Rollin' with my homies

Chris got to ride with Luca this morning after My Gym and they were both very excited about it! Lindsey had to drop her car off for a little while to get worked on so we all went to lunch together and drove in our car. Here they are...

Goings on

So we've been having a fantastic time with the D-L ladies! Here are some highlights of their visit...

We went to Kidscape and the Johnson County History Museum this morning and Chris had a great time with the girls! Here, Chris and Ally are figuring out an old fashioned water pump and then Chris and Julia were doing surgery on someone...

Chris was very happy putting on a dancing show in the theater too!

And, of course, Kasey has been having a wonderful time with all the company...

Speed Racers

Ally and I went go kart racing today. Not the slow little wussy go karts... the real speedy ones where you have to wear a real racing helmet and you smell like gasoline when you are done. It was SO much fun! Chris is still a few years away from this outing but I'm sure he will like it when the time comes!

Company

We have been having a great time with our friends, the Duren-Lubanski family! The ladies got here late Christmas night and we are so happy to be spending this week with them. MaryAnn, Sheryl, and Julia headed out Monday to St. Louis and Ally is spending some time here with us hanging out while they are away. In the picture above, she was helping Chris with his new marble set up and then we used the marbles to play the dreidel game. Today, Ally and I will be having a girls day of shopping and go kart racing. No one is happier for the company than Kasey, as she is benefiting from all the extra attention!

Marbles!

Here is the marble set up, Grandma Jan. Once Chris can set this up himself, we will be contacting MIT for an admissions packet!

Because it's Christmas, that's why!

The picture above shows the chaos that was our living room after present opening this morning. But it started off a little (emphasis on a little) more mellow first thing. Chris waiting until 7 before calling us and immediately went to the tree to see what Santa left. He was allowed to open his stocking before breakfast and found some crazy straws to use with his OJ.

On the menu this morning was pancakes, veggie sausages, and fruit... Oh and a little later (around 8:15), astronaut ice cream... because it's Christmas and the logical thing for a kid to do is eat astronaut ice cream  early in the morning. Then it was on to opening the presents! Thank you to everyone who helped make this morning super fun for our little man. Here are some highlights...

As you can see, both of our "kids" had a very fun morning as did their parents! We hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas too. We are looking forward to seeing Grammy this afternoon and then another Christmas gift to us is our friends, the Duren-Lubanski family will be joining us later tonight, right here in Kansas!

Christmas Eve

After a lovely church service tonight with Grammy and our friend Danna and her daughter Lahna, we came home and had dinner with Grammy. We tried our gingerbread men (not so bad) and opened a few presents. Even Kasey got a present from Grammy! Notice the anticipation on her face...

Christopher opened his stocking from Grammy and found several things, including a tattoo of Lucy the Margate elephant! Of course we had to put it on his hand right away.

When we got Chris ready for bed tonight, Daddy carried on the tradition of Grandpa Eric and read "The Night Before Christmas" to his little man.

I'm not sure how long it took Chris to settle down given the excitement of the evening and the even greater excitement and anticipation of the Big Man tonight. Chris wrote a note to Santa and left him some gingerbread men and carrots for the reindeer. When Chris was securely in his room "Santa" and "Mrs. Clause" proceeded to fill up the bottom of the Christmas tree. We told Buds that he has to wait until the sun comes up before he can come out of his room. Let's see if that holds!

Overheard

I forgot to post this the other day...

At breakfast on Thursday, Christopher asked me how my yoga class from the previous night was. Here is our conversation:

Chris: So Mommy, how was your yoga class last night?
Mommy: It was good buddy, thanks for asking.
C: What did you do? Did you run, did you jump, what did you do?
M: No it was just a relaxing class. We did some deep breathing and stretching.
C: Was your teacher a boy or a girl?
M: It was a girl, a woman. She was a very nice teacher. Maybe Mommy will be a yoga teacher someday. What do you think of that?
C: No, I just want you to be my mommy. That's it.

Getting closer!

Christmas is nearly upon us and the Kansas Wogloms are preparing as we speak. This year is unusual for us because we will be spending it in Kansas for the first time. We will definitely be missing our east coast family and friends!!! We just wanted Christopher to wake up tomorrow morning in his own house, open presents, and stay in his pajamas all day long... While it is fun to open presents and get caught up in the holiday, Chris and his parents have been talking about the actual reason why we celebrate Christmas. Chris  is very excited to, as he says, "celebrate Jesus' birthday!" Tomorrow morning we will light a candle at breakfast and sing happy birthday to Jesus, which Chris is looking forward to. Recently, we got him a little kids nativity scene. This is great because he always wants to play with my breakable nativity set so now he can do whatever he wants with his own. Here he is setting up the scene...

