Bowen: 10 year old interview

1. Nicknames? Bo

2. How old are you? 10

3. What is your favorite color? white

4. What is your favorite animal? bengal tiger

5. What is your favorite book? Wingfeather Saga

6. What is your favorite TV show? Dude Perfect

7. What is your favorite song? Tattoos on this Town/ Jason Aldean

8. What is your favorite food? chicken wings

9. What is your favorite drink? Prime

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? fried eggs

11. What is your favorite snack? chex mix 

12. What is your favorite outfit? shorts, long socks, and short sleeves

13. What is your favorite game? Monopoly Credit Card

14. What is your favorite toy? a football

15. What is your favorite thing to do? play football, hunt, fish

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play football, hunt, fish

17. What are you really good at? listening to an audiobook

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? a warm blanket

19. Where is your favorite place to go? Beastway or the church 

20. What is your favorite restaurant? Magic Sushi

21. What do you like to do with your family? play games

22. What is a place you would like to visit? Japan

23. What makes you laugh? Logan

24. What do you like to learn about? India

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? football player or farmer

Bowen: 10 years old

Bowen is 10!

He weighs 62 pounds and is right at 4 ft. 6 in. 

He is always up for adventure. He's agile and brave and we trust him to know his limits. We went rock climbing this year and he just flew up the walls to the very top. 

He went on a cruise to his first country outside of the US... the Bahamas! and in about a month, he will take his first trip around the world. Literally circling the earth! 

He loves to play (little games they've made up) with Miller inside. They play "the lego game", and "neighborhood" and "battle" with their animals. But he plays more with Grayson outside... football, basketball. 

He's currently working his way thru Harry Potter right now. He's currently flying thru book 5!

Hunter Renfrow left the Raiders this year, so he's no longer a Raiders fan... he recently decided to follow the Bengals. 

He chose to go to New York City with Pop Pop and Nona for his 10th birthday trip. They will tour the city, see a Mets vs. Dodgers game and possibly a broadway play. 

He is sweet and silly and fun and we love him so! 

Bowen: 9 year old interview

1. Nicknames? Bo, B

2. How old are you? 9

3. What is your favorite color? orange and purple

4. What is your favorite animal? tiger

5. What is your favorite book? Wingfeather Saga

6. What is your favorite TV show? Dude Perfect

7. What is your favorite song? His Mercy is More

8. What is your favorite food? chicken Alfredo

9. What is your favorite drink? water

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? fried eggs

11. What is your favorite snack? Chomps stick 

12. What is your favorite outfit? basketball clothes

13. What is your favorite game? Pandemic and Monopoly Deal

14. What is your favorite toy? my new lawn mower

15. What is your favorite thing to do? play outside

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play basketball

17. What are you really good at? running fast

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Reggie and Ollie

19. Where is your favorite place to go? the Grounds 

20. What is your favorite restaurant? Magic Sushi

21. What do you like to do with your family? explore

22. What is a place you would like to visit? Liberty Hill

23. What makes you laugh? Miller

24. What do you like to learn about? math

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? football player

Bowen: 9 years old

Our middle boy is 9!

Bowen is 58 pounds and 4 foot 3 inches (28th percentile for both). 

He took his first plane ride this year! We went to Utah and visited 3 national parks and hiked lots! He loved it and did great!

He loves to lift weights and check out his arm muscles in the mirror :) 

He is our little worker. Loves to have a job... especially yard work!

He's a hard worker, but our messiest, disorganized, irresponsible child. Just throws his stuff wherever, leaves drawers open, leaves a trail wherever he goes. 

We've had some police things lately going on around us and they definitely bring our extra fear and anxiety in him. He's already anxious about sirens and police, and these events haven't helped. 

He's come a long way this year in reading and behavior. He's def still behind, but making great progress. And we are working on some basic vision therapy tools that I think are helping. 

He took his first plane ride at 8.5 and flew out west. We hiked Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon and he rocked it. He did so great, and we did some big hikes!

He loves anything that matches Chad or times he gets to be with Chad. He wants to be just like him and hopes he passes his Toyota Corolla to him as his first car. 

We think his current thing is basketball shoes. He seems to have a thing for collecting them. 

He still says some funny things... Giesel for diesel gas, and if he wants a mint, he asks if he can have a "breath freshener". 

We are so thankful for our Bo!

Bowen: 8 years old

Bowen is 8!

He is about 49 pounds, 4 feet 1 in tall,  and wears all size 7 clothes. He's the boniest kid!

He loves to play football. 

He loves to do things with Chad and get special time with him. 

He hates to hear sirens and if he's playing outside, he will run inside. 

He graduated speech therapy this past year. woohoo!

He loves collecting sports cards (mostly football) and they will sit and organize and trade for hours. 

He still loves babies and little kids. 

