Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Owen Michael Is 12 Years Old!

This sweet tenderhearted boy that made me a Mama is now 12 years old!!! I almost have a teenager!!!! I'm not sure how I feel about that. 


I love the growing up Owen has done, but when I stop and think about the fact that he's only got 6 more years as a child/young man that makes me sad. He's 2/3's of the way through childhood. 



One of the things I'm super grateful for is the fact that Owen is a kid. I mean a real kid. He still enjoys things that he should. He's not overly concerned with knowing what's the "in" thing and I'm really happy about that. I want Owen to stay young as long as he can. Life is way too complicated so let's just keep it simple. 



Owen very much loves traditions and he likes things to happen in a certain way.



Owen has been trying harder to put other first and to think about their needs. He does good with this in regards to adults, but he still working on doing the same for other kids. 



Owen still loves having me around especially at school. I've went on 2 fields trips with him this school year and they were both great. 



Owen still amuses me when it comes to all my picture taking! :) 



Owen is quite the thrill seeker. He was the only one that was able to go on this Kamikaze at the fair. 



He is still all for dressing up for Halloween and pretending to punch Jack even if this picture was a total accident. 



 I would rather have teenagers coming to the door wanting candy than wondering what they were out doing. 




Also who doesn't enjoy getting their face painted! 



Owen's love for the Armed Services has diminished a bit, but only in the fact that he doesn't talk about it all the time anymore. He still enjoys all things Army like when we see a convoy on the freeway he freaks out or going on a tour with Pa to see the inside of a Destroyer.  




I would say the number one thing that Owen struggles with is school. Not grades...he does great at school work and he really enjoys learning and he loves his teacher. He has a hard time relating to other kids his age. Owen has always been more drawn to adults than kids and that hasn't bothered him in the past, but in the last year it's really started to bother him. He's getting to the age where he's concerned about what other people think of him and he wants them to like him, but since he's really not interested in what they are interested in that makes it hard. Plus he's a rule follower to a fault so when kids aren't following in the rules that really bugs him and as you can imagine there are a lot of kids in middle school that don't follow the rules. 




In all honesty I'm super glad that he's not into what the other kids are into. We have talks quite frequently about his feelings and how much it bothers him. I remember going through the same thing during my middle school years. Who actually has a good time during their middle school years? They just plain stink! He has talked with the school counselor a couple times and I really hope he talks to her more since he always feels better afterwards. 




The great glasses saga with Owen...I actually love Owen with glasses, but he's constantly taking them off and leaving them places. At one point he broke them and I got them fixed and then he misplaced them again. At this point we haven't seen them for weeks so who knows where they are!!! He says they make it so he can't see far away so I guess they aren't necessary. 




One thing Owen does not like is change. He gets used to things a certain way and then he wants it to stay that way. In this instance it was summer break...he didn't want to go back to school. Also he gets really sad when he grows out of clothes. The shirt he's wearing in this picture he shouldn't be wearing anymore, but he hates it when I move his clothes on down to Jack. The other day he actually got emotional about having to throw away a pair of pants because they had a whole in them and were too small. Sweet boy! 




Speaking of clothes...Owen got moved up from the IKEA kid hangers to using all adult hangers! He was as you can imagine...not happy about this change! :) 



I love that he's old enough to stay home, take care of his younger siblings for a short time and go off and do things like Magi Quest at Great Wolf Lodge. He's getting so much more responsible. 



Owen is quite good at games even if he's not always sure about the rules. If he doesn't know about the rules he might just go ahead and make up his own Owen rules. 



Owen LOVES Charlie and could talk about him to anyone at anytime! 



Owen is just like his Daddy...he's a homebody! It can be tough to get him to do things because he wants to stay home all the time, but I'm always encouraging him to do this or do that because once he gets there he's going to enjoy himself. For example he wasn't super excited about going out on Pastor Andy's boat, but oh my goodness he had the time of his life!!! 



One change Owen was happy about this year was not having to make Ella her sandwich for school anymore. My rule is that the older buddy has to make the younger buddy their sandwich until they entered the 2nd grade. Since Ella is now in the 2nd grade it's her responsibility. 



Owen is still not a huge eater...at all! I keep thinking that teenage eating is going to kick in and he's going to eat me out of house and home, but so far I don't see it happening anytime soon. 



I don't think I blogged about this at all. We had a church picnic and one of the guys from church is a BMX biker. He and his buddy put on a show for us and they jumped over a couple of kids and Owen was one of them. He loved every minute of it! 



Owen is like most boys and gets super stoked about things that explode! I think this year we are going to go to the reservation to pick up fireworks! 



Sometimes Owen has a hard time deciding if he should do things the other kids do like this craft for 4th of July. In the end he broke down and decided to participate. 



The silliest things can make him so happy. Like licking his ice cream cone down into the tiniest little cone. 



This sweet boy has the best smile!!! 



Owen loves to learn new things and last year he learned how to play the guitar. He played it at the schools music informance and did great! Even though we stopped doing piano lessons since I'm no longer working he still enjoys playing around on it. He also has a fun taste in music...his favorites right now are Immortals & Phoenix by Fallout Boys.



Owen's best friend is Jordan. Jordan lives in our neighborhood and is a grade younger than Owen. They both like Minecraft, jumping on a trampoline & playing Monopoly Ultimate Banking. This last year they've gotten together to hang out more and more. It's been great seeing their friendship develop...I just wish they were both in the same grade! 




Owen now has is own savings account. He's saving for a car! Michael says we are going to give Owen and each of the kids $2 for every $1 they save. Right now Owen has over $60 saved so he's really got over $180 saved. 



Owen is still my own personal love bug!!! 



Owen really LOVES Charlie! 



He's a giant goofball! 



Did I mention that Owen LOVES Charlie!!! 



Owen does love a good road trip even though I think most of that isn't because of where we are going or what we are doing it's more to do with the fact that he gets to watch a movie in the van. 




Owen is very leery about trying new things....even sweet and sour sauce from another restaurant. Since we were at Wendy's he opted for ketchup instead! 



Yep he loves the cat! 



He's good at saving when he has a goal in mind...like buying an AT-AT walker Lego set!



In fact he saved so much money I traded him for all his money so he could have a $100 bill!!! 



He loves his AT-AT Walker, but he doesn't really play with it all that much. At least he was happy with this purchase. 



 My sweet twelve year old boy....I love you! I love you for you. I love how God created you. He gave you such a sweet tenderness. He made you super persistent and I know that will serve you well in the years to come. He gave you such an amazing ability to remember all sorts of facts. You are a fun kid and I love hanging out with you. I love playing games with you. I love cuddling with you during a movie. I love laughing with you and being silly. I love that you bear your soul to me and I hope that doesn't change. 

You are amazing and I can't wait to see what God has in store for you this year. 

Happy Birthday Owen!!! 

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