It's funny because even though we have told CJ the Christmas story, he knows more details about it than we thought because they talked about it at school too. When we act out the story with his nativity set, he reminded me that Mary rode in on the donkey and the angels sang out loud (he never lets us forget this part!)... Mommy was busy cooking all morning because Grammy is going to come over after church for Christmas Eve dinner. Chris helped too, and we made some vegan gingerbread men. The verdict is still out on the taste of the cookies but it was a great effort that we accomplished today. Chris helped make the dough, roll it, and decorate the little men. None of them have run away yet, but we'll see what happens after dinner! Here is Chris making them and then the finished product...

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!

More My Gym

Today at My Gym, they set up a really cool swing that was supposed to be Santa's sleigh pulled by a reindeer in the front. Chris tried the reindeer but he liked being Santa the best, with the presents and all...

They also set up a "hill" (about as big as the sledding hills here in Kansas) for the kids to go down on a sleigh ride. Here is Chris moving at lightning speed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dMjPpdfjeo&feature=youtu.be

Playdate!

Christopher joined Olivia, Elliott, Emily, and Connor at Aidan's house this morning for a playdate. Aidan is Miss Amy's son and he is just about a month older than Chris. The kids had a great time together! Here they are enjoying a snack...

Miss Amy made some gingerbread playdough for us to take home and Chris cannot wait to try it out! Apparently it smells great but tastes awful so hopefully he won't try to eat it. After our playdate we met Daddy for lunch at his office. It was a fun morning!

Happy Hanukkah!

This year, in honor of our friends the Duren-Lubanski family who are coming to visit in 5 days (yay!), we got a menorah to help celebrate Hanukkah. Christopher was very excited to light the menorah for the first time after he had to sit there and look at it for the last week or so. We said some of the prayers (Mommy even attempted the Hebrew--it's a good thing the ladies will be here soon to help us with that!) and lit the candles. Chris even got to help light the first candle! He really enjoyed it. Then, when we were done, we spun the dreidel a few times and practiced saying the letter names on it. Unfortunately we don't have any potato latkes tonight; falafel will have to do for now. Later tonight we have to switch gears and we are going to the Jeff and Kay annual neighborhood Christmas party!

Elf Yourself #3

It's that time of year again folks. It's time for the Kansas Wogloms to bust out their best dance moves just in time for Christmas! This year we went with a surfing theme. Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXNeWZ6pmGY&feature=youtu.be

My Gym fun

Chris has been going to My Gym for about 6 months now and it has been a great experience for him. He's always been a pretty physical kid but My Gym has taught him skills like forward and backward rolls, headstands, stork stands and more. Here he is today doing a headstand with Ms. Jamie...

They also put together some cool swings every week at My Gym. Today they had a hammock holding a teeter totter boat that Chris got to swing in with some of the ladies...

One of the other skills he got to do today involved jumping onto a high bar, swinging, and then doing a forward roll. Here he is doing that with the help of one of his favorite teacher, Mr. Isaac...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZF5QyyurRA&feature=youtu.be

After gym class was over, we went back to Luca's house for lunch, followed by a dance party. These boys get crazy and were dancing on the coffee table!

These boys have a great time together!

Thank you, Buds

I didn't have time to take a shower this morning before Chris woke up so I threw on some comfy pants, a sweatshirt, and my Yankees hat. When Christopher saw me in this get-up he said, "Oh Mommy, you look gaaawwwwgeous!" Thank you, little man, thank you.

Airborne

Here is Chris jumping on the trampoline (again!) at Emerald City today...

According to him, he "did a pretty good workout" at the gym today!

Baking

Here is Christopher stirring up a big batch of our world famous vegan chocolate-chocolate chip cookies in preparation for our dinner guests (the Titus family) tonight!

Wow!

We are so lucky to have such wonderful and generous friends! Thank you to Luca and Miss Lindsey for Christopher's Christmas present-- a full-blown airport! This kid couldn't be happier. Now what to do with my time while he is fully engrossed in airport business...

Story Time

So Chris loves this book called "Puppy Love." It's this tiny gift book that someone gave him as a party favor one Valentine's Day in Kindermusik. Here he is "reading" it (he's heard it so many times that he knows it!). I may be biased but he's so stinkin' cute when he reads it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-52C3-2S2ls&feature=BFa&list=ULC0J5SGfrzYI&lf=mfu_in_order

Buddies

Olivia came over to play this afternoon after school. Chris and Livy had a great time, as usual! Here they are posing for their Christmas picture together...

