Kicking off KC's birthday week with a trip to Build A Bear where both bunny brothers were super excited by the superhero line of tiny duds. Captain Abearica came home with a very happy almost three year old!
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
easter bunny
The new bunny was a major improvement over sad bunny of years past. However, the wicker bench and trellis was replaced by the inexplicable faux grass pillows, hot pink bench, fake rocks and very fake flowers?! Way to kitsch it up Fair Oaks! We pulled out the matchy match again just to match the kitsch. And blue pants = simple JOY!
Saturday, March 29, 2014
tidbits
-- My new keys and tablet are all up and running - My first wedding edit had Donald Trump as a guest! Ha!
-- This has got to be the last of the snow on March 26! It got icey pretty quickly so no spring snow men. There were flowers buried under that snow!
--We got a new hybrid Roland piano for this guy who is really keeping up with his piano! Getting geared up with pedals and real hammer action now!
--These Outshine popsicles made from veggies are really good (and the boys have no idea they are made from veggies).
--Visiting the school Aiden will attend for first grade and getting a chance to hear about the lunch room (highlight was a copy of the menu!), meet a great 1/2 mixed grade teacher, and play on the playground.
Friday, March 28, 2014
sugar mama
We visited a new ice cream shop that has really yummy hard ice cream (which really reminded me of the Scooters batches I used to scoop up in the summer). Aiden is excited to enter the tshirt contest for a year's supply of ice cream. So with his art direction we created these two options - wish us luck!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
iron men
The comic book shop stop before going to the grocery and the movies on a grey weekend afternoon. They brightened these guys day by giving them iron man masks.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
path
Sometimes it's just as simple as taking that path you pass by every day... We probably meandered twice the distance of the path thanks to Keaton's running back and forth, but it's all good. We made it to some swings (boys favorite) and then some brunch (Mom's favorite) after checking out all the furry friend real estate.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
two and a half
My littlest buddy up to last October... Two and a half years! I wake up lately and my very first thought is how is it possible that Keaton is almost 3?! It makes me the most unique blend of happy and sad. Same with this video:
Keaton 18-30 months - Happy 2.5! from LB on Vimeo.
Music is JJ Heller again - When I'm With You
Keaton 18-30 months - Happy 2.5! from LB on Vimeo.
Music is JJ Heller again - When I'm With You
Monday, March 24, 2014
popsicles
Spring brought on a new batch of Popsicles, which we could unfortunately keep frozen outside right now. Here's how Keaton feels about that:
We will see if we get some spring sledding in tomorrow?!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
experiment
The new watering can was decorated and then inspired a carefully recorded experiment. When the snow melted there was only a small amount of water left! Now he wants to come up with "more interesting things to experiment with..."
Thursday, March 20, 2014
one and a half
It's Throwback Thursday, right?! I must be feeling sentimental lately as Keaton's third birthday quickly approaches. I was frenzied searching for the half birthday videos that I never made! What a sham and I didn't even remember not making them - second baby syndrome I suppose, even though I try to avoid it. So I figured, I still have the video snippets, why not make one now!? Better late than never and he will still like seeing it in this time capsule of sorts twenty years from now, right?
Keaton six to eighteen months - Happy Half Birthday! from LB on Vimeo.
Song is by JJ Heller - I Get to Be the One
And here is Aiden's six to eighteen months for the true sentimental folks out there:
Happy Half Birthday! from LB on Vimeo.
I owe Keaton his two and a half year old video too ;) - Coming soon...
I did do his first six months on time ;)
http://ababybrennan.blogspot.com/2011/10/half-eve.html
Keaton six to eighteen months - Happy Half Birthday! from LB on Vimeo.
Song is by JJ Heller - I Get to Be the One
And here is Aiden's six to eighteen months for the true sentimental folks out there:
Happy Half Birthday! from LB on Vimeo.
I owe Keaton his two and a half year old video too ;) - Coming soon...
