We feel so lucky to have our happy, healthy, sweet, creative, fun no so little boys! Wishing everyone else all the Irish luck you can hold! Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Happy St Patty's Day!
Our little leprechauns had a fun St Patricks Day! The boys embraced their Irish heritage and dressed up in their festive green shirts and hats borrowed from Aunt Cailin & Uncle Adam. They went on a rainbow themed scavenger hunt which led them to a delicious snack and pot of gold!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Owen is 6!
Owen is now 6 yrs old! We cannot believe it!
Here are a few accolades and fun facts about Owen. Owen is amazingly clever, curious and creative. He is interested in all things science. Especially "creatures" such as lizards, snakes, sharks, dinosaurs and bugs. Owen's favorite color is silver and favorite food is cheese burgers and pizza. He favorite places to go are the zoo, the library and the pool. Owen's interest in sports is growing, especially basketball, soccer and swimming. He is even becoming more interested in watching these sports on television. (This makes Daddy very happy!) Owen also loves drawing and art. He has a huge imagination and works hard to make sure every detail is included in his drawings.
Owen enjoys being active and silly. He loves to laugh and make others laugh. There is no shortage of energy in this boy!
Owen is a healthy boy who continues to grow taller and taller! He is now 3ft 11 inches and weighs just over 41 lbs. That puts him up 2 1/2 inches and 4 lbs from this time last year!
Owen is such a smart boy! Owen really enjoys reading and is quite the advanced reader. In English he is reading beyond a second grade level and in Spanish he is the top reading group and in his class. In Math, Owen is counting past 110 in Spanish and is able to do simple addition and subtraction. At his last parent-teacher conference his teacher was very pleased with his work and growth at school. He has already met all expectations to be mastered by the end of the kindergarten year. We are so proud of our kindergartener!
Here's how Owen celebrated turning 6. We started his special day with Daddy's homemade sugar donuts! Owen loved the sweet breakfast treat and sitting in his birthday chair decked out in balloons. Later that day mom visited his class to help him pass out birthday snacks to his friends. That night he got have a his favorite meal cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries with Nutella birthday brownies for dessert. He opened cards and gifts from his family and received lots of phone calls.
Saturday was the big birthday party with his closest buddies. The party was held at The Works in Bloomington. It's a great place full of hands on science and engineering activities. It was such a fun time! They got to explore the museum, make glow in the dark slime and then enjoy cupcakes and presents. Owen had a blast and was so happy to have his friends help him celebrate his birthday.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
2012 wrap up
As 2012 comes to end an end it's time to recap what the boys have been up to. It's apparent that we've busy as posts have been more infrequent and brief! It has been quite an adjustment having 2 kids in school and especially having 1 in elementary school. Acclimating to homework and making lunches each night is much harder than it sounds!
Speaking of our elementary student I'll start this update with Owen. Owen has become much more comfortable in the elementary world and in his new language, Spanish. You can often hear him talking and singing to himself in Spanish. His class is really wonderful, as is his teacher. Owen gets to ride the bus home 2 days a week. It is so fun to see him start running down the block as soon as he sees me and (sometimes Gavin) waiting for him!
He has made many new friends and we've enjoyed getting to meet them during class and individual play dates. I have also really enjoyed being able to volunteer and participate in many activities at his school.
We made a sugar skulls (calaveras) in honor of the Day of the Dead.
We had a great time at the Kindergarten Fall Festival.
We made una casa de jengibre (gingerbread house) together.
We also enjoyed his class's performance of 'Pin Pon' during the schools Latin American festival. Here is a clip of him practicing the song.
We also know that Owen is an elementary student and spending time around older kids by the way he talks. These are some of Owen's frequent responses/comments, "So cool!", "Mom you've got to be kidding me", "Tell me you're joking", "That's too weird".
Earlier this month we received Owen's first report card. It was a very positive card where Owen was reported at or above grade level in each area. His teacher also commented about how well he completes work independently and how creative he is. "He inspires his classmates with his ideas during choice and work times." We are so proud of you Owen Matthew!
Owen also recently completed a 6 week drawing class. He loves drawing pictures at home and at school. According to Owen, the drawing class helped him to "draw more precisely". Here is one of his masterpieces.
