good list

After the summer we've had, I'm afraid that an earthquake and hurricanes/tornados aren't getting too much hype around the Brennan house.  We're still on a defense approach to life, so we did the best we can to be prepared by bringing in potential "projectiles" (aka. the grill and patio furniture), charging up everything, and buying some jugs of water.  We seemed to be doing ok as the storm started and we went to bed.  We had quite the raucous tree party going on in this dense wooded area and our roof sounded like we were hosting an animal party... I wasn't sleeping much and a bit before 1am our power went out... and stayed out for the next 15 hours or so.  Not too cool (literally and figuratively), and our internet and landline went with it.  The only radio that would pick up a signal was our handy dandy windup radio flashlight - We heard that over a million people were without power - That is a big club of stuffy hot people! So this trusty guy kept us company and makes the top of the good list:

  

Top of Aiden's good list is playing with the Mac Photobooth, which I'm not sure if it's made the list?  I bet it has!  He knows exactly how to use it and plans his own shots.  By far his favorite is pretending we are riding the rollercoaster (lotsa movement so you can see hair mixed with track)

Some very sweet thoughtful friends have gotten us a few DC with kids type books. I am sold that picking a card from the stack and going out on an adventure for the day is the way to go.

Fresh-squeezed pure WEGMAN'S OJ is a treat a good friend introduced us to and spoiled us with a batch.  So, so good and smooth!  The only ingredient is oranges!

My new iPhone (birthday present) is ridiculously awesome.  The case I ended up with makes it even more fun.  It looks like a Leica M9 which is etched out of walnut.

The apps on the iPhone are my favorite part.  I was already addicted to Pinterest in the slow moments around here.  It was such a great visual distraction from all the stressful stuff this summer.  It's essentially a huge online pinboard of cool photos, design ideas, craft links, etc from all over the internet.

My favorite part of this new house is my craft room (and J claims it is his too because it keeps my stuff contained).  It's not completely settled yet, but I've unpacked everything and started hanging up some fun stuff... like this new scissors rack with KC's cute mug on it...

Saxoflute was an addition to the toy collection from our fun friends that joined us for a "hurricane brunch" the morning the storm hit.  Thanks McM's! This jazzy toy (when not played too loudly) filled up a bunch of the stormy weekend fun.

smiling

My smiley guys... We're staying dry and cozy inside while this hurricane stirs outside. We've kept our power so far (partly due to the generator fix when it did go out for a short bit this afternoon). Keep smiling and good luck New England friends!

fav song

We've been meeting up with fun people, hitting the library program circuit, and generally chillaxin around here.  One of Aiden's favorite things is to turn on the stereo himself and pump his favorite track, disc 3, track 1!

"Get your feet up off the ground!  Swing your arms up in the air!"

quake

Aiden's firsts are slower to get checked off lately, but today he danced around a little after I tried to calmly explain to him that we just had an earthquake.   He wasn't scared and cheered, "Yay, my first earthquake!"  Um, and let's hope your last...  The 5.9 earthquake lasted around a minute.  The rumble built up slowly and I had enough time to say to my brand new mom friend's TWICE that I thought we were having an earthquake.  Then the rattling got intense, and we all jumped under the door frame in the basement room where we were playing at my neighbor's house.  It felt like heavy turbulence on a stormy plane flight.  The piano in the room rattled off some notes and frames shook around on the wall.  I think my adrenaline was pumping with a calm KC in my arms and Aiden tucked between my legs.  I can imagine that our large group of six other moms and their kids all huddled together was probably a bit funny, but I was grateful for the company.  J was at Georgetown where they quickly evacuated the building and he hopped in his car just as they were shutting down his parking garage.  He made it home in about triple the normal time, but at least he made it home.  There were still people emailing our community listserv looking for rides at dinner time a few hours later.  The only effects as far as we can tell were a few shaken frames and my new craft shelf had a few things tumble.  Some where still in limbo from being shaken like the black case in the top left of that photo...  So grateful we are safe and sound, if just a bit rattled... I do confess that Aiden stomp running through our living room had me thinking another rumble had started...  

