Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Meet "Mine"

Owen and Mason have created a hand puppet friend that they have named "Mine." Mine doesn't wear any clothes (there is no actual puppet they put on their hand), he is simply just their hand. Mine loves to talk to everyone, loves to talk to other Mines, and loves to switch between Mine (all the fingers), Mommy Mine (3 fingers), and Baby Mine (2 fingers). Mine also loves pretending he's in different scenarios and giving people different pretend objects, like milk, ice cream, trucks, etc. You will likely see a lot of Mine in our Christmas pictures and will probably wonder why Owen and Mason are holding their hands in such funny positions if I don't go ahead and explain. Here's Owen and Baby Mine.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

We were determined this year to do lots of Christmas-y things to get the boys excited about the holidays. We started off the season by getting our Christmas tree decorated the weekend before Thanksgiving. We like to enjoy it for as long as possible! Numna gave the boys some new ornaments this year...the letters O and M...so those were the first on our tree this year.
Christmas Tree Decorating 2009


We also headed out to see the lighting of the 40 foot Christmas tree near where we live.
Here's our family getting ready for Santa to come light the tree. (M, O)









The kids thought it was pretty cool.













We went with Cate, Owen and Mason's friend from school. The three of them had such a good time together. (Owen on left in both pics)











We also had fun visiting Santa about FOUR different times! Such a big change from last year when all they did was scream and cry. This year they LOVED him! (M, O)









Amazingly, it also snowed this year in Houston! Rare! The kids thought it looked cool from inside the house but weren't too impressed with the giant flakes hitting them in the eyes. (M, O)









Owen and Mason really enjoyed their Nativity and Santa's sleigh toys this year. (O, M)










Here's Mason with mini ornaments on his ears as earrings. YES, he thought of this on his own, and he was quite impressed with himself in the mirror, as you can see in the pictures.













Owen had fun with this carousel that was given by my grandmother to my sister and me when we were little. My mom has since passed it on to our household for Owen and Mason to enjoy. And boy did they! We finally had to put it out of reach!












Another cool thing we did this year was go see the Kansas City Southern Railroad's touring Christmas train. The line was long, the weather was wet, and the kids could NOT understand why they couldn't get on the train right away. We waited our turn though, and the kids thought they had died and gone to Heaven! Here is a small album with pics from our train adventure.
Santa's Choo Choo Train


We all got together again with Cate and her family for some yummy Mexican food and a Christmas celebration in their neighborhood park. We saw Santa yet again, sledded down a snow hill, watched some fireworks, and just had a fun time feeling Christmas-y! Here's another album of some cute pics and videos (proof that my kids are fearless).
Christmas in the Park

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Fall Fun

A while back we all headed to the park for a family day. We rode the train and the paddle boats, had a picnic, saw some live music, and just had a relaxing day.

Family Day at the Park


We also met up with Owen and Mason's cousin, Kennedy, when we were in Austin for Thanksgiving. The kids had tons of fun running down the hill and riding the Zilker Zephyr.

Zilker Park


Also during the fall, Owen and Mason discovered markers, helped Mommy celebrate turning 30, and had their very first school party!

November 09

We love Mickey!

A few weeks ago we took the boys to see Disney on Ice, which they absolutely loved. Growing up, we were a Disney family so it is exciting for me to see them light up when they see Mickey. I'm looking forward to the day we can take them to Disney World...but for now, this works for us!

Here's a cute video of the Mickey Mouse March. We listen to this song over and over in the car so the kids were totally into it when they sang it during the show! Watch to the end...it's so cute!


Here are some pics from the day...
Disney on Ice

All The Singing Ladies...

Surging to the top of Owen and Mason's favorites list is Beyonce's "Single Ladies," which they have renamed to "All the Singing Ladies." Here are a few short videos of them singing the parts they know. Owen is the main performer in these videos, but don't be fooled. Mason can belt it and bust a move when he's in the mood - which is always when the camera isn't rolling, of course!





Thursday, December 17, 2009

(Another) Brag Alert! :)

We're 2 1/2 years old and learning to write already! All I can say is WOW! I used to teach 4-5 year olds who had trouble learning to write letters (and even recognize them, for that matter)!



