The band boosters got these shirts for the kids! Can you see Owen?
I’m with the band!
Category Archives: Owen
Yes I picked Owen up like this.
This is what might happen if I’m in the middle of doing my hair when I get a phone call from the school nurse to come get Owen because he got hit in the face in gym. (He’s fine overall but just felt a bit “wonky” and wanted to come home.)
At least my makeup was done?
Both kids were sleeping in the basement…
So OBVIOUSLY both of their bedroom lights were still on when I went to bed.
The story of my life.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
This is what my kids considered “picked up” before the housekeepers got here.
Throwback St. Patrick’s Day
Middle school band competition!
Typically this would be in person but Zoom is still the way of life for a lot of events. So we were all on the stage in the Cafe watching while the kids played in front of the judges on a huge screen!
Grandma and grandpa and the Chang-Yens were able to be there so Owen was excited about that!
Owen’s home again.
Thankfully I was feeling a lot better because I got a call from the nurse’s office saying Owen had a bad stomachache.
UGHHHHH.
He has no other symptoms (thankfully no vomit or diarrhea) so I’m honestly curious if he’s sick or not. Kids are hard—they haven’t had enough experience to know what they can suck it up and work through or if they’re really sick. I did try to suss out if there was anything going on at school that he might be trying to avoid and he assumed me there wasn’t. So… He’s home. And I’m back in bed resting.
First Jazz band concert!
Tonight was the first time the middle school jazz band has been in person since before the Covid lockdown! They performed at the high school with their jazz bands (well, not WITH, but at the same event).
To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect—especially when the band director said they’d only had 14 practices together. But they were actually quite good!
Owen braces, round 2.
Yes, round 2. Thankfully our new insurance covers braces again so we’re only out another $2500 (this round is about $3k more than the last one but the coverage is better).
I did ask if he wanted to reschedule (since we obviously had no idea two months ago what we’d be doing this morning) and he said no.
I wasn’t going to take any pictures but then during the process Owen asked if I would…so of course I did!
Goodbye sweet girl, we love you.
We’re never ready. And it is unbelievable. The day we bring them home the first time… THIS day feels forever away. Until one day, it’s a day away. It seems impossible. —from my dear friend Kelly
Cuddling with the boys…
I’m so glad we opted to do this at home with Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice. Maggie deserved to be in her own home surrounded by her favorite people being showered with all our love and kisses. It was the kids’ first in-person experience with pet death and it was so very hard but, we thought, necessary.
The vet, Dr. Kylie, was amazing. She was loving and gentle and patient and kind. She gave us privacy to say our goodbyes and made a paw print for us.
Goodbye, sweet girl. We love you more than you could ever know.
We wrapped her and sent her off in one of her blankets.
Tom chose to carry her to the vet’s car.
And then we all cried some more and tried to parse that Maggie was really gone…the house just seemed so quiet and empty.
It’s honestly a blur (writing this 9 days after the fact). I don’t remember what we all did. But I do know that Owen had to get ready to get braces later in the day — I had asked if he wanted to reschedule and he said no.
It’s time to say goodbye to Maggie.
Adulting sucks.
Today we had to make the hardest decision a pet owner has to make. And now the hardest part is waiting until it’s actually time.
Hug your pets and give them a scritch for us.
Maggie seemed normal first this morning and then BAM—she could no longer stand or walk—and didn’t even want a treat.
Tom and I called probably six at-home euthanasia vets and apparently pets just aren’t supposed to die on Sundays because nothing is open or available—so it’s tomorrow morning. (Emergency clinics are open but we don’t want to take her somewhere new and strange.) But it will be at home and all four of us will be here because it’s a holiday so there’s no work or school.
Of course as the day progresses we’re second-guessing the decision because she seems a little better…but the old girl is 16—already 4+ years past the typical life span of a Boston Terrier—or 80 in human years. She’s been having a lot of old age issues for about a year now, so we want to do this before something extreme and/or potentially painful happens.
I know she loves sitting in the sun so I took her outside for a bit—wrapped up, of course, because even though it’s 47° today it’s super windy. Her little nose was happily sniffing the whole time.
I’m exhausted from crying but making memories sitting and cuddling with her all day. So until further notice I’m a sobbing human pillow for my old girl.
Household sickness update!
I had 11 somewhat okay hours of sleep…but I didn’t feel great in the morning—no vomiting or anything else, just all over achy and a big headache). I spent most of the day on the couch resting.
Tom now feels crappy, too (he said had been up since 3) so he went in and got his computer this morning (before I got up) and worked from home. He had gastrointestinal issues, nausea, chills…all the good stuff.
Owen had to stay home today regardless but he feels mostly okay.
Katie is perfectly fine.
Oh noooo! A sick kid!
Nothing like being woken at 3:30am by a sick kid (“Mom…Mom…I threw up in my bed”) and having to change the sheets twice in 20 minutes. (Which was especially difficult because a teen boy does not take care of his laundry or keep sheet sets together. So he might or might not have one sheet and a dog blanket on his bed.) And try not to get sick myself because that smell was the most vile thing I’ve smelled in my life. (It was half a day before the smell finally left my nose.)
