Science! Part Three, This Time With Ice Cream!

This was the only time Graham did any of his own work... 

We're pretty into science for the sake of science, but what if we could do a science experiment that ended up creating something delicious?? Would that be just too much amazingness? Well my friend, if you answered "yes" to that, then I guess too much amazingness is what we had the other afternoon, when we made homemade ice cream in a bag.

Happiness Is A Warm S'mores Brownie: A Story in Pictures

A Preview of the Best Part!

Some general happy times

Too often I am the poor, put-upon, moaning, terribly slumped-over old lady dragging these kids around in their wagon. Occasionally (very occasionally) Chris will take it on, and moan even louder than me. The other evening, Brendan showed us all how it was really done.

Haircut, Part Two!

Before: The Little Sheepdog

In my defense, allow me to tell you that it is truly impossible to keep Graham's head still enough to cut his hair. Last time I cut the bangs, a very common response was, "oh no, did Brendan get ahold of some scissors?" That said, poor guy needs to be able to see, right?

Berries!

Hope everyone we know loves jam! 

As much as we love summer berries, we have never actually gone and picked them ourselves. I decided we needed to remedy this, since the boys have had a little practice from the backyard blueberry bushes.

"Dad? You Wanna Have a Catch?" A Story In Pictures.

Where's Daddy Pop? 

The Brendan and Graham Show: Episode Three, A Musical Interlude

The boys have been really into Winnie The Pooh this year, even before the movie. This obviously makes me incredibly happy. The Winnie the Pooh that Graham is playing with was mine from when I was little- he was always my favorite bear and we went through a lot together.

It went pretty well.

So the boys LOVE sharing a room. They love it so much that they did it again last night. Tonight we are trying to have them sleep separately again, for a lot of blah blah blah reasons I have given them to make it seem ok, but the truth is, they are both just PSYCHO today. They will not ever go to sleep if they are together. The first night it took them two hours, last night only an hour and a half, but tonight, it would be tomorrow. Tears would ensue- mine. Blame Ben and Jerry's for being really near the place I had to drag them to buy a baby present. (They have this thing called a "flight", which is 3 mini-cones of whatever flavors you want, and it's only $4.50, and it's a perfect reward for two small boys who behaved well in a fragile-thing-shop and a Mom that doesn't want that much ice cream! But I digress.) Brendan sagely told Graham that it is "his last chance to say goodbye to his crib!" which I thought was very cute and also oddly melancholy (to me). They had some kind of Brother Conference. Then they did this:

It could really go either way.

Oh, I don't know, how exactly do you define chaos?

There's no doubt these guys get along really well for the most part. They are buddies for sure! And the question is about to become, are they buddies that can share a room without destroying the fragile state of their mother and father's mental stability? We're about to find out. We're giving the idea of sharing a room a test run tonight, with Brother Slumber Party. Wish us luck.

Tribute: The Last Day of Kindergarten!

Brenz on stage during Kindergarten Graduation.

I really didn't even realize that Kindergarten Graduation was A Thing, let alone something that would make me highly emotional. Now I'll be prepared for when Graham graduates, I guess. It was wonderful though- Brendan loved his first year of school so much, and it was nice to have such a nice send off.

Yep.

Oh hey. What, why are you laughing? I wear these all the time! They're mine, really! 

My favorite type of blog post, especially these small, personal, interesting-only-to-family-and-that-might-even-be-pushing-it blogs, is the obligatory "sorry it's been so long since I posted, I feel terrible!" post after an extended period with no new posts. As a lifelong fan of unwarranted self-importance, I appreciate that everyone with a blog assumes that there are masses of readers waiting breathlessly to read the next update. So I am just going to be real here and say: sorry, Mom and occasionally Dad! I got distracted.

Science! Part Two

It really doesn't take too much to entertain these two, especially when you label it a "science experiment". I wish there was a way to classify cleaning as a science experiment, maybe we'll get there. I'll keep you posted.

Everything is far cooler when you use a plastic pipette. 

Brendan had so much fun with his science kit that we were looking for some other fun experiments to do, and of course Graham wanted to participate as well. 

