Special Friends and Grandparents Day at School

Nana and Grandpa Coskran came to school on Friday to visit Beck and Caden's classrooms. Each year the students open their classrooms to their special guests and enjoy a snack with them and share their work with them.

Nana was specially invited to read the editorial she wrote for the Star Tribune in January. Beck recited "A Time to Rise" to everyone when she was done with her reading.

Both boys were really proud to have their Nana take center stage at circle time.

The other grandparents and special friends really liked Great Grandma Betty's idea too!

Forever indebted to George Lucas

It's all Star Wars, all the time at our house these days.

I thought the Toy Story obsession was adorable... Then came Cars. I thought I'd never see anything so adorable as my two boys playing "Cars with eyes" for hours on end. But I've been proven wrong (again...). The Star Wars obsession is the best yet! I will forever be indebted to George Lucas for the memories!

Star Wars Galactic Battle, By Beck Sosa, Age 5

C3P0 and R2D2 under the Purple Death Star, By Beck Sosa, Age 5

Darth Vader of The Dark Side, The Artist

Light Saber fights are a pretty regular occurrence at our house these days. It's tricky business, this light saber fighting and war stuff. Explaining why it's O.K. to fight with light sabers (compare it to Olympic sword fighting?) and why it's O.K. to shoot each other with laser guns ('cause they're fake and Star Wars is just for pretend) even though that stuff is never O.K. in real life...

Star Wars is turning out to be a great lesson in understanding what it really means to be a good guy or a bad guy and what it means to be good or evil. It's WAY easier to drive these concepts home when there's a light saber involved! And, believe it or not, they actually find it much less frightening than reading stories of the same concepts from the children's Bible. It's hard to re-enact Cain and Abel without throwing rocks at your brothers head (and mommy won't let you do that for real or pretend!)

Check out this video clip:

Luke Skywalker and "Dark" Vader battle to the end.

Author's Note: Even Star Wars guys die with their tongues hanging out!

Just want to put it on "paper"

These words actually came out of Beck's mouth at breakfast this morning:

"Mommy! I REALLY like EVERYTHING we're having for breakfast this morning!"

Just wanted to write it down. I may never hear those words again...

Don't worry about the Apocalypse - Beck Will Reconstruct the World!

Beck has loved puzzles since his late Twos. But he shocked us all and took his love of puzzling to new heights at school recently. Ms. Rita had a picture taken of him with his masterpiece during the afternoon work session. (Beck attends Step By Step Montessori in Edina.)

Beck spent well over two hours, deep in concentration, constructing individual wooden puzzles of all the continents. But what was so amazing is how he took it a step further and pieced the completed continent puzzles together in their prehistoric form before continental drift pulled them apart!

Needless to say, mom and dad are pretty proud!

The Empire Strikes Dad (too)...

Beck dumped out all the money in his piggy bank last weekend and spent every last (time- consumingly counted) dime online ordering Star Wars costumes...

This ones for you Miss Bwooke...

My mommy may not be very hip anymore...

(My brother and I sort of cramped her style).

But I AM! Check me out!

Caden's first self portrait

Caden doesn't like the fact that he painted himself wearing a headband. But mom is pretty proud!