Category Archives: Kids
Sitting up front!
I had to borrow Grannie’s car to take Owen to his Lego class before school and their car is packed to the hilt for Florida so he had to sit in the front. Frankly he’s as big as some adults so I wasn’t worried bit it did feel odd. He liked it of course.
I helped him dress this morning…
He’d rarely pick jeans or a long-sleeved shirt on his own. But the look and the thumbs in the pockets was all him. 💕
Tom’s a mummy!
Boy scouts tonight was Halloween-themed and one of the games involved rolling Tom in toilet paper. I’m ever thankful for our friend Jamie for sending these pics. Oh, and he won!!!
Owen’s gym awards!
Cuddle time with Papa.
Looking at the Shutterfly books from when she was born…
We had a disagreement after school.
We had issues with clean and dirty laundry and how clothes were being put away so this turned into her job…
More jumping with friends!
Getting their jump on with good friends on a day off of school! Bonus points for matching Pokémon shirts.
Katie being a monkey.
How do you even choose?!
The funny thing is both these cards have come up at the same time before with the same players.
Earlier this year:
I come from a family of hoarders.
This was from 1977. 😂
Her six weeks were up!
Katie got to switch out her earrings today because her six weeks were up. She chose these dangle hearts.
Garbage fail.
When you hand your son the garbage basket and ask him to take it out and he dumps it straight into the big garbage bin instead of taking the bag out and tying it.
Sometimes they really make me smile.
I walked in to see this.
She’s growing up…
The kitchen and all the play food are going away… I’m kinda sad because I loved to play with that stuff for a long time but she decided it was time to let it go. And we can now reclaim a big section of space in the basement.
Last-minute jumping afternoon
Once the kids finished cleaning the basement I was going to put on a movie for them and make lunch. Then a friend texted to invite us to Jump America—they had an all-day special and NO ONE WAS THERE. So I made quick sandwiches and we were off! Owen made me happy by wearing the shirt I made. Katie refused.
Katie and her friend apparently got tired of jumping and did this.
Owen learned how to vacuum.
The kids had the day off school so they were cleaning the basement and I was supervising and organizing my own stuff but I had to have him do it since my back really hurt (for no good reason). I swear he’s done it before but he said he hadn’t. He had so much fun—and was gobsmacked when I pulled the extender handle out (and then he instantly turned it into a gun).
We haven’t had a cute Katie outfit in awhile.
Answer: How do you get burrs out of human hair?
Question: Things I didn’t expect to have to Google tonight?
Katie came home from playing in the woods with neighbor kids with a bunch of burrs in her hair. Of course I immediately saw the work involved and she was basically like “Oh what? This is a problem?”
Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared at first glance, but it wasn’t fun with the olive oil picking bits of prickly Burr off her head and then showering to wash her hair at bedtime.
That said, I do hope I put the fear of the devil in her about it happening again.
All around Halloween costume fail.
When you know you have a costume for your kid in the closet (that you bought at a resale shop last year) so you don’t worry about a costume this year and then you get it out and realize it’s a kid’s medium and you thought it was a men’s medium (because the picture on the package showed an adult plus the cardboard insert was folded so you couldn’t see the checked size box) and the tag just says Medium so now you have to buy or find a costume at the last minute (yes, this is last minute for me).
So you search Amazon and there really are no good kids costumes in the size he needs and men’s costumes are hella expensive so you end up spending $30 on a costume for him that is passable. Stay tuned.
Owen and his Nerf guns.
We were headed to the park to meet a friend of Owen’s so he had to bring enough guns.
Being silly…
And then more normal…
Owen wanted to wear his baseball shirt today to celebrate!
He also agreed to go on a walk with me before school this morning. 🥰
Red Hots win! Congrats to the GYB fall champs!
Owen’s team won the fall championship in a 19-17 nail biter today! They were up a few and then down by 10 (and we thought the game might get called by the slaughter rule), then we caught up, then they caught up, and then we were ahead by two and held them off!! Owen did his thing on 1st and caught the ball for the final out of the game! We are so proud of all the boys!!
Here’s a few pics from the game. Owen on second.
A typical sight: tying shoelaces.
Attempting to steal home. I can’t remember if he did or not.
Katie was being punished for earlier transgressions at home and had to sit by me the entire game, so I got these.
The game was stressful to watch because the score was so back-and-forth. But once we came back from being 10 runs down, the entire mood changed and it was a real game!! We were ahead by two going into the top of the seventh inning so we expected they’d score and we’d have to rally in the bottom of the seventh (and last) inning but the boys held them off!
I was taking pics of the last plays and got these. They aren’t great because the fence was in the way, but I love the progression of the excitement, then the boys coming in from the field, then throwing hats in the air! I wished I had gotten a shot of Owen actually catching the ball but it is what it is.
