Better late than never?!

A few posts to sum up our last few months...

May...
Kindergarten wrap up.
Our little boy has graduated. Graduated Kindergarten and is moving to FIRST GRADE!!! It was a sad day saying goodbye to his classmates and most especially his kindergarten teacher. It is very hard to express the gratitude we had for her efforts all year. There were so many things that she applied to help Owen succeed that went above and beyond her "regular" job of teaching. Owen's future teachers have some VERY big shoes to fill. But we are not letting her go. She has now become part of our All for Owen team. She is now stuck with us!

 

He may not know all his letters or be able to count to 10 but he made wonderful strides towards his goals we set out for him for the year. At his pace is all we have ever known and at his pace is how we will always approach his unlimited capabilities.

We are proud of his gains and proud of his efforts. He has made long lasting friendships and proved how much of an impact he can have on others. We are now getting excited for his next adventure in first grade. Nervous is an understatement but I know just a few doors down, Mrs. Schnackenberg is there watching out for him!

June....
I know why I never posted in June. Many life changes occurring and too hard to put into words the ups and downs. I look back at the pictures and realize I didn't take too many. I captured some milestones for Zoey and a new adventure for Olivia but beyond that not much.
We were dealt some terrible news around memorial day that PJ's cancer was spreading. The chemo treatments were not affective and there wasn't any hope left. So we prepared, we prayed, we visited, we said goodbye. The kids still ask about him often. Olivia knows he has died and asks many times why. Owen still doesn't know - he just doesn't understand.  He still asks for him to come play and wants to know where he is. Difficult conversations and just no explanation to help him understand.
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We buried PJ the day after we closed on our new house. We've made sacrifices and hard decisions to make it happen but we now have our dream home. We feel blessed, thankful and grateful to have such a wonderful home. We are excited to have the place we want to raise our family in. A place to mark the heights on the walls, a place to call home for many many many many years to come.

Darn Blogger Changes

I would be posting but for some reason Blogger said I am over my limit on photos. I have to figure out a new solution because my posts without photos will be BORING!

Soon. I promise. :)

Take me out to the ball game!

It is that time of year, baseball has begun! We were thrilled to sign up for the Miracle League again this year. The program is so wonderful and just what Owen needs - and what we need to see! It helps build his strength, it teaches him patience and rule following, it gives us a chance to sit back and watch, so many wonderful things. If you ever need a smile just come watch. It is indescribable the feeling you get sitting outside the fence watching these games. The buddies so encouraging. Everyone participates and is treated like the MVP no matter what their ability. The patience that everyone brings and the support you hear from the teammates and crowd. It just makes my heart swell.
Last night was no different. Owen was ready to play. He had his #6 jersey on and away he went. There were a few moments where he didn't want to do what he needed to do. He needed a few reminders to stay in his spot. But overall I noticed a huge change from where he was last year.

Here was his buddy last night. Griffin. He was so patient with Owen and very encouraging. Owen just called him buddy.

My favorite part of the game. Owen hit the ball and was running down the first base line. But instead of running to first base, he headed for the opposite teams bench and started asking everyone for high fives. Cheers buddy, you deserve it.

Even as he runs bases he just wants high fives. He will stop and ask anyone for them. His expression priceless as he pumps his arm and says "yethsss" through his toothless gap.

He has such concentration as he tries to hit that ball.

Zoey made it to her first of many games. Thanks to the help from Auntie Erin!

Playing defense is where we struggle the most. He wants to be silly. He wants to bat. He wants to run around.

Sometimes just laying down is ok too. The best part is that no one blinks an eye. As you can see in the background everyone else is doing their own thing too.

If you are ever interested in watching Owen play. He plays Thursday nights at King park in lakeville. The games start at 6:30 and last about an hour and a half.

Please call me Dragon.

Last week I got a request from Olivia. "Mom please stop calling me Olivia." I asked her what she would like to be called and she responded - Princess. So after about a day of the calling her princess she stopped me again and said "I think I want to be called Dragon instead" and "please ask the family to call me Dragon...Roar". And so it began. Our daughter is going through an identity crisis, eeek.
We have slipped a time or two but she doesn't seem to get to upset with us. On the other hand, anytime Owen calls her "liv" she starts to cry. Not just a little cry but screaming mad cry. "MOM OWEN CALLED ME LIV!"  We try to explain to Owen that she wants to be called Dragon. He smiles, looks at her then laughs a bit. He must think she is crazy. But he than says Dragon and moves on. Next few minutes pass and we start all over.

