Monday, April 16, 2012

Happy (?) 100th Anniversary Titanic!

This weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's short voyage. Cooper has been obsessed with the Titanic for a while now. Here were his latest research projects from school:
"the Titanic" 


 "the Titanic hit in isbrg" = The Titanic hit an iceberg.


"the Titanic is seenceeng fast" = The Titanic is sinking fast.  Notice the smokestacks and ladders falling off, as well as the life boats around the sinking ship.


"the Titanic" -- It's underwater in this picture, with submarines exploring it and life boats still on the surface of the water.

When Coop realized that this weekend was the anniversary, he insisted on bringing treats to school.  (Actually, he wanted to have a big party at our house and invite all of his classmates, but I wasn't sure I was up for that...)

I opted for cupcakes with a Titanic shaped cookie on top.  Seemed like a safer bet than a cake with half of the Titanic sticking up out of the water...


Not my best work, but not bad.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Cousins photo shoot

My sisters and parents and I met in Denver over Easter weekend with the kids.  We had lots of fun hanging out together, though our attempt at a Cousins Photo was less than entirely successful.  We have one kid who only wants to be silly, one kid who has a pageant-ready smile, and one kid who seemingly couldn't care less about the group photos.  Can you guess which is which?

This looks promising...

This is maybe my all-time favorite scene of the afternoon.  Zoey, with her "ready for her glamour shot" pose, and Vada, refusing to even get on the table anymore and instead playing on the floor in the middle of the room.

And then Girl Who Doesn't Want Pictures and Boy Who's Silly figured out that they could completely derail the photo shoot by refusing to look at the camera at all.

We did get this photo of everyone later in the day.  Zoey's holding up a rock for some reason, but otherwise, this was by far the best picture we managed to get!

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Playtime

We visited the Titanic Exhibit at Union Station in Kansas City.  When we got home, Coop turned his laundry basket into the Titanic, complete with Captain Bear and smokestacks.

Oh no!  Ice berg ahead!!

Skeleton-witch-pirate playing with trains?

Swimming in the bath tub.

New (to us, anyway) Thomas trains.  YAY!


Out riding the bike.

Monday, April 02, 2012

Our "noo kor"

"Wee bot a noo kor" = We bought a new car.

On Friday of spring break, after Coop and I got back from Portland, we decided to go test drive a Hyundai Santa Fe.
That's Cooper standing at the table in the background.  You can't tell it, but he's dressed like this:

The mask came off eventually, but I think the overall look helped my negotiations.

We ended up buying the Santa Fe.  Coop was quite taken with the automatic windows and that "this car plays music, Mama!"  Um, yes... yes, it does.

He did a nice job waiting patiently in the dealership while we finished the whole transaction.  For a while, he and I would write notes back and forth to each other.  I would write "Are you hungry?" and he would run over to another table and write his answer ("No.").  I asked if he was sleepy (also no) and what his favorite color was (green).

Here was his question to me:
"Do you want too bee poot in a kav" = Do you want to be put in a cave?  I thought that sounded fun.  Better than his next note, which asked if I wanted to be lit on fire.  Um... no thanks.

Anyway.  Here's the note he wrote to Daddy about the car:
 "The kor is a van theat is green." = The car is a van that is green. 

Indeed it is:
We named him Stanley.  Or, as Cooper calls him, Stan the Van.   (We haven't bothered yet to differentiate between a van and an SUV...)

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Trip to Portland, part 3 -- VADA!!

Petting Vada's dog Jamie:

Going with Grandma to walk the dog:

Shooting spray bottles into the rain:

In the car:

Ice cream, with sprinkles of course:

Doing crafts:

Vada's reunion with her parents, after their 1.5 week trip!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Trip to Portland, part 2 -- Museums!

We visited the Portland Children's Museum.  Here's the water room:
Last time we visited the Kansas City children's museum, a little girl puked in the water room.  When I asked Coop what his favorite part of this museum was, he said "when I played in the water room and no one puked."

A turtle made of clay:

A knight costume from the gift shop, complete with helmet visor, which was the big selling point for Cooper:

We also visited the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and took a tour of this submarine, the USS Blueback:

Looking through the periscope:

Trying out the small beds on the sub:

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Trip to Portland, part 1

Coop and I had spring break at the same time, so we spent a couple of days in Portland, OR.  Carmen and Toban were hiking in Argentina, so Mom was staying there with Vada.  We decided to go hang out with them for a bit.

Coop kept notes of the trip:

Waiting for the airport shuttle bus:

Uh-oh... our plane was delayed three and a half hours:
"Plan is lat" = Plane is late.

Talking to Daddy:

Stickers:

Finally on the plane:

And flying through the Portland airport:

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Cooper's research projects

Cooper's been coming home from school with "research projects."  I get the impression, though I'm not entirely sure, that he "reads" a book and then draws a picture about that subject.  (I've provided translations in case you're not up-to-speed on interpreting preschool cursive and spelling.)

"the africn elephants r coowl" = The African elephants are cool. 


"sum spidrs or poysnis" = Some spiders are poisonous. 


"sharks or big" = Sharks are big. 


"deep insid dee rf hids lovu" = Deep inside the Earth hides lava. 


"shorcs eet fish" = Sharks eat fish. 


"wals spra wodr" = Whales spray water. 


"spas is coowl" = Space is cool.

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Sport Coat

Cooper got this adorable jacket (with elbow patches!!) for his birthday.  We told Coop that it was called a sport coat, so he insisted on wearing it when he went out to play tee-ball.  "And the elbow patches will help in case I fall on my elbows."  Alright, then.

And he's worn that jacket every day to school since he got it.  How cute is he:


(Showing off his new bumble bee.  But he's getting tired of me insisting on taking pictures, so I have to pretend to be taking pictures of other things...)

And at my office: