Brotherhood

Owen's picture of the fields and sky of Southern Alberta

Life seems to be about getting along around here.  I guess its the same everywhere!  These boys spend most of their free time together--and I think its safe to say they are best buddies.  They have their altercations, but they are so quick to forgive and move on.  Its a good lesson for me to see how they manage this.

The morning read--there's often a bit of a battle over who gets to sit on the "warm air" vent, but they always seem to figure it out!

Tommy made the big move Downstairs this January.  He now shares a room with Owen.  We were glad the bunk beds fit into the tiny space!  Owen was glad for the company--his need for his own space had started to turn into a lonely, isolated feeling, so he was ready for Tommy to come.  Tommy has been doing great--his night fears seem to be lessening for the most part, and he and Owen are becoming closer.  Owen sometimes regrets his decision to invite Tom down, but I think for the most part that it is working out well for them.  Sometimes I wonder about it when they get the giggles and can't settle down until late, but that comes with the territory I suppose.

This demonstrates the mixed up feelings a bit.  ;-)

Tommy's primary class work--made me smile.

Owen likes being the big brother at Cubs.  He has made Tommy's transition really easy.  Tommy loves Cubs and wants to get just as many badges as his big bro.

Tommy being inducted into Cubs.  Owen got to put on his necker for him. 

The Kub Kar Rally!  Owen and Tommy had a friendly competition going.  :-)

They've got a really fun Cub group.

Owen has a wonderful teacher at school this year who has tons of ideas.  His classroom is a really neat place.  He does all sorts of projects and learns so many things.  I'm grateful for her.  This project was a diorama of animals.  Owen chose to do some animals from Harry Potter.

Owen and Tommy are both in choir this year.  Owen is in the senior choir and Tommy is in the junior.  They got to do a big performance together along with all the other schools on the West side.  It was sure fun to hear them sing in a big church with beautiful acoustics!  

Our "'Lego" Area gets a lot of Boy Time.  I love watching what they come up with.  

This winter has been super mild, so we finally decided to just go ahead and set the basketball hoop back up.  Owen and Tommy both played on community teams this spring and really improved.  They enjoyed it a lot.

Tommy "Hoops" Spencer

Owen and Tommy agreed to be partners for the science fair once again.  That was a huge relief to me.  They chose a fairly applicable topic for our family--"Injuries and How They Heal."  We were originally going to put up pictures of the many injuries in our family, but we realized it might be too gross...

The boys made a model of "A Scab" out of plasticene. They also soaked a chicken bone in vinegar for a week to show what happens to bones when calcium is removed.  It was very rubbery and bendy!  The model of a bone above is labeled "Spongy bone," "compact bone," "blood vessels," and "bone marrow."  We all learned a lot through doing this project!

The boys basically asked questions (on the top of each card) and then answered them (written underneath).