"The following post contains scenes and language of a frank and explicit nature. Viewer discretion is advised."
Devon was home with the kids last Thursday and Wy pooped his pants. She was trying to get his pants off without creating an even bigger mess and Wy was wiggling around - it was not going well. Devon muttered "This is not fair." And Wy said "Yes it is." Devon said "What is?" Wy told her "It's fair that you has to cwean me up." Devon's revenge? She had him help her clean his poopy underwear. In the middle of this enticing project Wy said "Devon, this is yucky."
Kindergarten Evaluation Time!
As you know, we registered Jack for Kindergarten the other week. His teacher called a few days ago and had us schedule a Kindergarten entrance evaluation. Here he is with his little Visitor sticker on his chest just moments before he went down the hall with Mrs. G., the Kindergarten teacher.Jack was so excited. He didn't, and still doesn't quite understand that this test doesn't mean he starts school tomorrow and that school doesn't start until the fall...
When Mrs. G. brought Jack back to me, he asked her if he could be the teacher on some days. She let him know that he could probably be the class reader and that meant he could bring a book to school and read it to the other kids. He thought this was an excellent idea as long as he could bring a Thomas book. She told him she was sure the other kids would like to hear Thomas stories. Then she said we would receive Jack's results in the mail.
True to her word, Jack's evaluation came in the mail this weekend. Mrs. G says he is ready for Kindergarten! He performed satisfactorily in all his evaluation categories. (Now don't go getting in a lather - there are only 2 categories: Satisfactory and Needs improvement.) Mrs. G. says Jack has "super interaction with the teachers...follows directions...excellent letter and number concepts...good sentences...good motor control. In fact, the only task she gave us over the summer is to get Jack comfortable with using scissors as they do a lot of cutting in kindergarten. I told Jack we would get a pair and he could pick what color he wanted. He yelled "BLUE!" (Blue is Thomas.)
The Jonas Brothers
Jack decided he wanted to do something nice for the girls - so he drew a picture of the Jonas Brothers. (The kids are all huge fans of the Jonas Brothers.) Well, Jack drew a picture of himself, Wyatt, Mommy & Daddy with the Jonas Brothers so that the girls could have something nice. I can't decide if it is intentional that he drew the Owen family with the Jonas Brothers or not.I told Jack we were going to go see the movie Oceans this weekend. He said "Oh, Joe and Demi wrote vat song." The funny thing is, he said it as if he knows Joe and Demi - personally. At first I thought "Who in the hell are Joe and Demi?" I didn't have to think about it very long because Jack can tell I'm not following him. "Make A Wave, Mommy. Joe and Demi wrote vat song." Then I realized he was talking about Joe Jonas and Demi Lavato or whatever her name is. And then all I could think was "My 5 year old is already entrenched in pop culture." That is weird to me.
Here is the Joe & Demi video for your viewing pleasure.
Love and blessings,
Owenland Park
Calling all missing Fairies
The kids came to see Frindle last night. After the show, we stopped in a little exhibit behind the theatre - Fairy Tale Villiage. Speaking of fairies...
Connie flossed a tooth loose earlier in the week. She was so desperate to be a kid with a missing tooth that yesterday afternoon she worked at it until it came out. (Mom says there was a great deal of blood...)
I didn't see the missing tooth until I was trying to get slow-pokey kids into bed at nearly 10pm. She flashed her missing tooth grin at me and I said "That's nice, dear. Now. Get. In. Bed." I didn't even think anything about it.
Saturday morning I awoke to a conversation between Connie and Gammy. It was very clear that Connie was quite upset. Gammy was telling her "Well honey, You probably weren't on her list because it wasn't supposed to come out yet. She is very busy because kids all over the world are losing teeth every day. She has a BIG schedule that tells her what kids have teeth coming out on what days. That way she can be there on time. Your tooth wasn't supposed to come out yesterday, so I will be that you are on her list for tonight or tomorrow night."
I laid there in bed feeling smaller than small. That little girl smiled her missing tooth grin at me and I just went to bed. She even went to the bathroom to get out our Tooth Fairy pillow. (This is a little blue pillow with a pocket on it - the kid puts their tooth in the pocket and the Tooth Fairy of course takes the tooth and leaves the moolah in the pocket.) Feeling smaller by the minute folks...
