tidbits

More bits of tid from the past few:

Getting ready for international day with some Asia studies with a classroom guest / Staring down some yummy serious cakes / Eggs and Apples to Apples in the morning / 100 Days charts at Aiden's school

Nursery rhymes at school - the mouse ran down the clock arm tickles, row row row your boat, puzzles, Jack jumps over the candle stick

Chilling in the playhouse "boat" steering clear of the mitten eating sharks / Lego figure movies with the backwards camera on / special request calm down with a selfie / best window seats at a favorite restaurant

mosaic

We were spoiled with nearly three full days of over 60 degree temps and a fun time hanging out in one of our favorite spots, Mosaic's S trawberry Park, watching the Olympics on the big screen while eating some of our favorite cupcakes and fruity pastries.  Soon enough the blossoms will be out in place of those dingy piles of snow... But for now there was a new batch of a couple fresh inches of snow today and yesterday ... The weather men are calling them picturesque snow globe flakes now ;)

teacher appreciation

It's teacher appreciation week, and everyone is asked to make a scrapbook page and a card for their teachers.  Keaton drew a lot of scribble pictures for her and even some dino and dog stamps.

Here is her scrapbook page with Keaton quotes:

farm

We visited the farm out near the airport as one last hurrah for a fun visit with Rebecca and her cutie pie Myles.  We got to see eight hour old lambs and many other baby lambs and piglets.  The boys raced their "turbo boosted tractors" and stomped around most of the mud puddles.

zoo

The first really beautiful - dare I say - spring like Saturday was a good day for the zoo!  Many people agree with us, but luckily they don't all come early.  We skipped the over hour long wait to be crammed into the panda house to see the new panda cub, but we did see Bao Bao's mom outside.  The consolation prize was Pan-Aiden, Aiden with panda ears.  We ate our picnic lunch right next to the orangutan's cruising the line overhead.  When we visited them in the ape house they seemed tuckered out, so one guy made a nest and even got a piece of cardboard to cover his eyes from the light.  Smart!  We got up close and personal with some meerkats and birds, found the cheetahs hiding in the grass, and watched the elephants scratching their backs.  It was nap time in the car for our youngest monkeys after that!

mama's new job

It's official, Mama got a new job!  I am inordinately excited about my new gig as a photo editor for a boutique post-production company. I've been keeping up with a few freelance (connections from my old job and Aiden's school mostly) and photography portrait gigs, but this feels like the real deal.  I even have a new company email address ;)  When I interviewed with the two owners last week (I'm lucky that they live close by since the position was offered world-wide), I felt nervous because it had been aaaages since I was in that position.  I'm getting a new x 58 key board/tablet setup going and will be completely trained with new clients by the end of the spring, just in time for the up swing in the wedding season.  I can't wait to get going with real wedding photos and I'm so excited to work with photos I love without actually taking away weekend family time to capture them ;)  It's a complete work from home, make my own hours kinda gig. It will be so great to not have to stress out about childcare, but still have a consistent creative outlet.

dino hall

They are closing the dinosaur hall in the Nat ural History Museum in April for five years!  Since we hadn't been there in a bit, we took a peek with the little guys (while Aiden celebrated his 100th day of school!). These two observant guys both take time to study and look all around.  KC was relieved he wasn't scared of "just dinosaur bones!" 

air and space

After picking up our old friends at the airport, we headed straight to the Air and Space Museum right down the way.  It was a treat for the little guys to see all the planes and KC stomped all around looking for "super long rocket boosters" and "big scary jets!"

floating

 TGIF!  We were off floating in space with a few of our favorite people!  

tidbits

I'm really liking the time capsule feeling I get from packaging up these little tidbit snapshots.  We are in full swing with spring semester and this weather (over a foot of snow on the ground with another delay today!) isn't keeping us back from our fun.  The best part of our new place is how central and close we are to all the boys' activities.  Aiden has ice skating on Mondays and Wednesdays, piano on Tuesdays, and just started back with music/drama on Saturdays (they are doing Willy Wonka's Oompas this time!) - that is a nice balanced, maxed out schedule of fun (we finished out drumming class).  Keaton loves his music class and regular school day, and the library programs are fun additions to the mix.  I took Aiden to a library program the other day which ended up being a kiddie self defense class.  You never know what to expect, but it's usually worth it...

A: A new set of gel pens thanks to the AC Moore sales. B: Aiden likes to glide like a speed skater - we've been watching the Olympics! C: playing in the crunchy, melty underneath snow as it warms and chills D: Lotsa superhero drawings 

A: New luck out banner (following give thanks, be merry, live love...). B: the group at the library bully defense class - bigger kids too C/D: Aiden's shell butterfly valentines from shells he collected that all had holes 

A/B: Goofing at Target and our favorite library. C: Picnics in the living room - Mickey loves toy soup! D: Giant Lego toys cycled in that they haven't seen in a while 

good list

Here is a gigantic clearinghouse version of the good list to kick off the week...