And since they've known all their letters since before 2, we've also been working on reading, starting with the sight words I and see. I figure if they can recognize a letter, a shape, an object, etc. then they should be able to recognize a word. Right? The book we like right now is "I See Colors," and each page says "I see (color)." They are learning to use picture clues to help determine what the sentence says. The page that says "I see red" has a cat painting everything red (Owen's favorite page, of course). They are very good at one-to-one correspondence (pointing to each word and saying it) which will also help when counting objects.

It is just amazing to me to see them doing all of these things that my Pre K students were learning, and many found challenging. Again the other day Owen put together an AB pattern with the giant black and red checkers at Cracker Barrel. I have a video of this but it seems to be taking a while to upload to YouTube.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Santa! I know him!


Mason and Owen were all about Santa this year! I think we've seen him 4 times so far!

Dear Santa...

...here is what Owen and Mason have told me they want for Christmas. Pretty cute and pretty funny!

Owen:
Red!!
A red present
Stickers
A red bicycle
A red playground
Puppies
A Diego bicycle

Mason:
Stickers
A green present
Toys
A blue bicycle
A baseball bat
A playground for our backyard

Mason says Owen wants a baseball bat, Mommy wants stickers, and Daddy wants green stickers and a ring.

Owen says Mason wants stickers, Mommy wants Pluto, and Daddy wants green stickers and puppies.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

30

So I turned 30 about a month ago and am just getting around to posting about it...yes, that's how un-excited I am about it! My wonderful hubby, my parents, my sister, and bff Paige and hubby Blake, all worked their tails off to pull a fast one on me! I knew my parents were coming in to town to watch the kids while I went out with a few friends. The day of the "party," my mom mysteriously got sick and couldn't get out of bed. What I didn't know was that they were all at Paige's house pulling off a big surprise. They know me well and knew they had to make it seem like it was my idea to end up over at Paige's later that night. I thought our "party" was canceled and that Paige's mother-in-law was going to watch O and M while the 4 of us went out to dinner. Here I come, bursting into my surprise party with all of Owen and Mason's gear for the night!

The theme was great...80's...complete with Tang, slap bracelets, splatter paint, and everything else 80's that still hides out on store shelves. It was a ton of fun and my first-ever surprise party. Many thanks to everyone who celebrated with me and an even BIGGER thanks to my hubby, fam, and bff for all the hard work! It was totally radical, dude!

Erin's 30th

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

First Time Trick or Treating

We caught the very first trick or treat on video. They're naturals.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Halloween

So this year was Owen and Mason's first year to go trick-or-treating. We didn't do much to prep them for it other than explaining it a day or so before the big day. Later that day I heard Mason griping at Owen for "not keeping his hands to himself." Of course, I had to go regulate and when I asked Owen what he was doing he told me "I knock on Mason and get candy!" Evidently he thought he could knock on something and it would spew candy all over the place. I suppose he was disappointed when he discovered that wasn't the case, but the actual trick-or-treating the next night did plenty to make up for it.

We started Halloween by heading to our neighborhood Halloween festival, which wasn't too much more than a moonwalk, but the kids were thrilled. Later that evening we had a couple of families over for some pumpkin painting, cookie decorating, and trick-or-treating. Matthew, our neighbor's little boy, lead Owen and Mason to the first house and showed them the ropes. That's all it took. After they realized that candy was involved, they were all three sprinting to the rest of the houses. I saw Mason running with this hilarious expression on his face that seemed to say, "outta my way, I got this down!" He was dead serious! I figured they'd last for about 15-20 minutes but we had to drag them home after an hour! Their pirate hats and hooks didn't make it out our front door, but my two little pirates wore those darn eye patches for the entire hour of trick-or-treating!

Overall, they had a blast and they looked darn cute in their costumes!

Halloween 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fall In Lubbock

Well, it seems that we've made it a sort of tradition to head up to Lubbock every Fall. It gives us a chance to feel some cool fall air for once, to do the corn maze and other Fall-centric activities, and most importantly to get some good time in with Mimi and Papi. Oh yeah, and every other year there's a football game I'm particularly interested in attending.

