This was one of his first projects of the school year.
Category Archives: Kids
She wasn’t having it.
Some days the photos come easy. Today she wasn’t really having it.
Owen’s crab.
Owen and Katie were building with the magnets and Owen came upstairs with these and wanted me to take a picture of his crab.
Mom and Owen cuddles
Owen came home from school with his ear still not feeling better—and he actually wanted to cuddle with me on the couch. He’s 9 so that doesn’t happen much anymore…so I relish when it does. He also let me run my fingers through his hair which he doesn’t like but I love… 😍
Double swimmers ear and an ear infection.
Both kids started complaining of sore ears and headaches Tuesday afternoon so it was off to the doc today. I had a feeling they had swimmers ear since that’s what happened to Owen the last time we had the waterslide…and the doc confirmed it. Plus Owen also had a mild middle ear infection. And Katie has generic first-week-back-to-school crud from the Petri dish that is a school with 1200 kids.
Braces, part 1: the expander
He was’t terribly excited about me taking a picture before getting his expander.
Being his silly self.
End result:
She said it would take him a few days to learn how to talk with it—and that is definitely the case. He mumbles a lot anyway so this just makes it 10 times as hard to understand him.
I’ve been slack in posting cute Katie outfits.
She’s finally old enough for the rock wall.
She has been waiting and waiting and waiting to be old enough to climb the rock wall…so when we were there today she remembered and asked to do it. Of course I said yes. Unfortunately she didn’t make it too far before she got scared and wanted down. Baby steps.
I got a little parched waiting for the elementary bus…
Buses always run late the first few days and today was no exception. But we were all there waiting on time…in the sun…and it was hot…so at about 30 minutes I sent Owen home to get me a celebratory drink! It really hit the spot!
First day of 4th and 1st grades!
I tried to get pics on the front porch but the lighting just wasn’t right (well, the lighting was good but it was too bright and they wanted to squint).
So we tried elsewhere, but it still wasn’t right…and Katie was cold.
First day of 4th grade. What?! So serious.
Okay, a tiny smile.
Owen and Xavier are the only two at their bus stop at 7:45. Yes, 7:45AM. Needless to say this is the ONLY day I will be going with him. 🙂
Katie’s turn…in her annual T-shirt pictures.
We found the perfect lighting! She was pointing to geese flying overhead.
First day of 1st grade. I can’t even with this outfit and the shoes.
With a backpack almost as big as she is!
At the bus stop with Linkin and Nate (Sophia will be there, too, but she was parent drop off today).
My happy face!!
And later on Facebook I found these pics of how the elementary students were welcomed to school. How cool.
So damn cute heading to a sleepover.
Katie got invited to a sleepover at Sophia’s so I sent her off. It’s soooo nice having friends on the same street. (We alsohad Owen invite a friend over and he was a total hoot to watch—he had soooo much fun. They even picked our veggies!)
Meet the teachers!
Stupid balloon lady.
A local restaurant was having a back-to-school kids night that we happened upon accidentally. And there was a balloon lady scheduled to be there!
We had our drinks when we saw her walk in. She did the table next to us and then headed to our table (the only other table with kids in the room) when she was stopped by the hostess to ask if she could go to a table elsewhere as they were getting close to leaving.
Balloon lady said she’d come right back to us when she was done. We hadn’t even ordered yet so said sure no big deal. She then proceeded to come back in the room…and stop at every table except ours—every one of which had come in after us. GRRR.
We didn’t say anything at first because there was still plenty of time as we were still eating, etc. But 40 minutes later we were done and she had completely ignored us. She never even looked our way. 🙁
On our way out Tom went up to her and thanked her for breaking our daughters heart by promising to come back and then ignoring us. She said “Oh I was just getting to you.” No—no you weren’t. You were just starting at a table of three kids (actually friends of ours) that hadn’t even been there when we got there.
It was a good lesson in disappointment for the kids (and thankfully it was just balloon art) but still. She is why I sometimes say I hate people.
I did find her Facebook page and left a comment about how our kids were both really disappointed that she (in essence) lied to us and never came back. I didn’t expect her to respond (I actually expected her to delete it) but she did—and it was all excuses and passing the buck. 🙁
Our official anniversary dinner!!
Why not let our month-long anniversary celebration continue with dinner out on our actual anniversary?! We opted to take the kids with us…and they were really good. And we got complimentary Prosecco and truffles!!
A successful play date!
My new friend that I met at the playground (LOL) invited us over today so that was right after the orthodontist. They live in a new subdivision in a huge new house and it really made me miss our new houses… And yes, I told her I kind of hated her a little bit. 🙂
The kids all got along—even with Katie! They jumped on the trampoline, played Xbox for a bit, played Legos, had snacks, then played board games.
Anna was really impressed since she said normal playdates only last about 20-30 minutes before one of the boys is done. So apparently Owen and Katie are magic.
Her husband happened to come home early and he was just as great and easy to chat with as she is and we had a great time. I can’t wait for them to meet Tom!
Oh, and you know how I said it was weird how similar we were? Look what she has?
