As we’re getting breakfast ready. Kids!
Category Archives: Owen
And now flank steak!
So tonight we grilled a marinated flank steak. Of course, we assumed Owen wouldn’t eat it—especially because it was a Bloody Mary marinade with horseradish and spicy Bloody Mary mix—but (unfortunately for us) it wasn’t terribly infused and he loved it! I KNOW!!! Woohoo!
Snow day birthday Lego project
Owen wanted to work on this Super Heroes Lego kit he got for his birthday. He did quite well for the first two hours…then he started to lose his focus and get a little grouchy. So we took a break and finished it when daddy got home. But overall he does really well and doesn’t need much help.
Working on Valentines
These are the valentines we’re doing for Owen’s class:
Except I’m not being quite as cute with the cellophane bags and tie—we’re doing ziplock sandwich bags. 🙂
Here’s Owen writing his name on them. He only has the patience for about 4-5 at a time so we’re working on it all week.
He’s pretty good writing his name, though the W could use some separation and the N is often backwards. And we’re working on keeping the size consistent.
Owen’s first attempt on a real bike = FAIL
Once again, I had grand visions of Owen’s first bike-riding experience. (Well, minus the balance bike we attempted a long time ago. And the tricycle he never got the hang of.) I mean, riding a bike IS NOT HARD. Right? Especially with training wheels. Right? I mean, you just get on, push a little with your feet, and off you go, right? RIGHT?
Wow.
Either Owen has absolutely ZERO coordination and/or he’s just being stubborn…or I completely underestimated the amount of ability necessary to ride a bike and/or I am not a good teacher. He cannot seem to grasp that you need to push forward with your feet in a continual motion. At the first smidge of resistance he stops and says he can’t do it. I tell him, show him, push the bike with his feet on the pedals…and nothing. Inevitably he slams his feet backwards, which is—of course—the brake.
Am I expecting too much? Is riding a bike really harder than I think it is? For a kid who has never really ridden anything?
All I know is I have officially passed the teaching-Owen-to-ride-a-bike baton to Tom. 🙂
Ribeye. Who knew?
So tonight Tom grilled us steaks and we made Owen a frozen pizza—a typical dinner routine because Owen rarely eats what we eat.
So after he finishes his pizza, he says he likes steak. Huh? Yeah, he says he loves steak—as if he’s had it before and why don’t we know this…?!? I’m pretty sure they don’t get that at school so I have no idea where he decided he liked it. But I’ll take it!
So he proceeded to eat pieces of both of our ribeyes like it was going out of style.
But lest you think he’s becoming more normal…he refused mashed potatoes until we bargained with him (offering chocolate) and even then he made a face like he was tasting dog poop.
But I’m concentrating on the ribeye. He are ribeye. And loved it.
Two trikes and a bike.
So after testing the Radio Flyer Ride and Stand Stroll ‘N Trike Ride On at Costco yesterday, Tom put ours together and we took it for a spin!
Owen was doing “tricks”—lifting one foot up as he rode along!
When we got back, Owen said he wanted to try his own trike again, so we got it out. Of course, he’s WAY too big for it, but it made for a cute picture. 🙂
So that’s when daddy told him that had a new bike waiting—we just had to put it together. Tom had already taken the packaging apart, and Owen dug right into the pieces! He said he wanted to put it together right away…so in it came.
Katie undressed herself.
Proof that Owen will make a gun out of ANYTHING.
Daddy’s little helper.
Owen putting the last piece (the seat) on.
Our first riding trial will likely be tomorrow… Wish us luck.
January pictures are finally online!
Where’s Owen?
He loves running up to his room ahead of you and hiding. 🙂
Testing a Radio Flyer
We have this at home but it wasn’t put together yet (I got it for free via Amazon Vine). They both loved it!
Owen enjoying riding on the back of the cart:
Daddy makes a great foot rest.
Owen’s Rainbow
This is the rainbow Owen drew way back here—it finally came home!
Owen’s birthday and dinner
We picked Owen up from school then took the kids to the playground.
Then heading into dinner:
And the wait staff singing their version of happy birthday was a little loud:
Owen is 5 years old today!
Where has the time gone?
Serious Owen.
The post-party party
We had the gang over after the gymnastics party so we could hang out and visit—with everyone’s busy schedules (and with Trimble’s living back on base instead of in the same neighborhood) we rarely get together anymore. We ordered pizza for dinner and had a few drinks while the kids played. We had Owen open his gifts sporadically throughout the night and then had him blow out candles on his cake (I had forgotten candles for the gymnastics party). He loved opening his presents and pretty much every response to every gift was an excited “WHAT!?!!” It was super cute.
Then he opened his big gift from us—a used iPhone 4—and he looked at it like “Huh?” and immediately said “Daddy, this is yours!” and tried handing it to him. He completely didn’t understand that it was for him, even after I showed him the Lego Indiana Jones wallpaper. He was just too excited about all the other Lego/Ninjago/Star Wars stuff. We should have kept it until after all the excitement of the day was over.
Building one of the smaller Lego sets he got:
Taking his birthday picture…that I didn’t technically need to do because it wasn’t his actual birthday!
Happy 5th birthday, Owen!
We had Owen’s 5th birthday party at one of the local gymnastics places. We invited his entire class (16 kids) as well as our friends. Half of his class RSVPed (of which two asked to bring other siblings, which was fine) and I was annoyed but honestly pretty impressed that we got a 50% response rate. However, of those eight that RSVPed, four didn’t show…two of which were the ones that asked to bring extra kids. 😐 So that cost me extra because I opted to go with the 25+ kids plan (which allowed for another employee to be scheduled) because we were right on the line with RSVPs and I figured we’d likely get some that would show up without having RSVPed. So we ended up with 15 kids total instead of 23. Oh well, it’s only money, right? And Owen had fun so that’s what matters, right? But he did have fun so it’s all good!
