Gingerbread House

Ristow has been asking if we can make a gingerbread house as a family. So today I excitedly bought a kit. The plan was to wait till Thanksgiving, but Ristow was so super excited, it was hard to say no. The gingerbread house came with easy instructions and everything you need already prepackaged. We set it up and started decorating.

Everything was great until Ristow decided that the gingerbread man that came with it needed an actual door to go into the house. What the heck, its only gingerbread right? Well after much struggle, Christopher cut out a door large enough for the gingerbread man and the entire back piece cracked and the roof started to cave in. Luckily, the recent experience of re-doing our bathroom came in handy as we plastered and puttied the house back together with icing. Tragedy averted, or so we thought. Turns out the housing authority (Ristow) deemed the structure not up to par and pitched a fit. It was supposed to be bigger and more gingerbread man accessible, it seems. So Christopher and I decorated the rest of the house by ourselves and had a lovely time.

In the end, Ristow settled for a picture of pretending to eat the house and then proceeded to eat the silly gingerbread man's head anyway.

(I think he will fit now!)

The first leaf pile

Today was the first day that there were enough leaves in the front yard for us to rake together a good size leaf pile to jump in. We went out after school and bought a new rake. Ristow was very excited. It was a bit bizarre though, dark by 5pm and still in the 70's, we were out in the yard with flashlights. Raking and jumping, raking and jumping! We had such a good time.

Ristow's two favorite things were hiding the flashlight in the leaf pile and finding it, and then he got paper and tape and made a "diving board" on the step and jumped off the paper into the leaves. He thought he was so cool.

Back from NYC

Well, we are back and recovering from the sensory overload that is New York City. We were able to stay in Brooklyn Hts at Christopher's cousin Jenny's apartment. It was fabulous. We were even able to have dinner with Jenny and her fiance Chris and hit the Brooklyn Museum of Art. We had a most amazing trip. Some of the highlights include; the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Times Square, The Bodies Exhibit (yes it was pretty awesome) and of course the Marathon!

First the Bodies... It was amazing to see the human body with no skin. They had different exhibits for each system in the body. In one it was just the nervous system with the brain, eyes and every nerve in the body. In some it was just the blood vessels, and others just the tendons. It was truly an eye opening experience. Christopher loved seeing all the muscles that his clients tend to have issues with and to be able to see exactly what they looked like posed in a real human body was fascinating.

Next, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island... We have a wonderful ferry ride over and learned so much; from the construction of the statue to the examinations the immigrants faced upon arrival to Ellis Island. Very educational and inspiring.

The MARATHON!!!... Christopher had a great race. He ran it in 4:04! I am so proud of him. I was able to meet up with my brother's friend Dann who was able to watch the race with me and help me to get around NYC and see different points of the race. I saw Christopher at mile 8 and he was doing awesome! Unfortunately I missed him at all the other spots but none the less cheered loud and clanged my cowbell for all the runners. There were a number of blind runners with guides, double amputees and other inspiring runners to be amazed by.

During the race something blew into my eye. It hurt and bothered me the rest of the day. Finally it was so irritaing and painful that we went to a 24hr emergency eye infirmary. Only in New York would you find a 24hr eye doctor on a Sunday night. They were great and after a few days of drops and such, I am all healed up. Christopher, however, seems to still be having issues walking down the stairs ;) (Great Job Christopher!)

We really loved the city. We felt like pros on the subway by the time we left. But, at the end of the day, we decided that Nashville is more our style. Though a trip back to the city is definitely in order. We have lots more to see!

I love NewYork....let it be

Christopher and I are in fabulous New York City and loving every minute of it. I think it is the little things that make it so great.
Today as we got off the subway in Brooklyn, our ears were drawn to the melodic sounds of the Beatles classic "Let it Be" played on the pan flute performed by some street performers. We couldn't help but smile and dance.
The weather is perfect and the people are awesome to watch. We walked the Brookyn Bridge yesterday into Manhattan and toured the sights, saw some great mohawks and ate some big pizza. Today we hit the Marathon Expo, experienced times square and the subways for the first time. Later Christopher wants to go see the Bodies exhibit. (yeah, the gross no skin posed bodies, yikes)
I will keep you updated on our NYC tour.
Have a great Halloween!

A Beautiful Day for Bocce!

Today was one of those perfect fall days in Tennessee. Sunny, high 60's. We had a wonderful church service, great lunch, watched a Halloween parade (which, spur of the moment, Christopher and I were asked to be judges in the kids costume contest) and played an exciting game of Bocce ball!

I honestly forgot how much fun Bocce can be. For those who don't know, in bocce, there is a small ball or pauline that is thrown, then up to four players who each have two balls take turns trying to toss their ball and hit or get closest to the pauline. Whoever gets closest gets to throw the pauline for the next round. It may sound simple, but when you play with people like my dad who likes to throw the pauline on the side of a hill or other difficult spots it can make the game quite interesting. And there's Christopher who ended up juggling the bocce balls like a pro. (well kind of) ;) We introduced Ristow to the game and he seemed to enjoy it, more of course when he would win. But, none the less, it was a fun way to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Bring on the Bocce ball!

Dr. Ristow?

Lately Ristow has been totally excited about bones. No, not the halloween skeleton kind of bones but bones bones. X-rays, medical book diagrams etc. He loves to tell anyone who will listen about your skull and vertebrae, it is pretty funny. And lately, he wants us to read a book at bedtime that is all about the Mayo brothers, you know the ones who founded the Mayo Clinic? He is pretty amazing. He listens intently and really soaks up all the information. Future Dr in the making?
Three is such an inquisitive age. I really enjoy that part of 3. Like the other night, Ristow asked Christopher where poop goes once you flush in down the toilet. (the important questions in life) After, Christopher's explanation about the pipes and a cleaning plant, Ristow wanted to see the pipes. So downstairs they headed, Ristow asking questions all along the way. I was just impressed that Christopher had as many answers for him as he did.
Anyway, I hope that Ristow excitment for learning stays with him throughout his life.
If only he was this excited about listening when I ask him to get dressed or put his toys away ;)

Superhero Birthday Party

Saturday we took Ristow to a friend from school's 4th Birthday party. It was held at a local gymnastics place and the kids were supposed to dress as their favorite super hero. Ristow has been very excited about the party for quite a while. Ofcourse last minute he decides that he doesn't want to wear his costume and pitches a fit. Anyway, after that it was great. The facility was wonderful and the staff was great with the kids. They bounced on trampolines and dove into big foam pits, zip lines and slides. Ristow had a great time and it was neat to see him interact with other kids that I don't normally get to see.

While there, we could totally see why Ristow got kicked out of his last gymnastics class. Yes, my son got kicked out of gymnastics, crazy huh? The instructor said they he had trouble waiting in line and staying with the group, which is dangerous with lots of other equipment and flipping kids around. At the b-day party, Ristow would run over to us after each turn and then something would catch his eye and he would want to run over and explore it. It was a very cool place with lots of big, new pieces of equipment. I wanted to run over and explore some of that stuff too. Maybe that is where he gets it from ;)

All in all it was a great time!