The kids were playing crazy after Owen got home. They rarely played like this when they were together ALL summer… It went on for about five minutes before I started recording!
Of course, as soon as I stopped recording he said “MOM! I LOVE PLAYING WITH KATIE!”
We bought a bunch of new lunchbags for Owen in various patterns—red owls, multi-colored dark stripes, pirate treasure map, etc…and what one did he want to use for his first day? The pink multi-colored hearts!
I figured I should prepare him for kids teasing him about it (I didn’t actually expect it, but better safe than sorry).
Me: Owen, what would you say if some kid made fun of you for bringing a “girl-colored” pink heart lunch bag.
Owen: [You could see his heart sink.] I would say that was mean.
Me: Yes, it would be mean. You just tell them you like pink and it’s a cool color.
Owen: [Getting sassier.] And if they ask me if it’s because I love anyone? I’ll tell them NO!
Me: You don’t love me? Or daddy? Or your sister?
Owen: Well yes. 🙂
And then it was time for pictures! I did Katie while Owen got his shoes on. She had to sit on the very top step.
“Mama, take a picture of me upside down!”
The same questions I asked him last year. The funny thing is that he usually just spouts something off the top of his head! Like I can’t remember the last time he asked for an orange—it’s always strawberries. And I can’t tell you the last time we watched Incredibles–it’s usually Lego Movie or Wreck It Ralph. And it was the very first time I heard anything about wanting to be a policeman. Kids are silly. Oh! And the favorite book? I think we’ve read it maybe twice that I can remember, so I asked why that book and he said “Because it shows how you take care of me and love me.” Awwww.
And then it was off to the bus stop…where it was hotter than hell. Holy wah. It was horribly hot and the kids were sweating from running around. I love the first day of school, though, because there were more parents there than kids! 🙂
I was really excited about his new backpack—it’s from Costco and is much more well-made than the Minion one he had last year…but it’s really overkill for him (it has a laptop pocket, room for lots of pens and pencils, a phone, etc.). We’ll see how it works, but we may end up getting a bit smaller one.
With just mommy and Owen today!
Me: Owen, I like going on walks with just you.
Owen: Me, too. Katie slows us down.
🙂
After we got done picking up the living room, I was on the computer and Owen was watching TV—or so I thought. I came around the corner to this:
Me: Owen, what is this?
Owen: A bridge! Like if you want to go to the computer room or the dining room but not the toy room.
🙂
There are almost always geese out on/near the road when we take Owen to his activity camp in the morning—and Katie LOVES seeing them.
Katie: What are they doing?
Me: Maybe they’re looking for breakfast.
Katie: Cereal!
Me: No, I don’t think they want cereal.
Katie: Maybe they need a home.
Me: Maybe.
Katie: We should take them to our home!
Me: What would we do with geese at our house?
Katie: Put them outside!
Owen: I love red cherry snow cones. Except not much because I just ate five pieces.
Owen: Mama, I love you.
Me: I love you, too.
Owen: And I also love Sick Bricks.
We were riding home with all the windows open.
Owen: It’s 100% windy!
Katie: Mom, can I get in the box with Charlie?
Me: Sure.
Katie: But there’s not enough box!
Katie: Owen, do you love daddy?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love Mommy?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love me?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love Cayenne?
Owen: [silence]
Katie: Owen? Do you love Cayenne?
Owen: [silence]
Katie: I love her, she’s my friend. She’s my girl.
I’ve really been slacking at keeping track of their cute sayings…
When we were on vacation in Michigan, we saw deer cross the road a few times. Katie actually got good at spotting them.
Katie: Mama, when I’m a deer I can pass through those woods.
While Owen was at his weekly activity camp.
Katie: I miss Owee. He’s my favorite buddy.
We were at the Dollar store when Owen came up to me wearing this.
Owen: Mom! Take a picture of me!
Putting Owen to bed, I see him rubbing his eyes.
Me: You’re tired, buddy.
Owen: No, my eyelashes just hurt.
We were on the way to the playground when Owen noticed we all had the same shoes!
We knew the weather was going to be a crapshoot, but we figured we had to try since they were just three miles from our house!
