Books

Ethan has become 100% addicted to his books. He wakes up in the morning and the first thing he wants now isn't his milk, it's his books. When he wakes up from nap...books. I taught him the sign for books, but he took it and made it his own - arms up as if he is asking "Where is it?" He uses the same sign every single time though, so if that's the way he wants to do it - fine by me! At least I can understand what he's looking for! His favorite book is pretty much all of them as he is not happy until he is surrounded by every book we own. His overall favorite seems to be the Pat the Bunny 'Bunny Kisses' book (even though he pressed the kissing sound button so many times that it does not work anymore). He's big into smooching in general. He also loves his "B is for Bear" touch-and-feel book a lot.

Mason is loving his books too right now, but just not quite as obsessed. But when he selects a book, he always seems to go for "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Cha-cha-cha

After trip #2 to the children's museum this morning (grandma and grandpa got to go too!) it was clear that maracas were going to be a necessity. So I went to our local non-chain toystore that has musical instruments and I found two small pairs. Ethan thought they were lots of fun, but Mason was so excited when he saw them he could hardly stand it.

A few photos with the maracas, and one with grandma and grandpa. We were so busy having fun with them that we forgot to take more pictures!

Multi-Purpose

Not just for toy storage (and no, I definitely did not put them in there)

Austin Children's Museum

Our Children's Museum has a 'baby bloomers' program for the 0-3 year old crowd on Monday mornings. Complete with story time and sing-along. Plus these little ones get a chance to explore the museum and play with all the cool stuff without the fear of being trampled by bigger kids. We had so much fun! And Emilee (my friend's daughter who has stayed with us for the past week and is here for one more week) was a huge help to have along for this adventure (of course she's a huge help everywhere!) The boys also love having a cute blond around, but who can blame them really?

Here are a few photos and videos from our adventure today. They LOVED the slide and spent about 60% of the time there. We had to practically pry the maraca out of Mason's hand - he thought that was the best thing ever (that instrument will most likely become part of our music collection in the near future). And note Ethan in the first 10 seconds of the last video...I ask him "Was that fun?" and he said "Yeah" That's a new thing for him. He also said it on the way home when asked if he wanted more freeze-dried apples (and also signed "more" after saying "yeah"). Both Mason and Ethan have been doing great with using their "more", "eat" and "all done" signs at meals and snacks and have even started using "more" and "all done" in other context (like more play or when they want to stay in their wagon or stroller for a longer walk - or when they are all done with the playing and walking!)

Chefs in Training

Though our playroom is quite fabulous, when I am making dinner there's no place the boys would rather be than directly underfoot in the kitchen. They have their own cabinet with tupperware, but...they decided that was just so booorrriiinnngg... and instead they were trying to find ways to get in trouble to entertain themselves.

After the fun they had with our friend's play kitchen over the 4th of July weekend, we decided to look around and see what we could find to keep them busy in our real kitchen. And for what feels like the millionth time, I must say yet again... Craigslist...I LOVE you! A kitchen that would have cost us $150-$200(plus expensive shipping) = $50 gently used from a family who wanted to free their garage of some space. Which is then exactly what we will be doing with this when we're done with it if it is still in one piece! My favorite way to recycle!

This kitchen is a huge, gigantic hit. Kitchen on one side, outdoor grill on the other. When they first saw it, they immediately got to work cooking up a storm (or making a mess and putting everything in their mouths, however you might choose to see it). Mason was obsessed with the plastic silverware. and Ethan was given the freedom to continue his OCD behavior with opening and closing doors - he just loves to open and close doors, baby gates, drawers, anything you've got that can be opened and/or closed.

Before the storm hits...




The eye of the storm and aftermath...










Videos

1st Trip to the Kiddie Barber

Though we love it when Little Muzz and Tati give the boys their great (and free!) haircuts, we had to weigh the cost of paying for 2 haircuts, or buying a plane ticket to fly a barber in. Mason's hair was getting especially long and it was time to act. So we went with paying for hair cuts for the first time today! The boys did AWESOME with their haircuts. No tears, no major struggles! They got to sit in cool cars, while watching Barney and Elmo, while mom fed them snacks, and they got balloons - seriously? I think I'm going to have to ask my stylist to make some improvements in her salon...

Mason's Haircut:

Get a load of how long his hair was

Cruising in his Ferrari (while watching Elmo)

Women waiting on him hand and foot

Yup...I'm the man.

Never too early for a midlife crisis




Ethan's Haircut:

Ethan chillin in the FJ Cruiser (while watching Barney)


Definitely going to get pulled over for a DWS (Driving While Snacking)


Watch out people... now that I have my cool new haircut I'm going to take this thing off road and see what it can really do

4th of July Road Trip

We packed it up and took our 4th of July celebration on the road to visit our friends in Oklahoma! Here are some photos from the trip - thankfully our friends shared some of their photos because we were so busy chasing these two around now that they are running everywhere, that we hardly got any pictures ourselves!

Watching our first real parade!


Along the parade route


Ethan's first skinned knee from 2 days ago...
too much running, not enough looking where he was going!

Our friend "C" sharing his play kitchen - which we LOVED
(hint, hint mom and dad...)


And sharing his books!

Some back porch play with the guys
(Mason loved standing on the door to the storm shelter - guess he wanted to be the first one down if a tornado came through!

Stopping play just long enough for a quick photo op

So much play makes a guy thirsty!

We tried ham for the first time and...

Yessss - it was a hit!