New Furniture Saga!

At the beginning of the year my parents started looking for new living room furniture. They asked us if we wanted their old furniture. I say old, but it's not really that old at all. It's still in perfect shape! Normally we would have said YES right away, but Michael wanted to think about it. The thing is normal furniture sets just don't really work for our family and our living room. A sofa, loveseat and recliner will fit everyone, but then someone has to sit in the dreaded middle seat on the sofa that doesn't recline. Also the way our living room is situated the recliner has to be just to the right of the TV so you are so far over it's hard to see the TV for family movie nights. The other issue was my parents old furniture is powered and that's really not something that we wanted. The kids are terrible about putting down their footrest! I know they can learn and they will, but if they do happen to leave it up I like being able to go over and shut it with my foot. Also Michael makes enough money so we can be grown ups and buy our furniture for a change. :) 

The furniture we currently have was given to us by my parents when I was pregnant with Ella! We had actually just found out that Michael had been laid off and it was a welcome gift. My parents had already had this furniture for 5 - 6 years prior to giving it to us. 

For being at least 16 years old...it's really not that bad. Yes, the coloring has faded a lot in certain areas, the cushions are most definitely worn down and the mechanics have seen better days, but they've been good to us. 

  

This is how the couch looks most of the time! 

There is only one spot that is actually worn out. This is on the far right couch cushion. The seating area of the furniture is full grain leather, but the sides are vinyl so that's why this cracked and tore. 

On January 23rd, Michael and I went on a date day to go check out furniture. We went to Mor Furniture, Ashley, Macy's and The Old Cannery. We only found 1 couch set that wasn't powered and it was microfiber! No such luck, but it was still fun to get out and be with just my hubby. 

When I got home I started researching. Michael had already found out that they still sold the furniture we have right now albeit they are a bit of a newer design. Since we found the design name I was able to look it up and find it being sold at all sorts of places. A lot of them charged for shipping which cost a lot! They did sell them at Ashley on their website, but they were about $100 more than another online shop so I decided to get them from the other online retailer. 

We decided the best thing for our family situation was to get 3 loveseats. It makes it so every person has their own recliner and since loveseats are smaller they will fit nicely in the living room. I made an online order with 1StopBedrooms.com. 

While we were out we came across some other fun pieces. Michael thought it might be nice and grown up of us to actually have matching end tables and coffee table. We were specifically looking for pieces that had lots of storage for games, pillows and blankets. 

This was at The Old Cannery and I love it. It's a huge piece of furniture, but I loved the white mixed with dark wood. Also all that storage underneath would be nice. 

These end tables would have be nice to hid pillows in. 

This black one was at Ashley, but I don't really like blank and brown together. 

We loved this idea for the coffee table. Tons of storage for blankets!!! Although...again I don't like black and brown together. 

The reason we wanted all this storage is because we don't really like our current blanket and pillow storage. 

I love the blanket ladders, but they really aren't the most effective way to store all the blankets. In this picture they look all nice, but that's because I hung them up. The kids have a hard time hanging them nicely so most of the time they are pulled over a rung of the ladder or simply thrown into the corner. The pillows are actually stored in a Costco box behind the blank end table that you can barely see. It's just a bit messy and overwhelming to the eye. 

I liked those pieces that we saw at The Old Cannery, but they were just SO big. I felt like the living room was going to be crowded enough with 3 loveseats I didn't want to basically have a whole wall of furniture for the TV. So I started looking around on Ashley's website. That's when I found a TV console I fell in love with and it had other pieces that would match. I decided to check on 1StopBedrooms.com and sure enough they had those other pieces as well. Almost every piece I wanted was cheaper with them and since I already made one order I thought it would be nicer to just deal with the same company instead of buying a bunch of furniture from different stores. So I went ahead and made another online order with them. 

The next day I woke up and I felt funny...I hadn't slept good at all. I get like that sometimes when I spend a lot of money...buyers remorse! Michael and I talked about it and he said...yes it's a lot of money, but first off we received our stimulus so that helped, but also we live in our living room so it was going to be a good investment. That helped me relax and not worry about it so much. 

