Merry Christmas 2011

Santa brought Eli his long hoped for Castle! It is enormous and he LOVES it!
AN-I-MAL! Santa brought Nate an kids electric drum set and electric guitar! HE rocks out!

We had such a lovely christmas! The boys actually slept bast 6:45 and rushed downstairs to find their Santa surprises! Funny story about Santa! Santa's original present to Nate arrived damaged on Christmas Eve!!! Luckily Santa found out that Toys R' Us was open on Christmas eve and found even more Nate-Perfect presents! It was VERY stressful for Santa who was operating on a sugar/coffee high. The boys loved their stockings and presents and Bob loved his dog toys! We had another huge Christmas dinner and spent the day hanging out, playing games and being together! It was our favorite Christmas yet!

Bowling Before Christmas

Nate doing the Nate shuffle after he bowled!
Eli getting ready to fling the ball down the lane
Brother Bowlers!

We went bowling as a family a few days before Christmas and it was so fun! Eli doesn't need to use the special kids ramp any more and that guy bowled a strike! Nate is hilarious and does a little wiggle/shuffle/dance move after he bowls! What a funny kid! I beat Sam to a pulp and he cried like a baby (ok he didnt cry)! I bowled 4 strikes in a row and then on my next time up I let go of the ball on the swing back and almost killed some people! Sooooo embarrassing! We love that the boys are getting old enough to play these great games with us!

Nate the Great is One Tough Boy

Doesn't he look like he could be Captain America?

Nate has had a tough fall and has been nothing short of a trooper! He is struggling with recurrent Juvenile parotitis which means his parotid salivary gland becomes enormously and painfully inflamed. He has it on both sides now which was an unwelcome development and has now had 6 episodes since August. In addition, Nate has been diagnosed with a constitutional growth delay (his bone age was 2 years 9 months even though he was 4 years 6 months at the time of x-ray). If you add in the fact that he developed growing breast tissues last year, that he is very at-risk for major complications (pneumonia, etc...) from common colds, and that he runs low grade fevers all the time than you realize that Nate is one complicated dude! What does this all mean? We don't know!

The good news is that Nate is blossoming intellectually, is a charmer, a sweet heart and so very brave. He has started reading (seriously!) and is a bit of a scary math guy! All of his health issues haven't slowed him down in the least!

We are also a tiny bit relieved about the constitutional growth delay as this means he will more than likely reach his expected height 6'3 to 6'4 (base on our heights, etc...) just MUUUUUUUCH later than Eli!

We have many many more appointments in our future! This little man will always keep us on our toes! We love sweet Nate so much!

Christmas Came Early: Munger-King Family Christmas 2011

The Grandkids: Emma, Eli and Nate
Gromma reading her special recorded book to the boys
Gromma and Emma
A Christmas Dog Named Bob
Pop Pop and his Grandkids
Gromma and her babies
The Mungers: Chris, Rebecca, and Emma
The Kings: Sam, Sam, Eli and psycho-eyed Nate
The Munger's and Kings: Merry Christmas 2011

We celebrated Christmas twice this year! Gromma and Pop Pop, Uncle Chris, Auntie Becca and sweet cousin Emma all came into town on the 17th of December and stayed through the 21st! It was an incredible treat! We ate, we played games, went to a museum, played cared (I won!!!), watched our kids play together, visited and generally just loved spend time together as a family! We had a grand Christmas dinner and opened family presents! We are so lucky that everyone was willing and able to make it to the frozen plains to share in the holidays!

All I want for Christmas are My Two Front Teeth

Flashing that gap tooth smile!
Right after he lost his first tooth!

Eli lost two teeth over the course of three days! He was absolutely thrilled with how easy the first one fell out! The second was drama, drama, drama! We were all extremely relieved when it came out. He actually lost his first tooth when the boys were with a babysitter (as I was at a meeting and Sam was on a trip)! I was so mad that I missed it, but thrilled that he took a long anticipated step into being a big boy!

University Primary School: Culminating Event Fall 2011

Nate in front of the Prairie Animal Study Groups culminating work (pre-k classroom)
Eli in front of the Burrows study group culminating work (k-1 classroom)
Nate peeking his head out of the 8 foot long k-1 burrow
Eli peeking his head up out of the burrow like a groundhog!

University Primary School puts on a big family event at the end of each semester called the culminating event. This semester the project focus was: Flora and Fauna of the Prairie! It was amazing. In the K-1 classroom Eli was part of the animal burrows study group and they had quite an amazing semester finishing up with this massive paper mache burrow! In the pre-k classroom Nate was a part of the fauna study group and learned about many different prairie animals and animal habitats. The project approach means that all the kids contribute to their study groups and then the study groups teach the class. It is truly remarkable that kids this age can participate in this process! My boys flourish in this school!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We had such a fun time decorating the Christmas tree this year! The boys are both old enough to really participate (in a helpful not insane way)! They have such different decorating styles! Eli sets up little scenes with between 6-12 ornaments hanging off of or near each other! Nate just puts up as many as possible in one single place! Comedy!

Jedi Training Camp: Eli's 6th Birthday Party

The Jedi Nights plus Darth Maul and Queen Amidale in disguise
Darth Maul making his entrance (with smoke no less)
Eli doing Jedi training
Eli and other young Jedi's in training
A picture of the Jedi temple and all young jedi's prepared to battle!

To celebrate Eli's birthday we had a Jedi Training party with 15 boys (insanity). Ms. Natalie our favorite drama teacher was queen Amidala in disguise and an Actor dressed up as Darth Maul. The kids all did Jedi training and then battled darth maul! It was an epic star wars adventure and everything Eli could have possibly imagined! He loved having all of his k-1 guys (plus one 4 year old brother) celebrate with him!

Happy 6th Birthday to My Eli

On November 30, 2011 at 7:34am Eli King turned 6! Time has flown by so fast with this special boy and we can hardly believe what a young man he has become! Here are 6 important things to know about Eli at 6:

1. He is S-M-A-R-T! The boy is a little bit of a brainiac! He sees the world from such a wonderful and unique perspective and he is so thirsty for knowledge! He is reading, doing math and problem solving and has a passion for history!

2. Eli is an artist! He surprised us last year by asking to take art lessons and he has blossomed into quite the artist! He spends more time drawing than almost anything else! His favorite medium to use is oil pastels but he also loves colored pencils. His favorite subject to capture are dragons, castles, and pirate ships!

3. The boy can swim like a fish! Eli is happiest in water. He smiles from ear to ear the entire time he is in the pool. He has advanced rapidly through swim lessons and he will hopefully join a swim team this summer!

4. Eli is a joker. Eli is constantly making up knock knock jokes, puns, and silly ways to trick you. He takes a great deal of pleasure in pranking people and is a master of word games. We get such a kick out of his silly side.

5. Eli is a true friend and an empathetic soul. Eli is that boy in his school that you want your kids to be friends with. He is kind, funny, caring, and really watches out for those who might get picked on. He is so sensitive to everyones feelings and is very mature in his dealings with his peers.

6. Eli is an old soul. Eli is often wise beyond his years and frequently surprises us with his perspective on life. He is a deep thinker who is constantly challenging his teachers, his family (and strangers) with his need for answers as he navigates through life.

6 years ago we were blessed with a 9 lb 4 oz miracle and he has only proven more miraculous with every year! We love you Eli!