Welcome "Pookie" the turtle

Owen has be coveting this turtle at Build-A-Bear for at least a year.  Santa brought him a gift card and we went to pick him out today.  He got a Rangers uniform and some skates for him, which also made it exciting for me!

Letter to Santa

Skating

This is the first time he actually took some strides on his own.  He should be zipping around the ice by Christmas!

Snowboarding

We bought Owen a cheap snowboard last winter.  He couldn't even stand up on it then, but this morning he pulled it out and rode down the whole hill.  Couldn't believe it...

This is on Sunday, after it melted so it's much slower...

News Flash...

Owen says that he, "is the strongest man in Sporty Sprouts."

Library

Whit was the parent helper in Owen's class on Tuesday.  Tuesday is library day at Good Start, which is actually why she selected that day.

All the kids line up and file down the hall to the library where they select their books.  Apparently all the kids had chosen their books and checked them out, and Owen was still browsing.  Whit tried to prod him along, but the other kids had to wait for 10 minutes while he chose just the right ones...

Feather Duster at the ready...

Having some refreshment while helping 

Mummy clean. Tools on hand and ready to go!

More Spelling

He wrote "dog" for me when I got home tonight.  He'll be reading any day now...

Writing

Whit and Owen were doing some drawing and writing this afternoon and he decided to write the word "cat".  No prompting, he spelled it and wrote it himself!

Dancing

What did you learn at school today?

"I learned that bears eat deer."

Really?  I always pictured them eating things like salmon and blueberries.

"Well, now you can picture them eating deer."

True story

State Quarters

Thanks everyone for a very successful quarter hunt.  Owen just had to put the quarters in his book the moment we got home on Saturday.  It seems I missed a state in my original post, so now we're looking for Wisconsin, Hawaii and Nebraska.

Christmas Boy

Owen seems to have crossed a boundary into Christmas crazy this year.  We decorated the house and put up the tree yesterday, and he was absolutely bananas all day long.  Same thing this morning when he woke up.  As Whit said, kids are the ones who have it right -- as adults we seem to forget just how special this season is.  He hasn't talked about presents one time, it's just the decorations and the whole spirit of the holiday.  In past years I'm not sure he quite grasped the whole thing, but he definitely has it this year.  Merry Christmas!

More Children's Museum

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Visit to the Boston Children's Museum

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Happy Thanksgiving!

He's eating "Squanto Snack", which he made at school (along with the pilgrim hat).

Tent Building Today

Party Time

We had a little gathering of friends at our home last night to celebrate Whit's birthday.  Owen was very excited about the whole exercise.  There weren't any kids, just grown-ups, but he played host and entertained everyone.   It was very cute, he was excited for Whitney more than anything.

Very Exciting...

We woke up to a surprise snowstorm this morning (lake effect snow).  We have ~6 inches and Owen was jumping out of his skin!

Snow!

Owen has a request

"Please keep and eye out for the state quarters I don't have yet. I need Delaware, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Mississippi, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana and Oregon.

Thanks!

Love,
Owen"

Underwear

Owen complained to Whit yesterday morning that his pants were tight.  He is close to outgrowing some clothes so she didn't think much of it.

Later in the day they went to the bathroom at the mall and Whit noticed that Owen was wearing two pairs of underwear.  He, ofcourse, thought this was hilarious.  He didn't remember doubling-up on underpants that morning, but he couldn't wait to tell me about it when I got home last night!

Pizza Tonight

Owen helped me to make pizza for dinner tonight...

Big News!

Owen learned to ride without training wheels this afternoon!  Very exciting for everyone!

Whitney goes to school

Whit was the classroom helper at GoodStart yesterday afternoon.  She enjoyed it and so did Owen, although I'm impressed that he didn't cling to her the whole time.  The only time he did was when you got a boo-boo and needed his Mummy to kiss it.  Whit says that she still thinks preschool teachers are saints!

Voting

We had planned to go vote as a family this morning and beat the rush.  But, Owen wanted to have breakfast first so he and Whit went a little later.  She let him pull the lever, so he got to cast his first vote today!

I can vividly remember voting with Mom when I was a kid.  We voted at the High School, and I'm pretty sure we voted at the Elementary School a few times too.

Uncle Jeff

Owen spent all day anxiously awaiting Uncle Jeff's arrival...

Sick Day

Owen complained that he wasn't feeling well this morning.  It was fire safety day at school, so he decided that he felt well enough to go see the fire truck though.

When he got home he was wiped out and actually laid down for a nap!  Well that was enough to cause panic in our house so Whit took him to the doctor this afternoon.  The doc said it's a virus, probably a 24 hour thing.  He was bouncing off the walls again by the time I got home tonight.  He was excited to tell me that he got to watch TV "for like three whole hours!"

Owen's Joke

Owen likes to tell jokes, but like most four year olds they never make sense to anyone but him.

While we were at Panera having lunch he had a breakthrough:

"Why do you put candles on top of a birthday cake?  ...because it's too hard to put them on the bottom!"

Lowes Activities

No, not a truck this time.  One smashed thumb for me, one cute little wooden pumpkin for The Boy.

Sledding

We had a hard frost last night and Owen was excited.  He put on his coat and boots, got out his sled and gave it a go...  Later I asked him how the sledding was.  He told me it was, "Not so good."

State Quarters

Owen has a new hobby. He's collecting all the state quarters. We bought him a book to keep them in, and I think it's helping with his US geography. Anyway, it's a fun little game to check our pockets everytime we have change.

Du-T

Our neighbor Michelle brought over a gift for Owen last night - a crocheted turtle she found at a craft fair.  It really is adorable.  We left it on the table so Owen would find it in the morning.  Well he did, and boy was he excited!  He was jumping up and down and squealing.  He named him Du-T.

Fall Festival

We had a neighborhood party this afternoon for the kids. Hay ride, bounce house, funny little games and apple cider. We had to drag him home after two hours!

Milkweed Pods

Here's a pic from our hike at the Bluebird Haven last weekend...

Morning Hike

Today is our 11th wedding anniversary! We went for a hike this morning, which is something we like to do on the weekends. Today we went to Boughton Pond in Bloomfield. It was a chilly, beautiful morning!

Football

Beautiful fall day here, so we went out to play some football. Owen also invented a game where you run around and someone else has to guess the shape you make. Owen made Boston, a football and a lobster.

I love turtles!

Another shot from the Buffalo Zoo

I love Rhinos

Monday was Columbus Day, so Owen and Whit took a trip to the Buffalo Zoo.  It's a good zoo, but as Owen said, "It's no Toronto Zoo."  They do have some different animals than Owen's zoo, so he was psyched about that.

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Fenway's Bath

Yesterday morning Whitney and Owen gave Fenway a bath outside.  Owen was having fun with the bucket of water.  First he put his toe in it, then his foot, then his whole leg.  That was so much fun that he dunked his head in the bucket next.  It was pretty chilly, so a few minutes later he was cold and headed inside.  When Whit came inside she found him up in his bathroom.  He had stripped down naked, run a warm bath for himself and sat in it... in the bathroom sink!  There was much giggling.

Visit to the Farm

Owen's school took a fieldtrip yesterday to a local farm. They picked pumpkins, played in the corn, went down a slide, got to pet some farm animals and took a ride on this cute little train. Owen is in the Bear class, so they're all wearing bear hats (note the ears!).

Sunday School

There's no Sunday School during the summer, so we haven't been to church for a while.  It started back up again a few weeks ago but we hadn't been there yet.  On Thursday, Owen asked if we could go to church.  That was great, because we needed a little incentive.  He wiggled around through the first part of the service, then marched right down to his classroom.  There are new teachers this year and they seem to be very good.  Owen had a grand time and wasn't in a hurry to leave at the end.  So, it looks like we'll be back at church more regularly...

Pants are optional

On Saturday, there was a neighborhood party and we rented a big bounce-house and slide for the kids.  Owen was out there for at least 3 hours, just climbing up, sliding down and running around to do it again.  I was standing near the bottom and he started jumping from the slide into my arms.  One time I turned him upside-down and accidentally pulled his pants down to his ankles.

Here's my favorite part.  He wasn't embarrassed at all.  He thought it was hilarious and we all started laughing about it.  Later when one of our neighbors came over he couldn't wait to tell her about it too!

Katie

Whitney reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Owen stories:

When Katie was a kitten, there was one day when Whit hadn't seen her all day.  Katie likes to sleep in the basement, but that evening we started to get worried and went looking for her.  We looked in the closets, we looked under the beds, we looked everywhere.  Then Whit went outside and started calling her.  Then she came inside and started calling her.  Eventually she heard a tiny little squeek.  It was very faint, and we eventually tracked her down inside the drawer of Whitney's desk!

She had obviously been in there a while, but she was perfectly fine.  First thing in the morning, Whit asked Owen if he knew where Katie was.  Whit a big smile, he proudly told her that he knew exactly where she was - she was in the drawer!

We never quite got the story on why he put her there, but did make sure he understood that we don't put kitties in drawers.  Amazingly, Katie doesn't hold it against him.

(this is actually Rucker, not Katie)

Simple Games

It's always amazing to me when a simple little game brings Owen so much joy. Whit is cleaning out the basement (big project!) and I found some little tiny beanbags that look like balls from different sports. Yesterday morning, Owen asked if he could have them.

When I came home last night, he was sooo excited and wanted me to play a game he'd invented. We had to stand in different places around the house and throw the balls into a plastic bucket, much like basketball.  Well, Owen is pretty good at it, and when he gets one in he absolutely SQUEALS with delight!  You would think that this is the most fun he's ever had, and it had me doubled-over laughing.

Sea T is so strong!

Fire Truck

Lowes has this great program where you can go and build a wooden toy on Saturday mornings once or twice a month. We built a pickup truck last month, and Owen has been looking forward to the fire truck for a long time! He helped hammer it together and put the stickers on. I actually put it together wrong, so the wheels don't quite reach the ground. Owen couldn't care less :-)

BIG Questions

I've been noticing lately that during prayers Owen says ..."if I should dive before I wake..." So last night I corrected him, which prompted a serious of huge questions I had not planned to discuss at bedtime!

Owen: Why do I have to die?
Me: Well, everyone dies eventually, but you are going to live for a long, long time.
Owen: What happens when we die?
Me: Oh my, that's a big question... We don't know for sure, but I believe that our soul lives on.
Owen: What's a soul?
Me: Oh my...

You get the picture. He's an inquisitive kid, which is great. He will not take an answer at face value, he probes it until he truly understands it. Occasionally he gives up, then comes back in a week or two for more answers. I'm anticipating another round of discussions on our souls next Tuesday!

Treasure Hunt

We had some beautiful trees planted in the backyard this week, and this is some of the leftover dirt. Yesterday our neighbor put some small items in the dirt pile and the kids got to dig for buried treasure. Apparently there were two pieces they couldn't find.

Owen wakes up this morning, runs into our room, runs back to his room. He puts on his clothes and announces that he's heading out to find the treasure. I think it was less than five minutes from the time he woke up until he was up to his elbows in dirt!

Two-By-Two

Owen learned about the story of Noah's Ark in school on Monday.  As you can imagine, he was very excited about it because of all the animals.  He was very concerned about the rhinos, since the pictures they looked at didn't show rhinos and he wanted to make sure they were safe too.

Last night we were walking up the stairs to go to bed and he wanted to march up two-by-two!

Race Day!

Whit and Owen came to my race on Sunday morning. It's the only one I've done this summer, so it was interesting to see how it would be different from past years. Owen was more interested in the race itself and I could hear him yelling the loudest each time I went past. Whit says that he was good about amusing himself in -between "Daddy sightings". At the end of the run, he took my hand and we crossed the finish line together!

