Mission Select: Owen's Birthday

Owen had a choice between having two friends for an overnight for his birthday or having a party with 8 to 10 friends. He chose to have a Rescue Hero party. He picked out these invitations and invited 8 friends from preschool and our play group.

Turned out that only the two boys he would have had for the overnight were able to come and they stayed overnight together the night before. Oh well. They still had a BLAST! Here the four of them are in their Rescue Hero poses brandishing their Rescue Hero badges homemade by Mom.

Since it was just the four of them, it was really more like a playdate than a party. They all played and us adults sat around talking. Eventually, though, the games needed to begin. Jim and I set up a Rescue Mission. The boys were given a picture clue. They had to find the Rescue Hero in the clue. When they got there, there would be another clue. They had to rescue 6 Rescue Heroes to complete their mission. They did great. Even though Owen and Evan had home field advantage, Owen Y. & Alex even found one all on their own.

All that rescuing can make a hero really hungry, so we brought out the cake. There just happened to be four rescue vehicles on the cake. Each boy licked the icing off of a candle and a vehicle, then dove into their cake and ice cream.


Mia didn't want to be left out of the action, so she spun some rescue records in her party dress.

Since the boys all play so well together, Mia got all of the adult attention.

Owen was not the most gracious gift receiver, which was quite embarrassing. He got a Spiderman Transformer from Owen Y. that I think almost any 5 year old boy would flip for. I knew he would love it an hour later, and he did. He plays with it all the time now, but when he opened it, you would have thought they had given him a can of green beans.

Alex gave him three books in which you can choose your own story. Evan picked up on the system first. Owen didn't get how the book could jump from the front to the back to the middle. For once Evan taught Owen something. Evan is just getting into story telling. I think having some creative control in the story is appealing to him.

THANKS OWEN & ALEX!
(and Jackie, Troy, Dawn & Joe)

Snowboarding at Theodore Wirth

As Owen neared the age of five, he's been testing out a new attitude. I think it's an attitude most kids test out with their parents. It's the, "Duh. I know" attitude. This is his, "Duh. I know" look.

We got Owen a beginner snowboard for his birthday. Today we went over to Theodore Wirth Park with Auntie Gina, to give it a try. Before we left, I tried to prepare Owen for the frustrations he might encounter on the hill. He seemed to have determination, or maybe he's all talk. We soon shall see.First they taught him how to get into his board. Then they spent a lot of time trying to stand up. Apparently this is a really hard part of snowboarding and Owen never really got it down. I'm thinking, how can you even do anything else if you can't stand up, but what do I know?

Gina is so patient and takes no whining. I love that.

They did some practice jumping. Owen was pretty good at that. He'd practiced that part already in his bedroom.

Then it was time to take a run. They tried a couple different methods. This is the way Gina taught Jim. They Jim tried just holding his hand. He never really got too far, but it was good to get out there and give it a try. Hopefully we'll be able to do it a couple more times yet this year.

I have to admit, I felt like a super mom out there today. Even though it was above 30˚, it was still chilly out* and I actually breastfed Mia, sitting in the snow at the top of the sled hill.

We brought some sleds, but Evan didn't want to slide. He was content to trek up and down the hill and play in the snow.

However before we left, Gina gave him a taste of what snowboarding is like. He liked it because he didn't get snow in his face. (Another reason why my sled is better.) Meanwhile, Owen is already at the bottom of the hill with his board, yelling for us to hurry up and go. Guess that determination reached it's endpoint.

The boys couldn't have all the fun. Jim gave Mia a ride in the sled, too.

THANKS GINA!

* Of course, I never could have stood it had it not been for my new North Face 600 insulated jacket my folks got me for Christmas. It is SO warm and yet so lightweight! Mia and I didn't even feel the cold. Thanks Mom & Dad

5 Years

5 years ago today marked the best day of my life. I had no idea when it would happen. I had no idea how much my life would change. No one ever can. But from that day, I have never felt so loved, so needed and I have never loved or needed so much.