This year was no exception. Owen and Mason had a great time hanging out with Mimi and Papi and the weather (with the exception of a very cool and windy afternoon at the corn maze) was great. Kyle and Manda were in town, and our friends Paige and Blake made the trip this year so we had a bunch of our favorite people around.

Owen and Mason made pumpkin cookies with Mimi, and I'm pretty sure they set some sort of record for most sprinkles per cookie with that batch. On Saturday, the kids had fun with the grandparents at Papi's party for his department while we went to the game. On Sunday, we did our best to get in the Halloween spirit. We got some little pumpkins for Owen and Mason to paint, and our first-ever Jack O' Lantern was carved.

Overall it was a great, relaxing weekend. And what could top it off better than the first Aggie win in Lubbock in 16 years.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pacifiers are for Babies!

Well, it's official! The pacifiers are outta here! But let me back up a minute. If you know my kids, you know they are attached to two things: their pacis and their blankies. Mason was to the point where he wanted one in his mouth and one in each hand. Owen wanted green pacis, Mason liked orange or blue. Our pediatrician recommended at our 18 month check up that we ditch them by the time they were 2. So, Aaron and I decided to give it a try after the holidays last year. We started weaning them off and only letting them have them at nap, bed, or car time. But that was proving to be pretty tough since the kids would magically find a paci or five laying around somewhere (most likely from Mason's group of 3). We kept pushing off giving it a real hard try knowing their 2nd birthday wasn't until May. Let me qualify this by saying that our doctor strongly encouraged ditching the beloved blankies at the same time. She has seen kids turn to thumb sucking because the blankies remind them of the pacifer. When we went in for the 2 year appointment, Dr. Nguyen was so impressed by their language and knowledge that she wasn't too worried about the pacifiers, so she said "eh, by the time they're 3." And so, we quit worrying about it, hoping we would, some time in the next year, get up the courage to go cold turkey. We knew toddler beds were looming in the distance as well and we didn't want too many changes all at once. It just seemed there was never a good time, not to mention we needed a weekend with NOTHING going on because we figured nobody would be getting any sleep for a while with all the crying. So, status quo we were, 3 pacifiers and all.

Until last Tuesday, that is.

It's no secret that the darn pacifiers make the kids drool. We had been noticing more and more that they really disliked having a soggy shirt and would accept that as a reason to give up their paci for the moment. Last Tuesday was no different. Mason's shirt was soaking wet and I pointed it out to him. He said, "I need a bib!" Mommy said, "No, you need to get rid of your paci!" With that, he took his paci out of his mouth, handed it over to me (Owen followed suit), and said "pacis are for babies." Both he and Owen have said that before but for whatever reason I didn't take the pacifiers in the car to run errands later that evening. And they didn't ask for them OR cry for them. Hmm. Was I on to something? This was, mind you, completely unplanned. At bedtime we decided to see how long we could make it before caving in and giving their pacis to them. There were definitely some tears but only whimpering, not the full out tantrum like I was expecting. Aaron and I knew they'd need a little help so we stayed in their room patting their backs, telling them they were doing a great job, reminding them that they were big boys, and letting them know we understood it was a very hard thing to do. About an hour later they were asleep. Not bad!

The next morning, Mason woke up and announced that he "went ni-night without a paci! Pacis are for babies!! I a big boy!!" while Owen woke up crying and asking for his. Totally the opposite of what I would have predicted, by the way. Luckily that day was a school day and since day one, we have left pacifers at home. Their expectation was already set, and they knew how to nap without one (at school, that is). I think the timing helped me too, because I probably would have caved the next day had they been at home with me. Night #2 was a bit easier but there was still some asking for pacifiers. Simply reminding them that we "gave them to the babies" made it all okay. Morning #2 was almost an exact repeat of the previous morning. By nap time I was feeling good that we might actually be done with pacifiers. I knew from school that they could fall asleep for nap without a pacifier so that's what we did. Night #3: piece of cake. And here we are a week later and they haven't had a pacifier since! I think it is safe to draw a trend by now!

