Early Pumpkin Carving

Christian was very eager to carve pumpkins ... even though Halloween is still a couple of weeks away.  He has been asking non-stop since I bought the pumpkins and for everybody's sanity, we decided to go ahead and carve!

 

 

Jonathan asked Christian to draw an image of how he wanted his jack-o-lantern to look.

Christian called it his "map." :)

The Mystery Girl

Christian was pretty tight-lipped about the identity of this little girl, but from what I could gather, they are in the same class.  She followed him around a lot at the trampoline place and then decided to sit next to him. 

I thought this picture was priceless. :)

Christian's Official Kindergarten Picture

Captain Hook Cookies

As Christian's 6th birthday fast approaches, I'm in cookie baking mode, preparing for his birthday party.  I plan to make the following cookies to go with the pirate theme:

1.  Skull and crossbones
2.  Crocodile (the "Tick Tock Crock")
3.  Sharks
4.  #6 cookies
5. and Captain's Hook's hook

I started out with Captain Hook.  It took me a few days, from start to finish.  I did not have a template for visual reference, so I just made it up.  I used burgundy for the slice of coat sleeve, white for the ruffle, black for the cuff that holds the hook and then gray - painted with metallic silver "Luster Dust."  And while none of the cookies were perfect (I'm still a novice), I was pretty pleased with my work.

Until ... tonight I decided to package them for the fridge, so they'd keep for the party next month.  Alas, unbeknownst to me, a shaped cookie cutter like this produces a more brittle cookie and numerous cookies have had their hook break off.  :(

The Awesome Dentist Visit (kinda ...)

Today was Christian's regularly scheduled six month dental exam.  Since the last exam saw two of his teeth pulled out, I wasn't too sure how he was going to feel about going to the dentist.  But he was perfectly fine with it.  I didn't have to drag him into the building and he wasn't obsessing over it.

When the hygienist came out to get him, Christian was practically giddy and was chatting up a storm as she took him back (Scarlett and I stayed in the waiting room).

When we were called back, both the dentist and the hygienist commented on how great he did and how very polite he was.  I LOVE that he's polite and well-behaved without being prompted by his parents!

We learned he has a small cavity in-between two teeth.  I must admit, I was crushed at this news.  I had taken pride in the fact that he hadn't had any cavities so far.  But, it is what it is ... we'll go back later so he can have the cavity filled.

We also learned that two more of his front teeth will need to be extracted in the coming months.  Even though he's already missing his two front teeth (well, missing four of the original front teeth, if you count the extras we had extracted six months ago), the adult teeth that will be coming in do not have enough room ... so the other two front teeth will need to be extracted.  I really wish that wasn't the case, as I know the procedure is unpleasant for him (despite their amazing efforts to make sure the kiddos are calm and comfortable).

Additionally, the dentist was really surprised by how "advanced" his teeth are.  That is, he's already got three of four adult molars that children get at a younger age (although, not THIS young, typically).

Christian got to pick a couple of prizes and one was a cute little moustache.  Here's how he looks with it adhered to his face! :)

Cute Little Pumpkin Cookies

This week's cookie decorating adventure was to make cute little mini "pumpkin pie" slices.  The dough was a really yummy pumpkin spice sugar cookie.

I love how these little cuties came out!   I packaged them up in sets of four and delivered them to friends who live nearby.  It was fun giving everybody a small treat and making them happy!  

Christian's Self Portrait

We stopped by the school office today after class so Christian could use the bathroom (because, you know, he refuses to go DURING class), and lining the walls were scholars' self portraits.  It didn't occur to me that Christian's would be among them ... but he immediately pointed out which one was his:

Given his love of Captain Hook these days, it came as no surprise that he put Captain Hook on his paper. :)

All He Wants for Christmas is His Two Front Teeth!

Today Christian was talking to me and I could hear something was in his mouth.  I asked him what it was and he looked at me with the biggest toothless smile and showed me he'd been sucking on his latest tooth to come out (if you're keeping track, he's now lost SEVEN teeth!).

 

The tooth has been somewhat loose for a while, but not loose enough to fall out.  Once again, he was really working to get this tooth out.  As such, I think it'll be a while before his two front adult teeth grow in.

 

If you look closely, you can see that two of his adult teeth on the bottom are coming in.  He lost three down there, but so far only two adult teeth are coming in - and that is all there is room for.

 



 

The Ralphie Cookie

Anybody who knows Jonathan knows he LOVES the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Even more than the school, he loves the football team.  So I wanted to surprise him with some Ralphie cookies!  I happened to find the official Ralphie cookie cutter, and had a magnet that was roughly the same size that I was able to use ad a decorating template.  And the results are ...

Pretty cool, isn't it!   For the "CU" logo, I placed the magnet under a piece of parchment paper and then used royal icing to trace the logo.  Once it dried, I very carefully lifted it from the paper and moved to the cookie.  The icing was wet, so the logo simply stuck and stayed on the cookie once the icing dried.

VOILA!!!

Halloween Cookies

My sister and I went to another "Cookie Boot Camp" tonight and here are my creations!

As with the first class we took, I am excited about this craft and I am planning a new cookie project at home:  Captain Hook and shark cookies for Christian's upcoming birthday party.  Stay tuned!

As with 

Meet the Happiest Boy in the World

Christina's latest fascination is Captain Hook, and his imagination has him making just about anything into a hook ... including breaking numerous coat hangers to make into hooks.

I found this "real hook," and knew he had to have it! He was THRILLED!!