You didn't come into the world the way we planned. Silly boy. You were sitting on your butt and nobody knew. You must have a pretty boney butt. All sorts of people streamed into the hospital to congratulate us and to meet this little boy: Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts & Uncles, cousins, friends, residents, doctors, teachers, even the Folwell Middle School Student Council came to see.
When they cut me open and pulled you from my womb, I was pretty out of it. They showed you to me and I uttered to your dad, "He looks just like you," ... but you didn't.

When I was pregnant, before we officially knew you were a boy, I had a dream that I was on a beach chasing a little boy. There was only the sound of waves, but I knew the boy was laughing and that I was saying, "I'm going to get you. I'm going to get you." Just when I was about to get him, the boy turns around and looks up at me with a smile. That boy looked just like Daddy and I knew in the dream that his name was Evan.
Well, I just expected that you were going to look like Daddy, but you didn't. You look like me. This dream will come back to me again, when I'm pregnant with your brother, but this time I pan out as the boy turns around and I will see another boy, out of the corner of my eye, who is playing on the sand dunes. That boy was very focused... carefully searching the sand. That little boy was you. And you may know now, that this dream came true when we visited Grandma and Grandpa in St. Augustine, Florida.

But, I digress. After two days in the hospital, we still didn't have a name for you. Daddy came to me with the list and said, "How about Owen." I agreed. We got the name from Owen, WI on Hwy. 29. I suggested it while we were driving up north once when I was pregnant with you. Your middle name is after Bumpa, whom you often remind me of.

You were an easy baby and you grew up too fast. You had teeth at 4 months and walked at 10 months! You never had rolls of fat and you were always, as Ya-ya says, "stiff as a board." You didn't like to sit, which is good because either do I. I loved being able to stay home with you and take you to all sorts of playdates, museums, classes, and visits to relatives.

You are an amazing brother, right off the bat. You always have loved babies. When Evan was born, you would snuggle next to me as I nursed him and we would read books for hours. You and he started wrestling when he was 4 months old. He says wrestling with you is his favorite thing to do. When Mia was born, you would rush into our room every morning to see her. She smiles her biggest smiles for you.

You've always loved books and learning. When you were 4 months old, you could turn the pages of a book the right way every time! Your attention span for reading has always amazed us. You are especially interested in non-fiction. At two years old, you understood that the earth rotates around the sun, which causes night and day. You also knew that the moon rotates around the earth, does not emit it's own light and why it appears to change shape! You didn't slow down in the three years since then. At four, you could tell us the date that the Titanic sunk. Just today you and I were doing simple multiplication and practicing counting into the thousands. But don't get a big head, because your penmanship stinks and you still can't color inside the lines.

You are my even keel kid. You rarely get too excited, but you've never really thrown a tantrum either. You make us work for a smile, but when we get them, they mean that much more. You can get pretty crabby from time to time, but you have a deep understanding of what's right and wrong. You are sincere in your feelings towards others. Nobody would ever question where they stand with you. You don't put on a show. You are honest and real.


But that isn't to say you are not emotional. You have always shown empathy beyond your years. You are sweet and cuddly and everyone loves that about you.

Your empathy has also grown over the years. Last year our music class moved to a nursing home. Although you were outgrowing the class, you still liked to go see the seniors. You always made them smile and were never afraid to touch them or hold their hands. You have no idea yet what that means to them.

And, this year, you started a fundraiser at your school to raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti. You donated most of your piggy bank savings from the past year and would have given more if we had let you.

Owen, you are growing too fast. I'm afraid that if I blink, you may be gone. I love you so much. More than I ever knew I could. So much that it hurts. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift I have ever received.
Thank you for making me a mother.

You Say It's Your Birthday

These days, by the time you're 5, you've got many circles. It's all the new networking, I guess. Owen is already on his 3rd party and his birthday is today. We've already had cake twice, so today Grandma Connie brought a doughnut and tonight we had a candle stuck in a zucchini cookie.




Today I went to preschool with Owen. We made zucchini cookies for the whole class.












