Dragons and Other Beasts

Kip has FINALLY gotten into drawing independently. 

Look at the epic masterpieces:

Kip still has a full fist pencil/pen hold that we have not been able to resolve. 

When he is at school or doing homework he uses a plastic grip on this pencil that forces him to hold the pencil correctly. As a result, he has very nice penmanship. 

BUT, if he doesn't use the grip aid (like when using markers) he reverts to a fist hold and that's what causes that broad coloring strokes in his artwork. I've searched the internet high and low and spoken to all his teachers through the years about how he holds a pencil. Everything is mixed about it, on one side the internet says it must be fixed or can lead to later problems with writing frustration and endurance. On the other end his teachers say, so long as the writing is legible it's not a big deal right now and it doesn't qualify him for OT. They don't have the time to work on it with him in class. I'm in the camp of just letting it be. His handwriting is nice and he uses the grip when writing so that helps with practice. We do what we can, but, I'm not going to force it when he is just having fun and being creative. Fastest way to shut Kip down is to critique him. 

Weekending it

On Friday night after work, Dan and I went to a Knicks game at Madison Square. It was a Christmas gift from my Uncle which was fun since Dan and I haven't been to a game in years. We were pretty high up and couldn't see the jumbotron but it was still fun. Unfortunately, I decided to root for OKC and so naturally they won and the Knicks lost. Bummer for Dan. 

We spent Saturday on a day-venture with another family. Kip's bud from school invited him and Dan to go to a nerf battle place at the mall with him and his dad. Since the boys had plans, the other mom and I took the little sisters to Slime University.

Of course, I got the photos.

The girls had so much fun!

This is all I got for pictures of the nerf battle, but the boys had a LOT of fun too. Kip was red-faced and sweaty after an hour.

We all went to lunch at Panera afterwards and then browsing at Barnes and Noble.

We spent several hours together and it was so much fun. We have never, ever meet up with another family to do something like that and we all really enjoyed it. 

As evidenced by other weekend activities, the winter doldrums are for fort building...apparently.  

Second Christmas in Kansas

Today I finishing our Christmas recap.

 

This is the first year we've seen both sides of our families around Christmas. The effort was to hopefully have the chance to spend more time with Dan's brother and his family without putting too much schedule pressure on Christmas day itself. It's a real juggle for multiple families each with two "sides" to accommodate everyone. But, I think this worked out nicely this year. By pushing our visit to Kansas until after Christmas day, we guaranteed a solid day of family time at Grandmas' house with cousins.

 

Dan and the kids and I arrived in Kansas the Friday after Christmas. Grandma picked us up and we went to a late lunch at our traditional stop at Fritz's - the cool restaurant that delivers food to the table via model train!

 

 

When we got to the house we made some phone calls on the rotary phone (history lesson) and played table hockey with toilet paper rolls. Lol!

 

Grandma's house wins top prize for being the MOST festive. It makes me so happy.

 

She has seven Christmas trees!

 

 

Christmas card tree

 

Upside down tree

 

Snowman tree!

 

 

Cardinal Tree (I should have gotten a closer photo of the cardinal ornaments)

 

 

And the newest addition of the Grinch tree!

On Saturday morning was Second Christmas! The kids were thrilled.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Lauren arrived late morning with Hunter and Olivia and we opened presents as a family. And played together for the majority of the day.

I especially liked that Ivy and Olivia played for a bit since they are closest in age and interest. It was really fun for the kids to have some cousin time. 

Later that afternoon Kip and Ivy got to play with their third cousin (I think that's what we decided the distance was).

It was a really, really great day.

Unfortunately, Kip got sick later in the night which is never fun and doubly difficult when we aren't in our own home. I tended to him through the night and forced him to do nothing the next day. He hated that but fortunately he rebounded during the rest day. 

That afternoon, he and I stayed at the house while everyone else went into Kansas City for Hunter's birthday party. Ivy had a great time at the play place.

On Monday, everyone was feeling good so we were able to go to Elsmore and visit with Aunt Judy, Aunt Kandi, and Uncle Willy for THIRD Christmas. I tell you, these kids have it MADE. They are always so spoiled with love, attention, and of course gifts. 

And we all got to enjoy Uncle Willy's fresh fish tacos. That's our new Elsmore tradition. 

On Tuesday we headed back to the airport for a VERY long travel day with two planes and one layover plus a drive through city traffic on New Years Eve. It was a long journey but visiting with family always makes it worth it and I am grateful the kids got to bond with all their close relatives this holiday season.

Thank you for a wonderful second Christmas Grandma!

Now it's post New Years. We're experiencing negative wind chill and we've entered the longest month of the year. Deep into the winter doldrums. I'm relishing memories of the holiday season to get me through to spring.