Kansas Surfer Kid

Fun with cousins

2011-10-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

David had a great time when his cousins came to visit us this summer!

Lego dolls

2011-10-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

How to get an eight year boy to play with a dollhouse. This was an accident - I made these miniature houses from a kit a long time ago, and David discovered them and had a great time since they are the perfect size for lego guys!

2011-10-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Visiting Monument rock this summer while on vacation - he looks so small next to those!

2011-09-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Learning some archery with Uncle Justin (my sister Joann's husband).

Koala obsession

2011-06-20T16:28:00.001-07:00

I picked up a used stuffed Koala bear at the thrift store about 2 years ago when our church was doing an Australian VBS theme. At some point, David became attached (I don't blame him, it had really wonderful soft fur). The Koala has become his best companion, and has led to a koala obsession that has led to adding a smaller koala to his friends. While we were at a music festival a couple of weeks ago, David asked someone who was making balloon animals to make a koala - we though he did a pretty good job!

Little Engineer

2011-05-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

The train has been a rite of passage for all the Ritter (Debbie's side) grandkids. Although David is clearly a bit big, he still had a great time setting the track and attempting to ride the train.

Piano lessons

2011-05-09T19:35:00.001-07:00

Diligently practicing piano, he's doing really well (of course, he is motivated by playing each song with a different keyboard sound). I love how the lighting makes his hands look.

2011-05-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

Watch out world - he's 8!!!

Catching up

2011-04-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe that I haven't posted since Christmas! I apologize to anyone who's been checking - and especially if you've checked and given up! David is very busy with soccer these days, his coach is very impressed with his ability, particularly since this is only the second season that he has played. Don't know if he'll play summer soccer or not, but he does have a good time while he plays. He is much more defense minded than offense - like several others on his team, he really prefers playing goalie! :) He does have a powerful kick though, just doesn't have the speed to keep up with the ball after he kicks it!

2010-12-22T05:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from David (and his mom and dad ;)

I suppose it's because I don't have a lot of artistic talent ( can screw up paint by numbers kits) that I am often in awe of him. He had an art project at school where they painted the tree, then he came home, pulled his watercolors out and added the ornaments. Watercolor ornaments were apparently not nearly shiny enough, so the glitter paint came out. I made a "print" for his art teacher and she raved about the gift and was so proud that he took it to the next level.

Paint project

2010-11-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

I don't have a pic for this one - just a story. David "found" some play money up in his room. Rather blah looking stuff, all black and white, and oversized to boot. So, first he was very interested in counting it (safer than real money, which winds up getting spent a quarter at a time at the school pencil machine, we cut him off when we realized he had 30 pencils in his desk at school.) Anyway, he is now enamored of the play money, but is obsessed with making people think that it's real. He doesn't seem to think the fact that it's twice as big is the problem, but rather than it isn't green. So, we pulled out the water colors and proceeded to paint the fake money green. I really hope we don't a future counterfeiter on our hands.

Halloween 2010!

2010-11-01T05:20:00.002-07:00

Meet David the Ninja! Scary! Except of course for the lollipop, I'm not sure how scary a lollipop eating Ninja really is :)

Lolli lolli, Lollipop!

2010-10-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

David and a friend enjoying a really big lollipop! Thanks to Katie for the pic :) It's nice to have photographer friends!

Trains

2010-10-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

While I'm blogging about my Grandpa (he was a train engineer :) Russ had fun this summer while my sister and her son were visiting.

Family heirlooms

2010-10-09T19:34:00.001-07:00

We visited a museum in a small town near where my Grandparents live. While we don't usually let David cross the ropes in museums, we made an exception here. This 1919 Model T belonged to my Grandpa! He loved to take his grandkids for rides in parades (or just when the family got together). I think he would have liked knowing that David has a picture with it.

Summer of Family

2010-08-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

We have seen almost all of our immediate family (I am one brother and one sister short ;), and some extended family. We loved being able to visit with everyone, and hope the next time comes sooner rather than later!

Paddleboats

2010-07-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last summer, we rented a small fishing boat at Clinton Lake by Lawrence, KS. David was not impressed with that boat at all. He was not happy with the water on the bottom of the boat (don't worry, we didn't put him in a leaky boat), and I think just being that close to the water was too much. So, we thought we would slow things down a bit, and he and Russ did some paddleboating while visiting his parents.

2010-07-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

July 4th!!!!

David got to see his cousins on Russ' side over the holiday. It's been 4 years since we've seen them, so it was really nice to catch up. David and Michael got along very well :)

2010-06-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

He really liked one bird. Not fond of three.

