Little Punk

During red ribbon week at school Ben asked if I would color his hair blue for crazy hair day. I think he was surprised when I said yes. I overslept that morning and we missed the bus, but he had blue hair. I'm pretty sure the look he is giving me in the first picture is the very same one I had every time my mom tried to get a picture of all of us.

He has lost a couple of teeth since then, one being a top tooth which was extremely exciting for him. I don't remember thinking that some teeth were more important to lose than the others but he was telling every cashier who was lucky enough to wait on us that he had a loose tooth. I suppose he was right about the importance of the tooth because he looks so different to me now.  Another one came out Wednesday at school but he wasn't sure when. Here's the story I got:

"Zyza and I were reading The Tooth Book and I told her that I had a loose tooth. When I went to show her, it wasn't there anymore! Do you think I ate it?"

There wasn't a tooth to leave on the dresser for the Tooth Fairy (putting it under his pillow creeped him out) so he decided to leave her a note.

 Translation: Sorry Tooth Fairy, but I lost my tooth at school and will you still give me the money

We have now started relying on cell phone reminders to keep our magical beings, the Elf on the Shelf and the Tooth Fairy on their toes. We've already dropped the ball on both. Just to be on the safe side, I think I'll go ahead and put Christmas Eve on that reminder list too.



Party Animal

I am only one month late in posting these, but hey, better late than never. As the pages on the calendar keep flipping faster than ever, Owen, had his fourth birthday.We celebrated with our friends at our Halloween party a few days before the big event. He changed out of his costume as soon as the first family arrived. 

His Celebration of Life at preschool was on his birthday and both Jeremy and I were able to attend. It is always special and I was a little teary eyed by the time it was over. In the picture below he is carrying the "earth" around the months of the year. After one candle is lit Jeremy and I would tell a couple of stories about what he was doing when he was one. The kids sing a song as he is walking. Each time around the circle represents a year of his life then we would talk about him turning two and so on. I had pictures to bring along, but they were left on the kitchen counter.

He seems to be settling in to his new routine at school and will talk a little more about his mornings. When asked what he had for lunch or what they talked about during circle time, I still get "I forget" most of the time, but as the afternoon goes on he'll randomly say "You have to be quiet at circle time." or "I wrote O's in my journal today."  Within the first couple of weeks I could see quite an improvement in his coloring and writing abilities. 

His birthday celebration continued well into the month as we celebrated with his cousins while at my parents. The four of these kids are at an awesome age where they play so well together and play nonstop! 

Owen, my sweet, sweet boy!

I can't believe how much he has grown this year. He is a character this one. Owen is silly and loves to make us laugh. I have a hard time telling this guy "no". He's not a rule follower. He doesn't listen all that well, but he is not a trouble maker. We just have to repeat ourselves a couple of times to get him to do things such as  to put on shoes, get ready for bed, and put away his toys. He is relatively quiet and will keep himself entertained for quite some time. He is kind and gentle and will share whatever it is that he has. 

He loves being four and is definitely a big kid. We no longer give high fives before bed, it's hugs, kisses high FOURS then knuckles.



X-Men

 Halloween is a pretty big deal around here. The boys start getting excited when the magazines show up in the mail in August.  Owen's favorite superhero has been Wolverine for at least a year now.  It doesn't change, and when asked why, it has to do with the claws. He was very excited to get the costume and it is already showing signs of wear and tear because he is in it all the time.

To my knowledge he has only seen the animated Super Hero Squad version of Wolverine so I am not too concerned. I am a little concerned that I didn't know that wolverines were an actual thing. Ben learned about them in preschool last year and I was all set to disagree with him when Jeremy lovingly pointed out that they were in fact real. This is why we send these boys to preschool and have no intention of homeschooling.

While Owen's favorite stays steady, Ben's will change from time to time. It was The Hulk for for a while then something called Beast. In one of the Spiderman and Friends books, Beast is described as:

"Gifted with superhuman moves, it's tough for the Beast to sit in one place for too long! However, when the blue-furred boy isn't busy playing sports, you'll find him spending countless hours studying his favorite subjects in school."