B-B Baby
I walked downstairs a few nights ago to find Jess hanging out on the sofa. She had a huge bloody gauze patch on her leg. Crazy me - I asked "WHAT happened to your leg!?" Jess replied quite nonchalantly "I got shot." She says she was walking down the street with her friend Liz. She says they were minding their own business when a 12 year old boy called them over to his house. The girls walked up to this young man and he shot Jess in the leg with his B-B gun. She tells me she then called him a punk-ass kid and I have no idea what happened after that other than this random kid ran off and at some point Jess came home. Have you ever seen anyone so proud of a puncture wound? OK - maybe some of you have, but you have to remember, I'm sheltered.
Peace out, YO,
The OPP Gang.
Happy Birthday Connie!
Connie had her 7th birthday last week - Happy Birthday, Connie! The kids loved her because she selected pizza for her birthday dinner. The adults were less than thrilled because ordering the pizza became an epic ordeal. We ordered online. This is where the problem began. Mom selected 2 cheese pizzas on line. When she called to rectify the order the Pizza Hut folks began talking about charging her twice because she made a mistake. They were saying crazy things like "The order on line must be paid for, it can't be cancelled or changed. If it is changed, then we will charge you for the initial order and charge you again for the updated order." I thought poor Mama's head was going to explode. I don't know what she finally told those idiotic thieves at the Pizza Hut, but we wound up with Little Caesar's for dinner. You see her here holding up some books. WELL - the Coterie is running Andrew Clements' Frindle through the end of May. It just so happened that Mr. Clements was in town promoting his new book and the Coterie presented a selection from Frindle. We had the opportunity to meet Mr. Clements, get books signed etc. As you can see here, Ms. Connie is holding up 3 autographed books by Mr. Clements. 
In addition to letting Connie pick out the pizza, we let her pick the birthday dessert as well. She picked donuts. What kid picks donuts for birthday dessert? I spent a lot of time with my cousin Jenny when we were growing up and I remember making donuts and how much fun that was. I decided we would make Connie's birthday donuts because there just didn't seem to be any birthday build up/fun to a box of Lamar donuts so I found a simple recipe online.
Connie's Birthday Donuts
*Powdered sugar
*Sugar
*Cinnamon
*Raw buttermilk biscuits (refrigerator type)
*3 c. vegetable oil
1. Boil oil in a pot or wok.
2. Separate biscuits and place in oil carefully.
3. Don't go ANYWHERE cuz these guys cook FAST! When the bottom side is light brown, turn over and brown other side.
4. Remove and let cool on paper towel.
5. Sprinkle on a lot of powdered sugar, cinnamon, sugar etc.
6. Eat them up, yum!
We had a great birthday party day/dinner. John grilled chicken legs and hot dogs. The kids played outisde on the swingset. Mel, Devon and I stood around eating and talking like ya do with your sisters. It was a really nice day. Then came dinner - and Noah thought it was hysterical to eat his ketchup covered hotdog horizontally which involved simply pressing his face down into the ketchup. The kids thought this was funny, which made Noah do it again - oh he was a hot mess...
The more I thought about Connie's donut choice, the more it made sense to me that she selected something other than cake for her actual birthday dinner dessert. She had already asked Aunt Melanie to make her a pink heart cake for her birthday party. And as you can see, Aunt Melanie filled the bill with a beautiful and delicious red velvet cake with the yummiest icing I have ever had.Love and Blessings,
The Owenland Park Gang
Super-Fast
We moved Wyatt into big boy underwear full time this week. I would rather lick a razor blade than deal with poop on clothing or plastic panties with pee on them, but this is a way to cut some financial corners, so I'm going to do it for my family...Insert sad and disgusted face here.
Jack had his 5 year check up this week. He is exactly where he should be in regards to height, weight, development etc. Once the Dr. came into the exam room, he started asking Jack questions;
Dr. Rosenberg: What is a house for?
Wyatt: People.
Everybody laughed.
Dr. Rosenberg: Jack, what is a window made of?
Wyatt: Glass!
Everybody laughed.
Dr. Rosenberg: Now this question is for JACK. Jack, what do you do with a hammer?
Wyatt took a breath to answer and I popped my hand over his mouth. Jack couldn't answer the question as he was too busy giggling about my method of silencing his brother.
