Trip to the Children's Museum

We headed up to New Braunfels last week and had a blast at the McKenna Children's Museum. I loved the different things for the boys to do and we stayed the entire morning going from one thing to the next.
BANK- Hunter loved doing the ATM machine and swiping the card. It would spit out money and he thought that was great fun. He also played like he was the teller inside the bank with the money tray.

CAMP GROUND- At the camp ground, you could kayak, fish in the pretend river, tend to a campfire, play in tents, cross a bridge... Hunter is off in the kayak!

GROCERY STORE- Hunter successfully stacked his shopping cart higher than he is tall. He loved shopping and stuffing his basket (apparently he has seen that somewhere??) and then taking it to the check out. Then, his OCD mom would make him put them all back in the right place and start all over. (I think I missed my calling of arranging shelves. I had so much fun setting it all up!)

WESTERN TOWN- Here is my little cowboy riding along on his horse.

BABY AREA- Blake enjoyed the baby area in the center of the museum and decided driving was a great activity for the day!

SPACE AREA- Hunter loved seeing characters from Star Wars.

SPACE SHUTTLE- Here are my brilliant astronaut sons flying to the moon.

ART- A budding artist if I do say so myself.

AMBULANCE- Hunter drove the ambulance and then stole the 3 baby dolls from the play hospital nursery and loaded them on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance.

THE COAST TRIP

A last minute adventure is always fun! Sarah and I loaded up the kids while the boys were in their annual Beeville golf tournament and roadtripped it down to Port A.

48 hours worth of gear successfully loaded...

3 children ready to go....

1 baby boy thrilled to be at the beach...

2 boys having fun in the sun....

2 Anderson girls loving every minute....

3 Beach Bums....

1 Lone Star State boy enjoying snack time...

And finally, my ONE little guy that let me take his picture all the time...

Where do I start??

My wireless keyboard on the computer with all of my pictures has been on the fritz for the past week or so, and I have not been able to get on the computer to blog (with pictures) or even share pics online. So, now that we have it all figured out, here goes.

A couple of weeks ago at the lake, Blake decided Daddy was simply delicious.


Hunter and his new found bravery in the water. It's non-stop for Chris now.

The other day, we went to the zoo. Here, Hunter is being his crazy ol self.

Blakey loved getting to watch the fish (actually, the tank was empty and the man was cleaning it, but nevertheless, he liked it)

...and it was time to go home.

Last weekend, we went to Waco to see the fam. Blake loved Savanna and she was so sweet with him. Bless her, she is so outnumbered by the boys, but she does great keeping up. As of right now, it is 5 to 1.

This picture was taken courtesy of the bribe I made- "Smile and you get cotton candy." The lady behind me was laughing at my moment of poor parenting.

Nueve Meses

Guess who's 9 months old??? You guessed it!



I cannot believe Blake is 9 months old already. We had his well visit on Monday and he is healthy as can be. He weighs in at 17 lbs 3 oz and is 28 inches long. It's funny to me that he started out so much bigger than Hunter at birth, and now he is 3 and a half pounds lighter than Hunter was at this age. For as much as Blake eats, we can chalk his weight (or lack thereof) to a fantastic metabolism. Lucky boy!

At 9 months...
**Blake loves to say Da Da or something close to it. Sometimes it's A-Da or Da-A.
**He's incredible at making noise with his mouth. This boy can motorboat!
**Blake is either the quietest in the room or the loudest. When he makes himself known, you can't miss it!
**He still nurses 4 times a day, sometimes 5 and has 3 hearty meals a day that consist of ANY baby food- he loves them all, and whatever we are eating. He has had spaghetti, pancakes, chicken, brocolli, mashed potatoes...
**He usually eats with his left hand and grabs handfuls at a time.
**Blake wears a 2-3 diaper and wears 9 month to 12 month clothes.
**He does not crawl at this point, but can scoot on his tummy...backwards.
**Blake's favorite activity is to play on the floor with toys. He's not too interested in the exersaucer or the jumper.
**Blakey loves the water. He loves a bath and usually cries when I have to take him out and he squeals with excitement when we are in the pool.
**Blake goes down at 7 and is up about 6:30ish. Not bad!
**He takes 2 naps a day, sometimes a little catnap later in the afternoon if he wakes up early from his afternoon nap.
**Squeezes his fists either in frustration or excitement. Depends on the moment.

Now... on to Hunter.
His latest antics, let's see. He asked me the other day, "Mom, are you nice?"

He is into Play-Doh big time these days. He can pull out this glob of play-doh that is now gray because it is all colors combined and make little hills for his cars to drive on and his little men to play in.

Our tradition this summer is for him to come out with me in the evenings when I water the front yard. San Antonio is on severe water restrictions, so the only way to water your yard is to hand water with a hose except for your assigned day. Well, with 50+ days over 100 degrees, you have to water more than once a week. Anywho, Hunter comes out with me and loves to get sprayed while he's running around the yard. It's just so "summertime" to me.

His favorite thing to watch on TV these days...
Wipeout! Have you seen it? It's hilarious and basically 3 year old humor. Laughing at people as they wipeout. What could be funnier?

