John Buckley & John Brandt

summer ~ 2007

Our Wedding Anniversary

On Saturday, August 22, we all went to Minnehaha Park to join Aunt Jean and family for a nice lunch picnic. Uncle John was in town and came with us as well. We all had a wonderful time and ate great, too. Babies were squeezed; David, Amy, Angela , and I enjoyed a fun Newlywed game; and John went for a walk with Kelsy to the Ford Bridge to look over the side and also wave to us at the park... good times.

This park holds a special place for us and most likely the Buckleys, too. Not far from our picnic area is where our boys' Great Grandpa John spent his last days with us. Being at the park that day reminded me of John's funeral last year. He was buried with full honors, a 21 gun Salute at the Fort Snelling cemetery... a moving moment to say the least. A Generation may be gone, but his memories will live and be passed on to his Children's, Children's, children.

DB

What's for dinner?

Here Luke is checking out what's on the menu for the next couple of weeks. That right, two weeks... this mountain of mush is only a two week supply for our 2 little food processors. So far the favorite food is a toss-up between squash and sweet potatoes.

As of 6:15pm today, on the home scale:

Luke - weighed in at 16lbs
Leo - weighed in at 15lbs.

Substitutes

Friday and next Monday the boys are without Ms. Liz, so I get to step it up and stay home with our little monkeys. Not such a bad deal, but with the struggling economy and the challenges of starting my own business , taking time off is not as exciting these days.

After putting some "substitute" feelers out there I realized it was inevitable that I was not going to work today....or was I?

You guessed it, Aunt Jean stepped up again for us today. With Blanche in town (Jean's Mom), and Kelsy in town, this was a great opportunity for all to spend some time together. Pictured here is Blanche (w/Leo), Jean's mom, or as John says, great grandma Blanche. Also pictured is John bestest buddy of '09, Kelsy(w/Luke).

Thanks for helping out today, it was nice to see you all!

PS, Stay tuned... John Beranek just made an impromptu weekend visit. In the words of the great Kent Dorfman: "Oh boy is this going to be great!"

D

Growing up so fast...

Well, it is official. John starts his first day of preschool Sept 8th.

He is enrolled at St. Mary's which is a nice, newly reconstructed catholic P-8 elementary school. Nice too because it is only about 5 blocks away. Of course though, he will probably tell his kids one day it was 2 miles, up hill, both ways, and his mom and dad could only afford flip-flops for winter boots...isn't that right Grandpa?

D

John's Friends from the Mall of America

Here is a shot of John with Dora and Diego from Saturday's visit to MOA with Ms. Liz and Tyler.

Thanks again Liz & Tyler for spending the day with John at MOA and Underwater World, he really had a great time!

D

John and Elvis

John with one of his musical hero's.

John was super excited when the king sang his favorite Elvis song: little less conversation. (see below post) Then, at the end of the show, was nervously excited to actually meet and shake hands with the King. It's a special moment to watch a young boy with that shy, yet serious face, say "hello, my name is John" while he just stare in awe.

Thanks again Art for taking the time with John. Thanks too for signing his cd, TCB - PTL, he is pumped!

Blessings to you and Jean

D

Saturday was Fun Day!

Today was a fun filled day for John. It started out with an adventure trip to the Mall of America to meet Diego with Ms. Liz and Tyler. John had an absolute blast. We will post some pictures as soon as we get them from Ms Liz.

John's adventure brought him home around 2:30 only to tell us quickly what a great time he had, then rushing out the door with dad and Sarah. Oh, forgot, Sarah came to town with Aunt Barb and Austin...hockey practice stuff.

Anyway we rushed off to see our friend Art Kistler, AKA ELVIS. He was performing for a rare public show at ST. Paul Park's Heritage festival. After the show John and Sarah had to check out some of the rides...let's just say they had fun!

Twins are 6 months old!

Here are some shots from August 3rd, the boys 6 month Birthday.

Bailey's B day

Here is a shot of Bailey, John, and Grace. This was taken at Bailey's Birthday last month. John really Loves his two cousins, they are practically his sisters, though lately he is not so excited about all the goodbye smooching.

John had fun, especially with Bailey's new acoustic guitar. Now, John says, Baily can be in his band.

D

My uncle Joe

This is me and Uncle Joe looking at Alan's horses and

colts over the 4th of July. It rained on us but we got to see the little ponies! I was kinda scared around the horses at first but my uncle Joe told me they are nice and helped me pet them. My uncle Joe is nice too, except when he makes me pull his finger.

Oh, and I got to ride in Alan's truck with my dad on the front seat! oops, not suppose to tell mom about that...soooorrrry, I'm really, really sorry mom.

John & D

Parade toddlers

John & the Beranek duo after having 28 pound of candy tossed at their feet during the Miller 4th of July parade.

Can you believe the amount of candy at these parades? Why did I not know about this as a kid? The time spent per pound of candy is way better sittin' on your duff curbside for 30 min as opposed to walking miles, knocking on doors on a frigid Halloween night.

D

4th of July - Miller Style

Some shots from our trip to Miller, SD over the 4th of July. Aunt Barb givin' up some sugar, Bernie hammin' it up for the camera, Grandma and Grandpa, and john reeling in his first bass.

D

Dad's other "little buddy" - Hank Jr

Meet one of my good buddies, Paul Henry. Paul and I go way back to the college days in the mid 80's. Angela is reading this and saying to herself: " or the mid 80's when I was in Jr High.... She is so funny!

Anyway, Paul, or "Hank Jr" as he is more commonly called is a twin himself. His brother, Steve, or "Hank Sr" got the Senior status because, well, he budded in line on the exit just like our little Luke.

Here is a shot one afternoon in June when Paul made an impromptu visit to hold our Jr, Lil' Leo. Thanks for the visit and conversation Little Buddy!

D

Super Sitters

Last month (July) Angela and I were excited for Jean & Kelsy's offer to watch the boys...they kicked us out and sent us to the movies! We had a really nice time away for a few hours. The movie we saw was a crazy comedy that had us laughing for most of the show. Our return found the the house empty. No worries though, Super sitters and the 3 Amigos went for a nice stroll to the park.

Thanks again J & K for the offer, it was much needed!

D

Summer Concert

Our little John Marley enjoyed putting on a show on the deck for Aunt Jean, Luke, Leo and Kelsy.

Twin Smiles

Can you believe the twins are 6 months old already? They are really fun little guys. Both of them are getting their two bottom teeth. John can hardly comprehend that because he says "they're babies; they don't have teeth!" A couple weeks ago we started to let them cry it out at bedtime and during the night. They have been sleeping well for the last week (with the exception of last night because we woke them up and took them downstairs because we were in the direct line of a possible tornado - luckily, it was a false alarm, but as John noted this morning "we had a rough night.")

The twins have been eating food for the last month. I think Leo is trying to make up for lost time because he eats as much, if not more, than Luke. We continue to take Leo to physical therapy every other week for his torticollis (tilting of the head). We are hoping that the PT will take care of the problem, but there has been some mention of possible surgery. Hopefully, we can avoid that.

Overall, life is pretty crazy around the Brandt house, but its a good kind of crazy!

On the Move

Oh boy. On Friday, Luke started to crawl. As always, Leo is not far behind. Do you think anyone would call child protection if we got them a kennel?

John's Got Rythmn

Here's John on another trip to the drum store with Dad.