Trex

Scott and I both had Good Friday off from work so we decided to go to Trex for lunch. (I borrowed the idea from Liz - thanks Liz!) We weren't sure what Karsten would think of the dinosaurs, but as soon as we walked in, he started pointing and saying "oooohhhh" and "wow".

We were seated right next to a giant fish tank. We had a good time talking about the colors of all of the fish and he was excited to see an Easter egg in the tank.

While we waited for our food we walked around to look at all of the dinosaurs. He didn't want to come back to the table because he was having too much fun with the dinosaurs.

He gave this dino a high five and then was pretty proud of himself.

This dino was closer to Karsten's size. He went right up to it and said 'hi!".

He had a great time checking out the dinosaurs. I think in the future we'll go to Trex to visit the dinos but not eat there. I think if someone could open a theme restaurant that had food that wasn't overpriced and tasteless, they would have a goldmine.

Dyeing Eggs

I was so excited to dye easter eggs with Karsten this year. I thought he would have fun watching the eggs change color. I'm not sure if he just wasn't in the mood for this or if he's still to young, but he had VERY little interest in dyeing eggs.

We covered the counter with a black trash bag because we had a feeling this could be a messy activity. Thank goodness we did this - it saved our counter from becoming rainbow colored.

He may have been distracted by other toys - he wouldn't put the other toy down while he dropped the egg into the dye. And I do mean dropped the egg, which resulted in a nice cracking sound. :)

Say cheese!

Dropping another egg into the dye. Shortly after this he said 'I'm done'.

But before he was done he decided to rescue that egg from the dye. I showed him how to use the little wire holder to get it out, but he decided that his fingers worked just as well. But then his hands were 'dirty' which he solved by wiping them on his shirt. LOL. Guess it's a good thing we also all changed clothes before we dyed eggs.

Scott convinced him to dye a few more eggs before he was done.

O wow - part of dad's egg is blue!

Dropping another egg into the dye!

After Karsten fished that egg out of the orange dye, Scott suggested that Karsten put it back in the orange or in another color. This was the resulting 'nooooooo'.

And once the orange dye was pushed over, we officially declared our first egg dying experience complete. :)

Mail

Karsten got a couple of Easter cards in the mail today and had a great time opening them. He had a little help getting the envelopes open because he was trying to tear into it and would have torn the cards along with it. :)

He liked touching the front of this card and saying 'ooooo' about the embossed part.

Reading his other card.

Early Easter

Gail had an easter egg hunt with the kids, so Karsten got to take his easter basket with him on Monday. Since the weather this week was predicted to be rainy, Gail smartly had the easter egg hunt on the sunniest day of the week!

I showed him the basket and he was so excited that he played with during our whole drive. When we got to Gail's he proudly showed her his 'bucket'.

It sounds like the kids had a great time and Gail said that Karsten did well hunting for eggs. He was a lucky guy and came home with his 'bucket' loaded with goodies! He's had a great time playing with Mr. Potatohead and I don't think the cars have left his side.

Happy Birthday Gaga

Gaga is in town this week for a visit so we've been going over to my parents each night for dinner and to hang out. Since Gaga was going to have a birthday right after she went home, we had an early birthday celebration.

Gaga blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.

Check out the size of this piece of birthday cake. I said Karsten would like a SMALL piece of cake - guess Grandma's size ideas are a bit different than mine. :)

The next night, Karsten didn't want any cake but no worries, he still had dessert. Gaga and Shannon pointed out that he wasn't just eating M&M's, they were helping him learn his colors. Sure...ok...I hate to admit it, but he now knows the color orange. :)

Then he wanted to draw with Gaga.

He found this big basket of Grandma's and had a good time carrying it around and putting toys in it.

Helping 'papa' go get the mail.

Playing soccer with Gaga.

It's been a fun visit with Gaga - we wish she didn't live so far away, but are always excited when we get to see her!

BlockFest

Parents as Teachers had an event called BlockFest where there were several different types of blocks at five stations for the kids to rotate through.

When we got there, Karsten was so excited to see Shelly, our Parents as Teachers educator. He showed her the owie on his nose and gave her a hug.

The first station we were at also happened to be the station that Shelly was running. He loved the little blocks - he liked stacking them and pointing out the different colors. Scott put the blocks in a circle and Karsten said "O!". Shelly was surprised Karsten knew the letter O!

The next station was these large red bricks. I think this was Karsten's favorite station because he liked to stack the bricks then put one more brick on top.

YAY - he got one last brick on top!

Then he discovered that he could crawl through the hole in the tower.

He was pretty pleased with himself!

Then we went to a station with wooden blocks. There were a few blocks that had colored plexiglass windows in them.

These are just like the blocks that 'Papa' made Karsten!

Next we went to a station with a big soft blocks. There was one that had a hole in the middle that he had a good time hunting down the piece that fit in the middle.

A hat!

The last station was these little blocks that looked like railroad tracks. Karsten tried to put as many of them as possible in his hands, then said "Uh Oh" when they all fell down. He also liked to knock over towers that Scott and I would build.


It was a great night - big thanks to Parents as Teachers for such a fun event!

Preschool

Karsten is learning so much during preschool at Gail's. He can count to three, can identify many colors (red, blue, yellow, purple), recognizes and can name many letters (O, R, E, I, W, B) and is doing a great job talking and combining multiple words.

Several times a week he comes home with the papers he worked on each day. They always learn a letter and do a worksheet. Karsten usually draws on these papers but I know he's soaking in all of what he's hearing Gail and the other kids talk about!

This week they painted - he came home with this cool painting and a couple of others I haven't scanned or gotten pics of yet.

Thank you Gail for teaching Karsten so much!