Alas, Dallas!

We have had a pretty busy week this past week.

Daniel found out that we might be spending the summer in Houston again. He won't find out for sure until later this week, but Shell might want him to intern with them this summer. We don't really care either way. While extra money is nice, we like being in our own home too. We will see.

Wednesday, the kids and I went to the park and played for a couple of hours. Owen enjoyed a blissful nap in the shade while Ellie went up and down the slides. Thursday, the kids had their pictures taken. One of my friends from the ward is a photographer, so I thought I would try her out. We will get to pick the pictures this week... I am pretty excited for that. Of course the kids were cranky because they had just had their shots, but hopefully we got some good ones.

Friday we headed to Dallas to surprise my sister Kim with a baby shower. She is expecting Adeline Grace in July. She seemed pretty excited to have us there and to be having a shower. It made her feel special. My whole family (minus the missionary) was there along with Ryan's parents who drove down from Iowa. It was a fun weekend full of games and fun.

Here is the diaper cake that Ellie and I made (our first one!). Ellie handed me the diapers and the rubber bands as needed while I rolled the diapers and secured them.
Here is Ellie coloring. She is getting a lot better at trying to stay in the lines. Most of the time she is all over the place but when she wants to, she can be more exact.
Here is our smiley boy. He is pretty funny because whenever I pull out the camera he knows he is supposed to smile.
Here is our boy again. He is teething like MAD!!! Three or four teeth broke through this weekend alone!! Poor thing, we were just gobbing on the orajel and giving him Tylenol to ease his discomfort. Even when he is being a cranky baby, he is still such a sweet baby!
Here is Ellie eating her yogurt parfait. Yummy yummy. Ellie was pretty funny this weekend. She was playing with her dolly while we were all playing games and all of a sudden she walked into the room with her shirt up and dolly held up to her chest. She was breastfeeding her dolly just like mom breast feeds Owen. Oh my.

Ellie's 2 and We're Off to the Doctor

Yesterday was Elise's 2nd birthday. Yes, we have been celebrating it for over a week now, but yesterday was the official day. We tried to make it a fun day for her.

In the morning, we went over to her friend Adam's house (Adam and Ellie are pictured above) and played for awhile. The two of them have been playing together really great lately and we enjoy our play dates together. We stayed there for about 3 hours.

On the way home we stopped off at McDonald's for a Happy Meal for Ellie. She LOVES fries, so it was a nice treat for her since she does not get them very often. After lunch, she took a nice long nap and slept almost until the time that Dad got home.

For dinner, we decided to celebrate by going to Chuck E. Cheese! We picked a great night to go because we were like one of three families there. Ellie really enjoyed playing on the slide there as well as inserting the tokens for the ride toys. We ate pizza (which we could have done without... we think next time we will just go to play) and played for an hour or so.

Owen was pretty cute. He sat in a rolling highchair that we kind of dragged around with us while Ellie was playing on the toys. He was really happy and enjoyed the night as well.

When we decided we had had enough, we turned in our tickets (they have this really cool machine now that collects your tickets for you) and Ellie was able to get two bracelets and a necklace as her prizes.

Above is a picture of the kids and I playing in Ellie's new tent. In hindsight, we should have gotten a tent that is a little bigger.

Today, we went to the doctor for Ellie's 2-year checkup and Owen's 6 month checkup. They are both doing very well. Owen is now just in the 95th percentile, so he has slowed down his growing a bit. Ellie is right on the 50th percentile like always. Owen received 3 shots and Ellie had to have her finger pricked and squeezed. Besides the immediate pain afterwords, they are both happy and healthy babies, which we are very grateful for.

Adventures in the Hill Country

3 blogs in 3 days!!!! We're on a roll!!! Well, we actually DID something this weekend so we actually have some stuff to report.

Yesterday we went out to Kempner, TX where Daniel's professor owns some property. He owns about 125 acres. It was quite a drive, but after about an hour to hour and a half, we were there! There were 8 guys total there from Daniel's research group. 5 were "the bachelors" and all were from Asia. Then there were 3 married guys--- found it interesting that the white guys were the married ones. One of the people Daniel works with has a 7 year old and is graduating this year and another has a 17 month old but he has been in the program for about 8 years. And then there was us with two little kids. I was asked by both wives if we were done having kids. NOPE!

