good list

More goodies to top off the year...Happy New Year!

I knit these mittens with some alpaca yarn. I call them the wishbone mittens because that inverted cable looks like a wishbone.

Werewolf teeth lollipops off Gran's fabulous stocking treat tree - thx!

Visiting some houses with their light show set to music was fun on a balmy Dec evening in OH.  This one even had vignettes from the Elf movie.

Keaton Jr. made the trip to Ohio with us and took over the old semi-abandoned counter chair and some antlers.

My favorite ecard was from the Smithsonian and this snowy otter guy.

Trying to get photos with all the cousin buddies and their grandparents and the outtakes are the best part.

This tiny electric violin makes it so easy and Keaton said he wanted to practice this one all the time.

Crafts with Gran included these cute ornaments with all the cousin's initials.

good list

Happy Anniversary to G&P!  That deserves a spot on the good list today ;)

These smiley guys are super goof troops when you put the camera in selfie mode.

The dancing Santa hat at G&P's makes everyone smile.

This guy asked for lotsa books from Santa and he sure did deliver with some major box sets - including these Wings of Flight.

Wrapping boxes like animals - does it get any cuter?!

What could make a wubble bubble ball even cooler?! Making it semi buoyant with helium!  Thx Billy and crew for helping us get it floating ;)

tidbits

Some flashback bits to just over a week ago... 

I volunteered for Aiden's winter party where they crafted snow globes and pine cone bird feeders.  Then they swapped groups and played all sorts of minute to win it type games including this present stacking relay.

That last day before break was pajama day, and it was an early release day.  Aiden came home and built this radio kit he'd received for his birthday - pretty cool!

That weekend we were invited to Aiden's piano teacher's house for a neighborhood singalong. She'd asked Aiden to play Rudolph for everyone to sing to and he got it up to singing speed (fast!) and had fun playing it for the crew. They also asked him to sing a little solo for the Three Kings song - that kid is so brave and soloed off the cuff!  Her front porch had this surfing Santa to greet everyone.

xmas day

So much excitement on Xmas morning!  Favorite gifts: Aiden = Minecraft stop motion video studio / Keaton = Ogre guy / Cam = Paw Patrol Chase. The wine bottle wooden puzzle kept us busy passing it around and randomly solving it and resetting even after the wine was set free ;) Aidenini the Magician added some new tricks to his show.  The ornament exchange was a hit again with a whole crew of stuffed Star Wars guys being a big hit.  Legos and Imaginext galore to keep the matchy sweater boys occupied all afternoon.

xmas eve

So many memories of this really warm Christmas in Ohio!   If we weren't setting out luminaries and wearing matching jammies we might not realize it's Xmas eve ;). My uncle has this giant set of hot wheels track and a huge set of orange ping pong balls that kept Cam the orange lover very happy!  Thx!

chagrin falls

Chagrin Falls was hopping right before the holiday with the really nice weather.  We had some lunch, visited the bookstore, and had plenty of treats from the popcorn shop and Jeni's ice cream - yum salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks.

ninjabread

Ninjabread cookies - Hiya!  High kicks for some really yummy honey molasses cookies!

art bday

Happy early birthday to my 65 years young mom!  We had an art party for our favorite crafty lady and everybody made some seriously fun acrylic paintings.  Aiden, Keaton, and Cameron even got in on the action and their favorite was the blow dryer action.

merry

These merry guys wish you a very happy Christmas and even better New Year!

gingerbread

Merry Xmas Eve!  

Glamour shots of the gingerbread house 2015 - the top right is how Aiden poses for a glamour shot - ha!

peeps

One of the favorite spots at the Harbor: Peeps!

harbor

A very sunny afternoon visiting the National Harbor's giant tree and Gaylord's dancing fountain and choo choo under the origami tree.

school is cool

Playing with hid final woodworking project - a plane that was finally finished off with some duct tape - ha!

Wild eyes are excited to finally eat his graham cracker house.

Cool Kaleidoscopes in the science center!

Drums at music class!

The big barn is very popular this month.

Art with tape is fun!

Housekeeping corner continues to be a favorite - Keaton loves his pretend tea and asking for seasoning for his meat ;)

Peek-a-boo is the reading corner.

science wizard

A fun present from the Brennan's (Thanks!) that Keaton had on his wish list. It's a science kit "just for wizards" where he made a wand with squishy crystals and did all sorts of color change experiments.  All of us enjoyed it!

tidbits

We had fun exchanging gifts with the cousins after they came to see Aiden's show - Thanks!  It was fun to see the kids all drawing pictures together.

