Dear Owen

Today you turn 6 years old. Yesterday you started Kindergarten. And I know just as fast as you turned 6 years old you will be going off to high school.  Slow down time.

I was just looking back at some of these pictures of you and reminded me how fast time flies. And what an absolute adorable little thing you were!

Owen, you are one of the kindest people I know. You are affectionate, empathetic, caring, hilarious, kind, sweet, loving and pretty hilarious to boot!

You always find the time to find out how things have been going for me.
-Mom, how was your run this morning? How many miles did you run?
-I meant to ask you how your meeting went.
-Did you have fun at the party you went to last night?
Every time, without a doubt when we talk to Dad on the phone when he is at work, you want do know what emergencies he has been on.
-Have you been to any fires?
-Have there been any car crashes?
-Did anyone have seizure today or need CPR?

Watching you grow, absorbing the world around you inquisitive and delighted to learn, I am reminded each day of the love you bring into my world. You are wiser than a 6 year old boy sometimes. You say some pretty amazing things that make your dad and I look at each other in shock.

You were beyond ready for Kindergarten, in every aspect.  I still don't know weather it was the right move to hold you back or not, but I am not looking back. Having you home another year was a lot of fun for both of us.  I'm pretty sure that until I got out of the car to walk you into school, that I was in denial that my Sweet O's was heading off to kindergarten. When I asked you last week how you were feeling about it, you told me you "were horrified." I really am not sure why you were so nervous about it. Don't get me wrong, its a HUGE deal, but you usually just roll with things and don't get anxious.  As I went upstairs to say good morning to you and Eli, Eli told me you weren't feeling well.  You were cuddled up in your blanket laying in bed.  When I asked you if you had a case of the First Day of School Blues, you shook your head and melted into my arm. You seemed to shake it off and got ready for school. For whatever reason, you only wanted me to walk into school with you. I think it was less pressure if it was only me for some reason. When we got out of the car, I checked in with you and asked you how you were doing. You just looked at the ground. I asked you if you were nervous and you said yes and wiped away a little tear. You held my hand pretty darn tight walking into school. But you totally held it together. This picture pretty much sums up how you and Eli were both feeling. Eli was excited and ready and you were nervous and hesitant.

When we got to your classroom you handled it like a champ. We found your spot, you grabbed a crayon and started coloring. A kiss and a hug later and I was off. You had a great first day of kindergarten! I was so proud of you.
On our bike ride to school this morning I asked you how you felt about the second day and you just said "good!" You walked right in without looking back. I am so excited about this year for you, I think its going to be so great for you!

As a 6 year old, you love being outside, riding your bike, Cash's dirt bike and your new Go-Kart!!! Since we decided not to parties this year, you got to choose one big gift and a gas go-kart is what you wanted. Your poor dad did so much research to find you a good one and I think he succeeded! You really love it.

You are always the last to fall asleep these days and somehow always sneak a few more minutes with me and dad on the couch. You will try any food we ask you to, you really love playing with Eli, and with our neighbor friends, you love to swim, watch Full House, play Rocket League, Minecraft, soccer, and to fish. You are awesome on your skateboard and have gotten really brave on the go-kart in the few days we have had it. You ask a lot of questions and have a really funny sense of humor. You always search for treasured on the playground and your pockets are always full of what you find. You crack jokes all the time and sometimes make up bizarre stories you swore really happened (I have no idea where these things come from). You are the chattiest of your brothers and cherish one-on-one time a lot.


I am always in your corner Owen. Your loudest cheerleader, the proudest mom, and the one always crying because she knows how lucky and blessed she is.
I am just so dang proud to be your mom. I am proud of you, I love you and hope you have a wonderful 6th year of life! May you always enjoy the ride!

Love, Mom

Kruger/Lindauer Beach Trip

I have such amazing memories of the trips Maw took our entire family on years before she passed.  I do not know many people who have been fortunate enough to go on vacation with their entire extended family.

