dots

Kusama is 88 years old and has voluntarily lived in a psychiatric facility in Japan for the last 30 years. Her latest obsession is polka dots which she's incorporated into her soft tendril work.  Aiden thought everything looked like Kracken arms...

obliterate

At the end of the exhibit, they give you a sticker sheet to add to the obliteration room which started as completely white everything.  It was so interesting to see at nearly maximum coverage as the exhibit closes this week.  There were so many pockets of concentrated stickers which was interesting.  Aiden enjoyed actually playing the piano.

field trip

I was lucky enough to get a coveted chaperone spot for Aiden's field trip to Cherry Hill. They combined science and social studies looking at the history of the old farm and all the simple machines they used.

band

Fürst Try debuted at the Spring Fling!  It rained so they moved them into the cafeteria, but they rocked it out. The boys were pumped to dance and J even called us up there to sing with him (usually my kryptonite of shy, but Keaton's enthusiasm was contagious)

rocky

Rocky and his mini face painted raccoon buddy cruising around the school's annual Spring Fling!  The big hammer game was right outside of Keaton's classroom ;)  It's fun to see the building transformed into a big playground, but it was too bad there wasn't a spring, sunny day.  

games

Thumbs up to fun games and chocolate fountains!

bounce

The velcro wall was a definite highlight!  The epic brother jousting battle that ended in Aiden throwing himself off the side with the weight of the jousting stick... so Keaton, who could barely hold the heavy stick, triumphed!

easter morning

Easter morning homemade monkey bread (thanks Lizzie!) and baskets full of fun from the Easter bunny! (Thanks G&P!)

egg decorating

Perfect rainbow eggs, jive 3D glasses, and dye rollers!  So much fun decorating in superhero garbage bags flapping in the wind ;)

easter

These smiley guys with silly putty and lotsa big cousin love - Thanks Henrichs for the really fun easter baskets!

best hunt

We reprised the egg hunt by stuffing tons of our own eggs (this time the ratio was 42 eggs per kid!) This time they had plenty of time running back and forth looking for the lucky eggs for some extra quarters and one filled with a $10 bill!

hunt?

We invaded a very crowded, under egged hunt with the cousin buddies!  The weather was picking up and it actually rained as the event ended.  But before that there were many tears, since we estimate that there was about 2-3 eggs per kid... Most kids got zero...  The youngest group was the most out of control with tons of parents and kids in a tiny space.  I recorded these hysterical expressions...  During Aiden's hunt it was so crowded. they were colliding with each other and one kid actually jumped over another not happy girl's head.  The Brennan brothers had the run to the back first method and managed to get some eggs  - they shared all the orange ones with Cam.

OH tidbits

Lotsa play time - cruising in the mini truck and bubbles!  Cheek cuddles and my sister's hair commercial hair cut ;)

more OH smiles

More smiley guys - Aussie cheese fries wins the smiley guy award!  

beach

After a quick visit in OH (we'd be back!), we left the boys to be spoiled with the grandparents and cousin buddies - forever thanks! - to take off for Maui!  J was officially in HI for a conference and I was lucky to have so much of his time.  It seems that eating with animals is a HI trend for us.  Chickens and exotic looking birds being adorable seated next to me.  Both on our honeymoon and here we had breakfast with kitty cats.  I had such a beautiful view knitting next to the beach.  We both were excited to get new koa wood rings to remember such a beautiful trip.  We are so grateful to my folks or taking care of the boys and spoiling them all week.  My sister made sure to send me cute photos of the cousin buddies. 