Uncle Rodney and Cousin Brian

Rod and Brian flew in for a visit on Saturday.  Owen loves to play with Brian, and he thinks Rod is pretty funny.  We spent the afternoon at Canandaigua Lake and did some kayaking.  They stayed the night and planned to attend my race on Sunday but had to take off early to beat the weather...

Boo Boo

Is it me, or does Rucker look like he has something to say?  I imagine it's something like, "Cough, cough.  Don't just sit there, cough-cough.  Get his hands off my throat!"

More Mummies

Grandma came for a visit and did some gardening today!

"You have a beautiful voice..."

Here's my favorite story of the year so far:

While we were at Frost Valley this weekend Owen was acting up during dinner on Saturday. I took him outside to talk to him about it and there were three teenage girls rehearsing a song by the corner of the building. One of them had a particularly striking voice and Owen and I were both distracted during our discussion. When we were ready to go back inside, I asked Owen if he'd like to go over and tell the girl that she has a beautiful voice. He was a little apprehensive about it but I reminded him that it would probably make her feel great to know that he appreciated her singing. That seemed to resonate with him.

So off he marched, little Owen, to tell the girl twice his size that she has a pretty voice. I couldn't hear the conversation but could see that she was beaming as he turned and walked back to me. She was obviously touched by the gesture, and I was proud of him for stepping beyond his own comfort zone so he could bring a little joy to someone else. I felt blessed to be there to see it!

Frost Valley

We went to Frost Valley this weekend for an alumni reunion.  Frost Valley is the summer camp in the Catskills I went to for 7 or 8 years.  I talk about it all the time and I still have close friends from camp so I thought it would be fun for Whit and Owen to see it.  My friend Chris and his daughters Claire and Natalie were there too, and Owen likes them so he was psyched to go.

We got there after dark on Friday night, but Owen got to stay up late and play with the other kids so he was happy.  The three of us were sharing a room and although Owen slept well, Whit and I had a rough night.

In the morning we had breakfast at the dining hall.  Then we headed for the climbing wall.

  Technically you're supposed to be at least five, but we thought we'd see if Owen was up for it.

  There were a bunch of high school age kids there too, but Owen volunteered, got his harness on and did a fantastic job!  The older kids all clapped for him and he was very proud.

We also went to the barn (where I spent a lot of time as a camper) and Owen got to groom a horse and had a pony ride.  He definitely enjoyed that too.  Later that afternoon we made candles and had a huge game of hide and seek.  Overall, it was a great trip.  Owen even slept a little in the car on the way home!

First week of school

Owen's first week of school went great.  He likes his teachers and has already made some new friends.  He especially likes that he gets to play with cars occasionally.  

Meeting teachers

We went to see Owen's classroom at St. Pats and meet his new teachers this morning.  It was a big success.  He has several friends in his class and the teachers seem great.  Big day tomorrow!

Classroom Visit

Whit and Owen went to see his "Good Start" classroom and meet his teacher yesterday.  Good Start is the Tues/Weds/every other Friday program.  

Although he's excited about school, he's also a little nervous about it.  His teacher seems like a perfect match - she's very sweet and connected with him right away.  He even made friends with one of his new classmates while he was there.  So, it looks like he's all set for Tuesday!

School Bus

School (K-12) started in Victor today and it was a big event in our neighborhood.  Everyone lined up with their cameras to watch the kids get on the bus.  Owen waited across the street with the Morreales and watched the whole production.  At one point I thought he was going to make a break for it and jump on the bus with the other kids.  He's very excited to start his own school next week.

A nice, quiet holiday weekend

We've been pretty busy lately, so we decided to have a quiet weekend. We did make it to Canandaigua and the water park for one last hurrah. He seems like he's done with the water park for the season, although I'm sure he'll start asking in November if it's open yet!

Hole in 1!

We took Owen to play mini-golf this morning. It was his first time and would you believe he got a hole-in-one on the first hole? Needless to say, he enjoyed the outing and wants to go again soon!

See Grandpa? There's still hope!

Breakfast with Sea T

Whit got to sleep in a little this morning, so Owen and I had breakfast with Sea T while he played on his Pooh computer. He was very concerned about whether it was September, or still August.

Last day of soccer

It was a good week at soccer (or as I like to call it, "everybody crowd around the ball and try to kick it"), thanks again to Coach Steve. I think he will remain interested in playing but we will have to wait and see.

Yes, that's a real lion!

Visit to the Syracuse Zoo today with Owen's pal Sammy. The lion was sitting right next to the glass, so Owen got an up-close look at her!

Soccer

Whit has signed Owen up for several camps this summer and soccer camp is the final one. It's only an hour a day, from 11-12 this week. Coach Steve and Coach Zach are leading this one too and Owen seems pretty interested in soccer. When I got home last night he wanted to show me his new ball and play. We took out his little orange cones and made an obstacle course, dribbling through the cones for at least 10 mins. That's a record for him. Now if I can just get him to stop picking the ball up in his hands we'll be in business...

Turtle Friend

We went kayaking on Boughton Pond this morning. It was a beautiful, quiet paddle and we spotted a painted turtle sunning itself on a log. We quietly glided up to it, inching closer and closer and expecting him to slide into the water at any moment. Owen was so quiet and we moved so slowly (and the turtle was so brave) that we were able to come within a foot of it! We could see its green, yellow and red markings, see it breathing in and out before it plunked into the pond. It bobbed up to look at us a few times before we paddled away. Owen named it Rhino Turtle.

"Mummies"

Owen is really interested in planing things, which is great. I'm excited about this since it's something we can all do together. Of course, there are some drawbacks, like everything takes twice as long with Owen helping. (Owen wait, that's not a weed!)

I can remember tending the garden with my Mom when I was a kid. I don't think I enjoyed it at the time but I definitely look back fondly on it now. I do remember that I loved apple and berry picking (more eating than picking I'm sure). So I'm always trying to get Owen interested in those activities too.

Anyway, he was planting mums with Whit (whom he calls "Mummy") and was very excited about the whole production. When they finished he said, "Can we go get some more mummies so I can plant them?" Very cute.

T-Ball

Owen had T-ball camp with Coach Steve last week. He learned to run the bases, throw the ball, swing a bat (sort of) and generally had fun. Hard to believe that he could stay interested in something for an entire hour for five days straight, but Coach Steve has the patience of a saint and an amazing knack for holding the attention of four year olds...

Visiting Uncle Jeff

Here is Uncle Jeff's beautiful new house!

Wild Animal!

A visit to the zoo today. Note the bandaid on his forehead.

Rhino's Birthday

Yesterday was Wenkinz Rhino's birthday. I know this because I had to wait until he unwrapped all his presents before bath time last night. The presents were random Legos from a bucket. I asked how we knew it was Rhino's birthday and he tells me, "Because Rhino told me."  Silly me.

Dancing

I get a real kick out of Owen's dancing. Yesterday he and Whit had lunch at Great Northern. He likes to sit outside where there's a speaker so he can hear the music. In the middle of lunch he gets up and starts swinging his hips, smiling that sly smile and laughing the whole time. It's hysterical - I'll try to get some video soon.

August Vacation

Here are some photos from our August trip to NH, Maine and Boston. We stopped in Keene, NH to visit our friends Chris, Jeanine, Claire and Natalie.

Then a quick stop in Freeport on the way to Blue Hill. The weather was terrific all week.

We got to test out Nana and Grampy's new boat and took advantage of an amazingly clear day for a visit to the top of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge.

On the way home we stopped at LL Bean again to see the Big Boot and have some lunch. We spent the night in Medway, MA and got to see Uncle Jeff's new house. Jeff and Brie kindly watched Owen that night so Whit and I could go to the Sox game. It was a 12 inning win for the Sox, and we actually got to see Jackie and Adrianne there too.

Overall, quite a trip and a nice way to wind-down the summer. School starts soon!