If I would have known it was going to be that easy we would have done it a long time ago! So, for all the moms who think their kids are way too attached to give up a pacifier, think again. You just never know. Oh yes, we are still using the blankies and there has been no thumb sucking.

I have to admit, we did get a bit ambitious after this. We were so surprised at how easily they adapted that we thought we'd give potty training a "real" try. I expected them to watch this little movie (that is supposed to be guaranteed) and viola! Not so. Let me just put it this way: after about 45 minutes of wearing only underwear, I decided I was just fine with diapers! Every 30 seconds someone else was peeing through the undies onto the floor. Owen thought it was cool to wet his undies so he could get another cool pair. So, now we are formulating a new plan of action and the "real" try is coming again soon. Upon the suggestion from a friend, we are going to try starting off with some "cool" undies and if they wet them, they have to wear plain white ones. Maybe this will discourage Owen from wanting to wet the ones he's got on. That would be nice.

speaking of potty training...
HOORAY FOR OWEN!

Today at school, Owen told the teacher he had poo poo! She checked his diaper and told him he was clean. He told her "no, in my bottom." This is the first time either of them have given us warning. We have been talking about telling us before we go in our diaper and today it paid off. I think he had his "ah-ha moment" on what it must feel like to have to go potty. I am crossing my fingers that we have turned a corner in this daunting adventure!

Silly Sayings

Last Thursday I had to go to the doctor and had to explain to the kids that we weren't going to see Dr. Nguyen (their pedi), we were going to see Mommy's doctor. They told me (and later Daddy) that they "took Mommy to the doctor." It melted my heart because I've always heard stories about little boys loving their mommies and taking care of them.

Another day last week they told me to "come on, let's go get on our pirate ship!" They each climbed in their beds and pretended they were in their own ships. They were "going out in the ocean" and their way of driving an imaginary pirate ship wheel was the same hand motion as "the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round." They told me they were going to see other pirates in the ocean and saying "bye pirate mommy, bye pirate Mason/Owen," that water was coming into the ship (they pretended to dry it up) and Mason called it "ghost water," I guess because he couldn't see it? No idea how he knows that ghosts are invisible considering all the ghosts in his Halloween books are clearly visible. Then they pretended to go fishing and did the actual (yes, they remembered from fishing this summer) hand motion to reel in a fish. Our cat walked in and we pretended she was a catfish, which they thought was hilarious because they definitely remember the nasty catfish we caught this summer. Then it got dark (Mason dimmed the light) so we pretended it was the moon. Of course, Owen had to come help make it dark from Mason's ship (that is where the light switch is) but on his way back he declared there were crocodiles in the water and that he needed help getting back to his ship. I told him to hurry fast so he (and Mason following) ran across to the other ship and were so happy! "I made it, Mommy!" (Which then ended their pirate adventure because now the new game was running back and forth between beds to escape the crocodiles).

This morning the kids woke up about an hour early and were chasing each other around the house and cracking themselves up. Then I heard them giggling while telling each other the "creepy crawlers are gonna get you!" No idea where they heard that term! So funny!

Later, we were at Stomping Grounds (indoor play place) and Owen was on his way to climb up to the top. He stopped and told me "see you later, crocodile!" ("see you waiter, crocodi-yoh").

I know there are so many other funny things they say and I will have to remember to blog them when they happen so I can remember it forever! I love my babies!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Dewberry Farm

We posted a few pictures in the pumpkin patch already, but I wanted to share the others from our day at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, TX, just outside of Houston.
Dewberry Farm


This is a pretty funny clip of Mason on the rope swing.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

My Full Name

A few months ago, Owen and Mason learned their full name with me only telling them a few times during one day. I was shocked that it didn't confuse them seeing as how they think their names are just Owen and Mason. I finally got it on video but Mason has a stumble over Owen's name even though he says it perfectly every other day. I couldn't get him to do a retake because he was too interested in getting done so he could use MY camera to take his own pictures (this is why he keeps saying "Mason's turn" and reaching for the camera). He also knows how to show 2 fingers since he is 2, but again, all he could think about was getting it over with so he could have the camera (or so he thought)!