This fall Owen began piano lessons with Daddy and help from Grandma Cyndie. He is enjoying it and beginning to understand more and more. Here is a cute photo of Owen getting a lesson from Grandma during Thanksgiving.
On to the little man! Gavin is really enjoying preschool nowadays. He is also making new friends and seems to prefer the older kids in his class to his same age peers. He has also begun to enjoy coloring and art activities whereas before they were not really his thing. In November Gavin's class had their Thanksgiving lunch and Daddy and Owen got to attend. It was very special for him to bring his family to school.
Gavin really loves singing! He loves all the songs that they do at school and is always singing them for us at home. A few weeks ago Gavin's class put on a holiday program where they performed their favorite songs. Gavin did a great job!
Here are a few video clips from the program.
Gavin's teachers report that he is a really good listener and very sweet to the kids in the class. They are very happy with how he is doing. He knows all of his letters and numbers 1-10. He also knows every letter sound and is working on writing his name. It is so fun for his teachers to get to know him after having Owen for 2 years. They are always marveling about how different they are, yet special in their own way. We couldn't agree more!
As a family we spent a weekend in Duluth with good friends. Four families, Springers, Klockes, Beth and Jennon's family and ours, rented 2 condos and spent the weekend enjoy the holiday activities Duluth has to offer. We also got to see our good friends the Jungmans who moved there this past summer. On Friday we went to the Bentleyville light display. The boys had fun seeing the giant trees and other themed displays like dinosaurs and Thomas and the Train.
That evening the kids bummed around watching movies until bedtime. What a crew!
Saturday the boys spent 3 hours swimming in the pool with their buddies before we headed down to ride the Polar Express train. This was our second time riding the train to see the Polar Express re-enactment and visit with Santa. The boys enjoyed just as much and were eager to talk with Santa and make their gift requests. It was such a fun weekend and we enjoyed the time away with such great friends.
After a fun, but super busy December, Christmas arrived. We started the festivities the weekend before by heading to Iowa to celebrate with Grandma Theresie, Aunt Cailin & Uncle Adam, Grandpa Mike & Grandma Jeanie and Uncle Daniel. The roads on the way down were not the best but after 5 hours instead of 3 1/2 we made it! We celebrated Saturday at Grandma Theresie's house. The boys had fun sledding with the Uncles and Mom.
Christmas Eve we arrived back in MN, but unfortunately most of us were fighting colds. We still managed to have a very wonderful Christmas Eve, preparing for Santa. We made and decorated cookies and said our final farewell to our elf Skeeter. The next morning, Christmas morning, was so much fun! The boys were so excited and so happy to see what Santa had brought for them.
We had such a nice day together as a family. It was so nice to relax, spend time together, test out all the new toys and try to get healthy ;).
The weekend after Christmas day we still had one more important celebration, Caruth Christmas! This year it was at Uncle Jennon and Aunt Beth's. The boys had fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa and playing with the cousins.
We also did some more sledding!
The boys also got to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their hotel on Sunday for a some swimming, aka drench Grandma!
We feel endlessly blessed for such a wonderful 2012! Wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the best in 2013!
Speaking of our elementary student I'll start this update with Owen. Owen has become much more comfortable in the elementary world and in his new language, Spanish. You can often hear him talking and singing to himself in Spanish. His class is really wonderful, as is his teacher. Owen gets to ride the bus home 2 days a week. It is so fun to see him start running down the block as soon as he sees me and (sometimes Gavin) waiting for him!
He has made many new friends and we've enjoyed getting to meet them during class and individual play dates. I have also really enjoyed being able to volunteer and participate in many activities at his school.
We made a sugar skulls (calaveras) in honor of the Day of the Dead.
We had a great time at the Kindergarten Fall Festival.
We made una casa de jengibre (gingerbread house) together.
We also enjoyed his class's performance of 'Pin Pon' during the schools Latin American festival. Here is a clip of him practicing the song.
 |
| pin pon |
We also know that Owen is an elementary student and spending time around older kids by the way he talks. These are some of Owen's frequent responses/comments, "So cool!", "Mom you've got to be kidding me", "Tell me you're joking", "That's too weird".