We stayed right on the Black Rock beach.  There were people cliff jumping and a nightly cliff torch and jump every evening at sunset.  

flowery

So, so many beautiful flowers in HI - so many that looked like fake plants, or made me think that those manufacturing the "fake" looking flowers at the craft store are actually doing a remarkably accurate job.

sailing

Such a beautiful sail through sunset... Just as we were commenting on how high the sail had to go, it got caught and one of the crew members had to be hoisted up to fix it (while waving in the wind and waves) - some action to a very nice sail with delicious pesto goat cheese salad.  Who knew that HI has delicious goat cheese?!

zip

Flying through Maui!

luau

J likes to say that theses photos of me jumping are me in my "natural state." I agree!  This luau started when I looked out from our balcony over the crackling fire just as the sun rose.  They wrapped the pig and you could smell it all day long (good thing I'm not a vegetarian).  Continuing a somewhat surprising trend, J and a few others were picked to go up and copy some luau moves up on stage in front of hundreds of people. They said that men would luau for their beloveds as a gift - and oh boy, this was my kind of gift - loved that!

HI tidbits

Such a beautiful week... It's possible that the view from breakfast won't be topped.The Sheraton upgrade was totally worth it... I don't have a photo, but one of the highlights was the bean bag chairs that float in the pool!  

up country

Bouncing around the Maui up country checking out their outrageously good donuts (Komoda in Makawao, an old HI cowboy town)

cousins

All the cousin buddies in the saaaaaaame place!  Practically on one couch!  Squeeeee

before

TAP, tap, taaaaap, is this thing on?!  Who knows what happened, but the blog broke!  It's been acting testy for months and I essentially can't do it from my phone anymore - big sad face...  but this time it would just freeze up and close at random.... and wouldn't publish any of these funny guys smiles and adventures.  I was informed by my internet help searches that blogs are dead, and no one at google cares about the blogger platform anymore... and it sounded all crazy to me because this is my record of their childhood...and they can't be old enough for a whole technology platform to go by way of the dinosaurs. But it appears that it's still holding on by a thread and/or someone came back from vacation and fixed my poor little blog.

So many moons ago we shared some April birthday smiles with this fun crew and this very smiley 8 month old waiting for his turn for some cake this summer. I laughed more that night than I had in a long time - miss them!

would you rather

Swapping in these questions which were asked to Aiden earlier - since I wanted to ask Keaton the Xmas questions back in December ;)

Would you rather be a great big giant, or a little tiny person that can fit in my hand?  A little tiny person that can fit in your hand because than I wouldn't have to walk, but could I go to school because would I be big enough to pick up the pencils?  Or would I be scared of the big kids? 

Would you rather be hairy all over or completely bald? No hair at all because I wouldn't want to be so hairy that it covers up my face.

Would you rather forget who you were or who everyone else was? Who I was since because I'd still know my friends even if I didn't know who I am.

Would you rather always lose or never play? Always lose because then I'd still be able to play!

Would you rather only be able to whisper or only be able to shout? Only be able to whisper because then at my school I'd be the best person and I'd never even be heard. 

Would you rather be a giant hamster or a tiny rhino? Giant hamster because I could say I'm the giant hamster selling cookies for everyone!

hiya

We had 21 kids ready to go and there were some serious hiyaaaas!  Birthday boy Keaton got to break two boards at two different times and then everyone got to break their own board to take home.  Pretty cool moves!

birthday six

Another birthday bash full of favorites! Keaton wanted to have it at one of the same spots we had Aiden's 8th birthday, but he wanted "Knight Ninjas" and a castle cake. Check out that sweet thank you hug to daddy for the fun cake!  He was very pumped to cut it with the real samurai sword!

west

A big perk of living in this area is friends that have really cool jobs. Our friend has worked in the West Wing and EEOB for many years, so he gave us an insider tour. We got to see the Oval Office and the Roosevelt Room up close.  The boys will tell you that they used the bathroom where the president does.  They don't allow photos in the coolest spots, but we could in the press room.

business plan

Aiden's big quarter project was to write a business plan and present it.  He created the Awesomeness which are exciting bookmarks we won't lose that keep your book binding safe.  He folded the corner characters and wove the softies. The goal was to aim to earn at least $100 dollars and his projections put him a little higher, so he came up with the idea to donate the rest to charity.

literacy night

Aiden was pumped to show off his class routine and all his fun writing work especially.  He loves the giant Yeti they created during their measurement unit.

