Christmas!

Well, it has been difficult to focus on the holidays due to a couple of things going on. But, we have been having fun. Kai is super-excited about Christmas and Santa, as any kid would be. Today we will make cookies together to leave out for Santa. We went to the playground and Kai was sword-fighting with 3 other boys for about an hour. Kai was the youngest one, but defintely the most skilled swordsman. :) Levi wanted to get in on the fun too, but we stuck to letting him slide down the slide a bunch which he enjoyed. Kai is getting good at keeping up on the tricycle when we go for walks which is nice.

We are looking forward to moving next month. We sold our house and rented for about 6 months and we have never really completely unpacked. I am ready to live in my own place and unpack everything and hang pictures. The fenced yard at the new place will be really nice to have. There is plenty of room to grow in the house so we hope we can stay put for a little while. We are also looking forward to be closer to our family. I hope we can plan some yearly family reunions on both sides.

Merry Christmas everyone!

in need of prayer

Well I am thinking a lot of some loved ones who need a lot of prayer. If you read this, can you say a prayer? God knows what its about.

Thanksgiving and Soccer Trophy Day

Early Thanksgiving.

Today we officially celebrated Thanksgiving. I wanted to mark the holiday in a significant way but we won't be able to celebrate on the actual day, so we decided to celebrate early. While I was cooking the boys helped daddy build a teepee which was fun for them. The boys also broke out the rocking horse and used it to hunt for Buffalo. This was all in the context of introducing the story of the first thanksgiving. We also all painted pictures of the things we were thankful for. Kai included a Rocket Ship on his picture. ( We were able to see the last shuttle launch from our house, so maybe that is why that was on his mind). We rounded out the Thanksgiving fun with a "Character Builders' cartoon about Thankfulness. Kai has been singing the song to that all day.

During dinner Kai said he wanted 10 sisters or at least one for each of us. I told him that would mean a lot more people he would have to share toys with, but he seemed fine with that.

After dinner he referred to Baby brother Levi as "A poopy pilgrim". He came up with that completely on his own. It was pretty funny.

I have an update about Kai's reaction to the info he learned from the "Why do we eat?" book. Tonight we went for a long walk and stopped at the store and let Kai pick out a lollipop. He was eating it and held it out to me and said. "Is this great food?" I replied, "Well, it is actually junk food. Remember the book said junk food is food that just has sugar in it and doesn't have vitamins or nutrients." He then handed me the lollipop and said he didn't want it because it "didn't do anything to build up my muscles." So that book really had a big impact on him.

Yesterday was a big day for Kai. he played his last soccer game of the season and received a trophy. He was thrilled about that. We were proud of him for playing a great game and sticking with it every week. I think he learned a lot from the experience. We had fun watching him figure it all out.

I will add photos of getting the Soccer trophy and Thanksgiving soon.

soccer, halloween and Gotcha day

My big kid

Kai is really growing up. He has become my little helper all around the house. He was cleaning up his toys in the playroom today and Levi started crying. Kai went over and picked up his baby brother's bottle and brought it to him and put it in his mouth. It was completely adorable.

Today we went to Mops. Kai always has a good time playing with the other kids.. They do a lesson, songs and an art project and get some playground time as well. I asked him about the story today and he said, "The teacher told me to be quiet." I said, "Were you quiet?" and he answered, "A little bit." He was so matter of fact about it.

Kai has been playing Soccer with a bunch of other 3 year olds through the YMCA. He seems half-way interested. I think snack time is his favorite part of the game! :) He will be ready next year.

We read a book at quiet time today called "Why do we eat?". It is a book about the whole process of eating with all kinds of funny illustrations. He was fascinated by it, especially the pages about germs. So for the rest of today he was asking me if there were germs on the food before he ate it.

Kai's favorite things right now are cars. I had a desk page-a-day calendar that was a Car and Driver calendar. So it has a different picture of some fancy or rare care for each day. He has ripped them all out and lays him out on the floor when he plays. He wants to tape them to his walls.