Award ceremony!
TEAM PHOTO!
Funny team photo!
Running the bases (Owen led the way)!
Friends. 💕
Coaches Tom, Ken, Jamie (Head Coach), Mark
Happy boy!
Happy daddy!
Fun with Coach Jamie!
And then it was off to Culver’s to celebrate!
Scout camping weekend
So long story short… Owen has kind of joined scouts. A few of his baseball friends (and dads) are involved and of course they talk about how fun it is and of course Owen wants to do fun things with them…so Tom and I talked and I basically told him I don’t want to be involved so if HE wants to do it with Owen, be my guest. 😄 So they went to a few meetings and then it was time for the big weekend camping trip to Starved Rock, a local State Park campground. The whole family was invited but I opted to stay home for some alone time and Tom was looking forward to taking both kids.
DAY 1
So come Friday afternoon they were all packed and ready to go! I even got Owen out of school a bit early since they had a 2.5-hour drive to get there.
I’m not sure they have enough stuff for 1.5 days (Friday night, Saturday, leaving really early Sunday). We borrowed a tent and then had to take sleeping bags, air mattresses (because how can they sleep on the ground like animals), pillows, backpacks, rain gear, etc.
Fast forward to later that evening when I asked for proof of life and got a text that they (and some friends) were at a local bar because by the time they got there and got set up the camp kitchen was closed. But as it would happen, a marine was having his retirement party so they all got invited to a free buffet!
And then later they did actually sit around a fire for a bit.
DAY 2
Tom taught the boys how to fold flags.
Getting ready to go on a hike by themselves! (The parents followed behind enough to be unseen but still keep an eye on them.) They also took pack lunches.
And then I got this from Tom about noon…and he said he was contemplating packing up and coming home.
I told him to suck it up—he wanted to go camping. 😜
So this is what things looked like later when everyone was gathered under our awning while it rained cats and dogs.
And everyone ended up back at the bar again for dinner—and to get out of the storm. I may have gotten a few THIS REALLY SUCKS texts.
DAY 3
They were up and on the road by 7 Sunday morning so they could get home in time for the last baseball playoffs game. (Our team was so awesome that they won the first game of the playoffs without the coach, two assistant coaches, and three players who were all camping!!) They pulled in shortly before 9:30 and I immediately proceeded to do laundry because everything was wet and muddy.
Tom’s overall feeling on the weekend was it totally sucked because of the bad weather but the kids had fun and he wants to do it again…though maybe in a pop-up or something bigger. The kids did have a blast and can’t wait to go again.
Owen’s 5th grade school picture day outfit!
Another school picture day, another blue shirt. It started accidentally so now it’s tradition.
Mom it’s too bright out here!
Family snuggle!
Baseball Wrap Party
The whole team was invited to Richardson’s Adventure Farm to celebrate a great fall season of baseball. Not too many showed up, but we all had a great time! We rented a site with a fire pit and the kids enjoyed the Jumping Pillow, a 100′ slide, and the World’s Largest and Most Intricate Corn Maze (lots of cool details here). Lest you think I’m kidding about the maze, here it is:
We brought plain hot chocolate but Jess brought this… You can see why we’re friends.
Mom fun!
Yes I went down this!
It was actually really fun and not scary at all!
This place was huge!
I might have eaten something delicious.
Then once the moms were back at the fire, the dads took a group of kids through the corn maze.
And within five minutes of being in the car on the way home…
Tis a sad day on two accounts.
One? Two pairs of my sandals were so old they disintegrated when Owen tried them on and walked in them. (To their credit they were 15-20 years old.)
Two? Yes, I am handing shoes down to my 10yo son. 🤯
ROAR Run 2019
This was our third year doing the Woodland PTO ROAR Run fundraiser! We thought it might not happen as major storms rolled through a few hours before, but it cleared up in time! I didn’t get as many good pics this year…
Practicing football sprints.
She’s still good with the hula hoop!
Guess who pinned his own number?
This is the only pic I took with my phone. I just thought it was cute…but Anna said they look like cell phone reception bars!! I love it!!
Her face is how I envision everyone feels after running. 🙂
And our friend Evan…
RESULTS!
It’s fall, y’all!
I volunteered to do Owen’s teacher’s door for fall! I hadn’t thought that I’d get to choose what I wanted, so of course I started overthinking. I like Pinterest but it’s just so overwhelming. I ended up asking Anna to help me since she did a door for the same teacher last year…
It’s not perfect but it’s not bad for my first time! It was great having an extra set of hands, otherwise I’d have been there twice as long! Owen helped a little bit but honestly he wasn’t that much help (tape circles proved to be a huge challenge).
Sometimes you have to take a sleeping kid photo.
