Llama, Llama

One Linda and Leland's friends has Llamas and each time we go visit, it's fun to go visit the llamas. Have you read any of the llama books? Llama Llama Red Pajama maybe? I can't wait until Karsten is old enough to realized he is seeing the same animals that are in the book.

It was very chilly outside so we had to get bundled up for the short walk. Check out the ONE mittened hand - he wouldn't move the truck to the other hand or temporarily relinquish his grip on the truck to put a mitten on.


We thought Karsten would say 'Puppy' when he saw the llamas, but he just started at them in awe and didn't do much talking. He kept that truck tightly gripped in his hand for most of the walk.


Trent REALLY wanted to llamas to eat hay out of his hand. They would taunt him and get really close like they were going to take it, then they would quickly jump back and scamper away.


Check out the llamas watching Trent and Taylor trying to figure out what the heck is going on and why we were all staring at them!


Karsten thought it was funny when the llama scampered away from Trent. Note that he FINALLY let go of the truck long enough to put on his other mitten. Thank goodness, his little fingers were getting cold!


It was another great trip visiting the llamas. Until next time llamas!

Deck the Halls

The day after Thanksgiving, we helped Linda and Leland put up their Christmas decorations. After seeing how quick and easy it was to put up a tree that was already assembled and lit, I think we'll be looking for one of those for our next tree!

Kelli and Scott were excited to decorate their tree so they could each try to put their baby ornament at the top of the tree. It's an ongoing battle - one ornament will mysteriously move to the bottom of the tree and the other will magically appear on the top branch of the tree.

Scott put his bell ornament on the top of the tree and is trying to block Kelli from moving her ball ornament to the top.


I think he said "Seeee, isn't the bell perfect for the top of the tree?"


But then Scott walked away and Kelli relocated his ornament and moved hers to the top. She was showing Karsten how pretty her ornament looked at the top of the tree.


They eventually compromised on having their ornaments at the EXACT same level. Once that was decided, the rest of the tree could get decorated. Trent and Taylor were in charge of putting all of the ball ornaments on the tree. They did a great job - at one point someone reminded them that there was a back to the tree. I always have that problem, I want all the ornaments to be in the front where we can enjoy them!


This huge snowman came out with the Christmas decorations. I wondered if Karsten would be scared of him, but no way, he was very intrigued by him. He thought it was hilarious when the snowman (with some help from Aunt Kelli) tickled his tummy.


Karsten was able to show me where the snowman's mouth and nose were. Then he showed me where his mouth and eyes were, and my mouth and eyes. :)


We tried to get a picture of all three boys, but Karsten had enough of the snowman and he was off and running. Great picture of Trent and Taylor with the snowman!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Each year we are reminded how much we have to be thankful for. Wonderful family, great friends, good health and so much more. We shared the holiday with Scott's family and had a great time.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day is the only way to start Thanksgiving! Karsten had fun pointing out things he recognized like "RORA" (Dora) and "PUPPY" (used for any dog character), "RUCK" (used for most things on wheels). :)


Taylor loved to push Karsten around on the riding toys. This toy had care bears in it that danced and sang a catchy and very annoying tune. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Karsten LOVED to make the care bears sing and he danced.


Trent was showing everyone his 3D glasses that made the pictures he had colored look 3D. Very cool.


Karsten had a great time playing with the 'ractor'. He carried it around with him for most of the day.


Hanging out with Grandma - can you believe we got him to smile AND look at the camera?


We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal - Linda and Genny made a yummy dinner.


Another one of Karsten's favorite toys at Grandma's house was this top. He tried to make it spin but didn't have much luck. When someone would help him and make it spin, he would stand back and watch with a huge smile on his face.


As it was getting close to bedtime, Taylor and Karsten read books with Grandma.


Awww, hugs for Dad!


Isn't Karsten's shirt adorable? My mom found this and I think it is perfect for Thanksgiving!


As soon as Trent got Karsten to sit by him, he called me over because he knew it was a photo op. Such a smart guy!


And then it got even cuter as they sat there and chatted for a minute. Thanks Trent!!


Before bed, there was time for a little Snoopy watching.


Then all the boys were ready for bed. I've mentioned before that I don't think there's anything cuter than little ones in PJs with feet - good news, I have many years of PJs with feet to look forward to. Check out Taylor's PJs with feet! YAY!


We have so much to be thankful for!

Cooking With Dad

As I've mentioned before, Karsten loves to help Scott cook. When Karsten and I get home in the evening, Scott is usually making dinner. Karsten goes right to Scott and wants to be held so he can see what is cooking.

Lately, we've had him help us set the table. We'll give him the silverware and ask him to carry it to the table, then he'll take the napkins to the table, then his plate, the salt and pepper...and anything else thats relatively unbreakable in case it misses the table. He does a great job and is so proud of himself once he gets it all on the table.

This night, Karsten was helping Scott make crescent rolls. His contribution was poking holes in the crescent rolls - we think he was poking holes in it because when he decorated his cookie at Paradise Park he had to poke holes in the cookie for the eyes of the owl.


Watching Scott roll up the crescent rolls.


Poking holes with little fingers.

BLEHHHHH

A friend of mine at work gave Karsten this little green toy at my baby shower. Karsten recently rediscovered the toy and enjoys pushing its tummy and hearing it say "BLEHHHHH".

He'll hold it out to you and say "BLEHHHHH".

Hat

Karsten's newest word is "at" - aka hat. As the weather is getting so much colder he has to wear a hat when we go outside. He's not such a fan of putting a coat on, but when you remind him that he also gets to wear a hat, he will happily put his coat on.

I caught a half smile here, but I consider it a win because he's at least looking at the camera. :)

Neighborhood Fun

Karsten and Scott were playing outside on Saturday with the neighbor kids. I was inside doing some odds and ends - when I looked outside I saw the cutest thing ever. Our neighboor has a John Deere riding lawn mower with a little wagon on the back and he had all the neighborhood kids loaded in the wagon for a ride. I knew Karsten was in the wagon because Scott was walking alongside it, but Karsten was so little I couldn't see his head over the side of the wagon.

I quickly got the camera for Scott take a picture - unfortunately, when Scott stepped away from the wagon, Karsten got scared and started to cry. He was done at this point - too bad because the other kids were having so much fun, he would have had a great time.

Love for Madison

Karsten can give hugs and kisses now and Madison is his new target of affection. At first we were worried that hugs for Madison would involve him throwing his arms around her and laying on top of her.

Boy were we wrong - this is apparently how you give Madison hugs. Madison looks at us like "SERIOUSLY? what is this kid doing?" But she's a good girl and lets Karsten hug her.


Then he decided he wanted to kiss Madison. We thought he was going to hug Madison then he walked toward her with his mouth open to give Madison baby kisses. This was a onetime baby kiss for Madison - this doesn't seem like the best idea. :)


But it was pretty funny!

E-I-E-I-O

Karsten loves to play with his tractor and animals. When he pushes down the driver, the tractor sings "Old McDonald". The other day Karsten started saying E-I-E-I-O when he was looking for the tractor. I was so surprised he knew this because we had never really repeated that portion of the song for him. He also says E-I_E-I-O when he wants to play with his See and Say...he's a smartie!

Daddy's Shoes

Karsten says "shoos" all the time and often brings us our shoes if we leave the shoes sitting around the house. Tonight Karsten brought Scott's shoes over, said "shoos" and sat down to tey to put them on. Needsless to say, that didn't work out well.

He got frustrated that he couldn't put the shoes on then stand up, so Scott helped him put the shoes on.


Once they were on he giggled and kept watching his feet. The entertainment was shortlived and he soon sat down and took them off and was onto something els! Lots to see and do! :)

Monkey see, Monkey do

Karsten has started to mimic more and more of what we say and do. When Scott got the idea of tieing the belt from my robe on one of Karsten's trucks, Karsten wanted to have a truck to pull around too. Luckily, we had a truck that was just his height that already had a string on it. They paraded around and around with their trucks. For a few days after this, Karsten would only pull the truck around and wouldn't push it like he used to. Can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Family Fun Day

Deanna Rose closing on October 31st really threw a wrench in my plans for Thursday and Friday. Since the plan was for Jenn and I to go to Deanna Rose on Thursday, I thought Scott and I could go to Lil Monkey Bizness on Friday. I was stumped for something fun for us to do as a family on Friday. Luckily my Facebook friends came through for me and recommended Paradise Park in Lee's Summit. Since it was a Friday morning there were not many people there and Karsten got to explore at his own pace!

I knew this place was going to be a hit when we walked in and saw the ball pit. Balls are Karsten's favorite thing right now. When we put him in the balls he wasn't so sure what to do, then he realized he could throw them.






Then he realized he could pick up TWO at a time and throw both of them. Can it get any better? :)


Then we checked out the water room. Karsten wasn't so sure about putting on the smock, but we didn't want a soaked shirt, so he toughed it out. When I saw the smock I had a flashback to wearing something like this in elementary school when we did art class - do you remember that? It was the same plasticy material, same smell - I wonder if they still wear those for art classes in school.


Not so sure what to make of this...


But then he started to play and forgot that he was unhappy about the smock.




He realized he could throw toys into the water and they would make a splash!


Then he decided it was time to clean up and he put all of the toys back into the plastic bin. We didn't even tell him to put them away, he just started to do it.


After he was done cleaning up, he got dried off with the hand drier. He thought it was pretty fun. He would put his hands under it for a minute then scoot back giggling.


Then there was a room with trains and books.



They also had a cool little kitchen that was stocked with all sorts of groceries. Karsten would add items to the basket but didn't want to carry it himself.



Then he spotted the fruit...BALL he said as he hurled an orange across the kitchen. We tried to explain that it was an orange, not a ball or an apple, not a ball - I don't think it really sunk in.



There was even a cash register that beeped when you pushed the buttons and the drawer opened so you could put money in it.



Next door to the grocery store was the kitchen - Karsten cooked us a yummy lunch.



There was even a pizza parlor - Karsten LOVES pizza!



Taking a pretend drink from his glass



This picture is a little blurry because he was peering through a window at me.


Then it was cooking time - the kids were going to decorate an owl cookie. Paradise Park has this cool kitchen setup where the kids sit on these little stools at a counter just their height.


Karsten was in awe of decorating the cookie. He kept saying "wow, o wow".


I like this picture of Scott diligently working on the cookie and Karsten is listening carefully to the 'teacher'.


The finished owl product. He had so much fun with this I think we're going to decorate Christmas cookies!


While we waited for his cookie to bake, we headed into the room with all the animal toys. He was walking around on the risers in the room then he noticed that he could see other people through the window. It's like he was thinking 'whatcha doin'.