Lego Master Builders

Christopher is just a little obsessed with Legos at the moment. Every spare second at home is devoted to building the coolest, most streamlined planes he can think of. Daddy is his favorite fellow builder so on this Martin Luther King holiday when Daddy is off of work, this dynamic duo is putting their heads together to design. I took the dogs out for a walk and when I came home, they had constructed two really cool fighter jets! This is a very fun hobby to watch Chris enjoy because both of his parents really liked to build with legos when we were young.

If you've been wondering what else this little man has been up to, he's had a very busy social schedule! Mommy doesn't always take pictures at playdates anymore so I'll just tell you with words who he's been hanging out with. Last week he had his friends, Finley and Georgia, over to our house for a playdate. They could have played forever, he loves those two so much! Chris is also continuing with swim lessons at Matt Ross Community Center, which he still enjoys very much. Last week also involved playdates with new friends, Jack and Zoe, as well as John, Katie and Mary Jane from down the street and old friends Lahna and Liam. Friday night we had over the Petrowskys for pizza (that's Nate P. from his old school and his sister Molly). Basketball went much better this weekend and Chris even made a basket on his own! Sunday he had a blast at his friend Lincoln's birthday party. The weather here yesterday was gorgeous so they had an outdoor bouncy house in their yard and a bunch of kids from Christopher's class spent the afternoon jumping, playing, and eating while the parents all got a chance to visit. While it's not as warm today as yesterday, it is still sunny so we'll spend some of the day at Science City and more of it outside this afternoon!

Air Christopher... Kind of

Christopher had his first day of Bitty Basketball at Pembroke this morning. He got his own jersey and basketball and was trying out some new skills throughout the morning. Of all the sports that exist, basketball is probably the one we've never really exposed him to so he was really starting from scratch which can, to say the least, be very frustrating for a kid who wants to do things right as soon as he starts something. After a few tears (and of course he wasn't the only one!) we practiced some bounce passes, shooting and dribbling and he started to like it a bit. A bunch of kids from his class are playing too which made it fun for him, at least at first! Anyway, it was an experience and we'll see how the rest of it goes. Here are some more pics from the morning...

Here is a picture of Chris and his friend Finley from his class. Christopher loooooovvvves Finley!

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...