Ursula made the awesome Ninjago cake!
When I called Owen over to see it (he was out playing) he said “It’s Jay!” (Of course, he was right, Jay is the blue ninja.)
Owen with two of his classmates, Tanner and Braxton (who I’ve posted pics of before). You see that Owen really isn’t the same size as the rest of his class. 🙂
Katie having fun running around:
Katie was very interested in what was going on in the bounce house—but we put her in with the kids and she screamed. So she was content to just peek in for a bit.
I showed Katie how to hang on the bar and she loved it! She’d hang and swing then drop off—over and over.
And then she got in the bounce house because it was fairly empty:
Back at the bar showing daddy her tricks!
The birthday boy in the middle of the parachute!
And here’s a 6 minute video of the parachute fun (pretty much for the grandparents). 🙂
Each kid got to do their own thing in the middle of the parachute balloon. Owen did a spinning twist.
A few last runs before leaving…
The last pic of our best friends for quite some time—our friend Tom is deploying next week and we’ll be moving this summer…
As Ursula was getting the cake packed up to go, Owen saw that the head was off to the side and was VERY concerned that it wasn’t coming home and kept asking about it. We assured him Jay was coming home. Then he saw Ursula carrying it to her car (to bring to our house) and he was concerned that the cake itself wasn’t coming home at all!
Overall, it was a great party for Owen’s first REAL birthday party (not just something at our house with a few friends or family). 🙂
Picking up Owen’s party balloons
We had him hold them so they didn’t fly around too much.
“Wow! There’s so many I can’t hold them!”
Slush Fun
The sun was out and everything was melting so today was slush fun instead of snow fun. We went out during Katie’s nap because she would have just gotten completely soaked and/or muddy. It was actually so warm in the sun that I took off my sweatshirt and just hung out in a tank top!
Owen was telling me an imaginative story. At this point I think he was reenacting Spiderman.
Playing iPad games together
Throwback Thursday
Throwback Thursday happens on Facebook and I love posting pics. I need to post some of them here because the blog doesn’t go back that far for most that I post…so stay tuned for that. However, this is what I posted today.
Beach time!
Everyone is in the water at the “beach!”
Picnic on the beach!
Snow Kids
The kids were desperate to get out and play! I love the mashup of outfits since we don’t have winter clothes! (Well, Tom and I do, but it was a lazy day so we were all in jams and comfy pants.) Katie’s wearing jams because they’re the best thing to keep her belly covered—and she has non-winter boots but they didn’t fit over the jammie feet so we put her in a pair of Owen’s old lined Crocs which fit perfectly. Owen has boots but they’re on the small side so didn’t fit over thick socks.
Afternoon outing:
Cookie Monster Kitchen
I found this small kitchen for Katie about a week before Tom came home. Owen saw it in the back of the car and was SO excited about it (even though I told him it was for Katie). He wanted it up right away but I said it would be after daddy came home and we took the tree down (because it was going to go in the same spot). So today was finally the day! They both loved it!
Snakes and Poppers
Owen earned some fire snakes and poppers for using the potty and he wanted to save them until daddy got home! So when Katie napped, we went out and did them today!
Welcome home dinner outing!
Daddy wanted to go out for sushi and of course I’ll never argue with that…
Getting ready:
Then we stopped at Owen’s school to get Tom registered (for pickup and drop off) then had time to go to the playground!
“I’m stepping on your heads!”
DINNER!
Less than 10 minutes later:
Katie tried a bite of sushi and ate it but didn’t want more (but she’s been in a phase of only eating 1-2 bites of something).
Them we went next door for frozen yogurt! Katie was wiping daddy’s face.
Ahhh. Back to normal. Life is good.
A Belated Christmas
Daddy sent home a present for him and Owen that they opened first:
Katie jumped right in to help daddy open a gift from Grauntie Marge:
And we saved some of Grandma Marsha’s presents for the kids so Tom could watch them have fun opening:
Covered Katie
Owen and daddy had fun covering up Katie with animals.
It’s a good, good morning.
The plan was for me to go in to Owen’s room as usual and then have Tom come knock on the door. Tom was up super early (before 5) and once I knew he was up and moving around I was paranoid that Owen would hear/see him and ruin the surprise…so I got up and dragged Tom back into the bedroom while we watched Owen on the monitor. Owen dutifully waited until his nightlight turned green at 6:30 before turning his bedroom light on and I went in shortly after.
I thought he would have been much more excited…but it was still sweet. And then people (on Facebook) pointed out his wiggling feet and I guess that’s how he shows excitement. He also sounds a little choked up toward the end. (Facebook only got a snippet. This is the whole thing.)
The Facebook comments were great:
- I like the wiggly feet…..
- Awwww. This is priceless. I think he was very excited. His little feet!
- The wiggly feet give it away!! So sweet!
- Those feet!!!!!
- Awww. Those feet! I totally cried. Both times.
- The boy who emotes with his feet. What an awesome moment.
- I love the little foot wiggle.
Then first things first—he had to show daddy his Lego book!
And then it was time to surprise Katie. She doesn’t seem to recognize him at first…but don’t worry, she was saying “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” the rest of the day and didn’t want him to leave her sight.
And daddy even did the morning diaper change!
Katie, I’ve got to show you something cool.