Keaton was sick, but we still stopped by his class to see his writing journal.  The recycle man out in the front lobby at the school is pretty jazzy.

good list

The snowballs and bubble tea at the new Block that was hopping - and we found a seat anyway.  Next time we need to go for the food too.

Both boys are taking a Friday after school art class that they love.  The chalked fingers are evidence of a good time.

The Heritage Night at the school is full of treats and this year one family was giving away these cool paper cutouts.  

This funny guy likes wearing his balaclava like a hipster dude scarf.

tidbits

Some weeks just flash by as you recover from a series of unexpected events... while J was practicing downstairs on Sunday afternoon with his band (think: loud raucous) Keaton decided he wanted to take a nap because his head hurt.  Thus is very, very unlike him and I should've predicted it was going to take a bad turn. Well, he fell fast asleep and then an hour later he woke up and threw up everywhere.  Then the poor guy couldn't stop for hours... after the fourth hour and countless buckets filled, he was still trying very hard to drink water in between... but we thought we should call the doctor to prevent it from getting worse.  They were very glad we called and wanted him to come straight in to their urgent care (which is very nice and set up like an emergency room without the wait). He just couldn't stop getting sick, in the car, on the exam table... poor guy was so sleepy since it was past 9 at this point.  He fell asleep so deeply that the couldn't really wake him when the doctor came in to examine him.  She got him on some zofran which unfortunately gave him a fever and then he needed an iv for two rounds.  He was not happy until it started energizing him a bit and he was jazzed to be a cyborg ;)

Since I was pretty much house bound for a few days, it was really nice to have our new light over the kitchen table - Isn't it always refreshing to have a new fixture around?

tidbits

A few new fun things in the rotation lately, this balance game and these foamy blocko pieces to make animals.

When J is away our bedtime routine is switched up since he's usually with K while I'm with A. But it's fun when all three of us cuddle up for books read by both of the boys... 

Daddy brought home some really fun treats from his recent trips - including these cuddly sheep from his stop over in Ireland on his way home from England. I was most excited by the yarn from the Quarter Stitch in New Orleans - check out those pretty Mardi Gras colors on the Mountain Paints and the chunky cashmere I've already whipped up into a neck cozy.  It's also always nice to get some random flowers to keep us company and brighten up the house while daddy is away.

tricky

The tricky leprechaun visited at home and at school. Aiden said he did all the 'typical' stuff and dyed the toilets and milk green.  Although Aidrn isn't sure how it became a tradition to leave the presents by the toilet, and says there is even candy in the bathroom - gross!  Then there was a long discussion of what he uses to make ever thing green and the boy's verdict is that it must be pee.  Then to their horror they noticed the leprechaun had peed on Mommy's hands!  AhAhaa, ooops.  

Keaton had an actual homework project assigned to create a leprechaun trap with moving parts. He was even asked to present it in front of the class. I would've loved to see those cute presentations. Keaton said he ended his by singing the Leprechauns are Marching song his Gran taught him 👍🏼 The whole class even sang it together.

snow

A token March snow storm popped up the week before official spring (right after we planted some new grass, which we hope will be ok).  This was the only significant snow all winter, so the novelty was high and luckily the annoyance was low since it was just a few inches and the plows kept up.  We were up at the sledding hill by the tennis courts with our buddies by 9:30 and back for hot cocoa with lunch. Then it was a stuffed animal zoo for the rest of the afternoon.

leprechauns

pi day

We celebrated 3.14 with a snow day!  The boys were hyped to wear their pi-rate and Star Wars into 3.14...shirts.  They mostly spent the day making up Harry Potter themed shows, sledding, stuffed animal zoos, and games with their buddies.  The snow was hard packed ice so Aiden crunched out some footprint Pi symbols ;) Pie for dessert to top off the day!

einstein

Happy Birthday Einstein!

one sec winter

I highlighted the three cold days that had flurries, or a couple hours of accumulated snow - but tomorrow there is a real storm coming supposedly to cover all the blossoms and buds. But here are one second flashbacks over the last three months ;)

One Second Winter 2016-17 from LB on Vimeo.