Owen’s 4th birthday!

Owen’s  birthday celebration began early on Saturday.  We’ve been talking a lot about what kind of bike he wanted.  So we headed to Toys R Us to try some out.  He immediately gravitated towards this orange bike, even though he’s been saying from the get to that he wanted a blue bike.  He hopped on it at the store and rode like a pro.  After trying a few others ones out, he still said this was the one he wanted.  So it came home with us, along with a hot wheels helmet!We struggled to get him back inside after riding.

On Tuesday (his real birthday), he woke up to this:   He of course wanted to open his presents immediately. We had birthday donuts for a special treat.Elmer and Jackie (William’s parents) arrived later in the day and he got to open even more presents!

Owen wanted to help decorate his own cake.  So not Pinteresty but fun to do it together.

For the last part of his birthday celebrations, he got treated to a movie with his best buddy, Sam.  Carrie and Rob (and baby Jack) came to pick him up Saturday morning and they all went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.  He had an absolute blast.

All in all, it was a super fun week of celebrating him!  Definitely not a birthday party complete with animals, but we’ll go big again next year when I haven’t just had a baby. :)

Last Day with Sam

Today marked a very sad day in our house – it was our last day babysitting Sam.  He has been hanging out with us 2 days a week since October 2012.  Look how little they were: It has truly been an answer to prayer.  And Sam’s mom, Carrie, and I still laugh about how it came about.  I randomly posted a Craigslist ad (not something I thought I’d do about childcare) and Carrie responded (not something that’s in her personality AT ALL).  And what happened is a friendship that I see going on for a very long time. Owen and Sam adore each other.  We joke that they’ll be going to college together.  Carrie is due next month with Baby Jack and plans on staying home with the boys.

So today, we planned on heading out for ice cream to celebrate our last “Sam day.”  Rob got off work a little early and came with us to McDonald’s for cones!  We are going to miss seeing you every week Sam, but we look forward to lots of playdates! These 3 love each other!

Curtis Orchard

We had a great first trip to Curtis Orchard with our buddy Sam!  This is one of my favorite C/U places to visit in the fall.  We got there super early so we basically had the whole place to ourselves for most of the time.  They had a great time playing, feeding the goats, eating donuts, and even going down the tall inflatable slide.  It was the perfect outing and can't wait to go back.

they were singing "the wheels on the bus"

they had fun chasing the kittens 

not sure who loved this more!

 

she had NO fear feeding the goats

playing in the train

classic Curtis Orchard picture 

so yummy - fresh donuts and cider.  The 12 pack we brought home was gone FAST.

First Day of Preschool!

Today was the start of our home school journey as we kicked off Owen going to preschool.  He was so excited to start.  We watched Sam today (not a normal occurrence) but he just jumped right in and did what Owen was doing!

I found this cute first day of school printable and was shocked he was fine with taking a few pictures outside!  He wanted to wear his backpack which held his supply box, a car, and a toy phone inside.They stayed engaged for about 45 minutes- an hour which is about what I planned for.  We mixed in lots of dancing and singing to keep things interesting.One of the hardest parts to everything was the cute little thing here dressed in a dress.  Ellie.  She was into EVERYTHING.  I had a box of new toys for her that only get pulled out at school time, but she was still into everything.  She did great when she could dance, sing, or color.  But other than that, watch your crayons boys.  Whew, that will take some tweaking to find what works best for her.I was definitely impressed with his willingness to work and work hard.  I know, I know it was his first day. But in general, it was super fun and I think he really liked it.  There was one page he wasn’t willing to do and I told him it just needed to get done before nap.  After lunch, all on his own he went and finished the page!While we were at lunch, I did a short survey with him so we could remember this time:I’m really excited about what this year has in store for us!  Yes, it’s going to a lot of work to stay on top of everything.  And there are so many ideas out there, I’m really going to have to pick and choose the things I want him to do.  But for our family, for Owen, and for this year, this was the perfect choice (I think after day 1).  haha

more time with Sam

We are continuing to love our 2 days a week with our buddy Sam.  Some changes are possibly coming in our setup but I'm trying to not jump the gun and be sad.  This is just a purely picture post of one of fun afternoons outside with Owen's favorite friend: