Christmas Lights

Ian had a wonderful idea when we were playing outside in the backyard this weekend. He decided the boys should put up Christmas lights on their playground clubhouse. The boys had a blast winding the lights around their playhouse and through the tunnel underneath and around the slide. :) It was so precious and in the end they were so proud of their little clubhouse!

Hide and Go Seek

It is so precious now that the boys can play together. They have just recently gotten into playing Hide and Go Seek with one another and we keep encouraging them because it helps them practice their counting skills! Here are a couple playful clips of the boys...

The Christmas Show

Elijah and Joaquin had their annual Christmas show at church for the Parents Day Out program they attend. The kiddos were supposed to get dressed up in their "Christmas best" and perform their Christmas songs they had been practicing. Last year it was hilarious because Elijah wouldn't stand still long enough to stay on the stage. This year it was practically the same thing with Joaquin. Ian and I were switching back and forth between sides of the stage because Elijah's class was positioned on one side and Joaquin's was on the other. Those "performances" are crazy! Whew, it made me glad I was never a teacher for little kiddos. They were way too unorganized for me with kids and parents running all over the place. It seemed more like a designated photo op on a stage in their Christmas clothes than an actual program. Anyway, here are some cute pics from the "event".

Joaquin did ring his jingle bell bracelet for a couple minutes at the start of singing Jingle Bells.

Proud Daddy and his boys after the show. (Elijah attempting to say "cheese" for the camera)

Elijah singing (standing) on stage for the Jingle Bell song.

Kiddos from Elijah's class

He was NOT putting on a show for anyone.

Getting all dressed to go to church

Little Drummer Boy (birthday-suit version)

Elijah was quite the character today. After changing his diaper I was trying to put back on his pants and I said, "Elijah come here, I need to put back on your pants", to which he replied, "no you don't cause I'm gonna be naked in a minute". Then he suddenly whipped off his Velcro pull up diaper like a Chip and Dale male dancer and said, "there we go!" then ran to the drum set to play his drums completely nude! Is there some inner artist mandate that you can only be at your most creative when you strip down to being just as God made you?

That being said, of course I had to grab my camera to blogify the moment. :)

on the throne

and playing the kick drum...

Elijah's debut

Elijah has started doing the cutest thing! He picked up a packet of breath mints that sorta resembled a pick and started strumming the guitar while singing. He has played around on the guitar before, but this "act" is new. He actually put the guitar on his lap as if he was playing it, grabbed something that looked like Daddy's pick, and started serenading. Here is a video clip I tried to get. He was on a role and of course when I got the camera out he wasn't belting it like he was before, but you still get the picture.

Bath Runner

It never fails that as soon as we get ready to take a bath (get all our clothes off and are about to jump in the tub) Joaquin makes a run for it. He books it as fast as he can, and that little guy can run, and then hides from me. I'm left with my hands full trying to get Elijah in the tub then looking around for my buck-naked hiding kiddo. Here is evidence of his flight tonight.

New Traditions

We decided to start a new Christmas tradition this year! We bought a durable white tree skirt and put the boys hand prints on it and labeled it for this year. We are going to do this every year so they can see how they've grown! :) It is funny how Christmas becomes special in a new way when you have kids around. It quadruples the spirit of love and joy in the house!

Gingerbread House...or something like that

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Putting together the manger scene and the tree...

Potty

Elijah has been an on-again-off-again potty-er for the past year. He would be doing great and then suddenly decide he wasn't interested anymore. We tried all sorts of candy and huge praise treatments but in the end just decided he would potty when he wanted to, end of story. The other day I picked up this little frog potty and had it sitting in the bathroom next to our big potty. (Now, I need to mention that the past year of potty-training was done with a baby bjorn potty seat that fits on top of our big potty. So, this little sized potty was a new thing.) This morning he got the potty out and parked it in the middle of the living room. I was encouraging him to go "pretend potty" on it and made a big deal about it being his own little special froggy potty.

Suddenly, he started stripping down and plopped himself on the potty. When I asked him if he needed to go potty he said "yeah, pee pee poo poo on froggy potty." I walked over and sure enough with in 1 minute on that little potty he had fulfilled its' purpose! I was so proud and of course quickly got him a pee pee poo poo reward lollipop and snapped a few pictures. :)

He has now been stripping down every few minutes to go pee pee on the froggy potty! It's just like the froggy potty clicked with him or something! I don't know and I don't want to jinx it, so I will stop talking about it. Although, let me just say, if you are reading this and are not yet a parent it may seem weird to have an entire entry about the crapper. I know what you are thinking, because I used to think that way. However, it is a freaking HUGE deal when you FINALLY feel a break through in the potty-training department. OK, enough about that. :)

Happy Day. Happy Boy.

