#245 - First Day of School - PRE-K

After an entire summer of apprehension, Owen began warming up to the idea of school.  Going to the school's New Family Picnic and then Meet-Your-Teacher day finally got him a little excited about Pre-Kindergarten.   I think the abundance of arts and crafts, the water table and the sand table is was got him!  Plus, he has an incredibly sweet teacher, Mrs. Brooke, who welcomed him with big hugs and smiles.  

Here are two pictures from the Meet-Your-Teacher day.

All of the Pre-K kids are given a canvas tote bag to use throughout the school year as their bookbag.  Thankfully, one of my friends let me know that most of the families decorate the bag (I'm glad Owen didn't show up on the first day as the only kid with a plain bag), so we headed to Joanns to get some fun badges for Owen's bag.  Owen picked out each badge - the shark, the fish, the crab, the turtle and the football are his five favorite things.  :-)

We used green paint to paint on two shamrocks (for Blessed Sacrament School Shamrocks) and then did two of Owen's handprints on the back of the bag.

Not too bad for us!

On the first day of school, Owen woke up excited to see what all the fuss was about.  We let him pick out his outfit, and he chose the shirt that Abuela Isa had bought for him for his birthday.  We took a quick picture before leaving.....

And, then, off to school!

The Pre-K classrooms are in the old rectory next to the school.  He's in the larger classroom, the one with 17 children and two teachers - Mrs. Brooke and Mrs. Kelly.  Here he is, standing proudly in front of his classroom:

He walked in, hung up his book bag, then marched into the classroom.  We barely even got a good-bye from him!  We did get him to turn around and take a picture with Mrs. Brooke, and then he was off!

The first week of school was all half-days.  Lou and I were there to meet him when class was over.  The kids came walking out of the classroom very orderly, and then, there was Owen.  Before either he or the teacher saw us, she bent down to give him a hug, and I snapped this picture.  It just melted my heart to see our little boy get loved on at school.  We are so grateful that he's at Blessed Sacrament School.

Here's to a wonderful year of firsts.... we are so proud of our big boy!

#244 - Rocking Chairs

Having fun rocking in their chairs this morning.  (try to disregard the times that Owen pushes Ben)

#243 - More Michigan

The week continued....

Getting ready to celebrate Owen and Tita Susan's Birthdays....

Abuela Isa and the two birthday kids

 

Elena came to see us

Owen just adores Noah!

Lou, Owen, Grace and Noah went to the Detroit Lions training camp 

And, one of the afternoons, we walked down to the Detroit river to look at Canada.

Remember this from three years ago?

More pictures....

Owen snuggling up with his grandmother 

On Tita's actual birthday

Noah playing "Happy Birthday" on his violin

Benjamin LOVED Bob Joe's frozen custard!

Another wonderful trip to Michigan.  We'll be back at Christmastime!

#242 - Summer Vacation in Michigan

We just got home from a fantastic vacation to Michigan.  We were up there for a week, and we had a blast!  It was a great trip, and Owen can't stop talking about how much fun he had with his primos in Michigan.  In fact, he's already declared that he wants to build his own house in Michigan so that he can have fun playing there every day.  Ha!

Here are some pictures from our trip.  This will probably take two posts....

On the way up, Owen was invited into the cockpit by our plane's pilot.  He got to sit in the co-pilot chair and even wear the pilot's hat!  That was the one and only highlight of our plane ride, as shortly after take-off, Benjamin began crying and pretty much cried until we landed in Detroit.  

During the week, we got to visit with nearly all of Lou's cousins, aunts and uncles (we missed you Kelly), and it's always so much fun to see how much everyone's grown and changed. Here's a picture of Gabriela, who is the cutest little girl!  

The trampoline in the Tylutki's backyard was the center of play during the week (and the source of a lot of anxiety for Lou and me).  Benjamin loved to get "bounced" on it by Gracie, and when she'd do a jump or cartwheel, he thought that was the funniest thing ever!

Here's Owen trying on Noah's jersey.  Owen reminds us that he has to eat his protein so that he can grow big and strong like Noah.  He adores his big cousin!

And, Grace playing with Benjamin.  She was SO good with the boys this week, as she always is.  She's a little Mother Hen, and the boys loved the attention.

Tita Susan made Owen a super gigantic Oreo cake for his birthday!  How cute is that?!?  It was a lot of fun to celebrate Owen's 4th birthday in Michigan this year.  It's really been a summer of celebration for him - he's blown out birthday candles no fewer than four separate times over the past few months.  

We visited Tita Cirila a couple of times last week....  Check out Owen's bandana.  He wore it all week, imitating one of the Gator Boys.... his latest fascination.

 One of the highlights of the week was our trip to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio.  We had a blast!  We even got to meet up with the Abels later in the afternoon.  It was a beautiful day, and Noah, Grace, Owen, Lou and I loved riding all the roller coasters.  The faster and more thrilling the ride, the more Owen enjoyed it.  He even got upset when he wasn't able to ride the super fast rides due to his height.

Here's a video of Owen on the Frog Hopper Ride

To be continued......