Voice Recordings

For Christmas, our boys received a book from their Aunt Karen and Uncle Daniel.  To accompany the book, Karen and Daniel recorded themselves reading the book on a CD.  Tonight, Oliver wasn't feeling well, so he was listening to the book in his room while the rest of us were eating dinner.  Aiden kept wanting to go into the bedroom to see.  We explained that it is just a CD with Aunt Karen's voice.  He said he wanted to see Aunt Karen.  We explained again.  Then I said, "Let's go brush your teeth."  Aiden repied, "Aunt Karen is going to brush my teeth."  One day, Aiden will understand voice recording, but for now, he'll humor us with his quotes!

Houston Road Trip

This weekend was the annual "1209 Guys" Reunion.

The little boys and I decided to go along to Houston and visit my friend, Julie.  Boy what a treat it was for us!

On Sat, we got to see part of a state high school drill team competition. Julie's mother-in-law heads up a drill team east of Houston and was in Houston for the competition.

Wow, those girls are serious and talented.  And the captains have to be loud and strong.  Mark's sister was a drill team captain in high school.  I don't think of her as a loud person, so it was fun to picture her shouting instructions in that setting.

After naps, Julie so graciously arranged a flight(!) for me with her dad (a retired military and commercial pilot).

Very excited!

He lives among several neighbors who share a small airstrip.  He built a two-seater plane himself, an RV-7.  Julie designed the paint scheme and helped paint it.

What a beauty!

When I told Oliver that "Mommy was going flying," he said he didn't want me to go away.  I had to explain that I was just going on a ride.  I'd be right back.  He smiled at that point and was glued to the plane, fascinated.  Julie said the kids were shouting a countdown and cheering us on as we took off.

The cheering squad

Oliver cheering

Aiden:  "Look!"

Fly-by / Low pass

 The plane is considered aerobatic, so we had quite the time!

Meanwhile, Mark had a great time with the guys across town.

Updated Family Photo

We took a new family photo while we were in Houston.  We're proud of it, and we thought you guys would like it.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Looks like if you live in PA, you'll be having six more weeks of winter weather.  On the other hand, if you live on Staten Island, you'll be seeing spring sooner.  AND...if you live in Austin, well, happy spring this week/weekend!

To celebrate, we had a semi-date (with boys) at one of our favorite burger places. It was a last minute decision and to our very pleasant surprise, there was no line (RARE!). We did a cheers and then

dug into this deliciousness:

Mark has a special gift at ordering the most delectable item(s) on the menu.  In this case: the Magic Shroom burger (angus beef, texas goat cheese, field mushrooms, mayo & basil pesto), cooked medium rare.

A shortened nap for Aiden meant an early bedtime for him, and special Daddy/Mommy time with Oliver.  We have had SO MUCH FUN building train tracks.  He build the long, impressive bridge on this one.  Meanwhile, Daddy brought the helicopter in "to help people."  Oliver set up the helipad, and then Daddy flew the helicopter while Oliver and I drove the trains.

Scary

Is this what we look like?

Expression

Who do we know that can furrow his eyebrows like so?

Vrooom

Daddy helped build this awesome bridge.  We had a great time playing with it for several days!  I was excited to get Aiden saying "vroom," since we haven't recorded his little voice as much as we would have liked.  And Oliver is so very focused.

Best Dessert Ever

These boys seriously have the coolest dad.  He turns a normal apple dessert into an engaging masterpiece, literally.

Adventure Hike

In 2015, one of our goals is to go hiking and camping more.  We want the boys to know the outdoors as much as possible.  So...what better way than to start the new year with an "adventure hike."  The boys love "going on an adventure" no matter the weather!

Holiday Party

Mark's holiday work party is usually quite the affair.  This year the theme was masquerade.  They go all out for their parties, so we tried as well:

What a fun date night treat!

2nd Birthday

Aiden celebrated birthday number 2 or Dec 8th.  We had a small family gathering with pizza and cupcakes.

He loved helping to sing "Happy Birthday" to himself, loved blowing out the candle,

and the icing on the celebration was in fact the icing on the cupcake!

Mark grew up with Tonka metal trucks and he really wanted our boys to have one.  We happened to find just that on craigslist.  It was a hit!

First Dentist Appointment

Oliver had his first dentist appointment.  He was a bit apprehensive, until we showed up and he was told he would get to select a show and watch it as they cleaned his teeth.  Awesome!

Meanwhile, Aiden was enthralled with the construction happening on Mopac (the office had picture windows overlooking Mopac).  He had his own "show" of every digger truck you can imagine.

