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Owen’s first day of 1st grade!

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We bought a bunch of new lunchbags for Owen in various patterns—red owls, multi-colored dark stripes, pirate treasure map, etc…and what one did he want to use for his first day? The pink multi-colored hearts!

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I figured I should prepare him for kids teasing him about it (I didn’t actually expect it, but better safe than sorry).

Me: Owen, what would you say if some kid made fun of you for bringing a “girl-colored” pink heart lunch bag.
Owen: [You could see his heart sink.] I would say that was mean.
Me: Yes, it would be mean. You just tell them you like pink and it’s a cool color.
Owen: [Getting sassier.] And if they ask me if it’s because I love anyone? I’ll tell them NO!
Me: You don’t love me? Or daddy? Or your sister?
Owen: Well yes. 🙂

And then it was time for pictures! I did Katie while Owen got his shoes on. She had to sit on the very top step.

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“Mama, take a picture of me upside down!”

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The same questions I asked him last year. The funny thing is that he usually just spouts something off the top of his head! Like I can’t remember the last time he asked for an orange—it’s always strawberries. And I can’t tell you the last time we watched Incredibles–it’s usually Lego Movie or Wreck It Ralph. And it was the very first time I heard anything about wanting to be a policeman. Kids are silly. Oh! And the favorite book? I think we’ve read it maybe twice that I can remember, so I asked why that book and he said “Because it shows how you take care of me and love me.” Awwww.

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And then it was off to the bus stop…where it was hotter than hell. Holy wah. It was horribly hot and the kids were sweating from running around. I love the first day of school, though, because there were more parents there than kids! 🙂

I was really excited about his new backpack—it’s from Costco and is much more well-made than the Minion one he had last year…but it’s really overkill for him (it has a laptop pocket, room for lots of pens and pencils, a phone, etc.). We’ll see how it works, but we may end up getting a bit smaller one. 

Last day at the pool!

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Labor Day is officially the last day our pool is open, so we headed down early—hoping that it wouldn’t be too crazy busy because they were having a BBQ (free food brings out everyone and their brother who NEVER come to the pool any other time) from 1-4. Fortunately, it wasn’t that busy when we got there at 11, though it got steadily busier as the actual BBQ time got closer.

I took a bunch of pics with our waterproof camera which is always fun because it’s so bright out you can’t really tell what you took so you can’t tell if you got any good pics until you get home and check them on the computer!

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I like this one because Owen looks like a stingray.

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Katie enjoyed pouring water on daddy.

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And throwing water at him. This was a lucky shot!

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Another ham in the family.

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Katie loves it when daddy goes to the bottom of the pool so she can walk on him.

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They each had a hot dog and chips…then Katie had a second hot dog! EEK!

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A full pool. Quite a difference from the empty pool we normally have when we’re there.

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Tom ended up taking Katie home a little early and I stayed with Owen until about 3:30. He would have stayed longer but I was exhausted—we’re rarely at the pool that long and I was done with the sun.

Dinner with new friends!

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So last night at our dinner, some new friends (that we’ve technically known all school year—their twin girls were in Owen’s class—but we just never actually got together since we were all busy) said we were welcome at their house any time and to just come over. I said we would never just show up unannounced, but if they invited us, we’d be there. So he said “Great! We’re having people over tomorrow. Come to dinner!!” So we agreed immediately!

The kids had a BLAST. They actually have two sets of twins—the girls (in first grade) and boys, who are one. One of the twin girls is in Owen’s class again this year. Katie loved everyone and kept an eye on the babies! We had an amazingly DELICIOUS authentic Indian meal and met some friends of theirs that were really great. They have a huge back yard (probably three times the size of our Jacksonville yard!) so Owen was running all over. They have a playset, too, which Katie loved.

After dinner, this was happening—the kids all having fun taking pictures with someone’s iPhone:

We hadn’t planned on staying longer than maybe two hours (sleep schedules, you know) but we were all having such a good time and the kids were busybusybusy that we ended up staying until ALMOST 11! Holy wah! (We had prepped Katie by making sure she napped beforehand, but she still did really, really well.)

We look forward to many more fun nights with them!!

We have a shark in the family!

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Owen graduated from Turtle 2 to Shark 1 today!

Working on his breast stroke:

And Katie still working on her floating.

She’s VERY good at the floating and she can jump in no problem…she just needs to jump in AND THEN roll over onto her back by herself…and then she will graduate to a red cap! I had a talk with the owner about what to do if/when she does graduate…because I honestly can’t see her swimming and I hate to pay $90/month to just play in the water and not learn anything. She said to just try it for a few weeks and see what happens—they don’t push the kids at all and if she isn’t afraid to be in the water on her own she might learn more than we think. But if it’s not working after a month, then we can reconsider—and also, she said they normally don’t do drop-in lessons, but if we wanted to come once a month for a drop-in lesson to make sure she still knows how to float, they’d let us do that. So, we’ll see.