Looking for shells at the beach

2010-06-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, he found enough shells to fill a gallon sized bag. He had a blast at the beach!

New Legos!

2010-03-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

He put this together by himself, I only helped him once. And then I took a picture. As you can see, he was not impressed that I took the picture!

Soccer practice

2010-03-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to see these little guys in their first game!

More target practice

2010-03-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

When appliances attack

2010-03-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

When kitchen appliances attack...David is ready!

Valentine's Day cards

2010-02-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

David picked out his valentines cards last weekend (3-D Dinosaur valentines, 'cause nothing says I love you like a roaring T-rex), and, since his party at school is Thursday, and we have church wed, I had him start on them tonight (Tues). Last year I had to write the kids' names, so I was thrilled this year when he took the list the teacher sent home and started to write them himself. He was so proud that he sounded out the word "from" (and so was mama!), and he began picking out cards and Valentine pencils for each of his classmates. But then, a crisis. The cool 3-D cards had no envelopes, and in the world of David, that meant no surprise. We had to have envelopes. So, instead of taping the pencils to the cards like I had planned, we found enough legal sized envelopes for each pencil and card, plus some old dinosaur stickers to seal the envelopes. I'm almost certain he will be the only one in his class who brings his valentines to school in security envelopes. I'm not sure if his teacher will laugh or cry ;)

2010-02-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Grandpa and Grandma Ritter gave David his first guitar for Christmas this year. Here he is playing along with the grownups and a jam we had at our house around New Year's. He really was enjoying himself, he was just concentrating really hard!

2010-01-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

Playing with Moon Sand! I'm not sure what this stuff is made of, but it sure helped us get through a bout of strep throat, since we needed a nice quiet activity once he was well enough to be up but still need to rest.

More Thanksgiving

2009-12-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

On the way home from visiting Russ' family in Oklahoma, we stopped for some geocaching at a Windmill museum. The picture only shows part of them, it was a neat place to stop.

2009-12-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

I'm getting around to posting some Thanksgiving picture! The weather was beautiful, so David got some ball playing in...I'm not sure that this is a great football technique though ;)

2009-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

A combination of gardens produced our own Veggie tales scene. A cucumber from our gardenn - with some added pushpin eyes. A tomato from my mom's garden (we only had to add the eyes and mouth, it grew it's own nose). Then, of course, we had to get a picture of Bob and Larry together!

2009-11-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

We bought some pumpkins earlier in the month from the farmer's market. I had plans to decorate with the small one's, but he beat me to it!

Gardening...still

2009-11-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

David pulled some carrots out in the garden the other day. He is very excited about them - maybe he'll learn to clean them up eventually ;)

2009-11-05T19:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, we gutted pumpkins. David actually turned out to be a pretty good pumpkin carver - unfortunately, I coudn't get pictures of him actually carving, I was too busy hovering over him while he held the knife! He was very excited about lighting them up.
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2009-11-03T18:53:00.001-08:00

No matter how hard I tried, I could not sway David from a Star Wars themed costume - we found this stormtrooper costume and he was in heaven - he was especially entertained by how Dash reacted to him in costume! She barked and chased him up and down the hallway! He did get over his disappointment that the "helmet" was only a mask. Of course, come Halloween, he couldn't be bothered with the mask, it got in the way of treat - or- treating.

Guitar Hero

2009-10-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Guitar Hero! Like a lot of people, David loves to play rock star with guitar hero, and he can hold his own at the beginner level. Russ, of course, enjoys guitar hero, but he would rather play his real one ;)

New instrument

2009-10-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

David heard Thad Beach playing the jaw harp at the Tumbleweed festival this summer, and was so enthralled! So last weekend he found one in his music toys (another good side benefit of cleaning his room). We found some youtube instruction videos (which is an entertaining trip) and this is what he can do after a few hours:

2009-09-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

We took in our local Music Festival last month, which in addition to the music and children's art activities, also features face painters. I was pleased that he chose such a subtle design (considering the full face choice from last year) and that he waited in line without me, he and his friend waited together. I really hate waiting in the face painting line. Of course, this is the only shot I got of it, since it's the only time he would sit still enough. Maybe teachers should paint faces when they need really wiggly kids to sit still.

2009-09-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

We had a freak rainstorm earlier this month. It was odd because the sun was shining, there were few clouds, and yet definitely raining. A very pleasant rain, David and I had a great time, plus we saw a rainbow! I wanted to see if I could actually capture the rainbow, and did, sort of. I think this pic is actually the one David took because he wanted the camera next, then he took a picture of my rose bush, which I think is a fairly nice picture!

