Our Aunty Rocks!

The boys have these too cute t shirts and before anyone assumes anything I will admit it was me that bought them and not one of the boy’s Aunty’s. Owen and Brandon’s favorite thing about the shirts is the guitars. Now the sippy cups….well those have been sitting in the cupboard for quite some time and when I opened the cupboard for their cups, they spotted them and had to have one last sip!

This particular night, Aunty stayed after bathtime for movie and popcorn night. Owen requested to sit on Aunty’s lap and even shared his popcorn with her. We caught a moment between Aunty and Owen.

And of course, this same night, Grandma K stayed afterwards as well and Brandon made sure he was on Grandma’s lap, sharing his popcorn with her!  Brandon has such funny faces for the camera these days!

It is really wonderful for Owen and Brandon to have so much family living so close to them.  I am so happy that we are able to see everyone as much as we do and that I hope that the special bonds they are establishing with them now will continue to grow throughout their lives.

Helping the snow melt

It was the beginning of April and there was little sign that all the snow we got all winter was going to melt anytime soon.  I mean the sun would come out and warm up, but there was just too much snow and not enough daylight yet to really do any damage.  Then it started to happen, the snow started to melt, soon the grass was showing and the shrubs were peeking out and the tree trunks were slowly seeing the light again.  The weather was warm enough in the evenings that I encouraged Owen and Brandon to help the sun melt the snow — by this I showed them how to shovel the snow onto the sunny part of the driveway and watch how the sun would melt it into water.  Owen and Brandon were very excited and took to moving the snow right away.

Owen with a large shovel full of snow – Mommy, this is heavy, but I have strong muscles!

Brandon got really excited and needed to show up his brother, so he climbed up the snow mountain to get snow onto his shovel. While it was a great thought, getting down proved to be a little difficult.

Ah and then there was Frosty the Snowman….at Christmas time we set Frosty up on the front yard; Frosty would wave to the people and cars as they drove by, all the kids loved to stop and watch – no match for light up candy canes!! But poor Frosty met his demise when the snow fell and fell and fell and didn’t give us a chance to pull him from the yard in time. With all the snow piled high on top, Frosty ended up leaning back – in half. So as the snow melted, Frosty appeared, poor Frosty.

Owen and Brandon climbed up the snow mountain that was our front yard and did their best to dig Frosty out.

Young Yoga’s

Curious little boys will find everything, no matter where you put it in the house.  Recently Sean and I have been exercising in the evenings, once the boys are tucked into bed.  One of our favorites has been Yoga and with yoga, the mat and blocks are very helpful.  So one day Owen and Brandon were searching and found our stash.  They pulled them out and immediately asked, what are these?  I explained they were yoga mats and blocks.  Of course the next question is, What is Yoga?  So i said let me show you…

First was downward dog, Owen modified it immediately.  Brandon observed.

Then it was Brandon’s turn to demonstrate his interpretation of downward dog – see how the blocks come in handy!  Owen was onto Warrior 2.

From there it turned into gymnastics stretches….here Brandon shows us how to do a V sit, with both hands in the air, this is advanced. ha ha  I think Owen was trying to do his Stork Stand until Brandon’s V Sit collapsed onto him.

And here is Owen’s V Sit.  Very precise, arms down on the ground, but no worries it’s all about form and engaging those abs!

Since our little work out together, Owen and Brandon regularly show us their modified stretches they’ve learned from gymnastics, yoga and through Mom and Dad.  Owen and Brandon love to show off how they can do push ups like their Dad — still trying to get a picture of that!  Owen and Brandon will ask, Mommy, Daddy, you exercise tonight?  Are these your exercise clothes — because of course there are work clothes, play clothes, sleep clothes and now exercise clothes.

That frown

Brandon has this frown that he uses for everything from being upset — That’s not fair — to asking questions – But why? – to doing it to make us laugh! He always gets a grin out of us when we see that frown, no matter the situation!

Potpourri

I have a collection of pictures of Owen and Brandon that I feel are just too nice, not to share with everyone.  Of course as the mom I am very biased.

Owen has quite the laugh; he can diffuse a situation with a grin and look in his eye.

Brandon is our cuddle monkey; he is still young enough that he will sit and have hugs or cuddle with Mom or Dad.

Here Mom and Dad are trying to teach Owen how to smile while keeping his beautiful blue eyes open — he tends to smile so big he scrunches up his eyes – nothing wrong with that, but Mom sure loves those blue eyes!

Caught Brandon, great lighting to help with his big brown eyes.

Coloring

Owen and Brandon both enjoy coloring, but it is tough to get them to sit long enough to take pictures; by the time you get everything out for them and then sit and join in, they are done and ready for something else. We caught Owen coloring with intensity (dinosaurs shaped crayons – how cool); his coloring has grown in the past year, he seems more conscious of the lines and that certain things are different colors.

Kitchen Days

Some days are kitchen days, Owen and Brandon thoroughly love their kitchen and play with it often; my favorite is when they pull it out from the wall and use the little window to ask each other for food and how they are doing.  When the kitchen gets used, there are some supplies that are needed: first the aprons – make sure they are tied on just right…

then when the cooking begins, of course we our oven mitts for the hot food and they NEED to be Mommy’s oven mitts!

And don’t forget, we need the phone (and just the other day, Owen and Brandon cradled the phone in between their shoulder and head, cranking their neck — so they could multi-task!).  I don’t do that, THAT much do I?!

Owen and Brandon talk to each other through the phones, sometimes quietly but mostly yelling — Do you hear me Owen, Yes I hear you Brandon, but I am cooking!  Of course, Brandon does love to phone his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty’s, Uncle’s and cousins as well.

Camera needed!

Quick grab the camera….Owen and Brandon are smiling and ready for a picture.

Owen quite proudly displaying his lego creation (it turns into a shooting gun – but as Owen will tell you,  you only shoot at targets).

Brandon showing off his army guy who is ready to go off into the woods and hunt for bad guys.

Maybe pj’s time is the best time for pictures?? Owen and Brandon seem most ready for pictures when bath time is done and it’s that small space of time between snack time and bed time. Aunty Claudette bought some really cute pj’s from her trip to Vegas and Owen and Brandon are showing them off!

Lazy days at home

We had a quiet weekend a few weeks ago; it was nice for all of us, no plans, no where to go, just a chance to stay home and relax.  Owen and Brandon went from one thing to the next and played really well together.  First there was lego building.  Building towers and tunnels and bumpy roads.

Then it was on to seeing what each toy was capable of withstanding…could you twist it this way or twist it that way without it breaking.  This is one game that Mom cringes with all the time.

Then it was dress up time, fire man first, then train conductor, police man and cowboy.

As you will notice, Brandon will stop and allow pictures to be taken, but Owen is a little more annoyed by the camera.  Although we did get a chance to take a really nice one – Owen took a break from the Toy Story gang and say, Okay mine turn.

Even Kosmo had a relaxing day with us.

St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day is always a fun holiday, you get to dress in green and eat all sorts of green foods.  At the day care, they made the water table water green, used green play-dough and ate green milk for lunch.  Owen thoroughly enjoyed green day, as his hands will prove.

As well at day care, Owen’s room made leprechaun hats. These hats were a blast with Owen and Brandon for quite a few days.

Sean and I found his green hands too amusing, as he ate dinner with green hands…

and played with Brandon…

Brandon thought Owen’s hands looked like Shrek’s hands and for the rest of the night, Owen and Brandon would giggle and laugh as the big green ogre, Shrek.