While the get together was a little foreign for us (we are so used to going to BYU functions where there are a million little rugrats around) it was actually a good time. It was nice to meet all the guys that Daniel is always talking about and especially nice to meet Dr. Edgar. He has a beautiful ranch home and was extremely nice. It is always fun meeting Daniel's professors and fellow students because I always anticipate that they will be more or less normal, but I am always delighted when a realize they really are engineers and have all the personality traits of an engineer!!! I think that engineers behave kind of funny and have a quirky sense of humor --- it obviously attracts me since I married one!

Country life is not for me. Daniel and I disagree on this. Dan would love to have a vacation house or something in the country and for me.. it is not at all appealing!! I'd rather vacation on the beach or at a resort. I just couldn't imagine being around all those bugs!! Plus, it would take like an hour to get to a grocery store. There is no way. I am pretty happy with life in suburbia!

Ellie enjoyed running around the ranch and playing with Dr. Edgar's two dogs. They were very friendly dogs and tolerated the abuse from Ellie very well.

Here is Ellie, a daughter after my own heart, scarfing down some chocolate pudding.
Owen a.k.a. Schroeder from Peanuts.
What a handsome young man!!!! Owen playing before church. ----- He looks so put together, but at church he threw up all over mom... down her back, in her hair... all over. So, Owen and mom left church early today.--- What a sweetheart!! Teething sure is fun.
Ellie loves putting on her own shoes. We have to put her in slip ons because she gets very angry if she can't do it herself. "I DO IT!"
Yet another attempt at a good picture of the kids together... we're getting there. I am actually going to have the kids pictures taken this week by a friend in the ward. I hope she does a good job... we will see!

Mr. Brown Can Moo

We filmed this a couple of months ago, but I've been lazy and haven't transferred any video until now.

Ellie in the water and Owen eating orange food

It has been a pretty fun couple of days. Elise has been playing with all of her presents and has absolutely had a blast! Some of the things she hasn't even gotten around to yet and some I have stored away for a rainy day when she needs a new toy. But, most of the things she has out and has been playing with quite a bit.

Ellie loves her new water table and sprinkler. She has been playing with both of them each day since we've returned from Katy. I am sure once she gets her pool, she will have quite the fun-filled water park in her own backyard! I often find her stripped down, trying to put on her swim diaper and swimming suit on by herself because she is so anxious to go play in the backyard. Owen is pretty happy playing in his saucer by the back door.

Wednesday we went over to Ellie's friend Adam's house. It was a lot of fun. His mom, also named Erin, has turned out to be a pretty good friend and mom to do stuff with. Her kids are roughly the same ages as mine so it has worked out nicely. Yesterday, we went to Ready, Set, Play! again. It is one of those inflatable playscapes. Ellie loves that place. It is really nice to go to once a week or every couple of weeks. She can run and get her energy out and I can sit and play with Owen.

Today we are taking things easy. Daniel has to work all day today (usually he gets off around noon on Fridays) so we are using today to get the house clean and basically just play!!! So far, we have finger painted, colored (with markers, chalk and crayons!) and read many books. Ellie's book collection has completely filled her bookcase now. Between the books she got for her birthday and the books I bought a couple weeks ago, she is set! At least until I get sick of the books she has! I should mention that the crayola no mess products are GREAT! She got some for her birthday and I couldn't be more in love with them.

Our most exciting news to report is that Owen is actually eating baby food!!!!! This is fantastic for us. I hadn't fed him any cereal or baby food for a couple of weeks because he just was not ever into it, but I tried it yesterday and he was just eating it up! He doesn't realize the need to open his mouth yet, but he is getting there. I usually have to pry it open, but once the food is in there, he seems to be ok about it. This is really a relief for us since we have been very limited as to what we can do (particularly me) while we are away from Owen since he can't go without food for too long. Now that he is eating something else... oh the possibilities!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ellie's Birthday Celebration!