After snack, Owen was kind of moody and didn't want to try any of the stations. They have a student teacher who has a really cool unit going on that included a quilt square station. Mr. Moody just wanted to lay on the couch. I ended up playing more with other kids in the class than him.





Owen requested pizza for dinner. Tonight was also the big night that Owen was to try fruit. He's been saying since he was 3, that he would try it when he was 5. He was not too happy about this part of his birthday and we didn't force it too much. He did suck on a piece of watermelon before diving into his presents.

He says he can't decide if his favorite present was this snowboard or his Rip Rockefeller Rescue Hero. We'll see after Saturday when they actually try the board out.

Jim wanted to play a special birthday song for Owen. Owen's mood swung down again and he headed to the toy room to play with Rip, but Evan seemed to enjoy it. Guess it's sometimes hard to be 5.

Celebrating with Ya-ya & Bumpa

Ya-ya and Bumpa came this weekend to celebrate Owen's birthday. He got to choose what we did. We encouraged him to choose Como Zoo because it was so nice out today, but he chose the Children's Museum instead. Have you ever been to the Children's Museum on a Saturday in winter? It's nuts. Owen is kind of like a Letts in the way that he doesn't really like a crowd. By the second room he was in tears and ready to go home.

Evan, however, makes the best out of every situation and was having a blast. He wanted to go in this cave, but it was a little overwhelming. While he was sitting there, stuffed animals began falling on his head. He collected the animals and handed them out to all the lonely looking kids. Then he took the extra animals and found them "homes" in the woods.

Here's a new Children's Museum shot. This is one of Evan's favorite exhibits. One person stands up against a white wall while the other shines various colored stage lights on him or her. It's a lesson in the color wheel, shadows, and reflection. I wonder if he realizes that it's also a part of theater.

Here's another one of Evan's favorite parts of the museum. He seems to know all these secret nooks where nobody else really likes to go. Anyway, we named this dog Scout. It loves to hug Evan and vice versa.

We had a pretty fun day. When we got home, Ya-ya cooked us a wonderful penne pasta dinner with her famous Olive Garden salad. Everytime she makes that salad, I have to force myself to eat the rest of the meal because the salad is just so good!

Then, of course, we had cake. My folks came with me to the grocery store and we found the perfect cake for Owen. It was chocolate with mint whip cream frosting and one little Andes Candies on the top. Jim always puts Andes Candies in my stocking because they are made in my home town. This year, Owen ate the whole box!

Afterwards we watched the Olympics and Mia giggled with Ya-ya. Then my Dad stayed up half the night helping me build a new cupboard for our kitchen which I had to stick in here because I am so thankful he helped me. It would have taken me all week to do that by myself. Anyway, after 9 years in this house, I can finally use the outlets in my kitchen!

Thanks for celebrating with us Ya-ya & Bumpa!

Be Mine... Belated

I may say this a lot, but I can't say it for much longer, so...
things can get a little crazy with three kids under the age of five. Seems like we're always in a rush and we're always late. Valentine's Day was no different. Jim gave me my gift at just before midnight: an edited video of our 2004 trip to Florence, Italy. My traditional giant heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie was not made until today. But even before we could make the cookie, we had to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Our backyard has the perfect sledding hill for kids and this is the first time we've used it. Owen doesn't love sledding. He hates it when snow kicks up in his face. He'd rather go slow than risk a face full of snow. Luckily cutting a new trail makes sledding a slow-go. That, and the fact that Jim was too lazy to pump up my snow tube. This is a historical argument between Jim and I that dates back to our days in our first apartment. That winter we lived near a stellar sledding hill. One snow day we went out to get a sled. We could not agree on which sled would be best (because I'm always right and Jim, for some reason, thought he was,) so we bought both - an extravagance for us back then. Anyway, you see here the slow piece of junk Jim picked out. I picked a snow tube. After about two runs down the hill, there was a line of kids waiting to use my snow tube and Jim relinquished that I was, in fact, right.

Anyway, back to our backyard. The snow in most of yard is untouched so far, other than the trail I dredged the other day. So, what else do you do in untouched snow, but make snow angels! Doesn't Mia look adorable in her puffy pink snowsuit? It's her first time in the snow.

