Owen Is 16 Years Old!

My oldest is 16 years old and this is just blowing my mind! He's seriously on the cusp of adulthood. 

Here's what Owen's been up to this last year! 

For his 15th birthday I thought it would be fun to create a scavenger hunt for him with a bunch of rhyming clues. He loved it and he was super excited about getting $60! 

For his birthday dinner he wanted to go to Black Bear Diner. We ended up having to go to the Black Bear Diner down in Puyallup/South Hill area since we weren't vaccinated. The waitress was so amazing and sweet! 

Ga-Ga & Pa also gave Owen money for his birthday! He was definitely rolling in the dough! 

With his money he was able to buy all these Star Wars Lego sets! 

The 3 younger kids have enjoyed their KiwiCo crates, but Owen has only really liked a few of them. He's just a bit too old I think. Thankfully they make great gifts so we've given his crates to friends for their birthdays. As you can imagine this year I didn't include him in the subscription! 

Every morning we say the pledge to the American flag, the Christian flag and the Bible. Owen thought it would be fun if Charlie joined in with us! 

Michael has tried to be more intentional with having the older boys help out when it comes to building projects! Hopefully one day they'll be able to use the skills they've learned to build things for their family. 

Owen and Jackson both got to be the Easter Bunny at our churches Easter Adventure. 

Since we signed Owen up for Drivers Ed he needed to have prescription sunglasses. He chose these really cool ones! 

Driving! 

Owen completed Drivers Ed in May. He was part of a virtual class which was actually awesome since gas was/is so expensive. He still had to drive with us and also have 5 / 1hr drives with his instructor. It was just nice to have him attend class virtually. He passed his knowledge test with an 88%. He has taken his driving test twice now. He unfortunately gets super nervous and fixates on certain aspects. We are working with him and have a goal for him to take his test again at the end of February. We know that Owen can pass the test...he needs to feel confident about his abilities though so we are working on that and covet your prayers for this situation. 

 

These guys just keep growing! Caleb is actually the tallest one right now by just a bit. They are such handsome young men! 

A boy and his cat! 

Charlie is definitely the most loved person in this house! 

Jack got the game What Do You Meme? for his birthday and Owen won this card and thought it was funny. 

Finishing 9th grade and headed into 10th! Owen did great with his first year of high school. He is still trying to catch up, but he made good strides. 

He had to have a last day of school picture with our class mascot! 

Technically for our last week of school we didn't have any school work we just went on field trips. Owen still had some hours he needed to get in for PE so we went on some hikes. This one was located right across from the church the kids go to Taekwondo at. Jordan tagged along with us. 

Owen had his first piano recital on June 9th. Josh has been such a great teacher for Owen. In fact he's getting ready to have his second recital on February 9th! Evidentially we like to have recitals on the 9th! 

So proud of this boy and his skills. I love to hearing him play the piano...I just wish the piano could be downstairs so I could hear it better! 

If you're counting this is the 5th picture of Owen with the cat. :) 

During our camping trip at Oasis we went to DK's Drive-In. For dessert Owen had chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup! He loves chocolate syrup! 

Pancakes in the trailer! 

This was our first camping trip having the older boys sleep in the trailer. It has made camping so much better! They have their own space and my trailer isn't so full of people! 

His favorite thing to do....READ! 

Both Owen and Jack got to learn how to start a fire with flint. Owen did a great job all on his own! He's always had a fascination with fire! 

We did a small yard renovation and the older boys jobs were to shovel out the bark in to the wheelbarrow. They are such good helpers! 

Getting closer to being as tall as Daddy! I wonder if he'll surpass him! 

Snakes....AKA Demons Fingernails from Hell! 

Michael made homemade Crème Brule and Owen actually liked it! This year he has become way more open to trying new foods. In fact the other day he ate onions and peppers without grimacing.

 

Owen volunteers at church once a month. He runs the projections and does a fantastic job. The guy standing next to Owen is Yeaab. He's our church's youth pastor. He's done a great job with the kids and they really like him. They will be leaving later this week to go on a Winter Retreat! 

More camping...this time at Taidnapam Park. This was during that awesome heat wave. It was over a hundred degrees most of the time. We had a great time though! 

Hiking to Cathedral Falls! 

These were all the PACE's that Owen completed in his 9th grade year! That is a ton of work! 

We were at Wild Waves quite a few times last summer. The older boys went to summer camp and met Eison. He had a Wild Waves pass too so he tagged along with us once. He's such a nice guy! 

Back to School Bash! Owen did not try the onion rings! :)

Charlie did not want first day of school pictures! 

6th picture of Owen and his cat! 

Officially in the 10th grade! 

