literacy night

Aiden was pumped to show off his class routine and all his fun writing work especially.  He loves the giant Yeti they created during their measurement unit.

Keaton was sick, but we still stopped by his class to see his writing journal.  The recycle man out in the front lobby at the school is pretty jazzy.

good list

The snowballs and bubble tea at the new Block that was hopping - and we found a seat anyway.  Next time we need to go for the food too.

Both boys are taking a Friday after school art class that they love.  The chalked fingers are evidence of a good time.

The Heritage Night at the school is full of treats and this year one family was giving away these cool paper cutouts.  

This funny guy likes wearing his balaclava like a hipster dude scarf.

tidbits

Some weeks just flash by as you recover from a series of unexpected events... while J was practicing downstairs on Sunday afternoon with his band (think: loud raucous) Keaton decided he wanted to take a nap because his head hurt.  Thus is very, very unlike him and I should've predicted it was going to take a bad turn. Well, he fell fast asleep and then an hour later he woke up and threw up everywhere.  Then the poor guy couldn't stop for hours... after the fourth hour and countless buckets filled, he was still trying very hard to drink water in between... but we thought we should call the doctor to prevent it from getting worse.  They were very glad we called and wanted him to come straight in to their urgent care (which is very nice and set up like an emergency room without the wait). He just couldn't stop getting sick, in the car, on the exam table... poor guy was so sleepy since it was past 9 at this point.  He fell asleep so deeply that the couldn't really wake him when the doctor came in to examine him.  She got him on some zofran which unfortunately gave him a fever and then he needed an iv for two rounds.  He was not happy until it started energizing him a bit and he was jazzed to be a cyborg ;)

Since I was pretty much house bound for a few days, it was really nice to have our new light over the kitchen table - Isn't it always refreshing to have a new fixture around?

tidbits

A few new fun things in the rotation lately, this balance game and these foamy blocko pieces to make animals.

When J is away our bedtime routine is switched up since he's usually with K while I'm with A. But it's fun when all three of us cuddle up for books read by both of the boys... 

Daddy brought home some really fun treats from his recent trips - including these cuddly sheep from his stop over in Ireland on his way home from England. I was most excited by the yarn from the Quarter Stitch in New Orleans - check out those pretty Mardi Gras colors on the Mountain Paints and the chunky cashmere I've already whipped up into a neck cozy.  It's also always nice to get some random flowers to keep us company and brighten up the house while daddy is away.

tricky

The tricky leprechaun visited at home and at school. Aiden said he did all the 'typical' stuff and dyed the toilets and milk green.  Although Aidrn isn't sure how it became a tradition to leave the presents by the toilet, and says there is even candy in the bathroom - gross!  Then there was a long discussion of what he uses to make ever thing green and the boy's verdict is that it must be pee.  Then to their horror they noticed the leprechaun had peed on Mommy's hands!  AhAhaa, ooops.  

Keaton had an actual homework project assigned to create a leprechaun trap with moving parts. He was even asked to present it in front of the class. I would've loved to see those cute presentations. Keaton said he ended his by singing the Leprechauns are Marching song his Gran taught him 👍🏼 The whole class even sang it together.

snow

A token March snow storm popped up the week before official spring (right after we planted some new grass, which we hope will be ok).  This was the only significant snow all winter, so the novelty was high and luckily the annoyance was low since it was just a few inches and the plows kept up.  We were up at the sledding hill by the tennis courts with our buddies by 9:30 and back for hot cocoa with lunch. Then it was a stuffed animal zoo for the rest of the afternoon.

leprechauns

pi day

We celebrated 3.14 with a snow day!  The boys were hyped to wear their pi-rate and Star Wars into 3.14...shirts.  They mostly spent the day making up Harry Potter themed shows, sledding, stuffed animal zoos, and games with their buddies.  The snow was hard packed ice so Aiden crunched out some footprint Pi symbols ;) Pie for dessert to top off the day!

einstein

Happy Birthday Einstein!

one sec winter

I highlighted the three cold days that had flurries, or a couple hours of accumulated snow - but tomorrow there is a real storm coming supposedly to cover all the blossoms and buds. But here are one second flashbacks over the last three months ;)

One Second Winter 2016-17 from LB on Vimeo.

knit wit

Thanks to the natural slow down of wedding editing work this time of year I've kicked up my knitting lately.  My knitting group is going strong with some pop ups for the new swift, ball winder set up I have up and running now. We can whip all of our skeins into cakes!  The boys heard me saying that I'd made a bunch of cakes this afternoon when they got home from school and they were looking for something in the chocolate variety, not the wooly fiber cakes - ha! 

My neighbor was especially pumped to make a bunch of 'bun/ponytail hats' - woot!  We also had a knit along with the Orbit wrap that I used this stone colored cotton.  Check out my dad in Peru dyeing Peruvian alpaca wool!  His dye was a wine red color - thanks to my folks for the best trip souvenirs ;)  

donut

Sugar Shack never disappoints and I was happy to make it there on a day where they had their peanut butter s'mores special - even better than it sounds!  Check out those donut faces:

out n about

I was so excited to get a morning out with an old college friend in town. We didn't get into the very popular mirror exhibit, but we made it to see the 15 foot blue chicken and the room full of Calder mobiles.  So great to see old friends!

fbf

It's flashback Friday!  The MWC crowd at college Halloween:

brunch

Another fun mini-reunion with all my local college buddies and my roommate and her family in town from Wyoming.  This time there were 15 kids under 9!  We munched a breakfast taco brunch and plenty of treats.  I'm so glad they could come!  Until next time!

tidbits

Our new neighbors are so funny and we're so glad they are here! They invited us to cheer on their sixth graders semi-final basketball game.  They won the first game, but lost right before the finals.  But the boys had fun cheering them on!  

