Suit Rehearsal

Brooksie, trying on his wedding attire for Brent's wedding in July. I still have to find him some little shoes. The suit is so cute though. You can't see it (my phone is in the way), but there is a little white poof-thingy in the vest pocket. The pants have the satin stripe down the side like a real tux. Adorable!

A Night Under The Stars

On Saturday night we had the annual "Night Under the Stars" a tradition the former youth pastor started, as an alternative to prom. We had a really fun evening. First we went to Chibas (Japanese Hibachi Grill and Steakhouse), and then back to the 'wedding reception' set up in the Rieke's backyard. We were doing a murder mystery, and it took place at a wedding (Josh & Sarah as bride & groom) and the bride is murdered. We all had characters and different objectives to accomplish throughout the night to try and catch the culprit! It was really fun, and everyone had a great time. And then, after all was over, some of the kids and some of the leaders (guys) went midnight bowling. I was way too tired for that!

All the girls

The boys, done with posing

Josh & Melody, friends and youth leaders

Josh & Sarah, friends and youth leaders

Sam & Heather, friends and youth leaders

Candyland Party

On Sunday we attended a birthday party for our friends daughter. It was a Candyland themed party, which was a HUGE hit with Kenna. On Monday all she could talk about was "I really like lolli's, an' chocolate, an' cann-ies, an' gum..." an' on an' on it went.

Brooksie loving it - with no nap! There was a volleyball game going on, and he was determined to join the game. He says "Baww!" and wants to play along. After volleyball was over, guess who confiscated the ball?

Us with the birthday girl, Payton (now 4!)

Recent Idea

One slightly unpleasant aspect to my life is that I don't have a dishwasher. Or I should say, one slightly inconvenient aspect of my life...Something that really irks me is the never ending stream of dirty dishes. Everything is washed. Ideally, an hour later, it's all put away (I wait for it to dry. No way am I hand-drying it all!), and then there is cup, and a bottle, and snack bowl...I feel as though I am never done, and also as though my counters are never clear. I saw on someone elses blog a comment, something along the lines of "dishwashers are just dirty dishes storage". That got me thinking. I could have dirty dishes storage without a dishwasher! I cleared a space in my cupboard beside my sink, and I place all rinsed dirty dishes in there over the course of the day, until it's dishes time. It's been 4 days now, so far, so good. I was a little worried it would smell, but I am not putting the dirty dishes in there, full of food or pasta sauce, so thus far there has been no downside at all (those dishes are usually generated right before it's dishes time anyway). I am grateful for my precious counter space back. Oh, downside is that now my cupboard is more cramped...I have to reorganize all my tupperware to make room for some of the things in the picture. Oh well!

Gifts...and twins?

I am starting to get asked often if they are twins. Here they are opening birthday gifts from Grandma Bolger. They were both given 24 month size clothes!


Hugging her dress because she loves it.

Helping "boy" open his gift. She has recently dropped the "Brooksie" from her Brooksie-boy. Now he's just boy. It's so cute.

Wow. A card.

She was excited anyway!

Show Mommy your cards!

In his new outfit

Hair, it's always in the way

Trying to "hold" him

Too Tired

This is what happens when you try to get a few cute picture right before nap time, instead of after!

I'm looking

Oops

"Kenna, please look at the camera." "why Mom, why?"

Silly girl.

Rocking Chairs, Rocking Babies

This rocking chair was a gift to Kenna from my Grandma Shantz. It was given to my Grandma in the early 1930's by her grandmother, Louisa Hamacher (I might have the first name wrong?). Apparently the story is this: The Hamachers sold their farming items and various goods at the local farmers market. A customer ran up a debt of 75 cents (a lot of money in those days), which she was unable to pay, so she settled her debt with this rocking chair. Since I am the first grandchild on the Shantz side, and Kenna is the first great-grandchild, Grandma decided to give it to her. I guess I will have to save it for Kenna's 1st grandchild (oh my!)

