Man, when it took us 6-8 months to update this blog, we thought that was bad....but now it's been THREE YEARS!! Being a youngest child, mom is adamant that she will document just as much for Owen as she has for Niall and I so here is our attempt again to keep record of all the fun stuff we do and significant milestones in our lives. But first....let's try best we can to summarize the last three years. The biggest and saddest thing that has happened is both Grandma and Chris passed away. It was a rough 2 years for them. Grandma had Alzheimer's pretty bad and while she didn't know exactly who we were the last couple of years, she sure knew she loved us a lot and we have so many awesome memories with her. Chris tried so hard to take care of her and he did a great job but when he wasn't healthy enough to do it, we stepped in to help. Mom stopped teaching temporarily and we moved in to help them. We sure had a lot of laughs with them and wayyyyyy too many pictures to post on here but we will add a few. Chris died on March 2, 2018 and Grandma, six months later, on August 28, 2018. We know they are together again and always watching over us! We sold our house on Robindale in May of 2018 and fully reside at 1642 Evangeline...the house that Chris built!
I finished up Kindergarten with a bang and just loved it. For first grade I had Mrs. Sanders and for second grade Ms. Santieu. This year I have Mrs. O'Connor in third grade. I learned so much the last three years and continue to be a great reader, though I don't love to read:) I played basketball, soccer and I did a theater camp one summer that I absolutely loved! I was a pup in 101 Dalmatians! I donated 10 inches of my hair to Children With Hair Loss which felt really good to help others. I played baseball and soccer and I started piano lessons in July of 2018 and had my first recital in February of 2019 and my second recital this past February. And most importantly, I made my First Reconciliation and my First Holy Communion, two very, very special days.
Niall finished his career at CHUP preschool and had a great year with Ms. Beth. He then followed my footsteps over to Lindbergh for Young Fives with Mrs. Ruselink and then joined me at Divine Child where he had a great year in Kindergarten with Mrs. Lapshan (yes, our good friend and next door neighbor). This year he has Mrs. Sanders in first grade. He had his 5th birthday party at Bounce It Up with lots of friends and family. He enjoys school and is quite the math wizard. Niall really became even more sports crazy the last couple of years. He continued to play and love soccer and is also a huge baseball fan as he's played that the last few years as well. He started flag football in the spring of 2019 and has played two seasons. And much to mom's delight, he finally started liking basketball (probably because of the double pop a shot game we got for Christmas in 2018) and he had a great first basketball season at St. Sebastian this past winter.
Owen spent the majority of his time being Grandma's "little guy" and helping her and Chris and making them so happy their last two years. He also went through potty training boot camp first weekend of September in 2018...literally the weekend before he was scheduled to start school. Phew, good thing he did well under pressure (or mom did anyways:) He went to 3 year old preschool at CHUP last year with Mrs. Hadley and 4 year old at CHUP with Ms. Beth this year. He joined his first team in the fall of 2019 playing soccer at Cabrini. Mom swore her kids would NEVER play three year old soccer, but Owen was very persistent and begged to play with Stella, his little red headed girlfriend. He had seen Stella playing the previous spring when we'd be at Niall's games so he really wanted to play too. He had a great first season....even though he was not into warming up before the games, he'd just sit and watch...but at least he'd play in the games! Owen has also become affectionately known as "Fr. Owen" by many, many people. In March of 2019 he began "saying mass" and it continues. He spent so much time playing Alleluia for Grandma on the Ipad (her favorite song:) that we truly believe Grandma is with us every time Owen says mass. Mom says grandma is the puppet master behind Fr. Owen. He even has his own vestments that our Grandma Val made for him!
VACATIONS
We did go on several family vacations in the last 2.5 years.
~ Ireland summer 2017
~ Lapshan's cottage in Lewiston (our happy place) at least 4 times
~ Frankenmuth to Zehnder's and Bavarian Inn about 3 times
~ Chicago a few times to hang out with our cousins
~ Florida after Christmas 2018
~ Atlanta to Uncle John's and Aunt Brenda's in April of 2019
~ Brooklyn to Uncle Michael & Aunt Terri's lake house a couple times
~ Ireland summer 2019 (just mom and the 3 kids)
TWO FAMILY WEDDINGS!