Fast forward to Wednesday, January 27th...I got a text from 1StopBedrooms saying that I needed to confirm my billing/shipping address by calling the number listed. I called the number and got ahold of Douglas. He stated that the issue was with my zip code and the system had already corrected it. He did want to confirm my order though. He stated that we were getting 3 loveseats with one recliner in each. That's when I was like...huh??? Who has ever heard of a reclining loveseat where only one side reclines. He told me that's how these come. I was shocked and so happy that we caught this before they were made and delivered. I would have been so upset with myself if they'd arrived and we only had 3 reclining seats. I ask him if my order could be updated to include both seats reclining. He said sure, but that there would be an extra cost of $299 per loveseat. I was totally flustered at this point and told him to go ahead and update the order. He also told me about their warranty and how much it covered. It only cost $199 for all 3 pieces and it was good for 5 years. He also said if we didn't have a claim in 5 years they would give you the $199 back. I thought that sounded great so he added that coverage as well. I did have a time period where I could take the warranty off so I figured I would talk about it with Michael and if I needed to I could have them remove it. 

Once I got off the phone with him, I still felt funny! I just couldn't imagine not paying attention to the fact that it was only a one sided recliner! I was specifically wanting a typical reclining loveseat. I went to the website and this is what I found. 

Do you see the wording right under Description....

Dual-sided recliner

At this point I was unhappy! I trusted that the loveseats were made the way he said with only one side reclining, but I felt that the website was misleading. I called up Douglas again and told him my concerns. I said that they should probably have the website wording changed since it wouldn't most likely hold up in a legal proceeding since the word dual means two! He told me he'd look into it and put me on hold. When he came back on the line he said that he would be able to to take $50 off per loveseat because of the misunderstanding. I was still a bit peeved about it. I'm a stickler for verbiage and I know that how things are worded can make a big difference in a legal proceeding. He told me that I wasn't required to purchase furniture through their company and if I wanted to I could cancel the order. I told him that I really wanted the furniture, but I was just taken aback by this obviously false verbiage on their website. He told me that they would go ahead and throw in the warranty on all the other pieces we purchases as well. I felt good about that and thanked him for listening to me and helping get to a solution. 

A while later I was still thinking about it and it just bugged me...seriously have you ever seen a reclining loveseat where only one side reclines?!?!? I decided to find the furniture on Ashley's website and see how they had it listed. Lo and behold it was listed as a dual-sided recliner. I got on the phone to call Ashley and while waiting I decided to try to start a chat online as well. Sometimes it can take forever to actually get through. The agent on chat named Jessica answered me first so I started talking with her. Right after that Ashley answered the phone. I told her that it was adorable that her name was the same as the company and that she works for and she could help someone else since I'd just started working with the chat agent. I asked Jessica if this piece of furniture reclined on both sides. Her answer was yes! By this point I was getting so mad at 1StopBedrooms.com! Jessica also informed me of a coupon code to get 15% off my order. I decided that I would put everything in my cart....3 loveseats, 1 TV console, 2 end tables and 2 coffee tables and with that 15% off we saved over $700 and it ended up being cheaper than 1StopBedrooms by $2400 because of all those additional charges! I thanked Jessica for her amazing help!

My next call was to Douglas....of course he wasn't available. I was told he would call me in 15 minutes. I called back 30 minutes later and was told he still wasn't available. I asked if anyone else could help me since I just wanted to cancel my order. They told me that it had to be Douglas that helped me. I decided right then that I was going to call every 15 minutes if I had to, but thankfully Douglas called me back about 2 minutes later. I told him what I had discovered and that I felt his company had no integrity and I couldn't do business with a company like that. I'm so glad that I had said yes to the changes earlier because normally you only have 24 hours to cancel and it had been well over 24 hours, however, since I made those changes I received updated emails confirming the changes and on those emails it specifically stated that I had 24 hours to make changes. If he was going to give me a hard time I was absolutely going to get a lawyer. Thankfully he didn't give me any run around or issues at all. I think since I had said the word legal proceedings and lawyer earlier he was happy to see me go. I have since received emails stating that my refund will be processed in 72 hours. 

I honestly feel like this was all a God thing. I felt funny in the beginning for a reason and I feel like it was God trying to tell me not to trust them. Now that I've had time to think about it I highly doubt those loveseats are made with only one side reclining. I feel he was just trying to get more money out of me. I've since looked 1StopBedrooms.com up on the BBB (who knows why I didn't do this before)...they have horrible reviews. Of course on their website they only have 5 star reviews. On the BBB they have tons of 1 star reviews and that's only because you can't give zero stars! It seems this text and confirm your billing/shipping address thing is ploy to get you to call them and then they inform you about how since you live outside of the shipment zone you have to actually pay shipping. Or how there isn't certain part included in your order so you have to pay extra for it. They are a completely fraudulent company! 

