Go Giles Go

Today we joined Christopher's friend Giles and over 50 of his closest friends and family to walk in the FARE Walk to End Food Allergies. We were part of the Go Giles Go team. Christopher was very excited that I haven't had the baby yet because he really wanted to go to this walk to support his friend Giles, who has some very severe food allergies. The walk was 2 miles but Chris probably walked/ran 3 miles trying to catch up with Giles and then backtracking to find us again. On top of that, he spent lots of time jumping in the bouncy house they had set up as well as visiting with the visiting superheroes…

Here are the boys before the walk too…

We joined the Kearns family after the walk for a barbecue at their house where Chris, Giles, and some of his other friends jumping in another bouncy house for about 2 hours. It was a fun and active Saturday!

Like father like son

I caught this moment after dinner tonight when the boys were sitting on the couch, talking about fish. They totally were sitting the same way--so cute!

Holly bolly

Happy birthday/one year anniversary to our very own Holly B. Woglom! Holly has acquired many nicknames over the past year including Holly Bolly, Holls Bolls, Holls to the Bolls, and Crazy Pants. She is enjoying her 3rd birthday being a lazy bones on the couch, after going for an early morning walk and barking for much of the morning at the landscapers outside. She deserves it after her hard start at life. Even though she is a bit of a nut sometimes, she is a sweetheart who makes us laugh and has been especially good for Kasey, who is now in better shape than she's been in for years. Kasey lays down the law when necessary but mostly enjoys her sister!

Float and Fly

This morning we went to a different kind of air show. At Shawnee Mission Park there was an even called Float and Fly where there were multiple model airplanes (complete with pontoons) that were taking off and landing in the lake. Christopher was so excited and provided his own air show narration while he watched the first few planes show their stuff. Here are some pictures of the planes we saw…

Even the hawks wanted to get in on the action…

After awhile, Chris couldn't just sit and watch the planes, he wanted to be a plane! There is nothing quite like watching the joy of a child run through a field pretending to be an airplane…

This boy definitely had a great morning. And on top of it, the weather was cool but beautiful and we were reminded that there are beautiful places in Kansas…

Later, when we returned home, the dogs provided some more entertainment. Holly, continuously unaware of where her body is in space, encroached on Kasey's territory once again--first standing above her…

Notice Kasey's face--she just puts up with this. Then Holly decided to stretch and do a down dog, right on top of Kasey!

Ninjas

Chris went to Giles' house yesterday and the boys had fun pretending to be ninjas…

Moose!

Today is the first cool day we've had since school started and Chris said he looked like a second grader this morning when he put on some of his new school clothes. Then he thought he looked more like a moose!

The Four-Legged Kids

Lest we forget that there are two dogs also living in our house, here are some recent pictures of the sisters. They get along great most of the time (except for when Kasey can't take Holly's incessant barking and solicitations to play!), and in fact they were both sleeping back to back on our bed this morning. Very cute!

What's that Kasey? You want to take a nap?

 Well, nap time is over! Wake up and play with me!

Here are the girls relaxing in the library on what used to be "Kasey's chair"…

And finally, while Chris was getting ready for bed, Holly found her own little spot to curl up…

Happy 6th Birthday Olivia!

Christopher and a bunch of other kids helped Olivia celebrate her 6th birthday today at Paint Glaze and Fire, a ceramics and coffee house in Leawood. Everyone got to where their PJs and have donuts for breakfast. This last factor made one little boy very excited! Chris is a good sport and hangs out well with all their girls and their princess dresses. There were a couple boys there who were siblings of other kids so Chris had some boy company. He had a great time celebrating with his long-time friend!

Woah

Said Christopher (out of the blue) at dinner:

"Mommy, I know what the cumulative property of addition is."

Silence… on our end. Then: "You DO?"

Then he proceeded to explain it in detail. We are obviously going to need to review our math properties. I didn't realize I would need to study for kindergarten!

(Addendum: So apparently it is known as the commutative property of addition, thank you Ms. Clarke for letting us know this in an email! Either way, Christopher used a bigger word than I knew at his age.)

Santa Cali Gon Days

On this Labor Day, we made a trip out to Independence, Missouri--home of Harry S. Truman and Kasey Moe Woglom--to celebrate Santa Cali Gon Days. This name, of course, refers to the three major trails (Santa Fe, California, and Oregon) that brought settlers out west through our little part of the midwest. And what better way to celebrate such history than with fattening, sugary foods, carnival rides, and vendors selling random stuff? No matter, we had a blast and Chris (and Daddy) got to enjoy some good old fashioned, maybe-they're-held-together-by-properly-working-nuts-and-bolts, carnival quality rides as every kid should during their lives. Some of the highlights included the swing, bumper cars, a Nascar race that was crazier than it seemed and a kiddie roller coaster. Here are some pics…

The best part of the rides was watching how much fun Chris was having on them. Especially with the roller coaster and bumper cars, he was so fired up! At the end, he got to do the big slide and here is a little video of that…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3cX8Ug8qUs&list=UU5eCmDZeHajX8qxd0-WWODg

Later Chris got his face painted. Of course he chose to be a dog and stayed in character for pretty much the rest of the day!

And just to top off the day, Christopher and I enjoyed one of my (and now his) favorite carnival foods--a big old funnel cake. Yum!