I spruced up Keaton's room and top of the list was wrangling his giant collection of books.  This is less than half, but at least they are easy to spot and aren't just piled up anymore.  I also got new shelves for his closet and as I cleaned it out found a bunch of goodies like this sachet from Aiden in 2011.

out n about

So many good excuses to celebrate with such good people... I'm all in for the birthday celebrations and already cringing at the goodbye parties coming up this summer.  Again we face losing some great people, but such is life in this transient area.  We all spent some time at the spa complete with fancy hair and then met up with the guys for even more fun.  All the while the kids were having a blast with their favorite babysitter, right up until the power went out!  It's pretty rare around here and Keaton doesn't even remember the power ever going out so he freaked a bit.  We got home and he was asleep holding two flashlights in his hands.

lego night

A good week is topped off with a Family Fun Night at the school.  This one was all about legos! Look at those little sprites with their lego vehicles!  Aiden's had a spinning wheel where you could earn points ;)  The whole group clapped and cheered when the big red tower grew as high as the ceiling.  Fun stuff.

wacky 2

So Wacky Wednesday went a little too wacky... I got a call around 1:30 from the school.  Whenever they start with something like - "Keaton is fine, but..."- my heart jumps... It turns out that his buddy tripped and bumped him off the play structure at school. He was sitting by the highest fireman pole and fell backwards on his head from about 8 feet.  He was stunned and apparently didn't cry, and was just kinda disoriented when he got back on his feet. The school nurse was really low key about it, and he seemed slow when I got to the school, but chatty.  I took him home for some popsicles and pain relievers, but he wasn't really acting like himself.  He didn't really want to eat, even treats, and was complaining that his head still hurt with pain killers that should've been working.  Then he started getting sleepy, which is very unlike him, and I called the doctor.  The first thing they said is they definitely want to see him to do an assessment. Then I learned something new, you absolutely should only give kids that have had a head bump tylenol, not ibuprofen. Ug, we had used up all our Tylenol with his ear ache, so I'd just given him ibuprofen which may be making it worse.  

Meanwhile I was supposed to be over at the school for Kids Care Club (why does this type of thing only happen when other things I'm committed to are going on?).  So luckily J made it home in time to take Keaton to get checked out, while I went to help the other wacky kid pack care packages for infants and create collection bins for recycled markers.  Both J and I thought that they'd just be sure he was ok, but it was likely the case that he was ok.  But unfortunately on the assessments he was right on the cusp, not passing their eye tracking and balance exercises.  The height that he fell from put him over the edge of risk and they called for a CT scan.  He is a really good patient and stayed very still for the scan.

This kid is the absolute king of scary things that escalate quickly and turn out to be nothing.  And luckily this was another case of that, and it turned out that the scan just showed a giant sinus/ear infection (which apparently hadn't cleared up with the first round of antibiotics), so they gave him a new antibiotic and sent him home telling us to monitor him and keep him home the next day.  The most expensive, definitive sinus infection diagnosis ever - ha! By the next day he was happy to eat popsicles and create his new stick figure diorama.  Phew, I was so glad to have my giggly movie buddy home.

wacky 1

For Read Across America Week, the boys were pumped to celebrate Wacky Wednesday!  I think we might be in the glory days of wacky around here, and I will be sad when they grow out of their enthusiasm for tiny goofy ties, silly mismatch socks, and some extra shorts over their pants.  The extra hair gel I'm not sure they'll ever give up ;)

would you rather

Time is flying lately... and by lately, I mean constantly and always.  My baby will be S-I-X in one month.... um, I don't think I can see through these big fat water droplets forming in my eyes right now.  I still feel the smudge from the 'smoosh kiss' this guy gave me before bed.  He will kiss his fingers and then smear it onto my cheek.  It's the best.

Would you rather never play or play but always lose?
Ok, fine, I would play but lose because otherwise I'd just be sad all the time without play

Would you rather have to sit all day or stand all day?
I would do sit because if you stand your energy will be like ugh, I just have to stand and do nothing

Would you rather be a parent or a child?
Child because I like school!

Would you rather be super strong or super fast?
Super fast because if someone was here you could go woah, and they wouldn't even see you punch them

Would you rather be chased by five zombies or one werewolf?
I would do five zombies because werewolf are very hard to defeat and zombies and pretty dumb and slow and you can immediately smash them in the brain

Would you rather get 20 of your favorite treats on Halloween or 50 treats that aren't your favorite?
All of those, so 50 treats because I like them all

Would you rather sleep in a coffin or live in a giant pumpkin?
Live in a giant pumpkin because then I could just eat my house, but I won't eat all of it, but I could make pumpkin pie all day.  But I could make the seeds my furniture...

Would you rather wear your Halloween costume to school every day until Thanksgiving or have to wear a jack o lantern over your head to school for the first three days of November?
I would do my costume because that would be so fun!

Would you rather get to go on a one week vacation anywhere you want or go on a month long vacation but within 200 miles of your house?
Within 200 miles of my house because then I would then have a whole month!

Would you rather be able to give your teacher a report card or be able to write your own report card?
Write my own because then I would say check, check, check, and all the checks on mine!

Would you rather go on a long hike in the woods without any shoes or have to spend a day at the beach in your winter coat?
Coat on the beach because if you walk barefoot and a stick could hurt you, that actually happens to people.

Would you rather receive just socks or just dictionaries for your birthday?
Just dictionaries because then I could read each page each day and I could give one to all of my family.

splashy

This splashy guy