More Pics of Gma Lucy's Visit

No, he hasn't grown out of this love yet.

Nor this one.

Bluebonnet season!

Some Pictures of Grandma Lucy's Visit

I've got a few more photos to put up - depends on how long it takes to do because it's almost nap time. :) I will soon be able to get a picture of our new guinea pig, Sandy, because he is slowly getting used to us. I don't want to give him an extra scare with our camera and flash quite yet. He is doing great eating and drinking and not making angry or annoyed sounds, so that is wonderful. Today is his fourth day with us.

And tonight Xander has his first YMCA soccer practice. Should be fun, especially because I am not the coach this time!!

Grandma Lucy and Nick at the Austin Zoo

She got us all zoo train tickets! It was fun!

Here we are doing one of our favorite activities.

Grandma Lucy's Here

We have been doing amazingly fun things during Grandma Lucy's visit. On one day, we went to Target especially for Nick while Xander watched his dad play Star Wars. Out of that visit, Nick got a couple pairs of monkey pajamas - yay! Grandma also tried to buy him a toy, but he said his version of "No, thanks" to every option offered him. Then she got to the food aisles. He said, "Yes, please!" to food.

Grandma Lucy also picked up a pair of Lego Star Wars pajamas for Xander, which he loooooooooved.

Later, she gave out birthday gifts. I got a few special things, including the new pages for Nick's 2nd-year scrapbook. Erik and I and the boys got a framed poster-size series of our holiday picture poses. Hilarious, but also touching. As a series, it's a pretty good representation of our family. Although Nick has now grown into cute toddler smiles. You know, this series:

Nick got a pretty big Winnie the Pooh Duplo set from Grandma. He has been loving it ever since. Little Lego Pooh and Piglet have to sit at the table to eat honey when Nick has breakfast, and they have to lay down and go to sleep when he goes to bed. He also got a Winnie the Pooh cookbook. Right up his alley!

Xander got an awesome Diary of A Castle book, and then he got to pick out Lego sets for an early birthday present! He got two Star Wars sets. I think Grandma Lucy's letting him pick them out in the store was a big part of the appeal. Not the biggest part, though. :)

On Monday, we went to the Austin Zoo. We saw a tiger, lionesses, macaws, wolves, wolf hybrids, lemurs, llamas, deer, emus, goats, pigs, a sheep, peacocks, etc. A peacock spread its tail feathers for us. Deer and goats and llamas ate feed from our hands. Tortoises crawled around and ate faster than I thought was possible for a tortoise. Almost all the animals were prowling, growling, or active. It was awesome. Mom paid for us all to ride the train - yippee! Afterward, she bought us all Wendy's (per Xander's request).

And she's still here for several more days. I just wanted to type up some of this stuff while I remembered the details.

Camping Not a Go

By the way, camping did not work out. Both boys loved being outside in twilight and pointing out the moon and each star as it appeared. Then Xander wanted to go to bed in the tent so I brought both boys in there. Nick was very nervous about sleeping in the tent and sat up (would not lay down) until 10:30. We all continued to either wake up throughout the night or not sleep at all in the chill of 40-ish degrees Fahrenheit. I finally persuaded Erik to take us home at about 6 in the morning.

There were good things about it. I'm just saying there were about ten more hours of misery than hours of fun.

Planting Meat Balls

Just realized that Nick calls the wildflower seed balls that we planted "meat balls." Figures...he is totally food-obsessed. Come visit our house and you will see how many minutes of the day he devotes to eating, asking for food, and just talking about food in general.

Speaking of which, I observed new vegetable shoots in our plant containers today. These are all sprouting: wildflowers, green onions, tomatoes, broccoli, and marigolds.

Good Job, People

Nick now tells me, "Good job!" when I do good things, such as think up an acceptably yummy snack.

His own skills have increased. A week ago, we had an almost perfect grocery shopping trip. Today, it was basically perfect until the last minute when he wanted up (but didn't get it).

Through no major fault of anyone's, Xander went to school in his pajamas today. It started last night.

Last night, I packed a Dr. Seuss Pajama Party bag for Xander's class party on Friday. His teacher had sent home a note about the party they were having with the day, date, and the (labeled) items the kids should bring. I wanted to pack it right away so it was done, so I put three Dr. Seuss books, three other books, a small pillow, and a small flashlight in a reusable grocery bag, while the family was looking on. After dinner, I put Nick to bed. Then I went to a church event while Erik put Xander to bed.

This morning, very early, I had my first dental appointment in about five years. Erik got Xander off to school. My appointment was interrupted by a call from the school saying that Xander seemed to have gotten his days mixed up and was in class in pajamas. Nobody else was. They got a hold of Erik after I said I was at the dentist, and he brought Xander clothing. Erik was a little worried that Xander had been distraught about the situation...and if Erik is worried, I get downright anxious. Nick and I popped by the school later to eat lunch with Xander and his classmates, who love having lunch guests, and to drop off a snack we had not packed for him. Xander had quickly recovered from this morning's incident.

I will store this anecdote as proof that I was right not to make any dental appointments in the last five years. ;)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

It is one of those absolutely fantastically gorgeous days here. Everyone, go ahead and feel envious, because this is perfect. It's sunny with blue skies and just enough clouds to be picturesque. The temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Xander had an early release day today and everything has the feel of a holiday. He is in a great mood. I thought it was because he had a short day and therefore didn't have time to get too overexcited and tired out. It turns out that, in his opinion, everyone in his class had a great day because so-and-so was absent and he is "the rudest person." I am sorry to hear that for the absent boy's sake but happy that Xander had such an awesome day.

Nick is happy and loud today. He woke (again!) at 3 AM but I was able to get him back to sleep pretty quickly and he slept in a bit. I will take it. I told him he was quite feisty today and he said, "Yes!" While waiting in a tax office for our files, he was so cheerfully loud that the proprietor came out to say hello. I am proud to say that Nick wanted to share his outing snack with both the proprietor and Xander.

So, the new simple learning activity for the day is: Calculator. Ta-dah! This is how I "made it up:"

1. Nick spilled some chocolate milk on our little hand held calculator. I said, "Uh-oh, I hope it still works!"
2. Xander said, "Let's test it and see if it still works."
3. I showed him how to press a number, press the + symbol, press another number, and press the = sign.
4. He was fascinated with the numbers he could add up to for a long time.
5. I'm surprised I didn't think of this sooner. Talk about educational hand held electronic entertainment!

I can't forget to brag on Erik. Last weekend, I realized the washing machine was broken (wasn't spinning the water out of the clothes) and told Erik this was going to have a big impact on our lives within a week. He did the research, took the machine apart (did you know washing machines have a clutch and a transmission?!), bought a new part, and fixed the thing! In two days!! I squealed and jumped around, that's how excited I was.

And here are our latest pictures:

No-Bake Healthy Cheesecake (Healthier, that is)

Xander adopted this puppy he found under our bed (a gift from Grandma Lucy at Christmas)

He made sure to design a puppy bed out of his slipper and had me knit a blanket that was just the right size (Oh, he did make sure to tell me, "Pretend this puppy is already house trained." It's a convenient puppy.)

Nick's cutting strawberries

Toddler knife, don't worry

There's our good ol' Nick

Strawberry Heartcake for Valentine's Day

Look at this picture of me, my dad, and my siblings back in the day (I'm the one in the Shalom Y'all shirt)

Xander's class Valentine's Day party - tons of treats

Mmmm, ice cream sundaes

Making candy necklaces

Enjoying his table-mates

with his table-mate who moved away - this was his last day

Yep, Nick is handing me his diaper...outdoors