Texas State Aquarium

On the way home from the beach, we stopped at the Texas State Aquarium. The kids loved it! The sharks, the fish, the turtles ... so much to see! We tried to stick around for the dolphin show, but we were already tacking this onto our drive home, so we were in and out in less than two hours.

Life's a Beach!

For Luke and Nolan's third birthdays and Olivia's second birthday, we headed to Port A. Our family, Mic and Ryan and kids, Lauren, Grandmother and Aunt Lanie made it to the coast, and what a trip it was. First and foremost, getting two little kids packed with clothes, toys, food, beach stuff was a feat in and of itself. Secondly, remembering that I had a dog to also find a home for a few days was another task (thanks, Mom and Brooke!). Thirdly, I had to pack myself and shutdown the house ... but that's nothing that any other mother in the world hasn't done. Fun it was, relaxing it was not. (Pretty sure that relaxing vacations and little kids don't go together). Luke, just as I suspected, didn't want anything to do with the water. He ... maybe ... put his toes in the surf for a couple of seconds, but that was it. He was happy playing in the sand with his dumptruck. Madeline, on the other hand, loved everything about it, including splashing in the water, chasing the seagulls and eating the sand. Mmm.

Adam and Ryan took the boys on a boat to see the dolphins, and Luke talked about the big boat for days afterwards, telling us that it goes "rummm rummm," moving his imaginary boat over imaginary big waves. Madeline and Olivia got their first baby pedicures by Grandmother and enjoyed all of the attention while their brothers were away.

I hope we get to go every year. I'm sure Luke will start to love it, and I know that Adam would love to take the kids fishing.

Baby beach bum

Micki says this picture is so indicative of the Texas coast ... nothing says beautiful beach like a bunch of litter.

Chasing the birds.

The fearsome foursome.

I did a great job applying sunscreen to the kids. Myself? Notsomuch. I ended up with a huge sunburn this day.

Luke the Builder.

Happy birthday, babies!

Trucks, trucks and more trucks.

The tickle monster attacks.

Joyeux Premier Anniversaire, Mademoiselle Madeline!

Grandmother outdid herself and made an awesome yellow hat smash cake.

She's a big girl! One whole year! We celebrated her birthday with a Madeline-themed party, of course. I copied a lot of what we did from a blog I found online, and I'll probably recycle the Madeline-theme a couple of times as she grows up. It's just too easy. I made the invitation, and had my graphic artist friends at work "fix it." At the party, we had French food, French wine, and red, white and blue Parisian accents. Oh -- and the yellow hat smash cake, courtesy of Grandmother. Just like little Madeline in the book!

Our in-town (and San Antonio) family all came as well as a couple of neighbor friends. She was cute as ever and the bigger kids had fun playing outside in our huge pool (with six whole inches of water) and slip-n-slide.

Party was fun! All the grandparents and local aunts, uncles and cousins came, along with a few of our neighbors.

My wonderful grandparents came, too! Luke and Maddie are so lucky to get to spend time with them.



Madeline, meet Madeline.



Maddie and her oldest cousin Katie

Madeline and her little friend, our neighbor Trevi, who is just four months younger. They should have fun growing up and give me plenty of anxiety attacks when they're teenagers.

What's That? What's That? What's That?

What's that, Momma?

I think I must hear this at least ... oh ... 20 times a day.

What's that? That's a sprinkler.
What's that? That's a camera.
What's that? That's a cricket.

It's really cute, albeit sometimes a little challenging to figure out what Luke's asking. Yesterday, he was asking about the loud noise coming from the neighboring house. What's that? That noise? Yeah. That's a saw. What's that? That's a big saw that is helping build a house. What's that? They're building a house next door, and it's a loud saw. Oh. He seemed satisfied with that answer, given in three different ways.

And, he says the silliest things. Today, we were driving into the neighborhood and he saw a lawnmower service. "Look, Momma! Mr. 'Bino!" He was talking about our lawnmower guy, Sabino. He gets excited when Sabino shows up and he sees him through the window, but sad when he can't see him (my favorite is when he tells Sabino that he drinks his milk): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cafa0l-06Q.

Just tonight, he developed a newfound dislike of a dinosaur that Katie and Lauren gave him more than a year ago. He threw dinosaur into the mix when singing "Old MacDonald," even adding his roar, but then said suddenly, Momma, where's Dinosaur? Dinosaur's in your gameroom. Dinosaur isn't scary. No -- he's not scary, he's a nice dinosaur. Yeah. Then he changed his mind, jumping off his chair during dinner and throwing Dinosaur out the back door. Dinosaur goes outside! Oh no -- why? Dinosaur is scary.

He's really talkative at dinner. That's when we find out who he played with at daycare, who cried, who bit or hit that day, etc. And, he likes to point out things about each of us: Lukey has blue eyes. Two eyes. One. Two. Mommy has blue eyes. Daddy has brown eyes. Sissy has brown eyes. Max has brown eyes.

My favorite might be his commentary during potty training. We were doing great for about a week or so, but now I feel like we're going backwards. So, I'm not pushing it too much, but when he does sit on the potty, you might hear him say, "C'mon, pee pee!" or "Pee pee, come out!" And, when he's decided that peeing in the potty is overrated: "Momma, put my diaper on. Pee pee is coming!"

