Parties!

Aden had two parties to go to today (such a social guy). The first one was his "girlfriends" birthday party. He thinks he loves her, and talks about her daily. I have to admit, I approve. She's a doll. This was a cool party at an art studio. Each kid got to pick a ceramic figure from a princess themed group. Aden picked the castle.

The kids all got to go to the color wall and pick up to 4 colors. Aden picked black, red, a speckled green and a speckled brown.

(Aden & The Birthday Girl)

He was so proud of his castle. He kept calling for anyone walking by to admire his castle.

This finished castle!

Then when the kids are done, the studio takes the pieces and fires them in an oven. We get them back in about a week.

This was the big kitty that Aden picked out especially for his girl.

Then after that party, we headed over to my brother's house for a birthday party for my nephew. He's 9 now! He's getting so big!

By the time we got home, both Aden and I were exhausted. All this fun and cake makes us sleepy!

Splishy Splashy!

Looky who got a BIG BOY bath seat!

And he kinda likes the freedom! We put up the lounger seat and got this for Ethan. Aden had one like it too and he loved it. Now the boys can really play together in the bath.

Weather is so fickle

Just three days ago, the boys and I were in the backyard swinging in shorts. IN JANUARY. (Please do not look at the hay grass.) And today, there is snow in our forecast for the upcoming weekend. How does this happen?

I guess it's true - if you don't like the weather... wait a minute.

Boo.

As you can see, I've been playing around with my background for a Valentine's Day look. I like this one, so I think I'll keep it for a while, but in the process of changing the template I LOST ALL MY BLOGGY LINKS!

(great sadness).

So if you have a blog that you would like me to put on my list of links, please leave me a comment. I'm going to try to salvage my links, but some of them I don't know by heart. Ok, none of them I know by heart.

Thanks!

A night with the boys

Look who has a great new trick? Ethan's been holding his bottle for a little while now, but usually can't hold it completely unsupported until the bottle is about half done. (Too heavy). Not anymore! Little guy has got some muscles now! He takes his bottle right from the start and holds it all by himself.

I really enjoy the time at night before bedtime when everyone winds down and relaxes together. This particular night, we finished baths early so I let the boys watch an episide of Dinosaur Train. They both love it. 

Here are a few cute pictures of Ethan enjoying his exersaucer. He's giddy and happy like this until you leave the room for a second. Then he screams. No chance in being able to use this as a way to switch over the laundry. Oh well.

This and That

Happy Birthday to Trish! The mint chocolate chip

ice cream pie was great, the company was better!

Before the party, I rounded the corner and saw this....

He's so cool ALL the time. And this also explains

why we go through so much toilet paper. (And he insists

on using toilet paper even when it's just #1).

You know who else is cool all the time?

This guy. Mr. Mohawk/Gerber Baby Curl.

And this is how I'm loving my mornings...

I hope you are all having an excellent week!

Shop 'till you drop

Aden and I headed to the mall Saturday morning to get a couple shirts for the boys to wear at their photo session (Sunday). Obviously, I don't make it to the mall often because I thought it opened at 9AM. It doesn't. It opens at 10AM. So Aden and I had to find stuff to do for an hour. We watched the ice skaters at the hockey rink and went to the bookstore - which opened at 9AM - and got "coffee." (Aden got hot chocolate, but called it his coffee. He loves to get coffee with mommy).

The book store had a cute little stage which Aden thought was fun. He is quite the entertainer and it's no surprise that he feels right at home here.

Once the stores opened up, we shopped. Aden got a new hat and two new pair of sunglasses. We lose a lot of sunglasses. (His hat says "Treasure Hunter.")

But no shirts for the photo session. In fact, there just really weren't any good choices anywhere for photo-worthy shirts.