It started off well enough…Tom and Owen went off to check out the food offerings and Katie and I had a picnic (oranges, string cheese, cheddar Chex, and a juice box) which she loved: “Mama! This picnic is the best ever!”
And even though it was sprinkling, she was running around in the grass and having a blast…until she realized she had a boo boo on her foot and then she turned into a hot mess drama queen as seen here.
Then as soon as daddy came back 15 minutes later, she was all smiles and amazingly forgot all about her boo boo.
As soon as daddy laid down, she copied him. 🙂
Then I jumped in for a picture.
Owen had been off playing football with some kids but he came back to check in and said “We’re tackling and I knocked two people down!”
Since we had everyone, we took this shot. A lady behind us actually offered to take it but I said “No thanks, this is how we do it!” And it was perfect—done in one shot!
And then it started to rain harder. And it was chilly. And we had already been here two hours and still had about 45 minutes until the fireworks were going to start…do we stay or do we go?
The show was happening rain or shine and I hated to miss it after being there so long already…so we decided to go sit in the car and potentially watch from the tailgate or through the moonroof if it was a downpour. Thankfully it didn’t do much more than a light rain.
We had the car on to listen to music so the kids were having fun in the tail lights…
Owen: “This is burning my face!” 
…and playing to the music…
Owen being a lamppost:
And then the show started! They both immediately covered their ears so we got out the noise-canceling headphones for both of them.
Yes, I was happy we had the minivan so we could do this!
Both kids said it was the BEST DAY EVER and they wanted to know if we were going to go to the fireworks next year. Ha HA! I’ve created fireworks monsters!! (Tom doesn’t really care for them, but now we outnumber him three to one! And he really did enjoy watching the kids loving everything!)
P.S. Wow, this is post #6000!
Owen: What is your favorite shape?
Me: A heart.
Owen: Me, too! Wanna know why?
Me: Yes.
Owen: Because it stands for love!
Katie: Mama! I see a Lego head! Look! Right there! 🙂
Me: How many library books are left?
Owen: Four.
Me: Only four?!
Owen: I’m rocking through these!
At dinner, we were talking about how Owen didn’t want Katie to come home from the hospital. He asked why.
Me: Because she cried and was loud!
Owen: Why did she cry?
Me: Because babies cry. They don’t know how to talk.
Owen: But she speaks human now!
Tom turned on a woodworking show.
Katie: That’s like papa!
Me & Tom: How does she know that?!
Katie: Mom! Look at the pretty tail she has!
Things you hear in a house with kids: Owen! Put your sword up and dance!
We were at the playground.
Katie: Hey birdie!
Bird flies away.
Katie: Hey! I was just going to talk to you!
I was trying to explain the concept of half to Owen using money (he came home with basic fraction work yesterday). One quarter (25c) is 1/4 of a dollar. He understood. Then this happened.
Me: What is half of 100?
Owen: /thinking/ One million?
Me: No. Don’t guess. Think about it.
Owen: One second?
Me: /This is why I can’t ever homeschool./
Me: Where did you find those toys?
Owen: Downstairs.
Me: Where downstairs?
Owen: In the school opening thing.
Me: The school opening thing? What?
Owen: You know. The school thing that you open and put stuff in.
Me: WHAT?!
Owen: THE SCHOOL OPENING THING!
I think hard about what all is downstairs…and it hits me.
Me: Owen, that’s a desk.
Katie: Can I have a snack?
Me: No.
Katie: Why can’t I have a snack?
Me: You just ate breakfast!
Katie: Why won’t you give me a snack?!
Me: I just told you.
Katie: That makes me sad.
Katie: Can we go in the car?
Me: No, we don’t need to go anywhere.
Katie: That makes me sad.
Katie: ANY QUESTION
Me: ANY ANSWER
Katie: That makes me sad.
Katie: Can I have a snack?
Me: No.
Katie: Can you get up?
Me: Yes.
Katie: So can you get me a snack?
Tom, putting Katie to bed: Katie, is there poop in there?
Katie: Maaaaybe.
