family photos

I say this every year, but I somehow cannot resist $12 Groupons to a photo studio (which I accidently bought two this year?!).  It's sorta like market research to see what I'm up against when I do family portraits (lesson: the photos end up being so expensive I should be charging more!). Well, my boys were ridiculously good for the full family shots and just plain ridiculous when we tried to get shots of just the two of them.  I discovered that letting Aiden be the art director and pick out whatever honky tonk prop he wanted worked some magic.  Both of them sorta looking at the camera, KC staying in one place, and at least one of them not looking drunk - key to this level of success was a fake apple, who knew?!  Overall, when you collage them together it looks like a bunch of pretty good shots.  I'm sharing a bunch, but there is another shot (Aiden's favorite) that I'm saving since it is on it's way old fashioned snail mail style to a few mailboxes.  It involves fake pumpkins and a wagon - don't worry I'll archive it here eventually.

this

Who needs an Apple computer Photobooth program when you have bath tub spickets?!

blur

The past week was sorta a blur. If someone asked me what I did this weekend I would struggle to come up with a succinct answer... Um, carted my kids to other people's houses to play with their toys, used a questionable groupon purchase to get some photos at a studio (more on that later), scored another fun Home Depot workshop toy airplane (plus Legos this time!), dropped Aiden at his first rehearsal for a show called Little Spots Holi day (where he is pumped to sing and dance like a dog!), started actually cutting out some creature powers for Aiden's birthday party, ran lotsa errands, and edited a ton of photos.

teacher pics

The teacher sent some photos from the first day of class!  These are a few favorites from our busy morning:

school boy

I can't help but start out by saying it seems like just yesterday Aiden was starting in his very first wee threes classroom in RI.  He was just about three months from three years old.  That was about three years ago!  While it seems like just yesterday I read back over his school boy post and I wonder why I expected to cry?  I can't even imagine crying now because I know what lies ahead. I know that these independent guys of mine will love school.

Keaton just turned two and half, so we were lucky that his new school had a space for a new student over 30 months (a combination of their sibling preference policy and some fire marshall rule meant that all their space for kids younger was filled).  Lucky for us they had just met for the first time one week ago, so technically he just missed the first class even though we are starting almost a whole month into Aiden's regular year.

I'd picked this school option because they had these Step into Preschool one and two day a week class options.  I figure there is no rush for a full 5 day a week program, but I really wanted him to have an outlet in a classroom because I knew he would love it.  I also liked the idea that he'd get to know the same group of friends (versus all the rec center classes where we usually see new faces with each new class).  I also had heard such great things about this Coop school and even though it was not Montessori I was happy to see that they do a lot of the same independence building for this age.

Keaton and I had a chance to visit last week to meet his new teacher and see his new classroom.  He bounced right in the door and greeted his teacher.  She showed him the class caterpillars and the growing fish, which he was really excited about.  He said the little fish where going to grow into big sharks, which made his new teacher smile.  He left saying his teacher's name with the cutest little voice, Ms. Quig-ley - which doesn't that sound like the most adorable character name for a teacher?

This morning was a bit gloomy and everyone was a little bit tired.  I struggled to get a few shots of this guy in what he calls his pack pack.  By the time we dropped off Aiden at school, Keaton told me he was ready to go home to cuddle.  When I said we were heading to his new school, he said, "No, not today, thanks" so matter of factly, I was a little bit worried I was bringing a fussy new friend to the class.  But once we pulled up in the driveway, he was ready to pop right out of the car onto the little path that leads to the school.  The school is tucked back into a wooded area, and the parking lot is surrounded by a path for safety.  It makes a nice relaxing mini hike into school.

When we got to the classroom he didn't really want to hang up his pack pack, although he figured out that it would be fun to take his picture ring hanging from his hook into the classroom hook.  So he bounced right in to meet his new friends, hang his hook, and wash his hands.  His teacher said that she liked his froggie boots and he showed how they were good for hopping.

I was so happy to stay in the classroom today to get a good feel for how his morning goes.  The first thing Keaton wanted to do during his free choice time was to make a painting at the easel.  He really stuck with this for a while with a few hand washings in between.  He fed the fish, explored the sand table, played tea with his friend and the teacher, played with puppets, arranged felt farm animals on a board, played rhythm sticks, stamped with farm stamps, painted with toy tractor wheels, sang songs together, took a walk to the playground area (before the rain poured down!), walked to the indoor activity room, slid down the slide into block towers, raced cars on the giant track, read some books, ate a snack (which was practically a full lunch with strawberries, cheese, rice crackers, and edamame.) and even celebrated his new buddies' birthday with rice crispy treats - Keaton loves singing happy birthday so that was a special treat!