Personally I think she looks more like a princess than a dragon.

one month down, one month to go

Zoey is officially one month old. The days are long but the weeks are fast. Too fast, it feels like she just came home. She has decided to be our most high maintenance baby. Teaching us that we can't have all easy babies. During the day she is an angel, peaceful, engaging, lovely. But 7-8pm rolls around and she lets us know she really needs us. Colic has arrived. I will be thankful when this phase is over and I can sit down for a relaxing evening after the older 2 go to bed. Her cries are heartbreaking and we try everything to soothe her. She usually calms down around 11pm. But some nights it just doesn't end. We have even resorted to strapping her into the car seat and going for a ride late at night.
I will say though even though it seems like we will never get to bed for the night, she is the most precious thing that it is hard to be frustrated with this face.

We are one month away from our move in date! The house is coming along nicely. This pic is a few weeks old so they have since put all the siding and front finishes on. The inside has been painted and starting to look like a home inside. I am anxious to see the finishes to see all our selections together. Hopefully we made some good decisions! The kids got to take a peak inside this weekend. Olivia is VERY excited and keeps asking if we can go back. Owen is confused at what is going on :)

Sorry for the lack of blog updates. Finding time to get to the computer with more than one hand available has been scarce.

Growing Up

Has anyone seen those Subaru commercials where the dad is reminding the little 5 yr oldish girl about safe driving and then she says "dad I know" and finally he hands over the keys to a teenager. That commercial gets me lately as it feels like the kids are growing up so fast and I can't stop them! Pretty soon they will be those teenagers and will be driving off.
Owen is losing teeth left and right. He is now up to 5 gone. He is growing leaps in bounds in his vocabulary and his ability to comprehend things. Still stubborn and gets mad at mom and dad but this past year he has really grown up.

It is hard to believe in just a month and half he will be done with kindergarten. It will be a sad day moving on from the experience and great teachers.

He had his first music program at school last week. We were all unsure how he would do. Would he sing along? Would he run out into the crowd when he saw us? Would he stay standing through the full 30 minutes?
He was a star like he always is. Waving at us and saying hi mom, olivia, dad, granpda, grandma. He sang some of the words and stood very proud to be up there. We were very proud of him.

All his friends rushed over after the program to say hello and meet Zoey. One of my favorite moments of the whole event is to see the wonderful bonds he has made with his classmates and how much they care for him.
Here he is with one of his best buddies Olivia. She is so good for him and we are so thankful for her and all his other friends and teachers. We have certainly been blessed with this Kindergarten experience.

And my little princess is trying to grow up way too fast. I keep asking her to stop and she reminds me that "mom I am a big girl"!

You would think hot dogs, chicken nuggets or grilled cheese would be her favorite meal. Nope, she would rather have a salad. But please no motatos aka tomatoes.

Somewhere she picked up the art of posing for a picture means you need to put your hands on your hips.

 She is obsessed with dresses now. Wants to wear them all the time. But unfortunately it has been a little too chilly to wear spaghetti strap dresses so each day she complies by wearing one outfit to Cheri's and the second she comes home she runs up to her room to put on a dress.

Her words are what get us every day. She uses them wisely and is also very articulate. Just the other day she came home and the first thing she said was "mom, daddy called you a hippo-butt". ok maybe we are still working on the lying thing, or maybe Jason did call me a hippo-butt?

House Progress

The house building process has been moving along quickly. They are already 1 week ahead of schedule. Such wonderful news! Our close date is now set for June 15, right in time for me to head back to work on June 18!
Jason has been keeping a close eye on things and taking too many pictures of the process. So many in fact he filled up my c drive on my computer. Thanks Jason! Now what to do with all these photos he takes each day.
The kids enjoy driving by and seeing the progress too. I don't think they quite understand what is going on because at one point Olivia was worried we were going to live in a hole in the ground and then she was worried our house wouldn't have a roof when the walls started going up. But each week it gets a little farther along and she seems to get more and more excited about living in the new house. - As long as her room is cute enough of course -

The outside is done except for the finishes and they started on insulation inside yesterday so it is really starting to become a house!

The townhome we are living in has been working out. The kids have a space to play and each have their own room and that is really all we need to keep them happy. And the key success to making this work is just that. Make them feel at home. It is definitely hard to keep it clean when I can't fully organize things like I normally would and up until this week haven't been able to lift much or bend over to pick up the random toys and wrappers and things strewn about. But we are making it work and thankful we only have 2 more months of living in a bit of chaos.