We had so much fun at and being in two of our big cousins weddings! Emily and Tyler got married September 1, 2017 in Grand Rapids and Declan and Kelly got married August 11, 2018 in Chicago. They were such GREAT days. We had so much fun celebrating with all of our family and officially welcoming Tyler and Kelly into this crazy crew!
OK...here are TONS of pictures!! They are in semi-chronological order....or at least I think:) We tried our best to caption each one with a date/time frame
ENJOY.......
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| Trip to Chicago May 2017 to visit all our peeps! |
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Just hangin with the fam in Chicago...May 2017
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| Just hangin by the hotel pool in Chicago...May 2017 |
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Niall and Ms. Beth...his last day of 4 year old preschool at CHUP
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| Me and Mrs. Cushing on my last day of Kindergarten |
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| Ireland 2017 |
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| Ireland 2017...the boys first visit to Chris' pub |
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Forest Park..Ireland 2017
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| Cliff Walk in Waterford, Ireland |
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| Ireland 2017...Great times with the Kelly's |
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| Summer 2017....a visit to our happy place, Lapshan's cottage |
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| First day of First Grade! August 2017 |
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| Zehnder's in Frankenmuth with the whole gang:) August 2017 |
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| Welcome to the family Tyler! |
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| Emily and Tyler's Wedding...September 1, 2017 |
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| Emily and Tyler's Wedding...September 1, 2017 |
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| Niall's first day of Young FIves at Lindbergh...Sept. 2017 |
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| Niall the Birthday Boy! 5 years old! |
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| Niall's 5th Birthday party at Bounce It Up...September 2017 |
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| Seven year old birthday princess! |
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| Fun in the snow! Winter 2017 |
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| Christmas Eve 2017...our last Christmas on Robindale |
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| Summer 2018 ... 3 little monkeys at DC playground |
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| Uncle Patrick bought the "name the street sign" at DC's auction the day after Chris died and had it up in time for his funeral. |
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| Chris' funeral procession drove by the house and Chris went around the circle one last time:) |
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| RIP Chris....We miss you terribly! |
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| A star is born! I was a pup in 101 Dalmations at theatre camp in July of 2018 |
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| Flowers after an outstanding performance |
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| Owen got to help Uncle Michael drive his boat when we went to his lakehouse in July 2018 |
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| Papa Teer made us some super cool big blocks that the boys LOVE to play with |
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| Look who started piano lessons!! July 2018 |
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| One of our many summer visits to Greenfield Village in 2018 |
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| So many special times with Chris and Grandma after we fully moved into Evangeline. This picture was taken in January of 2018 |
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| Sesame Street Live Jan. 2018....Owen with just mom and dad! |
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| This lucky boy got to go see Sesame Street Live with mom and dad in January of 2018 |
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| Such a silly kid. His "bee-ya bee-ya" as he affectionately called it. This was one of many of them which he finally parted ways with around his 3rd birthday. |
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| So this pic requires a bit of a story...I am a big Wheel of Fortune fan since I watched it so much with Grandma and Chris. Well, Pat Sajak and I are birthday buddies!! Uncle Michael sees him occasionally for work and so I sent him a picture I made him and he told Uncle Michael to send me a picture of him holding it:) |
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| Owen giving Grandma some love one morning |
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| Look who got into Grandma's lipstick? Oops! |
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| Owen snuggling with Grandma:) |
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| January 2018...Ellen playing basketball at St. Sebastian |
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| Taking Grandma to a doctor appointment. Owen ALWAYS got rides on Grandma's walker. |
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| May we introduce STELLA!!! This is Owen's little girlfriend. They met at Lindbergh because Stella's brother Max was in Niall's class and they became great buddies. |
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| Emily took some awesome family pictures of us:) Fall of 2017 |
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| This image was a daily occurrence:) |
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| Best buds chillin on the porch. |
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| Owen is just one cool dude. That is all. |
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| Owen loves Grandma so much |
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| More porch time for the buddies |
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| Owen's godmother, Eileen, gave him this cool outfit and shoes! |
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| Clearly these two have quite a strong bond! |
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| Best hairdresser in town |
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| One of our favorite pictures ever...April 2017 |
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| With our uncle...Major Michael Murray...Owen is sure intrigued with his hat! |
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Look at our long hair! This is the "before" picture. Mom and I each donated 10 inches of our hair to Children With Hair Loss
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| The "after" picture |
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