I did do his first six months on time ;)
http://ababybrennan.blogspot.com/2011/10/half-eve.html
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
happy snow patrick's day
We woke up to about eight inches of snow that some sneaky leprechaun must have been excited about - because he wrote ha, ha, ha all over the snow drifts! He left green magic milk and sneakily peed green in our toilets! Mr. Lucky got some new mustache/goatee glasses depending on who is wearing them. There was a giant coded note left that turned out to be the lyrics to What Does the Fox Say - because of course that is a leprechaun's favorite song! There is a snow day (everything including the federal government and even J's flight to sunny Toronto was cancelled). More lazy day shenanigans in store...
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
tidbits
More bits of tid - first a quick commercial break - Our house is missing a 12 inch around plastic mixing bowl full of softened butter! Seriously, this is such a mystery, and I have a feeling this story will go down as a family legend. I was planning to make banana bread, so I unwrapped the butter (wrappers in the trash so this is for sure - I did check because after looking for over an hour I thought I was losing my mind), put it in the big blue mixing bowl on the counter, and then went on a FaceTime call with our recently returned from Down Under Grands. (Yay!) At some point, Keaton must have bounced into the kitchen and swiped the bowl and hid it... Or as he claims a man came in and took it and left with it in his police car... But he has led me on many wild goose chases, I attempted to give him an early Easter present as incentive to help uncover the hidden bowl, and my conclusion is that he doesn't remember where he put it. I'd recently tidied up for J's jam session with a buddy and I swear this place is actually not full of many places a bowl full of butter could hide! This is just totally bewildering!
Update: Crazy Mom! Put it in the microwave!!!! No one thought to look there, but we did look in the washer dryer and the fire place - nutso central over here!
Left side: The best $5 I've ever spent on a complete (all but one piece!) $99 Life on Mars Lego set with a hangar and tubes the aliens zip around in (Man tua Moms club for the win!). Right top: Close approach on the storytime bubble machine. Right bottom: This kid wants to cut for days and I'm getting better about trusting him with the scissors.
Top: Pi day drawing with Pi symbol skirt and Super Pi and his sidekick made another appearance to dance to Pi songs. Bottom: L: flattening out the garden R: smiles on a new couch cover - so stretchy and awesome refresher
Top: Daddy got to enjoy the special invitation to Aiden's Parent Breakfast (no siblings allowed) Bottom: L: Balloon animals helped with our PB Jacks reunion - it had been over a month! R: Extra special waffle cone treat
Thursday, March 13, 2014
dance
We finally made it back to the family dance and we were excited that some of Aiden's other classmates made it too. The boys had fun with the dances (even Keaton was with it a little bit) and even more fun during the breaks. They made up a game called Chicken and Cars - where the chicken tries to "cross the road" and the car runs over him before he can "get to the other side."
glen echo
The sun was shining down on Glen Echo on this brisk afternoon. I just can't get enough of these fun buildings from the old amusement park. The boys were hyped up with running hugs and playground time.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
super saturday
I'd heard about the Super Saturday theme events at the Air and Space Museum a couple times, but was scared away thinking it might be crowded or for older kids. Turns out despite a pretty busy parking lot, it didn't seem crowded inside at all. The place is so huge that everyone spreads out. The event itself was awesome. They had fun activity and experiment stations. One highlight was the rat weight which showed how they measure weight without gravity. Another fun one was creating your own robotic hand - it was two stacked cups with three looped strings that twisted around the object. Playing on the foam space shuttle and wearing the space suit were really neat. The Astronaut D on T homas was there to talk about his missions - one that happened to have all Ohioans with a fun story about how woodpeckers delayed it. He even had a little test for kids to come up and try to poke into an foam square that was supposed to imitate the layer of insulation the pecker managed to poke through and make 205 holes! It was a fun story of problem solving for the NASA team trying to launch safely and protect the wildlife. We will definitely be back for more of these events!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
inside goods
On the coldest March VA days in a long time, we put on our snow day hats and some fun bits fell in our laps - like cool 3D puzzle postcards from our Australia tourist grands (the Masters Brennan say thx!), Charley Harper color forms, and the never ending pigeon activity book (because Mo is a genius!)
