Rhythm is a dancer

Jay decided the kids needed to burn off some energy so he DJ'd a 90s dance party before they headed to bed.

I thought for sure Henry rigged his top hat to stay on his head but no glue or string was involved. Maybe he will be a magician someday. And the back bend moves are not from watching me....

We've got TWO kindergarteners!!

We did it. We survived the first day of kindergarten and there were no tears from anyone but me. The anticipation of sending our two kids off to school and saying goodbye to my Monday and Wednesday buddies made me a tearful mess in the days leading up to Sept. 1st. I held it together in front of the kids until I saw Henry walk down the stairs wearing his new backpack. My little guy all ready for school and looking so grown up!

Bryn was anxious (when all along we thought Henry would be) and didn't eat more than two bites for breakfast. They were both lucky to have Grandpa Affeldt and Grandma Hinsa at our house to take part in the big day. Grandpa has perfect handwriting so the kids had him write their names on their backpacks and new lunch boxes.

Henry needed an expert to tie his shoes for the first day.

I still can't look at this picture without choking up either. Off they go into the world!!



The closer we got to school the slower Bryn walked. Usually she is the one in front but not Wednesday.

Checking out their lockers to find that their teacher had placed their mat and art smock in each one!

Bryn at her desk.

Henry all smiles with his new table buddy.

This was my last pic that I managed to take through the tears. It took the parents a bit to catch on that we needed to leave so the lights were dimmed a couple times to give us the hint. Henry blew me kisses and Bryn turned around with a huge grin and Jay, mom and I slowly walked out counting down the minutes until we could pick them up.


The end of the day pic. Henry is behind Bryn, and they are trying out their line order for pick up. They each give their teacher either a high 5 or a hug. Of course they both gave her a huge hug and then chatted about their day the whole way home. Bryn loved the computer class and Henry thought rest time was fun especially when he got to tap every child on the head to wake them up!

"Mommy, I stared so hard at Mrs. Nesbit all day so she knew I was listening."

At 5:45am yesterday (the second day of school) they came into our bedroom to tell us that they needed to get dressed now so they wouldn't be late for school and then asked every 10 minutes or so for the next two hours when we could leave. Then last night Bryn confided in Jay..."Daddy, I just love it".

Switchin' it up.

Seeing that the boys' and girls' days were such a success we wanted to switch it up with each kiddo. After I got back from D. C. and the kids returned from their summer vacation with my parents, we took an afternoon to treat them to some one on one fun.

Henry spied a fresh-squeezed lemonade stand in our neighborhood so we walked Finn over and bought ourselves some to cool us down. Henry chose to eat at a mini golf park (not kidding), then a round of golf which goes quite quickly when you just pick the ball up and place it where you want.
We then headed over to the Badger Band practice field to watch the students breaking a sweat as they tried to memorize their steps. We ended the day with some ice cream on the Terrace, listening to a rock band on Library mall, having a slice of pizza on State Street and catching up with B Bop and Jay to watch some ultimate frisbee.


Bryn opted for a big bowl of chicken noodle at Copper Top. She and Jay surprised us while we were golfing and played their own round of mini golf. The cutest part was seeing how thrilled they were to see each other and yelling back and forth to catch the other one up on their day.


They headed to Vilas Beach to rent a swan boat and paddled around Lake Wingra together.



After that, they swung by to say hey to Mr. Richgels and shared a cream soda, and made it over to the Orton Park festival to hang out on the playground for little bit. Bryn's choice for dinner was Pasqual's for her favorite quesadillas. Super glad we took the time to do this before summer was over...which it now is and hope to make this a tradition in the coming years. First day of kindergarten post coming soon.