Cole's Video, Interrupted

I vaguely remember seeing Cole fooling with my camera one day and that I moved it away from him and turned it off, but I didn't check to see if he had taken any pictures or not. Looks like he was planning to make a movie and I interrupted it:

More of Chase's "Art"

I haven't posted any of Chase's artwork lately. He's still taking art classes and still loving them, but he hasn't brought anything new home lately because they're preparing for their art show. I've seen his new work though, and he's got some really great stuff.


Jack and Sloan gave Chase some cool art projects for his birthday, and he's had fun playing with them.


Sloan gave him a pet rock in the shape of a frog. Chase painted the frog and then made it a home under the gardenias in the courtyard (the paint is weatherproof):





Jack gave Chase some sculpting clay and a book of project ideas. Chase couldn't wait to get his hands on that clay, and I couldn't wait to see what he would make. I forgot that, art classes or not, he's a 6 year old boy:

Yep, he made poop.

He made it in his room, stuck it on his rug, and then hollered, in his best tattling voice, "Mooooooo-ooooooooooooooooom, look what Cole did in my room!" I made the mistake of laughing, so now he and Cole take turns hiding it around the house all day long and blaming it on each other, on Tootsie, even on their dad. Hopefully they're almost old enough for the potty humor to lose its appeal. Yeah, right.

Dino Wars

I have never seen an imagination quite like Cole's. When Chase was younger, he always wanted us to play with his toys with him, but he rarely played with them by himself. Cole can keep himself entertained with his toys for a long time, and it always sounds like he's having the best time.
He has loved cars, trucks, tractors, and trains since he was very little, but his current obsession is dinosaurs. He has a collection of dinos from very large to small that he plays with ALL the time. He lines them up by type of dinosaur and then by size, names them, and then, of course, they fight.
Cole makes up stories about his dinosaurs all the time. He will run into the kitchen screaming hysterically while I'm cooking dinner, saying that he's being chased by a sharptooth (T-Rex) and he needs me to knock it over with my tail. In his game, I am apparently a longneck and have a long heavy tail that can knock a t-rex over. He won't give up until I swat at the air with my imaginary tail, slaying the sharptooth. I swing my tail around a few times to stop the shrieking, eliciting cheers from Cole and an eyeroll and a heavy sigh from Chase. At age 6, he already finds my antics embarrassing. He's going to make a lovely teenager.
Anyway, here he is lining them up (ignore the floors - something is broken on my camera and it gives the appearance of poor housekeeping):

A close-up of the dinosaurs (and their cousin, the dragon):

New Games

Chase is home sick today. He's spent almost the whole day on the computer playing games and learning how to email. He loves checking his email, so I've been in the living room on my laptop and he's been on his computer in his room and we've been emailing each other all day.

Sleepover

Chase & Cole had their first sleepover with friends Saturday night. John (2 1/2) and Connor (3 months) came to spend the night so their mom & dad could go to a party. I wasn't sure how Cole would react, since he tends to be a little hesitant to share his mommy and his toys, but he did well. Chase was thrilled to finally be having a sleepover at his house. Chase, John, and Cole set up an air mattress and sleeping bags on the floor of Cole's room and never made a sound once the lights were off. When I peeked in around 8:30, Chase and John were asleep, but Cole's little head popped up as soon as I walked in. He didn't say anything, but within 5 minutes, he had snuck into our room and was in bed with his dad.

Here is Cole telling Connor how things work in his house:

Cole & John in their jammies with their sock monkeys having milk and watching dinosaur movies before bed (the sock monkeys were the source of a few disputes involving a great deal of monkey tail-pulling until I showed the boys the difference between their monkeys):

Cole & John playing in Cole's room Sunday morning (keeping a close eye on their respective monkeys):

Hanging out on the couch Sunday morning. Cole is watching the dinosaurs AGAIN, and John is keeping a lookout for his mom & dad. John did fine overnight, but once I told him his mom & dad were on their way, he didn't take his eyes off the front door.

Finally, John and Connor sent these beautiful flowers after their visit:

Reason #875 To Have Kids: Free Labor

The Stowaway

Tonight Chase & Cole were happily watching a dinosaur movie on their little dvd player after TaeKwonDo. I passed by the room and noticed something looked a little "off." Took me a minute to realize we had a stowaway in the house. He must have snuck in when Charles and Cole got home. I did let him finish the movie before evicting him.