instagrams from the beach

#bkofuninthesun2015

more good list

Keaton made me a nice card with the help of his brother.  He drew a picture of us on a heart he cut out and asked Aiden to write "Mommy calming me down" to describe it. 

This ukulele band does quite the concert at 6:30am!

We have a playdate swap going this summer.  Woot for extra time to get some work done without kiddos and routine playdates!

Aidan's class put together a scrapbook for their teacher and this was the page that Aiden made...classic.

A good day ends with these two guys curled up reading together.

This funny goof is going to love having his brother home this summer.  We said good bye to blue bear and blue bird at his music class, for that may have been his last class since he's in school five mornings a week next year (and they don't usually run afternoon classes)... That means that was my last kiddie music class too, and I'm a little bit sad that an era is over.

tenure!

Our rockstar daddy officially added tenure to his list of accomplishments! It feels like the biggest deal in the most anticlimactic way. Ironic like a smiley family wearing Meh superhero shirts ;) We are proud of you J every step of the way!  Glad we were at the beach to cheers a little and I know you're enjoying that new fancy guitar!

jet

Creating with paper fun!  During their discovery time at school, the kids would use paper to make up so much cool stuff.  Aiden was especially excited about his jet pack creation complete with controllers and extra engines.

tidbits

Some bits of tid...

This guy with his froggie umbrella wanted a picture with the sunflower he planted that is getting taller every day. 

He also remembered these funny photos of him coming out of a cup and wanted me to take another one. 

Then the rec center had just started painting their summer camp murals and he really wanted a picture of them to show his brother.

This cool cat with red sunnies is even cooler with an ice cream cone.

The last two weeks of school were really exciting for Aiden - I don't have photos from his field day fun, but his dad went into help and lead the kids from station to station.

His music teacher did a showcase for the parents and Aiden was on the xylophone for the retelling of the gingerbread man story.

We met up with friends at this play area full of giant fruit to climb on... perfect for this fruit lover extraordinaire.

art by ab

Some of my favorite art projects from Aiden...

He worked so hard on this stitching project.

The hand flower was part of a Mother's Day treat.

The drawings here were made in his after school drawing club where he loved meeting and laughing with some big kids.

The top left and bottom right are part of a series that Aiden called... "Things are tough for bunnies..." You can see he wrote it on the tanagrams on the bunny and the fox.  He used this drawing book in his class to draw the falcom and the bunny.

The top right are prints made from the foam cutout (on the bottom).

Aidan's go to birthday card includes his homemade hidden pictures.

happy dad's day

end of year party

I volunteered to help with the class party for Aiden's class.  This neighborhood is so wonderful and families that live close to the school volunteer to host the parties at their house and everyone walks over for the fun. It was a giant water balloon, bubble, craft, ice cream social - the things that first and second grade memories are made of! 

school photo

School's out for summer!  This guy is officially a second grader ready for the summer!

second grader!

hyperlapses

While I'm on a video kick, here is my montage of a bunch of the hyperlapses we recorded at the bus stop starting the first week to the last week of first grade! The hyperlapse app never gets old and the boys still giggle everytime they speed up their taped trot back and forth.

A Year at the Bus Stop - Hyperlapses from LB on Vimeo.

lifecycles

The five classes in Aiden's "family" at school (two kindergartens, and three first/second grade splits) presented this fun musical on Lifecycles! Aides is the second blue snake from the left with the sunglasses that speaks into the mic with the girl in the red.  These kids really all did a great job on such a fun creative show!

Here is the full show: https://youtu.be/o8jbaDyBBA4

And here are the snips I took:

Life Cycles Show from LB on Vimeo.

yards park

These pool rats loved the fountains and splash pools at Yards Park. The hot day attracted lotsa other pool rats, so it was a hot spot in more ways than one.

Splash from LB on Vimeo.

one sec spring

It's a one second everyday spring edition!
One Second Spring! from LB on Vimeo.

flying!

good list

Some fun bits that qualify as good... I uncharacteristically was really into the Serial podcast series and the producer and host of the show are now "on tour" and made an appearance at Wolftrap. They revealed their process for developing the show and I would love their jobs. They thought/hoped would get at least 300,000 listeners and now Serial has over 85,000,000 listens from all but two countries in the world!!