We are so glad he is ours! 

Bowen: 8 year old interview

1. Nicknames? Bo

2. How old are you? 8

3. What is your favorite color? black

4. What is your favorite animal? tiger

5. What is your favorite book? Green Ember

6. What is your favorite TV show? I don't watch tv

7. What is your favorite song? His Mercy is More

8. What is your favorite food? potato soup

9. What is your favorite drink? fizzy water

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? eggs

11. What is your favorite snack? trail mix 

12. What is your favorite outfit? my raiders stuff 

13. What is your favorite game? Guess in 10 

14. What is your favorite toy? my new remote control car

15. What is your favorite thing to do? play outside

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play football

17. What are you really good at? football

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Reggie

19. Where is your favorite place to go? ice skating

20. What is your favorite restaurant? Dragon Court

21. What do you like to do with your family? play

22. What is a place you would like to visit? Liberty Hill

23. What makes you laugh? Miller

24. What do you like to learn about? animals

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? football player

Bowen: 7 years old

Our Bowen turns SEVEN today!

He is currently 44 pounds (Grayson weighed 10 pounds more than him at 7!)

He lost his 2 front teeth last month.  We sang to him "all I want for Christmas...." often last month. 

Bowen loves his little friends! It is an intense, smothering, aggressive love. 

Over the last year, we (with Aunt Mary's help) have self diagnosed him with something like vasovagal syncope... it occurs when you faint because your body overreacts to certain triggers, such as the sight of blood". He is very sensitive to pain/blood and will easily lose all color, get nauseous, and light headed. Wasp stings, bad cuts, slammed fingers in the door have triggered him getting instantly sweaty, his face and lips draining of all color, throwing up.... we try to calm him down quickly. 

Reading/spelling/writing he could care less about and are a struggle, but he is really good with math. I hope his reading just clicks and takes off sometime this year. 

He has patiently waited for months to go to build-a-bear for his birthday just like Miller did last year. He has asked for something "snuggly and soft" of his own and he recently got a big stuffed black lab and his build-a-bear he named "Baseball" (Miller had named his basketball). The two of them have had so much fun with their animals lately. 

He is currently in speech 2x a week and has made huge growth! He just had a whole new list of goals written because he has met all his old ones. Yayyy for progress and a wonderful speech therapist. 

He loves to play outside and keeps up with all the big kids in the cul-de-sac. He's fast and agile!

He is a joy and delight and we are so proud of him!

Bowen: 7 year old interview

 

1. Nicknames? Bo-boy (nobody calls him this but himself)

2. How old are you? 7

3. What is your favorite color? blue

4. What is your favorite animal? tiger

5. What is your favorite book? Finding Winnie

6. What is your favorite TV show? Wild Kratts

7. What is your favorite song? King of Kings

8. What is your favorite food? noodles

9. What is your favorite drink? water

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? fried eggs

11. What is your favorite snack? clementines 

12. What is your favorite outfit? jeans 

13. What is your favorite game? Monopoly Deal 

14. What is your favorite toy? my new police car from Eric and Sarah

15. What is your favorite thing to do? play outside

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play football

17. What are you really good at? Monopoly Deal

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My new big dog, Reggie

19. Where is your favorite place to go? Great Wolf Lodge 

20. What is your favorite restaurant? CFA

21. What do you like to do with your family? play outside

22. What is a place you would like to visit? the zoo

23. What makes you laugh? Miller

24. What do you like to learn about? math

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? a policeman

Bowen: 6 years old

Bowen turns SIX years old today! 

He is 40 pounds, size 6 clothes, and as bony as can be :) 

We are working on learning to read, but he isn't too interested. He is such a different learner than Grayson and I'm constantly trying to evaluate what is best for his learning style. He just recently has started wanting to write more or me spell stuff for him. 

He thinks he can just make up Spanish words. His most common used are "chi-os" for goodbye and when he counts in Spanish, he always says "uno - dos - tres- cuatro- cinco- seis- sirache- nueve- diez" It's like he combines siete, ocho and srirache into one word :) 

He will combine other words too... he told me he had on his "hot toboggy" the other day... a combo of toboggan and hot tamale. 

Some of his best friends are one year olds and he loves them so much. He is so sweet with little ones and truly loves being with them!

He has learned to show self control so much better over the last year. Of course, he still has some moments, but overall he is doing so well... and now we have another wild-man-3-year-old who has taken his place :) 

He lost his first 2 teeth (bottom middle) in the past 6 weeks!

He has started playing a lot of soccer in the cul-de-sac and he enjoys it and is really good at it!

He has amazed us at the board games he has learned and done well with recently (even though he doesn't read!) Some current favorites are Ticket to Ride, Monopoly Deal, and Pandemic

He loves playing with his brothers and friends, being read to, mac and cheese, getting one on one time with Chad or me, chopping with a hatchet 

Bowen: 6 year old interview

1. Nicknames? Bo

2. How old are you? 6

3. What is your favorite color? blue

4. What is your favorite animal? tiger

5. What is your favorite book? police car books

6. What is your favorite TV show? Gigantosaurus

7. What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me

8. What is your favorite food? mac and cheese 

9. What is your favorite drink? Sprite

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? pancakes

11. What is your favorite snack? clementines 

12. What is your favorite outfit? pajamas 

13. What is your favorite game? Pandemic 

14. What is your favorite toy? drone

15. What is your favorite thing to do? play games with my family

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride my bike

17. What are you really good at? riding the hoverboard

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Tuffy

19. Where is your favorite place to go? Asher's house and see him 

20. What is your favorite restaurant? CFA

21. What do you like to do with your family? play games with them

22. What is a place you would like to visit? Nona and Pop Pops

23. What makes you laugh? Miller

24. What do you like to learn about? math and reading

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? "astronaut... no, a cowboy" 

Bowen: 5 and a half

 Bowen is the sweetest little thing!

He is 37 pounds and in 5t clothes. He is so bony and small!

He is living in his first worldwide pandemic. The coronavirus is currently requiring us to live socially distanced and requiring a mask whenever out. Parks are closed, and we aren't taking them to restaurants or stores. But they're very content at home and in our yard :) His life doesn't look too different from normal. 

He plays with Grayson and Miller so differently, but has such a great relationship with both of them. 

I feel very conscious of him being the "middle child" and try to make sure he gets special opportunities and things. Grayson does everything first, and Miller does everything cute and I want to make sure he isn't overlooked!

He loves to dig in the sand. 

He is our hard worker! He loves to have a job and works really hard. He especially loves helping Chad in the yard. 

He is so fast! He runs fast and is so fast on his bike. 

He loves babies and little kids. He is always right by the babies in our small group or his little cousins. He has so much love to give!

We are currently doing speech practice at home and he will start Kindergarten next week. We are working through the 100 reading lessons, but he's not too interested and I wouldn't say it's clicked yet. 

We love our little Bo so much!

Bowen: 5 years old + birthday

He is currently 37 pounds. 

He only naps every now and then, but has rest time in his room each day. He's quiet and still on his bed for an hour and then can play in his room for an hour. 

He loves to play outside with the neighbors and his bros. 

He's awesome on his bike and scooter and flies around the cul-de-sac. 

He loves one-on-one time with Chad and I. He is like a completely different kid when we have him by himself! It's crazy!

He has certain people (who he loves SO much) that he gets so excited to be around that it's like he loses control and common sense. It's like he's so excited he can't contain himself. It is intense to parent him in these situations and take lots of reminders to show self control and calm down. 

Nana and Papa came and spent the weekend before his birthday and we celebrated Bowen and Papa and had dinner at PF Changs. For his party this year, we celebrated with friends here in Charlotte and BOjangles :) Then the next morning, Chad and I left for a conference and my Mom came and spent 2 days with the boys. She spent Bowen's birthday morning (and afternoon) at the aquarium and a CFA lunch, and then Chad and I got back in the afternoon for his birthday dinner and cookie cake he made with Nona. He felt so very loved!

 

They even got to go "backstage" to see the big tanks...

and a few pics from the last few months of being four :) 

Bowen: 5 year interview

1. Nicknames? Bowen John, Bo Bo, Bo Bear, Bocephus

2. How old are you? 5

3. What is your favorite color? orange and black

4. What is your favorite animal? peregrine falcon

5. What is your favorite book? Curious George

6. What is your favorite TV show? Wild Kratts

7. What is your favorite song? Beat it up (a Bowen original) 

8. What is your favorite food? mac and cheese

9. What is your favorite drink? fizzy water

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? pancakes

11. What is your favorite snack? oranges

12. What is your favorite outfit? jeans and basketball shirt

13. What is your favorite game? Uno

14. What is your favorite toy? my police truck

15. What is your favorite thing to do? draw a picture for my mommy

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride the gator and play with my friends

17. What are you really good at? playing basketball

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my teddy bear, Curly

19. Where is your favorite place to go? Chick-fil-a

20. What is your favorite restaurant? Chick-fil-A

21. What do you like to do with your family? go places with them

22. What is a place you would like to visit? Clemson

23. What makes you laugh? my bros doing something funny

24. What do you like to learn about? reading

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? police man

Bowen: 4 and three quarters

 Our little B is getting so close to five! That's so crazy to me!

He's in mostly 5T clothes for the Fall. 

He moved from Clemson to Charlotte. 

Over the last few months he has really phased out of napping. He will nap every once in a while, but mostly just has quiet time in the afternoons now. 