It has been about a week and a half since my last posting and since then there have been LOTS of pictures. So, here we go!

First was Ellie's birthday celebration! 2 years old! The official day isn't until Monday, but it was really fun to celebrate and she received a lot of presents... more than she needed!

Here is her Mickey cake! She loves Mickey.
Here is Owen and his grandma Weber during Ellie's present opening.
The aftermath.

Here is the family at the zoo. Pictured from left to right is Grandma Mc, Ryan, a very pregnant Kim, Evan and of course Kyra and Ellie in front.
Here are the twins! Not realizing it, I packed Owen and Daniel matching outfits. Corny I know, but they looked cute nonetheless.
Dad and Ellie going down the slide at the zoo.
Kyra and Ellie going down the slide.

Owen. Classic Owen.Here is Ellie taking a little break from the sun and the animals.
I believe Kyra and Ellie were looking at the monkeys in this picture. Cuties.

What a dapper young man.

This trip Ellie has really become quite a little fish! Papa and Ellie were swimming buds this weekend. She loved doing "1, 2, 3- fly!" with Papa. She also enjoyed jumping into the pool.
She is so cute!

Dad and his babies in the pool. As you can see, they are all VERY white.... we slathered the sunblock... don't worry!
"1, 2, 3!"
Grammy and Owen.-- I love this picture!
Here are Ellie and I-- she had fallen fast asleep on the way to Los Cucos. She was REALLY tired.
Here is Owen at the restaurant. Finally, he is sitting up!
Owen playing in his exersaucer that he is almost too big for. He still loves it though. He will spend forever in there if we let him. Owen is very good at independent play.

All and all, it was a really fun weekend. We also celebrated Mother's Day. Ellie really enjoyed making her grandmas each a little plaque with her hand prints. Ever since we did that, she has been wanting to go paint more. Daniel and I also went out on a date for Mother's Day. It was really nice. We hardly talked about the kids, which is really hard to do-- it's hard to have a life outside of them! We also talked to Jordan and Pat who are each on their missions. That was definitely a highlight.

We are saving Ellie's pool until Monday for her to open so she has something for her birthday. I imagine we will go somewhere fun on Monday for a mini celebration.

Owen is Upright and Ellie is Helping

Things are going well here. Last week we went to Texas Jumping Beans (one of those inflatable playscapes) and also had a play date at our house with the normal group of friends. This weekend we had planned to go to the Texas Children's Museum, but there was a bunch of stuff happening downtown, so we decided to avoid going down there. We really want to go sometime so maybe in a few weeks.

Daniel has been really busy and stressed out about getting some last minute grading done as well as a project finished in the next week or so. Technically classes are over, but he still has a lot that needs to get done. For both of our sakes, I hope he is able to get things done quickly!

I am doing well. I haven't been as good working out these last couple of weeks because either the kids weren't sleeping during the night and I needed a nap while they napped or we have been out of the house during the normal nap time. This week I am planning on getting back on track though. I am still getting excited for Mother's day weekend. I am anxious to see family that we haven't seen for over a month or so. Plus Ellie turning 2 is pretty exciting too.

I thought I would post some cutie pie pictures of our children, so here you go!
Owen is sitting up by himself!!! This is very exciting for us. He stays up for a long time, he only tips when he is trying to reach something to one of his sides. We don't leave him by himself yet, but he is surprisingly sturdy for just learning how to sit. My baby is growing up!!!