I've since left a comment on the BBB, their website....which will most likely never get published and I've also commented on their Facebook page numerous times. This company is the worst! I can't believe I didn't do my research! I just wanted to try to get the furniture cheaper and in turn ended up with a lot of hassle and almost spending $2400 more! I'm so happy that I figured this out early and not months into the process like most of the other customers that I read about on the BBB. At least Ashley is local and they've been around for years and they have a good reputation. We are slated to get our new furniture around March 11th and I can't wait. 

Here is what our new loveseats look like. The only real difference other than the color being darker is the location of some of the seams are different. 

Here is our TV console. It's going to be perfect for storing all sorts of games.

This is our current set up. It's worked nice, but it's so cluttered looking with all the games stacked below. The cabinet on the left was painted by Michael's mom. I'm not getting rid of it, but I would like to move it. It is full of games so I'm hoping we can get most of them in the new console. 

I got two of these little end tables. I like that they are only 14 inches wide just big enough to set a book on, but not big enough to become a junk collector. It also has some fun features. The back part of the top opens up so you can plug in a lamp if you want and it has a USB plug for a charger. The little drawer comes out and is actually cup holders. In the back of the end table has a little nesting spot for you to store a book in. I love these!!! 

We knew we couldn't keep our current coffee table because it's square. Since we will have 3 reclining loveseats we had to consider how much space they'd be taking up when they are in the reclined position. Because of this we knew we needed a rectangle coffee table. 

This is the one we chose. All of this furniture is from the same furniture line...it's called Bolenburg. It's gonna be so nice having everything match! We did consider possibly not having a coffee table at all, but I really like playing card games in the living room and it's much better to play them on the coffee table than the floor. This will still allow us to do that. Plus it has all kinds of storage! 

I've never really wanted one of those coffee tables that has the top that pulls up, but this was the one that matched the other furniture I liked. The more I think about it though I think it's going to be so nice for Ella to sit on the loveseat and use it as a desk. Michael says no eating on the new furniture, but we'll see how long that lasts. 

You might remember I said that we got 2 coffee tables. Remember this view? 

Where that black chair is off to the left is where another loveseat will be so this corner will be basically unusable. We are taking out the two blanket ladders, the Costco box that holds the pillows and the black end table and replacing it with this....

This is the only piece that isn't from the Bolenburg line. It's from the Aldwin collection. The other pieces are vintage white with grey tops. This is a gray finish so we are crossing our fingers and hoping they pair well. We aren't two worried because like I said this is going to tucked back in the corner between two loveseats. It's not going to be a focal piece. The reason we loved this coffee table is...

Look at all that storage! This is going to be such a great place for the kids to be able to toss in their blankets! 

I'm so happy that it all worked out. I can't wait to get all our beautiful new furniture! 

New Medicine Cabinets & Organization!

At the end of last year the TPMS light kept coming on in our Honda Odyssey. Michael had checked the pressure in the tires and filled them up. After that the light went off for a little bit, but just kept coming back on. We knew that the tire pressure was fine though. I had an upcoming tire rotation for the van so I figured I would ask them to check it out. We dropped the van off on Sunday morning and they rotated the tires and ended up replacing one of the sensors. When I picked the van up the light only stayed off for a few miles. I was so upset! After going on a date to Value Village with Kim, I took it back to Costco to have the other 3 sensors changed as well. Instead of having Michael come pick me up I decided to just wander around Costco while they worked on the van. 

Of course wandering leads to looking and looking leads to wanting and then wanting leads to buying. :)

I ended up buying myself two new shirts and a pack of AAA batteries the kids needed for their remote control cars. Not too bad really! 

The best thing I came across were these new medicine cabinets. I had been contemplating getting medicine cabinets for the kids bathroom. Since they are getting older they definitely need more storage space. 

Michael wanted to take some measurements to make sure the new cabinets would fit so I didn't end up buying them that night. I had to go back the next day to get the lug nuts tightened on the van so I figured I would buy them then. 

Here's an older picture of the kids bathroom with the old mirrors. Michael got right to work so I didn't get a current picture of the mirrors up. Just know that the countertops didn't look nearly this nice since they had all their junk sitting on them. 

 

Close up look at the mirrors. I was planning on taking them to Value Village, but Michael decided to just smash them instead. I guess he has no fear about 7 or 14 years of bad luck! :) 

Here's how the countertop looked! 

