Star Wars with our friend Henry!

Alan was busy working on this textbook, so Coop and I headed down to Arkansas once Coop was out of school.

 

Coop took his light saber, and he and Henry spent hours having light saber fights in the yard:

Reading Star Wars books in the car:

Putting together Star Wars legos at a place called Brick by Brick.

It was an amazing place, with lego sets all along the wall.  Nothing to buy (whew!), but you pick a set and spend a couple of hours putting it together.

The boys had a great time:

More light sabers:

Watching Star Wars on the laptop:

Playing Star Wars video game:

Mother's Day

Cooper's classroom hosted a Mother's Day event.  We were to bring pictures from our lives (one for every 5-10 years), and the kiddos helped us moms make a timeline.

Coop did my proud by sitting and reading while we were waiting for everyone else to finish.  "Yup.  We do this all the time at the house.  No running around being silly or out of control.  No.  Not my kid."  Heh.

The kids had made tissue paper flowers:

And this jewelry set is what Coop picked out for me from JC Penney.  I wore it the next day to the office!  :)

Fun with Cooper

Cooper took an art class at Raintree after school on Thursdays.  The last Thursday of the semester, the kids worked in groups to make art from nature.  This was the sculpture (I think he said it was a cotton factory?) that Coop and his group made:

 

Cooper and I went to a magic show in Lawrence.  It was two and a half hours of awesome!!  Nine different magicians each did a 15-minute set of tricks.  Very, very cool!

This is magician Lance Rich, a magician who ended up calling me up on stage during his act!!  Man, I love magic shows!!

Coop and I went to a picnic at one of my co-worker's house.  There was a pond, and none of the kids fell in.

But they did get ridiculously muddy:

Alan hosted some of his students at our house for an end-of-the-year gathering.  Coop dug out the Halloween tubs to help with the decorations:

Easter Sunday at church

Our church serves a delicious breakfast on Easter morning:

 

With plenty of tasty desserts, too:

 And some had made easter baskets for all the kiddos and set out an egg hunt, so Coop came home with even more sugar!!

 

The other interesting thing:  Westboro Baptist (the late-Fred Phelps' church in Topeka) picketed several churches in Baldwin City on Easter morning.  They were across the street from our church for about 30 minutes that morning.  Apparently, "God hates Easter" and "Your Pastors are Whores."  Who knew.

Easter party: other entertainment

In addition to the egg hunt, kiddos played in the house with musical instruments, crafts, and toys:

And I fed them all pizza and fruit and veggies (to counter all the sugar!):

Easter party: the hunt

Mom and some of the other adults help spread the eggs out over our lawn.

It took a while for the kids to get all of them (I said they couldn't stop until they were all picked up!).  And then we convened on the deck to sort out the loot!

 

 Next year, not so much candy in all the eggs.  More coins or stickers or something.  Or more empty ones, which Coop announced were filled with "invisible powder."  Yes, more of that!

 

 

Easter party preparations

My mom and dad own about 2500 plastic Easter eggs, and Mom offered to bring some up to us on Easter weekend.  So we decided to have a party and invite some of Coop's friends over.

 

First, stock up on candy to fill the eggs:

Second, fill the eggs:

Third, find proper attire:

Fourth, open deck doors and do coloring pages while we wait for guests to arrive:

Fifth, stand out by the side of the road anxiously waiting the first car:

Our friends Gus and Eleanor came over to play.  Gus really likes Mr. Men books, and we stocked up on several dozen of them when we were in England:

They also love the trampoline:

But Eleanor wasn't sure about a light saber / broom fight with Darth Maul...

Last week, Raintree had Parent Report Day.  All parents could come to Coop's class and listen while the kids gave reports.  It was crowded!

Coop read his report on the porcupine:

How we spend our time

Reading with Simon:

Doing crafts, including painting a giant dinosaur:

Coop and I bought a sewing machine and a bag of fabric scraps at a garage sale.  We sewed a bag!! 

Ever into Star Wars, Coop spent some of his money to order a double bladed light saber:

And an electronic Darth Maul mask: