Crawford and Waco

This past weekend we went to Crawford to see Grandpa, Nanna, and Uncle Jacob (and Pippen the Dog, of course). There is a ton of land to play on, so the kids love it there...and we love it because it wears them out! We roped the grandparents into baby-sitting on Friday night while Daniel and I went out with our friends Marcus & Jenna in Waco. Our anniversary is in a few days, so this was a fun way to celebrate! We spent Friday night in Crawford and then spent Saturday night in Waco so the kids could hang out.

My Little Chef

Aidan loves to help me in the kitchen. Here are some pics of him stirring some broccoli-rice casserole last week, and licking the beaters after brownie-making in Waco. Our Mom's club is going on a field trip to a place called "Young Chefs Academy" in a couple of weeks, so I'm looking forward to seeing Aidan at work!

Arboretum Fun

Yesterday we ventured to the Dallas Arboretum with Daddy, where we attempted to get some cute pictures of the kids...with limited success, of course. The two of them hardly ever cooperate at the same exact second, even with the "good" camera. Plus it was a little chillier than we expected! Then we visited the petting zoo, got Aidan's face painted like a tiger, and ran around with a couple of our friends before heading home for naptime!

Finger Painting

Tonight we got a little stir crazy so I let the kids finger-paint before their shower. Aidan is an expert, but Avery was a little unsure what to do although she didn't seem to mind having gooey paint on her hands.

Ansel Aidan

I let Aidan play photographer the other afternoon and here is his portfolio. Lots of "artsy" shots.

Our lame spring break

We had a Spring Break visitor - the stomach bug! Aidan caught it Monday night, then I caught it Wednesday night and Avery had it Thursday night. So we didn't get to venture outside much and enjoy the beautiful weather :( Plus Daddy has been insanely busy on a project this week and hasn't been around to help very much. But we are all better, and we had some time to work on potty training this week! Aidan is doing awesome and peeing in the potty a few times on his own during the day. When we're home he does great with the big-boy pants but I'm too nervous to venture out in them right now. And we've yet to tackle #2. I think we might have been able to accomplish a lot more this week but we were too sick to care! Here are some pictures from Avery and Cousin Sage's playdate earlier in the week while I took Aidan to the doctor (excuse Avery's appearance, she was extra drooly that day for some reason!).

Kiss Us, We're Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Aidan & Avery! Aidan caught a random throwing-up bug last night but seems to be all better today. We've decided to play it safe and stay home for the next couple of days anyway. So we are trying out the no-pants potty training today, hence no pants on Aidan. I put a pull-up on him for pictures, but we're going to go "commando" and see how it goes.

Potty Training Update

Aidan has been peeing in the potty!!!! He only does it about once a day (if that) but I am very proud of his progress. My mom's been in town this past week so she's been a big help with this process too. Today Aidan actually told me he needed to go, which was a huge step! His little potty is one that plays a song when peed in. He's gotten several stickers on his chart, and he gets a piece of candy each time. I just bought a Diego potty seat for upstairs but we haven't really used it yet. I also have a "sad bucket" ready for when we're ready to do some hard-core training (probably after MDO is out for the year). That's where his big boy pants will go if they get soiled. But we haven't been doing the big boy pants very much yet, just pull-ups ("Diego pants" as he calls them). So I am seeing a very faint glimmer of hope that this boy will be potty-trained before Kindergarten!!

Jollypalooza

We hosted my mom's side of the family for a get-together this weekend. All in all there were 21 people...and 17 of them slept here! All that was missing was my grandmother, who was just getting over being sick and had to stay in Midland. We celebrated my aunt and cousin's birthdays, played some games, and - what else - cooked lots of great food! Aidan and Avery got to play with their second cousins Tyler and Clara. It was tons of fun!

The Sisters:

The Cousins:

Happy Birthday Jeri and Tracey!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Two Boys in a Tub:

Jolly Chefs in the making:

An intense game of Cranium Wow:

The "bunk room" (our media room where most of the big kids slept):

The little kids watching Cole play Mario Kart:

Bowling!

We went bumper bowling with our mom's club the other day. Aidan loved it and actually got a spare! We are looking forward to the Jolly family reunion at our house this weekend. Stay tuned for pics!

A Plug

My mom (Aidan & Avery's "Grammy") has been working on a website to showcase some of her writing and it has finally launched! A lot of you already know how incredibly creative she can be. She's very proud of it and I'm happy to help get the word out! I've added a picture and link to the right side of my blog, but the direct link is:

http://www.leeannlewis.com

Enjoy!

Avery's Miami Visit

When I went to Honduras last week, Avery flew with me halfway to Miami where she stayed with Papi and Grammy all by herself. My mom pulled out all the stops...not only did she buy some new toys for Avery, she got out a bunch of my old toys which were in storage. They even bought her a cute pair of Nikes! Avery also got to meet Papi's co-workers at the office, and Grammy's friends for lunch.