peanutize

The promo campaign for the new Peanuts movie includes this fun create your character game at peanutizeme.com.  Check out Keaton and Aiden's creations!

Keaton:

Aiden:

Daddy:

 Mommy:

 Gran Gran:

PopPop:

nature fest

We made our way to the Nature Fest just as a few leaves are changing and fall was in the air.  They had butterflies and their caterpillars and bees and their queen.  Some fun kid crafts and face paints were fun in between animal meet n greets. The biggest surprises were the up close with a skunk (that doesn't spray) and the owl named Banshee because his screeched sounds so spooky.

good list

The supermoon eclipse was in prime time minus the cloudy day. We still were lucky enough for the clouds to break for the first part of the cycle between 9:30-10pm, and I was so excited I ran to dig out my big camera and the big, bad image stabilized prime lens. I ramped up the ISO and used that glass up to 300mm and got a few semi decent shots and I swept in with the professional editing to make them prettier.  

Keaton is all about the lacing cards now and loves to tell me he's ready to sew for me ;)

Keaton decided that a tiny hole in his sleeve would transform his shirt into some schnazzy activewear. Now he wants all his long sleeves to have thumb holes.

We added some schnazzy wheels to our Magformers set.

In the spirit of adventurous eating, J and Keaton came home with this fancy fruit called kiwano. It's has bright green jello like stuff with crunchy pumpkin seed like bits suspended inside. A tiny bit tangy, but mostly just a textural experience. Keaton munched on a bit of it, but wasn't impressed.

Lotsa afternoon play dates spent bouncing around on our friend's trampoline.

Aiden has been crafting lotsa puppets at school, most of which are animal superheroes.

run for rocky

Aiden's school hosted the Run for Rocky fundraiser a bit earlier this year.  The laps were longer and the kids were pumped to try to break the 40 laps mark.  Most of the kids in K-2 got closer to 30 and they were all tuckered out!  I was lucky to get a great shot of Aiden's whole class at the end of the run. Go Rocky!

(Aiden is 4th from the right)

stomp

This green footed monster loves to stomp and laugh!

good list

My friend planned the best belated birthday treat - tea at the Ritz!  It was a leisurely afternoon full of treats and smiles... and cream, lotsa cream!

The boys are super jazzed with the Zhu Zhu pet Kung Zhu arena they earned as fun back to school treats. They even begged G&P to bring some of their old zhu zhu pet stuff out of storage and bring in down here with them. So now there is a boat dock and a pizza shop hooked to the ends of the arena.

Keaton loves these long weeds and this one in particular that he found when we went to the corn maze has been hanging out in his car seat pocket.  He can make anything into a cuddle toy.

Some origami sabers and throwing stars go well with a robe belt for some ninja action!

This creature creator set is a favorite everytime it gets pulled out.  The creature lineup is pretty creative ;)

The bath station at Buildabear is a must visit spot for Keaton especially.  It digitally allows you to create suds, push ducks and bubbles around, and then drains automatically when bath time is up.

Many rockstar moments jamming just like his brother!

treats

I have two treats that arrive every week. One is the Tuesday folder full of goodies from Aiden's school. Usually I only get a sliver of what goes on from it and he tells me much more, but it's still a tiny window to see what the school sends home every week.  The other treat is the long juicy teacher email documenting every activity and book highlighted in Keaton's class every day complete with a big set of pictures. It's awesome and I will miss it next year!  It's fun to get a full glimpse into his week. Here are some photos from his first week:

swim

We are a few weeks into swim class season at the Rec Center. I managed to get their classes at the same time. Aiden loves his gentle drill sergeant type instructor. We tried a new spot this time and the PeeWee 3 class is held in the over 4 feet area!? So Keaton is still getting used to not reaching the bottom.  Only one out of the 7 kids actually manages to get the rings off the bottom of the pool, but the teacher has high hopes... we will see!

Gran and Pop even had a chance to come with us when they were in town and hang out in the viewing spot ;) How many kids can fit with G on the chair?!

wacky wed

It's spirit week at school - so that means it is Wacky Wednesday!

rest

The rest position song starring the three day old violinist and his tiny violin!