When I decided that we needed to get medicine cabinets I started looking online and was surprised at how expensive they were. It was kind of overwhelming and I just figured we'd go to Lowe's and find ones in person. When I found these particular mirrors I was so impressed with the layout. First they can be mounted to either open from the left or right, the shelves are fixed...yay for them not falling down and my favorite thing was the half shelves so you can actually put taller items in the medicine cabinet. Such great thought was put into these cabinets and the price was also right around what I was wanting to spend! 

Michael has been so good to include the older boys when he's doing these types of projects. Sure it's WAY easier to do it himself, but these boys are going to be men soon. They need to have these types of experiences so they can feel confident in their abilities. 

Even if it means that they end up contacting their Dad to help them! :) 

Michael really surprised me with putting these up on the day I bought them. Sure I would have liked him to put them up that day, but I certainly wasn't expecting it. It's so nice when your hubby knows how to speak your love language! 

One thing Michael was concerned about was that middle sconce. He said we were not going to do any electrical work in order to get medicine cabinets in here. Thankfully it wasn't an issue! 

Actually the new medicine cabinets didn't even cover the big holes that were left by the previous ones! Thankfully I know a guy that knows how to do drywall repair! And yes we know that the space on both sides of the sconce aren't equal. The mirrors are centered over the sinks and unfortunately that one scones got put in a little off center to begin with. Oh well! 

Here's where all the junk went! 

This is the mirror on the right side. Jack gets the two upper shelves and Ella gets the two lower shelves. This cabinet opens towards the left. Ella stands in front of the sink and Jack stand off to the right side of the sink. Another fun feature is there's a mirror on the inside of the cabinet so even if Ella opens the cabinet Jackson can still see himself. 

Here are Owen and Zeke's....can you tell which of my kids are high maintenance?!?!?

This mirror opens to the right. Zeke stands right in front of the sink and Owen stands off to the left side of the sink. For 4 kids sharing one bathroom it's worked out quite well really! 

When I was at Value Village the day before I found these white stackable containers and the one white drawer. I had been wanting to organize our linen closet for a while so these were just what I needed. It feels so nice to have everything in it's place! And after I took this picture my OCD self did go ahead and turn the humidifier around since the box was upside-down. There was no way I could leave it like that! 

Owen's Birthday!

Owen's actual birthday fell on a Friday. 

This what Owen thinks about having to attend school on his birthday! 

Two thumbs down!!! 

He recovered quick though! 

For his birthday Owen wanted to get Red Robin for dinner. After dinner he wanted to open his birthday presents. 

The day before I took the younger 3 kids out to Walmart so they could buy Owen a present. I asked them if they wanted to each buy him a gift or if they wanted to go in together in order to get him a bigger gift. They decided to in together. 

The kids got Owen a classic Simon and a big bag of Extreme Sour Sweettarts! 

We got Owen the number one thing on his list...the game Castle Panic. 

Caleb introduced Owen to this game. It's really a simple and fun game. I will say the first time I played it with the kids the name was a precursor of what was going to happen. For some reason it caused one of the kids to amp himself up and panic ensued. I had to mention quite a few times that he needed to take it down a notch! Hopefully the next time I play he won't be so animated! 

Goals for 2021!

 Here are our goals for 2021! 

House Goals: 

Transform the backyard into a bigger kid play area by....disassemble the play structure, moving the trampoline into the gravel area, builting a platform/tree house and building a ninja warrior course. 

Put medicine cabinets in the kids' bathroom - We've actually already accomplished this last weekend! 

Have a heat pump and Halo filter installed upstairs. 

Money Goals: 

Replenish 3 - 6 months

Save for our September 2021 Road Trip 

Start furniture fund - When we planned these goals we hadn't received our stimulus check yet so once we got that we decided to use that to purchase a whole new living room set. We are still starting this fund, but we're calling it the Household Fund instead. It will be good to have money set aside in case our refrigerator or something else big goes out. 

Save for new driveway

Family Goals: 

Get outside more...go on hikes & bike rides! 

Be consistent with having Game Night on Tuesdays & Family Movie Night on Fridays. 

Vacation Goals: 

To go camping at least 2 times...once to Oasis in Ephrata

Attend the Family Reunion in Oregon

To drive the North Cascades Highway 

September Road Trip

Personal Goals: 

Michael: 

- Go on monthly Dates with Lyndsay 

- Golf under 90 strokes

- Weigh less than 190

Lyndsay: 

- Go on monthly Dates with Michael

- Start working out on the elliptical again

- Look into starting therapy - I actually found a really great Christian therapist that's in our insurance network. I've been "seeing" ie...zoom meeting her for a few weeks and she's been great! 