dc treats

It's pretty amazing that we can hop in the car and about 15 minutes later we are cruising the streets of DC to find a parking spot.  I think it usually takes longer to find a parking spot than it does to drive there ;) But we've been pretty lucky and usually end up finding a spot in a perfect place.  We tempted the stormy weather this particular day.  We were parked near the sculpture garden and the Hirshhorn museum (which is modern art and the installation of photos scotch taped to the wall I was unsure about)... KC loves staring at lines so it was right up his alley ;) A 4 month old's taste...  We will have to go back for more sculpture garden exploring.  We headed back to the car just as the rain was picking up and it felt like we were swimming (there were even pockets of cold air).

The Old Smithsonian original building, dubbed the castle, is really just a quick montage of the other museums, but fun to jet through quickly.  There was a bird eating spider there!  It was bigger than KC's head!

brick trip

Here are some flashback snips from the Lego Brick Fair - take a trip through the highlights:

brick fair from LB on Vimeo.

castle!

zoom

Here are some video snips from the fast zooming train at Burke Lake - I read online that it goes 25 miles per hour!  I was holding onto Aiden during those spots ;)

train ride from LB on Vimeo.

Mr Skip

Mr. Skip had Aiden laughing before he even started singing.  We were the first eager beavers to arrive, and for a minute I thought it might be the first not so crowded program... but everyone trickled in for this after dinner show (we had hopped over from the yummy Corner Bakery).  Aiden really caught the groove bug and KC thought it was pretty funny!

mr skip! from LB on Vimeo.

sittin around

These were taken about three weeks ago when this little kiddo first decided to start sitting up. He had a forward lean at the time, and still leans a little bit. He prefers to push up on his legs like his brother did. But here is the little smirker sitting around...

sitting around... from LB on Vimeo.

bday grooves

I have a hot box baby who isn't liking all the shots he got yesterday, so I'm trying out all these new video apps on my new iPhone - bday present! - while holding KC and cuddling away his fever. Aiden and J are off having fun at the library... Here's some snips from our fun in Alexandria:

birthday groove from LB on Vimeo.

first bites

Here are some video tidbits of KC's first nibbles:
http://youtu.be/_R_pFabjGLY

first bites from LB on Vimeo.

sand land

"mom! Do you like our sand castles? That one has a window clamshell!"
My boys made this at the beach down the street today...

hey doc

We waited quite a chunk of time for KC's four month appointment since we just got into the new insurance system here at Georgetown.  At four months plus two weeks he weighed in at 17 pounds 3 ounces and 26.5 inches which are both around 79th percentile. Our new doc said he must have "read the textbook" and everything was proportionate and on track.  She commented on how he was a pretty mellow little one and that is so true.  He had three shots and a drink to take, and he hardly seemed to notice the first shot... then had a wince for the second... and as I just kept talking to him...his fourth shot he squealed (much less than he would for just being peeved he had to be in his car seat) like he was mad, but that was the end of it.  No crying really... That chill little guy does surprise me sometimes...

The doctor said that he seemed ready to go for some "playful" solids... This is just the time to get them used to the sensations and the swallowing, etc.  So we headed straight for the grocery for some oats... The doctor also suggested skipping the rice since it constipates.  I dug out my hand pump and as he nursed I collected some milk to mix with the oats (I can handle pumping with that little hand pump, but I'm still aiming to avoid that electric pump if at all possible this time around!  We'll see since I have 7 more months until whole milk is on the horizon)

The milky oats really seemed to go over well. He was his calm smiley self most of the time and thought we were pretty funny for making lip smacks at him.  He sorta got the hang of munching at the spoon and probably gobbled more than half... the other half was all over his puppy bib that Aiden had found for him to use.