It's been so unseasonably warm, we rode bikes in tshirts like it was early fall and wasn't the middle of December.

Gifts galore to pass along to appreciative, very deserving teachers (a feast prepared by contributions from the whole class) and min bundt cakes to spread some holiday cheer.

These light up, blowup guys have been greeting us at the door for the holiday - who can resist Oliver Owly and Felix Foxy.

Aiden built an entire floating Suess village in Minecraft.  The details are very recognizable and his creativity in creator mode is pretty awesome.  Minecraft breaks to read in a blanket fort are always nice.

It was spirit week on the countdown to break.  There was the typical fun with jammy day, colorful sweater, crazy sock day and crazy hat day, but new this time was "snow day" - Aiden doesn't have any snow themed clothes, so he made this snowball necklace to wear with his snowboarder-like shirt ;)

Keaton decorated this graham cracker house at school.  He was so excited to eat it once he got home. Yum?!

school is cool

Blanket day at school was a big favorite amongst the kids - who don't think about their blankets coming home with school germs on them - They even rolled across them all to really smear some germs in - haha, and I'm not even a germaphobe. ;) - They read a book about a character with a favorite blanket and then did all sorts of comparison and graphing games with them. 

They have a new woodworking center at school and I even had a chance to build a base that Keaton added to throughout the month to create a pretty cool airplane. Giving kids access to "big" tools really empowers them.

The kids had a fun "egg drop" during small group where they made predictions and actually pushed their eggs off a perch.  Some eggs were smooshed!

Movement class with scarves is always fun.  Corn in the sensory table - woot!  And cars with the big blocks - yay!

this guy

On our way down the now very familiar path at GMU to Aiden's show and Keaton's violin class, we pass the pond and this tiny house with art work scattered around.

seussiest

The Seussiest Seuss Museum was the backdrop for this original play written and directed by the same directors Aiden has acted with for five shows now!  The premise was a group of school children on a field trip at the museum full of Suess artwork where the characters pictured come alive.  The characters each teach a lesson to the characters.  Aiden was type casted as the bubbly, over enthusiastic, always happy kid named Marshall (which amusingly is the name of the director's dog).  He was the light hearted one with the grumpy, Grinch-like friend.  The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who come to life and teach them a lesson about friendship.  Marshall also appears in a scene with Horton all about helping others. I just love that they heard all the good life lessons of the show over and over again for all the weeks of rehearsal. Next season is Beauty and the Beast - Enchanted Adventures.  I can hardly wait until Keaton is eligible to join next fall.  He can't wait for his very own candy gram ;)

decorating

The sporadic decorating around here brought out some of our favorite guys and ornaments. The photo ornaments are my favorite and the boys can't get enough of jumping Santa and singing tree.

di

We are on Week 7 of 14 weeks in the Destination Imagination Challenge!  This year the Rising Stars is all about maps and following directions. These kids have enjoyed geocaching, creating treasure maps and searching with A's metal detector, creating a time machine to travel back and see how maps were used in history, and creating a Where in the World clue hunt with giant maps.  This is on top of a bunch of Instant Challenges for team building and communication, like trying to put together a map puzzle where the blindfolded people were the only people that could touch the pieces.  This group works so well together and I'm excited to see what they create for their final in March. 

seuss video

Suess Adventures from LB on Vimeo.

good list

Good stuff is good stuff... 

The Race to the Top with Q the Monkey is a big favorite for Keaton especially. It's essentially like Chutes and Ladders but you add in little challenges. He loves the Do, You, and Q cards that ask questions and have you complete tasks.  The funniest was one where it was asking you to keep a "straight face" while the other person tried to make you laugh.  It is so easy to get Keaton to laugh!  He says, "I like a smiley face better than a straight face!"

We let the boys open their xmas packages early, like we always do to spread out the excitement, and this plasma ball from his grandparents is a huge hit!  He loves playing with those beams of light.  Keaton is equally obsessed with his new tech watch (with video!) Thanks!

Some other early xmas presents from my thoughtful husband include this mini donut maker that actually works!  I made chocolate chip donuts with TJ's vanilla cake mix.  He also surprised me with another piece of the Atlas collection with this cool slip necklace.

That surprised silly face from Aiden was as he was waiting to see his buddy in the Nutcracker. She appeared four separate times and it was fun to see her up there in a very well done version of the ballet.

