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.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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.