John's beard

Jack: Daddy, what do you do with your beard?
John: When, buddy?
Jack: When you cut it off.
John: Well, I throw it away.
Jack: (Alarmed.) WHY!?
John: Who would want my beard?
Jack: (Obviously upset.) I DO!
John: (Confused.) What would you do with it?
Jack: (Sobbing.) Put it on my face!
John: Oh, buddy...

All I wanted was a chicken wing.

Wyatt was attempting to take a toy tool box from Devlyn. Poppy said "Wyatt, Devlyn had it first." Wy didn't miss a beat "I had it second!" You can't argue with that.

John snagged these trains and the boat from the strike of Around the World in 80 Days. He mounted them on backing boards, made tracks for the trains a dock for the boat and then brought them home for the boys. Jack & Wy were thrilled when John told them we were going to hang them up in their room. Jack immediately knew which one went on which wall and personally supervised as his daddy hung them up.


When I was in gradeschool we had to "swish" twice a year. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Once or twice a year the school nurse would bring in little paper cups of flouride and we would swish this stuff around in our mouths for 30 or 60 seconds. Then we spit it back out into the cups and ditched it all in a large trash can. Why do I tell you this? Wyatt swishes his saliva. Constantly. Loudly. I think it is a substitute for the passer he no longer has. He has to suck something so he sucks his spit...

Wyatt was SUPPOSED to be taking a nap. After listening to him putter around for way too long, John went upstairs to get the little guy back in bed. He went to open the door and Wyatt tried to stop the door from opening. He said "Daddy, I'm not done!" Then John saw Wy's little face. It turns out Wy & Devlyn were having a make-over with Devlyn functioning as the beautician. They said they were "putting on Wyatt's make up."

Abby and some of the girls in her class made up a little song for a "talent show"
Abby taught the song to the other kids and now someone is always singing this little bit of foolishness. The tune is "I Believe I Can Fly"

I believe I can fly

I just got shot by the FBI

All I wanted was a chicken wing!

From Burger King!

That's it for me.

Blessings from Owenland Park!

A Culture of Love

I honor that place in you of light and truth and love.
I honor that place in you where we can be as one in peace and joy.
And when the best in you becomes the best in me as well,
perhaps the good we wish to see will happen
when we tell our lives in love.
I bless you forever.

I attended part of an RCIA retreat before Frindle rehearsals started two weeks ago. The blessing above was one of the reflections. As I listened and thought about the days' topics, I decided to make a change at Owenland Park. Now, I don't want any anyone to think that we live in the house built by Chuckie but it is very stressful here. This unrelenting stress has led to hurt and resentment. The only way to change that is to begin changing not the people around you, but yourself. How do we do that? Sometimes you begin by making the choice to love. And quite frankly, love breeds love.

So I decided we would start making our changes at the dinner table. This is the one place where we all gather together every day - as a family. Instead of mindlessly reciting Grace as a group before dinner, we now pair off (different pairs each night) and say the blessing I quoted above to each other before we have dinner. And I mean say it to each other - look into each other's eyes and say the blessing. It has only been two weeks but the kids already know the whole thing by heart. And, I think it is helping a little bit. Please keep us in your thoughts.

(I do not the source of the blessing. I cannot decipher the citation as it is in very small print and a weird font. I have looked on line a bit, but cannot find it there either. If anyone knows it, I would love to give credit, where credit is due.)

Blessings from Owenland Park.

The Trouble With Thomas

Vice President for Owenland Park Productions John Owen announced today that the survival statistics for Thomas the Train while in residency at OPP are a dismal 62%. As a result, the Owenland Park Thomas will be placed on the list of species that are candidates for Endangered Species Act protection. Pictured from the left and listed by their Latin names are the current survivors;

1. "Holiday Thomas"
Holiday Thomas has all his paint and wheels. He is distinguished by the appearance of snow, a Christmas bell and a ribbon.