For Kai's Gotcha Day celebration we went to Chuck E Cheese which is Kai's favorite place these days. He played games with daddy for about an hour or so. Then we ate dessert. I found a neat book about Racecars. You can pull out and fold together these different cardboard racecars and fit them on a car that comes with the book. That was a big hit with Kai. We also gave him a birthday cake playdough set.

Kai watched some cartoon where someone "tipped their hat" as a way of saying thank you or something. So now whenever we are out he tips his imaginary hat to waiters and waitresses. It is so cute.

I will never get over how smart and interesting Kai is. His mind is always working.

Grandma likes to tease Kai and tell him she wants him to grow up to be a Dentist. He says, " NO! First I am going to be a rockstar with a guitar, then a racecar driver."

One more funny thing:
I am reading Kai books about the First Thanksgiving. In one they have an illustration of a cooked Turkey and Kai is convinced it is a Camel Hump. He always says, "Are they going to eat that Camel?" when we read the book. So one time I said, "No, they will probably eat that deer." He was totally horrified. Camel humps are ok, but Deer are off-limits for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are moving to an area that has a Chinese Pre-school. I am thinking about starting him there part-time so he can learn some Mandarin.

Little Levi

Levi turned one on Halloween. We had a costume party/birthday playgroup party with a bunch of babies in cute costumes. it was fun. He is as adorable as ever. He is not walking yet but has started to wave and he says, "noooooooo" and "oh no" along with mama dada and bubba. I am enjoying watching him grow and learn. He does tend to terrorize Kai, if you can believe it. :) He likes to wrestle on the floor with his big bubba. He is indecisive right now, he wants up - no, he wants down - no he wants up, etc. On Sunday, I overheard Kai pointing out his Baby brother to another preschool in his Sunday School class. Kai had great pride in his voice about his baby brother. That really warmed my heart. I hope those two will have great fun growing up together.

Gotcha!

November 6, 2005 was the date I first held my little son in my arms. He was 8 months old. He was so quiet and curious about these new people in his life. After a few hours he became this bright, happy, giggling baby. I had no clue about babies or parenthood but little Kai endured my ineptness. :) Kai was instantaneously the center of our lives and attention. We already loved him before we met him, but once he was in our arms we had the joy of getting to know him. Like all parents with their first child, we were amazed every day by the way he was growing and learning.

He is not a baby anymore and technically isn't even a toddler anymore. One day he will hate hearing this, but to me he will always be my baby.

the franz

Kid's spray park in our neighborhood




























































Kai's homemade playdough.































This is our neighborhood pool. It has a pretty cool waterslide.

Remembering September 11th

My maternal grandfather recently passed away. In reflecting on what I knew of him and his life, I felt that his survival of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 seemed to define his life. I recall him telling the story of the sinking of his ship the USS West Virgina and of swimming to shore and even of helping friends who were not strong swimmers to shore. I remember him saying that he brought bodies of friends who perished to shore. Initially after the attack, his mother was told that he had died. His hometown paper even printed his obituary but his mother refused to believe that he was dead. Her gut feeling was right. My grandfather survived. My mother tells me that her father would wake her and her siblings early every December 7th and remind them of Pearl Harbor and tell them never to forget the attack on Pearl Harbor. He went on to lead the Texas Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors and to preserve the memories of that day and to remember those that died.

On 9-11 I was on my way to my first class of the day at SLU law when I heard that a plane had "clipped" a building in New York. By the time I was back in my car after class on my way to work I was hearing that both towers had collapsed. I remember when I heard in real time that a plane had struck the Pentagon. I remember thinking, "This can't be real. How is this happening?" I was in such shock I wanted to pull over and cry. That was the moment where I felt the most fear. I believe that in my own life, 9/11 forever changed my whole perspective and sense of safety and security.

As a child I thought my grandfather's old war stories were told to entertain or for my grandfather to relive some adventure of his youth. After, 9-11 I understood much more deeply the feelings of Americans on Dec 7th 1941 when America was under attack on our own soil. I understood their drive to do all that was necessary so the events of that day would never happen again and their drive to never let that day be forgotten. I thought today, while watching the 9-11 remembrance ceremonies: I hope my children never experience the emotions we experienced as individuals and as a country on that day. This is all the more reason why we should never let that day be forgotten.