This has been going around Facebook lately, so I did it with Owen. I have to say his answers surprised me—things I was SURE he would answer a certain way he didn’t. And I have no idea why laundry makes such a big impression!
Without ANY prompting, ask your child these questions and write down EXACTLY what they say. It is a great way to find out what they really think. When you re-post put your child’s age.
Owen, age 6
1. What is something mom always says to you? Make bed.
2. What makes mom happy? Happy kids.
3. What makes mom sad? When we are being grumpy.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Make jokes.
5. What was your mom like as a child? Playing with your grandma.
6. How old is your mom? 41
7. How tall is your mom? 5 inches I think
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Watch Ellen.
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? Watch Ellen again.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? A fashion show.
11. What is your mom really good at? (loooots of thinking) I don’t know.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Doing laundry.
13. What does your mom do for a job? Wash clothes.
14.What is your mom’s favorite food? Pizza
15.What makes you proud of your mom? I don’t know.
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be? Marion (From Indiana Jones)
17. What do you and your mom do together? Play games
18. How are you and your mom the same? We both do laundry.
19. How are you and your mom different? You have dark brown hair and I have light brown hair.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because you love me.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? You love him.
22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go? Shoppers (grocery store)
23. How old was your Mom when you were born? 35 (He guessed and was right!)
Owen’s class is presenting a poem at the Friday Morning Program this week, so he gave us a preview.
We were reading a new book. (Well, Owen was reading it to me and it’s interactive.) The last page says “Back to the beginning. This way…”
Me: Do you want to read it again? Just flip it back like this.
Owen: I know how a book works!
Owen: Mom, I’m tired. I didn’t get enough sleep last night.
Me: Okay, then you can go to bed earlier tonight.
Owen: What? Why?
Me: Because you can either sleep in later or go to bed earlier. And since you don’t sleep in, you can go to bed earlier.
Owen: Mom, I made a mistake. I’m not tired.
Owen: {something something}
Me: What’s hic?
Owen: Lemonade.
Me: What is hic lemonade?
Owen: Hic. Lemonade.
Me, {lightbulb}: That’s Hi-C.
Katie: Daddy. I had so much fun with my girls yesterday!
Tom moved the recliner into the living room.
Katie, upon seeing it: Just for me????
This is the newest game they play. They have SO much fun…
It was raining on our way home in the car.
Owen: Everyone has windshield wipers on…except the ones that don’t have windshield wipers.
Katie: I don’t want to be a mermaid.
Me: You don’t?
Katie: No. I just want to be Katie.
As Maggie was at the door for the 40th time today wanting to go outside…
Me: Maggie, you are driving me nuts.
Katie, letting Maggie out: Maggie, you are driving mama nuts.
Mama! Look at me on my tippy toes!
Mamaaaa! I’m wearing your shoes…!
As Owen and I were walking home from the bus stop:
Owen: Mom, I dont want to live here anymore.
Me: Why not?
Owen: This hill makes me tired!
During dnner:
Tom: Owen, what did you do today?Owen: I don’t remember.
Katie, to me: What did you do today?
Me: What did you do?
Katie, matter-of-factly: The iPad. Daniel Tiger.
Owen was so excited to show me his project from art class—I had to stop him from trying to unroll it as we walked home!
Do all moms love their kids’ artwork as much as I do? Or maybe I’m just super excited drew something not video game related. 🙂
Facebook friends saw something else.
I see a ninja turtle.
If that’s not a ninja turtle fighting a giant spider, I’ll be really disappointed.
So I told Owen people thought it was a ninja turtle—thinking he’d be thrilled because he likes ninja turtles—and he said incredulously “It’s a butterfly!” 🙂
Owen wanted to cuddle with both of us. After we all cuddled, this happened:
As we were leaving the restaurant, I saw a rainbow.
Owen was excited to go find the leprechaun and pot of gold! We told him it was very hard to do—daddy and I had never in our whole lives been able to catch one! So of course as we were driving home the rainbow kept moving. 🙂 And then suddenly I noticed that it had moved somewhere I completely didn’t expect it… And it turns out it was the other end of the rainbow! So we could see the entire arc! It wasn’t super bright, but there was actually even a double rainbow on part of it!
