Circus Circus

It has been a really fun day for us. As was aforementioned, we got Owen's haircut which was surprisingly emotional for me-- he is just growing up so fast! I reupholstered our dining chairs as well (I have been meaning to do it for awhile, but when Ellie spilt purple smoothie all over the cushion, it kind of put a rush on it). They came out really nice!! Daniel helped man the staple gun.

Our big event today was the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was really fun, but perhaps a little long for Ellie (it was 2 1/2 hours!). I was surprised at how many little-little kids were there. I was also overly annoyed that there was no place for moms to nurse (a complaint I have most places I go-- I know they don't want me to do it in public so how about a little accommodating). Twice I had to take Owen into a bathroom stall to nurse. Grrr.

Here is Ellie during the pre-circus festivities. We were only able to be down in the action for 5 minutes, but she enjoyed seeing the acrobats & clowns.
Speaking of clowns, here is OUR clown!

We really loved the elephants and the acrobats. Daniel's favorite part was the "Globe of Death" where about 8 bikers go around at the same time.
It was a lot of fun and we are glad we went.

Owen's First* Haircut

Owen is officially crawling now. We're going to have to keep the floors cleaner. He got his first haircut this morning at a kid's themed hair salon. Though it was a little more pricey than we expected, the results were better than Erin or I could have done on our own. We present the haircut below, in picture form.

Getting set up in the chair.

Protected from the hair

Maybe this isn't so bad...

Wait, I'm not sure I like this...

No, definitely do not like this...

Time to get the tears going

Please, Mom, save me!

Maybe the rings will distract him?

No, they won't.

Almost over!

The finished product

* We don't count the clipping of the mullet, which we did on our own.

Nursing Ogres

Tuesday night we had a delightful dinner with some friends. Daniel and I agreed that we will invite a family over for dinner once a month. This is going to help us be a bit more social. There are just a lot of people in our ward in our same situation so it is nice to get to know other people and be better friends. Besides babies crying, the dinner went off without a hitch. We had fajitas (at Daniel's request) and an Independence Day Trifle that was yummy-lish!

Yesterday there was a really bad storm that appeared to be coming our way, so Daniel opted to stay home for the day. Turned out we really didn't get the brunt of it, so it was sort of a waste. Lucky for him he has the option to stay home and is so flexible.

Today my friend Erin and I took each of our two kids (four total) to Sam's club. That was a nightmare. Our two oldest ones were running all around the store. We have decided in the future we will take the ones who can't walk only. After Sam's we went to Erin's house and, unfortunately, our kids were not playing very nicely together today. So, we didn't stay long. I think our kids were just really tired today. We are trying again tomorrow.

Now for some cute pictures of our babies:

Here is Owen playing with all of his toys. He really likes it when we bring out the whole basket and he can pick out what he wants to play with. Usually he takes something out, slobbers all over it, and then moves onto whatever is next.
Here are the kids playing in the tent. They were so cute. Owen, who is just starting to crawl, crawled right into the tent to play! They were in there for about 20 minutes or so playing. It was exciting because I have been looking forward to the time when they can play together.
Owen eating "food" in the tent.
Here is Ellie making faces on the window while Dad was mowing the lawn.

Pointing at the camera....only way I could get her to look at me for the picture.
Owen knows how to smile for the camera.
Here's Ellie working on a little project. She has a sticker book that she likes to take the stickers out of and put them on paper. It keeps her busy for like a half hour, totally worth it.
Owen standing (with help). We think he will stand in a month or so. He already gets up vertically on his knee and one foot.
Sweet girl... 50% of the time.

Yesterday I came into the bedroom and Daniel asked what the kids were doing, so I told him the truth, "Ellie is nursing Shrek and Owen has his apron on and is playing kitchen!" Ellie has really been into nursing her stuffed animals and dolls. She has a Shrek toy that she got in a McDonald's Happy Meal that has become a favorite to nurse. And Owen just loves all of the kitchen play food!!