 Parent-teacher conferences were this week and I met with Mrs. Bryant and Mrs. Thompson, his speech teacher. The meeting went great. Mrs. Bryant showed me some of the work they have been doing in class. On the first day of school he drew a picture of himself with the biggest smile, from ear to ear, and at the bottom it said, I love school! She said that he is still just as positive and eager to learn and I tried, but couldn't stop the tears and I looked at her and she was tearing up too. I have mentioned that I love her, right?

I then saw a drawing of his Halloween costume. It was fairly accurate and I had to laugh. She was understandably confused. She thought he might be talking about Beast from Beauty and the Beast, but nope. I tried to explain that he was a character from X-men, but it was easier just to find the picture of him that I have on my phone. I'm sure that was a great use of our time together.

They can't wait for Halloween!



Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend was our bye week so we did not have a soccer game. We decided to take advantage of the weather and take the boys to the pumpkin patch. We didn't make it last year so the boys were excited to go. While I was taking the picture above the boys were nudging and pushing each other. They really are growing fast!

Owen wanted to see how tall he was without his brother bumping into him.

When we arrived home the boys wanted to play outside. It was great to see our neighbor Garrett out front with them. Ben has been practicing for his basketball skill evaluation that he had earlier in the day. He is all set to play in the Upward League this winter. I have already decided that we are taking the spring off from sports.



Hello. Tap....Tap....Is this thing on?

I am still here. I am just so far behind that I keep procrastinating. My mind works something like this.

I need to update the blog...
Where should I start?
It's been forever...
Gah! I'll do it later.

Here I am a month and a half later and I don't really have anything exciting to report. We are finally falling into a routine with our new schedules.  Ben is still loving kindergarten and doing quite well. I'm just guessing here because I haven't received any notices that he isn't doing great. He is very enthusiastic about school and loves his teacher. She really is a gem. She started sending short emails at the each day the second week of school and I love knowing what they are doing in class.

"Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:23:08 -0500
Ben was the Letter Expert for the letter Kk....he helped them read the poem for today...it is one they really liked! 
We had library. Mrs. Bosley read several ABC books...and showed them many more! 
Recess was wonderful...the chill in the air is perfect! Don't forget to label all clothing with your child's name/initials 
We worked on counting paper apples and writing our numbers to 10...they are in the hallway with a cute picture. 
We practiced our sight word books with Dexter...the pointer dog. They are bringing them home today...help them read with a pointer (finger/crayon etc)

Teresa Bryant"


I didn't even get this much info when he was in preschool! I still volunteer twice a month to work with the kids. I'm really enjoying getting to know his classmates. When I go, I bring lunch for the two of us. Last week we ate outside in their secret garden. I snapped a picture of him with my phone. (I really need to get back in the habit of taking my camera with me!)

It took Owen a little longer to transition to preschool. He seems to be liking it a bit more lately now that he has a buddy to pal around with. One of the boys from Ben's previous class transferred into his and they have been playing together. It was difficult to get him to talk about his morning but now he will tell me stories about Judson.

A few highlights from the last month:

A trip to Springfield! 
I had a baby shower for my friend Jessica. She's due in December and I am beyond excited for her!  My boys tagged along and went to an Illini football game with the Burgin boys, and my brother Ryan and nephew Wade. We stopped by the Burgins on our way out of town and I can NOT believe how fast their kids are growing. Kelly took a picture of the boys together. On the ride back I edited it with this one from a few years ago. (Again on my phone...)

A visit from Grandma Uebinger and Grandma Guthrie!

Owen's school had Grandparents day a few weeks ago and both grandmas were able to make the trip to go with him. The boys have never received so much attention in their entire lives. I'm pretty sure that they now believe that they are neglected, poor things. Owen and I took them shopping on Friday and he got a ride on the carousel out of it from Grandma Terri.  