Aiden's resource teacher is giving him word math problems which he loves!

The first batch of Del's frozen lemonade imported from RI - thanks to my thoughtful husband for our anniversary.  Then for the impossible to buy presents for husband of mine - I got him an outdoor loveseat for our screened in porch - so romantic huh?! But he had mentioned he'd like to read on something comfy out there, so I schnazzed up the space.

We snuck out for a donut on National Doughnut Day - as if we need an excuse!

We enjoyed an anniversary brunch with mimosas - mine was pineapple, yes please.

Keaton loved the gym jam and nature lovers sessions of his variety zone class. He wants his own lacrosse stick. He worked hard to line up all those zebra stripes on that fun puppet!

blue lips

Lotsa smiles and blue lips in the chilly pool lately, but the boys are always up for a dip in the pool. Pool rats already this year!

games

It's game stop Frrriday! Some of the favorites and few new ones that Keaton can keep up with around here. 

Castellan came from xmas time and got lost in the big toy shuffle and is just now getting some attention. It's a good strategy game that Keaton can still play randomly and sometimes luck out.

Squishy sand pizza parties are a big hit around here.  He can make those sandy pies all afternoon!

Zingo with letters (and the reloading tile container) is a fairly new edition around here.

Aiden made up his own card game called Battle Cards and he and daddy worked to refine it and make it run even smoother.  Keaton thinks it's really funny to call the joker card the Harley Quinn card.

Keaton and the BopIt have a love hate relationship. He likes to team up with me, and is learning to recover when he doesn't quite get with the rhythm. It's like an exercise in frustration literally.

Zooreka will probably be a favorite around here for many years to come. It's really fun for Keaton to genuinely play on his own now.

These tiny magnets make symmetry and tessellation into a fun game.  Aiden likes to alternate with the person across from his to match each other.

PigzUp has a fun flipping card component and a fun challenge to stack the tricky pigs as fast as you can. Funny felt eared wooden pigs are always going to attract attention around here ;)

parade

The summer season start was celebrated with the neighborhood parade and party at the pool.  This year we watched from the front yard where the little cars gave us a good show and the clown came to say hi - and scooted off when Keaton pretended to be a circus lion and scared him away.  We then walked down to the pool for the cookout and the well loved snow cone machine.

soccer

Soccer season ended with a flourish of medals and patches on top of the very coveted little kicker shirt (which has an adorable little ball next to a big smiley ball).  In their matches, Keaton would get right in there and was actually scoring goals...usually in the right net.  He said he wants to sign up again tomorrow... Lots of things happen tomorrow, like he will tell you that he turns five tomorrow, how about more like ten months from tomorrow?!

franklin

Aiden picked Benjamin Franklin to do his big Biography report this year. He wrote a nearly ten page, handwritten report after reading his nonfiction book about Ben. Then he set out to tell the story (without reading notes!) with a visual.  Here is a rough version of his final report and I wish I could've seen what he actually shared with his class. He came home with a pep in his step, so I'm really glad it went well for him and he had nice comments from his teacher and classmates.

Biography Report from LB on Vimeo.

tidbits

Little bits from the last couple...

The top left is a common sight waiting at the bus stop in the morning.  Aiden finds a shady spot to read while Keaton tries to hug it out… I think they are both going to like it when they get to stay home together.

J's new baby a M usic M an M ajesty something or other in A rctic D ream - which appears to be a different color depending on the angle and has a laser etched part that is pretty schnazzy.  This is an early present for something really big that is all but official around here…to be continued.

Keaton's Magic Kitchen class continued with a chance to make fresh whipped cream and fruit salad followed by marshmallow spiders.  His teacher is a hoot, but you should've seen all the kids faces when she suggested smearing cream cheese all over their coveted marshmallows.

Aiden worked so hard on his huge Biography report and here was the start of his poster.  I'll have to get a picture with the finished project… and maybe if I'm lucky he'll let me tape him practicing.

I've been working on some new knitting projects.  My very enthusiastic helper was a stand in for a swift while I wrapped my yarn into a ball. He literally woke up asking to help me hence the rosy cheeks and jammies.