Oh well. They're still cute as can be! And yes, Owen put his hat on just like you see it!



Monday, October 19, 2009

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Last Sunday we decided to have a family day at Dewberry Farm despite the sloppy weather. The temperature was awesome, which I'm confident had something to do with why we braved the drizzle and mud. It was totally worth it though. We had tons of fun getting dirty, eating roasted corn and apple pie, and picking out pumpkins, and even cheering on the racing piglets. Because we were schlepping kids through and over the mud most of the day, we didn't have many opportunities to pull out the camera. We knew as soon as one of them slipped down it was all over! Owen and Mason aren't yet the kids that are perfectly happy being covered in mud. We did get some cute pictures towards the end of the day, which is surprising because not more than an hour or so later, Owen had a 102 fever.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Mommy and Daddy Get Away

Aaron had to go to Orlando for work at the end of September so I decided to use some flyer miles and meet him out there for several days. We decided it would be fun to go to Disney World but felt SUPER guilty that our kids couldn't be there. We know what gift they'll be getting for Christmas when they're 4! I can't wait!

Disney World


Granna, Granddaddy, and Numna came to Houston to hang out with Owen and Mason while we were in Orlando. They made their own fun at the park, the pumpkin patch, and celebrating Numna's 87th birthday.

A week with the Grandparents

Uncle Kyle's Aggie Ring

A few weeks ago we all went to College Station for Uncle Kyle's ring day and ring dunk. The kids had fun being little Aggies, and they sure make cute ones!

Kyle's Aggie Ring Weekend


Saturday night we watched the ttu/tu game and Owen and Mason decided to amuse themselves by going around and taking "silly face" pictures of everyone. They did pretty good for the most part, aside from a few chest or floor shots. Here are the results of their first-ever photography session.

Silly Faces by Mason and Owen


Eh, hem...some people weren't playing along and kept deleting their silly face pictures. Boo!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Daddy's Birthday and First Day of School

August and September are FULL of birthdays which suits Owen and Mason just fine. They LOVE birthdays because they know it means they get to sing, blow out candles, and eat cake! What's not to love? Here are a few pics of Owen and Mason with Daddy on his birthday. I took them to the store and they were very adamant on the balloons they wanted to get. Owen picked out a Mickey balloon and Mason was set on the Backyardigans.

Shortly after Daddy's birthday was the first day of school. I could have sworn I posted these pictures, but I only posted a few in Facebook. So, a month late, here are the pictures from their first day of school. They even fell asleep, on a nap mat (a first), in a strange place, WITHOUT a pacifier (another first)! I was shocked! Here's a video to prove it!



Daddy's Birthday and Frist Day of School

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Who's Bigger?

Daddy: Who's bigger, Daddy or Mommy?
Mason: Daddy, Mommy.
Daddy: Who's bigger, Owen or Mason?
Mason: *No answer*
Daddy: Is Owen bigger or is Mason bigger?
Mason: *stands up* I tall 'nuff!!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Galveston in July and Other Adventures

Still playing blog catch up, I don't know how we got so far behind! Here are some cute pics and videos of the boys swimming and jamming out at Granna and Granddaddy's. The video of them swimming and going underwater was the first time they willingly went under on their own. We were in the midst of swim lessons and we basically had to bribe them to get them to go under. All of a sudden, on this day they decided that they were just gonna do it. Since then, they LOVE going under, popping up, and announcing that they went under, just in case you didn't notice!

Swimming Fun in Galveston


Here's a few of Owen getting his new tooth and fun in their big boy beds.

New Tooth and Big Boy Beds


Ever since I was little, I can remember my grandmother, Numna, singing this song. It was only natural for her to sing it to Owen and Mason, too. It's not too complicated, just some da de da's, but it's neat to see my kids singing the same song she taught me.




.
Here's Owen breaking out into his own little solo.



Here's a video of Owen jamming out on a sax while Mason does a silly dance!



