Misc

Oh no!  An entire army wiped out by a giant python!

Warming his buns on Alan's stove in the morning:

Coop has decided to have his birthday party at a video arcade / laser tag place.  He and I went one afternoon to check it out (and naturally, to play laser tag):

You can tell it's winter when even the snake is seeking out moisture:

Coop attended a half-day-camp about green screen photography and created this:

Fixing the clock on Big Ben!

Legos

One of Alan's Christmas break projects was to go through Cooper's giant bin of random lego pieces and sort them by color:

Coop's been enjoying free-building:

And then he also has decided to get out some of his old instruction manuals and try to re-create the objects (and hopefully save them somehow so they don't once again turn into a big bucket of random legos?):

Happy 2016!

Coop and I visited our friends in Arkansas to ring in the new year.  Coop and Caroline:

At a museum where you were supposed to be drawing part of a snowflake and then seeing how it looks in the mirrors.  Coop opted for faces:

A Frank Lloyd Wright house:

Admiring the view at Crystal Bridges museum:

Christmas Day

Coop spent a not insignificant amount of time setting traps for Santa this year -- all sorts of noisy things in between the fireplace and the Christmas tree:

And naturally, he moved the couch in front of the tree and slept there all night:

Alas, no luck.  Santa made it in and out without detection.  He brought Coop a Lego Millennium Falcon, which he loved!  And gifts from mom and dad were a hit as well:

The finished Falcon!!

Christmas in Lyons

Playdough with the cousins:

Baby Syl!!

Hiking at Horse Thief Canyon:

Sugar Cookies:

And a new grandkid gator picture with the newest grandkid:

Dad spent about an hour looking through photos and telling stories from his time in Viet Nam:

Farm Family Christmas

Christmas week started with the Farm Family Christmas at Aunt Kathy's house.  Grandkid picture:

Christmas BINGO!

 Coop met Baby Syl for the first time:

Reading a Lego book with cousins:

The Force Awakens cake, which actually seems oddly appropriate for celebrating Jesus's birthday:

In between Christmas celebrations...

Coop got his blue belt in karate:

Alan took Coop and his best friend Molly to see the new Star Wars movie!!

Wichita Christmas

Coop wearing Alan's hat at the church program:

Oh my word!  Coop was thrilled beyond belief!

Finished!

Fun and Games

Coop got on youtube to watch videos of how to fold an origami book:

His title:  The Big Time Machine:

Alan found Coop these rock 'em sock 'em robots!

My mom sent Coop a Lego Star Wars advent calendar.  He loves it!

More Christmas prep

Coop's annual ornament this year is a ball python with a Santa hat!

One Saturday, Coop and I went to the Lumberyard Arts Center to make gingerbread houses:

I opted for a truck:

The next morning, I found my truck with this note:

And we won this Darth Vader tree in a silent auction!

The tree skirt was the costume, the mask was the "star," and the cape draped down the back:

And after the Baldwin City festival of lights parade, we saw Santa!

Also, some Christmas cookie decorating with friends: