This one has been an angel lately. I think he is filled with the Christmas Spirit and/or scared to death that Santa is going to put him on the naughty list. I don't care why he's being so helpful lately, I'll take it!
I'll also take some photography lessons from him, look at those clear, focused eyes!!
Owen has been surprising me in so many ways lately. He is exceeding all my hopes for him in Kindergarten. He's a thoughtful and attentive child in class, a total athlete on the playground and has many friends. Scholastically he's doing great, even getting challenge problems in math.
But outside school, this little guy is glued to my hip. The maturity he displays at school isn't mirrored at home. He seems to need lots of extra attention especially at bed time. The whining is at epic levels. And he's been prone to mega-tantrums when he doesn't get his way. (Like we thought he was having a psychotic-break when we left the church carnival too soon for his liking).
As the anxious and overprotective mom that I am, I scour our days for evidence of why he needs so much attention. What isn't he getting? Enough time with me? Enough dad time? The two moves in 6 months? Being a middle child? His wacky 3 hour day? All of the above?
All in all he is doing awesome, and I just hope he outgrows the whininess and tantrums soon. This mama's bag of tricks is empty.
After basketball on Sunday, we headed straight to the pool. Andrew had a lesson (which ended up not happening), but Andrew got a dad lesson (finally got the flip turn!), and Owen and Sarah hung out in the hot tub.
Owen played in his first basketball game on Saturday. This boy has found his sport. Owen is totally engaged and a bit aggressive on the court. He loves running the ball and making the shot - which he does about half the time. We had a great time watching these 5 year olds play. There was a lot of running the wrong way, taking the ball from teammates and general confusion. But there was also tons of enthusiasm and fun.
I was able to catch Owen making a basket:
I think someone's getting a big-boy hoop for Christmas (and some regulation basketball shorts :).
Sarah and I went to our second Vista Verde Thanksgiving feast yesterday. Remember Andrew's performance?
My baby!
It was Owen's turn yesterday. The three kinder classes sang songs then hosted a Thanksgiving Feast. We got there right on time, so we didn't get a great picture spot. Some parent must have camped out for awhile! Owen was right in the middle of the group.
He was so cute. He was waving and winking at me while everyone was getting situated on the stage. I got to join him when it was time to eat. He told me he was embarrassed when he was singing, but he sang and did all the hand signs. He did such a great job.
After the feast we had to get a picture with his awesome teacher, Ms. Larsen.
We went on our first family camping adventure a few weeks ago. Since this was our first time, we stacked the deck in our favor for it being a good time for everyone:
1. We stayed very close to home in case anyone freaked out and we need to abandon the plan
2. Separate tent for the kids
3. Inflatable mattresses - no crappy foam pad (I didn't say we roughed it!)
4. COFFEE
5. Built in fun time at the beach
6. Had friends over for dinner and ordered pizza (again, no roughing it here!)
7. Brought Eric's iPad so we could watch Breaking Bad after the kids went to bed
I guess it was more "bring your house to the beach" than "camping". But I'm all about baby steps! Maybe next year we'll actually go on a hike : ).
The kids help wash the car last week. They did a much better job of washing the street. But, isn't that what's being a kid all about? I loved playing with the hose when I was young.
So, just when we're getting into our routine and Owen knows that Monday and Thursdays are swim team pick-up, we have a whole week of modified days and a random day off on Thursday. If we make it through the week with no tardies, I'm calling it a complete success!
She's 'this' close to being fully potty trained. At home she's goes on her potty, and at pre-school she's even waking up from naps dry. We've just got to work on other places we spend a lot of time - like the pool... Yeah, you don't want to know.
We visited the new house for the millionth time today and went inside (instead of the usual drive by). Here's what it looked like in June:
And today:
Our street today:
There's been a ton of progress. We're so excited to see how fast the house is going up, but still amazed we can't move in until October. I am impatient and am ready to make our final move and unpack everything and be settled.
The kids would be fine if we never left the apartment because our new friends the Maginos live right next door. The Maginos and their kids Gary, Lukey and baby Troy have just made this in-between time so wonderful. They are just the kind of neighbors you dream of; the kind that bring over cookies to welcome you to the neighborhood and the kind where the kids can just shuttle back and forth as they please. They may be moving soon too, so you know i'm working on them to move close to us!
Back to the house...
Here's the backyard. It's not huge, but still so much more space than we had before. The builder calls these modest yards "Executive" yards - so funny. I wonder how many focus groups they needed to settle on that adjective. Still, we're looking forward to a lot of dining al fresco!
Here's the view from the kitchen looking toward the living room. The house has an open floor plan where the dining room, kitchen and living room is all one big space. This is great for me - I can keep an eye on what the kids are up to. And we have a fireplace! Can't wait for cosy nights by the fire.
Here's the opposite view, looking from the living room to the kitchen. The kitchen has a big island that will be right where that stack of boxes is.
There are more pictures in the flickr stream that include the kids rooms and bathrooms. I had a hard time getting whole rooms in the pictures, so here's a link the floor plans and a video tour of the model for our house. The outside will look a little different, and the inside will have white cabinets instead of brown, and we'll have a bit more IKEA furniture, but you'll get a better idea of the layout.
October 30 can't come soon enough, and then November when friends and family start coming to visit! Living the dream!
When I'm trying to get something done, like dinner or go to the bathroom, I let the kids do stuff I wouldn't normally let them do. Yesterday, I said yes to the boys when they wanted to take pictures with my big camera. I'm so glad I did! Their little photo shoot cracks me up! Saving these for the wedding slide show ; ).
So, here's what we were doing yesterday when we should have been on the way to school to drop Owen off. I am totally on the ball with his regular schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday he goes 11:50 - 3:10pm. Then on Wednesday he goes from 10:10 - 1:25pm for school-wide minimum days. Except on special days like yesterday (a Thursday) because of Back to School night when its 10:10-1:25 too. I totally spaced and forgot he had his minimum day schedule, but realized my error before it was a total wasted day. He ended up being about 30 minutes late. So, he's got his first tardy. I think this kills Eric a little bit on the inside. Owen's attendance record is forever blemished : ).
It's Owen's turn to make a Kindergarden share box. I swear we were just doing this with Andrew! (Mom was much more relaxed this time around.) Owen decided on a sports theme. I helped him wrap it, then he took off with decorating. He had a ton of fun gluing and sticking cool stuff to it. Another masterpiece I think!
We've been watching a lot of Olympics around here. Eric has been excited that Andrew loves watching the swimming. Which has lead to impromptu swimming clinics on the living room floor. Yesterday Andrew even announced that Ryan Lochte was cooler than Justin Bieber! We caught some of the water polo over the weekend, and I think Sarah picked up a thing or too!