2. "Ve Uhver Holiday Thomas"
Ve Uhver Holiday Thomas also has all his paint and wheels. He too is distinguished by the appearance of snow, a Christmas bell and a ribbon.

3. "OLD Little Thomas"
Old Little Thomas is identifiable by the chipped paint which can be found around all edges and corners of his body. This is most visible in his lack of eyes and eyebrows. Old Thomas has possession of all his wheels.

4. "Broken Thomas"
Broken Thomas is missing two sets of wheels. His paint is very worn, especially around the eyes and eyebrows, though he still possesses these features.

5. "New Broken Thomas"
New Broken Thomas is battery operated. He is missing the treads on his drive wheels and one connecting rod. His stickers have a worn appearance.

6. "Big Thomas"
Big Thomas is a radio control unit but his controller has been MIA for over 2 years.

7. "Trevor Thomas"
Trevor Thomas USED to be connected by a retractable string to Trevor the tractor. Recently, Assistant Secretary to the department of Owenland Park Productions Jackson Owen insisted on separating these parasitic twin engines. The procedure went off better than expected and without any post operational regrets by any of the parties involved.

8. "Flashlight Thomas"
Flashlight Thomas is battery operated. Assistant Secretary Jackson Owen was deathly afraid of Flashlight Thomas during the first 3 years of his residency at Owenland Park. (Flashlight Thomas emits a loud chugging engine sound when his light is turned on.)

MISSING THOMASES (Would the plural of Thomas be Thomi?)

1. "Wyatt's New Little Thomas"
Wyatt's New Little Thomas took up residency at Owenland Park 2 weeks ago when a small portable turntable was installed on OPP grounds. He has all his paint and wheels. He has been missing 1 day.

2. "Jack's New Little Thomas"
Jack's New Little Thomas has all his paint and wheels. He has been missing 1 month.

3. "Old Broken Thomas"
Old Broken Thomas is a battery operated engine. He is missing both his connecting rods. Old Broken Thomas travelled to California early last summer and enjoyed a week of off-roading. Unfortunately the California dirt brought on early onset rheumatoid arthritis. His wheels turned terribly after that excursion.

4. "Driver Thomas"
Driver Thomas had a driver who stands up from the center of Thomas' cab. You push the driver down and Thomas was SUPPOSED to roll forward. Unfortunately, Driver Thomas never rolled forward without physical assistance from one of the OPP grounds keepers.

5. "Jack's First Little Thomas"
Jack's Fist Little Thomas has possession of all his wheels, though they turn terribly. His paint is heavily worn and looks as though some of it has been chewed off of his body. He has been missing 1 1/2 to 2 years.

Assistant Secretary Jackson Owen outlined a ground breaking step forward in boosting the survival rate of imperiled trains within Owenland Park: "We should go to K-mart and buy another Thomas!" Activist Wyatt Owen supported this proposed action in a surprise bi-partisan announcement "YEAH!"

I win! I get the trophy!

The weather was so beautiful the last few days that I took the kids out for walks. Let's be honest here: I walked, they ran. They can run as long as they stop at the next driveway. This prevents them from getting too far ahead of the adults - ok me. Jack and Devlyn are "super slow fast!". (In the language of 4 year olds, this means they are Olympic srpinters.) Poor Wy can't keep up with them. He stops after a few paces, hangs his head and in a pitiful voice says "I can't run anymore." I finally asked Jack & Devlyn to run with Wy to cheer him up. They all joined hands and ran that way for the rest of our walk. They laughed and cheered each other on. Wy called out "Mommy! We are having so much fun!"


I am not sure when or how it started, but Wyatt is obsessed with winning. And who knows WHERE he picked this up, but he is constantly calling out "I win! I get the trophy!" He will tug something away from me and call out "I win! I get the trophy!" If anyone else says "I win! I get the trophy!" he makes a "Zzzhhhwhip!" sound, points his finger at you and then hugs his arm to himself.(This is his super hero power of taking the invisible object away from you)and announces "-I- have the trophy!"

