Owen's Birthday

Owen got into all things space recently. Then when the asteroid hit Russia, he was even more hooked. He has asked a million questions about space, and other things too. We've been writing them down on a "Question Board". Once I started writing down his questions, it awakened something inside of him. He started asking even more questions and wanting to find the answers. He is such a curious, smart little boy.

He asks questions like: How does fire make rockets stay up in space? Are there volcanoes on Mars? If the earth is round, why is the ground flat? If the moon is a rock, how does it shine? Does space ever end? How did an asteroid come out of space and hit our planet? Is it always night in space (referring to the black sky)? Why is space black and the sky in our world blue?

Last week Owen told me he wants to be a scientist just like me when he grows up. Collin and Luke have never said this to me, so now Owen is my favorite child. :) On the way home from church today, Owen found a piece of the black top chipped off the parking lot. He picked it up and asked if he could take it home and study it. Of course I said he could and asked him what he planned to do with it. He said he wanted to look at it with a magnifying glass and figure out what it was made of. I can't believe how much I love this kid.

Owen turned four on Friday. We had a space party with rocket ship races, robot building with magnets, moon sand in the sensory table, and astronaut/alien dress-ups for dramatic play. Merritt stayed up very late (on his 34th birthday!) making a rocket ship out of recycled vacuum boxes. What a man I have. Owen invited four friends (since he was turning four), including two cousins and two neighbor friends. They all loved the play rocket ship the best. We still need to properly celebrate Merritt's birthday.

Anyways, I was really excited to give Owen my present this year. One of Owen's favorite books is Zinnia's Flower Garden by Monica Wellington. Owen, unlike his brothers, is not that into playing in the snow. He has been dreaming of spring for some time now. When he read this book, it inspired him to plant his own flower garden in the spring, and sell flowers just like Zinnia.

Owen has already started to prepare by drawing a map of the flower garden he wants. On Valentine's Day his dad and I took him to our local flower shop so he could help his dad pick out some flowers for me. He loved seeing this place and afterword we set up a flower shop dramatic play. So for his birthday I gave him all sorts of flower seeds, along with soil and planters. We both can't wait to start growing a flower garden. Oh, and I also included a garden journal and some lemonade mix in the gift. Zinnia keeps a garden journal in the book, and sells lemonade along with her flowers. I don't know anything about growing flowers, but here we go!

Other news...Tessa is crawling now and cutting her first tooth and talking. She waves her hand and says, "Hi Dada!" It melts your heart. The carpet for our basement will be installed this Tuesday. Yeah! And I finally got a good photo of the elusive woodpecker that I keep seeing in my backyard. It's a northern flicker, and the other day I saw not one but two of them! I was really excited. I think this bird is so beautiful. I love birds.