Earlier this month we received Owen's first report card. It was a very positive card where Owen was reported at or above grade level in each area. His teacher also commented about how well he completes work independently and how creative he is. "He inspires his classmates with his ideas during choice and work times." We are so proud of you Owen Matthew!
(I just love that he wears a uniform! So handsome!)
Owen also recently completed a 6 week drawing class. He loves drawing pictures at home and at school. According to Owen, the drawing class helped him to "draw more precisely". Here is one of his masterpieces.
This fall Owen began piano lessons with Daddy and help from Grandma Cyndie. He is enjoying it and beginning to understand more and more. Here is a cute photo of Owen getting a lesson from Grandma during Thanksgiving.
On to the little man! Gavin is really enjoying preschool nowadays. He is also making new friends and seems to prefer the older kids in his class to his same age peers. He has also begun to enjoy coloring and art activities whereas before they were not really his thing. In November Gavin's class had their Thanksgiving lunch and Daddy and Owen got to attend. It was very special for him to bring his family to school.
Gavin really loves singing! He loves all the songs that they do at school and is always singing them for us at home. A few weeks ago Gavin's class put on a holiday program where they performed their favorite songs. Gavin did a great job!
Here are a few video clips from the program.
 |
| holiday program |
Gavin's teachers report that he is a really good listener and very sweet to the kids in the class. They are very happy with how he is doing. He knows all of his letters and numbers 1-10. He also knows every letter sound and is working on writing his name. It is so fun for his teachers to get to know him after having Owen for 2 years. They are always marveling about how different they are, yet special in their own way. We couldn't agree more!
As a family we spent a weekend in Duluth with good friends. Four families, Springers, Klockes, Beth and Jennon's family and ours, rented 2 condos and spent the weekend enjoy the holiday activities Duluth has to offer. We also got to see our good friends the Jungmans who moved there this past summer. On Friday we went to the Bentleyville light display. The boys had fun seeing the giant trees and other themed displays like dinosaurs and Thomas and the Train.
That evening the kids bummed around watching movies until bedtime. What a crew!
Saturday the boys spent 3 hours swimming in the pool with their buddies before we headed down to ride the Polar Express train. This was our second time riding the train to see the Polar Express re-enactment and visit with Santa. The boys enjoyed just as much and were eager to talk with Santa and make their gift requests. It was such a fun weekend and we enjoyed the time away with such great friends.
After a fun, but super busy December, Christmas arrived. We started the festivities the weekend before by heading to Iowa to celebrate with Grandma Theresie, Aunt Cailin & Uncle Adam, Grandpa Mike & Grandma Jeanie and Uncle Daniel. The roads on the way down were not the best but after 5 hours instead of 3 1/2 we made it! We celebrated Saturday at Grandma Theresie's house. The boys had fun sledding with the Uncles and Mom.
We opened presents and the boys had a blast playing with their new head lamps! Aside from Gavin's chapped cheeks it was a perfect evening.
On Sunday we headed to Grandpa Mike's. The boys enjoyed some calm coloring time as well as some rough housing and more sledding!
Christmas Eve we arrived back in MN, but unfortunately most of us were fighting colds. We still managed to have a very wonderful Christmas Eve, preparing for Santa. We made and decorated cookies and said our final farewell to our elf Skeeter. The next morning, Christmas morning, was so much fun! The boys were so excited and so happy to see what Santa had brought for them.
Owen received a special note and gift from Santa, a small Rudolph plush. After leaving Grandma Jeanie's Rudolph on Sunday he was pretty upset and missed playing with the doll. So Santa made sure Owen got one of his own. He was thrilled to have it!
We had such a nice day together as a family. It was so nice to relax, spend time together, test out all the new toys and try to get healthy ;).
The weekend after Christmas day we still had one more important celebration, Caruth Christmas! This year it was at Uncle Jennon and Aunt Beth's. The boys had fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa and playing with the cousins.
We also did some more sledding!
The boys also got to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their hotel on Sunday for a some swimming, aka drench Grandma!
We feel endlessly blessed for such a wonderful 2012! Wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the best in 2013!
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