Getting the girls out the door on school days has led to battle after battle. The girls are constantly trying to wear socks that are not in line with dress code. Or they don't have their homework signed or a plethora of other problems creep up at the last minute when we were trying to get out the door and not be late. We adults have magically turned that problem into a NON-problem. We sat the girls down and told them they would not get to eat breakfast until they were completely dressed and ready for school. Meaning their hair has to be brushed. They have to be dressed according to uniform guidelines, their homework has to be signed and in their backpack, the back pack must be by the door and ready to go. I couldn't believe it, but the very next morning, the girls were ready. And I mean ready. No fights. No sneaky sock attacks. No children running out to the car barefoot because we don't have time for them to sit down and put on shoes in the house...It was like magic!!1
Abby was sent to her room one night for a few reasons, one of which was being rude to her mama. She spent some time up there being upset then sent a note down to her mom:
"Dear Mom,
I'm sorry I was rude to you. I hope you forgive me. I mean it...I mean it about rudeness of me to you. I learned it from Jessica. Thank you for understanding if you do. Love Abby."
This note made me laugh. I started picturing myself writing a note like this to my boss.
Without realizing it, the boys have declared themselves superheroes. One of them will run up to me and tell me "I'm SUPER-FAST! Watch me!" Then he will run in circles. The other one will run up to me and proudly declare "I'm SUPER-SLOW-FAST!" as if he just threw down the trump card. Then he will run in crazy circles. Superman better watch out!
The other morning my mom said to Wyatt "I'm going to eat you up!" Without missing a beat Wy replied "Gammy, a boy is not an apple."
That does it for me friends,
Love and blessings
Amy & the gang!
Jack had his 5 year check up this week. He is exactly where he should be in regards to height, weight, development etc. Once the Dr. came into the exam room, he started asking Jack questions;
Dr. Rosenberg: What is a house for?
Wyatt: People.
Everybody laughed.
Dr. Rosenberg: Jack, what is a window made of?
Wyatt: Glass!
Everybody laughed.
Dr. Rosenberg: Now this question is for JACK. Jack, what do you do with a hammer?
Wyatt took a breath to answer and I popped my hand over his mouth. Jack couldn't answer the question as he was too busy giggling about my method of silencing his brother.
Getting the girls out the door on school days has led to battle after battle. The girls are constantly trying to wear socks that are not in line with dress code. Or they don't have their homework signed or a plethora of other problems creep up at the last minute when we were trying to get out the door and not be late. We adults have magically turned that problem into a NON-problem. We sat the girls down and told them they would not get to eat breakfast until they were completely dressed and ready for school. Meaning their hair has to be brushed. They have to be dressed according to uniform guidelines, their homework has to be signed and in their backpack, the back pack must be by the door and ready to go. I couldn't believe it, but the very next morning, the girls were ready. And I mean ready. No fights. No sneaky sock attacks. No children running out to the car barefoot because we don't have time for them to sit down and put on shoes in the house...It was like magic!!1
Abby was sent to her room one night for a few reasons, one of which was being rude to her mama. She spent some time up there being upset then sent a note down to her mom:
"Dear Mom,
I'm sorry I was rude to you. I hope you forgive me. I mean it...I mean it about rudeness of me to you. I learned it from Jessica. Thank you for understanding if you do. Love Abby."
This note made me laugh. I started picturing myself writing a note like this to my boss.
Without realizing it, the boys have declared themselves superheroes. One of them will run up to me and tell me "I'm SUPER-FAST! Watch me!" Then he will run in circles. The other one will run up to me and proudly declare "I'm SUPER-SLOW-FAST!" as if he just threw down the trump card. Then he will run in crazy circles. Superman better watch out!
The other morning my mom said to Wyatt "I'm going to eat you up!" Without missing a beat Wy replied "Gammy, a boy is not an apple."
That does it for me friends,
Love and blessings
Amy & the gang!
Jack tells a story
We were sitting at dinner last night it was agreed upon that Jack is a good story teller. Connie asked him to tell a story. Very seriously Jack said
"OK everybody, wisten to me. One day, on the Island of Sodor, Thomas and Lady got married...then came trouble."
I don't know what he said after that because I trying hard not to laugh. All I could think about were the marital troubles Thomas and Lady must be having. After I calmed down I realized that Jack was still telling his story...
"And ven, two years later, came more trouble..." which set me off again. Jack loved the attention and he must have loved the fact that the adults were giggling non-stop because he told the longest most troublesome story I have ever heard. Poor Thomas and Lady were plaqued by Diesel 10, incidents and accidents. At some point during dinner the adults started talking which prompted a sharp response from Jack...
"I am still talking!"
Love and blessings
Owenland Park
"OK everybody, wisten to me. One day, on the Island of Sodor, Thomas and Lady got married...then came trouble."