Reading

Yesterday while I was cooking dinner, I overheard Elijah talking to Joaquin. They were in the living room sitting on the couch and I couldn't see what they were up to from where I stood in the kitchen. The more I listened the more I wondered what they were doing. Joaquin was quiet as a mouse and Elijah was speaking with a sound of such confidence and persuasion that I had to walk over to see what they were doing. When I peaked over the top of the couch I saw Elijah and Joaquin with a book in their lap. Elijah proceeded to run his fingers along the words and "read" the book to Joaquin, who was intently listening and following the finger line along the words. It was so precious I quickly snapped a few shots with my phone. Ah, moments like these I will remember forever.

Saturday morning breakfast

Not unlike a lot of families, we have a tradition of a big Saturday morning breakfast together. This usually means Daddy plays around with the boys in "the big bed" (AKA mommy and daddy's bed) while mommy makes pancakes or waffles or eggs and toast or muffins or... you get the picture.

This morning, after having some blueberry muffins and Mexican eggs (the boys favorite) Ian offered to clean up. Suddenly, as I was putting some laundry in the dryer, I heard the boys squealing with laughter so I grabbed my camera and headed towards the high-pitched giggles. (I've heard that sound enough times to know that usually means it's a picture worthy opportunity).

Here is what I saw when I entered the kitchen:

Little boys with bubbles for hats and hair :)

Joaquin even had the little comb-over bubble due :)

I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of Joni, but that was what the boys thought was the funniest! Joni, our little pug dog, was running around with bubble hair and a bubble beard!

Ahhhhh, I love Saturday mornings with my family; it's never short of laughter!

Happy Halloween

This year Halloween was so much more fun! Now that both boys are semi-aware of what is going on the trick-or-treating was 100 times better. Mommy and Daddy decided to dress up at the last minute (although our dressing pretty much consisted of wearing wigs and sunglasses and random outfits from our closets). The boys thought it was so funny that Daddy and Mommy were wearing weird hair! Here are some shots and videos from the evening workin' the street. :) I uploaded them backwards, so the timeline reads from finish to start. :)

This is the end of the night when the boys were ready to head home and could no longer walk without tripping or dropping their candy bags. Daddy resorted to carrying them home. :)

Joaquin was fascinated with the neighbor's little pirate head skull lights around their front porch. It is so funny what kids decide to like. He could have cared less about the candy (until we got home, that is, and Elijah started opening the wrappers to his candy selection; THEN Joaquin jumped in on the candy action!)

This was our first house. Daddy, dressed as Dog the Bounty Hunter, taught the boys to say, "trick-or-treat" and "thank-you" of course at the end.

Mommy, dressed as Sandy from Grease, and her little elephant and lion before they headed out

The elephant, the dog, and the lion :)

The boys played around in their costumes all week. They switched them around and wanted to wear a different one each day!

Here is some video Ian took with the flip of our trick-or-treating. It is kinda dark and hard to see, but I thought I would post it for anyone who wanted to see.

Pumpkin Patch

Mom and I took the boys to the pumpkin patch on Friday and the boys LOVED it! We had such a fun day. Here are a few pics from Friday:

holding hands :)

Joaquin trying to climb over the gate

My precious Elijah

Joaquin loves to swing

Mommy and the boys saying "cheese" for the camera

MiMi and Joaquin

Elijah, pumpkin eyes, and Joaquin in the baby pumpkin wagon

The boys loved holding that weird gourd pumpkin

Elijah sitting on the biggest pumpkin in the bunch.

They thought it was so funny to ride the pumpkins like they were horses.

MiMi and the boys by the scarecrow

Gamma and Gampa's visit

We had a real treat last weekend...Gamma and Gampa came to visit! The boys were so excited to get to spend time with Gamma and Gampa and of course they were spoiled beyond belief! No sooner than Gamma and Gampa had stepped their feet in the door, did the boys get presents! They loved their little wooden tool set and Gamma and Gampa showed them how to use the little hammer and nail in the pegs to the box. They loved it! Of course, Joaquin didn't really know what he was doing, but he loved carrying the tool box around and trying to screw the wooden screws into the tiny bolts. :)

