Weekend in Houston

Last weekend we finally made it down to Houston to visit with Jonathan's grandparents, who've recently moved there from Branson. The last time we got to visit with Granddad Ralph & Grandma Millie, the boys were just a few months old, so I'm sure seeing them now running around and wrestling was quite different! The boys loved seeing them and the first night, Jack gave kisses to first Grandma Millie, then Granddad Ralph. We weren't quick enough with the camera to get him kissing Millie, but did catch the second sweet kiss!

Playing on the couch with Grandma Millie & Christopher

Kisses for Granddad Ralph

Fortunately for us, we got to stay at "Hotel Hickey" - Jonathan's Aunt Ali & Uncle David, who are incredibly gracious hosts. They made us so comfortable and put up with our two crazy boys - crazier than usual, even, and it was nice to spend time with family. Also, cousin Christopher has now pretty much become Ben & Jack's favorite person in the world, so an entire weekend with him was total bonus for our boys. Seriously, when they would wake up in the morning or from naps, they would run down the hall and stop at the door to look for everyone (read: mostly Christopher). In fact, Sunday morning they got up earlier than him and paused at the door, then turned around and looked at us like, "where is he?" They looooved running around and playing with Christopher's way-cool toys and wrestling with him. He is an amazing kid, and was very sweet with them all weekend.

They had so much fun playing in the backyard on the zipline - who knew a 1.5 year old would love a zipline so much? And who knew what a good workout it would make for Daddy, right J? And we got to go swimming with Christopher at their racquet club, which the boys really enjoyed too.

On Saturday morning we got to tour Grandma Millie & Granddad Ralph's new place, which was really nice, and although Ben was veeeery interested in her china cabinet, they had fun and refrained from breaking anything. Whew! Then they got to go outside to the koi pond to feed the fish - it was awesome! Jack sampled some of the stale bread, but mostly he threw it to the fish. That was really fun and memorable. We enjoyed the whole weekend and were glad to spend time with family! 

Aunt Ali swinging Ben on Christopher's swing like a big boy!

Jack was very interested in the pine tree bark

Bath Fun & Pretend Play

We took these pictures in the bath a few nights ago and I thought they were cute. I just love their chubby little baby bodies! Those bellies are so tight after dinner, so they are especially round & chubby at bathtime. I love it!

Today the boys engaged in some pretend play with each other, which I get a huge kick out of. I handed Ben a play food tomato that I found on the floor, and he pretended to eat it - then he gave it to Jack for a "taste." I didn't realize he was "sharing" until I heard them giggling and turned around to see them playing. Soooo cute! And pretty smart that he knew it was pretend food!

Two other cute photos - one is Ben laying on the floor like a little boy, on his tummy with his legs swinging in the air while he watched Sesame Street. The second is Jack this morning putting on Jonathan's tennis shoes by the back door. J's caption for this one was "Dear Daddy, can I go to work with you?"

An Avid Reader & a Music Lover

Lately, Ben has been obsessed with books. The first thing he does in the morning is go to the bookshelf and read, and at bedtime he gets upset when reading is over. I've literally had to hide one of our Bright Baby first words books because he just wants to read it over and over and over. When he decides he's ready to read a book, he will grab a book and make excited noises as he is bringing it to you. It's almost like, "Oh! Look! I've just found this amazing book! Aren't you excited to read it to me?!" It's sooooo cute. When it's over, he drops it, slides off your lap, and goes to pick out a new book, and gets excited all over again. If it is the aforementioned Bright Baby book, you will end up reading it to him every other time. This goes on for a long, long time, until I either have to get up for some reason or until Jack piques his interest in something else. He loves books, and I love that he loves books! I do get tired of the same books, though, I'll admit it. His favorites are:

Bright Baby First Words, First 100 Animals
Little Blue Truck
B is for Bear
Goodnight Moon
The Grouchy Ladybug
Raindrops, A Shower of Colors
Snuggle Puppy (although that may be a parent favorite, as he does give kisses with this one!)

Ben, reading

Jack likes to read too, but in moderation :)

Jack is my little music lover. That boy sings every time we get in the car and dances every chance he gets. He loves, loves, loves Kindermusik, and Ben does too. If I make up a silly little song he starts shaking his booty. My favorite is when he dances a little jig by moving his feet really fast, or when he hunches over really far to where his chest is almost parallel with the ground. He will start up a musical toy over and over just so he can dance.

 

In other cute-ness, the boys have discovered how to clench their fists and make their faces red. I have no idea how they learned it, but first Ben, then Jack started doing it, and it's kind of funny.

The boys are also having a ball with cars, lately. I love watching them push their cars around.