It has been about 7 years since we took a family trip like that. But thankfully, my Aunt Kathy planned a trip this summer for us all to be together again.  Of course in the last 7 years, we have grown by 10 kids and a few more spouses.... and the 8 that came before that are all a lot older, and going to camps and involved in activities so it was much harder to find dates that worked for everyone--but Kathy did her best. And everyone that was able to make it, came to Port A! It's funny because we all (with the exception of two cousins and and one set of Aunt/Uncle all live in Austin and we see each other often) but we were all so excited to see each other for an extended time with nothing to do but hang out together.

She found this amazing 10 bedroom house to sleep 27 of us... 4 people (2 couples) stayed at the hotel that was just across the parking lot from the house.

We were the first to arrive, but everyone trickled in quickly and got settled in. I made buckets for all the kids for when they arrived with their names on them and had them all laid out on the living room table.

The boys just could not wait and got changed, and they jumped in the pool within a few minutes of getting there. More cousins joined in as they got there. We had 10 little kids (9 boys and 1 girl). We had our own pool in the backyard!!

We spent the first afternoon hanging out at the house and getting settled in. We went swimming, played shuffle board, ping pong, and chose our bedrooms and unpacked.

We ordered pizza and salad for dinner and then we all headed out to check out the beach. The house was just a tad too far for us all to walk back and forth to the beach, so we rented a golf cart for the weekend which ended up being a lifesaver!

It was really amazing to see all the kids there together, playing, loving each others company.  Just to be able to spend that much time with everyone was truly magical. I kinda felt like my heart was going to explode the whole weekend.
This is by far one of my favorite pictures my cousin Zach took on the first day....

I know it doesn't look like much, but to see these two deep in conversation, and to see the look on Eli's face just melts my heart. I know exactly what they are talking about---fishing....and I know Eli was absolutely loving it. He told me the other day that he was "soooo lucky because Pop loves to fish."
We also got to catch other moments like these...my Uncle Danny holding Eli hostage, no doubt, and the look on Kathy's face when we convinced her to take a shot of the last bit of vodka in the bottle.

Of course we were some of the first awake every morning, so we spent the early mornings outside to try and let everyone else sleep despite the boys loud voices and running around.

Our afternoons were spent down at the beach. Every one kinda came and went throughout the day as it worked for their kids schedules. Friday morning Blaine and 4 other guys went fishing for the day and caught our dinner for that night.

The buckets were a huge hit, and all the boys were catching little fish and crabs and making their own little ecosystems within the buckets. Eli did not put his net down for one minute!

Between trips to the beach, we did a whole lot of hanging around and laughing at the house together, which was just as much fun! There was not one minute that the kids were not playing and having fun together!

We had a huge puzzle out on the table that everyone helped with the whole weekend.

All the little boys got together and formed their very first club--The Fishing Club.  Eli was the leader, Owen was the 2nd founding member, just behind Eitan. They made membership cards and passed them out.

They held their first meeting Friday night on the back porch, where they had their first speaker, Noah, who described, in detail, the account of the fishing trip out on the boat earlier that day.

My dad had promised my boys that he would take them fishing again on this beach trip. Word got around and instead of it just being my dad and the boys, it turned out to be a lot bigger group....the entire Fish Club came.

It was great having our own private pool. We certainly took advantage of it and you can't beat the convenience of it!

Our last night there, we had an amazingly delicious meal made by Jared and Brian at the house. It was a nice, low-key, relaxing (well, relatively speaking) evening.
Jared made up a story for some of the boys before bed time that they all loved before heading off to bed.

All the "adults" sat around and had some boring serious debate...

And we capped off the night with a little game of Cards Against Humanity with my parents and Aunt and Uncle...they learned a few new things that night....tons and tons of laughs were had that night!

My heart was really so full the entire weekend. I am so blessed and fortunate to be a part of this family. My wish is that all these little kiddos, and those that were not able to make it, stay close as they go through life together and have each other to lean on.