I don't know what he said after that because I trying hard not to laugh. All I could think about were the marital troubles Thomas and Lady must be having. After I calmed down I realized that Jack was still telling his story...
"And ven, two years later, came more trouble..." which set me off again. Jack loved the attention and he must have loved the fact that the adults were giggling non-stop because he told the longest most troublesome story I have ever heard. Poor Thomas and Lady were plaqued by Diesel 10, incidents and accidents. At some point during dinner the adults started talking which prompted a sharp response from Jack...
"I am still talking!"
Love and blessings
Owenland Park
Yoga?
How do they do this? I know the pediatrician would have my head on a platter, but when you are driving, you are watching the road. Yes you look in the little mirror to see the kids but suddenly you see this...
To the Dentist!
A few weeks ago, we took Jess to the Dentist because one of her teeth was hurting. Dentists like to bring adults back to the chair and show them exactly what is going on in a child's mouth, so Jack, Wyatt, Devlyn and I had a bird's eye view of the inside of Jess' mouth. I thought this just might be either the best thing or the worst thing in the world for these kids as it was about time for them to make their first trip to the dentist themselves. It turns out that it was probably the best thing I could have done for these 3 youngsters. Over the last few weeks we have been parading all 6 kids through the dentist's office for checkups, cleanings, exrays, fillings, discussions of braces etc. Jack and Wy finally had their appointments on Monday. They handled the whole thing terrifically! The dentist was very impressed with how well behaved everyone was. The ladies at the front desk know us all by name - and that is no easy feat when there are 6 kids and some combination of adults taking them in.
Now I'm sure the dental assistant thought I was a nut job taking pictures of my kids in the chair - but she doesn't know what all I share with y'all now does she?
Now I'm sure the dental assistant thought I was a nut job taking pictures of my kids in the chair - but she doesn't know what all I share with y'all now does she?
Happy Easter!
Just as with Christmas, the young folks in our house have to wait until everyone is up and ready to go downstairs TOGETHER on Easter morning and raid their Easter Bunny bounty. A few of these short people were up very early. Did I say they were up early? Well, let me tell you, they were up absurdly early... They were not happy about being made to play in their rooms until everyone was up and moving about. Here the Owenland Park Expansion affiliates can barely contain themselves for a snapshot before we finally allowed them access to the wonders of the Easter baskets downstairs.
So there they were - ready to dive into the good stuff. Imagine the fallen faces when they were informed they could only devour 2 pieces of candy before lunch. Now imagine the crestfallen looks when they were told the big chocolate thing in their baskets would not be one of the items they could eat before breakfast. Part of me felt really mean that I wouldn't let them just tear it up. Then the practical part of me just kept thinking - Church will be a nightmare with 6 kids hopped up on sugar...
Jeanette sent a few of these funny little get ups. Unfortunately the Velociraptors broke all the bunny ears before we were even dressed for church. The glasses are still floating around. I have to break up an occasional argument over who gets to play with the only pair of glasses that can be found at that moment.
And now for my favorite part of the day...Devon had picked up these tiny little terra cotta flower pots for each of the kids. Each pot had different seeds to grow; marigolds, strawberries, peppers, basil... Mom was taking pictures of the kids as they were ripping paper off of things - then she starts calling out "Show me your pot!" Blessings,
Owenland Park
Happy Birthday!
Last week was a big week. We registered Jack to start preschool in the fall. Then a few days later - he turned 5. Now that he is 5, he cannot take snacks or drinks to church anymore. We have been counting down the weeks for months. "How many weeks can I take snacks?" "When I turn 5, I can't take snacks to church, right?" Of course the very first church experience Jack had after turning 5 was attending Easter Vigil for my brother-in-law's conversion to Catholicism. That service was over 3 hours long. I was in tech and was unable to attend, but the folks went and wisely packed a few snacks for a Jack emergency. Dad says he handed a pretzel over to Jack who said "I'm not supposed to have snacks in church now, Poppy." Dad told him it would be OK that one time.