We kept “following” it all the way home, and it one point it really looked like the end was on the highway and we were driving through it. And when we got home—surprise! We could still see the whole thing from our driveway!
We were getting ready to take Owen to the bus stop:
Me: Are you ready to go?
Katie: No, I have to call daddy first.
Owen: I’m done playing with chalk. I’m going to play regular.
Me: Katie, let me check your diaper.
Katie: It has zero pee.
Me: Katie, you can’t grow up. You have to stay little forever.
Katie: No I have to grow up.
I put on my sun visor to go to the playground.
Katie: That’s Gramma’s hat!
Today was a teacher work day so Owen didn’t have school. I also picked today as a day for no technology—no TV, no iPads, no iPhones—so I try to do at least one fun project. Today I picked cake. 🙂 Owen did pretty good cracking eggs and mixing and I just let Katie dump things into the bowl and mix (with help). 🙂
Taking a Lego break.
Doing chalk in the back yard (on the steps—and as you can see in the next picture, any cement surface) since it was very sunny and the front doesn’t have shade OR anywhere to sit.
I told Owen he looked very dapper in his shirt (I had sent him upstairs to get dressed in his own) and this was the look I got: Yeah, I know. 🙂
That look. All I did was ask her to smile for a picture. Stinker.
I then surprised Owen with a Brick Loot box so he had fun building the Lego-ish toys. This was a 3-in-1 toy and I was surprised he actually built all three!
Tom: Katie, you look like a buttercup.
Katie: No, I’m adorable.
Owen: Mom, the green sign is wrong. It needs an and. Play fair, take turns, and share.
Me: Owen, look what we found!
Owen: A ninja turtle!
Katie: No, I’m a Katie bug! A ninja turtle Katie bug!
Me: I love it when the house is all picked up.
Owen: Me, too! I wish it could stay like this every day.
Me: Okay, it’s time to pick up toys.
Owen: WHY?!?!
We were shopping at Costco and Katie saw Oreos.
Katie: OREOS!
Me: Do we need those?
Katie: No, Papa does!
We were at the pet store looking at fish.
Owen: These are cool.
Me: We can’t get those. They’re not saltwater.
Owen: No, they’re clean water!
Me: I love it when the house is all picked up.
Owen: Me, too! I wish it could stay like this every day.
Me: Okay, it’s time to pick up toys.
Owen: WHY?!?!
Katie: Where’s daddy?
Me: He went to get a haircut.
Katie: Why? He doesn’t have hair.
We told Owen he had to wait for us to come get him in the morning, otherwise he likely would have found all the eggs before Katie even got out of bed! (We also said it in case we didn’t get around to hiding the eggs before bed and Tom had to do it in the morning.)
Every time Katie opened an M&M, it went straight into her mouth. 🙂
A “fused” photo so I had one without Owen’s tongue sticking out. 🙂
Some fancy twirling in her new tutu. And we have NO idea where Owen got the “I’m going to text my friends” bit. NO IDEA.
Katie has started taking after Owen with the crazy faces when I’m trying to take a picture.
The ears didn’t fit Owen at all so it was only a matter of time before this happened!
Since it’s Easter, I thought I’d pull out a pretty hand-me-down dress from the Beson girls—and of course Katie LOVES it! She kept saying “It’s so BEAUTIFUL! Look at my beautiful dress!” 🙂
And the best two:
And since she was dressed up, and we were actually all getting dressed to go out on errands, we took a family picture!
We don’t have much candy but do have other things…so I suggested to Owen maybe he could ask for less candy. I may have also suggested Katie might want a tutu. 🙂
This was the Easter Bunny’s response:
Katie had the iPad on the road trip home.
Katie: Mom, there’s no triangle button.
Me: What?
Katie: There’s no triangle!
Yep, she was watching a movie and it was paused and the play (triangle) button had disappeared!
Katie: I want to give you a hug.
Owen: Fine. Here’s your hug. Now go.
Katie: My beautiful dress has sparkles and glittery on it!
I’m apparently raising a rebel.