We also all went to Baylor homecoming and met up with my parents at the game. Thank goodness we had so many hands because the game weather was CRAZY! It raining right as it was supposed to start, so everyone had to pile under the stands for an hour and by the time the game started it was 4pm (it was scheduled to start at 2:30). Then a cold front came in and the temp dropped about 20 degrees! But, they were all passing the boys around from lap to lap and letting them try out every new food known to man... including green cotton candy! I got to cheer during the 3rd quarter and Ian was taking great pictures until we later realized that Rachel forgot to replace the camera card after my last photo shoot download. So, all the pictures I have from that day I had to steal from other people! :)

After the game, both sides of the family went over to La Fiesta for some great Margaritas and Mexican food! And of course, the boys were practically falling asleep in their plates of food while sitting in their high chairs!

On Sunday I corralled up the team to wear white shirts and all take a family photo shoot. Of course, not 5 minutes before we were going to leave to go take the pictures, Joaquin tripped and hit his head against the flower pot and got a huge bump and bruise right in between his eyes! We tried at least. Ian found a beautiful spot in Georgetown and when Allyson and I finally found them it was noon. (Not the best time to be taking pictures outside.) Nonetheless, we took some fun shots with the boys and had a nice lunch in the downtown afterwards.

Monday, Allyson and I took the boys to the Domain in Austin and did a little walking around the shops and letting the boys play on the playscape and fountains in the area. By the time Gamma and Gampa headed back to California, the boys were pooped! It was a wonderful weekend with family, though, and we are so grateful to have had everyone together.

Mel, Sally (my old college roommates) and me before the rain.

Diamond-head

Paper dolls, I am the last one on the right.

Joaquin on the playground with Gamma at the Domain

Joaquin looking through one of the toy nuts from the tool box.

Here is the only picture I have from homecoming. Mom took it from her phone of Ronnie and I (my old stunt partner) right before we left the game.

Gampa and Elijah

Gamma and Joaquin throwing rocks downstream

The posed shot of Gamma and Gampa and the boys

Thanks Papaw!

Hang on, I gotta call Daddy real quick...

Isn't it precious when they get their play phone and do stuff like this:

Moody Cotton Festival and a few more things...

Elijah pushing Joaquin around on the tricycle in MiMi's driveway. He is such a good big brother, always helping Joaquin and teaching him how to do things.

Daddy and the boys at the Moody Cotton Festival

and, Joaquin is ready for his close up, please...

My attempt at getting the boys to take a picture with me in front of the bounce playground

MiMi and the boys playing the musical instrument at the zoo playground

Elijah and Joaquin at the Waco zoo sitting on the giant snake at the kids play area

Elijah saying "cheese" for the camera. He knows the camera means he should say "cheese" but for some reason when he says cheese it doesn't really look like he is smiling; it looks like he is talking! (Since of course, he is!) Whoever made up that "say cheese" thing was an idiot! It doesn't work at all unless you tell them "say cheese and FREEZE like that!"

playing with MiMi's hat

This is what happens when Ian tries to put the boys in the tub at night. They all play around on mommy and daddy's bed until the tub is full of water. The boys think it is hilarious to run around with their T-shirts on their heads when they are taking their clothes off for the bath!

And of course, every little boy loves to tackle and wrestle with daddy.

Reading daddy's book together on a Saturday morning.

I love my little nudie booties swimmin' around in the tub!

Joaquin is not camera shy :)

Elijah LOVES to wear his big boy underwear; however, he does NOT like to use the potty. So, mommy has resorted to setting the microwave timer for 30 min. and every 30 min. we go sit on the potty. Of course, as soon as Elijah puts on his big boy underwear, Joaquin wants to join in. So, he gets to wear the big boy underwear over his diaper during the day time when Elijah is potty-training and wearing his own big boy drawers. :)

This is the boys favorite Waco zoo activity...playing in the water! We have season passes so some days we just go in our swimsuits and water socks to play in the fountains. This time MiMi joined in on the action. Joaquin loves to slap the water around with his hands, while Elijah loves to stop out the fountains.

Every year after the cotton harvest, my parents little town of Moody, TX, has a Cotton Festival. There is a parade in the morning and lots of booths and play areas set up in the downtown all day. The kids dance around to the live music, ride pony's, bounce in the bounce houses, smack each other over the head with confetti eggs and the like while the parents buy small town cookbooks, welded art pieces, homemade candles and such. It is always such a fun day. Mom runs the pie contest and auction every year and dad helps set up the parade and booths. This was the first year, though, that the boys really got to enjoy the parade and festivities! They had a blast!