X Y Z T

A new art space in DC called Artechouse (Art+Tech+House) is hosting an exhibit by Adrien M and Claire B from France called XYTZ. All of the interactive installations were very well done.  There were many reflections and movement reactive exhibits and even some that reacted to you blowing air or making noise. Our imaginations were filled with all sorts of interesting tidbits!

Super dramatic music for the kitschy trailer - da, da, daaaa!

X Y Z T from LB on Vimeo.

tidbits

Grad parties to celebrate, nosh on good food, and bounce their hearts out!  There has also been a stream of going away parties that I don't want to think about, but there are seasons to life...

The ice cream truck is such a treat!  On the first official day of summer we ran after it and this is the nicest ice cream guy!

The kickstarter from the Oatmeal comic strip author for his new card game Bears versus Babies arrived just in time for summer!  These guys just loved the customized funny comic they included on the packing slip.  The game is a hit!

tidbits

Right before school ended I volunteered to help at the Walk for Wishes.  I was in charge of helping the KPMG team and they were so much fun! I want to work there ;)

Birthday parties on the pool deck with cute luau buddies!

The end of the year party with the Kids Care Club had us trying out crayon melting art.  Once we had a technique to catch the splatters it was fun, although I'm still not sure if there is wax in my hair dryer ;)

gtown

They let these pirates wander around Gtown's waterfront a bit with a stop at Baked and Wired for some crazy good cupcakes!  Pirates like to make wishes by throwing pennies in every fountain they see.

pirates

Arrrr, these pirates headed out from Georgetown ready to get the treasure back with the help of water canons and dancing.  

party

Aiden's buddy invited both the boys to join in the epic birthday fun!  His birthday is legendary for the "candy cannon" that rockets candy into the air with a pressurized cannon that involves some sort of compressor.  This thing is amazing!  To top off the foam sword madness, they had plenty of water guns, some with backpacks!  The new addition this year was an epic slip and slide down the sprinkled incline into a perfectly sized pool.  These are the things of childhood memories!

eoy K

The last two weeks of school feel like one party after another for the school buddies.  The End of the Year party is a tradition at the school were the class is hosted by a family that lives within walking distance of the school.  These classroom friends were in full on competitive mode with some giant ring toss and volleying. They had tons of fun at their buddy Kellen's house and it's always fun to get a change of scenery.

eoy 3

What a great bunch for Aiden's third grade year!  These kids are active and engaged, yet just easy going enough that they are always making their teacher happy. The sheer number of watermelons and popsicles consumed in the last week of school is remarkable.

field day 3

The PE teachers put the 6th graders and the parents in charge of all the stations for the day (I think there are 18!).  We joked that it should be renamed bucket day, since almost all the games involve some sort of bucket, you are either filling it with water or tossing something into it.  The highlight is a big pvc pipe contraption hooked up to a basketball pole, called Niagara Falls, where you have to stand under it to fill your bucket with water.  Popsicles top off the morning!

field day K

Keaton's kindergarten class rocking out the water games on a toasty day!  Although, it took Keaton a while to stop asking, "but why are they spraying us with water?!" It was his dad's job to keep track of the score for these three surprisingly competitive kindergartener teams.  

last day

These 1st and 4th graders wasted no time getting off the bus and heading straight to the pool.  There was an ice cream social to attend so the summer hats were out! 

Getting to the end of a great year can be full of emotions!  When Keaton climbed off the bus and saw me he broke down a little bit because he says he will really, really miss his teacher.  All the teachers come out in front of the school and wave at the kids as they ride away on the bus and I think there are many tears (mostly of joy probably - ha!) Aiden made sure he knew that he can always go visit her next year.  Aiden was pumped for summer, but he will miss his excellent teacher too... We were really lucky to have such great teacher matches this year!

family

A rare shot of our whole family with everyone spiffed up and looking at the camera - from the A F Y P 20th Anniversary Celebration earlier this month - I love suits on all three of my boys:

singing in the rain

I realized that I never posted any video from the Singing in the Rain and Little Stars shows from the fall.  Unfortunately, my camera wasn't cooperating very well with the bright lights and focus, but you get the idea - and I got a new camera ;)

Check out Fred Astaire and Sparky the Wolf


SingingintheRainandLittleStars Fall 2016 A F Y P from LB on Vimeo.

mulan

The Little Dragons and Mulan video snippets and some more general photos from the big show. It was fun to see them from the front row ;)

The A F Y P 2017 Little Dragons from LB on Vimeo.
A F Y P 2017 M u l a n from LB on Vimeo.

one sec spring

Snippets from Spring!
One Second Spring 2017 from LB on Vimeo.

would you rather

This shiny eyed guy is getting ready to graduate from kindergarten! His favorite shirt (pictured below a bunch) is getting a little short, but the message will always be big - "Courage will take you anywhere" - I hope he always remembers that!

happy dad

Happy Father's Day!

The boys are lucky to have this motivated, hard working, brave man as their example. Daddy is always the first pick to help out at field day or play a game or read a story...  I miss the days of watching him cuddle little babies, but I look forward to the next stage of parenting with him.

grandpas

Happiest of dad's days to all these grandpas!  To my dad especially, thanks for always sharing your patience, laughs and napkin hoard with us!  

life cycles

It was Keaton's turn for the Lifecycles play with Family 1. What a treat to see him up there as a caterpillar singing his heart out to songs his brother helped him practice. His classmates were eggs (those coffee filter hats!), chrysalis, and butterflies. The cast party afterwards was a hit too!

ancient

The Temples and Tombs third grade performance including a King Tut rap and all the kids wearing snake hats, I mean come on! Then I was lucky to get a spot to volunteer for their Ancient Cultures Festival for the rest of the day. Every classroom housed a different craft and I was able to rotate with Poseidon Aiden to make Greek masks and mosaic tritons. The cultural luncheon had a big dose of ancient mac and cheese and other kid friendly, unrelated treats. The kids had fun joking about how they didn't have guacamole in ancient times ;)

AFYP

The Acting for Young People program we've enjoyed since 2013 was celebrating their 20th Anniversary.  They had a celebration at an old plantation complete with a dance floor, a big table of cupcakes, a centerpiece scavenger hunt, and a review of their performances over the years. It felt like a wedding without a bride or others joked it was a family prom. They had a photo album with autograph pages and the boys had fun asking their directors and friends.  Check out those spiffed up guys!

extra good

I think writing down a big list of all things you love on a heart is such a good exercise, especially if you fill both sides ;). Aiden's class is writing different forms of poetry and this was their way of finding topics for their poems. All those with check marks he's already written various poems about and he says he'd like to write about all his favorites. Love seeing all these favorite things loved by my favorite 9 year old!

good list

Our costume bins (there are now two busting at the seams) are full of well loved costumes (even after passing along a bunch to our cousin buddies). 

Thinking Putty is one of our favorite things lately... a little piece of the fidget toy excitement. This one truly does look like glass.

There is this funky narwhal song that the third graders can't stop singing and dabbing along to - so this shirt is what Aiden describes as a "shirt that represents my soul!" Ha!

Introducing this squishable guy, Mr. Hedgie Pokey Brennan.  His pokes quiver and he always looks like he's getting ready to run towards you. He gives the best hugs despite those tiny arms ;)

This tiny replica of J's Van Halen guitar now graces his book shelf at work.

This stuffed guitar accompanies plenty of serenades from these guys.

Love the antique shops with these really old metal canisters - Old Reliable PB, now that's some marketing!

old buddies

Old friends came back to visit and it was like they hadn't missed a day! Keaton was so surprised that "his Sydney" was back in town for a visit ;)

escaping

Man, again there is a big batch of friends escaping :(  This area just breeds that transient deal so I suppose we will get used to it...  In the meantime, we've been enjoying as much time as possible hanging out.  The Escape Room trend is a favorite of mine and we beat this White House themed room in just under an hour!  

Then my absolute favorite type of party is hanging out crafting - we decoupaged some going away presents...  

G&P

Thanks G&P for coming to visit, see the shows, and spoil us for our anniversary!

anniversary

It's happy 13!  Feeling lucky!  We snuck out to a nice dinner at Fish at the new MGM at National Harbor.  It's fun to get dressed up and go someplace new... feels refreshing!  Thanks to my folks and the boys who played and baked for us to celebrate!

dragon

The Little Dragons put on a really fun mini show with their chosen dragon characters.  Keaton was Sparky who would spit tiny sparks instead of fire.  They sang some songs and roared their way through their fun show.

hun

Aiden's character Magyar is the sassy hun soldier.  So many expressions during some pretty fun choreography and awesome songs!

after

Thanks to my folks and the Brennans for coming out to see the shows this weekend! Such great directors - the red shirts rock! We are happy to have some neighborhood carpool buddies in the show with us too.