For the EP'ers

Rion and I were skiing on Sunday. His favorite ski lift was the “Paradise”. At some point during the day, he asked me why they spelled it wrong. When I asked him how he thought it should be spelled, he replied, P-A-R-A-D-I-C-E. That’s some good parenting. 

Quote of the Day

“He asks a lot of questions.” – Everyone who has met Rion

Classic Rion

Two hours after Owen's birthday party guests left, Rion was busy planning his birthday party. We have a theme, costumes, and a menu. Owen's birthday is torture for him. He's not the center of attention and he doens't get presents.

News

I don’t like the news. I don’t like the news because they talk about too much bad things and not enough good things. I don’t know why they say bad stuff because there is some good stuff to talk about and they don’t talk about that. And, there is a lot of shooting talking and it’s just, I don’t know. The news should talk about good things. - Owen

 

 

Done

I feel like Rion has mastered his last little boy skill - tying his shoes. We have been lazy about forcing him but today I had enough. I offered a Lego set if he learned before he turned 7. Three hours later and he has mastered it. When Rion wants to do something, it is amazing what he can accomplish.

Owen

Although Owen lives in his own little world of books and stories, and never seems to know what's going on around him, he can be very practical at times. He's starting to think about what he wants his charity "project" to be in December. His initial thought was collecting food for a food pantry or to feed the homeless. I told him to think about things that matter to him, or things that he wouldn't want to live without. He said that he wouldn't want to live without a house or books but neither mattered if he didn't have food. He'd be dead. That's one way to think about things.

God

Yesterday Rion asked me if I had three babies in my belly. When I said no, and that there weren't going to be any more babies in there, he announced he was going to ask God to put them there. From the look on his face you could tell he was tired of waiting on us to give him more siblings. If God comes through for him, we will have Kai, Cy, and Ty. Months ago, Mike and I promised that if we ever have triplets, from my belly, that he could name them. Thought it was a safe promise. :)

On a separate note, when listing the four things he was thankful for at school one was Jesus and one was God. Apparently he is getting something from church even though he says that he doesn't like going.

So Proud!

We were so proud of Rion! He has the biggest heart when it comes to giving and helping others. After donating his birthday collections to the Hinsdale Humane Society, he was added to their mailing list. Typically I throw away the fundraising mail, but yesterday he opened one. Immediately, he ran upstairs to get his only $1 and stuck it in the envelope to help their dogs.

Raiding my jewelry box

Our New Camera

We bought a new camera for vacation, but on the first day Rion promptly left it somewhere and someone must have taken it. The American Express credit card insurance was great and covered it, so now we have a 2nd new toy. And, I've figured out how to post video - I think.

Quote of the Day

Rion: Tape, it really is my favorite thing to play with.

When I think of all of the money we've spent on toys and games, it makes me crazy, especially knowing that Rion's telling the truth on this one. He does LOVE playing with tape. It amazes me the things he makes with tape. A new role of painters tape and some paper will entertain the kid for hours. For Christmas last year I bought him lots of tape and colored paper. He was just as excited when opening it as he was with the legos. If only I trusted him with duct tape. He loves seeing all of the colors and patterns in the store. But, as long as I find the painters tape stuck to things, there will be no duct tape. He's stuck with blue, green, and brown.

Dad's Birthday

R: On the last day of September, it was my dad's birthday and he got two

wallets, an ipad, and the Avengers. My dad had a cake what he picked out. It
was really good cuz it was big. It's a Boston cream pie cake, it's called.
It's really good. You should want to try it. And, we had to go to church. I
wouldn't want to cuz it's my dad's birthday. He should have got to pick.
Finished.
O: On my dad's birthday for presents we got him, two wallets, and an iphone.
My favorite thing about dad's birthday was when we went to Shaws. Shaws is a
seafood restaurant and it has French toast, waffles, that kind of stuff, and
they have a sweet bar. After we went to Shaws we went to get dad's birthday
cake. He picked out a Boston cream pie cake which is good. Our dad is
turning 37 and he's almost old. The end.
R: When Dad's 50 he's old.
O: No, 40.
R: Respect others.

