The Neills' visit

Godmother Beth & Matt came to visit all the way from England last week!!  We were so excited to see our friends and catch up. The boys were napping when they got here, then woke up to play and have snack. It was amazing how quickly they took to them - Ben, especially, was having a mini-love affair with Beth (watch out, Matt!) and was repeatedly going up to her to sit in her lap. At one point he sat back with her to finish eating his snack, like, this is is a good spot to sit and have snack. Hilarious. And he also somehow convinced Matt to chase him down the hall and bounce him around on the bed. He likes to be thrown backwards onto the feather comforter and bounce. What a fun game, right?

After a relaxed afternoon of fun and games, we took the boys with us to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for their first fine dining experience. They were fortunately on their best behavior and ate really well. We had such a great time, and it was so nice to catch up with my best friend Beth, whom I have missed! Now they are back home, halfway around the world. I am sure when next Ben & Jack see their Godmother Beth & Matt, they will warm up to them just as quickly as they did this time, especially since Matt got a new Mac while they were here and we made a pact to skype (i-chat?) now that we are both mac-families. Whatever, anyway, Ben & Jack love "talking" on the phone, so I am sure they will have a blast with video-chatting. :)

Beth calls this: Baby Stealer 2012

Aunt La

Aunt La came to live with us for about six weeks when she first moved to Dallas and we enjoyed our time with her. Every morning Ben & Jack would bang on her door and call "La, La" (or "yaa, yaa") while she was getting ready. They liked playing with her when she got home from work and giving her kisses before they went to bed at night. They also liked playing with Ellie, her dog. I think it's neat that they got to spend time with one of their aunts - family is so important! We are glad Lauren is close to us in Dallas. And not just so we have another babysitter!! ;) Here are a couple of pics of J&B with Aunt La.

 

"Can't you see we're trying to enjoy this book? Geez, mom, enough with the pictures."

Kisses, the Park, & Peek-A-Boo Ben

Ben & Jack love giving kisses - to mama, or dada, to their loveys, or book pages...and now to each other! It is unbelievably cute to ask them to give the other a kiss and watch them lean in, eyes closed, and make a "mmmm" noise as they give a sweet kiss. It's hard to get a picture of, so I'll keep trying, but here are a few. I will also try to capture it on video, because it's just so darn cute.

 

We went to the park this morning and it's a whole new experience now that the boys are walking! I let them swing, then walk around and sort of play on the equipment. They love swinging; they just smile and laugh while they swing.  After they played a while, Jack walked back to the swings and pointed to get back up to swing again.  They tried climbing, which is really fun but sort of scary when it's one parent and two toddlers, so I tried to discourage that. They liked climbing up the slides and sliding down, of course, and just exploring - it's fun for them to walk around. :) I see many early morning park trips in our future - they had a blast! Just as a side note, I tried to take off hats when we were in the shade since hats can get hot, and Jack cried - cried - to get it back on. How funny is that? Little dudes!

Today I was holding Jack in my lap and Ben decided to play peek-a-boo with us around the corner, which made Jack giggle. I loved how Ben thought he was really disappearing, or how he would rush to pop back into view when I called for him. I love them so much! Gosh we just have so much fun every day, and they are growing so fast and learning and are so interactive - they are without a doubt, the best little blessings I've ever been given.

Fourth of July

We drove to Tyler for the fourth this year. Jonathan, Dad, Pawpaw, Ryan, & Kris played golf that morning while mom, Katie, & I entertained 4 active little boys. Cooper has grown so much! Connor spent the night so that he could see us when we got there Tuesday (love that) and the boys had a lot of fun rough-housing with Poppy & Connor before bed Tuesday.

We cooked out for lunch and spent the day at the house together with Grandma & Pawpaw, then after dinner we went out to their house at the lake to shoot a few fireworks before we had to hit the road and get back home. Although J got to take a few days off (yea!), Lauren had to work the rest of the week.

I love seeing all four boys together, and Cooper is crawling around and really hanging with our boys & his big brother these days! Watching them play is so much fun, and I hope that they are good friends as they grow up together. How fun to grow up with cousins around your same age & gender?

 

It was really nice to spend a little time with Grandma & Pawpaw, and as you can see our wild little boys enjoyed it too. Below, Jack had fun with a tupperware hat, Jack scrambled into great-Grandma's lap when he saw Ben was sitting with her, & Ben discovered great-Pawpaw has a bellybutton, too!

More pictures from the day/evening: 

Thanks Uncle Ryan for lighting all our fireworks! What a great day of celebration of our nation's independence, and we are so thankful for all the servicemen and women who stand up for our continued liberty. This is truly the greatest nation on earth, and today is a reminder of how very blessed we are to be Americans.

I came across something I'd saved but forgotten about (too late!) - this is a reminder to myself that I want this to become one of our traditions on the fourth. I love Dennis Prager, and this is a great idea of how make it a special, meaningful day of celebration.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270964/fourth-july-seder-dennis-prager?pg=1

Splash park, Arboretum, & Pictures

We went to the splash park last weekend and were joined by Papa, Honey, & Tia Katie. The boys actually took a little while to warm up; I think they were more interested in walking around than they were in the water at first. They had a blast and were glad to show off for their family at the water "spray-ground."

A couple of weeks ago my parents came up with Connor and we spent the morning at the Arboretum. It was so, so hot, but such fun! We were excited to see the Chihuly exhibit, which was beautiful, and other than it being ridiculously hot, it was a nice time. At the end we let the boys walk around the water spray area. During lunch both of the boys watched Connor and copied him making noises or laughing. Connor had told mom & dad that he wanted to come with them so that he could "hug on those boys" too. He was such a great big cousin all day!

Sweet cousin Connor with Jack & Ben

And now for my "blonde" moment of the month: I took the boys to the Aquarium last week. We were going to meet my friend Wendy & her kiddos, and we were so excited. I packed snacks & waters, pulled into the parking lot & paid the $7.00 parking fee, strolled up to the window and bought our tickets, then Wendy texted that she was changing a diaper in the bathroom, so I sat down with the boys by the shark tank and waited...and waited...and waited...until we connected the dots that I was at the wrong aquarium. Sigh. She clearly said the children's aquarium in Fair Park, it just didn't register. I took kids to the DWA on field trips for years when I worked with CIS, so that's the only dallas aquarium I know or think about! Oh well, the boys actually really liked looking at the sharks & fish. The rest was over their heads, but at least kids under 2 are free. So we met Wendy & her girls for lunch instead afterwards, which was fun. Next time, boys, I'll take you to the right, more age-appropriate aquarium. And maybe assume less. These things happen to other people too, right? :)

To end this post, here are a few of my favorite pictures of J&B over the last couple of weeks:

Ben having fun with Dad :)

 

 

We love eating with spoons!