Sunday, December 11, 2011

Santa Pictures

We went with Aunt Pat to Kemah last weekend.  Her company had their holiday event there, and she invited us to come with her.  We had such a great time.  The boys enjoyed riding the big Ferris wheel, carousel, and train.  We had our picture made with Santa, too.

Please excuse the quality.  It’s a scan of the not-so-fantastic-quality original.  Scanned Documents 001

Today, Santa came to visit the little ones at church.  Todd got to be the photographer.  IMGP9656

Todd’s dad had his theatrical debut as Santa in Kay’s 4th grade Christmas play.  He did such a good job! SmileIMGP9433

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Shut Down

Some last-minute plans were made yesterday that require all of my house to be very presentable by this afternoon at 4.  But, as of 8:00 this morning, the main problem areas look like this:

Yes, our studio is a constant and necessary thorn in my side.  What you don’t see here is the majority of my mental overwhelmedness.  Yes, I made up that word.  We always have so much work to do with our photography business, and things are especially pressing right now.  We’re about to start a rather large marketing campaign for next year, too.2011-11-29_08-57-48_665Another view of the studio.2011-11-29_08-58-05_780

“Sitting Room”, AKA, Studio Overflow!2011-11-29_08-58-26_936The dining room, which actually isn’t too bad, believe it or not.  It’s the catch-all.  (And me in my robe… ::: sigh:::)2011-11-29_08-58-37_204The real messes! Winking smile  Do you see Rollei trying to steal a bite from Nathan’s plate?  Those 3 keep me hoppin’ all the time!2011-11-29_08-59-07_543Yikes!2011-11-29_08-59-19_394

No, I’m not going to show you my bedroom and our bathrooms.  Suffice it to say that Rollei just got a bath in the hall bathroom. 

So, with all the physical messes in my house at this moment in time, the real mess is me!  Today, I just don’t want to do it.  But, I will.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

A Little Spinning and Singing Before Bed

Nathan has been singing a lot lately.  This is a little video of him singing his ABCs, spinning in circles, and exherting as much energy as he could before he went to bed tonight.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Camera Phone

I thought it would be fun to share some snapshots my mom got with her phone over the last few weeks.

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NathanPhoto_B3BE8A19-7FE4-6AEA-A008-4F34B55B1720Our little familyWP_000007Meeting sweet Cousin DanielWP_000013

Nathan liked Daniel.  He repeated “shhhh” the whole time we were there.  WP_000016

Daniel and his Daddy, my cousin Jim.WP_000017

Playing Ring Around the Rosies.WP_000019

They found Timpa’s toy Volkswagen.WP_000034

Friday, November 4, 2011

A Perfectly Wonderful Day at the Zoo

Tuesday was just completely perfect.  Aunt Pat and I had scheduled this trip to the zoo over a month ago, and I’m so glad we got to go!  The weather was completely beautiful, there were no big crowds, and the boys have become independent enough that it is not as much of a challenge to wrangle them (Especially with Pat’s help!). 

We got to feed the giraffes!DSCF5374

We rode the carousel, too!  I can’t say that everyone loved it, but I sure did!DSCF5383

I took the bar off their stroller and did not use the seatbelts while we were there.  This worked great because they would climb in the stroller between exhibits, then would jump out on their own when we arrived to the next animal.  It helps that they are pretty good at {usually} following directions.  Okay, Logan bolted a time or two…DSCF5406

We saw so many wonderful animals… Lions, tigers, bears {oh my!}, monkeys, giraffes, turtles, birds, goats

This cracks me up. L & N both climbed up to get a good look at the tiger, both are equally intrigued. Aunt Pat looks like she’s amazed, too.

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L & N talked to each animal at every exhibit.  We sang animal songs {quietly} and the boys talked about what each animal was doing.  Logan would say each animal name over and over.  They were so excited.  DSCF5410DSCF5425DSCF5421DSCF5435

We ate lunch, saw some more animals, enjoyed a Dippin’ Dots treat, then rode the train around Herman Park.DSCF5442

We called it quits after 3:00, which is normally when Logan and Nathan start waking up from their nap.  The boys were just so good all day long, despite being way off schedule.  I am very proud of that.  Aunt Pat and I got a good workout pushing the stroller, and we all had a perfectly wonderful day at the zoo!!! SmileDSCF5449

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

About the Pumpkins:

The pumpkin patch we tried to go to (the same on as last year) was closed the Saturday before Halloween.  They had a sign up that said “Thanks!  See you next year”.  Too bad we missed it.  The next closest pumpkin patch was Old Mac Donald’s farm.  All it had was a bunch of picnic tables topped with small pumpkins.  Nothing worth the $8/per person to get in.  If Todd or I had any time before this Saturday to go, we would have. 