- Have Cranial Sacral Therapy done again - I just started this last week. I'm hoping to do 3 sessions and then go in maybe once every couple of months for a tune up. 

Owen: 

- To buy Starcraft 3.

Jack: 

- To get on the Honor Roll.

Ella: 

- To not get in fights with my friends. 

Zeke:  

- To speak in a big boy voice all the time. 

Review: 2020 Goals!

Let's review the our Goals for 2020! 

House Goals: 

Install Flagpole - We installed our flagpole in April 2020! 

Get Halo installed on the furnace - Lance installed the Halo for us last year!

Go through and organize everything - We didn't organize everything, but we did organize the garage and that was the area that needed it most. 

Maintain yard & garden beds - I think we did a good job of this...we even built a new garden bed! 

Patch and paint all interior damage - Michael did patch and paint the damaged walls. 

Paint trim around all the windows - All my window trim still hasn't been painted. :) 

Money Goals:

Save for truck - We Saved!

Sell Fusion - We sold the Fusion to a wonderful lady at church, she loves it and we still get to see Little Red in action!

Buy Truck - We bought our truck right before the shutdown at the end of March! 

 

Replenish 3-6 month fund - This one is always on our list and while we did save we also end up using it sometimes too. 

Vacation Goals: 

April - Michael's work conference - Canceled!

June - Camping @ Deception Pass - Canceled! 

July - Family Reunion in Wyoming - Attended....so thankful for this road trip!

July/Aug - Family Reunion in Oregon - Attended...it was so great to be with family! 

September - Michael's work conference - Canceled!

October - San Antonio Trip to celebrate Michael and I turning 40! - Canceled! 

Family Goals: 

Take one kid on a date each month - We started out so good in the beginning of the year and then everything shutdown. We could have gotten back into it and been creative, but I think I was just too depressed since it wasn't able to be what I wanted it to be. We are definitely going to try to make this more of a priority this year. Maybe not individual dates, but at least trying to do small fun things each month. 

Do a family fun activity every other month with all the kids - This wasn't really possible since so many things were shutdown, but I do feel like we had a lot of fun last year. We went to Wyoming and Oregon for Family Reunions, camping twice and to Great Wolf Lodge. We made the most of 2020 that's for sure. 

Play more games together - I feel like this isn't a quantifiable goal. This year we have deemed Tuesday nights game night. Of course that doesn't mean we won't play games on other nights, but it will hold us accountable to at least play games together on that night. 

Go to Wild Waves @ least 6x - Hahaha....Shutdown! 

Michael's Goals: 

Have 2 co-worker BBQ's - These were intended to be BBQ's at our house so that didn't happen, but they did do a couple BBQ's at work. 

Have more people over from church or the neighborhood - We did have a couple neighbors over just prior to the shutdown so we did what we were able to do. 

Host game nights - Nope! 

Incident Command School - Michael is actually in the process of finishing this right now. 

Play w/kids more - Again this isn't a quantifiable goal so there's no way to know if he actual met it. 

Read Extreme Ownership - Michael did finish this book! 

Lyndsay's Goals: 

Workout regularily - twice with Rachael and twice a home each week - I do  regularly workout with Rachael, but once the kids weren't in school anymore working out at home was more difficult. Sure I could make time for it, but I know my limits and that was one thing that had to go for my sanity. During the summer we were going to the track 3 times a week and walking at least 3 miles. It made a huge difference in my mood. I can't wait until the weather is nicer and we can get back to that. 

Mentor new believers - Michael and I led a Rooted group through our church via zoom. There was a couple that were just getting plugged into the church. Unfortunately there were a lot of changes going on at our church and they don't come anymore. I don't know if they go to church at all. I've been praying for them a lot lately!

Do devotions with kids every night & every morning - We have been faithful with this. I read a chapter to the kids every morning and we usually have great Bible discussions. At night we'll read a chapter or do a devotional with them.

Read Relationship book with Owen & Jack - We did this. 

Read books during the day - In the beginning of the year my goal was to read during the day so that once Michael got home I wouldn't have my nose in a book and could spend time with him. Now that the kids are homeschooled that's a little more difficult. Sometimes they finish early and I'll have some time, but there are also times where Michael will watch a show at night and I'll sit next to him reading and that's okay! 