Hello, My Baby

2009-09-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

While staying with some friends this summer, David was introduced to the song "Hello, my baby", which stuck with him in a big way. Russ then showed him the cartoon with Michigan J Frog, which armed David not only with the song, but also with the choreography. I think that his entire Kindergarten class is either singing it at home now, or is really tired of the song. As you saw from a previous post, he can also whistle the song as well. After we "taped" the video, I realize that it might be good to teach him the end...

2009-09-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

David may be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" this year. But I bet he still be able to whistle.

Whistling and lost teeth

2009-09-13T17:59:00.001-07:00

David lost on of his front teeth last week. Surprisingly, it did not affect his ability to whistle. But then, I think he could whistle with no teeth at all.

2009-09-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

Photo op with cousins - the "spiderweb" has all the cousins on my side but the youngest.

2009-08-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

Fishing trip with Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell - he was showing off his skills.

2009-08-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

David and Daddy have some "man" time.

First day of school!

2009-08-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

First day of school! He was so excited - we could barely get even one picture! (We will get a pic of him with his teacher later this year) He likes school, and his reasons vary from getting to pick what he eats at lunch (they just let them choose whether they have certain sides) to getting Skittles as a reward for following rules. Mommy likes having him in the building with her, but he can't decide if he likes it all the time or not :)

2009-07-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

And the highlight of the stay was the camel ride with Daddy! He wasn't sure at first, but by the time he had ridden twice (once with me, once with Russ) he was sold. I think he still liked the pony ride better though ;)

2009-07-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

More exotic animal farm pictures:

2009-07-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

We took a road trip once school was out this year and ended our trip with a stay at Hedrick's Exotic Animal Farm. Although "Maggie the Dog" is not an exotic animal, she was definitely one of David's favorites.

2009-07-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

He is still adorable when he sleeps!

2009-07-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

Best buddies - Ladybug and Bunny. I'm sure you won't have any trouble figuring which is which!

2009-07-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

During a stay at Grandpa Tidwell's house, David found some scrap wood and built a "house". the grill rack is the door, and the the rest is the walls. I think if he'd had more wood, he might have built more than one wall :)

2009-07-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

One of the Facebook games I (Debbie) has gotten into is Farmtown. David loves to farm with me so much, that when I saw the FarmVille game I started one just for him. It's a little easier for him to do on his own than FarmTown, and he makes all the choices about what to plant and what to buy. He is having a great time with his animals right now! If you have a facebook page, please look up my page and add me so you can see his actual farm!

2009-07-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Taken after seeing the movie Night at the Museum 2 - his favorite scene was the thinker, "Huh!, Huh! FIREPOWER!

2009-07-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

A budding photographer! We love digital cameras - saves on printing and he can see the pictures. I'll post some of his original pics in another post.

Catching up

2009-05-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, I find myself horribly behind on this! My goal to get David interested and let him take it over - I'm sure you would all much prefer to hear from him anyway! The big "6" came and went. He is still in love with his Legos - thank you grandma Patty for the lego set! He used his birthday money to expand his horizons and bought an Indiana Jones Wii game (thanks Memo and Papa!), and, since mommy and daddy limit his Wii time, he is working on his tennis skills (thanks Michelle!) He is becoming a very big boy, which makes us sad sometimes, although I still catch the little boy face in there sometimes. He talks often about wanting to see all of you, so I know we need to plan another get together, or invest in web cams. He was very excited yesterday because we bought a new riding mower, so we officially started summer with the first mowing (Daddy driving of course) and cleaning up the yard. Mommy even got a little sunburn. He learned a lot in school this year, and will soon be writing letters to you! He was very excited to learn the word "STOP" and even signed a few cards that way - which was fun to explain! I'm excited that he will be in my school next year, although it will be interesting for him to have me for one of his teachers. I'll post pics when I get them loaded - but for now, enjoy your last remaining May days!

Art stuff

2009-03-20T18:42:00.001-07:00

Even though David is pretty obsessed with Star Wars right now, he does find time for other interests. We went to Wichita for an overnight trip during spring break, and while he is (and always has been) a pretty good traveler, he does get bored occasionally. Since we try to save the DVD player until we are really desperate ;), I had him pull out the wiki sticks, but it didn't occur to me that he didn't have anything to really "stick" them to, I just got them out and said "have fun!". Well, he did! Next thing I knew, he had his window covered with images (If I can upload the video you can also try to listen to his explanation, but he was talking very softly, so some of it might be hard to hear).