"Rest position, feet in line, scroll in front, that's mighty fine. Check your bridge, cause it should be, peeking out at you and me. Now we learn to take a bow, one, two, three and pop! is how!"

pep

I made it into Aiden's school to catch the pep rally full of superheroes ready for the Run for Rocky (the school's raccoon mascot).  Aiden was hoisted in the air by Robin!  He had the biggest smile that reminded me of Howdy Doody because his jaw looked separate from his face ;)

His composure in front of all his classmates and so much about him reminds me that he's such a big kid now.  I am especially reminded when he enjoys quiet moments with us after Keaton is tucked into bed where he reads voraciously.

iBot

I think of the Children's Sci Cen Lab as our new P B Jacks - a new place to hang out and explore.  We headed there for a special afternoon presentation from a lego robotics team.  I turned out it was a group of kids pretty close to Aiden's age so both the boys gave them all their attention, even Keaton had good questions about how they make the lego robot move.  Aiden was excited to answer their questions to the audience on how they might solve a programming issue.

violin

Keaton and the tiniest violin I've ever seen started a group music class yesterday. He learned how to hold it and pluck out a tune to learn the names of the strings. Now I catch him singing, "Each, each, each and every Ant, ant, ant digging in the Dirt, dirt, dirt all the way to Greece, greece, greece..."  She highlights a different composer each week and this week it's Bach. He colored his face completely blue ;)

fair

The county fairs around here are very popular! This one had tons of vendors selling some fun stuff. The boys were immediately drawn to the wooden toys and these adorable marionettes. Aiden took his Rocky the Raccoon in to share with his classmates, since his school mascot is the raccoon. Keaton wanted to take his in to share during his sharing time too. I had forgotten how fun marionettes can be.

At the fair, we were greeted by some pretty serious celebrities in this house, Olaf and a minion. The boys made it in the Flying Dragon ride. They were the little daredevils with their hands in the air as they swung way up and back.

space

The Air and Space Museum is the perfect spot on a rainy day with grandparents visiting. It was especially nice because they had a special event all about space and Mars. The boys love the stations they setup with interactive space training equipment. The most memorable was a vacuum that imitated what would happen to a marshmallow in space.

KC's first day

Keaton finally started back to school this week and he was readdddy! He was lucky that G&P were here to see him off in the morning. He was pretty pumped and his expressions during some of the pics are classic wild eyes! He was just ready to get to school just like on his first day a few years back (click to see that tiny school boy). He calmly walked in and even asked to get a photo with his teacher at the door. He's such a lucky duck and has the same teacher he had for the 2 year old class who is now teaching the 4 year olds.

At drop off, he bounced right in the door and gave his buddy a big hug. He switched his photo on the welcome board, washed his hands, and was ready to play!  A funny stories from his teacher: On the first day during snack time someone asked if anyone had any jokes to share, Keaton didn't skip a beat and threw out a dark one - "What did the little pig say when his mom offered him bacon? Grandma?!"  His teacher was laughing about how impeccable his delivery was and I was grateful that the other kids didn't really get it ;). He's following in his jokester brother's footsteps and it reminds me of the joke book Aiden's preschool class created to teach the kids about appropriate humor - ha!

great country

Flashing back to a nice warm day when the boys were covered in corn dust, dirt, and sweat after a really good visit to the farm.

home depot

Playing some catch up as the school year gets going, so here are some photos from our home depot latest creations... Keaton wanted to the make the same football game from the picture with the addition of some dots that he carefully explained were supposed to the be the crowd from a distance.  Aiden decided to make his footballs into torpedo instead and paint his board to look like a battleship. Two different toss games to take home!

corn maze

The boys conquered their first corn maze. The mystique and excitement quickly wore off when they realized it wasn't just running around giggling and chasing each other because we had to stick together and not get lost.  Instead these setups are more like marches back and forth under the hot sun while making sure you don't get eaten by bugs or snakes... We made it out without trouble, but it may be the last time they beg for a trip through a maze.

sci cen

This summer saw a shift away from the kiddie play area especially for Aiden, but luckily there are convenient spots like the new Children's Science Center where we can hang out and pop in whenever we want with a membership. They had added these Little Bits magnetic electric circuits and a new salt battery station this past time. They had finished creating the hologram they were fabricating when we were there last time. 

happy first day

Aiden and Keaton never started sleeping in this summer and are usually up revving the engines in the 6 o'clock hour.  This is literally three hours before Aiden's bus is scheduled to arrive at 9:03am, so we have plenty of time for breakfast and fun and games all around. This morning felt like any other morning and like we'd already clicked into a routine. Both boys geared up in their new skechers sneakers   and they were ready to go. The bus showed up on time today and Aiden marched right on ready to see his friends and greet the same teacher that he had last year in his 1st/2nd grade split- but this year he's an older kid and gets to take the lead. It's such a long day we definitely missed Aiden since he doesn't hop off the bus until around 4:20. It felt like a pretty familiar day because this summer seemed so short, but I'm glad that Aiden was happy to be back in the groove. Keaton is ready for his turn next week.

one sec summer

This summer flew by! Seems like my big guy just ran off the bus on the last day of school and he marched right back on this morning... Here is our summer in one second a day:
One second summer from LB on Vimeo.

good list

The fall playdates have resumed and they snuck one in before school starts, so Aiden got to come and cruise around on his scooter.  We attempted to take a ride on the new nature cruise boat at Burke Lake, but it was sold out, but we'll go back when the weather cools off. Instead, the big playground called our name and a trip to the ice cream shop topped off the warm day. 

