Kindergarten update.

I feel like we need to post a kindergarten update now that we are a month in already. We love Mrs. Nesbit (think calm, loving and very organized), they have a very sweet group of 12 other kids in their class and we are meeting some great new friends (me included).

Henry thinks his teacher is the bomb "because she can draw really good milkweed plants." Bryn adores computer class and updates us weekly on all the fun things they work on in the computer lab. I am convince she will take over this blog by the time kindergarten is done. They both seem to talk more about what and who they played with at recess than what they do in class.

A couple weeks ago we had an open house at school complete with a book fair. Even though our bookshelves are exploding, I can never pass up good deals on books. They each picked a handful and I was laughing seeing how different each of their piles looked!

Bryn quickly grabbed the Cherokee book since she is mesmerized about life on the prairie and was so excited to find an ice skating book as well.


Henry's top pick was the Wizard of Oz and he was super excited to find the Obama book and hoping to see pictures of the Obama's on vacation!


It is so fun to see them run up the sidewalk to meet up with their friends and then watch them all race UP the hill to school as the parents trail behind. We are enjoying a pretty great start to this new chapter of public education! Bryn said to me the other night. "Mommy I was kinda scared the first day of kindergarten but now I wish I could go every day."

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.

Girls' Day and Boys' Day

As kindergarten is approaching at an alarming rate we have been itching to devote a day where we each focused on ONE kid for the entire day as something special to do before school starts for the year. It never happens with twins that they have the sole attention of one parent so both of them were pumped to plan out their day. I took B Bop out for a girls adventure, and Jay and Henry did the guy thing all day and in the next week or so we are switching it up with each kiddo. When I asked Bryn what she wanted to do her answer was simple and didn't take much thought.... "I want to bike around Lake Mendota and take a ride in Rhino" That was it, nothing more. Rhino is our VW golf that is usually J's car and it rarely holds their monstrous car seats, although we can squeeze them in. For whatever reason, Bryn adores rides in the silver Rhino and just wanted me to drive her around to no specific destination. Our day started out by jumping on my bike with her tag a long attached and we biked to the the Aveda beauty salon/school, so she could get a little pre-KG trim. And how could I pass up the $6 haircut? She couldn't keep her eyes off her mirror or the girl next to her that was "getting her hair painted".

Next we rolled to the Union Terrace for a little chocolate peanut butter ice cream for a mid morning snack and telling each other stories on the pier. I do have to say that I did see an even more hyped up version of herself when it was just the two of us. She was beyond giddy and almost a little obnoxious at first and kept running ahead of me through the Rathskeller just grinning, jumping and full of energy. Luckily that didn't last all day!

She had her sights set to bike around the entire lake but I talked her into a shorter route that took us to the end of Picnic Point and then back down to State St. for lunch. I was so wishing for a "cart lunch" from all the ethnic food carts but Bryn wanted to "sit down at a restaurant where you wait for your food."


We didn't make it back home until early afternoon after stopping by Sam and Abbey's for a little fun on the driveway. The whole way home she warned me that I shouldn't dally around because we needed to get in Rhino for our ride as soon as our bikes were stowed back in the garage. We headed to Vilas Beach and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, burying each other in sand and relaxing.



Every so often Bryn would tell me that we had to remember to tell Henry or Daddy about the two helicopters that were on the roof of UW Hospital or other random things that she thought they would appreciate.

Jay and Henry of course took the guy approach, and headed for the woods. They visited Pickhardt's cabin, and Henry got to do all sorts of boy stuff. Here he is sitting on the tractor. When I asked him what his favorite parts of the day were he said "Walking in the woods and seeing deer with daddy and watching people play baseball during lunch."

They didn't take many pictures because they were working on various projects out there (and because Jay took the camera with the huge lens that doesn't lend itself to self portraits well), but they did come across some turkeys and got this action shot.

Here's Henry on a STATIONARY four-wheeler. He did get to ride on it, but only with dad at the controls. Every time I see this pic, I see the teenager version of him. Yikes!



As most of you know, Henry is an extremely thoughtful kid and has been that way since he was a baby. It was no surprise but still got me choked up to see that he picked things,not for himself, but for Bryn and me on their special day. He came back with an acorn for each of us, a turkey feather for Bryn and when he got his haircut and picked out a prize he picked out a bracelet to give his sister. Nothing for himself but he was happy that he made the two of us smile. God, I love that kid!

The lack of photos from their day prompted this shot, to capture my two guys when they got home, taken by B-bop.

Summer fun in full swing

The four cousins right after lunch at the 90th annual St. Philip's Picnic / Chicken Dinner / Polka Fest. I think this was our 4th annual.

Eagerly waiting to see if Bryn's tootsie roll was a winner....... nope not this year.

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of such colorful family.

Pampering the nails with Grandma.

Mia and Allison modeling the new preschool backpacks!!

Packing up the car for a trip these days usually means the soccer ball and soccer shoes are going in as well. Grandma and the kids get their soccer on when we head up to my parents.

Laughing so hard while chasing down the ball gives Grandma an easy shot on goal.

Building an airplane with Grandpa.

I can personally attest that we have gotten at least $5 of fun from that airplane.

No question as to the kind of cake to get for my dad's birthday. Ice cream of course.

Here's the whole gang at Packer Family Fun Night. Peter and Andy found the perfect tailgating spot...a park within view of the stadium and jumbotron, with all kiddo park amenities. Awesome.

Some pregame cheering instructions from Grandma. Go Pack Go.

Bryn and Henry pretty much came unglued when the fireworks started. After the game they launch a full array from the top of the stadium, and they've never been that close to the action. As you will hear, Bryn was yelling something about the Emerald City among other things.

Believe it or not this is cousin Liam holding a very tiny water balloon at the tail end of the battle.

And for some reason, we decided to spend Wednesday at the State Fair, in the 90 something degree heat. And my good friend Amanda with Cooper and Liam even braved the nasty weather and joined us. We made multiple trips to the beverage stands. Flavored milk below. Also, thanks to Aunt Jen and fam for the tie dye kit. H and B dyed up gear and then decided to test em out at the fair.

Summer's not over yet.