Monday, March 10, 2014
rolling
We are getting excited for Keaton's birthday - We are going to have his class over to celebrate with a Three-esta Fiesta based on his favorite Dragon Loves Tacos book. So we spent a bunch of snow day time making tons of these to hang as a banner. They rolled the paint with a ball in a box:
Sunday, March 9, 2014
would you rather
This month has been filled with more plates of eggs, games of Apples to Apples, and Who Was books that I can count. He is truly in that sweet spot where the little kid is still there, but he goes on playdates on his own now!
Would you rather have corn chip fingernails or spaghetti noodle hair?
Corn chip fingernails because, noodle hair! I don't want to be bald because people eat my hair!
Would you rather spend the day on the top of a tree or at school?
Top of the tree because I don't think I could eat dinner at school, that would be crazy, but you could bring me dinner in the tree!
Would you rather never be able to eat food or never see anything the rest of your life?
I would pick never be able to see because you see, never being able to eat food, short life!
Would you rather get in a snowball fight with a professional ball player or go in the snow in your underpants?
Snowball fight with professional ball player because going anywhere in my underpants would make me frozen and embarrassed!
Would you rather have a pet panda or a pet otter?
Pet otter because that's for my otter loving mom!
Would you rather write a new Who Was book or a new music book?
Would you rather live in a tennis court or a movie theater?
A movie theater because then I could watch the Lego movie any time I wanted!
Would you rather only use paint or crayons the rest of your life?
Paint because I like painting better than crayons because it's easier to make circles because I just dip it in the paint, flatten the brush, and swirl.
Would you rather sleep on a pile of legos or a pile of cupcake crumbs?
Pile of legos because then I would just build a bed out of it - I don't have to just sleep on the pokey legos I could just build a bed.
Would you rather have corn chip fingernails or spaghetti noodle hair?
Corn chip fingernails because, noodle hair! I don't want to be bald because people eat my hair!
Would you rather spend the day on the top of a tree or at school?
Top of the tree because I don't think I could eat dinner at school, that would be crazy, but you could bring me dinner in the tree!
Would you rather never be able to eat food or never see anything the rest of your life?
I would pick never be able to see because you see, never being able to eat food, short life!
Would you rather get in a snowball fight with a professional ball player or go in the snow in your underpants?
Snowball fight with professional ball player because going anywhere in my underpants would make me frozen and embarrassed!
Would you rather have a pet panda or a pet otter?
Pet otter because that's for my otter loving mom!
Would you rather write a new Who Was book or a new music book?
Who Was book because I could make a Who Was Aiden Brennan?
Saturday, March 8, 2014
pipes
We are dreaming up new schemes for our pipe cleaner gang. Here is the playground paparazzi in action:
Friday, March 7, 2014
brothers
These guys got tons of bonus brother time with the two snow days earlier this week. Lotsa legos, pigeon activities, air-dry clay, kinetic sand, pig tails, fuzzoodles, cakes, tennis rackets, and turtle shells...
Thursday, March 6, 2014
during
Playing in the snow is extra fun with our swing set (aka super snow sled slide and arctic fort). Aiden and J got out to sled just after the snow stopped falling on our first snow day, but Keaton who had just come in from losing his gloves and boots in the snow (he also lost a Lego figure I somehow located five inches under the fluffy snow - phew!) was not having any more of the cold. But the next day he was all in like a little boy that grew up in NH. The clubhouse hill a couple houses down is the perfect spot. It was still in nice shape without too many ice chunks and slick enough without the powder flying in your face like the day before. We ended up staying almost an hour! The best rides were in daddy's lap nest on the tiny round sled. Mommy's rides on the long sled usually ended up backwards or turned around over some big bumps. 
