Owen was doing his summer [school] pages tonight when he came across this. We all thought it was funny. (The object was to pick the word from the sentence that should be capitalized—learning that the first word of the sentence is always capitalized.)
I had promised Owen we would take him so today was the day! Both kids had a blast! (I remembered to take cups!)
Owen was very proud of this:
Owen’s pediatrician wanted to revisit his genetics results to see if any new information has been discovered in the past 2.5 years…so it was off to Bethesda to see a specialist.
In the waiting room, Owen made a beeline for the one kid he saw who was also using a tablet. 🙂
The short story is that there is nothing new regarding his previous test results and we don’t have to worry about revisiting them for another two years unless something changes drastically with his health or behavior. We also don’t have to worry about getting Katie tested.
I fully believe it’s something that could’ve been handled over the phone without actually seeing Owen in person but I obviously that would make things too easy. (Fortunately the drive there did not give me an anxiety attack as it has in the past—the traffic was fairly light and I left plenty of time.)
To celebrate my weight loss, I went shopping. 🙂 I was hoping to find a pair or two of capris on sale that would last me the rest of this season (and most likely through the spring when I will hopefully need another new size—the way my body apparently fits into pants, I may be wearing these for 3-4 months (if I keep losing at the same rate)). This was me trying on new jeans—and kind of liking how they looked and feeling good! I sent the pic to Tom saying I wasn’t sure—they were a little tight but they were stretchy—and he said GET THEM. Smart man, I know! 🙂
And then we got Owen a future treat at the Lego store (we’re changing his chore chart reward system), and he was giddy about the Minecraft displays. 🙂
She always wants to comb my hair but I only let her on days that I wash and condition it.
He said it was costume day so we did this (he can’t get in/out of his costumes by himself).
ABCs while shopping.
This is what she was busy doing while I wasn’t watching. And this is her pout when I tell her she needs to pick them all up.
She tried a ham and cheese (no condiment) sandwich—and actually ate most of it!
I decided to make my all-time favorite garlic toast today because the bread was on sale B1G1 at the store.
“Mama, I want to put the water in please.” Except 98% of it didn’t make it in.
Outdoor lap selfie!
The little stink beat me!!
I asked him to try them on and of course I got posing. 🙂
They’re a size 10 regular! And the waist is good…they’re just a few inches long. He continues to grow taller while not gaining weight! Yay!
They do this all on their own.
Owen wanted me to take a picture of his loose tooth…
So then of course Katie wanted me to take a picture of her, too.
Katie found a pair of her shoes in our room so of course she had to put them on…and then her and Owen watch the iPad on the floor waiting for me to get out of bed (Tom is usually up with them on the weekends but he had duty last night).
Katie did amazing at swim class today! (We were here on a Saturday for a makeup lesson.)
And Owen actually had a one-on-one lesson so he got a lot of practice in—and did well with his side-breathing.
Walking on a track makes for a funny GPS recording:
A 2015 Subaru CrossTrek in Tangerine Orange Pearl!
He has been researching for awhile now so this wasn’t totally out of the blue…but it was a quick decision (the dealer only had this one on the lot and wasn’t getting anymore and it was a decent deal—and someone else was coming to look at it that night). We hated to spend the money, but really wanted to trade his 2008 Prius in before it lost too much more value or required major work like hybrid battery replacement.
The car is quite cool, though I’ve only had a quick ride around the block thus far (he got home about 8:15). Tom loves it—it’s a HUGE upgrade with extras like Bluetooth and leather seats that he’s thrilled about. I kinda hate him because it’s orange and I’m the one who really loves neat colors…but I’m excited because I’ll actually drive it (I never really liked the Prius).
The only minor snag in the process is that I can’t find the title to his Prius. Normally my recordkeeping is SPOT ON but it’s nowhere—it’s not in the safe and it’s not in the file cabinet…and there’s not even a scan of it anywhere! I have an old title (with the first lienholder still on it) scanned into Evernote but that’s it. And oh yeah, of course I can’t find the lien payoff letter, either. WTF??
I know it can be resolved, but now it’s going to be a PITA. What gets me is that I scan everything like that into Evernote—or at the very least, my computer. And there’s nothing. NOTHING. I know we got the lein release letter but can’t recall receiving the title. To be missing one of them maybe…but both?!
