green spring

Photos from a little while back when Aiden's class visited Green Springs to learn about butterflies... Aiden showed us the "six chrysalis" (which is a big tongue twister for me ;) - He brought back some to his class to observe and record in his field journal.

cousins

We got a chance to see my cousin from NYC this week. It's was fun to toast his upcoming move to Cambridge to pursue his PhD at MIT. He and his new wife and mother in law rode their bikes down the Mt Vernon trail to meet us in Old Town for dinner one night. Here are shots of us hanging out by the water. (I'm also so grateful that Pete's brother Tim and his fiancé Amy are safe after dealing with the Boston marathon explosion earlier this week - Amy was running and a few blocks from the finish and Tim was held up on a business call, so they were both safe - We are sending calm wishes to everyone involved and thanks to all those that help with the recovery).

good man

Aiden and I had a date during Keaton's nap to see the matinee of the local high school musical performance of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.  We sat in the closest row right next to the orchestra which was fun to watch.  They did a really nice job and to say Aiden enjoyed it is an understatement.  He was a giggle guy after the comic strip segments and danced in his seat during the songs.  At the end, he said that his very favorite part was the first song, which he went on to describe in detail. After missing a lot of this sort of fun while nursing KC, I was glad it was my turn to experience something new with Aiden.  He's a fun date!

before practice

The park that hosts Aiden's games has a really fun playground. Even daddy likes to climb ;)

yorkiepoo

Keaton has a new buddy, a yorkiepoo named Skippy. I hope he comes to every game ;). Those two guys could play all day!

go stealers

Aiden's giving tball a whirl on his new team - the Stealers! Too bad you don't actually steal bases in tball since there isn't an official pitcher, and you're lucky if the kids remember to run the bases without stealing ;). There is something adorable about a swing and a miss. Even more adorable are the giant hats and shirts with the little skinny 'dirt resistant' pants. Aiden got lucky and managed to get on the team with his favorite color red shirts.

The opening day was a tiny bit muddy from rain the day before, but the sun was shining high. Aiden discovered the usefulness of a giant hat brim. He fielded the ball a few times, made it on base after two hits, and pretty much wanted to stay on the base once he got there. There were lotsa kids that would freeze and look around as everyone yelled run - ironic because usually you can't prevent them from running around?!

We now have a tee and a metal bat of our own - eek - definitely a KC naptime activity!

bees

Sometimes when we head out right after picking up Aiden from school he likes to call us "busy bumblebees ... biz buzz!". We had our bee costumes on this week in the 90 degree temperatures!
Highlights:
- Enjoying the front yard (full of cute purple weed flowers) and playgrounds before the possible invasion of cicadas that are emerging from the ground after 17 years!
- A Jubilee gala and auction for Aiden's school - actually danced in between taking tons of photos and video
- A quick visit with one of my favorite people
- Orso kids night pizza and noodles! Plus Rio deliciousness... Plus Thai food coming up next!
- Visits with my cousin - more coming soon
- A field trip for Aiden to learn about the butterflies at Green Springs
- Aiden's first tball practice (he missed the first because he had a stummy ache)
- Visited a bunch of houses with a realtor to determine where we might live next
- My first weaving class where they have a yarn library (!) where I learned how much I have to learn
- Lotsa playdoh playtime

doc

I almost forgot to post KC's doctor visit amidst this busy week. It started off with an early nap in the car where I had to wake him in order to come in and wait an hour for the very behind schedule doctor. KC was very happy to take notes on the info sheet clipboard and pretend he was the doctor. He finally got called back and he introduced himself to the nurse as "Doctor Keaton!" They weighed and measured him on the big boy scale, which is something that always makes me realize how big he really is now. His stats: Head 50.5, Weight 27, Height 34.5. He's solidly right on his growth curve around the 50-60 percentile BMI but that narrow head is at the 99th percentile. It honestly seems tiny compared to Aiden's off the charts head, but the shape must be deceiving or we are desensitized to giant cute baby heads. He loved using his stethoscope on the doctor and the walls and chairs. He lounged back with his hands behind his head like a lounge lizard on the exam table. He answered the doctor's questions and she said she could understand most of what he said. He didn't have any shots (thank goodness because he was sick earlier that morning and those mystery bugs are something we are trying to figure out), but he had the worst blood draw. Two pricks because they missed the first time! Ug, when they unwrapped the second needle he screamed, "no tanks youuu!". So sad and cute at the same time. It was over and we were on our way. And all those labs were clear... A happy, healthy two year old Dr. Keaton.

sliding

We are sliding into shorts weather with a hot high of 96 degrees today! I hope we don't skip Spring!

strumming

Our little Beatles lover just sitting around in a lion chair, strumming and singing Here Comes the Sun.

beatles bash

KC's Birthday Beatles Beach Bash! We had a nice 60 degree sunny day with one uninvited guest: the wind! It was more fun to guess the Beatles song food references than watch the little food tags fly all over the beach ;). Some of my favorites: "All You Need Is Love and Sweets," "I Am the Deviled Eggman," "Jello, Goodbye," "All the Lonely Pitachips," "Veggies and Dip La Di, Dip La Da," "Sgt, Pepperoni Pizza," "They Say It Is Your Birthday Cake," "Octopus Garden Fruit Salad" - most collected online - J's true original was Trader Jo Jo cookies with "Jo Jo Cookie Was a Man"... I could go on since we also had Meatball Mania on Eleanor Rollsby... But you get the over the top idea, we humored ourselves with the menu - even Aiden had all the references ;)

 The cake, still in its carrier, literally blew off the table, but was still presentable and edible. It was supposed to be the white album but I couldn't help but add some funky sugar paper around it. It's good that I did because it kept it together on its ride through the wind.

 The Penny Lane Pile where the kids dug for pennies in the sand was a hit. The Dig It Beatles inspired sand structures were mostly names of songs written in the sand like Help! The little wooden instruments were decorated so they were ready to rock. There was even an impromptu freeze dance thanks to Aiden's grooves. KC wanted tons of time on the swings and you get what you want at your birthday party, right?!

 Thanks to everyone for coming and for the fun presents (Mickey is in da house - he must be a Beatles fan too ;)

More photos here: http://flickr.com/gp/brennans/6KhF1V/

playdate

One of the coolest play dates on record - the boys immediately transformed into Star Wars guys, played all over the yard on the cool zip seat, razor big wheels, and a walk to the park to climb the big rocks.

ohio goofs

Lotsa love and goofing in Ohio!