Happenings

My sister has reminded me that it has been months since there has been an update. I have totally been slacking on my blog since I started working from home. For some reason, on my new computer, I was having a hard time linking pictures into the blog, and without pictures, what fun is a post? But, I think my IT guy got it fixed, so all is right in the world.

Well, except for Adam Levine being People's Sexiest?

I am not a fan... too skinny, voice high pitched, etc...but I am more of a Channing Tatum fan (as documented and noted....extensively). Actually, People magazine missed the boat.... they don't know about this guy:

OK... enough about hot men...

what have we been up to? Hunter, Owen and Quinlin are all thriving in the new school year. Hunter managed to pull a 3.5 for the first quarter of junior year (all while working- though no longer at the inflatable place...now he's in the food industry, and enjoying it).

Owen is doing well in pre-kindergarten and it solidified the fact that we made the right decision by holding him off from starting kindergarten as a young five. He is enjoying learning, eager to attempt to read, loves to play the game of rhyming words and opposites. Our new thing to tackle are sight words and will in due time. His coloring and drawings have been fantastic! It's amazing the difference in a year of how his mind works.

Quinlin is really enjoying preschool as well. She is learning and growing and has such the personality!

Other fun happenings...
My sister and I planned a girls weekend and went to Fort Lauderdale. So nice to have a weekend to ourselves. We visited family, spent time on the beach and at the pool, did some shopping. It was perfect!

 

 

Halloween happened. Sean and I went to a Halloween party in the neighborhood:

And the kids enjoyed trick or treating, though it was incredibly rainy and cold and they only lasted 30 minutes. But they sure looked cute!
 

We took family pictures this fall- a snapshot to leave you with!

 

and how sweet is this one???

 

Now that I can get pictures back on the blog, I will attempt to do it more regularly.

Owen- 5 year stats

39 lbs, 43 inches (I think he was 36% weight and 44% height)

He had his 5 year well visit last night. 2 shots and he's milking it today. walking with his legs stiff. The nurse we had made me restrain him, which I think made it worse for him to get the shots.

Passed his hearing and vision tests with flying colors. Named every shape for the vision test- circle, square and the little house symbol which I figured he would say house, but answered pentagon (or his version- pectagon).

My little smarty pants.

Happy Birthday Owen! Owen turns 5!!!

You guys...my baby is 5! I cant believe it. This was seriously his best birthday ever. He was old enough to understand, old enough to countdown the days, old enough to fully speak and communicate exactly what he wanted to do. His birthday celebrations started on Friday as we had his party Friday night at the pool of one of the rec centers. He loved it- though 21 kids was slightly chaotic. He had a blast, the kids had a blast, and needless to say, us parents had a blast as well. I had pinned so many ideas from pinterest and then ran out of time to do them, and actually was glad I didn't. The kids wouldn't have noticed my fun details, and I think I would have been disappointed in the time spent and what we got out of them. So simple- pizza, cake, etc.

On Saturday, my parents came over to celebrate.

my mom makes him the sweetest cards. This was this year's- he's a pirate on his number 5 boat.

His actual birthday was Sunday and we had a laid back kind of day. He opened presents in the morning and then we did whatever he wanted.

We went to breakfast- Owen's choice:

 

then played around the neighborhood and road bikes (he learned how to ride without training wheels about a week ago),

 

then we went to a kiddie park with our friends from the neighborhood.

Tacos for dinner (Owen's pick) and we called it a day. Success!

Though, Quinlin wasn't too thrilled that the day wasn't all about her. Poor little lady.

 

 

• Not much has changed between 4 and 5 growth wise. He is in 4T shorts, 4T and 5T shirts and size 11 shoes.
• I am not sure how tall he is as his physical is in a few weeks, but he is still about 36/38 pounds. He is really lean but has a nice, athletic build to him. Definitely has daddy's body and daddy's legs.
• His hair is darkening up a bit. Not as blond as it was last summer. More of a dirty blond color.
• This year, he loves swimming! I signed him up for swim lessons again and he did really well this year. Not afraid- and almost a little too not afraid as he begs to take off his water wings. But- he is doing well, loves to go under and loves to show off his moves of what he has learned.
• He also loves playing outside- football, basketball, riding his bike (yay on his own too- such a big boy!
• Preschool was great for him. By 5 he can count foever, knows most letters and can write his name. Still needs some help and practice with some letters and writing, but he gets it. One more year before kindergarten will be good for him.
• Friends are still huge for him. Aside from the friends in the neighborhood, he has developed great friendships with the kids from school. We find ourselves constantly planning playdates or trips to the movies. I'm a little sad that he's not going to kindergarten and all his friends are moving on, but I know this is the best thing for him.
• He seriously is so sweet. When asking him what he wanted for his birthday, he said whatever we wanted to get him. And when opening gifts, he ensured Quinlin could have some presents to play with too. I'm so proud.

The Quiz
I asked Owen a series of questions and will be asking this every year on his birthday. You can read age 3 answers here and age 4 answers here. Here are his responses from this year:

1. What's your name? Owen Patrick ______
2. How old are you? 5
3. Where do you live? here (though when asked again, he gave his full address)
4. what is your favorite color? blue
5. what do you want to be when you grow up? a dentist
6. who is your favorite person? Daddy and Mama
7. who's your best friend? Daddy, Mama and Quinny. from school- Patrick
8. what is your favorite tv show? Bubble Guppies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob
9. what is your favorite food? tacos
10. what is your favorite drink? warmer water (much prefers from the faucet as opposed to filtered from the fridge)
11. what do you like to do for fun? play outside
12. what do you like to play outside? ride my bike or play with my friends
13. what is your favorite song? I Love It by Icona Pop (though he calls it Snooki and JWow)
14. what is your favorite movie? The Simpsons Movie
15. what is your favorite book? Pete the Cat

Driving

Know what makes me feel old? aside from my birthday yesterday (37...ahem...29 again), my first born is officially on the road as a licensed driver! He has had his temps for almost a year, but we held off on letting him get his license as a motivator for school his sophomore year. So- I finally signed him up for driver's ed through the school in the spring and he successfully completed the needed amount of drive time. A huge thank you to my father who took him driving (a ton) and worked on maneuverability with him.

