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

Back to School

In first grade we do lots of reading and math. We are pretty much just

reviewing stuff. So, that's why it's sort of boring. Cuz, most of our class
knows all of it. And, we are working on daily 5. It's read to self, writing
about something, and that's the only ones we did. We are only on the
writing. My lunch, we only get like 10 or 13 minutes. And, you can ask the
teacher if they are over at your table if you need more time and she'll say
stay there or go to a different table. And, the school is named Ardmore.
And, my teacher's named Mrs. Lobdell. School is fun pretty much. It's pretty
much fun. Y's kids is fun too. It's an after school program. In Y's kids we
go outside on the big playground. It's fun because Y's kids has tether ball
and they have a bat and a ball. And, that's how we play baseball in Y's
kids.
My behavior is really good at school. I've never gotten down to red yet. I
might, but I'm trying not to get to parent contact. My mom said she'd buy me
a $150 bucks if I go the whole school year with no parent contact. - Rion

I'm in third grade. My teacher is Mrs. Majer. Also, I do fourth grade math.
My math teacher's name is Mrs. Nowaczyk. She's nice. It feels kind of weird
going back to school. I could wake up whenever I wanted when we went to
summer camp. Now I have to wake up at 7:15 or under, to get ready for
breakfast and all of that. I have to be to school at 8:05 because that's
when the doors open, but you can be there at 8:10 or 8:13. But, if you get
there at 8:15 or up, then you have to get a tardy slip. At our school there
is this writing program for very good writers. It's called LEAP. I made it
this year, which is the first year I could be eligible to make it. At LEAP
my teacher is Mr. Koeller. He's very nice since I had him for a writing
teacher in 2nd and 1st grade. We have a new gym teacher named Mr. Gebhart.
This is what we have to do as our morning routine every single time -
Jumping jacks for two minutes, running for two minutes, or pushups for two
minutes. Jumping jacks, running, or pushups. At gym, the game we played on
Friday was team capture the flag. Here are the two days we play gym, Tuesday
and Friday. And, team capture the flag is the game I was just talking about.
You have to take the other team's flag when you take the other teams flag,
you win that round. Then you start it over again and play again. The end. -
Owen

Summer Vacation

We had a wonderful, but too short, summer vacation! This year we visited Plymouth (Rion just HAD to see the rock), Cape Cod, Newport, and Boston, with a quick stop in Concord. The boys loved the beaches on the Cape, along with Cape Cod Creamery. But, they also enjoyed seeing the historical sites. I’m very happy we had Rion read the Magic Tree House American Revolution Fact Checker book before we left. It made him want to see the historic sites, like the Old North Church, site of the Boston Massacre, and the Minuteman Statue. His love of Plymouth Rock? Neither of us can figure that one out. Owen got to eat lots of lobsters and see the Green Monster at Fenway, so he was happy too. – N

It was a actually a super great vacation! I liked Bunker Hill the best.

Worst – The bar. I didn’t like it. I liked the Union Oyster Bar second, then the beaches. The Union Oyster Bar is like the oldest place and it’s really good. My mom even let me have mac n cheese. I usually don’t get it in Boston. They even give cornbread. I love the cornbread! They even give us crackers.  – Rion

My favorite thing to do at vacation was to be at the beach at Cape Cod and to go to Fenway Park. And, the worst part was going to this beach where it flipped me up in the air and smashed me on the ground. - Owen

Boston

I got to see the Green Monster at Fenway park. The red sox lost 3-5 vs. the

Angels. Getting home from the ballpark was fun. We didn't have to walk all
the way home cuz there was a person who rode us there on a bike, who drives
in the street. And, we weren't on the bike. He pulls something and you can
sit in it. 4 people can fit. My dad and my mom sat down and we sat on top of
them.
We went to the Freedom Trail. We walked most of it until we got to the last
thing on it. We saw all of it really. We even saw the USS Constitution. That
was fun. I didn't really like Paul Revere's house. We drove to Bunker Hill
and I walked up all of the steps and back down. I walked up 500 steps in
that. There's 294 each, 498, and then I walked up two steps on the top.
That's 500. Bunker Hill is fun cuz I took lots of pictures and I don't know
why they have lots of gold domes for some reason. (Rion loves seeing state
capital buildings. He knows that they often have gold domes. All of the old
buildings in Boston, with the gold domes, confused him.)

I went to Mike's Pastry. It's a place in Boston. It's good because my mom
let me have a strawberry cannoli with chocolate chips. And, then we went
back to Mike's Pastry again and had something else the day after. We got the
mint chocolate chip one and it's good. And, I ate it in the USA's oldest
bar. I never knew it was their oldest bar. It actually doesn't look old. I
got to go inside the Old North Church. I don't know why they don't have the
lanterns on it anymore. There was lanterns by the top of it. It's One if by
land, two if by sea. If the British were coming they'd put the lanterns on,
one by land and two by sea. That means they'd put one lantern on if they
were coming by land. If they were coming by sea they'd put two lanterns up.
- Rion