Haircuts

I have tried to cut our boys' hair on several occasions.  I am resolved to longer try.  Cutting moving boys' hair is not my gift (perhaps without training).  So...they go to Jarrod.  He is fantastic and has been described as being able to "duck and dodge" as he achieves beautiful hair cuts on our boys.  Aiden looks so big!

Halloween 2014

Leading up to Halloween, our plan was for Aiden to wear the dinosaur costume (size 18-24 months) that Oliver had worn the last two years. Oliver would be superman.  Great, set.  Then...Oliver decided he wanted to be the dinosaur. No problem, Aiden didn't mind either way.  Except, the leg part of the costume was a little short.

Oliver still pulled it off with "roaring."  Meanwhile, Aiden felt super big with his floor-length red cape!

And Daddy was dressed as Dr. Schwarz from his work day.

We trick-or-treated with neighbors, visited friends, and then handed out candy. It was a relaxed, fun evening!

Pumpkins!

This year, we returned to the first pumpkin patch Oliver visited around his first Halloween (2011).

It is a Methodist Church downtown Austin and they have a field filled with pumpkins.  We were surprised to find very few pumpkins there this year.  We learned that they had unloaded truck after truck and just couldn't keep up with the demand.  Apparently, that particular pumpkin patch has gotten very popular in the last three years!

We took a family photo, and then the boys helped us load our pumpkins into a large, two-wheeled wheelbarrow, and Oliver pushed it to the check-out tent.  He felt very big (it was a BIG wheelbarrow!).

We couldn't wait to carve, so we started right after dinner.  Look at those perfectly round eyes!  Daddy used something special to obtain that perfection.  It can be found in one of the pictures below.

Oliver being silly:

 Digging out the seeds.

Aiden wanted nothing to do with the sliminess, but he was more than happy to say "cheese!"

 A family of jack-o-lanterns!

Bike Riding

Oliver is fully balancing and steering his push bicycle (or balance bike, strider bike, etc.) that we know he is ready for pedals.

Aiden is also doing quite well, keeping up with his brother on his push tri-cycle.  See him scoot along!

Thomas the Tank Engine

What a special treat we had this weekend!

We saw this event online over the summer and thought it would be a fun outing.  We hesitated, thinking Oliver might enjoy it more in a year or so.  Boy, are we glad we went as a family.  Oliver's enthusiasm when he saw Thomas was priceless.  His little body was overtaken with excitement as he jumped up and down shouting and running to get a closer look at the big Thomas engine.

And Aiden had so much fun too! He was consumed with the train ride.  We sat in cars with windows open and Aiden loved sticking his head out enough to feel the breeze.

The whole event was more like a mini-festival.  They had a rock-climbing wall, pictures with Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt, an imagination station (arts and craft), a mini-golf station, storytelling, and a gift shop with any Thomas thing you could want.

And a surprise to us, was the Thomas engine's face is created to talk.  So, before he pulls away from the station, he says a few words.  The kids were mesmerized (and some of the parents were too!).

What an eventful day!

Painting

We've been painting recently, as Oliver has so much paint leftover from his construction birthday party.  Both boys LOVE to paint, glue, cut, whatever...

While painting, I ran to grab my camera because I noticed how different their little personalities are, even just in the way they express themselves in paint.

All the colors mixed, on his hands, elbows, face.

 Each color, still separate.  No paint on arms/elbows.

I love how unique each of our boys is!

First Day of School

Who doesn't love first day of school pictures?!

Oliver looks SO much bigger than he did last year.

This year has already been a struggle getting him to LEAVE preschool at the end of the morning (T/Th).  He has already had music and movement class, chapel, arts and crafts, and a lot of outdoor play time. We are thrilled he is enjoying it so much.  

Museum Field Trip

The only museums we have visited have been children's museums.  So, today, we had a fun outing with friends.  First, we rode the bus (a fun trip in and of itself).  Oliver really wanted to sit by his friends and show them how not to fall when the bus was moving.

Then, we visited the Blanton Museum's free summer storytime.  Our tour guide was thoroughly engaging, asking multiple questions of the kids and what they saw in the piece of art.  She was teaching them how to engage with art, in a way.  We walked to a piece of art, talked about it, then read a book that corresponded with that piece of art.  Even though Oliver was on the younger end of the suggested age spectrum (3-7), he was thoroughly entertained and focused (He loves books in general.), so it was a perfect adventure!

After the storytime, we were free to explore the museum.  The kids' favorite exhibit was probably this one:

It is literally a sea of pennies (600,000 to be exact).  And above, hangs 2,000 bones.  Oliver simply enjoyed playing in the pennies.