Category Archives: Kids
Note from a friend
Owen brought home this note from one of his classmates:
I like red.
I like pizza.
I like to go to the pool.
I like toy guns.
This is me.
Pool, Day 11: Pizza dinner
Everyone at the pool is really nice—everyone plays catch with Owen (we have no idea who this is but it wasn’t the first time he’s played with it Owen).
Owen pushing a bunch of girls around the pool. 🙂
Playing with Daddy!
Proof I’m actually there!
And tonight we surprised the kids and ordered pizza for dinner at the pool. We do it once a summer…so we had to get it in quick this year.
Katie is 4 years 11 months old!
I forgot until after we were home from the pool…so…pool hair. 🙂
Being at the pool for four hours wore them out.
Pool, Day 9: It’s a hot one
It was hot enough that Tom even came down and joined us for a while.
The final 2017 Angels baseball game!
Father and son before Owen’s last at-bat (where he got a slamming base hit—watch in the video below)!! We joked that we should have taken him to a big league game earlier because it obviously affected his game play!
Sidenote: just look at his face! OMG, I didn’t even see it when I took it because their faces were in shadow. I finally saw it when I edited the photo! He is such a hoot!
During the game, the kids signed frames for all four coaches:
The coach got each player a holder for their game ball:
Swarming the food table like ants!
Tom getting his thank you:
And we got the team and player photos:
Of course we had to pick a position early in the season…had it been later, we would definitely have picked first base.
Owen’s first big league baseball game!!
Lisa and Lori are huge baseball fans and Tom has wanted to take Owen to a professional baseball game since we’ve been here, so it seemed fitting that they all go together while Katie and I stayed home. I wouldn’t have minded going, but I know Katie would have gotten bored (she’s used to being able to run around and play with her friends during Owen’s SHORT games, so I couldn’t imagine her sitting for a three-hour game) so I kept her home and took her to the Friday Night Swim instead.
Owen even had the right cap to wear as one of his previous baseball teams was the Nationals! (He thought her had a shirt, too, except we determined that was the season they only got plain red shirts with logo caps.)
They got home about 11:30 (there was an hour metro ride home after the game) and Owen was STILL excited when he walked in the door. I’m so glad they got to go and he got to see everything!
Katie’s special night with mom
Since Owen was getting to go on a special trip to a baseball game, I had to make Katie’s night spent at home fun, too—of course she was a bit bummed that she didn’t get to go on the trip, but I assured her she wouldn’t love the baseball game.
Part 1: The playground with friends and a treat from the ice cream truck!
Part 2: Night swim with ice cream… And staying up past her bedtime!!
Pool, Day 8: Aunt Lori was the only brave one.
Katie got in the pool, but it is still QUITE cold…but Aunt Lori was the only adult brave enough to go in. Katie loved it!
Pool, Day 7: The jumping begins
A quick visit to Owen’s classroom.Â
I needed to surreptitiously give his teacher his end-of-year book to sign so I made an excuse to pick him up. He was excited because they’ve been studying monarch butterflies and they are hatching some in class and he wanted to show me.
Other stuff from his classroom:
Artwork projects in the hallway. I asked him what pieces he drew.
The corn, apples, and pumpkin section:
The horse (which Katie said did not look like a horse):
And this—which I’m not sure what it is, but he was upset that someone scribble-scrabbled on it.
He did the red ladybug on the far right.
  
She cuddles with Daddy way more than me so I take it when I can get it.Â
It’s a chalk kind of morning.Â
It’s that time again…Katie has started ABCMouse!
So, Katie has been doing “homework” lately—we bought her a workbook like Owen gets for his Summer Slide and she has fun with that, plus she also has a few educational iPad apps that she enjoys. She saw a commercial for ABCmouse.com the other day and asked if she could have it on the iPad again.
First, huh? She remembers? It hasn’t been on the iPad for probably two years now!
Second, well, why not? Owen really enjoyed it and if she wants to do it…it certainly can’t hurt! (And in the back of my mind I keep wondering if maybe that’s one of the reasons why Katie is a touch behind as compared to Owen—even though I know I shouldn’t compare the two.)