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
before before
We were watching the snow slowly melt away from the tennis courts on sunny nearly 60 degree days. 
before
This weekend was nice mild, no coats needed on hot box little boys especially, kind of weather. We played outside and hiked around our favorite nature center for a long time. We knew there was a big winter storm Titan on his way - which eventually led to two snow days to kick off the week. But here was the calm before the storm:
Sunday, March 2, 2014
35 months
Dear Tricky Devil,
I'm always thinking of instances that sum up "life with a two-almost-three-year old" and the best one recently is: You demanding to go outside to play in the snow, getting out there all bundled up, taking your coat off because you are hot, then declaring it is too cold! You will get into the cold car and cry out, 'Mommy turn off the cold!" I wish little buddy!
You called yourself a "tricky devil" when you were throwing snow balls at me on a sunny crisp afternoon out on your playset. You were so funny about not wanting to wipe your wet fingers off to warm them up. You wanted them dry and you would shake and wipe them against the hard wooden bench, but you'd do anything to avoid getting your coat or pants wet or dirty. You were not built for snow in your boots, oooh no, tricky devils do not like that!
You've decided that soap is called bubble sauce - You make me laugh when you call out from up on your stool, "Mom I need more bubble sauce!" When you wash hands at the start of school, the shiny hand towel dispenser becomes your mirror to make funny faces. Always a goof!
"Mommy, I think I'm going to burp soon!" You say these things that make me realize how old you really are and how much you understand. You handled the dentist like a champion despite not taking a nap and falling asleep a bit in the car on the way over. Triumph. Remarkably, I kid, but you are now going under the desk or table, to retrieve a toy etc, and managing to avoid bumping your head. Milestone.
You loooove playing the Pig Tails game where Mr. Wolfie likes to eat pink piggies the most. You filled in the whole back story - "He moved from Michigan to Virginia to be a nice guy since he likes to cuddle and watch movies..." You keep it interesting after hourrrrs of game play. Although that games has you counting one, two, three on everything.
You don't like going out in the cold and you've grown a bit tired of our usual haunts (especially P B Jacks), but you're usually up for a new adventure. If I tell you we are doing something new, you are all ears and questions. You loved visiting my roommates' "coot baby" after a mini hour and half road trip to get up there. You took a snooze on the way up there, were as well behaved as you could possibly be and charmed that baby and her folks. You even avoided the dreaded late afternoon nap on the way home by singing along to all your favorite songs.
You are not sure about kids that you don't think are babies anymore that won't talk. You think they are just pretending to talk like a baby. Sometimes at restaurants you will pretend to talk to the waitress in a baby voice or if someone talks to you at the library you babble back at them and then laugh. I think you think if someone calls you cute, you have to act like a goo goo gah gah baby.
We had so much fun on the nice long weekend with Aiden's old nanny and her son. You were mostly a good cooperator with a few screamy shouty guy moments. You are getting quicker at getting your act together. You usually just want some extra loving to break the mood, like you loved when I tickled your ribs and told you that is what you were looking at on the dinosaur bones at the history museum.
You sometimes pull out jokes you've used before, like your "You're still here!" Like one morning when we all work up, "Babecca, you guys are still here!" You like to make people laugh. When Aiden's teachers come out to drop him off in car, you like to talk to them. You said, "Her my favorite character!" in reference to Aiden's friendly teacher at carpool.
You love "playing tools" on the little work bench. You are getting good at getting the big wood nails out on your own and you are a pro at getting pieces as stuck as possible. You like to play with the crochet blanket holes by making pretend "slices." One of your favorite new things was the teenage mutant ninja turtle shell and mask you found at the senior citizen center flea market we stopped at after dropping your brother off at Little Oompas Saturday class. You were so excited to show him when he got into the car at pick up time. You even eventually shared it with him.