Preschool is going well, and we passed a milestone this week as well - he moved his bed to the upstairs room! I was concerned he would have a hard time adjusting to the new space, but since we really just moved him up to the "toy" room, he didn't seem to have any trouble. He always sleeps really hard anyway, and he seems to like having all of his stuff together. We even got rid of some stuff that he had outgrown, so it's not cluttered up too much. Russ is very excited about redoing the now empty room for an office/music room/Daddy's space too, so all in all we had a good spring break.

He is growing by leaps and bounds, in ways that is hard to capture in a picture. We were at WalMart today with some friends, and they all had some money of their own to spend so they were toy shopping. David asked me for a few things, and since I didn't plan on buying him something then, I told him to show me what he liked and I would remember it for his birthday. He was disappointed, but got over fairly quickly and didn't bother me about it after that. Of course, everything he showed me was Star Wars :)

Music by David

2009-02-22T19:19:00.001-08:00

Here are some videos to enjoy. One is called "China Doll", and the other one is David's M&M dance.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day! David had a lot of fun making his valentine box at school, and was anxious all week long waiting. We made the valentines for his class Thursday evening (he picked out Kung Fu Panda valentine's) and he wrote his name on all of them - although he thought he needed a break after writing 10 of them (there are 20 in his class). He was slightly disappointed in the actual party though, because there wasn't ice cream ;)

2008-12-29T13:43:00.001-08:00

A budding actor emerges! Ok, It was really a few lines in the church Christmas program, but he had two roles, a sheep and a angel. For your viewing enjoyment, we included a video of the entire program! (Ok, really we just had him do one of his lines for you) But he made a great sheep.

2008-12-29T13:19:00.000-08:00

We had an enjoyable Christmas, and while we (like normal) are not very timely with thank you cards, I would like to give a big thanks to all of you who remembered David this Christmas! He is truly a lucky little boy. We had a great time in Cheyenne with my sister Joann and most of my family (my brother and his wife seemed to think skiiing was a better option, but we forgive them and hope they had a great time with her family!) David got to ride a horse (with a lot of help from his Uncle Justin), and had fun playing with his cousins. (big thanks to Jo and Justin for opening up their house for all of us!) We spent our Christmas Day at home, just the three of us (well, four, we have to count Dash!) and had a traditional Christmas dinner. Ok, mostly traditional, I forgot to buy a ham or turkey, so we had a Christmas roast beef (not to be confused with the Dr. Seuss roast beast) Then we headed to Oklahoma to the Tidwell grandparents. David was mesmerized by the fireplace, and probably at more s'mores than was good for him, but sugar overload is all part of holiday fun, after all!

Christmas through David's eyes

2008-12-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

David likes to take pictures - mostly they are you might expect a five year old to take (yea for digital camera - no wasted film!) But here some pics he took during our Christmas decorating.

2008-12-11T20:50:00.001-08:00

David decided to cowboy up with his rocking horse. I don't think he understood my song though...

2008-12-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Jedi's for Halloween!

Santa?

2008-12-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

So, Santa came to David's school last week. And David, outspoken boy that he is (and having a debate coach for a dad doesn't hurt either), after some quick observation, declared that "Santa" was a liar because there were no reindeer to be seen. I do hope that no precious Christmas beliefs were harmed, and by the time he got home that afternoon, he had invented a wonderful story about how they all got rides in Santa's sleigh. So, he must have reconciled the lack of reindeer somehow. Russ and I will have to be extra stealthy this year!

He is very enamored of the Christmas tree, and makes sure that the lights are turned on when we get home, and loves to point out all the lights on houses that we see as we drive around town. We are also thrilled that he is taking the true meaning of Christmas to heart, and he tells the story of baby Jesus every day.

He really likes his CD player. It's just a small thing we've had in his room for a long time, but now he's taken to carrying it around the house and plugging it in so we can hear his new favorite thing. We're holding off on getting him his own MP3 player for now, though!

Time flies

2008-10-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

David is doing well at school, mostly. He has issues with doing what they tell him to sometimes (hard to believe, isn't it?) He likes learning to write his letters, although "W" is giving him some trouble, because he can't figure out when to stop writing! So it comes out like this "WWWWWW." He was very excited the other day because Russ built a lightsaber handle for him, so the Star Wars fans are very happy now. Debbie will be at a conference on Halloween, so the boys will be on their own for trick or treating this year!

