More Creativity

Coop made himself bird wings:

Shark head:

To go with shark fins:

Coop used the industrial strength twist ties (the orange cables) to give himself more arms so that he could clean his room faster.

Clever, but the process involved sitting down, wrapping the toys in the extra "arms," walking to the toys closet, sitting down to unwrap the toys, and put them away.  Good thing we weren't in a hurry.

Clay Class

The mom of one of Cooper's classmates owns a pottery studio in Lawrence, and she talked us into trying some classes.

 

Alan and I spent most of the time making bowls on the pottery wheel.  Coop tried his hand at it too (with Tierney helping him):

But he really preferred just working with slabs or balls of clay.  He made some turtles, but they didn't survive the kiln (not stuck together well enough).  Here's the haunted mansion he made:

All painted!

Ghost in the window!

Someone gave us a toy pottery wheel, so we tried it.  Not bad for $20, though we didn't actually get a completed project from it:

Goin' fishing

Getting ready:

Waiting:

Got one!

Cleaning the fish (Coop really really wanted to bring home some of the fish they caught, even though they were so tiny it was more trouble cleaning them than it was worth!):

Dipping in ketchup:

Not a fan:

Oh well.  At least we don't have to bring home and clean any more fish!  Win!

More summer fun

Coop and I went to play slip 'n slide with our friend Gus:

A Mexican squid?  (At Laugh out Loud play zone.)

Captain Underpants:

Library:

With our friend Henry (drawing dinosaurs while waiting for lunch to arrive):

Admiring the fish in the reeeeaaallly expensive aquarium store:

I'm not sure exactly who he was trying to be here.... but it's cute!

Train tracks in the living room:

Robot T-Rex

Coop got a kit to assemble a robot T-Rex for Christmas.  Finally this summer we were brave enough to try it:

Not bad, with only one spare piece (oops!):

 

Some videos of the T-Rex in action.  It's supposed to respond to sound and movement.  Maybe it does?  Maybe it just moves however it wishes...

 

 

Simon was curious (heh) but less that thrilled:

 

 

Randoms

Coop lost his second tooth!

Still doesn't like fireworks, as much as he really wants to:

But he did make little flags that we were going to hand out as part of our (three-person) 4th of July parade where we all march in a circle singing Grand Old Flag.  We practiced several times around the house, but never actually performed for anyone.

Six-month check-up -- everything looks good!

Coop came home from school and announced the he had formed a club.  Guess what kind of club?  Wait for it....   A Silly Club!  Naturally!  Couldn't possibly form a Sit Quietly and Read Club.  Nope, not my kid.

Here he's making a sign-up sheet for the Silly Club to take to school (I don't think Miss Ann actually let him hang up the sign, though).  What I loved about this picture though is the outfit -- KU jersey + backwards cap.  He looks 13 (if you ignore the juice box).

Lyons

We went back to Lyons over the 4th of July weekend for my high school class reunion.  We got some fun time in the Lyons pool:

Off the diving board!  (I was in the water to catch him, but he didn't really need me -- swam to the edge of the pool by himself afterward!)

And then Coop got to play with Grandma and Grandpa at a nifty new playground in Sterling:

And shockingly, they fed him a really tall ice cream cone afterward:

Simon

Craft projects

Cooper has a "craft drawer" in his desk.  (Actually, two now because he ran out of room in the first one.)  And he saves all sorts of crap trash treasures that he might want to use in some future craft project.  And I'm always surprised what he comes up with.

 

He saved the box that my watch came in.  And turned it into this guy:

Complete with tongue and plastic tooth that we hot-glue-gunned in place.

Coop and I put together some kind of truck thing that came with 107 (teeny tiny) pieces:

For my birthday, Coop made me this doll out of his craft supply drawer:

And then used a soccer ball sweat band to make her a dress:

Painting a bird house: