Little Stinkers!

As we enter into true toddler-hood (since they are both officially toddling everywhere), I'm beginning to see glimpses of the "fun" that is coming. As sweet as my precious little guys are most of the time, the "little stinker" moments are beginning to appear!

Check out the following video of a ride in the car a few days ago:

Don't let Will fool you... he too was screaming really loud too, I just didn't get it on video.

And for more pictures of W & J in action:

This hard hat is a much fought-over accessory... daily.

Notice that the chairs are back to back... they can't be up against any of our walls anymore. The boys have figured out that they can climb up them, standing on the top of the back, to reach windows, blinds, and the spindles on the stairway.  Yikes!

Jack's new thing... licking, biting, and pulling out the fur on the animals in his books with his teeth. Nice.

What?

Grandpa came to Costco with us yesterday. We go to Costco almost weekly for fresh produce, and it was definitely nice to have another set of hands! The boys are thoroughly amused and entertained with their Grandpa!

Reading a brochure planning their first tropical vacation =)

 And cracking up at Grandpa's silly tricks!

Since we have finally let them spend a lot of time in the kitchen area (baby locks finally installed), I've been finding all sorts of interesting things in my towel drawers (that aren't locked). Today's find was their red car, yesterday was my tennis shoe, and the day before that their blue monkey.  Too funny!

The boys LOVE their soft fleece or fuzzy blankies, especially when they are still warm from the dryer!

Their two favorite shows to watch are Bubble Guppies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. (Jack in red)

It amazes me how quickly the living room and playroom get messy! Two toddlers take 0.2 seconds of making a mess! Note in the pictures above the before from this morning.  Now for the after--all cleaned up...

And it's not clean anymore!

Cute babies... I can hardly ever get a shot of them together and standing still!

 And last but not least... thank goodness my trashcan has a locking lid!!!

Because those wheels are super cool!

No matter what they do or how much 'stinkiness' they develop, they are still just the two sweetest boys ever!  I just love each moment with them, watching them become little people!

One last sweet video. They LOVE watching themselves in videos, and have even more fun recording a video from Mommy's front facing iphone camera!

What a joy to be their mommy!

A Snowy Weekend!

A few weeks ago, I posted that I was heading to Colorado to surprise our niece to watch her perform as Cinderella in her school play.  Well, I just got back yesterday from a great time in Colorado, but with some unplanned changes!

A weather wrench was thrown into the plans when Thursday night (I was leaving at 6am Friday) a big snowstorm blew into Denver, complete with blizzard warnings!  I was determined to still try to make it to Denver, and once I found out that my flights were still on, I left early and made it halfway (to Phoenix) right on schedule.  However, once I landed and turned my phone back on, I got an automated call from the airline saying my flight into Denver was canceled. Big bummer.  But... after talking to customer service for about 20 minutes, I was rebooked onto the 1:15pm flight--only a 5 hour wait! I settled in to enjoy some Kindle reading, a little snooze, and a brisk 1.5 mile walk around the airport, all the while, praying that Denver would get the airport in landing condition and that I could make it!  I sure didn't want to turn around and head back to Texas without at least getting to see Ryley!  The flight was on, and I made it into Denver at 3:30!  So exciting!

Sadly, because of the snowstorm (Ryan and Joy got 17 inches at their house!), school and the play were canceled.  Thankfully, whenever it is rescheduled, Joy will video it so we can all still see her perform, but we had a fun 'family performance' where we all took the other parts and had the play after all... in the living room!

Here is Cinderella in action...

 And taking her bow after the performance! Great job, Ryley!!

And Ryley with a Precious Moments Cinderella that I got her to remember her first starring role!

 A few shots of the snow outside...

Front yard (through the screen--sorry)

Ryley in action building her snow fort!

Backyard

Even though the snow canceled our main plans (and kept Honey and Gail from being able to drive in from Nebraska), we still had a great time just being together and having a girly weekend! We played games, ate yummy soup, chatted, watched movies and met Coleen and Paul for dinner once the snow had finally stopped!  I hardly knew what to do with myself not having to take care of two babies!  I woke up Saturday morning, ready to step into my routine, and then realized that I could actually lay back down and rest awhile longer!  What a treat to have a couple days off! And in such great company!

Ryley and Juliet dancing in the living room!

Enjoying Joy's DELICIOUS soup that she is famous for!

We also ventured out to pick up more Girl Scout cookies (Ryley is a cookie salesgirl extraordinaire and needed more!) and ended up near beautiful Washington Park.  With the snow and the gorgeous sunshine that had finally arrived, we had to take some pictures to remember our time together!

With my favorite girl...

The girls

And Ryley took one of us too!

What an absolutely wonderful trip, and I'm so glad that I was able to go!!


And while I was gone, my boys all had a wonderful time together!!  I was so happy to get lots of pictures texted to me, 3 facetime sessions that let me see and hear my boys, and full run-downs of all of the adorable things they were up to!  I didn't miss a thing!

Sweet Jack

Happy Will

Justin did such a great job too... he sure is SuperDad!  When I finally got home, I was so excited to see them that I parked in the driveway and ran in.  Justin had just started feeding them dinner, and they looked up at me like, "why are you interrupting us?"  So obviously, Mommy wasn't missed too much!  Daddy had them happy, fed, and entertained! Thankfully, once their tummies were full, they wanted to be held and cuddled, and I drank up each moment until bedtime!

And Justin had done a bunch of projects around the house too!  He put in our new doorbell, hung a florescent light over the workbench in the garage, bought and put together a new bike in our exercise room, as well as some hand-painted triathlon inspired (Swim, Bike, Run) artwork that he had created and hung!  He's amazing!! 

Great job, Love!  I think I might go on vacation more often!! ;-)

Inside-Outside Fun

I have been LOVING our crazy January (spring?) weather!  It has made for lots of great times with the boys outside, much earlier in the year than I expected!  We have been having all sorts of fun lately both inside and outside, and I just had to share some cute boys with you!

Yesterday I opened the baby gate (well one of them... there was still one blocking the stairs and dining room) and the boys had free range of the kitchen.  Ugg. They sure had fun-- crawling, walking, touching, opening, closing, pushing, etc-- and Mommy stayed quite busy holding cabinet doors, drawers, and the oven shut!  Needless to say, at naptime, the rest of the baby-proofing was finally completed on those previously mentioned items! =)

Our new stools are fun play toys/walkers!

Too bad... dishwasher was locked!

Then after nap, we were on to playtime on the upstairs deck.  This is such a fun and safe place for the boys to play, but we are definitely going to have to seal the deck wood.  We had it stained when we moved in, and the residue gets all over the boys' clothes!  At least it washes out!

J, W

"Mommy, can't we please let Betsy out?"
(I put her in because she barks like a
maniac at anyone across the street at the park!)

Watching big kids playing on the field

Jack figured out that he could see down through the cracks in the deck...
needless to say, his face and hands needed washing after this!

Such big boys!!

Then they boys helped me put away clothes in their closet.  They both played with an empty box for awhile, then Jack realized he could climb up one of the boxes of books that are still on the floor.  Boy was he happy!

Will still intrigued with the box... well, the
tape on the box I think!

What fun I get to have every day with these big boys! They are going to be 17 months old tomorrow, and I just can't believe it! I was watching a video of them and looking at pictures from a year ago, and I can't believe how much they have changed!!  I hardly can even remember them this tiny!

January 2011

Actually one year ago today... my how time flies!

Have a great week!