Don't worry about politics - Oh man I should have had this goal post-it-noted all over the dang house! No...I worried about politics WAY TOO MUCH. Once I got to December though I decided to stop listen to my Podcasts. I didn't want what was going on to steal my joy during the Christmas season. 

Kids Goals: 

Owen - Buy the computer game Starcraft 3 - This game still hasn't been released! We aren't even sure when it's going to be! 

Jack - Finish AWANA book so he can go to camp - Jack did finish his book, but Camp was of course canceled! 

Ella - To get to a level 1R in her reading - Since Ella has been homeschooling her reading has improved SO MUCH! I have no idea what level she's at since that's not how ACE curriculum works. Definitely having that one on one attention and daily routine of reading has drastically benefitted her. 

Zeke - Continue working on talking like a big boy & try to be more careful to not hurt himself....by hurt himself I mean he's just klutzy - Zeke hasn't been hurting himself as much, but he is still working on not using a baby voice. 

Owen is 14 Years Old!!!

My oldest is now 14 years old. What a handsome, fine, young man he is turning into! Honestly...I was terrified of having a teenager

 and Owen has showed me that teenagers can be pretty awesome!

Let's see what Owen's been up to this last year! 

Christmas of 2019 we got Owen this Unspeakable shirt for a guy he liked to follow on Youtube. We've since decided to ban YouTube at our house unless a parent is watching. Our favorite guy to watch together is Mark Rober....he makes learning fun and hilarious! There is so much garbage in the world and it's our job as parents to protect our kids. At first it was hard for them adjust, but now they don't even ask about it. Each of their Kindles are set up with Amazon Freetime so they can play whatever games on that and they have access to Disney+ too. It's really been a very good change in our house. 

Owen showing off all his gift cards from his 13th birthday. For his birthday we had planned for Michael to take him and a few friends to GameWorks on a Thursday night. We had done this for his 10th birthday and he loved it. It's really not all that expensive since Thursday nights you can get unlimited playtime for $10 per person. Michael took Owen, Jack, Jordan, Nate and Mikah down to Seattle only to find out that GameWorks had been completely rented out for a private event. Michael ended up taking the boys to see Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker instead. He also got them all MCD's. Thankfully it wasn't a complete bust! 

Owen heard about the balance a broom challenge and he got our broom to do it. Of course it was on carpet so I'm pretty sure that was cheating! :) 

I think Owen was the most excited about virtual school. He'd been wanting to be homeschooled for the last couple years and this was the closest thing to it. He was also excited because on his last day of public school his team got to celebrate because they won the Jedi competition. Jack and him were both on the same team so it was fun that they both got to celebrate. They got to eat junk food and watch a movie as part of the celebration.

I actually really enjoyed virtual school in the beginning when I was able to dictate more what we did with our time. I thought it would be fun to add in some art lessons so we started watching Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems on YouTube. It was fun getting to learn how to draw Elephant and Piggy. Towards the end of his show he started to talk about things I didn't agree with. It made for some good conversation in our house though. 

Early on with virtual school it wasn't so hard to have a schedule that worked for 4 kids. Once the school decided to have more of a schedule is when my stress level went through the roof. Owen did okay though...he did have one zoom meeting where he could not get my computer audio to work and it was so frustrating for him. He was almost in tears and I was stressed out. That was when I decided we were done! I had had enough and my kids shouldn't be crying over zoom meetings. 

I love this boy and I love that he still tells me he's my personal Love Bug! 

This was the picture that I took when I remembered that I hadn't blogged about the Owen getting glasses at the beginning of the year. He was not to happy to have to get them again since he hadn't worn them for a couple years, but shortly afterwards he actually realized how much it really did help him see. He hasn't complained about them ever since. 

It's so much fun having older boys and getting to play tougher more strategic games with them. Ga-Ga & Pa gave all us adults some money for Christmas 2019 so Michael used his to buy one of his favorite games. It's called Rail Baron...it's not even in production anymore. He ended up finding it on Ebay for $100. Since it's such an expensive game I decided I would buy a poster frame to put the board in so it wouldn't end up getting damaged. Rail Baron is a lot like Ticket to Ride and Monopoly put together. It usually takes us 3 sessions to finish the game and it's fun. This last time we played over Christmas break Owen ended up winning for the first time. One awesome thing about Owen is he has really learned how to be a good winner and a good loser. He is always quick to say good game and shake your hand. 

