Lots Happening in 2014

2014 is not showing to be any less busy than 2013!  Our year began with a New Years Celebration in VA.

 And we were delayed there for several days because of the "polar vortex"

Then, we helped celebrate the pending arrival of our newest nephew at a shower in Garland for Amy Schwarz.

The guys got some park time while the ladies visited.

Upon arriving home, Aiden's first tooth appeared that Mon, January 27th.  Despite how busy we are, the kids don't stop growing/changing!  His 2nd and 3rd teeth (both top teeth!) popped in within a week or two. If you look closely, you can see the very top of his bottom right tooth.

We visited a few preschools to decide where Oliver will go in the fall.  How cool would it be to play with these/this??

On Valentine's Day, Aiden took 1-2 steps unassisted.

Then we hosted an Austin Marathon cheering party.  Two friends of ours were running in it, so it was fun to follow their chips on the marathon app map, and cheer when they ran by.  We even jogged alongside one as she completed mile 21, and started mile 22.

Gotta love the spirit in Austin!  And check out the signs "Worst Parade Ever" and "If You Think This Is Hard, Try Dating Me!"

The next weekend was a very special weekend, as we hosted Mark's college buddies and their families at our house.  We took a trip to the Thinkery (children's museum) that just opened in Dec 2013.  It definitely kept the attention of our explorers (big and little!).

Then, we mostly hung out at our house.  It turned out to be a beautiful weekend, so we hung out in the backyard most of the time.

Born 1 week apart:

Sterling reading bedtime stories.

A trip to Austin wouldn't be complete without Amy's ice cream!  Here is the group gathered, missing the Lindners who left the night before (notice the child who photo-bombed the picture!):

On February 25th, at our play group, Aiden took 4 steps unassisted, and has continued to take step after step on his own throughout the week.  He loves standing by himself and then plopping forward with a giggle.

Today, we moved Oliver into a twin bed!

BIG boy, and he started wearing gel in his hair. (jk!).  He was trying to mimic Daddy and proceeded to put "gel" (hand soap) in his hair.  Daddy had lots of fun rinsing that out!

In the month of February, Mark and I have taken a rock climbing class, which has been loads of fun, and challenged our physical strength.  We are going to maintain our regular climbing date nights. Today, as a fun Sabbath outing, we took Oliver with us.  When we arrived, he watched wide-eyed as folks were bouldering and jumping down. He stated, "Mommy, you and Daddy climb. I'm not doing it."  We knew it would only be time.  After about 5 minutes, he was on the wall.

He repeated the same line over and over as he became more and more confident.  One day, we'd like to get him in a harness and belay him.  So fun!