Drawing

Some of Coop's recent drawings.

Alan:

Hitler:

And then drawing on the big easel pad (we bought it for the easter party and had some left over):

Belated Easter Party

Coop wanted to have his annual Easter party but, given scheduling issues, we couldn't host one until April 10, two weeks after the fact.  No matter.  Festivities were a hit!

First up, painting:

Next, pictionary:

And then the long-awaited easter egg hunt:

Lastly, we tried something new.  Egg Roulette.  I had a dozen eggs, 8 of which were hardboiled, 4 of which were raw.  I let any kid who was willing pick one and then smash it on his / her head to see how lucky they were.

This was the first go-round.  Only five were brave (hint: watch kids 1, 3, and 5):

We played again with the remaining seven eggs (only one of which was raw), and guess who was lucky again:

Misc

At the Emporia Zoo with Grandma, Grandpa, and Zoey:

School picture day:

Coop used his allowance money to buy this antique looking phone:

I found the perfect street while I was in Boston for a conference:

Coop spent one entire evening reading a new book that came in the mail. Even got to stay up late to finish:

Vehicles

Coop has taken an interest in vehicles lately.  It started as a quest to learn / recognize the symbols of various cars.  (I'm relatively useless in this game.)  But he's decided that he LOVES Jeep Wranglers. So we stopped by the local Jeep dealership one day, and they were kind enough to let us crawl in one:

And Coop also wanted to try out the Dodge Charger (or Challenger?  I can't remember...):

We drove to the Emporia zoo one day to meet Grandma Joan, Grandpa Cecil, and Cousin Zoey.  Nearby, we found the veteran's memorial park with this awesome tank:

Work

Homework!  Math worksheets!  Which Coop completed while having dinner out at Culver's, so he would still have plenty of play time at home:

Dying Easter eggs:

Working the cash register at the local antique mall:

Board-breaking to earn his green belt:

Stuffing easter eggs in anticipation of our annual easter party (this year, two weeks late due to scheduling issues):

Fun

Cooper's friend Molly came over to play one afternoon.  She brought an ipad-controlled robot, so Coop got out a remote-controlled space ship for battles:

Dinner at a mexican restaurant:

Alan took Coop to watch the Baker women's basketball team play in the national championship game (for NAIA Div. I).

And a new awesome lego set:

Coop got to join Alan at a brewery tour one evening:

Pranks

April Fool's Day is Cooper's spirit holiday.  Man, he loves a good gag.  Witness what he opted to spend his money on last week:

Alan fooled him, though, on April 1 by freezing his cereal + spoon the night before:

Coop had planned several cute (appropriate) April Fool's Day pranks for that Friday, including an apple for his teacher (with a gummy worm in it) and fake parking tickets to be distributed in the Raintree faculty parking lot.

But then this:

 Sigh.

Finally, new glasses: