Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I have no Irish in my background. But Matt sure does (have you seen his hair?). And having gone to Notre Dame I really appreciate the Irish heritage. And I think St. Patrick's Day is a fun holiday to celebrate.  Definitely for the over 21 crowd, but it can be lots of fun for kids too.  I mean, what's not for them to like - little funny men in hats, rainbows with pots of gold, fun music and lots of green treats. So I enjoyed trying to make the day a little special for the kids.

One of the crafts we did last week. I think the gold glitter was her favorite part.

We started our day with green milk, green eggs, Irish soda bread and sausage.  Those Leprechauns sure are sneaky, turning our food green.  We listened to lots of Irish music and I tried to teach Kaelyn to jig.  I should have had a video of it.

Our Good Luck Charmer.

I tried to make Corned Beef and Hash for dinner.  It was edible but we ended up giving the kids last night's leftovers.  But they got to enjoy some special St. Patrick's Day mint chocolate chip cookies that Kaelyn and I made.  Brennan couldn't get enough.

And Kaelyn enjoyed her green beads. Big surprise.

Wishing everyone the luck of the Irish!

A Bee-Day Party

So, at least Brennan can never accuse me of not putting enough thought into his birthday parties.  At least his first.  I may have gone a tad overboard on the theme.  If you only knew all the other things I had planned in my head and on pinterest but didn't have the time or money to get to, you'd truly think I was crazy.  Anyway, once I discovered the Bee theme party I was sort of hooked and all I could think about was bee's for the past month and half.  I realize Brennan probably won't remember anything about this party except for what he sees in pictures but I had a lot of fun planning it and it's sort of as big of a milestone for me as it is for him.  Most of his future parties probably won't be this elaborate though.  And really, the most important thing was being able to share the day with people we love.  Uncle Jay couldn't make it.  And Uncle Joey was planning to come but got stuck in Wisconsin by some crazy March weather.  And some of our friends were out of town.  But, all in all I think we had a very good time celebrating with everyone.  And Brennan is especially lucky that he get's to share his birthday with my favorite nephew, his cousin Tate.

Without further ado, here is Brennan's 1st Bee Day Party in all it's glory.

Lots of Bee decor

My greatest achievement.  A lot of hours went into making these banners.  I was originally going to buy a similar banner on etsy, but decided to do it myself.  It took a loooooooooooong time and several breaks for hand cramps, but I had fun being creative and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Favors!

Homemade Beehive cake.  Didn't turn out quite like the picture but acceptable for an amateur. And the recipe was delicious - Brown Butter Banana cake with honey and walnut icing. The candy bees were store bought.

Tate's cake (I did not make this one. One cake was all I could handle for the day.)

Brennan trying to play with the big girls (and shoving a cracker in his mouth of course)

B's beautiful big sister in her pretty new dress.

Happy birthday boy

"Happy Birthday to you!"

First bites of cake

Looking up to his big cousin and getting a little help with his cake

This picture needs no words

The birthday boys!

Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

Ok, so I realize it's been forever since I posted anything.  And I still don't really feel like writing.  I'm still recovering from planning and throwing the most awesome one-year old birthday party ever.  Toot-toot!  Once in a while I have to toot my own horn. I realize there have probably been better parties in the history of time, but I was pretty proud of some of the stuff I did.  But right now I don't want to talk about the party.  I'll write another post about that later.  Right now I just want to talk about my amazing little one-year old (it's kinda surreal to actually say that).  I know people say it all the time but I seriously cannot believe it's been a whole year already since he's been born.  It went too fast!  As fun and exciting as a one-year old is, can't I keep him a baby just a little bit longer?  Please, pretty please!?  Somebody once told me that the days are long but the years are short.  Truer words have never been spoken.

Brennan had his one year check up this morning and here are his stats: 32 inches long (95%), 23.4 pounds (60%), head is 47.3cm (75%).  The doctor said he was doing great.  He already has 8 teeth and 4 molars coming in (along with a lot of pain, poor little guy).  Oh, and he may have said his first real word at the party on Saturday: ice - pronounced "eyessshhh."

Some of Brennan's favorite things at one year:
His big sister
His big brother
Snuggling (He has been such a super snuggler lately!)
Tackling his big sister
Chasing his big brother
Opening and closing the CD player
Little Einsteins (mom of the year already letting her one-year old watch cartoons)
Glow Worm
Putting lids on things
Playing in the pantry, the fridge or the bathroom cabinet
Climbing
Bubbles
Balloons
Swinging
Cars (especially when someone drives them over his head and down his back)
Playing in the play kitchen
Taking all of his clothes out of the dresser and putting them back in (sometimes)
Touchy-feely books
Bouncing on the bed
Dancing
Paci
Cake (like mother, like son)

We love you little boy!

School Days

Last Thursday Matt and I had the privilege of accompanying Kaelyn to school for the day.  Each kid gets to have a special day on their birthday.  They get to bring in a special snack, do all the jobs for the day - lead the “Pledge of Allegiance,” ring the bell, be line leader, etc - and bring a special item from home for “Show and Tell.”  Parents are invited to come in and observe for the day too.  Since Kaelyn’s birthday is during Summer break, she got to celebrate her half birthday at school on Thursday.  Needless to say, we were all very excited for this day.  Kaelyn had been asking since the first day of school back in September when we were going to get to come to school with her.  And Matt and I have been very curious to see her in action in a setting away from home. Of course I’d be even more interested to be a fly on the wall and watch her when she didn’t know we were there.  But it was a joy none the less.  Here she is in action.

Morning Circle

Holding the flag high while leading The Pledge.

Calendar job

Enjoying the special snack she brought in.  Brownies with cream cheese icing.  Her request.  Yum!

Working with Lily during free work time.

Art Project.

Up in the castle.  Where else should a princess play?

Working on a Valentine sorting game with the teacher and some friends.

Good practice using the tongs and sorting colors.

She brought her magic princess wand for Show and Tell.  The other girls were very interested.

She choose to work with the other girls a lot.  She was a little quiet and timid when the teacher asked her questions, even when I thought she knew the answers.  But other times I could tell she was excited and she'd talk with a little bit of a shrill and giggle.  She needed to be reminded a few times of what she was supposed to be doing or to put a toy away when she was done, but overall she was a very good listener and seemed like she was having fun and learning a little something at the same time.  And in case you were wondering, yes, she has worn her birthday crown every day since.  Even today.  When it was another little boy's birthday.

Happy Half Birthday Sweetheart!  Daddy and I had so much fun at school with you!

Word to your mother

Mama. Mommy. Mom. Mother.  They all refer to the same person yet can mean very different things.  And I am all of these things.  But I prefer my kids to call me Mama. Or Mommy.  Or even Mom.  Not Mother.  But alas, my youngest has yet to call me Mama and my oldest has taken to calling me Mother.  Most of her 3 1/2 years so far she's called me Mama.  There have been a few phases of Mommy and Mom but she always reverts back to Mama.  But now I am Mother.  And I don't like it.  It's much to formal for my taste. And not nearly warm and loving enough. You don't cuddle and have tea parties with Mother.  Those activities are reserved for Mama and Mommy.  And when the kids grow up I will welcome being called Mom.  But I truly never expected my kids to call me Mother.  Hopefully this phase, too shall pass.  Ok, I do admit it is a little cute hearing her soft sweet voice saying, "Mother."  But, I am very much looking forward to being called Mama again, by at least one of my children.

My Funny Valentine's

I love my kids. Obviously. And I love being home with them. (Most of the time.) One of the things I love most about having two kids is seeing their love for each other. It was obvious even when Brennan was a little baby just starting to notice his world that he was fascinated by his big sister.  He would almost always smile or laugh when she looked at him and especially when she talked to him.  And she has been enamored with him from day one.  Granted, there have been moments of jealousy and times she gets frustrated with him for touching her things.  But she truly loves him.  And she says so often.  Usually in a voice that makes me think of an old lady pinching a little kid's cheek and saying, "Well aren't you just the cutest little thing?"  And now that Brennan is bigger and crawling and walking around, it brings such joy to my heart to sit back and watch them interact or just listen to them play in the other room. I must admit some of that joy is because it means I can get a couple of minutes to myself to finish the dishes or check my email.  But I love when I can just sit quietly and take it in with a smile.  (I need to ingrain the images and sound of it in my memory for the days when sibling rivalry truly rears it's ugly head.)  I mean, really, what more could a mom ask for than to be able to hear her kids laughing together and see them hugging with big smiles on their faces? What a great gift for Valentine's Day. And every day.

Much to his father's chagrin, I think B might like the Princess tent even more than his sister.

Crazy hair.

A truly cheesy smile and a very serious, but sweet face.

Being goofy.

And I suppose I should also mention the beautiful flowers someone got me for Valentine's Day.  They literally just came to the door five minutes ago.  Thank you, Baby!  I love you too!

A budding Picasso

Kaelyn had her first ever Art Show at school last week.  I was super impressed with her tiny, little school for having the idea in the first place.  I so did not expect anything like this.  And I was also very impressed with the way it all came together.  They were smart enough to have three different time slots for the three different classes so it didn't get too crowded.  It was actually a very enjoyable evening and I was so excited to see all the art projects Kaelyn has been working on at school.

Kaelyn in front of her class hand print rainbow

Kaelyn adding her touch to the whole-class art project they set up and made during the show

Straw art: they blew on the paint through a straw to make these pictures

Potato stamp art

Multi-media self portrait. I think she totally captured her personality with the feathers here.

Another art project they had set up to do while we were there: marble painting.  I thought this was such a neat project we may have to try it again at home sometime.

They also had a dress-up photo booth station. Not that Kaelyn needed to dress up anymore than she was but she added a pink boa, a mardi gras mask and a magic wand to her ensemble.  I wore a mardi gras mask and B wore a pirate hat.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it on my camera but hopefully the school will send me a copy of the one they took.  I'm sure we were quite the sight!  It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that her school places such value on art.  And all the teachers were commenting all night on how Kaelyn is such a fashionista.  So maybe we actually have a budding Vera Wang on our hands.