We finally took the outdoor Christmas decorations down last weekend. A few days later the kids and I went to the grocery store. As I was hauling in the groceries, Wy calls out "Mommy, I found CANDY!!!" I knew it couldn't be good because he was still in the garage. "Wyatt - whatever it is DO NOT PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH. Do you understand me?" What did I hear? "Mmmwwhwmmhmm!" I looked around the car and found Wyatt sucking on one of the candy cane yard decorations...Jack thought this was so funny that he stuck it in his mouth too. Well, three can sort of play at that game - I made them bring it upstairs and suck on it again so I could share this picture with you.

Later taters,
Love and blessings,
Amy & the gang

Devon's family

Our family from Alabama

Marshall, Lili & Jude




Peter & Krista - Jude's Godparents

Shelby & Noah!

Who can resist a great big smile when looking at this picture?

All the little kiddies!

The Owen Gang

Gammy, Poppie and all the grandbabies!

Vampires, feather dusters and visits, oh my!

The boys and I had lunch with Gammy one day last week. As we sat at the table Wy slowly turned into a wild man. He was trying to climb onto the table, he was trying to climb behind me on my chair. He was doing gold medal dinning room chair gymnastics. I finally barked at him "WYATT! You are being super naughty!" He grinned at me and calmly said "Yup. I am." Then he went back to his lunchtime attempt at a triple Salchow.

Later that afternoon the boys let me know that we had lost Toby the steam tram. Jack thought we left him at the restaurant. I circled back around so we could check with our waiter. No luck. Jack was absolutely sure we had left Toby there. He checked all around our table, under the seats, he asked the waitress again if she had seen Toby. He didn't believe her so he began describing Toby in detail to her. I had to tell him Toby was not there and started to head to the door. Jack threw his hands in the air and said "Well, Mommy, Toby is in outer space."

Devlyn found one of my wedding pictures. She liked it so much she bit it. Twice. She bit the top of the frame and the bottom of the frame and left the imprint of her teeth in both locations. It looks like a little baby vampire was trying to get to the two people inside the picture frame.

Devon and I were running errands with the three little ones. I don't know what we were talking about but Jack piped in with "Mommy, you are my butterfly." Just when I was feeling like I had a soft caramel center Wy spoke up "Mommy, you are a cheeky little engine!"

We aren't sure if it was Jack, Devlyn, or Wyatt but one of them nearly burned the house down. I guess if you follow the chain of blame all the way back it leads to me, but how was I to know that one of the children under 4 was going to turn on my new table lamp and then set my synthetic feather duster on top? Abby noticed that something smelled like it was burning. She told Jess. Jess told dad. They followed their noses to my living room - Thank GOD the thing wasn't in flames as that lamp was right next to floor length curtains. I honestly cannot believe that the only things destroyed by this episode were the duster and the actual light bulb in the lamp. OK - the house was stinky all evening, but stinky goes away - I'll take stinky over burnt down house any day.

The big news of the week was our visit from Jude and company! The final proceedings were in Iowa yesterday which is what brought Jude and family through KC for the weekend. We had a lovely time and even had the opportunity to meet Jude's God parents!



(If you want to see more photos of Jude, go over to Linky Dinks on my sidebar, click on My Shutterfly and select March 2010 Jude's visit.)

Devon set up an appointment for us (and by us I mean 19 of us) at a photo studio where we had our pictures done. I was surprised at how quickly the session moved along considering how many kids we have! What I found most interesting though was our photographer. This fella could not stop adjusting anything and everything between his belt and the bottom of his briefs. It was like watching a pitcher communicate to his catcher; scratch, bump, touch, shake a leg, tug, squeeze a cheek...The only time this guy wasn't messing with something personal was when he had both hands on his camera. I stood there mesmerized and shaking with laughter. I was so bad that my sisters asked what was wrong with me - and I was evil enough to share it. Finally we had everyone just watching this guy.