At Boston, we went onto the Freedom Trail it was where all of this old stuff
was, like Old North Church and Paul Revere's house, Bunker Hill, USS
Constitution and lots of other stuff. My favorite thing to see would have be
the place where the Boston massacre was. There was this guy acting it out.
He was like, "We aren't afraid of no British". He was hilarious. So, after
we did a few more stuff, we went to the Union Oyster House. It was the
oldest restaurant ever in America. At the Union Oyster house I had lobster
and I tried my dad's Boston cream pie, but that was pretty much it. The next
day we did the Freedom Trail again. This time we saw the Old North Church,
Paul Revere's house, and the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. After we saw
Paul Revere's house, we went back into our car and drove to Bunker Hill. But
on the way to our car dad stopped at the oldest bar in America. And, I don't
know why we were seeing all of the oldest stuff on earth. The pub was called
Hand in the Bell. And, dad had pumpkin UFO, I got lemonade, my brother got
lemonade and I have no idea what mom got. We were also eating a chocolate
mint cannoli and we got a red velvet cheesecake. I think my favorite thing
in Mass and RI would have to be Boston because there was just so much stuff
to see.

My favorite part of Boston was actually going to Fenway Park. It's the
oldest baseball stadium in America. At Fenway park, I was cheering for the
Red Sox but they lost unfortunately to the Angels, 5-3. One of the Angels
hitters hit an out of the park homer over the Green Monster. Now that's
really good. The Green Monster is the tallest left field wall in all
ballparks. But, high fly balls that would be usually an out in other
stadiums go over the Green Monster since it's so close to home plate. We
also, after the game, we were walking back and then me and Rion saw these
banners that said all of the Hall of Famers on the Red Sox including Cy
Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Carl Yastrzemski. After that, we went
back to our hotel and had a good night's rest. The other day we did all of
that stuff and we went home. The end. - Owen

The Minuteman Statue

This is how I knew about Concord. Because my book the American Revolution

Fact Tracker, it's a chapter book. My mom let me read it with her. I already
knew about Concord. The book was called the American Revolution. And, I got
to see what the Revolutionary War was. The first shot, whoever shot it in
the USA, on the patriots. It was the patriots galaxy. There was way more
patriots than Indians. I went to see the statue of a Minuteman and I saw
where the first shot around the world was. And, I got to see a field that I
didn't think was cool. And, I saw two British flags. - Rion

In Concord, my family and I went to see the Minuteman statue. It was a
statue of a minuteman that was a farmer and we also saw a British grave.
Other stuff we saw. We saw the bridge where they fought and we also could
see somebodies mansion, but mom didn't let us. My favorite part in Concord
would have to be seeing the minuteman statue because it was just cool. -
Owen

Newport, RI

At Newport we went on a boat ride and the boat ride was really good. We go to see all of these views. They said it was an hour and 30 minutes but it only felt like 30 minutes. There was this buoy that the captain said that if you tossed a penny on it and it landed on the buoy, you’d have good luck. And, I didn't have a lucky throw. The wind blew it and chucked it backwards. Horrible throw. At Newport, there was this ice cream place we had. It was OK. I had orange sherbet, which is my 2nd favorite kind. It was nice ice cream. Now I’m going to talk about the 40 steps. A the 40 steps, me and my brother went down by the ocean. We were climbing cliffs to get there. After we did all of that and had fun, we had to go back up and we did the Cliff Walk. It’s where we walked around and we kept on walking until we saw these houses. And there was this one humungous house. It might have been a house or it might have been something else. It was like 50, no maybe 25 times a 2 story house, but it was big. The end of Newport. - Owen

 

I went to Newport. I went on a boat ride. It was an hour and a half. It was fun. I got to see a fort. A real fort, still made, in Newport. I got a black dog in Newport. And, the store I got it at was called the Black Dog Kids. It’s mostly just kids' stuff in there. - Rion

Cape Cod

I went to three beaches in Cape Cod. One at my hotel that didn't have big
waves. It was just a normal beach. It mostly didn't have much waves. And,
the second beach we went to didn't have any waves. It just had crabs and
lots of rocks. And, there was a beach what had big, big waves. They were
almost as tall as my dad. It was right up to his neck. I liked the one at
our hotel the best. I liked the first one the best because I was almost
about to find a shark tooth. I saw a shark tooth. It just came up on the
shore when I was up on the last step. I was walking and I think it was a
shark tooth. That's what I think it was. I'm not sure. It felt like a shark
tooth.

I learned how to dive! I only can dive in 8 feet and up. I can't dive in 8
feet and under. I can't dive in 1 foot. Like I'd die. I got to get a shark
tooth necklace at a jewelry store. I never knew a jewelry store had shark
tooth necklaces. So that was funny that I got that at a jewelry place. -
Rion

At Cape Cod we had a beach, we had our own private beach at our hotel. The
hotel also had two swimming pools. My favorite thing at Cape Cod, I'd have
to say would be Cape Cod Creamery. Cape Cod Creamery is the best ice cream
place I've ever had. My favorite flavor was this Oreo flavor with Oreos in
vanilla ice cream. I also like Rion's flavor. He had a gelato, a blueberry
gelato. It was pretty sweet. And, at Cape Cod I ate mostly seafood, but
sometimes I had a hot dog and a burger. My favorite kind of seafood is
lobster. Let me tell you, lobster is the best. - Owen