Clockwise from left: A: This book about a superhero squirrel captivated Aiden and he read it in a day / B: Rivers, Roads, Rails game - that we like to use to just create towns / C: Rushhour gets a lot of play time from Aiden, and Keaton loves to rearrange the cars sometimes while someone is trying to play / D: Valentine's orchids from my valentine

Clockwise from left: A: The neighborhood fox / B: "Can't Gopher That" gophers dressed like Hall and Oates on a tshirt! / C: Tulips at breakfast / D: Ice skating teachers that put stickers on your nose at the end of class 

Clockwise from left: A: Sunny red heart shaped pancakes /  B: Keaton picked out this socks for me for xmas - they have lotion in them! / C: Our valentine's mantle banner / D: A new addition to my vintage collection - a tiny HIT spy camera 

Clockwise from left: A: Air dry clay weaving / B: Making programs for Aiden's school performances / C/D: Good quotes on instagram, my happy place

Clockwise from left: A: New Gtown fuzzy blanket gets lotsa love / B: This really cool jet propelled race car track / C: Fuzzoodles and fly glasses  / D: Floatie guys

Clockwise from left: A: Pop beads! / B/C: Valentine mail boxes / D: Remote control stomping and growling dinosaur

back to music

After many delays because of all this crazy weather, we finally made it back to Keaton's favorite music class. The rec center was covered in snoopy friends trying to convince you to join and exercise.  Keaton's main attraction before class in the beach wallyball competitors you can watch from above.  This time the teacher had fun dancing buddies for them and this rock monster Keaton calls the Boogie Monster was a hit!  His weighted bean feet can really groove!

would you rather

This month Aiden decided he wanted to come with his own questions - so here is this month's Flora and Ulysses book lover, Lite Brite creator,  piano player, ice skater, wave jumper, disc swinger, snow tromper, tie wearer, valentine maker, and tooth brush tunes dancer... 

Would you rather have your first day of skate boarding on ice or dance on ice with no skates?

Dance on ice with no skates because skate boarding on ice is OUCH especially with other fast people on the rink!

Would you rather be a fuzzoodle or an imaginext figure?

Depends on which imaginext figure, if it's a superhero then I take the imaginext figure because I just love imaginext super worlds!

Would you rather live with the abominable snowman or be an elf Santa's workshop?

An elf in Santa's workshop because if you are the snowman it's chilly and you don't have a coat and you have to attack

Would rather live on the beach or on a sailboat?

On the beach because I might get seasick even though I'm usually not 

Would you rather eat real turtle tenders or octopus kabobs?

Octopus kabobs because I don't want to crack my teeth on turtle shell

Would you rather drink bath water or lemon juice?

Lemon juice because bath water normally has Keaton's pee in it

Would you rather live in a gigantic sand box filled with quick sand or inside 118 pound of snow? 

Well if I had 118 scarves I'd be fine in the cold snow but I might have to run too much to get off the quick sand - very hard! 

Would you rather live your whole life as a three year old or not born yet in your mom's belly?

Whole life as a three year old because staying in your mom's belly would be boring and you couldn't explore the world!

brothers

It's a brother double snow day/valentine's edition - not stir crazy yet but we are getting there!  Good thing they are clearing the roads (J even made it to his conference today!)

snow guys

The huge amount of snow was greeted by a mid day warm up and a bit of rain, so when we went back out to play again the snow was ready to pack into a snowman - but wooah, it was heavy!  Aiden was making me laugh with his dad's giant gloves and some seriously oversized snowballs.  We made this snow chap in the front yard and then Aiden created a second "sleeping" snow guy in the back yard.  The roads looks dicey, and there is another few inches this morning (the temps dropped and snow resumed right after J cleared the driveway completely).

happy = cake

We made a yummy cake to kick off the valentine's day excitement and keep us busy on the snow day.  Aiden was a real helper and I bet he could've made it himself if a hot, high oven wasn't involved. The moist yummy treat is still around to enjoy today...or at least some of it ;). Happy Valentine's!  It's another snow day!

snow cone

A real snow cone treat!

snow

We woke up to what Aiden called a winter wonderland (J had other names for the almost foot of heavy snow)... And the boys wanted to play right away although Keaton is mostly all talk and usually only wants to be out for a little bit.   We needed some snowshoes because we were really sinking in as we tromped along.  I have a feeling more snow fun is in store with another half a foot on the way!

dentist

The boys had dentist appointments this week on a day when both boys had school, so they were both in their extra animated, slightly tired zone.  Aiden just laid back like a pro, trying to decide which toothpaste and fluoride flavor would be less gross.  He settled on orange which seemed to be a winner.  Keaton was not happy with his bubble gum flavor choice right away.  In the photos above on the right, you can see his face after Mr. Thirsty (the sucker straw) washed away the flavor and before  he was rinsed.  He was a little more squirmy screamy this time (mostly in reaction to other kids fussing in the area around him), but he got through it. He giggled every time we said that his teeth were so shiny they blinded us now.

Here is a flashback (photos courtesy of the dentist office) from his very first dentist visit - big smile, a peace sign and summer shorts!