Daniel is busy with his prelims... he just finished his 3rd draft. He is hoping that it will be the last draft. I have been busy getting some ideas together for a preschool meeting that is happening at our house next week. I have also been watching quite a bit of Wimbledon. I can't help it! I love watching Tennis! I am hoping that Roddick can make it all the way this time, but not too sure anyone can beat Federer, especially on grass.

We're the Official Babysitters!

Since the going rate for a babysitter these days is like $10 an hour, we have decided to switch off with friends. (That means that if you go to dinner and a movie, you pay about $30 for dinner, $16 for a movie, $5 for snacks, that is about 3 1/2 hours... so you would spend a total of $96 dollars for one date!!!) This is basically the only way we are able to get anytime alone. We have told ourselves that we will go on a date at least once a month so we are really trying to do that. This past week we had double duty. We were paying back Ally & Jack's parents on Saturday and we also watched Adam & Logan last night!---- Good news is we are up to go out again, TWICE!

Here are Owen and Jack playing with toys. (Jack is a month older than Owen... can you tell?)
Here are Ally and Ellie playing on her bed.
Owen has a new move. Still, I don't think we can consider it crawling, but he pushes off with one foot and kind of slides across the floor. I bet he will be fully crawling in a week or so. He is eager to be mobile, that is for sure!! He gets angry when he can't keep up.
Every week or so Ellie and I do something crafty. So, we have decided on Sunday mornings that we will work on a scrapbook for her. This will be a scrapbook that she makes all by herself. There is this company that makes layouts for little kids to do themselves. It is a really easy thing where they mostly just have to glue stuff and once in awhile they do a little cutting. Of course, mom helps her, but she does the majority of the work. Hopefully when we are done, she will have a cute little scrapbook of her own.
Here are Ellie's first pages... not bad!

Here is dad this morning with his babies. They're all smiling!! This is quite a feat.

Tonight we are having the Wheelwrights over for dinner (some friends of ours). So, that should be fun. I really need to mop the floors today. I keep putting it off because there have been lots of kids at home or we have been cramped in the house and I know they will get messy, but it is time! So, that is pretty much my exciting day!

"This is MY Cancun!!!!"

It has been a fun and busy weekend so far. Earlier this week, Ellie enjoyed playing with Adam again. They were being so cute together coloring that I had to snap a picture of the two of them. I am not going to lie, I secretly hope they get married.

Friday, Daniel stayed home from school -- I guess he has opted to take as many Fridays off as he can this summer... I am appreciative. Anyway, we decided to go to this little community pool/water park here in Pflugerville--- my parents are in Cancun right now on vacation so I was feeling a little melancholy and told Daniel we better go because this is like my Cancun. I went a few weeks ago with my sister and some friends to this water park, but it was much nicer this time because Daniel and I were able to play "man to man" and each take a kid. Ellie had a blast!! This time she discovered the big water slides. I thought she might be scared, but I took her down the first couple of times and about drowned as I kept her afloat (she was wearing her life jacket, but still!). She had a blast!! I must have been wearing a super slick swimming suit because I would just fly down that thing when I took Ellie, so Daniel took her....about 30 times!!! I think we have a water slide monster!!!

Here is Owen enjoying his jumperoo. This is pre-poop of '07. Just moments later he exploded in his pants and it was all over, I mean all over. Just as we were cleaning him up and running his bath, Ellie took off her diaper and displayed her HUGE explosion. I felt so dirty after cleaning the two of them up. It was really hectic for awhile because Daniel and I were both doing things to get dinner ready and then this whole fiasco happened. I tell you, these babies are lucky we love them so much!
NAKED OWEN!! Look at those teeth!