Owen sees the sign, reads it, then says: Ha! I’m standing in the fire lane!
Katie at the playground:
Owen was pretending he had to go to work but then I heard:
Oh! My general isn’t here today so I have the day off.
Tom loved that one!
A bunch of Owen’s Legos migrated to the kitchen counter… He said they were having a battle.
Owen had said his belly hurt after dinner but we didn’t think much of it since he says that now and again and it’s never anything.
So I forgot all about it and went to bed excited (though late), thinking there’s nothing like falling asleep at midnight planning on your first, nice, deep, uninterrupted sleep in nine days (post-vacation)…only to be awoken at 12:30 by a kid crying in your doorway saying they’ve puked and need help cleaning up.
Holy hell.
It was everywhere. And it was some of the worst I’ve smelled. I knew right away there was no way I could handle it all by myself, so I had him wait there while I quickly went to wake up Tom. Between the two of us, it still took a good 30 minutes to clean up.
We had put a huge bowl next to his bed (“just in case”) but there was no point as he had obviously just puked and then rolled over the edge of the bed and puked again. There was puke covering about a 4′ square section of carpet, he was covered (hair, PJs, face), all of his bedding (including bed skirt!) had to be removed…and it had even started soaking through the mattress protector. We had to clean the carpet as best we could without getting out the Rug Doctor (which would surely have woken Katie up) and we had to get out (and blow up) the air mattress (since I wasn’t going to put him back in bed without a barf-proof mattress pad cover). Then we covered the floor with towels and started a load of laundry. And hoped that would be our only wakeup call.
The only thing I could think was “At least we were at home and not at the condo or in a hotel or in the car.”
Now that Katie was older and would hopefully enjoy it more and maybe even remember it, we wanted to go to the zoo like we did last year. Gramma Jean and Grandpa David had gone earlier with Doug, Marie, Gabrielle, and Robert, so we took Grannie Lin and Papa!
Shortly after she started pulling the wagon…she fell…
And scraped both knees in the process. 🙁 Thankfully it was over quickly and she was back to herself.
She loved the bunnies in the house!
Last year’s jump picture:
And last year’s family picture in front of the same sign (I almost wore that same outfit again accidentally!):
Upon walking up and seeing ALL the birds, Owen says: That looks like a big bird party.
Grannie: What are they talking about?
Owen: Birdseed.
Owen’s wingspan:
The kids were SO excited to ride on the train. Unfortunately, the train before us ran off the tracks so they were trying to get it fixed and we ended up having to wait almost another hour. We had debated getting our money back, but the kids would have been devastated…so we did our shopping first. 🙂
Last year’s mask:
Probably the cutest Katie picture of the whole trip:
Aaaand, zonked out within minutes of getting in the car.
Katie is watching Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and the dialogue says “He even has [chicken pox] in his butt crack.”
Katie, repeating: Butt crack. [Pause] I like butt crack. [Pause] It’s dirty and smelly.
Me: 😐
I thought I saw dried blood in Katie’s nose so wanted to take a closer look. After determining it was just a shadow:
Me: There’s nothing in your nose.
Katie: Yes there is!
Me: What?
Katie: Boogies!
Katie is SO excited about our upcoming beach vacation:
And I can’t wait for the sand and the water and the buckets and the shovels. And we’ll put our swimsuits on! I can’t wait to go to Florida!
Katie: She’s purring!
Grannie Lin makes really yummy seasoned oyster crackers that she calls Belly Buttons. I made something similar and told the kids they might not like them because they weren’t Grannie’s. They tried them and didn’t like them. Fast forward a few hours and Katie asked for a snack. She saw me reaching towards the counter where my crackers happened to be:
Katie, very worried: I don’t want grandma’s cracker bellies!
Me: Are you going to play with the dolls?
Katie: Yes. And the cups and plates and a knife and spoon and fork.
Tom: Owen, I’m going to eat your face.
Owen (completely seriously): I hope not.
Gramma Jean: Owen, how do you eat food without your front teeth?
Owen: I use my other teeth!
I wanted Katie to come sit on my lap and she didn’t want to so Owen piped up that he would. Well, of course then Katie had to!
