The Thinker

Kyler has recently had some questions and thoughts that we found pretty amazing for a four-year-old.

He was talking with Myelle about people having babies in their tummies. He said that we all came from somebody's tummy. Then he immediately turned to me and said, "all babies come from tummies but where did the first baby come from?" And so we got the bible out.

Later in the week he was over at my parents' house and my dad had his boat hooked up to his truck on the driveway. He looked at one side, then walked over and looked at the other side of the boat. He said to my dad, "Papa, when you unhook your boat, it will tip with only two wheels on the trailer."

He has told us before that his brain just never stops. We agree.

Sidewalk Chalk City

The snow is almost melted and Kyler is ready to be outside. He had days of fun with this sidewalk chalk city.

No Markers Allowed

Kyler saw this sign and said, "You're not supposed to bring markers in here!" We love his innocence.

Forrest Gump

The other night we watched a little bit of Forrest Gump but changed the channel when a more adult scene started. A few minutes later Kyler asked us to put "Tree Stump" back on. Forrest/Tree, Gump/Stump... funny the way four-year-old minds operate. :)

Homework

Kyler was stomping around after school today. I asked if he was grumpy and he said he was disappointed because he didn't get any homework. He is now happily working away with the color word worksheets I found online. I love my little nerd!

Ghost Story

Recently I was explaining ghost stories to Kyler and he gave it a try. I thought he was pretty successful with those expressive eyes and the way he used his voice to really sell the story. :)

 

Hope you don't have a nightmare about No-Noggin' after watching this!

(P.S. The story line is loosely based on a Curious George Halloween special.)

First Day of School

Kyler is in pre-Kindergarten this year. Unlike last year, he was (and is) very excited to go to school. He goes three mornings each week (last year was just Tues/Thurs). On Fridays he has to wear a Sts. Peter & Paul School polo with khaki pants along with the rest of the school. The main reason for this is that they have an all-school mass on Friday mornings which Kyler will start attending once per month after Christmas break.

Here he is on the first day of school. He was cooperative for pictures and ready to go!

His little sister thought she should be part of the activities too, so she grabbed her backpack and came out for pictures.

Here is Kyler in his classroom playing quietly before class starts.

He had an assignment to do and was eager to start on his homework as soon as he got home from school that first day. What a good student!

Here is one page of his completed homework. He drew a picture of his family.

And after that he was so tired that he crashed on the hard, tile floor.

Baptismal Birthday

We celebrated at home with Grandma and Papa coming over for dinner and chocolate cake. Kyler received a gift and he decided he wanted his charitable donation to go to help poor children. As such, we made a $100 donation in honor of his baptismal birthday to Save the Children's Syrian relief fund. Unfortunately it seems we did not take any pictures this year. Oops!

Kylerisms - The End of the Calendar

This is sort of morbid but Kyler is a very inquisitive kid and is also curious about death/heaven...
K - When will we die?Me - We don't know. K - Probably when we get to the end of the calendar?Me - (lol) No, we will just get another calendar. K - Okay. Then I hear him praying quietly. K - God, please can I go to heaven? Okay, thank you.And then he immediately fell asleep on the floor where he was playing. My first thought was, "I hope he wakes up." When his dada got home, I told him and he immediately went to check on Ky-man.

Lessons from Kyler: Apologizing

The kids are down the hall playing. 
I just heard Kyler yelling, "Say you're sorry and give me a hug and kiss!" 
Myelle: "Whyyy?" 
Kyler: "Because when you hurt someone you say sorry and give a hug and kiss."
(Pause)
Kyler: "Say sorry first!" 
Myelle: "Sorry."
I'm pretty sure the hug and kiss came next, but we like to let the kids work out their own problems as much as possible so I can't be sure.

"Matching"

Kyler has gotten to the age where he "matches" his own clothes when he gets dressed in the morning. You know, black matches black, navy matches bright blue, etc. Some days he is looking super awesome.

Independence

Kyler has gotten to the age where he "matches" his own clothes when he gets dressed in the morning. You know, black matches black, navy matches bright blue, etc. Some days he is looking super awesome. *wink wink*

4th of July

We spent the whole weekend (actually almost a full week) at the Centralia Lake camping for the 4th of July. It was close to Papa's store which was nice for him since it is the busiest weekend of the year for him. We borrowed Great Grandma Rita's motor home and even after spending so many days at the lake, the kids were not ready to go back home. The first couple of nights were really chilly which was unusual for July in Kansas. But by the weekend it warmed right up and we were able to go swimming. Before getting in the water, Kyler was sure to ask if there were any sharks or crabs. He's always thinking, that boy. It was nice to have time to just hang out and not be in a hurry to get anywhere to do anything. Centralia has a lot of festivities for the 4th, including a parade and fireworks. Kyler's Great Grandpa Remi asked him to ride on his motorcycle in the parade. He rides with the American Legion Riders. Kyler decided he would and he did great. We were afraid he would be nervous because of the loud noise, but as you can see he was really enjoying himself. Grandpa Remi was too!

Baseball Buddies

We went to a Royals game for Dada's birthday this year. It was K-State day. We had around 40 people in our group, including Kyler's buddy Kendal. They waited in line and ran the bases at Kauffman Stadium. They are a couple of sweet boys. Let's hope they stay that way!