Here is Ellie, attempt 5 million at potty training. I am not going to lie, it is my fault she isn't potty trained yet. I had a new vigor this week to potty train her. So, I set out to do it and I felt like I had a newborn puppy in my house. I was mostly just chasing her around the house with a roll of paper towels. I am willing to pay someone to potty train this child, any takers?
I thought this pictures was funny. You would think that my children watch TV non-stop, they don't, and this is why. Look at them!!! Their eyes are all glazed over. Haahah.

Today was kind of fun, we went to the Austin Farmer's Market. Neither of us had been to a Farmer's Market before, but it was a lot of fun. Often times the produce is a lot cheaper than the grocery store, I was surprised. Plus, they are all into the organic thing. VERY into the whole organic thing. I felt very "earth mother" there. Lots of hippie-looking people. But, we thought it was great!!! It was a fun place to go, didn't take long at all, got some yummy fruits and veggies and the kids enjoyed it too! We are eager to return.

TUB TIME

Yet another day of ballet has come and gone. Ellie did much better this week. I must say, she has really mastered staying on her blue tape (that is what they have the kids do so they will stay in the same spot and not run around the whole class). Yes, she is serious about that blue tape. This week there was a collision in dance class. One bigger child ran right into a smaller one and the smaller one banged into the floor. I am happy to report that Ellie was not a part of that!

Owen has been better about eating his baby food (when I remember to feed him it). He can eat almost a whole can/container full! I am going to make it a goal to do it every meal or three times a day. I am pretty consistent doing it once a day but never more than that. I am pretty eager to begin getting Owen on some other sort of food besides milk, so we will see what we can do. I think I will also start pushing the sippy cup more. He takes that much better than the bottle. He wants nothing to do with a bottle.
After eating some mixed vegetables and making a huge mess of it, it was time for a nighttime bath. Owen was being so cute tonight that we got a bunch of pretty cute pictures of him. These past couple weeks it seems that Owen has just really developed more in his personality and I feel like he and I know each other a lot better and know each other's needs more. Basically, he and I have bonded mother to son. At first, it didn't seem very different having a son vs a daughter, but now I am really noticing the differences.
Here is Ellie enjoying her bath. Daniel thinks I should blur the chest area because he thinks it is a little inappropriate, but I think he is just a prude. It is ok, she is just a baby!!! Cute baby. Since swimming in backyard pools this summer, Ellie has started to want to dive into the bath tub. She thinks it is her indoor pool.
Besides ballet, we went over to Ellie's friend Adam's house. They had a blast together, like always. They are starting to get cuter and cuter together because they are talking more to one another and are understanding each other better. Tomorrow we are going to the splash pad at Adam's neighborhood pool. It has been so warm that we have been doing a lot of swimming so far this summer. Ellie and I are the tannest we have been ever!

I wanted to report on what is happening with Daniel, but he says there is nothing to report.

You Are NOT Allowed to Color on Your Brother!!!!!!!

It was a pretty good weekend for us. We spent from Thursday until this morning in Katy. The babies were able to play with their Uncle Evan quite a bit. They loved it. Our weekend was filled with plenty of Guitar Hero (I am getting better) and Daniel had to do a bunch of work as well, but it was fun. We went to a friend's sealing open house and were able to see some old friends that we haven't seen in awhile and that is always nice. Unfortunately, the weather was really rainy so Ellie was not able to go swimming and she wasn't real happy about that.
Evan has taught Ellie to respond "Uncle Evan" whenever he asks her who her favorite Uncle is and has learned to also say, "Pat's Gross!" on command from Evan. Aren't uncles the best? Patrick in particular will appreciate the second phrase when he gets back from his mission.
We also saw Grandma Weber (this pictures was taken when we were in Katy at the end of May). Kind of a lonely Katy trip in comparison to our normal trips that have both sets of grandparents around, but it was nice nevertheless. We played zilch with Grandma Weber and Ellie really liked that. We also taught her "Ticket to Ride". It is a really fun Risk-like game that we learned from Kim and Ryan when we were in Dallas. We played the Europe version with Carolee which is a little trickier than the U.S. version.
Here is Ellie making some Father's Day cookies this afternoon. She sure is a taster. She wants to put her fingers in anything and everything so she can put it in her mouth and lick it off. Ellie loves being mom's helper whenever she cooks, but baking is her favorite because she can lick the spoon--- and often times the bowl!
No matter how many times you tell a two year old that the only place that they are allowed to color is on paper, they will not listen. This picture explains our blog title. You can't see it real well but Ellie has taken a ball point pen and has colored all over Owen's legs. For the most part, we have been spared from any really major wall art or permanent marker fiascoes, so I think we are doing alright. For her birthday Ellie got some NO MESS markers which have been our saving grace and she has used them so much that I bought a second set awhile ago-- had to buy the second set because Ellie started biting off the marker tips. Yeah, I don't know why.