That is a super full morning for a tired guy that just wanted to go home, and he handled it really well.  During the goodbye song I got lotsa hugs, and that will probably end up being the sweetest part of the day when I start coming to pick him up during that time.  Boy, I am so glad he got a spot and I just know this will be so great for him.

brothers

These brothers being brothers...  Keaton sometimes gushes "I love my big brother!" and then soon after gives Aiden a square hammer hand in the back.  Then claims it was a "lovey arm" - Yep, that pretty much sums up life with two boys.

music

A set of new music classes started this week - Aiden claims his African drumming class is his favorite activity "of all time!"  His teacher is very popular at his school for his animated fun storytelling class which is part of the regular school day in addition to music.  Keaton's new music class was also a hit - she had mini cymbals and a giant bin of monkeys to dance with!  She even trumped that fun when she brought out the parachute.

would you rather

You rather live in the Grand Canyon or live in a theme park?

Live in the Grand Canyon if I brought 5,859 water bottles with me

A road trip with no snacks or take a road trip with no music?

 No music because if I had no snacks I would get really hungry

Travel the country by train or travel the country by Camelback

Travel by train because a camel would be really slow according to Daddy

He stuck in a car with a crying baby or be stuck in a car with a crying penguins

Crying penguin are silent or really not very loud

The shower in Old Faithful or only shower in a car wash

In a car wash since old Faithful would hurt me it's too strong!

2.5 years!

Dear my two and half year old KC,

It can hardly believe that you are 2.5 years old!?  This month you begged for a big boy haircut and it transformed you into such a big kid in minutes.  I said, "I can't believe it!" the other day and you responded with "Believe it!"  It made me laugh, and made it even harder to believe that you were just a wiggly worm in my arms 2.5 years ago!

Baa baa black sheep is your favorite song.  You hum it to yourself especially as you are falling asleep.  I can hear you from behind me in your car seat slowly fading away with a baa baa here, there a baaaaaa...  You loved heading back to your favorite big room in the Rec Center for your fall music class.  The parachute time is by far your favorite and you love to sing along underneath it.

"I had a purple dragon bunny rabbit!"  This new habit of saying lotsa names I think comes from one of your favorite books, Hoppameleon.  Your other favorite potty time book was a randomly chosen: Toad Makes a Road book.  You like to see that truck full of friends come up the road at the end.  There was a froggie theme in your favorites lately.

You love reading books, but you are in charge of the pages.  You say, "No, I do reading pease!"  There are many times when you skip some pages and then want to go back to hear them later.

You had a fun time with your dad and brother on a boy's weekend while I jetted to Ohio to photograph a wedding.  There was a whole new collection of Super Friends Imaginext when I returned and many kudos to fun Target visits.  The only glitch was an attempt to eat out that you weren't feeling, but you did make it back the next day.  

When daddy headed to work one time you said, "Bye dad and have fun at Monster University!"  You think he works at a place just like the movie.  We went down to the Georgetown waterfront again this month for the pirate cruise.  So I think you think daddy works at a really fun place full of monsters, fountains, cupcakes, and shopping.

You are fairly clear in your speech, but there are few tricks that you like to throw in the mix.  You like adding -y or -ies - these are my lippies!  You also slow words down and break them into parts.  Like if you declare, I need some binoculars = knock ee lures - You are always excited when I figure out what you mean.

Thanks to your bath tub games and just general little brother behavior, the sound track to my life sounds a lot like rockets blasting - shhhswooshboom! There is always some sort of sound effect.  You like to cuddle close and make zurberts on my neck - especially when I'm trying to have a conversation.  Then when the zurbert makes a funny noise, you say, "Mommy, excuse you!"

I still wonder where you get some expressions.  Like when you were getting help climbing the wall at the playground - "It's burning! My muscles burning!" You like to try to mimic the big kids and really climb all the way to the top with help.  Now if I could figure out how to get you down easily - go, go, gadget arms Mommy!

You seem to get that Aiden was around in our family before you were born.  You even explained to Aiden, "you've been to Arizona before KC?!"  You are looking forward to our trip this month.  Or we will go to a place we haven't been for a while and you will say, "OYa, we here when I was a little guy!?"

