Special Reader

Christopher had a special visitor come in to read at school today. Grammy brought The Scrambled States of America in to read to everyone and the kids really enjoyed the story. What makes it so funny is that the states all decide that they want to switch places and Kansas is the one responsible for encouraging them all to do so. It's also funny that Kansas ends up switching places with Hawaii but doesn't like being in the middle of the Pacific ocean! Ms. Rommel and I agreed that we would be very happy if Kansas was, in fact, in the middle of the ocean. Anyway, here are some pictures from the reading…

Cue the Tooth Fairy!

Well, after hanging in there for well over a week, tooth #1 has officially fallen out! There is a nice little gap where it fell out. So crazy to see this guy with a missing tooth. Now the question is, what is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days?

Engineering Day

Happy new year everyone! In our quest to keep from freezing this weekend, we ventured over to UMKC to take part in their kids engineering day through a group that sponsors a youth science and math club (think Science Olympiad). They had multiple activities where kids (ages 5 through 14) could design different machines and devices. For example, the kids could design an air cannon, hovercraft, popper scooper, egg toss and Lego city block using found materials like cups, straws, tape, etc. This was right up Christopher's alley as he loves to tape recycled materials together all the time at home. Some of the activities were definitely a little above his level but with a little teamwork, he was able to figure things out. His most successful thing was figuring out a way to protect an egg that would be shot out of a catapult using only tape, 2 straws and two magazine pages. Miraculously, he was able to keep his egg from harm! Here he is waiting for it to be launched...

It was a fun thing for him to experience and I can definitely see some sort of Science Olympiad in his future! Here are a few other pictures of him putting structures together.

One of the most exciting things for him was going to see where Mommy went to "college" (I got my masters at UMKC) and he couldn't believe he was going somewhere that grown-ups go to school. His perspective is so cute!

Merry Christmas!

In keeping with our Star Wars theme, we made Yoda and Darth Vader pancakes for our Christmas breakfast this morning!

Thank you again to Andy and Reina for such a fun and yummy gift! It wasn't long after breakfast was finished that we got down to business. This is the first year Christopher has been really into Santa and he was pleasantly surprised when he came into the living room and saw that Santa had indeed visited our house. At the top of his list this year was a Lego cargo plane which he started talking about in September. Well, Santa came through and Chris was very excited!

There is nothing quite like watching a little 5 year-old boy open presents on Christmas. Of all his Christmases so far, this was definitely the most exciting and magical for Chris because he truly is into Santa this year. He also received gifts from our family back east and was equally happy when he opened the cargo ship from Grandma and Grandpa…

Chris wasn't the only kid who had fun this Christmas. Holly and Kasey enjoyed helping us open our presents too.

There were all kinds of Christmas presents in the backyard for them (no, not the ones you are thinking). The presents that smell really good to a hound dog and hop (and eat my hostas!). Here are the girls watching intently from the couch…

These two pups literally sat/stood on the couch for 20 minutes watching the bunnies in our backyard. They also had treats in their stockings from Santa. This is how intently dogs who live in a vegetarian house will sit and wait for beef treats…

After a morning of watching "Planes" (another wish fulfilled by Santa) and assembling toys, Grammy joined us for lunch and visiting. Here she is reading a math book to Chris…

Merry Christmas everyone!

May the Force Be With You

Christopher is hoping that Santa is a big Star Wars fan this year because we made specially shaped sugar cookies just for him…

A big thank you to Andy and Reina for the very fun cookie cutters! This afternoon we are off to do some sleigh riding at Loose Park then the Christmas Eve service at church. Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

P.S.--Anyone want to take a bet at what time Chris will be up tomorrow? He was up at 5:30 this morning and that's the day before Christmas...

Second Annual Gingerbread House Building

This morning, thanks to the Eakin family and their love of holiday traditions, we took part in the second annual gingerbread making festivities at Pizza West. What could be better than all you can eat pizza and endless amounts of sugar? We went with the Eakins and the Titus family and the kids all came up with great designs for there house. As you can see from above, Chris enjoyed eating and constructing his house. He did a lot more of the house on his own this year. Here he is putting the cinnamon toast crunch shingles on the house…

Here is Chris with Olivia and Elliot…

And then the finished product when we got home…

It's not so easy to see but on the right side of the house is a yard for the dogs to run around in. There are two animal crackers representing Kasey and Holly (Chris wanted to build houses for them but there was no extra gingerbread pieces this year) and little candies serving as their toys. Now that we have a dog who can actually reach the counter this year, we will have to store the house in an extra safe location!

The Santa Express

Not only did Christopher have his school holiday party today with all his friends, but Daddy also took a half day and we all went down to Union Station to meet Santa and check out his holiday express train. It was a really great afternoon to do this--no long lines and small crowds. The train was really cool and decorated like crazy with lights and other Christmas treats…

There were even trains on the train!

Most of all, Christopher was very excited to spend some extra time with his daddy…

Chris was in the holiday spirit all day, starting this morning. He is such a dog person and enjoys cuddling with the dogs while I make breakfast in the morning…