Here is Ellie getting tickled by dad. She loves it. Dad usually tickles her when she is getting her pjs on. Ellie loves when her dad plays with her. She is always trying to get him to play kitchen with her. Sometimes he tries to distract her by kicking a ball around instead. Sometimes it works.
Here is Owen hanging out. Dad had just finished putting his pjs on so he was patiently waiting while Ellie was getting hers on. I think he has already learned when the camera comes out, he is supposed to smile. He is such a sweetheart!
Here is our little helper! She is helping mom make dinner-- she always helps mom make dinner. She especially loves to put spices into a dish or mix things in a bowl. Elise continues to learn very quickly. In church yesterday, Daniel was drawing letters on Ellie's Doodlepro and Ellie knew all the letters by name or object. (She has a talking puzzle, so for example, she either knows "G" or "Grapes"). Most she knows by their correct name. That is pretty good for 2!!!
This is pretty much our after nap or morning wake up routine. Ellie usually wakes up before Owen does and when we hear Owen, she runs into his room and climbs into bed with him. They play for 10 or 15 minutes together. They both love it. It is pretty cute.
Here is Kitchen time! The apron that her grandma Weber made her was quickly deemed as Owen's apron. I guess she is just attached to her pink apron that she wasn't really willing to try a new one. But, Owen thinks it is fun to dress up in it and watch Ellie and Mom play kitchen together. Kitchen time has quickly become a family event in our home.

Books, Preschool and Owen Milestones

It has been kind of a boring week for us here. It has been raining all week long so we have been cooped up in the house all day since Sunday. We did venture out of the house yesterday because I was about to go crazy reading Ellie books. After you read the same books over and over and over again, one tends to go a little nuts. I decided to load the kids up and make a trip to Half Price Books. I have been putting the trip off in hopes of getting her some books for her birthday, but I was about to go crazy, so it was an emergency trip.

At the bookstore we got a lot of Mickey and Sesame Street books as well as some Angelina Ballerina and Dr. Seuss. I think we got about ten books and read them ALL afternoon.

Our babies have been particularly cute together lately. Ellie is always wanting to do things to make Owen smile and laugh. Some of the latest things are kissing his feet, jumping in front of him, blowing on his tummy and just talking to him.

So, Daniel and I have been doing a lot of talking about what to do with our children and school. Schools have just changed so much since we were in them (and despite how it seems, it wasn't that long ago!). It seems like kids are not being allowed to be as creative or play as much as they used to. While we are both pretty anti-home school, we also want to do what we think is best for our children and their own individual personalities. We haven't thought real far into the future, but we have started discussing preschool. When Ellie is 4 she can go into pre-K. Some people in the ward are doing preschool for 3-4 year olds and have actually asked if we wanted to put Ellie in preschool this year! We think that is a little early, but I have decided to do a preschool of sorts with her at home. I mean, Ellie already knows her numbers 1-10 and many letters and most her shapes and all her colors. While I don't want her to be in a strict school environment yet, I do want to build on what she has already learned. So, we will be starting that this year.

To start things out, I think I will start by doing a 26 week program centered around the alphabet. Each week we will have a letter we focus on. We will learn about that letter and color that letter, trace the letter and do all things pertaining to that letter. If there is a shape starting with that letter, we will learn that and if there is a color starting with that letter, we will learn that, etc. For example, during "A" week, we will learn about animals and maybe go to the zoo. We will also check out books that talk about the letter "A". I mean, if we do a little school everyday for about a half hour, then that is 2 1/2 hours a week! That is pretty good for a 2 year old I think. Plus, it will fill our day and we will make it fun.

In other news, we are looking forward to Mother's Day weekend. Daniel and I are both excited to visit our moms on Mother's Day and to talk to each of our brothers who are on their missions as well. We will also be celebrating Ellie's 2nd birthday that weekend. Don't tell her, but we are getting her a pool for the backyard and a tent for her playroom. I think they will both be pretty big hits.

Owen is starting to scoot a little bit. It is a good thing he is on his way to becoming mobile because he is outgrowing his exersaucer FAST!! He has been a pretty good sleeper lately. He takes about an hour and a half nap in the morning and the same in the afternoon. Sometimes he cat naps in the evening and if he does that then he goes to sleep around 8:30, but if he doesn't cat nap in the evening, he goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30. He still wakes up 3 or 4 times a night, but I think we are going to work on that this weekend. Yes, we are going to let him cry!

We've deemed the last week of May as potty-training week. We will be staying home all week and focusing ONLY on potty training Ellie. It's time. I am sick of picking up what is left behind after Ellie decides to take off her diaper for the 12th time every morning. Plus, it is a good time for us to get it done. I am pretty committed to this week being the week, but you never know. The problem really isn't Ellie, it is her parents being consistent!