I hope my grandfather and those that died on 9-11 rest in peace.

Levi

p.s. Levi clapped his hands today a whole lot. Also, he is a perfect Halloween baby as he has teeth coming in on top with a space between them. So I think he will have to be a pumpkin this year.

bedtime prayers

Tonight Kai prayed:

"Dear God:

Thank you for giving me a wonderful day and blessing me and protecting me from Giants, and Scarecrows and Pumpkins. And thank you for the Zoo and the spray park. Amen."

First given all the time outs today I am glad he still feels it was a wonderful day. Second, I want in on the protection from Giants, Scarecrows and Pumpkins!

More funny stuff

ok, yesterday I went to a craft store ( totally foreign territory) to find Halloween stuff for Levi's upcoming Halloween/birthday bash. I spotted these paintable wooden masks that looked like a neat activity for any older siblings that might be there so I picked up a few and some paint from the seasonal aisle located at the front of the store. At the checkout line I realized I had forgotten to get paint brushes and there weren't any with the masks. The clerk and I were both unsure of exactly where else in the store they could be.

As we were discussing how we could go about finding the right brushes Kai said, "Just use your instincts mom, just use your instincts!"

Sadly, mommy has no crafting instincts!

Our new neighborhood has lots of paths through the woods so we take nice long walks with the kids a lot.

































This picture was taken on the 4th day or so of the cruise to Mexico and I remember this being the first time on the trip that we truly felt relaxed.


































Cruise to Mexico when Levi was 4 months! The first time he was at the beach was in Mexico.

funny stuff

Well, last week was Kai's first VBS ever and he had a blast of course. The VBS day would start out with a little play around the theme of a treasure hunt as a metaphor for seeking God's word. Well the first night after VBS when we were saying prayers Kai said, "Don't forgot about God's Treasure!". I said, "where's God's Treasure?". Kai replied, "In the flowerpot!". So, at least on Day one, the treasure hunt metaphor did not quite accomplish its goal. But by the end of the week I think Kai figured it all out. Since I had Levi with me during the Day, I helped out the VBS by helping in the snack room. Some of the groups had a little more time than they needed for snack and their group leaders would have a little trouble keeping them in their seats. Well one morning on the way to VBS Kai said to me, " I am going to eat my snack . . . and then I am going to run around like a maniac!" It was funny to see him *planning* out his disobedience for the day.

Kai has an imaginary sister which is new. I am feeling a little pressure. :)

moving

We listed our house and sold it in a month. We close next week. Now we are furiously working on moving. I am not sad about leaving this house even though there are a lot of memories in it. This last year it has felt so cramped that I am more than ready to move on. We bought this place when it was just the two of us working downtown and now we have two kids and both have jobs that require home offices so we need more space. We found a nice big place in a really family-oriented neighborhood. We are renting while we think about what we want to do next. We might decide to settle in for another few years here and buy a place, or we might move out of state for job opportunities. We are excited about all the possibilities and while we look at those we will enjoy more space. It is a lot of work for right now though .

Teaching reading

Well, for a while now I have used the Starfall.com website for teaching Kai letters and letter sounds and beginning phonics. He has learned a lot through it and I definitely recommend it for teaching these skills to toddler boys. However, recently Kai became a little bored with it and I began to try to encourage sounding out words using the "Bob" books. I was certain of success, but Kai did not respond well to the Bob Books. The style of sitting him down to sound out one-word sentences was not one for which he had any patience or attention span. After re-reading old materials on teaching styles that appeal to boys and reading additional resources I was reminded of the effectiveness of using hands-on learning methods with boys. My first idea was to make letters out of playdough and put those letters together to make short words. That idea worked! I tricked him into sounding out words! :) Then I found some Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles that require children to fit the letter pieces in to spell the word that represents the picture on the puzzle piece. This has been an excellent resource. he loves it and easily transitions from playing with the puzzle to using the letters to form other words. Within just a few days of these new methods I have seen some stunning progress over the hurdles of turning letter sounds in to a collection of sounds that form a word.

more favorite photos

photos