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Category Archives: Siblings
Sibling Lego project!
Katie got a Frozen Lego set for her birthday, so of course Owen helped her put it together! (It was WAAAAY to old for her so I knew he’d have to help her!) We ended up having Katie pick out the pieces as we needed them and then Owen would build it. It worked pretty well.
It took two days (which drove Owen insane) and he eventually did the last part by himself…
Happy 3rd Birthday Katie Bug!
And then a tantrum shot for good measure (she couldn’t get her backpack zipped):
Two peas in a pod.Â
The kids were watching TV while I showered and got dressed. I looked over to see this.
Their first fireworks!
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!
Poor Katie…bug bites.
So we went on another walk this morning…and it started out perfectly. Owen was our guard again and today he brought a gun—he’s serious about his duties!
But the fun quickly turned to disaster as Katie somehow got stung twice at the same time by…bugs I completely missed!!
We were walking along and I was watching her legs because she was right in front of me and she just stopped and started screeching that she was hurt. I thought she was just being a 3yo drama queen because I looked and there was nothing wrong with her that I could see. I tried to keep us walking but she was limping and shuffling along and had big serious tears. So I stopped to look again—and THEN I could see the two tiny bites right under her kneecap. (Once I got home and Googled, they appear to be wasp bites.)
I know they’re small and fast, but I still can’t believe I missed a bug flying in, stinging her twice, and flying away while I was staring directly at her legs!!
Of course she wanted me to carry her back so I tried the best I could on the trails but made her walk most of it. We got home and I put her leg up and iced it and she got Ibuprofen. I watched her like a hawk, even though I was pretty sure she wasn’t allergic…but she was fine with her bandaid. 🙂
My walking buddies!
The weather was actually gorgeous this morning—67° if you can believe it! So, I decided we all needed to hit the trails before the temps started climbing (it’s supposed to get to 88° today…which is actually cooler than it has been lately).
They loved the trails!!
Owen was a sun guard taking the lead, watching out for magnaguard ships (a Star Wars thing)! 🙂
We were done by 8am!
My little monster and ducky.Â
Owen’s last day of kindergarten!
Cuddles!
Owen wanted to cuddle with both of us. After we all cuddled, this happened:
Taking a break from chalk
Bedtime book after bath
Of course Katie’s in a tutu. 🙂
Today’s sibling love
I never get tired of this.
Katie is 2 years 9 months old today!
And two outtakes:
Happy Easter!
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!
Shopping hugs.
Goodnight kids!
They do pretty well sleeping together… Katie usually ends up glued to Owen’s side, but at least they start out apart. 🙂
Taking a ride!
We had a short first day driving as we stopped in Atlanta to visit with a friend. The kids always enjoy stopping at a hotel!
Shopping hugs

I never get tired of this.Â

Snow Day #10. Or maybe #11.
This is insane. I don’t think we ever got this many snow days in Michigan. Yeah yeah, it’s different down here. But still. Yeesh.
So, by morning (and after more drugs) I wasn’t quite as pissed about the snow and the kids wanted to go out…
But the novelty has still worn off—I only took about three pics and this was the best one. They were drinking from coconuts. 🙂
It was actually warm-ish and sunny so stuff was melting. But I still spent 45 or so minutes brushing off the car, shoveling the driveway (including the rest of the plowed-in entrance), clearing a path to the mailbox, and chipping ice off the sidewalk.
I’m so ready for winter to be over.
A jumping morning!
We were there a few minutes early and were able to skip the line because I’d bought tickets a few days earlier…so we had to wait a few minutes for the floor to open.
Look! BLOCKS!
Can you find Katie?
And mere seconds later after I stopped recording…some kids pushed it over and I got this shot:
I love the “flying” shots!
Meanwhile, in the non-toddler dodgeball section…our poser. 🙂
Post-snow sibling movie love

Snow day snowman!
Today marked the SEVENTH snow day this year (and the fourth in two weeks). Tom had a 2-hour delay but actually ended up working from home. Thankfully the kids weren’t ready to go outside until quite late in the morning. I think the major excitement of snow has worn off—though they still like it and want to go out and play in it, it’s not the very first thing they want to do!
Owen was pretending he was a ninja with his new scarf. He actually made me pull it up higher over his face. 🙂
The first thing I noticed was it was actually on the warm side—so I had a good feeling about the snow quality. One quick swipe of the snow on the car and yep—perfect snowman snow!! Time to make their very first snowman!!
The kids were excited…but weren’t much help. 🙂 Owen helped pack snow and find sticks and Katie wandered around.
It’s been probably 25-30 years since I made a snowman. It was hard with such a small yard and because we didn’t have that much snow—and what we had was on top of icy stuff—so it was a lot of scraping from all over. We could’ve tried the backyard but there’s a much higher chance of buried dog poop back there!
The kids LOVED him!


Then it was off to the backyard for more snow after they trampled everything in the front (it doesn’t take long).

But it was really wet and actually turning slushy so we went inside.
Owen LOVES his scarf…and looks quite dapper if I do say so myself. 🙂

Snow day…with daddy!
Only 184 pics of playing in the snow this morning. Narrowed down to 30. The best one? Before we got outside! Katie wasn’t much for looking at me today!
Maggie thought she wanted to go outside with us…but of course she can’t stand the cold and snow. Even with a sweater. 🙂
Getting buried by daddy!
The neighbor girl came out while her dad was shoveling. Owen said he liked her after about 13 seconds. 🙂
Owen’s turn to get buried by daddy!
Racing to the top of the hill!
Ten pictures snapped in 10 seconds and not one with Katie looking at me!
Sledding in the back yard (from the neighbor’s yard to ours)!
After almost two hours outside? Hot cocoa!
This is how a snow day starts!
Owen reading Katie her bedtime story.
I completely lucked into this picture as they both just happened to look up at me at the same time.
Hot chocolate and super heroes!
The kids wanted hot chocolate after playing outside. It’s the one time Katie gets a real mug. 🙂
Super hero time!
Snow day!
Owen had a snow day, so of course we were all out in it by 8:30! (Well, I was out, but not IN it!) 🙂
Owen: Mama, can I brush the snow off this?
Me: Knock yourself out.
Owen: Mama, can I brush the snow off this?
Me: Knock yourself out.
