Tanner's Art

This guy continues to have a one track mind.  Tanner had a sleep over at Grandma D's house a couple of weeks ago and contributed a lot to their Spiderman art wall.  I count 11 Spiderman pictures there. 


Peter picked Tanner up from Sunday School last week and his teacher said "Wow, Tanner REALLY likes Spiderman!" Then he gave Peter this picture that Tanner colored of what was supposed to be a missionary.  Hmmmm, something different about this picture.  We had a good laugh about that one.  Should I be worried?

...Does Whatever a Spider Can...

Isn't he just the funniest little guy?  I love the hip shake/web slinging action that he uses.  I have seen him do better performances of this song, but this is the best we have on video.  This is from the family variety show.

Spiderman Birthday

On June 15 Tanner turned 5!  I can't believe that, it just can't be.  Tanner loves being 5.  He tells everyone he sees.  Well he tells them that and that he loves Spiderman.  So of course his birthday was all about the Spidey.  I brought home a mylar balloon and a dozen helium balloons the day before and he was super excited.  We were all ready for a big family party on Sunday evening, but ended up being quarentined because of the flu.  Luckily our friends also had it and were happy to come and share our sick germs.  That really saved the day.  We had spiderman ice cream cake, wore Spiderman masks, and even had a pinata. Tanner received everything Spiderman from clothes (in hopes to deter him from wearing his too small pjs all the time.  Nope), action figures, undies, kite, and on and on.  He was mostly wanting a costume so when Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson dropped one off, he was elated!  He immediately put it on, and broke out into song and dance Spiderman style.  It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. 


The Mask.  Notice we were short on tape, but my electrician is always there to save the day.


Pinata fun




 Tanner Stories:
Tanner is still cracking me up all the time.  The other day I bought some lunch meat for Peter for a treat, which I haven't done in a long time.  Tanner was pumped because his favorite food on the planet is cheese sandwiches.  He would eat them for every meal if he could.  Now he had meat for them too!  Then he remembered that we were out of mayonnaise, so he asked if we could get some.  I told him next time I was out, I would.  He was so enthusiastic, I mentally put it on the top of my list.   That same day Tanner noted that we were really low on crayons, especially his favorite colors, red and blue (a Spiderman artist's necessity). So he added that he wanted mayonnaise AND crayons.  This went on for a couple of days so yesterday I asked Tanner if he wanted to go on a date with me to get his stuff (we call any one on one time dates at our house).  He jumped at that chance and was also nice enough to let Eden come and have a double date.  So we went to a nearby Albertsons.  Since it is a holiday weekend there were samples of baby back ribs and smoothies for us.  The kids seriously thought it was such a treat. We bought crayons and mayonnaise and  were on our way.  Apparently, a grocery trip like that makes for the "best date ever!"  Tanner was so happy about having "all the ingredients" for his sandwiches, which are, mayo, mustard, cheese, meat and bread.  We aim to please around here.  We had sandwiches for dinner that night for sure.
  Tanner is not shy at all. He is also not afraid to say what he is thinking. These are good things, but we are working on tact a bit, especially around new people. For example, it is not polite to say "Hey you!", when trying to start a conversation with a stranger. But I really do think this this is a talent that he is so outgoing.  He does not discriminate between young and old and will chat away with anyone.  Yesterday we went to a scout pancake breakfast and we noticed him chatting with a "grandpa", for at least 10 minutes.  I don't know many 5 year olds that would do that, but this is not uncommon for Tanner. The only thing I heard was Tanner commenting on how old the gentlemen was and the man replying that he was indeed older than the hills.   Again with the tact.  But he is easily forgiven because he is such a cute little guy that has so much to say.  I think he brightens peoples day wherever he goes.  That is a gift.
When Peter comes home from work, Tanner always gives him a big hug and says, "You're my best worker!"   Tanner is so full of love and freely gives us lots and lots of hugs and kisses. The other day, Tanner was hugging on me and saying how much he loved me.  Knowing how little ones think I jokingly said, "Tanner when you grow up, are you going to marry me?".  He said yes.  Peter joined in and commented that he was already married to me and I can't marry two people.  Tanner got to most sour look on his face with is nose all scrunched up and said,  "But DAD, that is just not fair!" He was totally offended that Peter would be so selfish.  Tanner has really turned out to be quite a sensitive little guy.  I think whoever he really does marry some day will be a very lucky lady.

Spiderman

Tanner is quite a fan of Peter Parker these days. He loves to watch a cartoon called Spectacular Spiderman on Netflix.  He adopted these 3T pajamas from Carter which are way to small, but he loves them.  In fact he wears them ALL the time.  The only time I can get them off of him is when we are going somewhere or when they  are peed in need washed. One day when they were being washed, Tanner opted to wear Spiderman swim trunks instead.  Tanner is an expert web thrower with accompanying sound affects.  He loves to find any kind of string to make it even better. Slinkies work great too.  He makes his own action figures out of duplos every day and we almost have him convinced that Peter might actually be Peter Parker in real life, ha ha.

Tanner Quotes and Spiderman Brains

To Eden:
"I told Dad that I won't die when I am 20 because God would save me from the giant." 


In the car on the way home from a family party I was telling the kids that now that we have announced the new baby to everyone, they were allowed to talk about it and tell anyone they wanted.   Tanner added in a contributing tone, "Except when you get lost."  Peter and I looked at each other and just decided to go with it, "Sure Tanner,  sounds good."

Then there was this:

Tanner made this in a little drawing program and called it "Spiderman's Brain".  I even saw him adding spiders by touching the screen with the tip of his nose! On the spiderman note, Tanner is a bit obsessed lately and will only wear red shirts with blue pants. 

Tanner was cracking me up at church on Sunday.  A sweet little one got up to give a talk and it was the longest primary talk I have ever heard.  I kept looking back at Tanner and he had his arms folded and was trying really hard to keep his eyes closed.  For a whole five minutes, every time I checked he was back there with his eyes all squeezed tight.  After it was over I looked back at him and we made eye contact.  He whispered, "Mom, that was a really long prayer!" I could have died it was so funny.



Tanner is a great brand of entertainment to me.  Love that boy.