Keaton would like everyone to know that his daddy long legs make him longer than the ukelele.

This crazy eye guy (too much pool time that day?!) with a french fry smile.

11 years!

Happy 11 years being married to this guy!  I'm feeling all schmoopy this year and can't stop sifting through old pictures... Aiden and Keaton are jazzed by the recline function on the outdoor furniture...a loveseat!...that I got for my guy to sit in the screened in porch and read (gotta convince him to work from home as much as possible)... I think I'll make some Del's frozen lemonade from the batch of mix (I think it's a year's supply!) that my guy ordered to reminisce on our time in RI. So romantic, eh?!

big game

We won some really nice Orioles tickets from Keaton's school auction again this year.  But this time Aiden picked me to take him! He busted out his Os gear and super fan was ready to go. The sea of orange heading into the warm stadium was amazing. Game time temp was 87 degrees in the bright sun, but we were both pumped up by the electric energy in the stadium - There is just something about live games! We cooled off with some ice cream in a hat (which he brought home to his brother) and some frozen lemonade. 

Aiden wanted to stay the whole over 3 hour game and was convinced that the Os could come out on top, although sadly they lost 9-5.  I think nearly every point was earned off a home run though, so that made a really excited game!  We played a game trying to predict the play and whoever earned the most points would win the difference, so Aiden left the game $7 richer.

The highlight was towards the end of the game when people started clearing out, Aiden busted out his dance moves and made it up on the Jumbotron at least twice.  I just happened to be taking his picture one of those times, although there is a big bar through the monitor screen - you can still kind see us in that photo below.  He was pumped!

school cool

Keaton's preschool 3 day 3 year old class ended this past Friday. They had a popsicle party with bubbles and games on the playground to celebrate. That same day they harvested the lettuce and radishes that they'd planted earlier in the spring. The classroom clean up that went on all week was pretty much finished so the classrooms were packed up and everything scrubbed. The best place to be was the playground on the nice breezy afternoon.  We all said goodbye to Keaton's teacher as she moves on to a new position next year.  These Ladybugs are excited to be Dragonflies next year - many with the same teacher that they had in the 2s who now teaches the 4s.  

That pointer finger to read the words is a big hit.  They did a science experiment with floating and sinking in salt and normal water.  Keaton loved telling Aiden about it after school.

interview with KC

One word to describe you would be: Happiness!

Why do you like being a kid?
Because it's just fun because I get to play

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?
Lion because they're strong and they eat good stuff and I like meat

Tell about a funny time in your life.
Oh you heard this one before, daddy asked Aiden to come over here and he walked around and then he looked at a gorilla sign, and then he said ahhh, and then he just walked over because it wasn't real

What is your favorite thing to do? Why?
My favorite thing is to play exactly! with Aiden!

What do you love most about your sibling?
He plays with me exactly!  Imaginext super heroes and nina turtles exactly!

What was the nicest thing you did for someone?
Let people know the time

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?
Typing in stuff on the computer since I'm going to be an officer, you know a professor officer!

What is the grossest thing you can think of?
Picking your nose

What is your happiest memory?
Playing by myself at home

new fun

New fun includes walking on the ceiling thanks to dad (no foot prints yet, phew) and water canons at the pool (so, so many kids had them, I give it a week until the pool bans them). In the mean time, these guys laugh pretty hard when they dodge each other's squirts.  The water is warming up over there and we are pool rats already this year.

sharing

Keaton's class had a big book of all the kids sharing throughout the year. His teacher gave us all the pages at his last day on Friday.  She also passed along all the remaining art projects. She created butterflies with all of them wrapped in a blanket "body". Then she asked them what they would say when they emerged from their chrysalis and Keaton said, "What the?! Goodness!" Phew, glad he stuck to his "polite words" as he calls them.  He will miss being a ladybug but on to the dragonflies!

visitors

Visitors this week including really great old friends and a slimy frog! It was fun to meet up with friends and break out of the normal routine around here. I ate well at two of my favorites, Founding Fathers and True Foods.

brothers

These huggie guys want to give a thumbs up to Friiiiday!  It's Keaton's last day of school, but three more weeks until Aiden is freeee for more brother hugs/head locks on the couch alllll day long.