He made Aiden laugh by trying to devour his hands whenever the spoon wasn't available.  Most of the time he just wanted to lean over and grab his little toes.  I think the bumbo was the perfect seat for a first bite.

bday curiosities

We had a beautiful day cruising on the Potomac off the dock in Alexandria.  There was fun for the whole family: Aiden could gawk at the monuments and shore, daddy could tease him about the animals living in the river, and KC could take a nice long nap on his dad's broad chest.  My fun was taking in all the little curiosities...Including the funny bunny bush at this awesome toy shop, where we had to get Aiden another puzzle eraser to add to his set.  In the Torpedo art galleries there was lots to look at, including this gem at the archeology museum:  It's a reenactment of some civil war general being shot set up with peep bunnies.  We had crab cakes and lobster bisque, which is becoming quite a birthday tradition for me.  In general, my boys spoiled me.  Here's to another year full of new curiosities!

birthday smiles

My boys on my sunny birthday cruisin and eating along the potomac... More later on a nice full day...
Thanks for all the birthday cheer!

The little one giggled after trying to swipe some ketchup- he got a handful ;)

train park

The train park on a sunny day was a big hit!  Aiden says we need to bring PopPop here to ride the zooming train (that thing went faaaast!)  He made a good friend at the playground and they decided to run a superhero bakery.  His name was Luke and he wore a Star Wars shirt, and he wanted us to come to his house after the playground.  I love how easy it is for them to make fast friends...we should all be like three year olds.

firemen

Little firemen ready for action...

chocolate

We took a little road trip up to Gaithersburg after reading about this chocolate factory tour online.  The place really delivered in the chocolate department, although the factory was more of a kitchen.  It was worth the trip just to try their milk chocolate which is over 54% real chocolate.  My friend's girls and Aiden really seemed to pay attention and heard about how the cocoa beans they harvested ended up as chocolate.  The gelato, truffles and bon bons spoiled all of us.

top off

To top off the week...and top off our tanks...we did convince daddy that a trip to the water park was in order.  We felt like we hit the gold rush at Pete the Prospector's Water Mine.  It took Aiden over an hour to stop saying to his brother or any one that would listen, "Oh, look at that, you are not going to believe your eyes!"  J and Aiden took round one and I caught them rush past at 2.5 mph on the rattlesnake lazy river, but quickly lost them in the crowd.  Then Aiden and I were onto round two, where he showed me around like Pete's assistant water prospector.  There were huge rafts to venture through the lazy river complete with jets and a tunnel, big floaty tippy animals to float on, and tons of slides big and small.  The biggest slides allowed for kids to ride in their parent's lap.  Big Pete, the tallest slide, was the first I rode with Aiden and I learned to keep my mouth shut on the way into the water.  It still amazes me that these resort-like parks are owned by the county park system.  Can't wait for KC to join in the water fun, but he loves chillaxin in the shade.  Then we were off to a winery not too far up the road (although the early traffic bug bit us at 3:30ish - boo) to meet my friend and her great friends... The hit of the party was this set of wooden donuts with wooden icing attached by velcro.  Simple toys are so much fun especially when dad makes them disappear and reappear...  After the magician dad finished his wine, we headed off to some turkey lurky dinner at Bobby Evan's!  Ooh, yum.  Then to finish off a nice day we cruised over to the grocery mecca Wegman's (which has a steeple like thing on the roof, so Aiden asked if we were going to church) and we walked around in awe and moaned that there wasn't one closer for us to go to all the time.

summer week

We are just eating up the summer around here.  We had a week that started with a family trip to the DMV, and it was all fun and games after two hours at the DMV with two small littles.  Both cars are registered and we both have VA licenses now.  We went to see Circus in a Suitcase at the library, which was a one man show by some guy that has performed for the president (and made sure we knew).  We grooved with Groovy Nate at this Lebanese restaurant where they have free kids meals for lunch - so yummy!  We had our friends over for a nice (perfect weather) day at the beach.  We also cruised to one of the many parks around here and enjoyed a "tour boat" ride complete with turtle and crane sightings.  KC is teething on dad during his first boat ride:

Now it's Friday, and I vote for a trip to one of these wicked cool water parks around here!  Let's see if I can convince Daddy J ;)