This Morning's Conversation About Darth Vader and Donuts

Brendan: Did you know Darth Vader is a real guy?
Me: No, no I did not.
Brendan: It's true. My friend? From school? She has this picture? And guess who she's standing next to. (long pause as he waits for a guess)
Me: Um, Darth Vader?
Brendan: (leans in very close and widens his eyes) DARTH VADER! (giggles gleefully) And do you know what Darth Vader LOVES?
Me: The Death Star?
Brendan: No. It's DONUTS! Yeah! He loves donuts! When I see him I think I'm going to say, like, hey Darth Vader, did you know I love donuts too?
Me: And he will say (pitch perfect Darth Vader impression) "Yesss. Sooo, do I. (loud Darth Vader breathing)"
Brendan: (long, scornful, almost pitying look) Um, no. More like I think he will be all, hey how do you know my name? And I'll be like well I've seen you in the movies like, um, Star Wars and stuff, but plus I know you're not really a bad guy in real life but the guy in the movie is.
Me: Will you and Darth Vader become friends?
Brendan: Yeah! We're already friends! And I bet you he'll let me borrow his light saber! But we won't hurt stuff with it. 'Cause we're not really bad guys.

The Brendan And Graham Show: Episode Two, Mostly Graham

Warning: unless you are super in love with Graham and want to waste several minutes of your time watching him basically take batting practice, this is going to be incredibly boring to you. Like, this might even bore grandparents. Now that you have been notified, here it is.
Part one is ball hit. Part two is the payoff.

Haircut!

The Before. 

The After!

Unsurprisingly, Graham declined the offer of a free haircut. 

Banana Bread: An epic tale of triumph and despair

This is definitely going to be delicious, eventually.

We like to eat, and we mostly like to cook. I have been hoping to do a lot of cooking with the boys this summer, since we kind of fell off the wagon through the school year. After my first experiment with both boys in the kitchen, I'm still going to keep trying, but it will be like planning and running two different activities that have to intersect at strategic times, everything has to stay exactly on schedule. We'll see. 

Science!

I have created... this thing! 

Future Scientist right here.

Brendan got "My First Science Kit!" for Christmas, and the fact that we haven't really gotten into it until now is just not something I'm going to comment on. Anyway, Brenz has been having a great time doing experiments with color. He's almost ready to move up to "My Second, Slightly More Scientific Science Kit!"

The Brendan And Graham Show: Episode One

Update: The video should be viewable now, I'm new to the whole youtube thing. Let me know if you still have any trouble. 

Brendan requested that I take a video of him and Graham in the sandbox. I have a feeling this won't be the last time he asks me to make a video record of their awesomeness. In this episode, we talk sand, and a little pitching.

The Magic Sandbox

More toys than boys, or sand for that matter

We finally put some sand in our sandbox yesterday, and as far as I'm concerned, it may as well be gold. The boys have been spending all their time out there, playing nicely for the most part, just having a blast.

Wheeee!

Brothers That Read Together...

Brendan reading to Graham

...are just the best thing ever.

Luckily Bruddo does cool voices like Mom does. 

Happy Father's Day!

This is an old picture. I haven't been able to capture all three of these guys at the same time in years.

We've had a lovely morning, although it didn't run exactly as smoothly as I had hoped. Then again, what does? We made the standard Koskey Family Celebratory Brunch: challah bread custard french toast- I must admit, I outdid myself this time, it was the best I've made- bacon, and parmesan scrambled eggs, which have recently been promoted to the status of A Food Graham Will Consider Eating, so we'll be seeing a lot of that. Oh, and coffee of course, lots of it (for the grownups only despite Graham's repeated requests). Afterwards it was present time, and here's where things went a touch south.

Meet the Players

If you're reading this blog, chances are you're pretty familiar with us, but here's a brief introduction regardless.

Graham is the little guy, but that sure doesn't mean he can't keep up with everybody else. He's a runner! And a charmer. He's a really good talker for his age, and he's got a lot to tell you. He'll be happy to talk to you about front loaders and dump trucks, and if you'd like to hear the 2011 Mariners starting pitching lineup, he can recite that for you, as well as comment on his favorites, King Felix and Michael Pineda. He loves sports of all kinds and idolizes his big brother, who he likes to refer to as "bruddo duddo".

Oh hi there! It's me!

Summer is Ready When You Are

Let's DO this!

It's been a long, long year, you guys.

I went back to school just under one year ago, and Brendan started Kindergarten just over nine months ago. Both of these events have presented me with a very very steep learning curve. Being the parent of a school kid is so hard! Dealing with the public school system? Navigating parent politics? Learning to handle post-full-day-kindergarten meltdowns? So hard! There should be classes that parents have to take, because I thought I was completely prepared. And.... no.