Frog Shirt and Shoes

We received a package in the mail the other day from our dear friends the Blaschkes.  They sent Anders a cute new frog shirt and shoes.  As soon as he saw the shirt he grabbed it out of my hand and brought it to Hans to put on him.  My kid also likes shoes and couldn't wait put them on.

The shoes are super cute. 

  Anders wasn't staying still enough for me to grab a picture so I set him down on our coffee table.  Apparently sitting on the coffee table is only cool when he has gotten up there by himself.

 Gus was feeling a little left out and needed his picture taken.

 The box from the shoes came in handy as well.  John is saying, "You're an imposter!" in his best robot voice.

This was Gus' lightsaber.  What good imaginations.

Master Closet

It has been a few days since my last post.  And while it seems I have been a bit lazy, I want to assure you that this is not the case.  At least not lately.  When we moved into this house I had and have continued to make plans for each room.  All closets included.  I was so excited to actually have a closet in my bedroom big enough for more than just Hans' suits.  This was not the case in Denver.  I saw great potential in this closet, but put all plans on the back burner while I tended to more important things.  Then my parents and my brother gave me Ikea gift cards for Christmas.  This gave me the kick in the butt I needed to start and finish this project.

Before:

There was nothing technically wrong with the closet before.  I just needed a little more organization.

Shocking right?

A lot went into the prep of this space.  After taking down the wire shelving, I had to patch all of the holes.  There were 78 holes in all.

After:

So much more room and organization.  I love the space and Hans does too.  He is actually putting his clothes away everyday.  AMAZING!

 I also decided to change the light fixture.  I had wanted a cute chandelier, but there wasn't enough room.

I bought the light fixture from Ikea.  I've purchased and changed several light fixtures in my house, but this one was, by far, the easiest.  Ikea included a little S hook in the lighting kit so you didn't have to hold the fixture while connecting the wires.  Genius.

Ready Or Not

I have a reader on my hands.  John has done exceptionally well this year learning how to read.  He is in the top reading group of his class and is often the one picked by his friends to read to the group.  John is not short on enthusiasm and, if he is reading for an audience, he will do his best to make the story come alive.  When he asks to take a book to school, he usually picks ones that we have read over and over and over again, so I'm positive he has them memorized.  When he brings an assigned reading book home from school to practice reading, they are pretty short and he whips through them so fast I assumed he was reading them at school first.  I was wrong.  When he brings an assigned reading book home and reads it to me, it is the first time he is seeing the book.  So while I knew he could read, I never thought he could read as fast as he actually can.  And, while he will do the assigned reading for class he much prefers a longer book with more of a challenge. 

I realized at the store the other day that my life has now changed since there is a new little reader.  As we walked down the game isle, John was quickly reading the names of all of the games and telling me we had to have them.  He went as far as to tell me that a few of these games said they were "educational".  Sure enough the game box said educational.  Waiting in line to pay for our items, John was reading the headlines of all of the magazines and asking what words he didn't know meant....like "scandal."  Yep, this boy is no longer allowed to accompany me to the store.

As if the reading weren't enough of a change for me, John is also fiercely trying to figure out the words we spell out loud.  The other day Hans and I were talking about the boys having cookies, spelling the word cookie each time.  I could see John's lips starting to form, trying to remember the letters in the order they were said.  My only saving grace at this point is that I can spell faster than he can sound out the letters.

While we all rejoice in John's reading abilities, I'm going to hide any book in our house that may have a word or words in it that I don't want to have to explain to my 5 year old.