First day of school hike! Had some amazing really life, peer pressure type conversations with my kids. I love talking to them about any and all situations that can come up. I'm so happy they feel comfortable talking to me and I hope that doesn't change. 

7th picture of Owen and his cat! 

Camping again....this time at Seaquest State Park. 

Owen was trying out different looks...backwards hat with glasses. 

Backwards hat without glasses. 

I think he looks handsome both ways, but I'm just used to seeing him with glasses on! 

Pumpkin patch time! We also went to the corn maze and this time I brought the home cellphone so the older kids broke off and went on their own while Zeke and I did the maze together. 

Owen picked out the pumpkin, but he had Jack gut it for him and then he carved it. 

Owen volunteered at our Fall Festival. He and Brook ran the pumpkin bowling. Brook is a great guy...he just moved north though so now he's not at our church anymore. Owen really enjoying chatting with him. 

Owen has been in this same costume for a few years. I'm not sure if this was his last year or not. It doesn't matter to me. I say stay a kid as long as you can! 

Who doesn't love candy! 

We had the tiniest bit of snow so Owen made the tiniest snowmen! 

He made one for each of the posts on our deck. They were so cute with their little arms. He tried to add eyes, but he couldn't push them in with his glove without having their heads explode so they were just faceless! 

Owen and Jack both volunteered for the first time at our church's Women's Christmas Dinner. Owen wasn't too thrilled with having to wear nice clothes and dress shoes, but he looked so nice and he did such a great job. 

This year our word for our family is Servant! I really want each of us to be the servant the God is calling us to be. 

All bundled up visiting The Living Nativity in Bethlehem at a church in Gig Harbor! 

Owen loves candy canes so it was quite perfect that he chose the candy cane swirl paper for his presents. 

My Christmas babies! 

At the church's board Christmas party, Owen ended up getting this orange blanket and it has become a new staple in his wardrobe. Since I won't let him wear his coat in the house anymore now he wanders around with a blanket on his shoulder all day every day! 

Since we went to a cabin for Christmas we didn't buy the kids their normal 4 gifts for Christmas....something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. We told the kids we would buy them one nicely priced gift and then fill their stockings. Owen's number one gift was this LEGO Blacksmith Cabin. It was expensive, but it is very cool! It's over 2000 pieces and it has so many fun details....including a lighted forge! 

At the cabin we celebrated a second Christmas with family on the 27th of December. One of Owen's gifts from Ga-Ga & Pa was the world's smallest Monopoly board....it is actually playable. It's so cute! 

Owen has definitely done some growing this year not only physically, but also maturity wise. We have talked with him about how he is going to need to start to take a bit more of the reigns in regards to his life. I feel like 16 is like the soft launch before becoming a full fledged adult. I really want him to get a job this summer....probably Wild Waves, but he needs to have his license for that to happen. Mama is not going to drive him back and forth all the time. 

School wise Owen is doing great! He's still playing catch up with Math and English and he will most likely be working on those through the summer to help him get further along. There hasn't been nearly the amount of complaints this year as there was last year so that's progress! 

My sweet Owen Man....

You are a pretty cool guy! You are so very decisive in regards to what you do and do not like. That's a great skill honestly. I pray that you will use that skill, especially in regards to knowing your beliefs and defending them. I do hope that you allow yourself to try new things...especially when it comes to food and experiences. You can be so closed off to things that could potentially be wonderful and fun, but you dig your heels in and won't move! 

You are a very serious kid, but thankfully you are okay with laughing at yourself. It's okay to let loose and be silly and I hope that you are able to relax and have fun a bit more! 

Your hobbies right now are PC games....Minecraft, Hearthstone and Slay the Spire. You also enjoy playing D&D even though you don't get to play it all that often. You love reading the books and learning about all the characters, their skills and abilities. You still are into LEGO's...of course....but you also still enjoy building towers with Jenga blocks and doing set ups with Zeke with army guys. 

You are not a super active guy....you'd much rather play on the computer or read your afternoons away. You do love camping, but even then you are either reading or playing games. 

My sweet first born....I had such a fun time walking down memory lane with you while looking through your baby book. You were...you are an absolute miracle! You are absolute proof of the faithfulness of God. He knew it was the desire of my heart to be a Mom and you gave me that title! Even though getting to you took a lot of tears, heartache and time I wouldn't change a thing. God knew exactly when you needed to enter our lives and His timing is perfect! I pray that you will know that in deep in your soul. God has you here, right now for a purpose! You are a child of God and He has great things in store for you. Always always follow His lead! Keep your heart and mind focused on Him!

Happy 16th Birthday my Handsome Man! 

Love you so...Mama!