You got a hand me down lobster costume to add to the dress up big.  The minute you saw it you wanted to head to PB Jacks because of the ocean rug.  You knew that you'd fit right in with the octopus, whale, and crabs.  There was another kid that called you a crab, and you declared,  "I'm not a crab cake!"

You have a "pine cone friend" hanging right outside the window of our second floor family room.  You wave at him and ask when he wants to come "downstairs" off the tree.  You saw a sneaky squirrely friend headed towards your pine cone and you tried to shoo him away.

You've started playing more games on your own.  You're also a good teammate.  You love playing Break the Ice and it lasts more than one round - since you used to just smash it all at once.  You sorta play Toot and Otto (essentially you think putting them in the slot is how you play) and giggling when a letter T is upside down.  You love this fun doggie bingo game where when you get three in a row you yell woof and grab the doggie friend.

You make my laugh when you ask for privacy - "pie-vi-cee" - on the potty.  You like to insist on taking a bath, so I've even let you water play clothed in the bathtub to appease you.  You love to wear the big boy elbow and knee pads and your bike helmet.  It think sometimes riding a bike is just an excuse to wear your helmet.

"Surprise! Here is my dot art!"  As you are making your dots you are yelping out "surprise!" with a certain kind of joy bug expression.  Then when you get the blue paint on your fingers (probably mostly on purpose since you are usually pretty careful when you want to be), you put up your blue pointer finger and say "I have an idea!"  

You loved running the Honey Lemonade stand with your brother.  You stuck with it for the entire two hours.  You sported a dragon costume to try to attract customer's attention and made your little lines and dots all over the chalkboard sign.  You love to run around the house picking things up and saying, "that will be fifty dollars!"  Sometimes you will try to measure things with a ruler and say that those are fifty dollars long.

Jumping up after you finish your frozen yogurt to help the other people that just walked in, mainly because you are hoping to mooch more gummy bears off them.  You love groovin to the tunes in the yogurt shop after you finish your cup and your brother still has a giant bit to eat.  You know all the Beatles songs and if one of those comes on you are especially excited.

You understand that "medicine makes me better" which I realized when you had slight fever on the first day of school.  You even know to ask for a puff if your chest feels heavy after just a few weeks of this asthma control.  You have allergic asthma and you were so brave for the scratch test to figure out what your triggers are.  You had one of the strongest reactions the allergist sees to dust mites, and two more reactions to cats and mold.  Luckily all the outdoor allergens you were clear on, but it's still a bummer.  They did a followup chest X-ray and the tech said you should be called Mr. Cooperative the super kid! She said you were the happiest and most cooperative two year old in her career.

We went to your new music class and you nearly lost your mind at the giant bin full of monkeys she brought.  You helped your monkey play the cymbals while marching around.  You like to point out the "little cute ants marching just like me" across the patio.  

You visited your new school for the first time for your new Step into Preschool one day a week class.  You can start now that you are officially 2 and a half (according to the fire marshall's rules they can only have so many children under 2.5).  You came home and told your dad you teacher's name in the cutest voice - My teacher "Mrs. Kig-lee" (Quig ley)  You loved meeting the class caterpillars and "sharks" (actually little goldfish) and you announced that they were growing.  I think it's going to be a great opportunity for you and I look forward to spending a lot of time in your classroom as a coop parent.

This was a good month to settle into a good routine, and this upcoming month we plan to mix it up a bit with some fun trips and a new school for you.  I am really looking forward to a fun month ahead...thanks for sharing those smiles and surprises with me!  
Love, Mommy

luau

It was an uber calm day out on the lake to celebrate a birthday with a luau.  There was something about being back on the beach that made Keaton seem so much older.  I didn't need to hover as much and he could take care of himself.  Keaton was happy to see some old familiar faces.  Aiden cruised in from another party at the end and collected plenty of sand to somehow accidentally dump in our bed later on - That dirty playground is a fun novelty ;)

pirates

These sea dogs were so excited to join the crew of the Boomerang out of the Georgetown Harbor.  It could be that they were hopped up on the Baked and Wired cupcakes we couldn't resist after 

parking right nearby.  These scurvy guys were ready to cruise and especially excited when the captain revealed that the key to the treasure chest was stolen and he needed their help recovering it!  The water cannons were blazing aimed at the pirate in the smaller boat that circled around waving the keys in the air.  They had pretty good aim, but the wind picked up at one point and sprayed the water back on all of us!  Once the bad pirate surrendered the keys they celebrated and danced and then enjoyed some of their candy booty!