3 cuties

We got to have lunch with Amelia & Hilary today, so the boys made eyes at London across the table for most of lunch. Well, until it started nearing nap time, anyway! But Amelia & London came over afterwards and when the boys woke up from their nap they got to play with her and had a ball! They really like big kids and she was very sweet with them. Little London is so petite she's barely bigger than them even though she's 2 years older! They literally weigh about the same. Anyway, I had to include a picture because these are 3 serious cuties!

Weekend Fun

We had a really fun weekend, though it went so fast! We got to have lunch  on Saturday with someone Jonathan works with based in Israel, but whom we are also lucky to call a friend, Shai, and it was so nice to see him! I don't know why we didn't get any pictures, but hopefully we will see him again before he goes home to his wonderful family and we can get one then.

*Update: Pictures! Oh, goodness, the boys love Shai - Jack claimed him as his new best friend. I honestly don't know if I've ever seen Jack laugh so hard. Shai is extremely nice and entertained the boys for a good long time Monday night before he & Jonathan left for dinner. I asked him if he is free next year around March 21st, as I'm certain any entertainment we are likely to book for a second birthday party will pale in comparison to the fun they had with Shai!

I went out to my BFF from middle school's (!) bachelorette party Saturday afternoon/evening. First I had to get a couple of pictures with my baby boys because it's hard being away from them - I really miss them and am starting to worry about MDO next month. I'm such a big baby, I admit it. But they are so cute & so much fun, it's never "enough" time!

Kisses from sweet Benny Bear

Jackster

And here are a couple of pics from the Lingerie Party & B'ette Party.

Amy & Stacy

*I'm going to have to add pics later too - I definitely want to include flowers by Sami, created on short notice for the lingerie shower, delivered out of her way, and they were g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. And the limo & night on the town was certainly not something I do very often, but fun to do with one of my closest friends, whom I have known for 2 decades! I had a fun time with Stacy & a few of her closest friends.

This weekend Jonathan decided to let the boys try Gatorade, and it's safe to say that they liked it. Here are a few pictures of them drinking, and the aftermath of two wired little boys.

As precious as they are, we have had a couple "leave the restaurant" moments, lately. It's mostly Ben, but he gets Jack going, too - he likes to scream and we are really working on our "indoor voice." It brings to mind something J's Aunt Ali used to say in similar situations, which I thought was so funny then, but maybe not as much now - "Isn't he cuuuute?" Except I guess I have to say "Aren't they cuuute?!"

How many mistakes can a rookie mom make?

Hah, I like that the title rhymes, even if it does detract from the fact that this post is really about the boys' first trip to the ZOO! But seriously, I haven't counted yet, but I showed my "rookie mom" stripes today on our first zoo trip with a handful of "oops" moments.

1. We left late in the day, giving us about an hour to spend at the zoo. This was not horrible, considering I have a freaking stress fracture and have already asked waaaay too much of my crippled foot this weekend, and didn't actually need to be walking around the zoo. But, still, rookie moms don't allow enough time to see anything other than the primates and the children's play area - not the best "first zoo" experience, but it was a fun day, nonetheless.

Jack was very interested in the primates!

Ben, checking out the monkeys

2. I haven't been grocery shopping this weekend, leaving us with scant snacks to choose from, so I went with little fudge graham cracker snacks. You know, the ones with chocolate on one side? Sooooo, yeah, didn't actually think through the fact that chocolate tends to melt on a hot summer day outside, and when eaten by toddlers that melted mess ends up everywhere. They didn't mind though, so really it was nothing a few wet wipes couldn't handle. Still funny, and still a rookie mom thing to do. I promise I actually thought about it, and then thought - nahh, they'll eat them before they melt. Sigh.

Faces, hands, clothes, and stroller - everywhere!

Ben was the messiest - but he still wanted more, please.

3. I didn't bring a change of clothing. Since the center of the children's area at the zoo is a delightful stream through which the children frolic, this is a terrible rookie mom thing to do. I guess I thought, Ben & Jack are walking now, so they'll just walk through the stream like little gentlemen and cool their feet. ??? What? I have taken these babies to water features before, but you'd think I didn't know that they would fall in the water, crawl through it, kneel down in front of the little fountain to feel the water streaming, and splash. Ohh, dear. But still, I can remove wet clothing, and I did have dry diapers to change them into, so we just went home in diapers. Strolled them out of the zoo clad in nothing but diapers, super classy-like.

I think that's it. So the answer is 3 - 3 in one day! Impressive :) The boys loved the children's area, though - they were very intrigued by the noisy donkeys and sheep, and suuuuper interested in the ponies. When we would walk away, they would crane their heads around, point at the ponies and go "huh?" Naturally, we visited the ponies several times. It was a fun day, despite all my "oops" moments! We did get a family membership, so next time will be even better. :)