2008-09-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

We've been in school for about a month now, and David is really enjoying it. He had a couple of rough weeks at the beginning (well, maybe he was fine, but his teachers had it a bit rough!) because he had trouble calming himself down in general, I think tackling was involved at some point. But, he is more in sync with the routine now, and even got a prize for being "caught" showing good manners. He likes riding his bike around, so hopefully we'll have nice weather for a while longer to enjoy some family bike rides.

This morning he showed very proudly of how he decorated his hands and arms like a monster (green marker!) After I made him go wash it off, I told him Halloween was coming and we could find a good costume then!

Toothfairy

2008-08-29T21:29:00.001-07:00

We had a visit from the toothfairy. The first stubborn, wiggly tooth finally came out with some help from Dad. He was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but the payoff from the fairy seemed to make it all worth it!

Tumbleweed Festival

2008-08-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

We made our annual trek to our community art and music festival (the Tumbleweed Festival), and we are all pretty worn out. It was a great weekend, David had a good time getting his face painted (he was a tiger, I will try to post a pic this week), he dabbled in the kids art projects, of which the ceramic painting was his very favorite, and listened to some of "mommy and daddy's" music. All this he worked in in between playing on the playground - his ultimate fave activity at the zoo.

Games

2008-08-07T06:50:00.001-07:00

David learned to play tic tac toe, although, like most games, he is a little fuzzy on the rules. He will actually cheat at Candyland, and we're trying to teach him that is ok to lose, that he doesn't have to cheat. Of course, he is very generous, when he does win at Candyland, he "takes" us (our playing piece) with his to the Candy Castle.

2008-07-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

David definitely has his Daddy's flair for "puppetry". By this I mean a knack for animating otherwise inanimate objects - stuffed animals, action figures, socks, that kind of thing. David found a stuffed ladybug at a yard sale recently, and there are times that I almost believe the thing is alive. It's good, since he has a friend to play with :) I guess the mixed blessing of being an only child is the need to make friends up from your imagination. This gift also extends to pets. Apparently, Dash was not completely filling his needs for a pet, for David was determined he needed to find a caterpillar for a pet. So determined, in fact, that he found a fuzzy weed and brought it in the house in his hands, saying that the "caterpillar" was tickling him. He asked for a jar to put it in, insisted that we poke holes in the top so it could breathe, and put it in his windowsill so he could have it close by at bedtime. He occasionally looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and asks "Do you believe me that it's a real caterpillar?" I may be creating a monster, but I answer yes.

2008-07-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

David got his first bike - he is very proud of it! Russ told him that if he learned to write his name that he could have one, so yes, he can now write his name. He had a little trouble transitioning from the tricycle because he can back up with that, and the bike's coaster brakes don't allow that! But, he can do a neat trick with the handlebars - he spins them all the way around until gets the bike turned where he wants it. I have to say, it will be much nicer taking bike rides now, since we had been pulling him in the bike trailer, and he is getting a little (lot) heavy for that - of course, in the trailer I didn't have to worry about where he was riding, but he does pretty well.

2008-07-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

Things we like about vacationing in Kansas City:

1. Moisture - rain is nice
2. The Children's Farmstead - hayrides, mining, and getting to bait your child's fishhook when the fish are biting almost as fast as you can bait.
3. The Crayola store
4. The T-Rex restaurant - dining with an animatronic dinosaur hovering you is definitely family fun!

We had a fun relaxing week together, and David got to do some new things. I shared the Walgreens photo album with several of you, but here are highlights pictures. The first two pics are at the farmstead, and the last one was at a stop on the way home.

Newest Milestone

2008-06-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we reached another milestone today. David gave himself his first haircut. He decided he needed one (we had been saying he needed one, but I guess we didn't move on it quick enough for him!) The light spots on the picture are where the hair is gone!

2008-06-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

David is finishing up his first swimming classes - he is much more comfortable in the water, and is slowly learning to move his arms and legs together, but he needs more practice (I guess that means more trips to the pool!) He still loves his wading pool, though, and he and Dash were even featured in the paper yesterday playing in it - the photographer just happened to be driving by - that's small town life for ya! I'm working on collecting enough copies of the clip to send to everyone, it's a great pic!

Still figuring it out

2008-06-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on figuring all this out - I'll try to insert a picture, because I know that everyone loves the pictures!

The blog is up!

2008-06-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this will help us keep up with pictures and stories better without the trouble of maintaining our own website.