The first load of laundry went in at 4am with more loads to come (sheets, comforter, mattress pad—oh yeah, we learned that his mattress pad wasn’t really waterproof so his mattress got a quick spot cleaning).
I’ve forgotten how awful this is — no one has been sick like this in years.
Thankfully he slept most of the day. Even took a shower and went back to bed.
I had been worried about having to get him tested for Covid — even though we knew it was a stomach bug, everything is a symptom of Covid so it’s mandatory — but the nurse said she knew the stomach bug was going around, so as long as he followed the normal return-to-school-after-sickness protocol (minimum 24 hours with no vomit or diarrhea) then he could come in to the nurse’s office before school and get tested. Excellent!
He was doing pretty well by that night (he was able to eat a little bit) but still tired. And I started to feel a little off so we all went to bed early (plus I was exhausted since I had been up since 3:30am and only had a short nap).
Close the damn door!
Please tell me mine aren’t the only ones that do this? Come home, kick off shoes, and leave door open? I did give Owen major props for bringing in the packages but c’mon boy — it’s winter. Close the damn door! (Katie does this, too. Today was just Owen!)
Happy 13th birthday to our teenager. TEEN. AGER.
Also… He earned honor roll again! Soooo proud of this kid!
As long as he keeps his grades up, he gets a TV in his room for his birthday!
I made Owen another shirt for his birthday.
He didn’t get it at first and I had to explain it to him. Then he loved it.
All the swears, you guys…ALL.THE.SWEARS
I screwed it up when I did a shirt like this for his 11th birthday, too. I managed to fix that one but this one I’m just leaving.
I asked and turns out I did design it correctly but I forgot to “weld” the design to print as one solid piece… so the Cricut assumed it knew better than me and rearranged the design to use less vinyl. Lesson learned.
Kid awards!
This post has been sitting in my Drafts folder forever because I was always going to go through an old bin of schoolwork. But if got hidden in the move and I haven’t found it yet. So I just decided to post it anyway.
The kids had been bringing home awards and I was totally slacking on posting them, so here they are!
Let’s play a game.
How many water glasses did I find in Owen’s room tonight?
I’m not upset since they were just water glasses and I’m often guilty of the same thing… I just thought it was funny.
Great Wolf Lodge Surprises
Did you know that all Great Wolf Lodge waterparks are not the same?! I didn’t until this week.
Anna got a steal of a deal on a weekday suite so we took the kids for an overnight surprise before school starts again.
As broken-bodied adults, we were excited about the hot tub (and, to a lesser extent, the lazy river).
Until.
We learned that this particular GWL does not have a hot tub!! WHAAAAAT?! I know, right? Fail. Big BIG fail. Ughhhh.
And then we learned that the lazy river (among other things) wasn’t open because they were short-staffed.
GAHHHHHHHH!!!!! 0 for 2 does not make for a happy mom.
But the kids didn’t care. And they ended up opening the lazy river later in the day so Anna and I got to be floating blobs for two hours.
But the water wasn’t warm enough for me and the air temp felt too cold, too. I think maybe I’m too old for this.
After checkout, Anna and I managed to find a somewhat secluded couch to relax while the kids are back in the waterpark. We can actually stay until close (!) but I’m thinking we’ll just stay until lunch!
Another successful road trip!
I love that they’re each snuggling with a cat pillow. Katie has Bella and Owen has Charlie.
Harry Potter marathon continues…
And Tom got some Owen cuddle time.
The best part about Christmas Eve?
Friends, an amazing pizza (from leftover fish tacos that that boys gave me grief about but IT was freaking delicious!), and our first dip in the hot tub! Merry Christmas!
This pic makes the hot tub look soooo much bigger than it really is. It would be a stretch to have three adults in it at the same time—four would have everyone’s knees touching for sure!
And then we did the Saran wrap ball for the kids! We had about $60 worth of stuff in it!
And it was great fun…
Until two kids weren’t getting anything.
Don’t worry, they all ended up with stuff—and some trading was done. But it definitely wasn’t perfect.
And then I tried to get a Santa hat picture but Katie wasn’t really being cooperative. Oh well—it just makes memories!
The kids got to go first!
And of course they loved it!
Maybe a new Christmas tradition?
Do y’all know what this is?! I made it for Katie for Christmas!!
I honestly don’t know what the official name for it is, but I’ve been calling it a Saran ball. It’s just a bunch of tiny gifts all rolled up inside a crap ton of cling wrap. I figured she’d have more fun unwrapping this monstrosity than a few little packages of hair clips, mini nail polishes, fidget popits, and hair ties.
I was just going to make one for her…but I had so much fun doing it that I am now going to make one for Owen, too—though his might be heavier on the candy and lighter on the hair accessories!
And I think we’re going to do one for all four kids…make it into a game. Apparently people are supposed to unwrap with oven mitts while someone tries to roll doubles—and they get to keep everything they unwrap during that time! We shall see!
A cat nap with the dog.
Movie night with the kids…
And then she moved…
And then this happened.
This is what kids “playing together” looks like.
Starting our first annual (?) Harry Potter marathon!
We hope to watch them all by the time the kids go back to school in January!
Owen & Honey
Owen was at a sleepover and Anna sent us this pic.
