Merry Christmas

Happy Halloween!

A couple of weeks ago we visited a local farm for their Trick-Or-Treat Hayride. It wasn't long before the chilly rains came and the farm critters needed to be returned to their places in the barn. Kai and his friend were allowed to help carry the chickens in out of the weather and helped get the bunny back into his cage. He was delighted and took this responsibility very seriously.

Halloween was delayed several days due to Hurricane Sandy's wake of power outages. Two years in a row, we Trick or Treated in November due to downed lines from major storms. Crazy. These pictures were of him goofing around at the house. We joined our friends for a Halloween cook-out {FREEZING COLD, but fun} and then set off for the candy. Kai knifed the whole costume thing and went around in regular clothing. Go figure. He even declined the candy at several houses and just preferred the idea of stopping door to door with his buddies. Silly boy.

Down on the Farm

Spider Boy

Here's my boy wearing a little pre-Hallowen spider hat we made together.

Earlier that day we went to the County Fair with some friends. It was a soggy afternoon, but the kids had a blast and their rainboots kept their tootsies dry and snug. Kai and his friend, Lily, eventually got tuckered out and made a single rider stroller pull double duty. They are such close buddies that they happily rode together even though they were wet and hungry and crammed in super tight. Best buds.

Silly Boy

These are posted most recent first: Kai...evading my camera lens.

The "cake" Kai made for me to take to work. Ingredients include mac n'cheese, over ripened watermelon, and red grapes.

This boy LOVES his ribbon stick. He made it with tissue paper and a tinker toy stick. It was all his doing; creative little bugger. He could spin and twirl for hours on end and never get dizzy. Such a cutie.

I made him some Mickey Mouse pancakes one morning and by the time I set my own plate down at the table, he had improved upon his character's features with some embellishments. I believe that they were Mickey and Minnie.

These photos are a bit older, but this moment in time was HILARIOUS. Rob was on the phone and was vaguely aware of Kai running back and forth retrieving something and doing something to his shirt while he was distracted. It turns out that Kai was patching up holes in Rob's junky work shirt with some price tags and scotch tape. Heee heee heeee.

....And...We're Back!!!

Ugh. My laptop has been very, very broken for several months now. I finally purchased a new one and have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't time for a lengthy post, but here are a couple of pictures that have been sitting in my equally neglected camera. :} Okay, so some of these pictures were not posted in sequence. Ugh, I am tempted to delete everything and reload them in order, but it is so time consuming that I'm going to try to "get over it." We, (read: Rob) helped Kai plant a garden earlier in the summer. I was there to purchase the plants and cheer them on, but alas, I cannot help with the actual gardening, because I will undoubtedly come across some buggy-looking critter and gag. Kai enjoys watering the plants and checking on the progress. This year we have two kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers and broccoli. The tomatoes have been tasty so far and the broccoli, although not yet fully grown, must be delicious, because I caught Kai eating it off the plant like he was bobbing for apples only two days ago. ....It is ALWAYS something new.

So, Kai loves, loves, loves making art projects. They can very quickly take over the house. Here are a couple of his "pieces": Flowers made from dried beans and a Rainbow with puffy clouds at each end.

Kai enjoys layering stickers until the pages bulge. Here are a couple sample pages from his notebook. Sometimes Less isn't always More. :) In the world of Kai, More IS More.

On this particular afternoon, Kai was spinning around and around to mess with my chances of getting the shot, but I got one!

Okay, more art. This is how our fridge typically looks once Kai has reconfigured his pictures. A possibly fire hazard, yes, but a lovely one at that!

In April, Kai wrote his name for the first time with all the letters in the correct order. Prior to that he would scatter the letters around the paper. He was writing his name SO PERFECTLY in May and then, shortly thereafter, decided to write his name in cursive. Yes, his newest signature is a scrawl of tangled lines. Easy come, easy go. :)

The next seven pictures were actually taken yesterday, but I goofed and they ended up in the middle of these older images. We joined our MOMS Club friends for a visit to the local fire station for a tour of their trucks and building. Kai really enjoyed being able to touch everything and climbing into the trucks. The fire fighters and EMTs were great with the kids. He is looking forward to bringing a little thank you gift to them later this week.

This summer Kai participated in a few Fun Run races organized by the town. Kai raced with several of his friends in the 3 yr old group. After each race, the kids were awarded a ribbon and a slice of watermelon. Let me just say, this kid is FAST.

In June, we joined many of our friends from our travel group to China for a Two Year Reunion. It was a awesome getting together with everyone again. The kids are starting to remember each other from previous events and get along so well. Our friend, Joules, shared her dress up clothes with the group and before you knew it there was a room full of prima ballerinas and princesses. Kai was in no rush to give up his new attire and was still wearing it at the end of the evening when we were attempting to gather them together for a group shot.

I will be sue to update as often as I can now that I am technologically equipped once again!