Growing up before my eyes (Owen)

I can't believe how much my kids have "grown up" this past summer.

I figured Owen would mature right before middle school, but he has done several things lately that show he's older now.  Just the other day, he asked if he could get his hair cut.  It might sound benign...but this is usually a topic that is started by Jake or I and followed quickly with a debate that he doesn't think he needs one.  This week he was playing on his ipad with his headphones on.  I assumed he was listening to some youtube video or soundtrack to whatever game he was playing.  Jake looked over his shoulder to see him turn on a Mike and Mike podcast.  That is something that Jake does, not Owen.

Then tonight I helped him figure out how to tie his shoes.  It's always been a battle to teach him.  So we pretty much just gave up and bought him only slip-on shoes.  I KNOW!  Not a shining parent moment.  But it was blown away tonight by his determination to figure it out.  He nailed it on the third attempt.  He did it a few more times and once to show daddy.

What will they be doing tomorrow???

Winter Storm Q

Thank you, Storm Q!  Today became a "snow day" for everyone in the Arnett house.  The kids had no school, Jen's clinic was closed, Jake was post night call and Nick seems to ALWAYS be here.  :)

So we just HAD to get out in it!  Jake went for a run at 8:00 am, we went to the backyard for some fun.

 The view from our front door.

Yep, Jen is up to her knee in snow.  And it's still falling!!! 

Owen burying himself in snow. 

Face plant, in the softest snow EVER! 

Having fun! 

Not quite snowballs, but still cold. 

Nick is even eating the snow.  Possibly to get through it.

We came inside to warm up, bake cookies, start chili in the crockpot and drink hot chocolate.  Thank you, Storm Q!

I'm BACK!!!!

That's right!  I've been motivated, and now I'm going to try to post more frequently.  We've had a wild few months.  (No move to Nashville, new laptop, new camera, trying to figure out the new equipment...you get the idea!)  But to move on to the post from today.

We got SNOW!!!  And we are suppose to get more tonight.  In fact, it's 5:00 and they've already canceled school for tomorrow.  :)  So after school today we decided to bundle up "Boston Style" and have some fun.

Owen making snowballs.

Abbey came over to play too. 

I had an eager helper. 

She did more than I thought she would.  But I did finish the driveway. 

Warming up in front of the fire.

Renaissance Festival-2012

We may have started a new tradition.  This month we went to the Renaissance Festival near KC.  My sister goes almost every year, at least twice!  Since the kids are getting bigger, we decided to give it a try.  THEY LOVED IT!!!!  They are already planning on going next year.  Here are some of the pics I took.

She HAD to get her face painted! 

He met Robin Hood. 

He's ALWAYS wanted a wooden sword. 

Allie on the pony of the REAL carousel. 

Owen on the donkey of the REAL carousel. 

There were TONS of these cut-outs. 

They loved them. 

My princess 

My knight in shining armor.

(How he sees himself.) 

How we see him!

Third Grade, Meet Owen!

Yep!!!  He's off to THIRD GRADE!!!  Boy, was it the perfect day.  Everyone in the family was up around 7:00 am.  We were dressed and daddy was making breakfast.  The weather was cool enough for the windows to be open.  After breakfast we took our "traditional" First Day Of School pic and decided to walk the dog.  There were some classmates we ran into and visited with at the bus stop.  The energy was getting high.  So when we got back home, we decided to go ahead and take Owen to school.  We got there EARLY!  School starts at 8:35, we dropped him off at 8:20.  Yep, I said "DROPPED OFF".  He didn't want us to walk him in.  Everything was smooth, until we got back home and found Owen's sack lunch sitting on the couch!  I was that mom!  Running into the school office at 8:40 to drop off a Batman lunch box.  Luckily, that was the ONLY glitch in his first day.

Meet The Teacher Night

Last night was "Meet the Teacher" night at Wheatland Elementary.  Both kids were excited!  Allison knew who her teacher was (Mrs. McEwen, Owen's kindergarten teacher) but she couldn't wait to take her school supplies and play in the classroom.  Owen's teacher, Mrs. Udell, is new this year.  I was excited to see what she was like.  She's young and has only taught a few years.  We also got to see who some of Owen's classmates are going to be.  He's excited!!!!  Here are a few pics I took.

Allie with her school supplies. 

 Owen with his school supplies.

Allison found her spot! 

Owen found his desk. 

These are the kids in Allie's class. 

We left feeling good about school starting this year!!!!

Laser Quest, ANYONE?

Today was the day.  My son turned 8 years old.  I can tell you all that this was a BIG day.  He woke up at 2:30 this morning ready for the party to begin (it started at 12:40).  Luckily, he crawled into bed with me and slept for a little bit more.  (My heart was warm knowing my little man wasn't too big to cuddle.)  So at 12:40, we showed up at Laser Quest (the location for the party) and as Sendak so stated, "Let the Wild Rumpus start!"  Did I mention I was the ONLY adult?  It was a blast and to quote my son, "This has been the BEST DAY EVER!"  I'll alert VH1.  :)

The "boys"

The party room 

The birthday boy

I hope his wish comes true!

Crazy 8!!!

This wonderfully amazing little man is my soon-to-be 8 year old.  It seems hard to believe that he'll be in third grade this year!  Time sure flies!!!  No child is perfect...but he's the perfect son for me.  I look at him and I see everything that makes him, HIM.  He loves video games (and can talk about them for HOURS).  He will read a book from cover to cover (unless the story gets a little too scary).  He protects and plays with his little sister (even hold her hand in public).

He's smart and determined, like his father.  He's social and sensitive, like his mother.

I can't wait to see what the world will have in store for him.  But for now, I'll just cuddle on the couch with my boy and be content.

Summer Learning at Butler

Today was our last day of Kid College at Butler Community College.  This is a program that Owen has been participating in for the last 3 summers.  HE LOVES IT!  This summer was Allie's first time going.  Allie got to go to 3 different classes.  Owen signed up for 8 classes.  Here are the classes:  Smart With Money, Ocean World, Animal Care, Lego Mania, Basic Digital Photography, Art With Carle, Play Dough Creations, Rockin Rockets, Science Experiments, Origami and Build Your Own Airplane.  I'm very proud of them for wanting to learn during the summer and thankful they had so much fun doing it.  Here is a sample of what they did.

Art from "The Grouchy Ladybug"

Diorama of a tide pool 

 Self portrait, even framed

Summer 2012-done!

Read MUCH????

This summer, we have been the typical busy family.  Swimming, Kid College, Play Dates, Birthday Parties, Family Visits... you get the idea.  These few pictures capture my favorite way to spend the HOT summer day.

Owen reading on the couch. 

Owen reading in the car. 

Owen reading at Panera.

These pictures depict the first half of a day, same outfit, 2 different books.  I love that he LOVES to read.

End of Second Grade

YEP!!!  It's summer!  Owen's last day of second grade was Wednesday.  I, of course, took a few pics of him and his friends.  (Ironically, Allie is in most of them!!!)

Paige and Allie 

Allie, Owen and David 

Jake and Owen 

Me, Allie and Owen 

This last one was one I took as he walked out the door.  He looks HAPPY to be done with second grade, doesn't he?

Yellow Belts

When you discover something your good at, you tend to excel quickly in it. For Owen, that has been Tae Kwon Do. In the last 2 weeks, he has earned 2 more yellow stripes. He is 1 away from all 4 stripes. He is very confident he can get that one quickly too.

Stripe 2

Stripe 3

Allie isn't upset at all! If anything she is more motivated!!! She knows he's older than her. He is also only doing Tae Kwon Do. Allie is also doing dance, gymnastics and soon soccer (I'm her coach!!!). But none of this is an obstacle for her. She came home and asked me to start working with her. So we have been practicing about 30 minutes a day. This is a good thing. Because yesterday we saw the white board at the dojo. They post the names of kids who will be testing for the next belt at the end of the month. And look who the masters think will be ready?

Yep! BOTH my Lil Dragons.

Second Grade-wax museum

Today was the second grade wax museum. Each student was given a famous American to do research on and present information on. They got to dress up and have props that related to the character they were portraying. There was a dot sticker on each student's hand. You would walk up and press this "button" then the character would begin reciting their script they had memorized about the person they were. It was AWESOME!!! We saw TONS of famous people.

Walt Disney (I thought looked more like Hitler.)

Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future)

George Washington

Lance Armstrong

Franklin Roosevelt

Thomas Edison

Robert Goddard

Lucille Ball

John F. Kennedy

Eleanor Roosevelt

This one was my FAVORITE!!!!