We have the same exact secretary. I have only ever seen one other of these in person and it was at antique store. Bizarre. (Truth be told, I might like ours better if it looked like this. In its current state it is NOT my style.)
The time flew and suddenly it was 3 hours later…
Getting braces is much different these days.
Today Owen had his first orthodontic appointment—getting his mouth scanned for many thousands of pictures of his teeth/mouth to be stitched together so he doesn’t need impressions! Technology is awesome.
They also put on the two rubber band spacers to prepare for the expander.
I surprised the kids with lunch out!
I’ve been wanting to take the kids out for lunch all summer but just never did it, so today on the way home from the library I just stopped and surprised them!
Library time!
It was supposed to be a quick trip to get a few books to read before school started. But they have so much fun looking for books…and then Owen found a friend. So how could I make them leave?
Just because.
Katie at Six Flags with friends!
Each kid was playing at a different friends house for quite awhile. Then Katie got invited to Six Flags with them if it was okay with me. Ha! Yes! (These are the same neighbors who first offered to watch the kids while we unpacked the week we moved in. And Katie’s best friend.)
I got this pic in a text…and then a bit later a note saying (and I quote):
We took katie on the condor. She almost puked on Sophia:) she was doing some heavy breathing…didn’t know she did not like big rides:)
After I apologized for not warning them (I thought they’d just be going on the small rides that Katie likes) she said that Katie had been very proud of herself! When Katie came home, she told us about ALL the rides she went on (kids rides, but still…baby steps).
Of course when Owen found out that she had gone without him, he was whiny. Not even considering that
- He had spent ALL day playing video games at his friends house.
- He doesn’t even like rides.
Kids.
Hurricane Harbor for the first (and likely last) time!
We were supposed to meet friends at Six Flags water park (Hurricane Harbor) after the play date. Let’s just say things didn’t go quite as planned and I didn’t have the fun time I expected.
- It was hot and humid.
- It was super busy. As in we got there about an hour or so after they opened and there were still about 200 people in line ahead of us.
- Everywhere you looked it was just a sea of wet and/or sweaty humanity. Not my thing.
- There was nowhere to sit. I managed to snag one chair in full sun (totally not my thing) and baked there for about two hours while the kids swam.
- The person we were meeting ended up being about two hours late but hadn’t really kept me updated so I hadn’t wanted to move too far from our meeting place…or even get in the water. But honestly even if I hadn’t been meeting anyone I wouldn’t have wanted to get in the water…I just hate that many people.
- I finally had to get in a line for food around 2:30 because we were starving (the plan had been to eat lunch there) but all the lines are crazy long and move sooooo slowly. The kids and I bypassed the nachos at the place close to us in the hopes of pizza or something but those lines were even more ridiculous. So the kids decided nachos were fine. So even in that short line of about six people…it took almost a half hour. Just asinine. And for crappy food. Not my thing.
My friend eventually made it and we headed to the wave pool…which was an even bigger mess of humanity with less place to sit. And by this time we had three adults and eight kids. We tried to sneak into the new VIP section (since it was practically empty) but got called out within minutes.
The kids loved the wave pool and I let them swim for about half an hour but I was long done and we past rest to get the hell out of there. I have zero desire to go back and told the kids I hoped they entire it because we were going back. (And I was even looking forward to the lazy river.)
PTA playdate at the new playground
Katie’s school (Owen’s old school) got new playground equipment so the PTA had a playdate there. They do this playdate every year before school starts so hopefully the kids can find other people in their grade and make friends before school starts (each grade wears a different color shirt).
We ran into friends right when we got there…
And then I made a friend, too! It was really hot so I eventually sat on the bench next to another mom and we started chatting and just totally hit it off! We had lots in common (she just moved here, she’s an editor/graphic designer, we have the same sense of humor) and our boys hit it off, too (she has twin fifth graders). I was super excited to say the least.
Finally! A decent road trip meal with the kids and the dog!
We usually eat fast food on road trips because we are trying to save time or we can’t leave the dog in the car…but today we found a place that had a patio so we could actually stop for a decent road trip meal (she’s under Tom’s chair).
Someone was being grumpy and didn’t want their picture taken.
But this one let me.
Cookie Monsters
Slingshot siblings
Papa has a slingshot to scare the geese away. The kids found out and both had a blast with it.
Second day in a row but still no bites.
Katie was all gung go about fishing… until nothing was biting and it was boring.
This is how she ended up “fishing.”
The only thing Tom caught!
Kayaking with the kids!
While Katie was fishing, Owen went out in a kayak with Grannie!
He did really really well and had a blast!
Then of course Katie wanted to go. We told her next year she could go by herself but this year she had to sit with Grannie.
Looking for beach glass!
We stopped at Eagle Harbor to hit the art fair and see where the kids have been spending their time. They took us to the beach to show us “their spot” and then we all looked for beach glass (Grannie got them hooked).
The water was a bit chilly!
Birdhouse Crew
Papa had cut out pieces for birdhouses so Tom helped get them all put together.
And then there was the painting.
Photos of the fully finished projects to come…Katie left hers out and it rained so she has to repaint it. And I didn’t get a pic of Owen’s.
Fisher girl