The kids were SUPER excited! We went for a short ride around the block and they were practically giddy!
Owen didn’t have activity camp this week so we did this instead! They played while I walked around the path for my mile walk!
Today he brought a shield and sword.
Katie likes to be pushed high!
Her same friend was back—this time with a scooter. Katie desperately wanted to use the scooter, but didn’t want to actually move on it. 🙂
We were on the way to the playground when Owen noticed we all had the same shoes!
Owen tells Katie to sit like this when they get in the car, so when I come around to buckle her in, this is what I see. They love it.
…this is what it would look like 24/7.
But I make them do things like this (yes, make—they often give me grief until they’re out there and then they love it):
Guess which one loved it and which one was scared to death?
Katie loved it and Owen was scared—he liked the first 10 seconds of Tom lifting him up into the tree but then it was a constant stream of “I’m scared, I don’t like this, I want to get down!” I told him I wanted a picture and held my phone up, he saw it and smiled brilliantly for the photo above, then that was IT.
She’s not even posing. This is just a natural look. Hoo boy are we in for trouble… 🙂
Getting better at floating—lasting longer in the float position little by little.
Then guess who suddenly LOVED jumping in?
She loves wearing her goggles now! We think that’s why she liked jumping in this time!
And another natural look LOL. I missed the actual eye roll. 🙂
Owen wanted to open his presents as soon as we got home…and Katie really wanted to help. She had a hard time accepting that these were OWEN’S PRESENTS and there were none for her. But he’s a nice brother so he let her help on a few.
Then we took a little break so I could go walk on the treadmill and they could play on the bounce house…and also so Owen wouldn’t blow through all his gifts in the first day!
Afterwards, I noticed Owen was wearing a new Minion #selfie shirt and I asked if he knew what a selfie was. He said no, so we took this picture:
And then he grabbed my phone and took this:
Back to the gifts! 🙂
The wait was finally over—the day for Owen’s postponed birthday pool party! And the weather was perfect!! We had 19 kids and 14 adults!
The timing was perfect: at the end of every hour, the lifeguards take a 15-minute break and all kids must exit the pool. So we used this time to have our pizza lunch!
The second break was time for cake! Of course, I had completely forgot to put the balloon in the cake…
So it went in the leftovers so I could take a picture. 🙂
Two of the kids from his Kindergarten class (who are about his size so he looks normal!).
Everyone had a great time! The kids LOVED the water shooters and, while a few got broken, each kid was able to take one home. We guessed pretty good on the pizza—we ordered five and ate about four. There was enough cake to leave out a few pieces and freeze a nice chunk for a later date. The best part was after 10 minutes of cleaning up and packing the car, we were DONE. 🙂
Owen likes showers better these days, but I convinced him to take a bath with Katie this morning…by promising a new treat: fingerpaint soap (gotta love the dollar bins at Target!). They had a blast.
I had each one fill their hand with their respective colors (pink and blue) and then had them rub hands…to get a light purple! Owen knew about mixing colors but he still thought it was super cool. Katie was amazed! Some days it’s the little things. 🙂
We surprised the kids with tickets to a water circus. We were driving around beforehand running errands and they saw the big tents and they knew it was a circus!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly as exciting as I thought it would be from being called a WATER circus…it was pretty much your basic circus acts with a few of them done inside a ring of falling water. I didn’t really even take any pictures. It was also REALLY warm inside the tent and we were there an hour early, so it was a loooong afternoon of sitting on uncomfortable seats in an unfriendly temperature. There were some neat acts and the kids enjoyed it, but it certainly didn’t compare to the Big Apple Circus we saw last year.
She’s getting better at floating!
Owen getting a lesson on the backstroke from a new instructor:
This is what happens when left to her own devices:
“I’ve got a tutu!”
>>> July pictures are now online at Shutterfly!
Yes, the entire way home…Owen was the only kid who napped.
We had high hopes of having the kids practice riding their bikes on vacation since Gramma Jean and Grandpa David have a great driveway and live on the corner of two (basically) flat roads…but we were so busy that we didn’t get to it until our very last night. Uncle Rob was tasked to help out!
Tom said they actually did pretty good…but they still need LOTS of practice. At the rate we’re going, they might be able to ride without training wheels by high school.