And on October 2nd, Jeremy celebrated his 37th birthday!

(I really don't have an excuse for taking this picture with my phone, but here we are... I think I need an intervention.)

We started the day by giving Jeremy all the gear we picked up while in Springfield and later went next door to watch football with several of our neighbors. We had barbecue and an ice cream cake for dessert. The weather was great and the kids were outside most of the day. I am enjoying this fall weather!

Owen has a green stripe belt!

The boys have Taekwondo twice a week and Ben has soccer practice once a week with a game on Saturdays. I'm not sure where all of our time goes, but man, it flies by. We have already started getting ready for Halloween. 

I feel very protected with these two in my backseat.



Goal!

Ben's first soccer game was earlier this afternoon. Jeremy and I did not know what to expect because practice hasn't gone all that great since school has started. His day starts early even though he doesn't have to be on the bus until 8:30. By the time practice starts at 6:30 he is tired and a bit whiny. It's too hot, his leg's hurt, his shin guards are uncomfortable or something else comes up and he is distracted.

They play three on three without a goalie and it was fun to watch. Once Ben scored a goal he perked up and really got into the game. His team played great, he ended scoring four more goals and is already looking forward to practice next week.

Go Team Green!



We made it!

Owen started preschool on Monday. I preregistered him in the spring and chose to have him placed in a different classroom than the one Ben was previously in. I loved Ben's teacher and he did great while in her class but here's the thing- Owen needs a bit more discipline. It's not like he is a wild man out of control, but he has a very hard time focusing and following direction. I might be just a little too easy on  him. For instance, if I ask him to pick up his toys he has looked at me sweetly and said, "I want you to do it", but most of the time he keeps playing quietly while his brother puts everything back in its place. I am not expecting miracles from Ms. Debbie but I do like her and her classroom is very well ran.

 Ben was so excited to show his little brother where his new room was on Monday and enjoyed being back to say hello to his former teachers and classmates. Owen's first week went great! He goes to school from 9 to 1, four days a week. He climbs into the car little tired each afternoon, but he would never, ever admit to it. I ask him all the same questions that I used to ask Ben when we would pick him up and he thinks it is funny. He likes playing on the playground and it sounds like he is making new friends. The curriculum began at the beginning of the month and they are learning about insects.

I will say, regarding the two boys, I was more nervous about Owen starting preschool than I was about Ben going to Kindergarten. Ben is so outgoing and has never met a stranger. Owen has always had his big brother to rely on and doesn't try go out of his way to play with other kids. But in all honesty, I was really more worried about how I was going to handle it! I stopped working full time and took Ben out of daycare a few months before Owen was born and he has been by my side nonstop ever since the moment I laid eyes on him. He's my BABY!! But I did just fine and kept it together during drop off and don't even think Ben knew that I shed a tear or two as we were leaving the building.

By the time Wednesday rolled around, Ben was certainly ready for his own adventure. We had met his teacher again on Monday and got to see his classroom. He was excited to get Mrs. Bryant, my friend Kim could not say enough good things about her. I showed him the cafeteria and the library one more time and we stopped by to meet his speech teacher, Mrs. Thomas.  I am relieved that his IEP made it from Great Beginnings and he is all set to start services.  On Wednesday Ben naturally woke at the crack of dawn eager for the day to get started.

We were dressed and ready to meet the bus with just a few minutes to spare. He would have loved to get out of the house earlier to get some play time in with the neighbors, but I'm not that organized yet.

I couldn't stop the tears forming when I saw him climb the stairs to get on the bus. He wouldn't know this though because he didn't look back! He was so excited and I couldn't wait to hear all about it when he got back.  I had to work that evening, but the stars have aligned once again and I am working at the neighborhood pharmacy closest to where we live! Jeremy brought the boys in before taekwondo so Ben could tell me all about his big day. 

Yesterday was the first day that both the boys were gone that I was home from work.  I am seriously amazed at how quickly I can get in and out of stores when by running errands by myself. It is all ok now, I will be just fine.