The Elf on the Shelf

Hello! My name is Frank, and I am "The Elf on the Shelf." You may have seen me in the book store that you frequent. I come with a book and according to the book, I am supposed to watch over little children to see if they've been naughty or nice. Then I report back to Santa and let him know how they have behaved. Well, apparently the mother at Christopher's house thinks that's a bunch of baloney so she hired me to play hide and seek with the little three year-old here. Each morning, I hide in a new location and Christopher has to find me while Mommy is making breakfast. It's a huge relief if you ask me. I get tired of judging kids' behavior all the time! Anyway, I'm quite enjoying the Woglom household, although I think I have to watch out for that four legged, furry creature they call Kasey. She seems to have her eye on me...

Reading with Kasey

In this picture, Chris is reading Jingle All the Way (a fabulous Hallmark book designed by our friend Mary). The book originally came with a stuffed dog that actually responds to certain phrases in the book by barking. Unfortunately for Jingle, Kasey decided last year that there is only room for one dog in this house. Hence the book minus the stuffed dog.

More fun and games

And to piggyback on what was written yesterday... Chris also loves playing Go Fish! Here he is with Mommy in an intense Go Fish game this evening before bed...

Soooorrrrrryyyy!

To unwind after Liam's birthday party this afternoon, Daddy and Christopher relaxed with a friendly game of Sorry. If it was up to Chris, every card he picks would be a Sorry card. He just loves knocking Daddy's players off the board!

Union Station

We took a trip to Union Station today with Grammy and it was all decorated for the holidays! Even better, they had the model train exhibit decorated and there was a small train that kids could ride on. Here is Chris riding right behind the engineer...

After seeing the model trains, we went over to Science City and explored a bit. Christopher did the usual things like flying the space shuttle, digging for dinosaur bones and taking a trip in a helicopter...

Chris and Grammy also sat and watched the real trains go by Mommy and Daddy's old apartment...

We ended the morning at Eden Alley Cafe. Miss Kay came over to watch Chris last night and brought him a big stuffed Clifford along with a Clifford Christmas book so little man brought Clifford to lunch with us. It was a fun morning!

Reunited

Christopher was soooooo happy to see his friend Luca today! It's been two weeks and the boys had a great morning together, both at My Gym and then playing back at our house. It is wonderful that Chris has such a good buddy. Here they are giving hugs before Luca left...

Either that or they were having a test of strength. You be the judge!

Kansas Hold 'Em

So Christopher's new favorite pre-bedtime activity these days is playing cards. It goes back a few months to when Chris started partaking in craziness, such as dancing or simply running into furniture at full speed right before bedtime, and we had to crack down and do a "quiet game" before sleeping. We taught Chris how to play Go Fish and Memory with these cute Thomas cards that Kay gave him last year and now he wants to play these games all the time. Today, he found our Skip Bo cards and was setting up his own little game of Memory. Of course, because he is a 3 year-old boy, the games usually last about 5 to 7 minutes and then it's on to something else, but it's a start!

Back in NY

Well, we are here in New York for the Thanksgiving week and as you can see, Christopher is already having a blast...

We arrived on Friday and made our traditional trip to the Mamaroneck Diner (with the algae eater!) after driving back from LaGuardia. On Saturday, we went down to Brooklyn to visit Uncle Peter and Aunt Dabney and, of course, Poppy, Elsie and Bennett. Chris was super excited to take the Metro North into the city where we stopped to be tourists for a moment at Grand Central...

After arriving at Grand Central, we hit the streets in search of the F train. On the way, CJ picked up his very first New York City pretzel (yum!) and took it to snack on while we waited for our subway. Buds loves the subway and his favorite part is when they say, "stand clear of the closing doors please," a phrase you will hear him saying in this little clip from our F train ride...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRO7quoFLkY

Chris was so excited to see his cousins! They are growing so big and the kids all had a great time together. They played, had lunch, napped, and even went to Brooklyn Bridge Park to ride the carousel, admire the city and run around in the green space. Here are some pictures from our day...

We stayed for dinner and then the kiddos busted out some good dance moves. First, Christopher showed his stuff and as you can see, the triplets were standing there wondering about the tornado that entered their apartment. Later, they took part in the fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtBmqEu1os

After watching Chris for a while, Bennett wanted to show everyone what he can do. He is such a cute dancer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSrwJBh24ho

Later, Chris and Bennett did a little pas de deux to some of Bennett's favorite tunes. Check out Bennett's big jump! Obviously, the boys were having fun together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LIjsJMQO1U

After our big day in the city, we headed upstate for some country fun with Grandpa T, Nancy, and GiGi. Chris had so much fun shadowing Grandpa T in his dog-care duties. Our little guy helped his Grandpa feed and walk the dogs, put out corn for the turkeys. He also got a chance to hear Grandpa play the accordian! Here are some pics from upstate...

After some accordian playing, we busted out some Tchaikovsky and had a guest appearance from a local ballet dancer named Nancy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8euD6bHYxns

It is good to be back east and we are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with our east coast family!