I was in rehearsal and missed the official birthday dinner. Our long time family tradition is that the birthday person picks the birthday meal. As soon as I asked what he wanted for dinner Jack piped "PIZZA" then when we went to the grocery store he ran to the frozen pizza section and picked out 2 of the most sad looking pepperoni pizzas I have ever seen. I let him know that we could have someone bring pizza to our house - but he was determined that we take pizza home from the grocery store. I think he picked frozen pizza because it was the pizza that was right there in front of him. Mom got him to change his mind on the big day though by saying he could go to the pizza store with her and be the "pizza man" and bring pizza home to everyone. He loved that. He also loved the Thomas tent his Aunt Shannon sent him! Aunt Jeanette rocked it with a leggo like thing (I can't find the paper with the name) that can be put together into a helicopter, a digger, a plane and some other vehicle - that is a house favorite. Kudos to Wy who gave Jack his desperately wished for "Kid watch". John and I got the "surprise" face when Jack opened up his Jeremy the airplane Thomas Take Along thing...
I know it was sorta silly, but I had his birthday party on Easter Sunday. That was my day off. Melanie made a beautiful Thomas cake that had Jack jumping around for joy. The kids invaded the hot tub and a good time was had by all.
If you want to see a few more pictures of the birthday week - look to the sidebar for Linky Dinks - click on Shutterfly and open the album Jack's 5th birthday.
Finally, poor Devlyn was running around with a temp of 100-104 for two days. She finally spiked just over 105 yesterday and mom got her out to the dr. Turns out the poor kid has a UTI. Poor kid also has to take a liquid RX and she says it is "gross". Devon coaxed and coaxed her to take that med last night. We finally wound up lying her down with her head in Devon's lap - I poured it all in her mouth, gave a big blow, she swallowed and we were done! Yeah me and Devon!
Love and blessings!
The gang at owenland park!
I was in rehearsal and missed the official birthday dinner. Our long time family tradition is that the birthday person picks the birthday meal. As soon as I asked what he wanted for dinner Jack piped "PIZZA" then when we went to the grocery store he ran to the frozen pizza section and picked out 2 of the most sad looking pepperoni pizzas I have ever seen. I let him know that we could have someone bring pizza to our house - but he was determined that we take pizza home from the grocery store. I think he picked frozen pizza because it was the pizza that was right there in front of him. Mom got him to change his mind on the big day though by saying he could go to the pizza store with her and be the "pizza man" and bring pizza home to everyone. He loved that. He also loved the Thomas tent his Aunt Shannon sent him! Aunt Jeanette rocked it with a leggo like thing (I can't find the paper with the name) that can be put together into a helicopter, a digger, a plane and some other vehicle - that is a house favorite. Kudos to Wy who gave Jack his desperately wished for "Kid watch". John and I got the "surprise" face when Jack opened up his Jeremy the airplane Thomas Take Along thing...
I know it was sorta silly, but I had his birthday party on Easter Sunday. That was my day off. Melanie made a beautiful Thomas cake that had Jack jumping around for joy. The kids invaded the hot tub and a good time was had by all.
If you want to see a few more pictures of the birthday week - look to the sidebar for Linky Dinks - click on Shutterfly and open the album Jack's 5th birthday.
Finally, poor Devlyn was running around with a temp of 100-104 for two days. She finally spiked just over 105 yesterday and mom got her out to the dr. Turns out the poor kid has a UTI. Poor kid also has to take a liquid RX and she says it is "gross". Devon coaxed and coaxed her to take that med last night. We finally wound up lying her down with her head in Devon's lap - I poured it all in her mouth, gave a big blow, she swallowed and we were done! Yeah me and Devon!
Love and blessings!
The gang at owenland park!
Catching up
Rehearsals for my current show Frindle, didn't start until 4:00 every day. This gave me the opportunity to spend the day with the boys. I even managed to slip in a few naps with Wyatt. One afternoon both the boys fell asleep with me. When I woke up, I heard Devon calling for Devlyn. After a few minutes of calling I opened my eyes in time to see a flash go off in my bedroom. Devon stepped in to show me the picture she had just taken. Before the boys and I laid down for a nap, Devlyn had gotten herself in trouble. I called her in to sit in my room and then I must have fallen asleep. It seems Devlyn also fell asleep - under my bed...
A few weeks ago the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was so nice outside that day, Devon and I decided to let the kids have a picnic lunch on the back deck. Less than 24 hours later, we had about 8-9 inches of show. It was nuts.John and I have both been working till 10:00 or later the last week. In order to help the boys get to sleep, my folks let them lay down in our bed. I got home before John one evening and just slipped into bed with the boys. I was reading when John finally got in. He scooped up Jack and was heading for the boys' room when Jack mumbled "Is that you?" John said he got all choked up. He came back and scooped up Wyatt. As they headed off for the boys' room, Wy woke up and asked "Will you play patty-cake with me?"