None of the kids really got the concept of making a snow angel. It was more like they were taking naps in a bed of snow.

All that snow wore us out, plus the sun was setting, so we went in to get warmed up and sugared up. We finally got our giant cookie made. It was über gooey in the middle, just the way we all like it. I wrote Happy Valentine's Day on the cookie and made a little frosting border. Then the boys took over decorating. Here are the results.

YUM!
I might add that this whole cookie was gone in 24 hours.

Digging Out the Yard

It is not easy to go outside during February in Minnesota with three kids under the age of 5. Getting dressed alone can take 1/2 hour or more. Then, you have to trudge through snow up to your knees while somehow carrying your youngest, dragging your middle child, who may or may not lose his boot in the snow, until you get to the place where you want to play. That took another 1/2 hour. At that point you will get about 10 minutes of play in before somebody will have to go to the bathroom and you have to trudge all the way back in. So, unless you really like winter, if you have three kids under the age of 5, you probably don't go outside much in Minnesota during the month of February. Heck. During the months of November through March.

Anyway, today I finally took the kids outside. I admit. It is only the second time we have played outside in the yard since Mia was born. And it is the first time Evan has gotten to play outside in the snow this year. He was really excited. There was only one problem. All of our gates are blocked by snow. We couldn't get into the play area. As if things weren't already hard enough, I had to lift Owen and Evan over the fence while holding Mia in the Baby Bjorn. Then, I had to trudge back through the knee-high snow, around the house, walking down the driveway backwards to avoid getting blowing snow in Mia's face, and into the garage to get shovels. I then passed them up through the stairs to Owen and Evan so they could shovel out the gate enough for me to squeeze through with Mia. Sounds fun, huh?

Finally inside the play area, I plopped Mia inside a sled that I had previously tossed over the fence, and I began to further shovel out the gate. Mia was momentarily happy.

The boys were on some sort of rescue mission that entailed shoveling paths through the yard and up the play structure. I was feeling good about the decision to come outside. Then, Evan had to go to the bathroom. (See previous description) We finally got back outside. I gave up on the idea of having naps for the day and we all continued shoveling. Not even 10 minutes later, Mia starts to wail.
She's cold. Party's over. We head in.

Actually, I think going in is the best part about going out. The kids snuggled up to warm their cheeks and noses.

And then we all had yummy hot chocolate.
Mmm. Maybe winter isn't SO bad.

Owen & Ellie Pump It Up

Jen and I decided to do a combined family party for Owen and Ellie this year at Pump It Up. Even though there were only 4 jumping-aged children, the inflatables were not empty. Almost all of the adults got a good workout...

and quite a few laughs. They had inflatable slides, a basketball court, obstacle courses, a boxing arena,

and a bounce house. Out of all the kids, I think Evan enjoyed the equipment the most. He loved all of the inflatables.

He laughed hysterically for over an hour straight.




Even the babies had a good time. Connie and Neil just got back from a month in Mexico. With the bigs kids occupied, (meaning their children) they had lot of opportunites to cuddle the babies.

After an hour and 20 minutes of jumping, the staff led us into a room with an inflatable huge throne. They crowned our birthday duo and served the cupcakes Jen brought with the number 5 frosted on the top.

We sang* happy birthday to them as they beamed at us from their throne, carefully & patiently holding their blazing baked goods.
I don't think Owen was expecting gifts at this party and especially not from Jen's family. Jen's sister and brother-in-law got Owen a Lego helicopter. He was so excited about it, he almost fell off the chair. Apparently, he had wanted it for Christmas but didn't get it. Who knew? Wish we did. He hasn't given us any birthday wish ideas so far, other than a snowboard. He needs practice, I guess, because he has informed us that for his 6th birthday we are going back to Utah.

Owen was also pleasantly surprised by these trick sunglasses, that allow you see things behind you. These glasses have now been copped by Dad who is equally enthralled by them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWIE & ELLIE!

*I don't know why I sang at fortissimo and completely out of key, but I will remember to tone it down for the next birthday party.