Once I track down the CD with all the photos on it, I will post a few from our session. They came out great.

That does it for me this week, friends. Love and blessings to you all!
Love,
Owenland Park

Thomas and The Missing Trains

Thomas and The Missing Trains and Engines and Machines.

One day on the Island of Sodor, Thomas was looking for machines. "I can't find them anywhere!" But he found a dozer. He found Jack the machine. But where was Alfie? Alfie was nowhere, but Thomas found Byron and Jack. But Alfie was going to the smoker's yard with Trevor. But then there was trouble. Diesel 10 was there. Then Jack and Trevor said "GASP, I don't love you Diesel 10." And Diesel 10 said "I'm going to get you!" and Trevor said "AAAAHHHH" Then Diesel 10 went the wrong direction so Diesel was on the Big Big Bridge and he was like "OOOHHH" and the bridge broke and Diesel was in the water going far away to Wonderland. And then when he got in Wonderland he saw friends that were mans. They were going to eat him, but they were just friendly. So Diesel asked his friends in Wonderland to build a track. Then he popped on the track and then he got back on the bridge and found Trevor. But Alfie was back at the smoke person's yard. And then they heard a crack. It was a crack from Stanley. It was a loud giant crack. "That might be the giant." said Trevor. It wasn't. It was just Stanley. And then "The end."

A great day for an Icie-Pop!

Jess took the kids out to play in the back yard yesterday. I have no idea whose idea it was nor why anyone had the idea to suck on icie-pops while playing outside in the cold, but these are kids we are talking about here...

Hope something makes you smile.





Love, from Owenland Park

"That's my Jesus stick!"

Devon stopped at the Salvation Army one day this week and found the slippers Jack has on here for something crazy like $1.25. Jack wore them 3 days straight, taking them off only to change into or out of pajamas. He was kind enough to give his little brother his "old" Thomas slippers. Wy could care less, he is in 7th heaven with his very own Thomas slippers!

Jack and I were talking about his birthday coming up. He is still working hard on understanding any timeline beyond tomorrow - so the fact that I said his birthday was "in a few weeks" was no help to him. He kept asking me "Is it after this day?" I told him it was after a lot of days. We counted days on our fingers. I showed him calendars. None of it made sense to him. He wouldn't leave it alone and I finally said "Oh, Jack! I'm not talking about it anymore!" He threw his hands up in the air and said "Fine! I'll leave you alone!"

Jack, Devlyn & Wyatt are very into sliding down the steps. They will sit on the top step and try to sort of scoot/slide their way down step by step. Someone always winds up sliding all the way down the steps and wounding themselves, but this doesn't stop them from going at it again the next day...

Mom & Wy were hanging out together in the dining room last week. I don't know what they were doing, but mom says suddenly they heard Jack crying in the downstairs living room. Wy put down his things as he gasped and said "My bruver needs me!" Then he ran away to take care of his "bruver."

The kids are all settling into their new rooms. The boys really love their room. They don't particularly enjoy being sent to their room for time out - but Wy has discovered what he thinks is his revenge. He dumps out the toy box, the dresser drawers and empties the book shelves until his room is a disaster. This is rather upsetting to poor Jack. He is invariably the one who finds the mess. He finds me and tells me how "Wyatt ruined EVERYTHING."

Jess told me that Wyatt came into the living room chewing on a kid's rosary - the kind with the large wooden beads. She asked him why he was chewing on the rosary and he told her he was just playing. She told him it was her rosary and he said "NO!" (He & Jack have one just like it, but this one was indeed Jessica's.) He started to walk off with it and she took it from him. "Wyatt, this is MY Crucifix." She told me that he looked at her and screamed "NO! THAT'S MY JESUS STICK!"

Look who is growing up so fast. Anyone wanna take a long term bet that Jack will be taller than his daddy?

Wish me peace and quiet on my 2 week stay-cation, friends!
Love and blessings,
Owenland Park.

P.S. Thank you for the prayers for my friends!