Hunter finished his in cars with the driving school in May and we finally felt like he was ready to take his test in June. The first opening was July 3rd, so off to the BMV we went! He used my dad's car as it was a little smaller than my SUV and it worked out really well. He hopped in the car with the driving officer and started the maneuverability portion first. My parents and I hid behind a car and watched the entire time. We saw him drive through the cones and reverse back into them- completing that portion with flying colors! I got all teary eyed with pride for him knowing he passed that section and knew he'd be fine on the driving portion.

About 5 or so minutes later, he returned to the BMV, huge smile on his face. What a huge accomplishment for him- and such responsibility.

He's only had his license for 5 days now, but it has been wonderful. He has made 2 little trips to the grocery store for me, and has driven to work about 4 times now on his own. Fingers crossed he continues to be cautious and safe. Now I know what my parents went through... a few more grey hairs may have popped onto my head these last few days. I will blame it on the teenage driver, not the birthday.

"what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I asked my kids what they wanted to be when they grew up- one said lawyer/FBI, one said a dentist and one said a football player. Guess which one my daughter picked...

Hunter
so I took hunter to his physical (and stats at 16 years, 4 months- 125 lbs, 5'7 1/4). anyway- so great to take him places and have both the nurses and actual doctor tell me what a great kid he is, etc. Anyway, the doctor has now convinced hunter to go to law school. LOL. so, my little guy is doing all this research about college gpa's, the LSAT, colleges. Makes me happy- he still wants to do FBI, so the doctor convinced him that was a great option because if FBI didn't come through, he could still be a lawyer. So happy he has direction, listens to someone else who he respects and now has a goal and motivation. Fingers crossed it all works out and he doesn't lose this excitement.

Owen
A dentist... not sure where this is coming from, but he's been saying it for a little while now. I'll take it. It's funny how we were so nervous bringing him to the dentist the first time, the second time he totally took to it and by the 3rd time he was a champ. He loves going there and getting his teeth "tickled".

Quinlin
A football player... my little girl can be whatever her little heart desires... even if it's a football player. I am guessing this is stemming from our evenings of street football with the neighbors maybe. I'll see if her answer changes when I do her next birthday quiz.

a job, a chicken and a boy band

I have been reminded by my faithful follower that it has been one month since my last blog post. I feel like we don't have much going on, and therefore, nothing to write about. It seems like every day is like Ground hog's Day. We do the exact same thing- wake up, drop off kids, come home and work, get dinner prepped, play outside, etc...

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. It's fun to hang out in the neighborhood and watch the kids play while we play cornhole or visit with our friends. The kids are at a great age where they all get along, all have someone there age to play with. It's been great. Hunter has even been getting in on the action as well and has loved hanging out with the men- and feeling like one of the guys. Even last night he called me from his friend's house asking if we were outside with the neighbors and if we were playing cornhole. 10 minutes later, he and his buddy showed up ready to get in on the action. For reference if you don't know (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornhole).

Speaking of Hunter, he went to Cedar Point last weekend- and lost his cell phone while riding a roller coaster. I shouldn't say lost, but more like it slipped out of his pocket during a ride. So- on Monday, I had to take him to get a new phone. He wanted a smart phone this time, so we told him, that would mean our plan would go up, etc and that he was 16 now, he should get a job. So- he called about 15 places, applied at 6 of them and got called for an interview.

I should have taken a picture, he looked so handsome as he was getting ready for his interview. Black dress shirt, Blue tie, grey pants, black dress shoes... this boy looked sharp. He had studied and prepped- read all up on the establishment, spoke to a friend who worked there for hints and pointers and was set. Sean and I both drove him there and we waited in the car. He came out about 15 minutes later- happy and confident- and lo and behold, about 3 hours later received the phone call saying he got the job. He'll be making just more than minimum wage, and it will be so great for him. Something to do this summer, an opportunity to save towards college and give him a little spending money (not to mention the ability to pay me the $20 a month that the cell phone bill went up from his new smart phone.

He also managed to get a 3.0 this quarter (I think), so that means we can finally let him get his license. He just needs to work a bit on maneuverability, but I think he is ready. Yay!!!

Other updates- Owen, at age 4 years and 10 months, finally was almost 40 pounds so we caved and got him his booster seat. This kid has tried so hard to gain some weight. He is such a little beanpole- and so lean!

He also had his preschool graduation, we'll call it one of two since he's not actually graduating. It was really a nice, simple event. Breakfast at the school and we were given an all about me book that I will forever cherish.

Quinlin has been doing well. She had her dance recital in late May and was the best little chicken there could be. The theme was chicken soup and rice and she was incredible.

 

And lastly, I went to see NKOTB when they came to town. The concert was ok. Boyz II Men opened and they were incredible- only played for 30 minutes, then 98* played and they were just ok. Maybe a little Nick Lachey eye candy, but other than that, it was hard to hear so just ok. NKOTB came on and they were good. Some funny moments- and of course a packed arena with all 30 something year old women. But- the highlight of the night was spending it with good friends.