Spring Break Zoo Trip

Jake had Spring Break, so we took a family day away from his dissertation writing to go to the zoo together. The weather was perfect. Since all the other school districts besides Denton had their Spring Break the previous week, it was quiet even though it was a half price day.

A vanilla wafer cookie will instantly calm a fussing Adam.
The Fort Worth Zoo has a cool parakeet enclosure. You can buy sticks with bird seed stuck to them and the birds come right up to you and eat from the sticks.
Adam, that birdseed is not for you.
All tuckered out.
In this picture Jake is saying that Eli doesn't want Jake to touch him. As we've heard a lot lately, "I'm a big boy. I can do it all by myself."

Potty Training Successes

Eli has officially mastered peeing on the toilet. To celebrate, we went to Going Bonkers as a family.

Preschool Buddies and Another Friend

Here are two of Eli's three preschool buddies. Eli and I made paddles out of paper plates and craft sticks for them to pop the bubbles.

They are having fun exploring ramps at the science center.

And here is a happy Adam.

Here is Eli and his new friend Tristan making pretzels together. I let them form their own dough, and they decided to add lots and lots of flour to them. Yum, brick pretzels.

Some March Pictures

Adam munching on some cornbread.

Eli practicing writing letters. I wrote the yellow letter "A" and then he copied it next to me in orange. This was the first time he wrote a letter (besides "O") that actually looks like the real letter.

While I run on the tredmill, Adam gets to play in the playpen by the glass door.

A nice Sunday afternoon walk with the whole family.

Halloween, Boys, and Play Date

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

The boys.

A friend took these pictures at a recent play date.

I love Adam's smile in the picture below. This picture truly captures his fun personality.

Random October Happenings

October has brought with it cooler temperatures. The coolness feels amazing after such a long, hot summer. Here is Adam bundled up for a morning stroll.


Today we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends the Coopers. The pumpkin patch also had bounce houses, wooden kid-size cars, hay bale rides, a few animals, and some hay bale mazes. These boys are so cute together. As soon as they got out of the car they held hands.
In the picture below, Eli got too scared to go down the slide and decided to climb back down the other way.
We've started Adam on rice cereal this week. I know it's recommended to start out with really runny cereal, but it is such a mess when it's runny!--as showcased below.
Here is Eli with his preschool friends pretending that they're doctors. As you can see, Adam is their patient.
My boy is in love with The Wiggles. The first Wiggles movie I saw was an early one, and it was so cheesy. I promised myself that I would never check a Wiggles movie out from the library again. Of course, soon after that promise was made Eli selected another Wiggles movie from the library--this time a newer video. He is now hooked on the Wiggles. He gets out his guitar and sings along with all the songs. Since these are library videos we usually return them after a week, but Eli still asks me to sing Wiggles songs with him all the time.

Fire Station & Scratches (September 2011)

Eli's preschool had a field trip to the fire station last month. The boys got to climb on the fire truck, pet a fire rescue dog, spray a fire hose (see picture below), and look at a huge display of toy fire trucks. They boys were a little too young and nervous to fully enjoy the experience, but they still had fun.



Despite my attempts to keep Adam's fingernails cut short, he still manages to cut his forehead up at night when he is trying to fall asleep. As of today (end of October), his scratching habit is getting better, but below is a picture of his forehead at its worst. I'm also posting a picture of Adam asleep with his thumb in his mouth (he won't take a pacifier) because I think it's adorable.

Preschool and Play Time

Eli started his preschool this past Tuesday. Two of my friends also have boys who are within a few months of Eli's age, so we are trading off teaching preschool for them once a week for 3 hours. It's so fun to help Eli pack his backpack and lunch and then hear him talk about what he did in preschool. Here are a few pictures of Eli right before leaving for preschool and playing with his friends at the start of preschool. I'm looking forward to these boys building good friendships with each other.



I also managed to catch a few pictures of the boys as they were watching the mobile as I got ready for the day this morning.
Adam is super strong. We decided to get out the exersaucer to see if he was big enough for it. Although we have to prop his feet up using a collapsed cardboard box, he is loving it.