In the beginning of virtual school, I felt completely overwhelmed in regards to online resources. I decided to chose just a few and the only one that we've continued to use to this day is Epic. It's a reading app and Owen loves it. Unfortunately they now changed a lot of their content so it's not free...you have to upgrade to the paid version. 

Even though I was already a stay at home mom prior to Covid, my life has completely changed. Since the kids are home all the time now there's no reason they shouldn't contribute with more jobs at home. Normally with the kids being at school, I would take care of removing all their sheets, washing them and putting new ones on. I decided that was something that they should be doing on their own. Owen, who usually hates having to learn new things...especially if they are considered "work" actually really enjoyed learning this new skill. He even went ahead and changed his covered without me instructing him to after he got his weighted blanket for Christmas. 

Since I knew we would have a rainy spring I decided to buy each of the kids their own diamond painting. They had seen me and Ella working on hers and were always asking to help with it. Of course Ella didn't want them too. Naturally, this was one of those instances of where you want something and then once you have it you realize you didn't really want it after all. So instead I have been able to work on Owen's cat picture more than he has. I'm not mad though! :) 

I love being busy and I love to build and create things. I thought this would be a perfect time to teach the kids about tools. I taught all the kids about safety...using gloves, ear plus and safety glasses. I also taught them how to measure things. Once we were done with that the 3 younger ones weren't so interested, but Owen sure was. He stuck with me and helped me finish building an end table. 

This little end table fit so perfectly next to our love seat. We actually ended up making 5 total. A friend from church saw them when I blogged about it and she asked me to make one for her and her mom. Then later she asked if I would make 2 more for a friend of hers. They aren't really anything fancy, but they definitely serve a nice purpose. 

I love working with my sweet boy! 

Owen is our fire loving boy! He has always been fascinated by fire. He absolutely loves to have a fire in the fire pit! 

My sweet guys! 

All these boys love their Daddy. They love playing games with him whether it's a board game or a computer game. 

My sweet Owen and Ella can have their moments of frustration with each other, but they can also have good times. In fact they do the best sitting next to each other in the van. If someone else sits next to Owen it usually ends up going badly! 

Another game Owen loves is another one of Michael's favorite games from childhood....The Farming Game. It was actually invented by a rancher right here in Washington State. Owen is always asking to play it either late at night or on a school night. It is definitely more like Rail Baron in that it takes quite a long time to play. 

This year I feel like Owen's relationships with his brothers have really improved. Even though Jack and him don't necessarily like the same things, they've been able to find common ground and get along better. Owen has even been much more patient with Zeke this year so that's been nice as well. 

As a special thank you to Owen, my friend who bought 2 of the end tables gave me a gift card to Cold Stone to take Owen on a special date. The day we went was really nice so we sat outside and enjoyed our sweet treat! 

Owen has also gotten better at being a good helper and not complaining about it so much. For Mother's Day weekend, my wish was to build a new garden space with the help of all the kids. Owen was a terrific helper! 

Even though he is maturing, Owen still loves a good park! 

He's also always up for a good race with his younger brothers! 

Last day of 7th grade and also the last day of public school! Yahoo! I had him take off his glasses for the picture because there was so much glare coming off them. 

Happy 4th of July means blowing up hot dogs I guess! 

During 4th of July, Owen was adamant about using one of the smoke bombs for his volcano. I kept putting him off and then I finally relented. I wish I had done it earlier....it was so amazing! Sometime I think that things aren't going to work or they are going to take all this extra effort, but I need to be more willing to let my kids take the reigns on their ideas. 

With the volcano incident fresh in my mind, I let Owen try melting chocolate in an ice cream cone over the fire pit. I was sure it wasn't going to work and lo and behold it worked great! He loved it!

Owen has definitely gotten better at being willing to try new foods and enjoy them. His appetite is still not up to par with other teenagers, but I know it'll get there one day. 

Owen loves playing team games, but unfortunately sometimes he comes up with way too many rules for the games. I have to remind him it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to explain the game. Thankfully the last time he had to explain a game it was really fast! 

The older two boys havea gotten better at not taking themselves so seriously. It's been fun to be a witness to them messing around with each other all in good fun. 

This boy of mine is so great at being goofy just like his Mama. He and I get each other so we always know how to get a laugh out of the other one! 

Owen is so patient when it comes to fishing. I have no idea how he stands there all day. He really enjoys being in nature with a purpose. Even if he'd never actually eat a fish if he caught one. 

I love his happy face in this picture!!! 