Back to School Night

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We were the first family in Owen’s classroom so he wasn’t too shy…and agreed to a picture with his new teacher, Mrs. Talley.

I took advantage of the empty room by taking a few room photos.

 

As more and more people arrived, he got more and more shy…and was eventually glued to my side. There are six kids total from his Kindergarten class (24 students total) so it’s nice that they start with friends. He also knows a neighbor girl (from our street) and a boy we met through t-ball (the older brother of a teammate) so he’s happy!

The teacher had a brief presentation and it was much less chaotic than the Kindergarten one last year! When I got home, I found this picture on the school’s Facebook page—you can see Tom and Katie at the very right edge and I’m sitting in front of them. 

What might have been the best part of the event, though, was talking to the preschool director about getting Katie in the Peer Modeling program (it was recommended by a friend). The actual pre-school program is for high-risk or special needs-type students, but they have preschool-aged peers come into the class to model behaviors and skills. And it doesn’t cost anything! (I just have to provide transportation and lunch/snack. I can do that!) I filled out the paperwork and now just have to wait—they typically invite kids to the classroom for a trial period and see how it goes or where the best fit would be. I’m practically jumping for joy to think about her being in preschool for three days a week! And she’d be in the same hallway as Owen!

So the night was a success!

Owen’s summer challenges: complete!

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Owen just finished his “100 Books in 100 Days” and “200 Pages in 100 Days” Challenges!! 

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It wasn’t all easy—he fought the workbook pages a bit and got WEEKS behind but caught up at the end when he realized he might not get his surprise. 🙂 Also, to be honest, he really probably only read a total of 60-70 books, but a bunch of them were small chapter books (like 10 pages per chapter, three or four chapters per book) so he got multi-credits for those. And this was his reward!

Mornings are always interesting.

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There’s usually crying by Katie at some point, the kids playing nice, doors slamming, arguing between the kids over something/anything/nothing, sometimes yelling on my end…and then there’s this.

I had finished my shower and gotten dressed and it was quiet. Too quiet.

Owen was reading Katie the book that Tom had started the previous night.

Cue my heart melting. 🙂

Teachers on buses!

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Owen’s elementary school had their teachers get on buses and visit a few neighborhoods to say hi and hand out treats!



Owen’s two kindergarten teachers are on the far right.

We were coming home from the sprayground a few minutes before the bus was to arrive at the local library, so we stopped. Owen got to say hi to his Kindergarten teacher and Aide, he met his new art teacher, and got an icee pop!

  

Our first metro ride!

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We were headed into the city to have lunch with friends…and since it was semi close to a subway stop, we decided to make a fun trip out of it! We had to drive north about 15 minutes to catch the metro where it starts.

The kids were super excited about riding a train!

At the restaurant, Kabob Palace.

 

We wan into a bit of a snafu on the way home—long story short we weren’t paying attention and ended up on the wrong train (headed north instead of south) so we had a 20-minute wait for the next (correct) train. 

   

And the car was a bit more crowded than our first trip so the boys had to stand for one stop. 

 

They both loved it and wanted to do it again immediately. 🙂 I’m sure we’ll go somewhere again, but I’m also sure it won’t be a regular thing because this simple, short trip cost us about $22 in fares (it’s about $3.50pp each direction)!

Kidisms 15

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There are almost always geese out on/near the road when we take Owen to his activity camp in the morning—and Katie LOVES seeing them.
Katie: What are they doing?
Me: Maybe they’re looking for breakfast.
Katie: Cereal!
Me: No, I don’t think they want cereal.
Katie: Maybe they need a home.
Me: Maybe.
Katie: We should take them to our home!
Me: What would we do with geese at our house?
Katie: Put them outside!

Owen: I love red cherry snow cones. Except not much because I just ate five pieces.

Owen: Mama, I love you.
Me: I love you, too.
Owen: And I also love Sick Bricks.

We were riding home with all the windows open.
Owen: It’s 100% windy!

Katie: Mom, can I get in the box with Charlie?
Me: Sure.
Katie: But there’s not enough box!

Katie: Owen, do you love daddy?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love Mommy?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love me?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love Cayenne?
Owen: [silence]
Katie: Owen? Do you love Cayenne?
Owen: [silence]
Katie: I love her, she’s my friend. She’s my girl.