Mr. O

Owen and I have a few things in common, one of them being that we share November as our birthday month.  He turned a whopping 11 years old...and I also turned another year older.  We now have 3 babysitters in the house!  We feel quite spoiled! :-)

Owen continues to be a creative, busy, cheerful, hardworking boy.  He was sad to leave Cubs, but excited to join the 11 year old scouts.  In his words, "Now I can go on some camps!"  He loves his 5th grade class and teacher.  They just finished reading Tuck Everlasting. and he is currently working on a project about the polar climate.  He wishes it was on the Antarctic because he still LOVES penguins.  But he's fine because its still "somewhere cold."  He has done some beautiful artwork in class and at home--he takes art from his Aunt Jeanette and really enjoys it.  I love watching him dig into projects.  He kind of goes into his own zone and comes up with wonderful creations.  The other day he pulled out the old craft bucket and hot glue gun and when he was done he had constructed a miniature sleigh and reindeer!

He continues to have a beautiful singing voice and is in 3 choirs right now--church, school, and a neighbourhood choir.  There are two boys his age in the ward who play the violin so he has dusted his off and has been playing it more lately--with varying levels of enjoyment.  He continues to take piano lessons from his Nana in Provo, and he's really enjoying playing Christmas songs.  Owen always has his nose in a book and is usually working through 2-3 different books at once.  Right now he's reading Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites and The Great Brain.  He and I are reading the Chronicles of Prydain and we're on the last book!  James is reading Little Britches out loud to all of us.  Owen is at such a fun age right now where he gets the nuances of humour in the books.  Its really fun to share smiles and laughs with him.

Sportswise, Owen's first love is hockey, and he enjoys playing with his brothers.  He and his friends and brothers have a plan to start a league of their own on the nearby outdoor rink when it gets cold enough.  In the meantime, he's making do with basketball, which he's coming to love more and more. He is on a really experienced team this year (he kind of lucked out because the coach is in our ward) and he is learning things fast.  He's enjoying the challenge and is being very courageous as he figures out a new sport.  I know I would be terrified to get on the court with some of the people he plays against!

So far Owen has been very responsible as a fill-in babysitter, and he says he wants to take a course so he can be "official" and start earning a lot of money for his mission.  His little brothers think he is the bee's knees and we all sure love having him in the family.

11 Years Old!

Owen invited his new friend Colby and his cousin Corbin over.  We tried to go bowling, but there was a tournament.  So instead we had a family plus friends street hockey game outside--it was very competitive and the boys kept telling me how to hold my stick, and they kept trying to help me get a goal.  It was very sweet and quite humbling.  

Before the cake got demolished it was a rocket ship...

For Owen's birthday date he got to go with James to the space/science center.  They spent hours there, looking around and doing lots of hands-on things.  They bought his gift at the gift shop--a neat construction-type gift that was right up his alley, and they saw the Whales on the iMax.  He had a blast being with his best buddy in the world--his Dad.

For a continuaton of birthday fun, we went to Lethbridge for a visit.  These are all the Oct-Nov birthdays in the Bridge and Spencer families.

Birthday snow!

These lovely ladies treated me on my birthday--lunch at Cora's, yum!

Its always good to see a mountain, isn't it?  We had a quick and chilly, but such a refreshing visit to Waterton.

Aunt Janice and Uncle Dwayne kindly hosted us for an evening.

Owen built this building with some help from Tommy and George.  It has an "M" for Mom on the front.  See it in red and blue?

Owen and his friends "busking" at the community Christmas party.  They wanted to put an empty case out for some money but decided against it at the last minute.  ;-)