10 Months and 11 Months!

The busyness of having two (now) toddlers and a full-time job ... sheesh. Blogging falls by the wayside, but I'm back on the bus! On the road again! Back in action!

First up -- Madeline is getting to be a beautiful baby doll, and I know I'm partial, but really, she's just the sweetest thing ever. She seems to be always happy, content, easygoing, fun. I love her demeanor. So pleasant all the time. And, she's a little sponge, soaking up all of big brother's antics. So, I'm sure some mischief and stubbornness is just around the corner. She's really into imitating, especially whatever Luke does. If he laughs, she laughs. And, he's great at getting her to laugh. Sometimes in the car, if she's fussing, I'll says, "Luke, make Sissy laugh." He lets out a crazy laugh and she just starts right up. At 11 months, she started walking. It happened so quickly! She went from standing, to wobbling, to walking. So, she's off and on a mission. Gone are the days of her sitting and playing quietly while I cook dinner. She opens cabinets, empties them, fills bowls, empties them, bangs mixing cups together, "helps" unload the dishwasher (beelines it for the forks and butter knives ... why is that?). Curious, curious, curious.

At this point (11 months), I'm still nursing and trying to wean her onto a sippy cup of milk. She drinks milk fine, but out of a bottle, not out of a sippy cup. I seem to have better luck than the daycare, probably because we don't do bottles at home. When she moves into the toddler room at daycare, bottles will be easier to get rid of.

10 months!

From this ...

... to this.

Oh ... hey there. Did you need this wax paper?

11 months!

Easter 2012

Easter came and went long ago, but I have to document it so Maddie and Luke can read all about it. They will, won't they?? Won't they want to see how the Easter bunny visited and brought such cool stuff like ... Thomas the Train underwear! books! a chocolate bunny (which I ate)! bubbles! What a neat Easter bunny. How did he know that we'd love this stuff? And, last year he brought Luke an orange and an apple. He must be talking to Mom ... she knows exactly what we want.

We even made it to church, and one day that will become a habit. Luke's definitely getting old enough for us to start going on a more regular basis. The hard part is getting Adam and me in gear on Sunday mornings.

The kids had fun hunting eggs with the neighbor pals the day before Easter and then again with cousins at Grandmother and Grandad's. Luke had it down for sure. And, he figured out that if he opened the eggs, there were wonderful melted chocolates in them. Awesome! And not at all messy.

Luke's mouth is full of some sort of loot from his Easter basket.

I see you, Easter Bunny.

Luke grabbing said loot.

Her beautiful Easter dress from Grandmother.

Would have been an awesome picture if not for the red things coming out of our heads.

Sissy was so happy to get an egg! And a bunny!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Sweet Berry Farms is near Marble Falls, so we checked it out with Mom and Dad. During the fall, they grow pumpkins, and during the spring, they grow strawberries, then blackberries a little later in the season. It's so fun, and I think the kids will love it more as they get older. The weather was perfect, but it was the end of spring break, so much of the berries were picked over. Luke had fun anyway. Papa showed him how to pick the berries by the stems. And, Madeline had fun being carried around all day.

Luke walks through the strawberry fields at Sweet Berry Farms near Marble Falls.

Sweet Strawberry Shortcake.

You didn't think we could pass up a train ride, did you?
He would only go if I rode with him, though, so we squeeeezzzeed ourselves into the little barrel car.

Marble Falls has a really great park, and the kids loved it. Madeline kept up with Luke as best she could, following and climbing right after him. 

What a sweet older brother she has. Times like this make up for all the times he runs at her full speed or rolls over her on the floor or "hugs" her neck.

Down, down, down she goes! And, back up, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOIbkN8zjM

Pooped

I've mentioned that Luke compares all size differences to baby, mommy and daddy. Of everything. Even poop. Earlier this week, Luke pooped, and as I was changing him the conversation went like this:

"Momma, that's a big poo poo."
"Yes, it is."
"It's a mommy poo poo."
"Oh. Really? Hmmm."

Then, later that day, he pooped again, but this time, it was a "daddy poop."

Toothless Wonder



I'm partial, but seriously? The cutest baby girl in the world. Happy and sweet = Madeline Kathleen Scott.



Well. Here we are. Creeping up on Madeline's 11th month, and still not a tooth in sight. Luke got his first tooth fairly late too -- 8.5 months -- but not this late! It doesn't seem to bother her whatsoever. She eats more than Luke ever did. Just shovels the food in! It's such a relief ... having a baby that eats well. This, despite turning her nose up at baby food months ago. When she eats, she talks to her food, obviously enjoying it: "Nom nom nom (shove some in), nom nom nom (shove more in), mmmm (smush it in her mouth)." It's so cute.



These foods top her list:

Bananas, Cheerios, sweet potatoes, yogurt, applesauce, chicken (girl loves chicken), strawberries, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, lamb (random, but she loves a good gyro), black beans, cheese, eggs, toast.

These foods are at the bottom of her list:

Blueberries, avocado, oatmeal, carrots, green beans.

She's almost to her way to mastering the sippy cup and prefers Luke's to her own. Why is that? Maybe the same reason I always want my dad's sandwich instead of mine. We've begun the weaning process, so I don't think the transition to whole milk next month will be difficult. Kind of par for the course with Maddie ... pretty easy baby so far!