Hanging out

Alan's birthday:

Alan was murdered at the mystery party I hosted for his birthday.  Of all the rotten luck!

The witch and I went to the library one Saturday morning:

And we made cinnamon rolls (from Pillsbury crescent rolls):

Coop and his friends from the nursery (Keely and Trinity) sang a special number in church last Sunday.  I recorded part of their practice session.  Here's the chorus and one of the (many) verses of the Fruit of the Spirit:

Fun projects

Coop and I built some castles in his room:

We charged up the jeep batteries and drove around to survey our land:

We hosted our friend Henry (and his mom and dad) for a play date, and these five folks managed a 100-piece puzzle:

I will never get tired of this:

In his reading chair:

When the power went out:

At breakfast:

At church waiting for me to be done playing piano:

Citter update

Scratchy seems to be doing well:

He didn't die from a a heart attack when we put him in the hamster ball to roll around on the floor.  (We didn't, however, let Adelaide play with the ball, which would've added another level of terror!)

You'll also notice a new activity on Scratchy's list:

"Bite."  One checkmark.  Luckily, he's got tiny teeth, so it wasn't too bad.

Grandma Carol came to stay with Coop for a couple of days while Raintree was closed for parent/teacher conferences.  This dead hawk was waiting for me when I got home one day.

"Mama, he's so soft."  Ok, then.  Lovely.  Thanks.

Projects

Thank you notes for birthday/Valentine's day gifts:

A doll made out of a dixie cup, cardboard, and yarn:

Painting with Madeline:

A lego dinosaur.  Pteranodon, maybe?  I can't remember....

Coop made a tool box for Mr. Scott, a carpenter who gave Coop a big box of wood scraps.  Scott sent us this photo of it actually in use!

It says "tools onlee tool box."  And Coop was none too pleased when Mr. Scott's wife used it to carry papers and a drink to their car on the day we gave it to them!

Another snow day

We got another 6-10 inches of snow following our previous two snow days.  Oof.  It was lovely though:

Coop and Alan finished up their tower:

And Coop had a good time tromping through the snow:

He found this area out behind our barn.  He's dubbed it "the clubhouse," and he's ready to invite his classmates over to be in his club back here:

Cooking

During our snow days earlier this month, Cooper expressed some interest in cooking, which is a great indoor activity that takes up some time (and creates more than a little mess).  But the results are usually tasty!

 

We started with French toast:

And then we did pancakes from scratch:

By the third meal Coop wanted to cook, I was running out of energy.  So we buttered some bread:

 Opened some canned pears (he was actually quite excited at being allowed to use the can opener!):

And heated up some leftovers and some corn:

The microwave was a surprisingly big draw for him.  "Now I know how to cook in the microwave!"  Um... yep.  Sure do, kiddo.

Ta-da!

Snow Days

We all three had a snow day last week.  Coop and I started the morning making a necklace of dinosaur teeth (actual size, according to the book where we traced them!):

 

And then I sent the boys outside to shovel/play in the snow:

Behold the magic of food coloring!

They warmed up afterward with hot chocolate, popcorn, and Mr. Rogers dvds!

Day two of being at home.  Legos:

More outside time, which resulted in the start of an igloo:

And a snow cave:

And more hot chocolate!

Introducing: Scratchy

Coop opted to use some of his birthday money to but a pet hamster.  (Some he used to buy cheap plastic crap treasures at Dollar General.  But at least some of it went to a slightly better investment...)

 

We got the hamster's cage set up on Coop's dresser:

There he is!  Scratchy!! (Because he scratched in the box on the drive home from the pet shop.)

Adelaide was mighty interested in the new addition:

The first night Scratchy was home, Cooper made a list of things he does:

("iglue" = igloo, by the way.  "Dreenc" = drink.  The rest are pretty understandable...)

Cooper sits on his desk chair, watches Scratchy, and makes check marks by the things he observes.  :)

catching up

Cooper using his doctor kit to make sure Alex the alligator is ok:

Making valentines for his classmates:

With Aunt Ellen at his birthday party:

Sudsy beard:

And some more woodworking projects.  Coop used his new hand drill to drill a hole in this piece of wood and then glued in a hook he found somewhere.  Presto -- a coat hanger!

Mr. Scott, a friend from church who's a carpenter, gave Coop a huge box of scrap wood!  Coop (and Alan) used his new coping saw to cut out this dinosaur: