owen turns eight

We celebrated Owen's actual 8th birthday quietly at home.  Owen and I were both very sick this year over his birthday- it was like strep without a positive strep test.  Whatever it was, we were both in rough shape, and we had to postpone his party for a week.

Owen's big gift this year was Lego Mindstorms- a programmable robot.  He and Richard have spent many hours programing and rebuilding the robot this year- it really is an amazing toy.

Owen wanted a fishing theme for his birthday party.  Most of his class was able to come, plus Laurel, Maggie and Valerie.  We made two critical errors- first we had way too long of a party, second I fed the kids candy at the beginning.  Chaos reined for a few hours- we found some kids camped out in every corner of the house and others sliding down the stairs on couch cushions.   Everyone left full of pizza and candy, and everyone left in one piece.  Let's call it a success!