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Happy 5th birthday, Owen!

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2014-02-02 12.18.26

We had Owen’s 5th birthday party at one of the local gymnastics places. We invited his entire class (16 kids) as well as our friends. Half of his class RSVPed (of which two asked to bring other siblings, which was fine) and I was annoyed but honestly pretty impressed that we got a 50% response rate. However, of those eight that RSVPed, four didn’t show…two of which were the ones that asked to bring extra kids. 😐 So that cost me extra because I opted to go with the 25+ kids plan (which allowed for another employee to be scheduled) because we were right on the line with RSVPs and I figured we’d likely get some that would show up without having RSVPed. So we ended up with 15 kids total instead of 23. Oh well, it’s only money, right? And Owen had fun so that’s what matters, right? But he did have fun so it’s all good!

Ursula made the awesome Ninjago cake!

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When I called Owen over to see it (he was out playing) he said “It’s Jay!” (Of course, he was right, Jay is the blue ninja.)

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Owen with two of his classmates, Tanner and Braxton (who I’ve posted pics of before). You see that Owen really isn’t the same size as the rest of his class. 🙂

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Katie having fun running around:

Katie was very interested in what was going on in the bounce house—but we put her in with the kids and she screamed. So she was content to just peek in for a bit.

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I showed Katie how to hang on the bar and she loved it! She’d hang and swing then drop off—over and over.

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And then she got in the bounce house because it was fairly empty:

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Back at the bar showing daddy her tricks!

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The birthday boy in the middle of the parachute!

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And here’s a 6 minute video of the parachute fun (pretty much for the grandparents). 🙂

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Each kid got to do their own thing in the middle of the parachute balloon. Owen did a spinning twist.

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A few last runs before leaving…

The last pic of our best friends for quite some time—our friend Tom is deploying next week and we’ll be moving this summer…

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As Ursula was getting the cake packed up to go, Owen saw that the head was off to the side and was VERY concerned that it wasn’t coming home and kept asking about it. We assured him Jay was coming home. Then he saw Ursula carrying it to her car (to bring to our house) and he was concerned that the cake itself wasn’t coming home at all!

Overall, it was a great party for Owen’s first REAL birthday party (not just something at our house with a few friends or family). 🙂

Snow Kids

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The kids were desperate to get out and play! I love the mashup of outfits since we don’t have winter clothes! (Well, Tom and I do, but it was a lazy day so we were all in jams and comfy pants.) Katie’s wearing jams because they’re the best thing to keep her belly covered—and she has non-winter boots but they didn’t fit over the jammie feet so we put her in a pair of Owen’s old lined Crocs which fit perfectly. Owen has boots but they’re on the small side so didn’t fit over thick socks.

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Afternoon outing:

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Welcome home dinner outing!

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Daddy wanted to go out for sushi and of course I’ll never argue with that…

Getting ready:

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Then we stopped at Owen’s school to get Tom registered (for pickup and drop off) then had time to go to the playground!

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“I’m stepping on your heads!”

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DINNER!

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Less than 10 minutes later:

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Katie tried a bite of sushi and ate it but didn’t want more (but she’s been in a phase of only eating 1-2 bites of something).

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Them we went next door for frozen yogurt! Katie was wiping daddy’s face.

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It’s a good, good morning.

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The plan was for me to go in to Owen’s room as usual and then have Tom come knock on the door. Tom was up super early (before 5) and once I knew he was up and moving around I was paranoid that Owen would hear/see him and ruin the surprise…so I got up and dragged Tom back into the bedroom while we watched Owen on the monitor. Owen dutifully waited until his nightlight turned green at 6:30 before turning his bedroom light on and I went in shortly after.

I thought he would have been much more excited…but it was still sweet. And then people (on Facebook) pointed out his wiggling feet and I guess that’s how he shows excitement. He also sounds a little choked up toward the end. (Facebook only got a snippet. This is the whole thing.)