That tiny sweater I knit for my friend's new baby boy August with a cool linen cotton variegated yarn that pooled just where you'd want it to and created a sorta random ombre pattern.  He was born just a few days after it arrived and I hope I get to see him wear it this spring!

Aiden actually enjoys his math homework which has some fun games sometimes and other times is just plain old practice.  I will remember this year as the turning point into real homework.

Keaton gets a big kick out of picking out his hat for school everyday.  He found this santa hat floating around and insisted that it was a good addition to his rotation.  He giggles uncontrollably when he pulls it down over his face like this.

playdoh

Playdoh never gets old around here!  This monster smash game makes it extra fun.

one sec fall

Another few months compacted into one second per day...
One Second Fall 2015 from LB on Vimeo.

more botanic

Such a feast for the camera at the Botanic Garden.  The boys even took photos from their perspective, and we'd be all set if I could just get them to look at the camera at the same time. They completed the entire stamp hunt for all the different types of pollinators.

botanic

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is visiting the Botanic Garden to see the tiny trains set amongst houses and creatures made from natural materials.  This year it was called Pollination Station and was all about the creatures and plants that pollinate each other.  There were so many gourds and so much color added this year.

recital

For the very committed, here is a complete uncut version of Aiden's three songs at the piano recital starting with the quartet or dual duo with cat masks:
Recital from LB on Vimeo.

club party

I can still remember the first clubhouse party we attended and hardly knew anyone.  We didn't even realize at the time that the game leaders were actually the gym teachers from the neighborhood school.  They have such fun with all the funny games: make your own crazy hat, pin the carrot nose on the snowman, retrieve the bubble gum from the whipped cream and blow a bubble, pick up cotton balls on your nose covered in vaseline, the marshmallow snowball fight, the parachute games, the pop the balloon tied to everyone's ankles, and decorate your own cookie... and so many other crazy simple things that the kids love.

good list

Random bits of good...

Got a chance to start a KAL (knit along) shawl with my friend while we were away for Thanksgiving... It has a really cool slip pattern with this variegated yarn that I really love....but now it's taunting me while I have a gigantic pile of editing to get done before the holiday!  12 events before the 21st... the countdown is on.  Feels good to be productive...

This guy just loves a good afternoon filled with UNO and apple slices. He is such an UNO master and even gets to play with his friends at school.

Aiden is prepping some Christmas carols and this year his piano teacher has invited him to play along at the singalong she holds at her house.  The pressure is on to get it just right...

Gran left her treats behind after her visit and these guys were pumped to find some fun crafts.  I need to help them get the last bits of stuff together with the good glue ;) Thanks G&P as always for all the fun treats!

Slowly putting up some familiar Xmas treats like Rodney Reindeer hanging out by the tv.  This year I unearthed these tiny trees and the boys plan to decorate each one themselves along with our big tree... the decision this year was to avoid the allergens from a real tree for poor KC and we have a pop up tree on it's way.

This memorable ketchup was from a fun grill in downtown Fredericksburg that still has me dreaming about it's brie, turkey, and roasted pepper jelly sandwich.

This random photo appeared on some travel instagram account and my aunt jokingly sent it to me saying she didn't know J was in Cabo.  It really does remind me of his profile from the back - ha!  He better not have snuck off to Mexico without me ;)

interview with KC

Your giggles make me smile even when they border on mildly maniacal and mischievous.  You are sometimes trouble and you know it.  You are sometimes pure sweetness and you know it. You are easy about some things and challenging on other things. You are currently fighting off another round of the phantom dry cough that comes and goes as it pleases... this time it made you boof, and you turned to me right after you recovered from all that mess (which you managed to get all in the toilet, a true sign you're growing up!) and said very sternly, "Don't ever let me do that again!" I wish it was that easy kid, truly.

One word to describe you would be:
Apple? I'm going to do all silly things!

Why do you like being a kid?
Because it's good and I get to play with toys all the time

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?
A cub tiger because then I would be good at having sharp teeth

Tell about a funny time in your life.
When Gran Gran saw Aiden at the end of his Peter Pan video and she went "woo, woo!"

What is your favorite thing to do? Why?
Playing with lego duplos and playing super fox with them!

What do you love most about your sibling?
That he play with me because it's just plain nice

What was the nicest thing you did for someone?
Clean up my toys because that's just a good chore

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?
Getting robbers because I'm a police officer who goes to the bad person's house

What is the grossest thing you can think of?
Aiden picking his nose

What is your happiest memory?
Today when mommy cuddled me with my little robe when mommy had her big robe on