Cousins

In the past two years, Kyler has gained a lot of playmates. He is the oldest of these five cousins. The youngest is almost a year old. There are going to be lots of fun years at Grandma and Grandpa's farmhouse!

Bean Boy

Waiting to go back to the surgery room

We had quite a bit of excitment on Father's Day weekend. Kyler and Myelle were "helping" me in the kitchen so I decided to give them some flour to play with. When Myelle started choking on it because she was eating it by the spoonful, I decided to give them some uncooked noodles and beans to stir. I kept an eye on her so that she wouldn't put them in her mouth. Brett and I were talking when Kyler excitedly tells us, "Hey! I got a bean in my ear!"

Waiting for our little man to wake up

Right away we told him "NO!!!" and I'm sure he tried pulling it out but pushed it in further. We couldn't tweeze it out because it was in far enough and I even tried sucking it out after telling him to lay on the floor and bob his head side to side. So we went to the ER. That was a bad idea. They made it worse.

Ready to get out of there!

On Monday, we went to Topeka first thing to an ENT. They ended up having to put him out to get it out of his ear, but no cutting was needed. Kyler was very brave and cooperated well with all the doctors and nurses. We were relieved that the ordeal was over, although we are not looking forward to the medical bills to come.

Kyler and "the bean"

A tiny thing can cause so much trouble!

Remember?

I am beginning to understand why Kyler is always having dreams. He just came out of his room asking if I remember shooting the bad guys when we were on the boats. "Uh, no Kyler. I have never shot anyone. I think you were dreaming." He proceeded to explain they were like roller coaster boats. I told him they were bumper boats and just squirted water at each other but not bad guys. He told me the bad guys were in cages. I was getting a little freaked out. Then I realized he was remembering a ride from Silver Dollar City almost a year ago. The kid's memory is insane!

Blast Ball - Year 2

Kyler played blast ball again this year. It went remarkably better than last year. He did great, participated, and did as he was told. See for yourself...

P.S. I love that he still looks so small on those big bases. :)

Questions for Kyler - Age 4

Here are the 20 questions I asked Kyler on his birthday last year, this time with his new "4-year-old" answers!

1. What is your favorite color? green 
2. What is your favorite toy? a tow truck 
3. What is your favorite place to go? to the children's museum 
4. What is your favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse 
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? stromboli 
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? pajamas 
7. What is your favorite game? Uno 
8. What is your favorite snack? granola bar 
9. What is your favorite animal? zebra 
10. What is your favorite song? Jake and the Neverland Pirates (the theme song to the cartoon) 
11. What is your favorite book? Curious George 
12. Who is your best friend? Brynlee 
13. What is your favorite cereal? (brought me the box of Frosted Mini Wheats) 
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? swinging 
15. What is your favorite drink? milk 
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween 
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? 'Affe (his giraffe, which he no longer sleeps with) 
18. What scares you? nothing 
19. What is your favorite car? a Highlander 
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? cement truck driver

Four!

Kyler celebrated his birthday in Gulf Shores, Alabama again this year. The weather was wonderful and we had a great time!

One of our first days there, we decided to check our their little zoo. It was much better than we expected for a zoo of this size. There were two options to pay a little extra and have an animal encounter. We gave Kyler the option to hold a baby kangaroo or a snake since it was his birthday weekend. As much as we tried talking him into the kangaroos, he insisted that he wanted to hold a snake. Even when we found out it was an 8 foot boa constrictor he didn't change his mind. In fact, he loved it. Unfortunately, a parent had to accompany him because of his age. Brett gave in and did it, and he was definitely more afraid than Kyler! He was able to hold a baby alligator and a turtle as well.

We had a lot of great beach days. It was much less windy than last year and the temperatures were great. The only rain we saw was on the day we drove from the airport to the condo. Kyler kept very busy in the sand.

We invested in a puddle jumper to give us a little more confidence taking him out into the ocean. He did really well with it in the pool as well.

We took the ferry to Dauphin Island. Kyler thought it was really cool that we could bring our cars on the boat. It was a first for all of us.

While there, we visited the aquarium. Kyler was able to pet some rays and skates.

As we returned to the beach one night, Brett found a crab running through the sand. We took it back to the condo for a few pictures. Kyler had found a shell for it to hide in and really made his little container into a home. Unfortunately, we didn't know how to properly care for him so we set him free under the bridge.

On his actual birthday, we asked Kyler what he would like to do. He wanted to play somewhere. Luckily, Papa had spotted a really neat playground earlier in the weekend. It was a lot of fun!

We had a birthday lunch at Lulu's. It's a fun place for the kids and we were there for his 3rd birthday as well.

We sat in a booth on a deck that overlooks the channel. As soon as we sat down, Kyler spotted some dolphins in the water. We also watched some sailboats cruise by. The best part about Lulu's on your birthday is the amazing chocolate cake and ice cream they give you. Yum! Kyler has been into taking goofy pictures, so here he is on his fourth birthday being a goofball.

We had ice cream cake again at the condo with the rest of the gang. It was a fantastic birthday, one that most kids would be very jealous of (except for that snake he held!).