Bank Accounts

Owen is selling raffle tickets for his baseball team. The top prize is

$2,000. Rion is so convinced that he's going to win that he asked for a bank
account. He wants to be ready when he wins. Always thinking, that one. - N
I wanted to get a bank account because I didn't want my brother to steal my
money. I put all of my money in of dollars, but I didn't put all my change
in though. It was sort of fun cuz my brother actually got his last so he had
to wait for me a long time, like ½ an hour. I had to tell him what your name
is to get it. That's it. – Rion

I made a bank account this weekend. I put $150.13 in my bank account and
then I had fun seeing how it worked. He asked what my middle name started
with. He asked when I was born and stuff like that. Finally, he made my bank
account. After he made my bank account, we went to Potbelly. The end. - Owen

Our Family

Navy Pier

 

O: Navy Pier was great! We went on a boat called the Seadog which went 25
miles per hour.
R: It is fast.
O: It made me keep on blinking a lot.
R: The Seadog was fun cuz it was going so fast. I love fast stuff. It was
like a roller coaster.
O: No it wasn't.
R: It's like a roller coaster, but not going up. Like, going in a circle
super-fast.
O: I don't agree.
R: I do. It's fun.
O: After we went to the Seadog, we went to the, hum.
R: Mystery maze.
O: Fun House Maze.
R: In the Fun House Maze there were these mazes that we had to get through.
The first thing in the Fun House Maze was a mirror maze.
O: I found it. So, you had to keep your hand against the wall to make sure
you weren't run into a wall. Me and Rion found the way out. Rion found the
way out.
R: Both of us did.
O: No.
R: Yeah. (Continues for quite a while) I found the way out and then we went
to the next one, but we stomped on the fire. Bang, bang, bang. And then it
said, you helped get the fire out.
O: Also, at the maze, there were these things that said which letter things.
And the secret code was deep dish pizza. It would have been good.
R: In the fun house maze there was a thing that you had to walk through it,
but it turned and it almost was upside down.
(No-Yeahs back and forth continues)
R: After the maze, we did this thing where you had to push these buttons
O: And Rion and Dad won. They only won because Mom messed up.
R: We only won because we got 60 more points!
O: We'll that's it. The end.

Our Big Family?

Rion has been on a brother and sister kick. He wants there to be 8 brothers and 2 sisters in our family. Then, he’d have his own baseball team. I tried to explain that we are done having kids, but he said that we can adopt. He’ll take anyone 8 years or younger. Rion wants Owen to always be the oldest. Today he’s been coming up with names. So far we have: Owen, Nolan, Rion, Landon, Kai, Cy, Ty, Pete, and Rose. Apparently he has been listening to Owen’s baseball stories this summer. J

Update - Rion settle on his last name, for his sister. What goes better with Rose than Lily?

Owen, Nolan, Rion, Landon, Kai, Cy, Ty, Pete, Rose and Lily

Six and a Half

When I turned 6 ½, I got New Super Mario Bros 2 and first I thought it was

just from my mom. Second of all, I didn't know it was from my mom and my
dad. I thought it was just from my mom so I asked my dad what he got me. He
said, I didn't get you anything. And then mom told me that they agreed on
getting it. It's not really fun being 6 ½. I don't really like it. I'm not
even 4 feet yet. - Rion

Apple Picking

 

 

 

At Kuipers, we went apple picking. It was a lot of fun. But, it was kind of
bad too because the only apples we could pick were Jonathan apples. It was
bad, but then I thought it was great because the Jonathan apples were so
good. After we went apple picking we went into the store where there was a
lot of stuff like apple cider, Halloween decorations, food, and honey, etc.
Before we went apple picking we had lunch. I had a cheeseburger and apple
cider, but my favorite drink wasn't the apple cider. It was the apple
slushie. - Owen

I went to Kuipers and we ate lunch there. It was fun because I got
mac-n-cheese. Mac-n-cheese is my favorite food to have. This is how we got
out to our apple picking part. A truck takes you out to the apples. And then
you get to pick the apples on the trees. You only get to pick the ones that
are ready. And, it was Jonathan so we picked. Jonathan, that's what we
picked. We picked it off the tree. I was going to get a big apple for us and
then we got it. Then I kicked off my dad and my dad was holding me with one
hand. I was in the trees and I was trying to pick it. Then dad got me back
up with two hands. - Rion

Owen's Baseball Questions

How can St. Louis both win and lose the World Series? Email me or leave a comment or something, if you know. Here’s the next one. Who has won 7 or more World Series? Here’s a hint. There’s only 4. – Owen

(Just a sample of the endless questions we’ve endured this summer! I’m very excited that he’s embraced the history of baseball, but the questions just don’t end.)

Oak Brook Outlaws

A few days ago I made a try-out for a baseball team called the Oak Brook Outlaws. It’s a traveling team that travels to many different cities that are close to us like, Elmhurst and Aurora. And, we also go to Springfield for the final tournament. Here are a few of my friends on the team, Tommy, Max, Joey, and that’s it. I think I’m going to have a good time, probably. And, it will make me a better player. I wanted to do it because a bunch of my friends are on that team. At first I was saying, “No way! I’m not doing that.” And, then, I’m like, “Wow, all of my friends are on the team so maybe I should try out.” The end. – Owen