 

Christian Loses Another Tooth

Today I walked into the living room and Christian called out, "Mommy ... looooook!"  He had this huge grin on his face ... but a grin that was unfamiliar to me.  His front tooth was gone!

The tooth has been loose for a while, but not loose enough to fall out.  So, he'd been working it and working it and made it come out, like kids often do.

Good thing the Tooth Fairy only brings $1.00 per tooth ... his teeth are dropping like flies! :)

Week Two of Kindergarten

Christian has now completed two weeks of kindergarten!

It seems to be going well, because he's happy when I pick him up from school.  But he still doesn't say much about his day. 

He hasn't been going potty at school, so I have bribed him with an OtterPop.  If he goes potty at school, he gets an OtterPop when we get home.  I can tell if he's gone or not because his underwear gets a bit twisted when he pulls them up.

He's become a bit apprehensive about going into class by himself.  One day, he told me he was feeling nervous.  Scarlett has been particularly affectionate with Christian lately and reached up and gave him a kiss before he went to class.

One thing I'm wanting to address with his teacher is his reading assignments.  Each day, the students get to pick out a book to take home and read with their parents.  They are very short books, with one brief, super easy sentence per page.  Christian is an awesome reader, and gets through this book within seconds.  We are supposed to log the books he reads, so we've been reading books from home that are at his level and logging those.  I'm hoping doing so will clue his teacher into this reading level. 

Since all of our communication with her is via e-mail, I'm trying to think of a way I can be sure she knows Christian is way beyond a kindergarten reading level ... and yet, not sound boastful or like I'm suggesting Christian needs special consideration.  I've got some teacher friends I'm going to ask for suggestions from.

Meet Miss Ruby Red!

 

Miss Ruby Red, a 2014 Ford Explorer, has joined our family!  Isn't she pretty?!

 

With two children (who travel in two very large car seats), we simply outgrew our awesome Saturn VUE.  Also, the VUE only had air vents in the front, so the backseat was just too hot.  Miss Ruby has vents galore and the backseat is nice and cool.

 

She also has third-row seating, so we can technically fit up to seven people, which is NICE!  My mom just moved here from Washington and it is great that we can fit all of us!

 

Miss Ruby Red is a computer on wheels!  There is so much she does, it's crazy!  We're still trying to figure it all out.  Ford even sent a person to our home to show us everything. One of our favorite features is a rear-view camera that activates when the vehicle is in reverse.  It shows up on the screen in the center console.

 

We also have a navigation screen, which is a permanent feature, rather than a trial feature.

 

 

 

And we can talk to the car, too!  We can tell her what radio station we want to listen to, or the temperature/fan speed we desire, etc.

 

This Explorer was the only red one at the dealership, and she happened to come with leather seats (which was high on my desire list - but having fabric seats wasn't a deal breaker, either).  I know it seems crazy to have leather seats in Phoenix, but they have not been too hot to sit on ... and I don't wear shorts, so I'm not sticking to the seats.  

 

I liked the idea of leather for easy cleanup.  And we were quickly shown we made the right decision when Christian gave Scarlett an unopened container of BBQ sauce from his Happy Meal and she squeezed it open.  Sauce all over her, and her car seat and some onto the leather seats.  But it cleaned up nicely!  WHEW!!!

The funniest part of the new car story is all the back-and-forth texting that took place between the sales guy and myself over the course of several days, working out details, pricing, trade-in value for the VUE, etc.  Doing it that way enabled me to be much more bold than I could have been in person.

In the end, we're good with the trade-in amount we got, and are good with the price of Miss Ruby Red!

 

Christian's Third Day of Kindergarten

Ah, this kiddo of mine!  He makes me laugh.

 

Today at drop-off, HE stopped ME at the sidewalk and said,

 

"Now, Mommy.  Stop right here, take my picture and I will go in by myself."

 

And that is exactly what happened. :)

 

 

Christian's Second Day of Kindergarten

School starts at 7:30am and is a bit of a drive for us.  Yesterday, Jonathan and I tag-teamed and got everybody out the door on time.  Today, it was just me and I am happy to report I got him to school early today.  GO TEAM MOM!!

 

We are encouraged to let our kiddos walk to the classroom by themselves, so I stopped at the sidewalk at his room, took some pictures and to the door he walked.   He stopped and hesitated at the door, and I walked in and pointed out his teacher was inside.   And then he was okay.

 

 

Christian's First Day of Kindergarten

The big day finally arrived: 

Christian is a kindergartener!

 

 

Lately, he's got a thing for sticking is tongue out for pictures.

He's such a little boy these days.

Standing in front of his school, excited for the day to start!

 

Checking out his new classroom.

 

He asked if he wanted to color, and he actually did! 

(Sister wants to be in kindergarten, too!)

Saying goodbye!

They had a "Boo Hoo Brunch" in the gym and Scarlett found a ball to kick around.

Pickup after school.  We parents must stand outside the gate and hold up a card with our kiddo's name, and then they release the child to us.  Reminds me of an auction!

 

 

Kindergarten at this school is only a 1/2 day, Monday - Thursday (actually, all grades at this school are Monday - Thursday.  No Friday classes for anybody - ever).   Though he didn't have much to say about his first day, we know he had a good time.  He was all smiles when we picked him up!

Technology ... Technology ...

These two are obsessed with my iPad.  Obsessed.  I have to hide it from them.  If either kiddo even catches of a glimpse of it, they ask for it non-stop.