And so it begins

It was much easier with the first child to avoid "the evils" of cartoons and those special little crackers in the shape of fish. At least for a little while.

With his big sister's influence we don't stand a chance with Brennan...

Already entranced by Disney

And going after Kaelyn's Goldfish

At least it makes him smile.  Which makes me smile.  :)

What's next on the farm?

Sitting here listening to Brennan crying in his room after the fourth attempt to put him to bed tonight.  After a late night last night at the Franklin High School football game and a long and active morning at Connor Prairie naps and bedtime pretty much fell apart today.  But, it was all worth it.  Kaelyn had been looking forward to visiting "the farm" for the past week.  This smile on her face says it all.

"Old MacDonald" is one of Kaelyn's favorite songs.  And if you've sung it with her in the past year you know that after every verse she asks, "What's next on the farm?"  Today, Kaelyn said her favorite animal was the duck.  Kaelyn was a little timid around the animals, but I can't say I blame her after she was almost run down by a lamb in the middle of the barn. The baby cow and piglets were some of the other highlights.  The pigs sure were stinky, just ask Kaelyn, but they were pretty darn cute running around chasing eachother too.  My limited photography skills don't do them justice.

She even got to brush the baby cow.

We had fun at the indoor exhibits too.  Kaelyn loved this demonstration of electricity.  Too bad it didn't give her "crazy hair" though.

Not everything went perfectly.  Why we decided not to bring the double stroller I'm not sure, but I think my left arm is still recovering from carrying a 20 pound baby for two hours.  The rain threatened to ruin our adventure all morning, but it held off and overall the visit was a success - topped off with an apple cider slushie on our way out.

Round out the day with an Irish win, yummy chili and cornbread and delicious apple dumplings for dessert and you won't hear too many complaints from me.

Soaking up the last drops of summer

To celebrate the official end of summer and beginning of autumn here are a few pictures of the kids playing outside last week on a beautiful end-of-summer evening.

"Oh little B, you're so cute!"

So ethereal in the late afternoon sunlight.

"This grass looks delicious..."

"...but it makes my nose and eyes itch."

"If Brennan can eat it, so can I."

When Life gives you apples make apple cider slushies

Kaelyn slept until 8:30 yesterday! A full hour later than she usually sleeps. So, against my better judgment, I decided it’d be ok to meet some friends at the apple orchard right before our usual nap time. Of course, as soon as I tell Kaelyn about our impending adventure her moody side starts shining through and I immediately regret telling her, because of course now we have to go or face major meltdown. Fully realizing that the meltdown is now inevitable, I decided to at least delay it and go ahead to the orchard.

Several moments could have ruined my mood and the entire outing including get lost not once, but three times on the way there. On the third time Brennan woke up and started chatting in the back seat and Kaelyn says, “I think B is saying he wants his big sister to get to the orchard now.” This was after we got stuck between two oversized load trucks on the small town streets of Mooresville. When we finally got there Kaelyn was set on having a picnic lunch at the orchard, so I set our lunch on a picnic table and we started to eat. Half a bite into our sandwiches we were surrounded by bees. So, we had our picnic lunch in the car, which Kaelyn thought was hilarious. Still, I was determined not to let it get me down and enjoy the beautiful day (at least until it was time to go home and the meltdown would ensue). The kids were still enjoying it so why shouldn’t I?

We picked apples, ate apples, drank our slushies (Kaelyn’s favorite part of the orchard adventure) and played on the playground and had a pretty good time.  And Brennan was perfectly content the whole time just hanging out in the Bjorn and grabbing the occasional leaf as we walked through trees. When it was finally time to go a full hour and half after nap time is supposed to start there was naturally some resistance and few tears but not the World War III I was expecting. I was crossing my fingers that they’d both fall asleep in the car, but I got my ear chatted off instead.

In the end Kaelyn didn’t nap at all and Brennan didn’t nap as much as I wanted. But on the meltdown scale no one went above a 3 and we got to see good friends, enjoy what may have been the last warm, sunny day of summer, pick delicious apples, drink slushies and play outside. And for a double bonus both kids went to bed early without a fight!

Better late than never

After years (3 to be exact) of thinking I'd be able to store all the memories with my kids in my tiny little brain, I have finally surrendered to the fact that it ain't gonna work.  I mean, I can barely remember what happened yesterday.  So here I go, starting a "keepsake" blog, so I can look back in 20 years and actually remember a few things from Kaelyn's and Brennan's childhood.  And Kaelyn, I guess I have to apologize now that I may not remember much from the first 3 years of your life.  I always knew I should be writing things down, but just never quite got around to it.  Better late than never, right?  Or maybe I should be more worried that you'll both be upset that I've recorded any of it for public view.  Oh well, you can tell your therapist all about it later.  Right now, this is my therapy.  (You'll understand what I mean when you have your own kids.)

This blog is starting out as way for me to save my own memories of my children's lives.  But it also serves as a tool to feel closer to our family and friends whom we can not be physically close to.  I will give my best effort to update regularly, but I refuse to define "regularly" just yet. I hope by sharing some of the hilarious, sweet and hairpulling moments of life with "The Princess" and "B" everyone can laugh a little and see just how wonderful (if sometimes challenging) life with these crazy kids is.  And we will just have to wait and see what this endeavor grows in to.