Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Just a bunch of stuff we've been doing

Did I ever even talk about the 4th of July?  Well, it was a good one.  It was nice and relaxing.  After church, we had a little BBQ with Darrick and Ariel and their family.  Then we headed to our apt for cupcakes.  We invited all of the techs over to have a cupcake and ice cream for Savannah's birthday.  We then headed to the church parking lot where we could see the local firework show.  The kids loved the fireworks!  Darrick and Ariel had some sparklers for the kids afterward.  It was a little scary giving Max a flaming stick, but they had a good time!
Downtown, right by the zoo, they have a great park with trails to walk around.  There is a big playground area with a splash park right in the middle of it.  It is a great place to play and cool off!  We plan on making several trips back here before we leave.

Savannah, reading Max some books.  I love it when they do this! 


When we drove around looking for a place to release Stumpy, we found this great area with lots of alligators.  You can stand on the bridge and just watch them.  We have been back since to check them out again, and they were still there.

Isn't it beautiful?
If you look close, you can see three alligators swimming around.  I think we counted about 13 at one time once.  This is also the place I saw the biggest fish I have ever seen in my life.  I forget what they were called now, but it flipped out of the water for a minute and I swear it was a 100lb fish!
When we were there, a group of other people stopped to check them out.  They just so happened to have some chicken and rope (conveniently enough).  Matt had the rope around this one, but he ended up breaking it.  Matt talks like he would have pulled him to shore, but I can assure you that would not have happened.
Trying to convince Savannah to give this huge bullfrog a kiss.  She wasn't so sure about it. 

Saturday, July 24, 2010

All about the kiddos!

My cute kids in their new Toy Story jammies

I thought since both of my kids just had birthdays, I thought I would post a few things about them.  It's going to be long.  Don't worry, you don't have to read it. It's more for me to look back at. 

Savannah
I can't believe that Savannah is four!  It is a really fun age.  She keeps learning all sorts of new things, and always has something crazy to say.  She definitely keeps us laughing.  10 things I can think of to describe Savannah are:
1.  Savannah loves all books.  I am amazed at how well she remembers the words after I read them to her only once.  We always come home from the library with stacks of them.  I will read them to her once, then hear her reading them to Maxwell later.  She does a really good job.  She loves to sit up in her bed for a while and read every night. 
2.  She also loves to watch her shows!  She gets to watch a lot more than usual this summer, because we are cooped up in the apartment a lot more.  I am surprised though that she doesn't like to watch the same ones a lot.  She is always wanting new ones...I thought kids liked to watch the same thing over and over.
3.  She really is such a good helper to me. She has become pretty good at helping clean up, and loves to help cook (especially cookies).  She loves to plan surprises for people.  She is always making something and telling me not to look until she is done.  Sometimes she likes to clean her toys up and surprise me with how clean her room is...sometimes.
4.  She, for the most part, is a very nice big sister.  Her and Max are the cutest little buddies.  She is always singing songs to him in the car, helping him with his toys, reading him books, holding his hand etc.  They definitely fight over things a lot, but for the most part, they get along really well.  Sometimes she thinks she is the mommy a little too much.
5.  She still is obsessed with horses.  She spends a good part of the day pretending to be a horse, pretending Max is a horse, or playing with horses.  Max even calls her "horse" most of the time.  He finally can actually say her name, but still prefers "horse" when he is talking to her.  It is pretty darn cute.  She loves it, and will call him "neigh neigh" when they are playing horse.
6.  She acts completely crazy whenever we have company.  Especially boys.  I don't know what gets into her, but there is no calming her down when she has showing off to do.  We are in trouble!  It is kind of surprising that she has started to do this, because she is still pretty shy for the most part.  She rarely wants to talk to people she doesn't know well. 
7.  She loves to be snuggled and tickled.  She is always begging for me to tickle her back or feet. 
8.  She loves to paint, color, or make any kind of craft thing.  She loves to ride her new bike, play in the pool, go to the zoo, and go to the library.  Lately her favorite toys are her dinosaur, Max's train, My Little Ponies, her Belle Polly Pocket with horse, and my phone.  She loves to play with any kind of animal, and makes up crazy names for all of them.  She also loves to pull all of the blankets and pillows off of my bed and the couch to "go camping" with. 
9.  She has a serious sweet tooth!  She will ask for treats and snacks all day long!  She finally does do better with dinner though.  We can get her to at least try most things, and she has found that she does in fact like some of it.  Her favorite things are ice water, purple Gatorade, pizza, strawberries, bananas, grapes, quesadilla, yogurt, strawberry mini wheat cereal, and anything sweet.
10.  She loves to do everything herself.  She changes her clothes several times a day if I let her, and is getting pretty opinionated about her hair and clothes.  She still prefers dresses, but will tolerate shorts and pants now.  She loves to put on lip gloss and lotion and to do her hair.
We love you Vannah Bannah Bo Bannah!

