more lights

More cool lights all over the botanical garden!  The coolest new addition were these glasses that reflect different images on every light - You can see the santas on the image in the middle image below that I took through the glasses.

lights

Lights at Meadowlark + a nice mild evening + the grandparents in town = perfect combo!

The letters to Santa include some surprises for mom (either that or they can't really remember what they want so they made up new stuff) Keaton's says Space Imaginext, and Ice Ronk (which is some Star Wars thing?) Aidan's says Castle Imaginext, books, Lego Batman and Minecraft.

school is cool

More class pics with all sorts of glimpses into Keaton's mornings at school... No wonder he never hesitates to get ready for school and asks hopefully on the weekends - "Is it a school day?!"

For our quick morning visit during Family Friday, Keaton and I got to paint each other's hands to create those fun googly eyed turkeys.

sketchy

This guy brings home some sketches from school nearly everyday, in addition to adding to his sketch book.

tidbits

This turkey did a bunch of fun Thanksgiving rotations to different classrooms this past week.  One class hosted this fun turkey hat activity.

Check out that static in Keaton's hair on his buddies' trampoline - a favorite spot on these mild afternoons!

Some Tutti Fruitti to top off some fresh hair cuts!

Tom Turkey is a tradition at Aiden's school - each kid makes a different "disguise" for the turkey and they all get hung up at the luncheon.  Aiden has a fun idea to have his turkey wear a "brick suit" so that he blends in to the wall ;)

This guy rocked some hair gel and a whale spout on crazy hair day!  Another parent said he was "nearly unrecognizable" with that funny hair... Ha! There were other kids with purple hair and funny clips all over - so fun!

They are repaving nearly all the streets in our neighborhood.  When they were out in front of our house Keaton was mesmerized for the whole afternoon.

We are getting our lego collection under control - woot! Sorting the pieces gives them all a new life and makes it so much easier to play with them.  We still always play with them on a sheet or towel so they are easy to shake into the container.

skating

The best way to round out a busy week was a trip to Tyson's to skate and drink milkshakes!  Keaton had the best deal going and mostly glided around in that walker. There were people in shorts on a beautiful mid sixties day out on the refridgerated ice puddle. It was pretty slick but Aiden was zipping around really enjoying it especially.  He even helped Keaton and his friend scoot around.  The kids played off their milkshake rush on the big ship playground right next door to the Shake Shack. 

bowling

Again this year, we invited old friends to the preschool bowling fundraiser.  This time with the help of the dino ramp! No winners or losers, but the ringer always wins especially with the four year old helping him with a strike ;)

tidbits

These days start and end early around here lately... whoosh, so dark right after Aiden gets home!  We hadn't been to make your own pizza night in a long time! It was make your own "muddy putty" day at school - He played with that stuff for so long until it got so sticky it stuck to his shirt and pants - boo! The homework is ramping up and Keaton insists that he gets his very own homework sheet - which was a leftover from Destination Imagination. Keaton has been so pumped to join in on the meetings when J has been out of town. Swinging in our buddies' new backyard on these beautiful mild afternoons.

These guys were pumped up for some Fun Dips - "Mom, even the stick is made from sugar!"  It was spirit week Mustache Day and we made our own t-shirt - I "mustache" you a question!? He was excited to have a tiny mustache drawn on the side of his finger. That LED mustache necklace came in our boo bucket. Getting some ideas going for Crazy Hair Day at Keaton's school.  He's going for a mohawk, but we'll see what we end up with on the actual day ;)  The drawing rage continues around here.  There are so many fun drawings making their way into that sketch book.

school is cool

Still love all of the photos from Keaton's class we get with the newsletter each week!  The big hit around there lately are clipboards and white boards to "take notes" on everything ;) That light table is always a favorite and it's so cute to see all the little faces crowded around it.  Also, you would never realize how fun it is to play with blocks and a hair dryer...

gladiators

This cardboard gladiator kit is a hit. Thanks G&P! You know what is especially fun, when your kid wakes you up in the morning wearing that gladiator mask two inches from your face...ha!

interview with KC

One word to describe you would be:
Happy

Why do you like being a kid?
Because it's fun to play and stuff even if parents don't like to because they like to do boring stuff, like this.

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?

A cub tiger because tigers are cool.

Tell about a funny time in your life.
When PopPop says "good stuff cheap!" like that guy on the commercial

What is your favorite thing to do? Why?

Play because I have a rover!

What do you love most about your sibling?
Because he plays with me sometimes

What was the nicest thing you did for someone?

Clean up my toys

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?
I think spraying water because I'd be a fireman!

What is the grossest thing you can think of?
Smelling my poo, I mean Aiden's!

