Goofing Around

The boys were being very goofy with each other this morning. Especially Christopher as seen below...

Baby J

The Mask

Christopher's school has a tradition where the first graders make masks. Today we assisted in the actual making of the paper mache mask part. It was a lot of fun and for about ten minutes, the first graders were actually quiet! This was the first step and when the masks set and dry, the kids will decorate them with paint. 

Gershwin's Magic Key

Brian and I took Christopher to the Kauffman Center this afternoon to see "Gershwin's Magic Key." It was a part of the Kansas City Symphony's Family Series and the show starred the symphony as well as a pianist and two actors, one of which played George Gershwin. It was a great show and taught the kids a lot about Gershwin as a composer. Before the show started, they have tables where the kids can try out different instruments. Chris was really fired up to play the cello and also tried the viola, snare drum and gong...

Helzberg Hall is a really cool venue to watch the symphony and they even have seats in the choral section, where we sat today. Even though it is behind the orchestra, you can see everything and even the music that the musicians were playing. It was a fun afternoon!

The Force

The force is strong with this one...

... a little too strong...

The Boys

A couple pictures of the boys from over the weekend. The bottom one is of Chris holding a hang glider creation that was inspired by our trip to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. 

Da Da

Jonathan is definitely a Daddy's boy. I've heard him say Mama in the past but it has been rare. His favorite thing to say is Dada. And when we try to get him to say Mama, here is his response... It's become a running joke with all of us...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRj8cCl3c1s

Da Vinci

We all went with Grammy this afternoon to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit that is currently at Union Station. It was an exhibit featuring models of his inventions and replicas of his artwork as well as a tremendous amount of information about the vast array of areas he was interested in. The boys had fun-- Jonathan did well and of course Chris was making mental notes about what he was going to build and invent when we got home. Here is a picture of the boys in an armored tank that da Vinci designed...

There was a space where kids could make their own flying machines. This was right up Christopher's alley...

J enjoyed watching too!

And Christopher worked on perfecting his Mona Lisa pose!

Lamby

Jonathan has recently become very attached to his little Lamby. Before J was born, Chris picked out this Lamby for him. For some reason, Jonathan has been very clingy recently to Lamby so Lamby now sleeps in the crib with J. Many days, J will walk around the house hugging Lamby. And when I go into his room in the morning when he wakes up, Jonathan holds up Lamby as if to show me "Look who's in my crib with me!"

Captain Chris

Christopher got to be the captain in his basketball game today. Now, on the first grade level, that doesn't really entail much aside from listening to the ref go over the rules before the game. But Chris was pretty excited about it. Perhaps it helped because he scored his first basket of the season!

All the kids...

...on the couch...

Dear Friends

The Titus family had a get together at Emerald City tonight for the kids before they move next week to Houston. We are happy for them but so sad to see them go. Brian and I have been friends with them for over 10 years and Chris and Olivia have been lifelong friends. We've all been through a lot together and it will be hard not having them here. BUT!! We will be visiting them in Houston after they get settled! (Chris has said "But we're going to see them in Texas right?" at least 10 times since we left the gym)... The kids all had fun and Jonathan tried so hard to keep up with everyone...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF9KM0FEKHI

Bon Voyage

The boys are out on their ship this morning and according to Chris, they'll be returning in 3 weeks. I think they are sailing south to the Caribbean where it is NOT 3 degrees out!

Chris builds cool stuff

Last night he made a ship out of the fort magic pieces...

Smiling

Amusement Park

Our dining room has turned into an amusement park! Christopher built a roller coaster last week and this week, he built two carnival rides--the huge ferris wheel and the spinning ride (for lack of a better description) that he is holding. Chris stayed home sick from school yesterday and I had to go out while our babysitter stayed with the boys. When I left, the ferris wheel was not yet started. When I got back four hours later, he was almost done with it. This boy loves his K'nex! Thank you Poppy, Elsie, Bennett, Aunt Dabney and Uncle Peter for these awesome Christmas gifts!

Christmas 2015

 We spent last week in New York to celebrate Christmas with our east coast family and friends. It was a great trip and most importantly, the cousins got yet another chance to bond and be crazy together! Believe it or not, these pictures of the cousins were taken on Christmas day at a local park... with no coats necessary. It was 72 degrees! I can't ever remember a Christmas on the east coast when it was that warm. It was perfect because after opening presents, the kids could run around like crazy outside... Jonathan was fascinated with Poppy, Elsie and Bennett and Poppy was the best babysitter! She was so good with Jonathan and even though it looks like he is trying to escape below, he would always smile at Poppy when she was with him.

Earlier in the week we went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx to see the train show. It was very cool! They had all these buildings made out of natural materials that were replicas of New York landmarks. And oh yeah, there were model trains too! The boys loved it!

One day we took the kids to the Norwalk Aquarium which was great. In addition to fish, they had animals such as meerkats and the kids got to "go in" to the habitat with them. If you look closely, there is a meerkat sitting on top of the bubble that the kids are in...

We also got the chance to go to Jersey to see the Duren-Lubanski family. It was a total Jersey experience, complete with traffic and pizza! It was so fun to see the girls and Jonathan was very happy to do "cheers" with Sheryl--this is how you can bond with an otherwise shy J. If you clank glasses with him, he will be your friend!