wanted me “to send it to them in California.” I told him I’d take a picture and tweet it to them. I briefly thought about asking a friend for insider info to get it directly to Adam (they’re acquaintances) but figured I’d save any potential favors for something a bit more…serious. 🙂
So I tweeted three different times:
And a few hours later, we got this:
How cool is that?! Owen was super excited!
Unfortunately, we haven’t “heard” anything from Jamie yet, but we’re still crossing our fingers. 🙂
Q&A with the kids
A friend posted this on Facebook and I did it with the kids: Without ANY prompting ask your kids these questions. It’s a great way to see what they think. (I asked them separately but they were in the same room at the same time.)
Owen, 6
Katie, 3
1. What is something I always say to you?
Owen: I love you.
Katie: Be polite.
2. What makes me happy?
Owen: Being nice.
Katie: Being polite.
3. What makes me sad?
Owen: Not being polite.
Katie: Not being polite.
4. How do I make you laugh?
Owen: Telling jokes.
Katie: Like this <cackles>. Donuts.
5. What was I like as a child?
Owen: Reading.
Katie: Playing dinner.
6. How old am I?
Owen: 42
Katie: I don’t know.
7. How tall am I?
Owen: 4.5 inches.
Katie: I don’t know. You’re big.
8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Owen: Going to the beach.
Katie: Play games with me.
9. What do I do when you’re not around?
Owen: Watch Ellen Degeneres.
Katie: I don’t know.
10. What am I really good at?
Owen: Reading.
Katie: Putting the tv on.
11. What am I not very good at?
Owen: Playing video games.
Katie: Making dinner.
12. What do I do for a job?
Owen: You don’t have any jobs.
Katie: Something amazing.
13. What is my favorite food?
Owen: Pizza.
Katie: Chicken dog. I mean pizza.
14. What do you enjoy doing with me?
Owen: Playing board games.
Katie: I don’t know.
The Effects of Jonas
So, it’s hard to tell in the pictures because everything is white on white on white, but trust me, there was A LOT of snow out there. The end of the driveway was plowed in with at least 3′ of snow (and, unfortunately, we couldn’t find ANYONE to tune up the snowblower, so Tom has been shoveling for about two hours). It wouldn’t be quite as bad if there was somewhere to actually PUT the snow. The yards are so small there’s no room for any of it…and we’re not supposed to put any of it in the street (which would, really, make the most sense, so the plows could take it away).
I have a few pics of the kids, but it was blowing so much when we first got out there that it was difficult to take anything good. The kids were excited and did have fun (and at least we were outside for longer than it took to get them both dressed) but of course Owen had snow up his gloves and arms within the first five minutes (even though I carefully tucked everything in) and then proceeded to lose a boot within the next five minutes (which necessitated a trip inside to change socks and get a new boot—thankfully he has a backup pair). They loved sledding down the hill and it would have made for awesome pictures…but you can only do so much when you’re fully bundled, it’s snowing, and you have to catch the sled before it gets to the main street.
Snowed in…from brushing off the car itself.
Starting the 2700-piece Sea Cow.
Then of course sister wanted to do hers, too. Which means I get to do it…because Owen is normally the one to help her.
Taking his first break:
They HAD to go out and play in the snow.
We had a 2-hour delay that turned into a full snow day (the first of the year!). We didn’t have much snow, but what little we did have made things super slippery. Of course, the kids had to go out and play in it. 🙂
Star of the Week project
So, aside from printing the pictures he wanted/needed, I decided I wasn’t going to help Owen at all on his Star of the Week. I mean, it’s his project and he should be able to handle it. Except after a mere 10 minutes, I was getting jittery just looking at it.
And I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let it go. Yes, it was his work, but I knew he could do better if he took more than a haphazard attitude.
I asked if he liked it and was proud of it. He said yes. I asked him to get last year’s and see which he liked better. Once he saw them next to each other he realized he didn’t like his first effort at all.
So all I did was gently guide him and suggest he place everything first—in groups—before gluing.
And now we’re both happy. 🙂
Dancing Fools
Who knew an old desktop would be that fun?
Tom is getting rid of an old desktop and just had it sitting temporarily in the living room. The kids were completely enthralled with it. I was at my computer and I heard Owen behind me clicking away on the keyboard, saying he was texting dad and playing music. He also kept plugging and replugging the mouse and keyboard cords.
Then, of course, Katie got involved. When she wasn’t clicking away she was “on the phone” (the mouse). 🙂
The only help I get.Â
Of course they both say they’re going to help make cupcakes, but this is about all they do. 🙂
The kids discovered the motion-detector camera this morning.
We have a new video-monitoring system in the house that has motion-detecting cameras. Since I’ve been wanting to keep track of Katie after I put her to bed (she’s been getting out of bed this week), I moved one of the cameras to the upstairs hallway.
These are the videos it recorded this morning. They didn’t know it was recording them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34GQkpbOYyE
Minecraft Story Mode
Owen was so excited to show me this story he wrote today.
Once there was a boy named Steve.
He was mining at night and zombies
came hunting after him and Creepers
came out too. And he found a village.
Throwback Thursday—One of my all-time favorite Owen pictures.
From 2010…
Owen’s note for daddy
Owen wrote this for Tom before I got up today.
I miss you and Katie misses you too we love you dad. Love Owen & Katie to dad
How you wear a hat when it’s 28° but you’ve spiked your hair.