We got another set of crazy pipe cleaner type fuzz oodles.  Aiden takes custom faux hat orders.  The little animal drawing that Aiden added to this matchup page were fun. The paper rocket boosters jet around the house, and Keaton is so happy Aiden made one just for him - all blue!  We were playing with our buddies as the moved into their new house, which came with a fun foosball table - score! 

the new chair

We have some celebrating to do around here because in addition to earning tenure earlier this summer, J was just appointed to a named research chair position. This happened on the same day that his sixth book came out. The boys were excited to get balloons and decorate our driveway with chalk drawings of chairs (especially rocking chairs because he rocks) and a red carpet - teehee!  Keaton asked where his actual chair was that he earned ;)

lancaster

While we were away in Lancaster, we got a chance to see a bit more of the area. We stayed at an old cork factory converted into an inn. The restaurant was serving chicken and waffles soup I still can't stop thinking about - so yummy with a slight sweetness.  We had some time to burn before bedtime so we went to check out Franklin and Marshall's campus. We found the longest, yet slowest slide built into the hill. 

interview with KC

You are such a funny duck, especially when you insist, "I sleep with my eyes open!"  You loved going to two little camps this months and the counselors were so nice to you. You liked one in particular and you'd want to say bye to her everyday, "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" 

You were dying for your chance to talk to Abs0lutely Mindy on the radio and you finally got your chance. She was asking what you can't absolutely wait for this summer. You started right in telling her you can't wait to go on a train, and when she asked what kind of train you said you love the metro and any kind of train. You were sad I didn't get to record it or hear it replayed, but you'll still have the excitement of the moment. Your other favorite excited moment is every evening as you read stories to daddy you run over to tell me what words you've read! You get so excited your little smile doubles!

One word to describe you would be: funny!

Why do you like being a kid? It's just fun because you can play with toys and I don't want to turn into a grown up 

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? I would be a boy little baby lion because I like babies and I like lions

Tell about a funny time in your life. 

When we were playing tug of war with the bubble pop stuff and it kept ripping and we'd go ahhhh!

What is your favorite thing to do? Why? 

Field trips because they are awesome and I can go to Great Wolf Lodge

What do you love most about your sibling? He plays with me especially castle and batman!

What was the nicest thing you did for someone? Help at my camp cleanup

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now? Typing stuff

What is the grossest thing you can think of? Aiden's boogers

What is your happiest memory? Great Wolf Lodge when I beat the red dragon and the goblin king

more williamsburg

Some more favorite spots at Williamsburg included the Palace which has walls covered in over 550 weapons including Keaton's favorite swords! The well with a hidden drinking fountain was a surprise.

They had a kid's program to help with an archeological dig of an old store. The kids found all sorts of treasures including lotsa gnarly nails, old plates, ceramic pipe pieces, bone, teeth and tons of glass. Keaton especially liked finding the metal with his magnet. It was a really cool experience and everything they find will actually be catalogued and recorded.

We were so jazzed on the RevQuest hunt that we took on the continuation at the art museum. They earned a pin by finding the second half of the cipher and clues hidden amongst the coolest old dollhouses.

fav williamsburg

If you ask these guys their favorite parts of Williamsburg, you will hear something different nearly every time, which to me is a really good sign that they had a great time exploring there. Both boys never wanted to leave the hedge maze behind the Palace. Keaton was determined to get the hoop and stick game down. 

By far the most exciting part of our visit was playing the RevQuest which is like a secret spy mission around the entire town.  You collect clues from "agents" and secret maps and codes that are hidden all over. You figure out how to save the revolution by determining the size of enemy forces and where they are headed. When you succeed you reunite with an agent who rewards you a cool coin.

The military encampment was definitely a favorite. They trained the boys in drumming and holding a bayonet, and then showed them their living quarters. While we were there we even inadvertently ended up in a marching unit that followed the reenactors to the center of the field where they were acting and shooting the canons.

The warm ginger cakes straight out of the wood burning oven were such a treat and smelled so good. The Woodlands were we stayed had a rocking cool splash pad that was the perfect spot after a long day .

williamsburg

We made it the Revolutionary City in Williamsburg on this swing down south. I was worried I was going to have some boys begging to go back to Great Wolf Lodge, but instead the boys were continuously excited by all sorts of hidden gems all around the historical town. They were begging for three point hats the minute they saw other kids wearing them. They helped out at the most interactive house where they put you to work and play 18th century games with you. I have plenty more photos to share, coming soon...