We quickly ran out of time on Saturday to acquire pumpkins, since I wanted to get to a baby shower early that afternoon.  Mom and I were riding together to the shower, so we had a little overlap at her house and took a few pictures by her cantaloupe vine and on her hammock. 

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Sunday, we took a quick trip to Wal-Mart to get 4 pumpkins.  They were out.  We then ran to Kroger; they were out, too.  That’s all our town has, so our little quick trip out for pumpkins ended up taking the whole evening.  We finally found some at Randall’s.DSCF5350

I’m such a whimp… the texture of pumpkin guts grosses me out.  DSCF5353DSCF5363

This morning, right after breakfast, I let the boys paint their pumpkins.  I taped off the first letter of their names and they painted over the tape.  I think they enjoyed painting.  Logan tried to taste the paint.  Nathan liked mixing the colors.  I tried no not freak out over the mess. Winking smile  I think they turned out really neat.  I need to get some washable paint out for them to use soon.

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About the Costumes:

I saw costumes for a cowboy and an Indian in passing one day and thought that would be appropriate for our guys.  Nathan as the cowboy.  Logan as the Indian.  When we went back to buy the costumes, I found that they were not offered in small sizes.  Again, since I’m always short on time, I decided to find something that would work while I was there.  We found airplanes that they both seemed to be excited about, so I bought 2.

When we got home, I let the guys zoom around in their costumes.  They LOVED it.  We talked about being pilots in the airplanes for Halloween.  When I asked Nathan what he was going to be for Halloween, he said “A rocket ship!!”  He had seen a rocket ship at the store.  It was a contender.  I tried to explain that he had chosen to be a pilot in the airplane, but he would have none of it.  He didn’t have a fit; he just kept saying that he wanted to be a rocket ship. 

We took another trip to Target to exchange Nathan’s airplane for a rocket ship.  How did I let him think he had a choice?  I think it’s kind of funny and cute that he has such an opinion, especially since he wasn’t ugly about it.IMGP1343IMGP1277

Trick or Treating!:

Last year we had trick-or-treaters come to our house really early, like 5:30.  I thought we would start a little early, too, so we left the house a little after 6:00.  Apparently that was too early this year.  We went to a few very familiar neighbors, played in the street with friends for a while, then came home to eat the roast that had been cooking all day.  The boys had a good time trick-or-treating.  They would say the occasional “Trick or treat!” and were very pronounced with their “Thank you!” every time.  It was very cute!IMGP1373

While we ate supper, every time someone knocked on the door, Nathan would loudly say, “Come in!”  I think they enjoyed the whole experience of trick-or-treating tonight.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

So… The Peas

I’m pretty sure most everyone knows that any pea incident requiring the use of tweezers probably points to Nathan.  You’re right!

My sweet Nathan boy pushed peas up his nose during lunch the other day.  He thought he was being really cute.  I told him to take the peas out of his nose and that he did not need to do it again because it is not safe. 

He did it again.  Three peas.  I, again, told him to take them out.  He did, but one was stuck.  Tweezers – removal – no big deal.  “Don’t do it again, Nathan!  Peas do not belong in your nose.”

He did it again.  Two got stuck. Tweezers – removal – no big deal.  Threatened punishment if he chose to stick peas up his nose again.

This is where the story should end… But, no!

After lunch, they took a good nap, then when Nathan woke up, he pushed a good blow through his nose, and out popped a pea.  The kid slept with a pea up his nose! 

We haven’t had peas since.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Peas and tweezers. Anyone wish to guess the scenario? (Posted from my phone. Please forgive errors.)

Jumpapalooza!

A couple of friends and their little guys invited us to join them at Jumpapalooza the other day.  My boys had never been before.  Nathan had a blast.  He acted like the place was made for him.  Logan was a little more hesitant/disgruntled, but ended up having a good time.  He would have been happier if he could have been sliding down holding a ball the whole time.  We all had a nice morning being out with friends.  Somehow, I wish the adults could do a little more catching-up, though.  Oh well.

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Thanks, Dalys and Ashley!