And here is Mason on the guitar and Owen on the sax...complete with the instrument slam at the end.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

No Cry Day!

Today was the first day that NEITHER Owen nor Mason cried during drop off at MDO! They both kissed me goodbye, smiled, and waved. I was SHOCKED! Woo hoo! We've made it! I don't have to feel like a bad mom for sending them to school when they could just as easily stay home with me. It only took 2 days a week for four weeks to get here.

Brag Alert!

I braved the train and zoo by myself on Tuesday and we all did pretty well. Besides riding the train 3 times and standing in front of the giraffes for 30 minutes, it was a pretty fun day. Just joking. I loved every minute of it. In one of the "hoofed animal" habitats, there were also some very tall, lanky birds roaming around. I was showing the kids the different animals and I called the bird a "big bird." Owen said, "it's a crane!" Well, Owen, thank you for clearing that up for me. Shame on me for thinking that a two year old wouldn't know what a crane was! This comes only a few days after Owen told me that the dirty puddle of water was a "mud puddle." Where does he get this stuff?

Now for Mason. While Aaron and I were on our trip, we called home quite frequently to talk to the kids. I knew Mason (and Owen too, for that matter) could speak very well, but I was blown away at how clearly I could understand him. I guess I just figured that a lot of his clarity (to me) was due to context clues or by watching his mouth. He was also able to carry on a mini conversation with me without Granna prompting him on how to answer my questions or what to tell me about. Owen does a great job over the phone too, but he gets so excited about whatever he is telling me about that he gets talking too fast and ends up tongue tied.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Summer Fun, Overdue

So there are a few groups of pictures here and there that we never got around to posting. I'm trying to catch up with some of the older stuff. Here is a group of some things we did during June/July. We went to the Noah's Ark Pool, Downtown Aquarium, Kemah, Fiesta Texas, had a couple of play dates, and climbed around in a fire truck and a helicopter. We managed to stay quite busy all summer and had a lot of fun doing it!

Long Lost June and July Pics

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The School For Little Children


Here we are getting ready to leave for school! (M,O)

Come on brother, let's go!










About to go inside! We're getting excited!






Owen and Mason started their new Mother's Day Out this week. They go Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-2. On Monday they were excited to go and didn't cry when we left. I called to check on them later in the day and the report was that Mason would get a bit weepy during transition times. I was extremely curious to see how nap time would go for several reasons. One, because nap time at my house lately has been a struggle with their new found freedom in a toddler bed. Two, the info sheet we got during meet the teacher said to leave pacifiers at home. Owen and Mason have never gone to sleep without it, much less in a strange place filled with toys and lots of other kids. I went to pick them up and those little boogers were out cold! Apparently the teacher had to move Mason's mat next to Owen's because he wouldn't lay down. Once she did that, they both went to sleep! SHOCKED!



Here's proof that we slept!

Let me just say that just two days in school have helped tremendously at home during nap and bed time!




Owen and Mason's new (bigger) backpacks came in the mail a little too late for the first day of school, but it was a nice treat later that night. Owen very adamantly picked out a red backpack and Mason wanted blue.












Day two was expected to be a little more difficult since they now knew the deal. Of course, Mason started crying before I even left the room and Owen was crying by the time I peeked back in the window, 10 seconds after leaving. Oh boy. I called to check again and the report was no tears after about 15 minutes. When I went to pick them up, both Owen and Mason were out cold again, sans pacifiers! This time, Mason was in his official nap spot, away from Owen. The teacher said it was like night and day from Monday. But both days, for whatever reason, both kids fell apart when I woke them up to tell them I'm back to pick them up. They both want to be held and and are making sure everyone knows it. Who knows!

Here we are in our cool new backpacks and lunch boxes on the second day of school. Today we got to wear our cute "School for Little Children" shirts too!

Cute little Owen looks like he is sick of waiting on us to quit taking pictures!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Cute Videos!

LITTLE SCIENTISTS
water + air = funny noises
A (long)while back, Aaron had shown them how to catch bubbles under their cup in the bathtub. The other day, they busted out with this little experiment and I was amazed they remembered it.




