Christian's Road to Teenage-dom

Today Christian turns 11.  Cliche really, but time flies by too fast.  He is growing up too fast.  He eats so much. He is almost as tall as me. He stays up too late, and sleeps too late. He is embarrassed by girls. He is worried about his clothes and hair. It is happening too fast.

Here are the boys.

  

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We got Christian a Kindle Fire!  He was super excited, once he realized what it was. (refer to previous picture) He loves to read, and is insatiably curious. They are inseparable

Minecraft is taking over my life.  This is Steve. 

Christian and his best buddy Drew. They celebrated his BD on Friday, with Minecraft of course!

As always cute Uncle Jer and Aunt Erin-Leigh came to celebrate too.

Lady Liberty

Can you spot the real Statue of Liberty? 

This was Christian's first year entering the Reflections contest at school.  The theme this year was "Diversity Means..." He really wanted to enter the 3D category and make something out of Legos. He decided on the Statue of Liberty. It took him about a month to get it just right.  Other than my purchase of the spray paint, I had no part in his design or construction! The hardest part for him was to sit down and write his artist statement:

 On November 3, he found out he was a winner in his division at school and would be moving on to the Council Level.  They called the participants up in his category, and started announcing participation, then honorable mentions The look on his face was priceless as he started to realize that he was one of the last ones standing, and was going to be a winner. He went on to win at the Council Level as well, and went on to compete in the Regionals. 

He even added a little light lego for the torch!

We have got to figure out some way to tap this bizarre Lego building talent - I guess he could always be one of those creepy grown-ups who works for Lego and sits around playing with kids toys all day.  But I think he could aim higher...engineer, architect, hmmm....

I Just Want to Eat You Up!

Have you ever said this to one of your kids.  Well I actually mean it.  This is my sweet Joey.  He is the sweetest happiest little boy I have ever seen. This is literally how he looks 90% of the time. In our crazy house of four boys, he gets drug around everywhere.  The precious nap schedule that I would have sacrificed life and limb for with Christian, is gone.  Naps or no, he is still happy. He has the most mellow nature.  His brothers mall adore him and so do his parents.  I am sorry if it causes permanent psychological damage later, but I probably kiss him 1,000 times a day.  He does however, have one very stark flaw.  He refuses to say "MaMa".  I think I heard him say "Franklin" the other day....hmmmmm.  Here is a video of him a couple weeks ago, with Mommy trying to coax those words out.

I am worried about his mental capacities.  This seems like an insurmountable problem.  I will keep running drills with him daily.  Any other helpful suggestions?

Ode to Joy

Today I went to Christian recorder assembly at school.  I know, I know....I hear all the chuckles and gafaws. It actually wasn't too bad.  Each grade (4th, 5th and 6th) only played one song. Now as extra incentive for the kids, the music teacher allows them to earn "karate" ranks.  For each new level they pass, they get to add a colored rubber band to their recorders.  Christian worked really hard and earned his black belt, so he got to play a special number with the other 4th grade black belts.

P.S. It was also the last day of the term, so the kids got to have "crazy hair" in case you were getting nervous about some of the strange students at this school.