Brooks can make it rock now!

He can also "surf"! Surfing on the chair is actually a punishable offense, as it's dangerous, and could hurt the chair (although it's pretty sturdy, don't tell him that). Kenna has rarely, if ever tried to stand/surf in it. He is getting to be quite the daredevil!

Bagel Fans

Today on the way home from running errands I asked Kenna what she wanted for lunch. "I was thinking about bagels, and eggs, and cheese. Do you like bagels?"
"Yes" she replies, and then a few seconds later says "But Daddy really likes bagels!" I just thought it was so sweet that she remembered that, since Brian (big bagel fan) has been gone all week, and we haven't eaten any bagels since he's been gone. Partially because, well, he is the one who loves bagels, I buy them for him. And partially because there were only 2 left and my Costco card is in his wallet...they sell the best bagels around...that are affordable anyway. So now we have no bagels until he gets back:-) We miss our Daddy!

Ferocious Beasts

For those of you that live in the north, you have never had the horrifying experience of seeing one of these:

It's a camel cricket. Forget the possibility of hurricanes or tornadoes, the massive bugs and snakes around here are the one major thing that would make me reconsider my move to Virginia, if I had it to do over. They scare me to death and cause all sorts of paranoia. (No, I did not take that picture, I got it online). The pic really doesn't do it justice either, as to the size. Anyhoo, these babies can jump incredible lengths, they always jump towards you and bounce off your leg, they never jump away. Which I would find a nice bonus to such a horrible bug. I would have called them kangaroo crickets if I were naming them, as they have huge back legs like kangaroos. In any case, it was this very morning that there was one in the tub, and Brian was not there to kill it/flush it. I didn't know it was there until I already had Kenna in the tub, and there it is, swimming around. MOM A BUG! She loves them too:-). I actually got close enough to pour water over it continually, until it stopped moving, then scooped it up in a bath toy and flushed it. It took awesome amounts of courage, let me tell you. Inside I'm freaking out, outside I'm saying, "oh, it's ok, Mommy will just kill it". AHHHH! IT'S A BUG!

Happy Mothers Day

We got some pictures this morning, with me in them, Yay! During the service at church Kenna fell asleep (very rare), and woke up with a fever. Very strange as she was acting fine and normal all morning. We shall see what comes of it, she claims nothing hurts. Brian is heading to NY for the week to help his dad with a project, but I just got word that his 6:45 flight was cancelled/delayed due to tornadoes in the area...might be a long night for him!

I love Brooks' poker face...

smiles!

Nobody (kids) would pay attention when I was trying to get some pictures with Daddy.

After 4 tries, a sort-of smile from Kenna.

Brian's Birthday Cake

We celebrated with his request for black forest cake, and played Guitar Hero. Our friends Josh and Mel came over and provided Brian's favourite pizza. We had a fun, relaxing evening (he was working all day).

Swingin'

Everyone loves the new "cloud" swing. Even Brooks, who is scared of regular swings. Hopefully this will build up his courage so he won't freak out at the park on the real swings!

Dad's Are The Best!

This was Kenna's birthday present from Daddy, we finally got around to installing it (hangs from the ceiling). We got it from Ikea, it's super cool. She was in there reading a book and says "Hey Ma! I'm in a cloud!". You can adjust the height for when they are taller/heavier, and you can unclip it from the ceiling to get it out of the way.



Excuse the mess! They were in the middle of playtime. Which could really be called toy dumping time.

Make A Wish - Video

Live cake eating experience!

If videos will not play in blog, leave a comment and I will send you youtube info. Thanks!

Brooks Is One!

Happy Birthday Brooks! We celebrated on Saturday with Lauren. I made Devil Dogs, and they were really good! Brian was talking about them a few weeks ago...a store brought treat they used to have as kids that he loved. They might still make them, but they don't sell them in stores here...so I made my own. Brooks loved it, and ate it very delicately, for a one year old!