Barbecuing is SO manly!

Yesterday we went to our friend's neighborhood pool. I got pretty burned and Owen got a little pink on his melon, luckily Ellie was wearing a life jacket so that prevented her back from being burned. She is a little pink on her arms and cheeks though. Even though I smear the sunblock on, our white skin is still no match for the sun. We had a great time though. We have really been trying to do a lot of things this summer to keep us busy and luckily we have!
Here is Daniel with his early Father's Day present. I have been talking about getting a BBQ for him for about a year now. Finally he has it. I thought it would mean a lot more if I put it together myself. Well, it took like 4 hours to put together and in the end Dan said that he would have rather put it together himself. After the 4 hours, I wish I had him put it together himself too. Anyways, so far so good. Daniel is training up to be a pretty good BBQer. So far we have enjoyed steaks and pork tenderloin. Yummy yummy. Daniel said last night, "So, I'm gonna be barbecuing like every night now, huh?" And I said, "YUP!"
Here's Elise Louise bright and early this morning. I think this picture was at like 5:30 while she was eating her honeydew and drinking her milk, of course. Lately she has been learning some fun songs that we like to sing around the house and in the car. She helps me while I am driving to know when the traffic light is green-go or red-stop.
Here is Owen rolling all over the floor (look at those big ol' feet!). He is funny because while he isn't quite crawling yet, he sure makes his way around. Sometimes he rolls, or lunges, or scoots around. Owen is entering the time where he is pretty attached to his mama. He really enjoys having me hold him and when I put him down and walk away there is a little bit of a freak out. He still doesn't mind a daddy shoulder here and there, but more and more he wants his mom.

This morning we are off to Katy for a long weekend. We are going to go keep my brother company while my parents go to Florida for a few days. Not too sure what we will be doing yet, but before my parents leave we get to go see the model of their new house!! So, that's exciting.

A Little Baby Bragging Does a Mama Good

I feel like I don't have much to say, but my children have been so sweet the last couple of days that I feel like I should brag about them a little bit.

Owen is working on crawling and has gotten to the point where he will climb up on his hands and his feet!!! But, still no real crawling. He gets around though. He rolls and scoots on his bum. We often find him half way accross the room from where we left him. Daniel has had to save Owen a few times this week as Ellie has found it necessary to feed her little brother cookies or crackers. Poor guy. He really wants to eat that stuff but just does not have the capabilities.
This past week I feel like I have really gotten a better opportunity to bond with my son. With Kyra here this past week, Owen was in our room and he found himself in our bed several times to nurse. It really was great though having such closeness with him. However, we may have taken two steps backward with that one since now he really wants to sleep right up against me at all times. We will see what we can do about that.
We are off to ballet this morning. Ellie is already ready to go. I told her early this morning that we were going so she has been eager to get into her clothes. She is pretty cute.
Elise has been pretty cute this past week, too. She has become very aware about her extended family and where they are at and is understanding more about when she will see them next. She also continues her job of commentating mine and Daniel's every move. "Dad taking shower", "Mom making dinner", "Dad getting shoes on", "Mom getting dressed". It is cute sometimes.