Anatomy of a B&K Story

Last week, B&K & I met up with my cousins, "aunt" Leslie and "aunt" Rachel, for lunch.  They hadn't been around B&K for a while, so it was somewhat comical for me to dissect what B&K were trying to tell "the aunts".   For example, one of the stories might have gone like this:

Bennett:  "Aunt Weswee, Aunt Rancho, remember, last time, when we went to the party at the pool where the princess party was last night??  That was actually fun.". 

Translation:  We went to a fall party at our golf club, where over the summer we used to swim and Kendyll went to the princess party.  And often, whatever they are talking about most likely happened weeks ago, not last night. 

So in short, they are all about starting sentences with "Remember last time . . . " and finishing with "last night".  And imagine the tone of their voice getting higher as the sentence goes on, a la Stewie Griffin.  Repeat this over & over & over & over again a zillion times a day.    I think part of this stems from us trying to get them to relate to past experiences.  For example, the other day Tim was talking to his friend Kyle on the phone.  B&K were so insistant on knowing who Kyle was, so I said "Remember when we went to Kyle's house to meet baby Madeline?  And you played on the slide & the pool?".  But to B&K, apparently every story should start with "Remember when", even if (or especially if) the person they are talking to wasn't there to "remember" the situation (like when they tried to tell their friend Jack "Remember when we went to see Mickey Mouse at Disney??" . . . I had a fun time explaining to them that Jack couldn't "remember" that because he wasn't there). 

We're also trying to work on the concept of time.  They love to read clocks and are obsessed with the days of the week (if I had a nickle for every time Kendyll asked me if it was Saturday yet, I would be a rich, rich woman).  And especially trying to get across that not everything happened "last night".  :)   

They are also still very much into using big words.  Like "actually".  And "because".  They are very much into talking like adults.  Which I don't think is a bad thing.  But the next time Kendyll asks me "now, was that a wise choice, mama?" when I do something she knows I'm not supposed to, I might have to smack her.  Ok, not really.  Maybe. 

Another funny thing, they are obsessed with talking about "when I get bigger".  Or "am I bigger today, mama?".  And as such, they also love to talk about how Tim & I will get "little".   Love that I'm going to get "littler" someday soon.  Every morning I waking up hoping it happened overnight.  Ha!   The whole concept is very "Mork & Mindy" . . . love it! 

A few other translation tidbits (to build on this past post):
Beingten = Pretend {as in "I'm just beingten to eat this egg, mama"}

Musnack = Music {as in "I LOVE this musnack" whenever a Taylor Swift or Sugarland song comes on.  Thanks, Ashley. ;) }
 Cu-weeze = Squeeze {another example of issues with words starting in "S" . . .as in "I want to cuweeze the toothpaste!"}

They are also {finally} really into coloring & drawing.  Bennett, especially.  A few weekends ago Nana & Papa went on a weekend trip and they left these pictures for B&K to color.  This was Bennett's version:

{from left to right in the bus, Kendyll, Bennett, Mommy, Daddy & Nana.  Not sure where Papa was on this ride}.  

Kendyll & I did this one together.  Can you guess which color she used? The blue scribbles towards the back of the plane represent Nana & Papa flying to Vegas.  ;-)

You can pick your friends and you can pick your . . . apples

A couple of weekends ago our good friends the Keegan & Louden hosted an apple picking play date.  We trekked out to the same farm we visited last year {remember this adorable photo?}. 



There is nothing like having 7 three and a half year olds (plus a couple other littles) loose in an apple orchard and pumpkin patch. 




At one point we tried to get all of the littles to stand still for a photo.   Yeah, easier said than done (we're missing Ava in this pic).



After several attempts, the mamas stepped in to wrangle everyone together. 



After we picked & ate enough apples to feed a small army, we headed back to K&L's house to let the littles run like maniacs in Jenn's massive yard.  Then it was time to eat lunch.  The conversation around this table was hilarious (for example, B&K loved to share with everyone that "if you don't eat your lunch, mommy will spank your butt.".  Not quite sure where that came from, but I think part of the fun was saying the word "butt" over & over again while sitting around the table)



All in all a super fun time and we can't wait to do this tradition again next year!

Tis the season again {aka, I Heart Shutterfly}

If you have read my blog for a while, you know I am a HUGE fan of Shutterfly (as evident here and here).    They have the best photo products around and the customer service and turn around time is phenomenal.  Totally my go-to place for memorable gifts and cards.

I'm not quite sure how we will top the AH-MAZ-ING holiday cards we used from Shutterfly last year.    But thankfully Shutterfly has so many holiday card options yet again this year that I know we will be able to create an even more beautiful card this year!  Here are a few of my early favorites thus far:

Big Cheers

Colorful Greetings

 What Fun

Joy Squiggle

Shutterfly is so much more than cards, though.  Our immediate family knows that every year a beautiful desk or wall calendar is under the tree waiting for them for the upcoming year.  And the calendar I made last year received a compliment from every single person who visited my office!  The quality is amazing and you can totally lose yourself in designing the perfect calendar for each person on your list!

And this year I plan to check out so many of the other awesome photo gifts Shutterfly offers.  I've been wanting to order some new canvas prints!!

What are you waiting for???  Go check out Shutterfly now!  The holidays will be here before you know it! 

Are you a blogger?  Click here for an opportunity to receive 25 free cards from Shutterfly.  I received 25 cards for writing this post, but trust me -- I would have ordered my cards from Shutterfly regardless.  I pink puffy heart love this company!! 

Pinkalicious and Football

Thank you so much for all of the kind words and notes after my last post.  I wasn't fishing for support, but I certainly appreciate it.  I'm happy to report that the end came and went last week and all is good.  Honestly, I actually feel SO much better not to have to go to that horrid work environment every day.  I guess I had no idea how much that was affecting everything. 

My first order of business once I was officially through my "separation process" was to meet up with a few friends to celebrate unemployment.  Dogfish head "Punkin Ale" (with a brown sugar rim glass) . . . pure yumminess.  And so dangerous! :)





Later that evening we had some fun events planned.  Nana & Grandma & I took Kendyll to her first play -- based on the book Pinkalicious (special thanks to Nana for K's cute dress!).  And Tim, Papa & Grandpa took Bennett to his first high school football game.  He was SO excited about it (and apparently thought he was actually going to be playing in the game.  He was quite upset to be sitting in the stands). 



Crappy cell phone pic of Kendyll getting ready to watch the show (she LOVED it!)



Crappy cell phone pic of Bennett at the game -- it was so cold and rainy, but they lasted until halftime!



Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa being in town, Tim & I spent the day on Saturday drinking and watching football.  Glorious!  And on Sunday we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.  SEVEN years.  He keeps joking that the itch is going to start soon.  Ha, we'll see.  In true Tim fashion, I was surprised with a little trip out of town for our anniversary.  We drove up to Cleveland to see an up & coming band that has become one of our favorites (since seeing them open for my other love, Dave Matthews, last December in Vegas).  It was such a fun - and unexpected - time.  A fabulous way to kick-off unemployment, indeed.   

And for fun, I'll include one of my all time favorite {klassy} wedding pictures.