We often have to remind him to show self control. He gets SO excited in certain situations or around certain people it's like he loses all common sense! It's very interesting to watch how his behavior/personality changes in these moments and try to teach him how to control his excitement.

He loves to go out with us one on one or when he gets to ride in Daddy's car. It's crazy how easy and obedient he is when he is by himself! It's like a different kid than when he is around his brothers. They can bring out his crazy!

He is so caring and sweet to others! Especially those younger than him. 

Bowen: 4 and a half

4 and a half years with this crazy boy!

35 pounds. 4T clothes. size 10 shoes

He does speech therapy once a week.

He's so interesting because he doesn't stop talking, is a wild man... but in certain situations he is so reserved and quiet. His speech therapist has said to me "well, he's just so soft spoken and quiet..." and I'm thinking "HA!"

He is playing more and more with Miller as opposed to only with G. Anytime that Miller comes over and snuggles with him or lays his head on him, he rubs his back and says "I know you love me baby"

He mixes up some sayings that we won't correct:
-"trick play!"... a mixture of "tricked ya!" and "just playing"
-"oh my dearness"... a mixture of "oh my goodness" and "oh dear" 

Bowen: 4 and a quarter

Bowen is 4 and a quarter!

He is 36 pounds and in 4t tops and 3t shorts.

He adds "in my whole life" to so many of his sayings...
"Mommy, never in my whole life have I been on an airplane"
"Bowen, did you splash water on Miller?"... "No, never in my whole life"

He had an ENT appt and they said his tonsils were huge, but were fine, not bothering him and needed no further attention.

He currently always prays the same thing... "Dear Jesus, thank you for the food and thank you for everything you made."

He is enjoying his first official t-ball season (although he basically played on G's team last year)

He loves to get to ride in Daddy's car.

He buckles and unbuckles himself in in the car. Game changer!

He is playing with Miller more and more. Although, he and Grayson are together the most.

He is napping less and less. He currently naps maybe a few days a week and just rests in his room the other days. I'll let him get books and play after about an hour.

He is still going to speech with Mrs. Leigh one hour each week. He's currently working on k sounds, g sounds, and s blends (sp-, sm-, sk-...)

He loves being read to, riding his bike, driving the gator, seeing his cousins, dancing, and being silly! 

Bowen: 4 year old interview

1. Nicknames? Bo Bo

2. How old are you? 4

3. What is your favorite color? blue 

4. What is your favorite animal? baby lion and a mommy lion

5. What is your favorite book? I don't know

6. What is your favorite TV show? Top Wings

7. What is your favorite song? the Lion King songs

8. What is your favorite food? green beans and noodles

9. What is your favorite drink? Sprite (he's had this maybe twice)

10. What is your favorite breakfast food? fried eggs

11. What is your favorite snack? gummies

12. What is your favorite outfit? my jeans and a Clemson shirt... what he's currently wearing, he's very in the moment :)

13. What is your favorite game? Uno

14. What is your favorite toy? my pullback race car

15. What is your favorite thing to do? play outside

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride the skateboard

17. What are you really good at? riding a bike

18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my little elephant 

19. Where is your favorite place to go? to get popsicles (?)

20. What is your favorite restaurant? Chick-fil-A

21. What do you like to do with your family? I love them

22. What is a place you would like to visit? Disney World

23. What makes you laugh? Pop Pop singing a silly song

24. What do you like to learn about? lion cubs

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? a workman

Bowen: 4 years old

Our middle boy is FOUR years old today! He woke up this morning and said "but Mommy, I don't feel any bigger". 

He is 34 pounds (29%), 3'3" (20%), 4t clothes, size 8 or 9 shoes

He naps most days. But there have been a handful of days over the last couple of weeks where he doesn't fall asleep.

He is sweet and considerate to others... especially ones younger than him. 

He buckles and unbuckles his carseat. This is such a game changer! 

He's recently gotten so much better at writing his name. 

His brothers are his best friends. It's neat to watch him play with Grayson (most of the time he plays with Grayson), but more and more he is playing with Miller too.  

He has done about 3 months of speech, has taken a break for last couple of months (maternity leave for his pathologist) and will start back soon. 

He eats just about anything. He loves a fried egg in the morning, fruit, and "noodles are my favorite"

He is such a fast runner. 

He's still a wild man, but there's definitely improvement on what we can expect out of him.

He still only has one volume... LOUD

I wish I knew how many times we've told him to ask for things or talk without whining. We will keep on telling him until he learns....

Happy 4th birthday to our Bowen!

and here are G and B at 4...

Bowen's 4th birthday party

We enjoyed having friends over a few days before Bowen's birthday to help celebrate him turning FOUR. He's wanted a sheriff party (like Grayson) for months, so we had a few sheriff academy activities, and then donuts on Friday morning.