The Facebook comments were great:

  • I like the wiggly feet…..
  • Awwww. This is priceless. I think he was very excited. His little feet!
  • The wiggly feet give it away!! So sweet!
  • Those feet!!!!!
  • Awww. Those feet! I totally cried. Both times.
  • The boy who emotes with his feet. What an awesome moment.
  • I love the little foot wiggle.

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Then first things first—he had to show daddy his Lego book!

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And then it was time to surprise Katie. She doesn’t seem to recognize him at first…but don’t worry, she was saying “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” the rest of the day and didn’t want him to leave her sight.

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And daddy even did the morning diaper change!

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Welcome home, Tom!

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He wasn’t scheduled to land at MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Cherry Point until 6:30, at which point they had to unload and do admin stuff and only THEN get bussed an hour to Camp Lejeune. The official ETA was 10:15, so I planned to leave at 9. But it’s the military, so surprise!

The easiest way for me to do this is follow a direct timeline according to my texts and Facebook posts. 🙂

6:28 Owen tells me he wants daddy to pick him up from school tomorrow and “Mama, you can stay in the car.” He’s going to have such a big surprise in the morning!

6:44 Tom texted: Landed

6:44 I texted back: Woohoo

6:45 I posted to Facebook: The eagle has landed. (It was Liked by 72 people.)

8:01 Tom texted: On the move. (He sent a Glympse so I could follow his progress.)

8:19 Tom texted: I should be ready by 2130.

8:20 I texted back: 9:30?!? I need to leave earlier.

8:24 I texted my next door neighbor (who was coming to stay with the kids) asking if she could come over a bit earlier.

8:40 I pulled out of the driveway.

9:03 & 9:13 Following his progress—if I had left about 10 minutes earlier, I would have likely been following the bus on base:

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9:17 I posted this picture on Facebook: So close, yet not quite.

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9:21 Tom texted: At armory now.

9:21 I texted back: I’m watching. 🙂 (I could still see him walking around on Glympse.)

9:26 I posted this picture on Facebook: Bags are unloaded from a separate truck first, ahead of the guys.

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9:27 I posted this picture on Facebook: This is what the scene looks like.

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9:37 Tom texted: We are half way done. 15 minutes. Getting back on bus. Four guys left.

9:40 I posted to Facebook: I was so excited to get out of the house that I forgot it was freezing. I have no hat, gloves, or scarf. I’m frozen.

9:43 Tom posted to Facebook: M4, M9, and NVGs turned into armory. On bus to see Jen and do the Sea Bag Drag.

9:45 I posted this picture on Facebook: Waiting while freezing my fingers off.

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9:46 I posted this picture on Facebook: They’ve rearranged the bags three times now.

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9:54 A friend took these pictures of our reunion. Not quite as romantic a picture as you’d probably imagined. 🙂

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And of course our traditional selfie (we did them before they were a thing):

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9:59 After Tom found his bags, we took this selfie with the iPhone so we could post it on Facebook: He’s home! Better pics later! (It was Liked by 127 people.)

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10:04 A buddy of Tom’s helped haul all his gear to the car and then took this picture:

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10:48 Maggie welcomes daddy home:

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Gee, what a surprise–Owen likes hot chocolate.

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I tried to get him to try it a week or so ago and he flat out refused. REFUSED! I told him he loves chocolate and chocolate milk, and this was just was warm chocolate milk. Nope. I promised he’d love it. Nope. I promised him a piece of chocolate if he tried it. Nope.

/urge to throttle him

So today I was drinking some again and he said he wanted to try it.

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And imagine that—he loved it. 🙂

Gymnastics birthday party!

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Both kids had a blast today! Owen started on just the bounce house…

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And Katie was having fun everywhere. She was a blur!

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Owen was then busy running and jumping all over! I didn’t even try to get pictures!

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She was really good—she just stopped at the top with no interest in the beam!!

The whole group!

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Taking a break on mom. 🙂

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