Hunter will be starting school in September. He's still going Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning.

Back with pictures soon!!

The Horse and the Bird

Blake has an unbelievable appetite. At 8 1/2 months old, he can throw down some serious food. I wish I had the pictures to back all of these up, but here goes.

The other night at my parents, he ate 2 Stage 2 baby foods- Sweet Potatoes and Peas. Then he had some milk. Then, he manage to eat 1 1/2 crescent rolls, small bits of chicken, avocado and an entire slice of mango salad.

The next night, Chris and I ventured to a new Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. I had fed Blake his 2 baby foods at the table, some Gerber puffs and little bits of motzerella cheese from our appetizer. I ordered spaghetti for myself, and as soon as he saw it on the table, it was clear that the boy had to have himself some "skettie" as Hunter calls it. He grabbed it by the fistful and ate like a champ!

"Mmmm!" - Notice the cool right arm off to the side- he ALWAYS sits like this and eats with his left hand. Hmm? Maybe he's going to be left-handed like his mama!

Last night, I made grilled chicken, salad, black-eyed peas and green beans. He ate his usual baby food and then managed to eat small bites of chicken, several green beans, the black-eyed-peas and avocado! Unreal! He doesn't even seem finished after that- I think he could keep on eating. The boy eats like a horse!

"What mom? I don't want to get a bath! I'm not finished!"

What's funny is that Hunter is now the opposite- he eats like a bird these days. He's always been a great eater, but at this stage, he's just not that interested.
The other night, I made pasta with brocolli and chicken and Hunter told me,
"Don't make this again mom." Well, alrighty then.

Blakey loves his Babs!!

Lake Weekend with the Jones Familia

A little over a week ago we had the chance to have the Jones family up to the lake. It was a great get-away and such a blessing to have Dana there with us.

The boys had a great time... as usual and were a mile a minute the whole time. Blake and Adam will no doubt be right behind them in no time!

We ordered pizza the first night and the three boys sat on the top step looking out at the water. So cute! It wasn't but 20 minutes later that they were in full swim mode out in the water!

This was the first time Hunter was brave enough to jump off the dock into the water. Obviously watching David and Ryan do it was motivation enough for him to try it. :) Oh, and I owe ya Chris for being such a great sport and dealing with standing in the muck at night in the lake. Heaven knows I couldn't have done it!

Saturday morning, we had a good breakfast and wasted no time getting in the water. The boys were thoroughly entertained jumping off the boat dock into the water, swimming to the ladder and doing it all over again.
Here they are on the giant tube.

Here's Ryan...

...and Hunter...

...and David...

...and Blake and me...

...and Summer and Adam.

The boys took a breather from the water and relaxed in the hammock for about 1 minute.

Then, they were off again! Blake just enjoyed being out with everyone and did not want to nap.

The boys topped the weekend off on Sunday morning with several catches. This is Hunter's first-ever catch! As you can see, Blake was thrilled too!

You asked, you shall receive!

This post has been a long time coming, so sorry for keeping you waiting!

Let's see, a post is really no fun if there aren't pictures, so here goes...

Hunter took 2 weeks worth of swimming lessons the last week of June and first week of July. It was honestly the most well-spent money. He learned so much from Ms. Ann and we are so grateful. I have tried in vain to work with him over the past couple of summers after a terrifying incident that really scarred him, but Ms. Ann knew just what to do and now we have a little fish. He is swimming back and forth from us to the steps and back. He will jump from the side, he will go down the slide and not panic about getting his face wet. It's amazing!!! He did have a little incident about a week ago in the baby pool when he hit his mouth against the side and knocked a front tooth back a bit. Needless to say, lots of blood, lots of tears and a pretty worried mom and dad. The dentist saw him first thing the next morning and said everything should be A-okay! Phew!

This is fairly belated, but Blake is sitting up good and strong. He loves the water, loves to splash and hates to get out of the bath. He cries when I take him out! I'm nothing if I don't teach my boys to love their baths!

Both boys in the tub! Isn't this a childhood rite of passage- having your picture taken with your siblings in the tub??

Well, the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town and we got tickets to take Hunter. It was not quite the experience I had envisioned, but it was a fun time altogether. We had great seats believe it or not and spent 5 gazillion dollars on all the "stuff." He had to have a sword, 12 dollar cotton candy that came with this top hat and popcorn. Add our drinks and our dinner and we were spent in more ways than one by the time he decided it was time to go. He keeps talking about this man that sat a few rows in front of us that wore a clown head. He was a little traumatized to say the least.


Then we loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly, Hills that is! Just kidding, it only LOOKS like we are the Beverly Hillbillies when we travel. We spent the 4th in Waco and had a great time visiting Mimi and Bapa and celebrating the weekend with them.




Last week we had a big group of friends over to play in the backyard and had a great time. :)


Such a cute picture and you can clearly see why I do laundry like it's nobody's business! He's a mess!!

Just for you Aunt Kristin since you inspired this post! Have a great rest of the week!! We love ya!