So the thought was in my mind but on the back burner since we’ve been busy. So imagine my surprise when out of the blue I get an email from someone at ABCMouse saying my site came up as one that linked to them and—long story short—would I want to become a full-fledged official referral source. Well, sure, why not?
So Katie was EXCITED to start her “homework” and she kept asking to do it. Before I knew it, she was 14% done with the pre-k level. Hopefully her excitement continues! And hopefully I make some money off referrals!
This is the booth they picked.Â
We went to a new Italian place and it was still early so the place was pretty empty so we let the kids pick where they wanted to sit and they picked the 8-person booth!
One last bear hug.Â
Since we are trying to cut down on the amount of stuff we have, I decided that one of the two HUGE stuffed bears was going to go. We picked Owen’s since it was the most bedraggled—and he really doesn’t play with it anymore and it just sits in the corner of his room. So I posted it for sale cheap and someone came and picked it up within a few hours!
Back then, in 2011, with Owen:
Now, with Katie, giving him one last hug:
Pool, Day 6: Four hours
We went down right after lunch and met some friends and spent over four hours at the pool. I really need to find the waterproof camera…although the water is still WAAAAAY too cold for me to get in with them. (The pool isn’t heated so right now it’s about 74 and last year I learned that the best temp for me is 82.)
Probably one of our last family trail walks…
At the halfway point, we detoured toward the new sidewalks along Lorton Road, which took us over a huge hill where the grasses were as tall as Owen!
Stopping to check out a reclaimed water pond.
Katie kept complaining that her hips hurt or her legs hurt… Until we suggested she run ahead to check out the trail and she was off like a shot!
And since we’ll likely never be right here at the sign again…
I can’t believe we have a measly five weeks left…
Pool, Day 5: Maddie & Daddy
Owen’s neighborhood friend Maddie.
Surprise! Daddy stopped by!
Owen’s Game Ball #2
Owen totally rocked first base today and earned another game ball!!
And WOW did he earn it. He was amazing to watch—he totally looked like a pro out there with one foot on the base, arm stretched out, catching a throw from third base like it was nothing and easily getting the out. Or leaving the base to catch a throw and easily making it back to base for the out. I think he got all three outs one inning! We are so proud of him!!
I really wish I could get video of him playing first base, but every time I’ve tried, nothing happens or it’s a bad play (of course, right?). And I don’t really want to record the whole inning. But we have one game left so I might try…
And this was little sister during the game—such a monkey.
Luau Night for F It Friday!
Tonight was one of our last monthly get togethers before we move. I’m not sure what I will do without these women. /cry
The kids all play together so well… And isn’t this so adorable?!
Pool, Day 4: The jumping begins
The weather was really nice so we went down to the pool and had Tom send Owen down when he got home.
Owen’s final 2nd grade field trip
A friend chaperoned and posted a few pics on Facebook. Can you find Owen?
He’s not in this last one. 🙂
Pool, Day 3: It’s still freezing.
The pool is still quite cold so Katie was playing in the puddle. 🙂
Finally getting in.
She’s really quite good at coloring.Â
The picture I didn’t take, however, is what it looks like when she’s done…when ask the white space is colored in as well (usually with the same color so there was really no point in staying inside the lines). 🙂
Close call in baseball!
When calls are impossible to tell the ruling defaults to the runner so Owen was safe, but I’d been recording so I could go back in slo-mo and check it out:
Even with video replay it was super close, but it looked like Owen had his foot on the base and the other guy was inches away from tagging him.
Pool, Day 2: Memorial Day cookout
We are trying to get as much pool time as we can before moving this summer… We will have a close aquatic center, but it won’t be the same as our personal pool.
10# of lobster
As a thank you to the grandparents for watching the kids, we bought four lobster—two insanely huge ones (probably 3.5# each) and two regular-sized ones.
We don’t have official lobster implements…but these worked fine.
Katie’s attempts at getting a picture of our huge lobster tails.
The lobsters were so huge that one claw was the size of a regular lobster’s tail! Neither of us could finish the whole thing.
Throwback to 2003:
Two sitting sibling shooters