This year Owen really started wearing sunglasses on a regular basis. Thankfully his eyes aren't so bad that he needs prescriptions ones just yet. 

This was hands down one of my favorite memories from our trip to Wyoming. I love road trips so a road trip on a road trip was double the fun! Pa just told me the other night that Devil's Tower was actually the first National Monument in America! 

Owen loved going to the Axe House and throwing Shurikens!

Owen also discovered his love for weighted blankets on the trip to Wyoming! He hasn't started the full on teenager sleeping half the day away thing, but he is the slowest one to get out of bed. 

Owen's always up for a nice swim! 

He very much enjoyed our day at the lake this summer with friends! He wanted to go back one more time during the summer, but it just didn't work out...we were so busy the month of August. I'm hoping that next summer we'll be able to go again! 

In August, the kids had to take their diagnostic testing for A.C.E. since we joined Lighthouse Christian Academy. It was a lot of work, but the kids did great. Don't let the look fool you he did great! 

Owen has actually ventured outside his box of reading the same books over and over. Ms. Kim told us about this series and Owen has now read them all. He's also gotten into Artemis Fowl books too. 

Owen loves nature...he could be at the beach all day long. 

First day of 8th grade and first day of official homeschooling! 

I can not believe that he'll be in high school next year. We are official at the halfway point in our school year so he only has 4.5 years left! 

Owen has done so great with adjusting to homeschooling. I would say the only thing he does not like, but has gotten to the point where he just deals wit....is using the dictionary. 

Introducing the boys to golf in September was so fun! They

 have told us that Oasis in Ephrata has to be a yearly camping trip destination. 

Owen

 loves to read and there are times when the younger kids will be outside playing while he's content to just sit on the couch and continue reading. Thankfully if we go somewhere he's totally up for it. He has very much enjoyed jumping around on the trampoline so that's good. 

 

Art isn't something that Owen just does, but when the opportunity arises he'll take the time to do it. He has a very creative imagination. He's actually written a couple comic books. They are so funny and the pictures he's draws are really good. 

Owen said he's not giving up on Halloween anytime soon. 

Being creative with playmags! 

Look at this handsome young man! 

Right around the beginning of December, Pastor Tim asked if my boys would be willing to do some Scripture readings for Sundays service. Both the boys said yes. I was going to try record them at home, but then I just decided to go to church and have Pastor Brian record them instead. Owen read from Luke chapter 2. At first Pastor said he could read it from the NIV, but the kids Scripture memory verse for the month of December was Luke chapter 2 and they were memorizing it in the KJV which to me is the way the Christmas Story should be read. So he said Owen could read it from that translation instead.   

I love that he still gets super excited about gifts! 

And snow just blows his mind! 

Owen Michael....I just can't believe that you're 14 years old! You are double the amount of time we spent dealing with infertility! That's crazy to me! God is so good! God is so faithful! You are a walking representation of his goodness and faithfulness!

This year during Christmas I kept thinking that we are only going to have so many more Christmases with all you kiddos home. There are only so many more memories to be made with all my babies under one roof. I didn't let it get me all sad and sappy, but it did make me stop and enjoy certain times just a little bit more. 

You are only 2 years away from driving for goodness sake. 4 years away from being an official adult! 

I'm so proud of the young man you are growing up to be. You have such a good head on your shoulders. You have a huge passion for justice and boy do I understand that...you are just like your Mama in that way. It can be very hard for your to extend grace to others, but it is something that we've been working on. I love that your PACE's have memory verses in them and that you also learn another larger passage of Scripture each month. I want all you kids to have God's words in your heart....they will never return void. 

You have become so much more confident in yourself this last year. I was very surprised when you said you'd be willing to read the Scripture verses for church. That is not something you would have done in the past. 

Owen your passions right now include....reading, computer games, LEGO, Forged in Fire and your cat! Charlie is so loved by you and you are so loved by Charlie. You are the only person that he will actually groom. He loves to lick your whole face! We are always saying that he's accepted you as part of his clan....either that or your face is really dirty! ;) 

Owen Michael...Daddy and I are so proud of you sweet boy! You are truly a joy and we are so blessed to be your parents. I don't know the path that God has set out before you, but I do know that with Him by your side you'll never go wrong. Follow Him, trust Him, lean on Him, love Him and know that no matter where you are, no matter what you've done....He'll never leave your or forsake you. Owen, God loves you...even more than your Mama and that's hard to understand. You are my precious, sweet boy! 

Happy 14th Birthday O!