What is your happiest memory?
When Aiden shared with me one time

hiya eight

This eight year old was pumped for his party at a Taekwondo place. The cake was cut with a real samaurai sword and every kid got to break a board. We invited a whole schlew of kids and ended up with 30 kids. I was happy that I could include their younger and older siblings (which is always nice for my boys). The masters were amazing at keeping all their attention and running some funny drills. The favorite was the birthday song followed by a big group hug for the birthday boy.

bday party video

More coming soon!
Aiden's 8th Birthday from LB on Vimeo.

good list

Some additions to the good list: Birthday Edition. Aiden was pumped for some Shake Shack on his birthday - yummy choco pb shake!  

The boys spent a lot of time searching under our massive leaf cover with Aiden's new metal detector - cool - thx!

I made a big batch of pumpkin spice donut for Aiden to take into school for his birthday.  If he has extra treats to pass out, he gets to go around sharing them with all the teachers who give him little birthday treats.

This giant Imaginext Spacerover is a huge hit!  It talks to other alien ships and is really pretty awesome!  Thx!

We let Aiden pick out a big lego set at the Lego Store on his birthday which is something he dreams about every year.  Since he has broken the seal on Minecraft lately, he was so excited to build a "real" Minecraft area out of actual legos.  Worlds collide!

This melodica is one of Aiden's favorites.  He can actually tap out his recital song, the Beatles' Blackbird and has created some of his own tunes like the Walking Professor.

This Harry Potter fan is now decked out with his own robe, tie, and glasses.  He's at such a good age for finding presents I'm sure he'll love!

Aiden is the master pancake maker now with these ghosties he flipped up for all of us on Halloween.

A trip to Ikea where even though the restaurant was closed for renovation we still got some meatballs.  Keaton came home with a new tool set that he was super excited about!  It's fun to get new presents while your brother is getting showered with bday presents.  Thx!

Gran strikes again with a fun little treasure hunt complete with this imaginext guy heart. The final spot held some mula mula which was already spent on some new Imaginext guys - Thx!

Watching funny cat videos with G&P is a big giggle fest!

climbing

There is one thing cooler than having a school off on your birthday = this Climbzone!  It was such a cool climbing gym with 63 themes and 75 auto belay spots!  The boys climbed for three hours and would've kept going!  There were bounce houses and slides too.  It was every kid's dream place and I couldn't stop taking photos.

old friends

If I could pick my neighbors, every one of these folks would be on my list.  When I heard my college roommate was coming to town from Wyoming, it was a very good excuse for brunch the day after Halloween.  The kids out number us and were all sweet with each other.  New friends along with the old ;)  My roommate Kelli and I used to joke about our kids getting together and somehow we thought it was hilarious to think that they would try to beat each other up with these pillow puncher gloves she kept in our dorm room. Her mom has kept those vintage (20 year old plus?!) gloves and she brought them with her! It was funny to see her two year old's reaction to Aiden telling her to pop him in the belly. Haha!

treating

On actual Halloween, our friends up the street invited everyone to their culdesac for some pre-trick fun and snacks.  The kids were all swarming around ready to buzz by some houses for treats as soon as it got dark.  The look on Keaton's face in that photo was when we handed him his bag and told him it was finally time to go collect candy!  These guys were so pumped and really booked it through the neighborhood.  Somehow despite being out for 90 minutes, we ended up with what felt like a smaller haul than other years with 81 and 94 pieces of candy.  Keaton kept up with his brother just like one of the big kids. I was thankful that my folks could hand out candy at our house too!  Aiden asked for an owl pumpkin (to make me happy) and J helped execute ;)

hallows eve

The Halloween celebrations continued with a parade/party at both of the boys' schools. Then G&P cruised into town to add to the fun!  We made it to the neighborhood party where Aiden went home with the "best dancer" glory.  Both boys were tiiiired, but still looking forward to the actual trick or treating the next day.  

wild west

The Goat Village and Wild West spot at the farm are a big hit!  There were so many cute baby goats!

cox farm

Back tracking to photos from a week ago at Cox Farms since I'm in photo overload right now.  That place is such a fun spot and it was especially nice on this not so crowded weekend day.  Since it was rainy earlier in the day it scared off the crowds.

We made two loops through the Imaginature trail which is a great match with these boys' imaginations. There was a dragon, a mad hatter's party, an instrument house, the three bear's house, and so much more fun stuff all along the wooded path.

Can't beat an apple cider donut snack in between rides down the mega slides!  The Cornundrum maze has those giant cards and other stuff that Aiden felt was too spooky for him so we took a detour around most of the little huts full of lizards or pirates or other random stuff.  But he overcame his worries to make a fun trip on the hay ride - and he loved it!