"You smell like mama cuddles! What do I smell like? Hmm, I think I smell like rocket ship crackers!" You sometimes talk fast and have a whole conversation with yourself. "Ooh daddy that does smell like breath!" You are starting to get straight with using do, does, and doing.
You loved running around the real space ship at the Air and Space. You were pretty funny about finding computer panels to do your "work" while we stomped around. You found three overlapping holes drilled in a solar panel that you were convinced looked like Mickey ears. You are going to be ready for the ears hunt when we visit Disney World in May.
You insist on carrying your own umbrella, and at the zoo I found a mini one that seemed fairly durable. The other kiddie one we had wasn't going to last. You carried it out of the zoo attempting to destroy it by accidentally stomping on it and dragging it along. But I think it might actually survive your destructo mode.
You say some of the simplest things, so matter of factly that really make me laugh:
"Mom why do they call it the Home Depot when it's not home!"
"Yesterday I got my shoes on and went to school and did not poo in the potty"
"I spy with my little eye something that begins with orange!"
You insist that there is a song called dust busters (aka ghost busters). You can play the "name that song humming game" with your brother waaaay better than I can. Sometimes if you forget the name of the song you try to describe it - "That's that christmas song with the flying guys!" You can truly sing along to most of your favorite songs. Riding in the car requires a good play list of kiddie songs.
You are getting the hang of sharing. You are sometimes just feeling ornery about it, like when you asked your brother to look at your book and then squawked at him you "weren't sharing right now" when he did look. You will make trades: "Share me! I will share you dis guy!?" With hands on your hips, "Aiden, listen, I'm already a very cool brother and now I'm going to share!"
You are so funny out on the open tennis courts. You run around avoiding the puddles at first because you generally don't like being wet, but eventually they tempt you too much. You stomp in them and then to solve the "wet problem" you shed your pants before anyone notices and you are off running in as many puddles as possible. You pretty much don't care if your skin is wet, but it's the wet clothing that is the problem. You would think this attitude would help with the potty training, but it hasn't fully clicked yet.
You fell in love with this stuffed fabric house and bears at school that was meant to tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You insist that the opposite of hard is broken now thanks to that story. You also like to leave out the mama bear's soft chair to get to the broken chair punch line as fast as possible.
We've spent a good amount of time on our new playset out back already. I can stand up in the upper play house but you prefer that I get down on your level so that the "sock and glove eating sharks" don't see me from down below. We added your special request telescope so we can see those sharks from far away and drive away from them as fast as the steering wheel can turn.
Sometimes I can get you to "use your words" and calm down with the power of the backwards camera on my cell phone. You are always up for a good cuddle selfie and you like to smile at your self so it's a good mood changer. In the mornings while I adjust to the early morning, I can hold the reversed video camera out, and you will pretend to do a little lego man show. The giggles are a good way to start the morning.
Aiden had a story he wanted to add: "Daddy was pretending to blow his hand up in the air and I was doing it too. We were pretending that we could lift them with our breath. And then Keaton came over and sat on my head and wanted me to blow him up!"
When you are happy about "winning" you like to show your muscles and swing your elbows with your hands on your hips. It's a sweet little giddy guy dance that I hope sticks around for a while. You are always in on our games and like to hold your own Uno or Apples to Apples cards that you "play during your turn." It's fun that there are a few games you can actually play with your brother, but you'd love to be able to play them all.
You argued with your dad the other day that you are a big baby, but he says that the fact that you can discuss that means you are a little boy. You can still barely fit in the baby swings, although even your dad has trouble getting you out. You can ride the big swings at school like a champ, but still prefer for someone to push you until their arm is ready to fall off. You fall and get scratches and bumps like a very big boy. I dunno, the list could go on, but I'll let you be a big baby if you say so...
Love you,
Mr. mommy gookey
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