Maxwell: 
Max is definitely in the terrible two stage.  He can throw a serious tantrum at the drop of a hat, but he also is awfully sweet, and can do the cutest things! 
1.  Maxwell also loves books and movies.  He loves to point at pictures of things and say "what's this?" over and over.  He and Savannah love to sit and read together.  At bed time, he likes to sneak into her bed, so she can read to him.
2.  He, unfortunately has become an early bird.  Both of our kids used to sleep in, but now every morning we wake up bright and early to him next to our bed, begging for cereal. 
3.  He loves to run!  All the time we hear him yell "mark, set, go", and he takes off running from wall to wall.  He pumps one elbow a lot when he runs, I guess to get more momentum going.  It is so cute.  He also will steal his sister's toys a lot, just so she will chase him to get it back.  He thinks it is so funny!
4.  He really loves to be snuggled!  It is about all he can handle to see another kid on one of our laps.  He will always try to come out of bed, and beg "snuggle me?"  Of course he says it so cute, so I give in a lot!
5.  He loves his binkey and blanket.  He only gets his binkey in bed, so sometimes he will go sit on his bed just so he can have it. 
6.  He loves to go really anywhere, but especially if it involves running around outside.  He loves to see and point out animals, trains, tractors, water fountains, bugs, etc.  His favorite toys right now are his Thomas train, remote car, Curious George monkey, a little orange bucket he loves to put on his head, any ball, and anything Savannah has.
7.  He is terrified of bears, and talks about them a lot.  He loves to see real bears at the zoo, pretend to be a bear, read books about bears etc., but anytime he is scared, he thinks there is a bear.  If we are ever outside and it is dark, he has to be held and will look around whispering "bear, bear" over and over.  Poor kid.
8.  He loves to sing!  He will always ask us to sing songs and will try to sing along.  His attention span is short though, and he always wants to move on to another song before the current one is over.  Sometimes he will try to sing along at church really loudly, and make everyone around us laugh.
9.  He loves his big sister, and loves to do anything she does.  He repeats what she says a lot, and follows her around.  He brings her toys he can't figure out, and is always asking her for help with things.  They always play 'horsey' together.  One is the horse and will crawl on the ground, while the 'owner' pulls on their shirt to lead them around.  The owner will feed the horse hay, bring the horse to me to get pet, and lock the horse in a cage.  Sometimes the owner gets horse rides, but that often ends in disaster. 
10.  He is a pretty good eater, and likes most things.  His favorites are milk, cereal, tomato soup, fries, bananas, chips, jerky, most meat, mac n' cheese, crackers, etc. 
We love you little Buddy!




Sunday, July 18, 2010

Guess who just turned 2??

Maxwell just turned 2 years old.  I know every mom says it, but I can't believe it!
Maxwell, when he was about 1 minute old.

We had a little birthday party with a few of the kids out here.  I made this little barnyard birthday cake, with animal cupcakes to go with it.  It didn't look just like the picture on-line, but I was pretty happy with it.


It was hard keeping him out of the cake until everyone came.  When I was making it, I could hear him saying "mmmm" in the kitchen.  I went to check it out and he had pulled a stool up to the counter and was grabbing a fist full of cake.  Luckily I caught him in time....little stinker!

Savannah had just had a birthday, so he knew the drill when it came to presents in the morning.

We found him a little remote control car that only has two buttons: forward and backward.  He just picks one button and hold it down the whole time.  He will set it down on the ground with the tires spinning, and then run away before it crashes into him.  It's pretty funny to watch.
Show me how the piggies eat!

Happy Birthday, Max!  We love you!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Dinosaur Party!

  Savannah and her cousin, Dallas both had birthdays coming up, so we had a little cousins party while we were in Utah.  Savannah really wanted a dinosaur birthday cake and it had to be a long neck of course!

It is hard to tell from her facial expressions, but I am pretty sure she liked the gifts her cousins gave her!



Jersie made some cute decorations for the party! 







Next, we all headed to the Dionsaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point:

  Max and Millie were inseperatable the whole time we were in Utah.  I hope they are still good buddies when we get back, because it was so cute to watch them!  They are little trouble makers though!
I thought the kids were going to have a hard time coming back to Houston after being home.  Savannah did say a couple times that she just wanted to stay there, but by the time we came back, they were missing their daddy enough that Texas was sounding pretty good!

Utah Trip!

We got a chance to take a trip home in June.  We went for a family reunion.  All of my siblings, but one were able to come.  We wished everyone could have been there, but we had a lot of fun visiting.  My mom found this old courthouse in Junction that has been renovated to accommodate big groups. 

They did do some canoeing at a nearby reservoir, but the canal was pretty exciting too! 
There sure were a lot of little kids running around!  They all had a good time playing with their cousins.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

New Pet??

Why is there a baby alligator crawling across my living room floor you ask??
Actually, if you had to ask that question, you don't know my husband very well. 
We were not surprised at all to have him come home with something he had chased down that day.  The kids weren't quite sure what to think of him.  They warmed up to him once he took a swim in the bathtub.
Don't worry, Stumpy has now been released into the wild where he belongs!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Adult Pertussis vaccination

So, I have a friend, Stefani who has a friend, Natalie, and I read her blog sometimes.  You know how the whole blogging world works right? Well, I found Natalie's blog when Stafani told me to look at it and pray for her sick baby boy.  I followed her story and cried a lot.  She now has a message to share and I am going to help share it too.  So anyone that reads my blog (all three of you) can find her message here.   I will try to find out where to get the vaccine in my area! 
ps.  Pertussis (whooping cough) is very contagious and potentially fatal to babies under 12 months.  Most babies catch it from a family member.