SINGING TO BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR
Owen and Mason's new favorite book! And the sweetest voices you'll ever hear.




OWEN'S LITTLE SOLO
Here's Owen taking it on his own. So priceless!




BOOTS
One night, the kids requested the "Boots" song and wanted to put on their boots, which turned into the "Catch Ya" song and running around the coffee table. They're shirtless because they were on the way to the bathtub when we got side tracked. Owen is still stomping/running around in his boots (we're on the 3rd round of this song) when Mason decided to do a little dance lesson with Mommy. He's never done this before and I was cracking up! As I watch the video back, I crack up even more at Owen in the background. I just love this video!!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Kate's Enchanted Forest Party

Here are the pictures we took this weekend of Owen and Mason's cousin Kate's first birthday party! The theme was so cute and all the little girls had home made fairy wings and tutus to wear. Of course, the main focus of this album is the birthday girl, Kathryn Elise! Happy Birthday little fairy princess...

Kate's 1st Birthday

Friday, August 21, 2009

Port Aransas Vacation

After Aaron's Mexico trip was over, the four of us headed to Port Aransas for a little vacation! Aside from the West Virginia work trip last fall, the four of us haven't taken a vacation by ourselves. We always try to include whichever grandparents can make it, so this was a treat...no offense, grandparents! :) We weren't sure how the trip would go since, up to this point, Owen and Mason have HATED sand. We decided that we were just going to make them like it. And they LOVED it! The first day on the beach, their favorite activity was getting their feet covered in sand and then washing it off in the water. My kids don't like being dirty, can you tell? We went for pizza that night and the kids passed right out at bed time.
After a suggestion from a friend, we got the kids some nets so we could try to catch little critters along the shoreline. We did catch a tiny hermit crab and some other shell-less crabs that were super tiny and the kids could have cared less about. What they did love were the tiny little clams that live by the thousands under the sand. We dug them up, put them in the net to rinse the sand off, and dumped them back out. Owen and Mason thought it was the coolest thing to watch them all wiggle back under the sand. If you ask them what they saw at the beach they'll tell you they saw shells under the sand that wiggle, and they give a little wiggle with their body. It's so cute! Later this night we went to the "pirate restaurant" which was dubbed that because it had a jolly roger painted on the side of the building. Of course, the kids thought it was awesome. Afterward, we went to a little ice cream shop for dessert and then strolled around to all the token beach souvenir shops. It was a fun, relaxing day!
The last day we were there we went for an early swim before checkout. Then we ate some lunch and rented this cool little car that the kids called their "gig 'em tractor." We drove around the island, saw some pelicans on the bay side, stopped for sno-cones, drove down the beach a while, and then headed back. Now the plan was to head to Austin for the night, wake up, and hit Sea World with Granna (Granddaddy had to work all weekend, but have no fear...Friday, August 21st is his last day of work EVER). Busy vacation!
Owen and Mason loved Sea World a lot more this year! We got to go backstage at the Viva show because my sister's friend is a cast member. We saw some super cute and super noisy Beluga whales up close. Last year the kids couldn't have cared less about Shamu, but this year they thought it was pretty neat and really wanted to take home a giant, stuffed Shamu. Since a giant, stuffed Shamu is the LAST thing I need to add to my house, I told them no. Sorry kids. You'll have to make due with the plastic figurine of Shamu you got last year. They got over it as soon as we left the store. Phew!
Overall, it was a great family vacation for us! I just wish we had more vacation time so we could do things like this more often!

Port Aransas


Sea World

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Fishing for REAL this time

The day after the boys very first fishing adventure (with no bites) we decided to head out to the lake for the evening. The marina is always swarming with hungry fish so we thought we may have better luck...and we did! Boy were Owen and Mason amazed at the wiggly fish! Owen mustered up the courage to touch the perch. He squealed and said "it's coooold." After fishing, we had a little picnic and headed out for an evening ride around the lake.

More fun in Austin


Here are some pictures from our July 4th outing that we finally got off of Mimi's camera...
July 4th weekend