We ended up at Target, as usual, and I found two nice sweaters that would work. We also got some essentials, like detergant. I had to get a cart for Aden because by this time, he actually dropped to his knees and was following me around on all fours because he was so tired of walking. We were shopping until we were dropping! Ha! So he got to ride for a bit. We had a great time together, but he was ready for a nap as soon as we got home.

Ethan was tired just HEARING about the shopping trip.

Speaking of Ethan, look who is sitting up unassisted! He's doing so well!

The nightmares continue. We got woken up the night before last because, "There's a chicken in my bed!!" And then something different, which Adam forgot about as soon as he got back in bed so I don't know what it was. (3AM is not a time for long term memory). Last night, he didn't even want to go to sleep because he didn't want to dream. No nightmares last night. I'm at a loss about what to do about that. He goes back to sleep quickly though, which is helpful.

And finally, I have short hair for the first time since age 4! I don't even know what to do with it. I need to practice.

Happy Monday!

What's new?

We took Aden to see the Chipmunks "Squeakqual" last weekend, which he loved. He's so much fun to take to the movies. I can't wait until Ethan is old enough to go with us. I have a feeling there is lots of movies and popcorn in our futures.

In the movie, one of the chipmunks is afraid of eagles. Wouldn't you know that night (ahem... morning) at around 2AM Aden was screaming my name. I went in his room and he said, "There's an eagle on my bed!!" Poor kid, he was having nightmares.

Actually, he goes through phases where he'll have nightmares 2-3 nights in a row, then great dreams for a while. Shortly after the eagle incident, he woke me up because his "bed was filled with spiders." (Aden and I both dislike bugs a lot.) And then the next night, he called me in there to tell me he doesn't want to eat worms. I told him he never ever has to eat worms. He said that I told him he had to eat worms. I told him he was having a bad dream, it wasn't real and I will never make him eat worms. He went back to sleep after that. Poor kid.

The worst though, was "The Finger" dream. In the car the other day, he told me that he had a dream that Lola took Lindsey's finger off and put it in a black oven and it was burning. He said he didn't want Lola to hurt Lindsey. We all had a laugh about that, but honestly I don't even know where he would get something like that. The scariest thing he ever watches (besides a chipmunk with a fear of the eagle football mascot) is pre-school television. Granted, there is something weird about a dancing bear, but to dream about removing fingers is outrageous.

In Ethan news, he got another tooth (total of 3 now) and three more teeth are pushing so hard against his gums that they are white. I imagine he'll just pop a bunch of teeth all at once over the next week or so. He's been cranky about it too, but we understand. AND!! Although he's been calling me (and everyone else) "Da Da" for a bit, he has finally started calling me (and only me!!) "Ma Ma!" I am thrilled. I woke up this morning and heard him calling, "Ma Ma! Ma Ma!" from his crib. Best way to start a morning EVER.

Welcoming our new addition!

Introducing Chi Chi the fish! (Named by Aden).

We adopted him from my sister and Aden loves

having him around. He especially loves feeding

him and sharing his marbles.

Note to self....

Put the bubbles in and THEN the baby bath seat.

The boys have been loving taking baths together lately. Ethan always loves doing anything with Aden, and Aden enjoys the entertainment. Both love to splash each other. So I thought I'd suprise them by putting a few bubbles in the bath. Only, I put the bath seat in, added a few bubbles and then walked away while the bath filled. A few minutes later when I returned with the boys, I saw that only half the bath actually got the bubbles. Ha!

It should be noted too that before I could even get Ethan all the way into the bath seat, he had already swiped a handful of bubbles and stuck them in his mouth.

It's like a game to him to see how quickly he can get things in his mouth before we can catch him.

Hook'em Horns!

Texas played a big game against Alabama last night and while we didn't win, the boys showed their support! Cousin Lisa got the boys Longhorns shirts for Christmas specifically to wear for this game. I wanted to get a good picture of them in their shirts, but let me tell you... it's very hard to get a good picture of these two when they are just not into it.

Don't believe me?

Have a look: