since it's warming up...

I thought I should finally post about the winter wonderland we had here last month. Our temp didn't get much above freezing for about 3 days and then we woke up one morning to this....

SO much more snow than I've ever seen in Austin! We got about 1.5 inches! WHOA! I know all you Northerners are snickering right now, but that's a lot for central Texas!

Steven loved it, as could be expected. We woke up, scarfed our french toast down, and headed out. We took a loooong walk around the 'hood. He just kept walking and walking.....and walking. We couldn't pass a house along the way that didn't have footprints in it without walking all through it and leaving our mark.

So here are a few snapshots of Steven enjoying the snow...

trying desperately to get his last-years mittens off...and succeding

eating the snow

I love the succession of these next three shots....he's doing some sort of fancy snow walk/dance that was just too adorable.

little's birthday with thomas

It's only 2ish months late. Ahem. Sorry.

We had a lower-key birthday for Steven at the house. I figured it was going to be only too soon that he's going to drag us to party places with mechanical singing animals, horrible pizza, and more germs than the mens restroom at a football stadium, so party at the house until then.

Can you guess what the theme was? THOMAS! Shocking, right? I'm not a huge fan of character themed anything (clothing, parties, fruit snacks) and I was thinking about doing something totally fun for all involved, like a football theme, but a few years from now when we tell him how obsessed he was with this steam engine he might slip a laxative in my Diet Dr. Pepper for being a horrible, selfish mother. THOMAS IT IS!

a few of our party guests playing with the train table B & Nana got him, and poor Mimi with her broken elbow. What a trooper she was!

Phyllis and Tammy, and Gook*

Ashley and D*

Aunt Bleh* and Uncle Tom

the cake, made from scratch HEB

singing happy birthday

blowing out his candle...

all by himself!

he was very proud :)

I think he liked the cake

He got so many great gifts, Mimi gave him trains for his train table and a really neat tricycle!

A big shout out to B & Nana and Uncle Jon for taking all the pictures. Mama was a slacker and took all of 4 pictures, most of which were of the cake I didn't make. FAIL.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little!!

* Gook, D, and Bleh are what Steven calls the different relatives because he can't say their name quite yet. D (Diane) and Gook (Luke) are perfectly fine with their nicknames, although I don't think Aunt Bleh (Katie) is too fond of hers. ;)

showers

I think we all remember Little's first shower....

How could we forget? He's taken to showers again, this time like a big boy.

*He's cleaning his orange bath tub crayon drawing off the walls, so no, our bathrooms are not that disgusting. :)

shutterfly, oh how I love thee...

We've been using Shutterfly for the last 2 years for our holiday cards. Every year I think they can't get any cuter, and I'm pleasantly surprised.

We just had family portraits done a few weeks ago and I cannot wait to send out holiday cards again.

Here are the cards from the last few years:

Does it get any cuter than this?! I really miss him this tiny!

I think this one will be an all-time fav! I have a feeling as our family grows it will be a lot harder to get us all looking at the camera and smiling.

Shutterfly has come out with some beautiful designs this year and I can't wait to pick my favorite! Here are some contenders:

Pretty Poinsetta

Peppermint Giftwrap

Elegant Lace Snowflakes

Snowflake Dazzle

Emerald Green Stars

Which are your favorites?

Start watching the mail, folks!

the real thomas

Grampy and Nana took Matt, Little and I to Burnett to see "A Day Out With Thomas" this year. It's a life sized, real Thomas steam engine that travels all around the country. Steven is just *a tad obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and all his steamy friends. All day long I hear "whoowhoo....whoowhooo!!". All.Day.Long. So when Nana found out about this she knew we all had to go, Aunt Katie and Uncle Tom included!

I don't think Steven really understood why we were just standing in line.

And then the moment of pure joy and disbelief.....

shock and awwwwwe....

There was a Thomas poster at the front of our train car that Steven could not get enough of and kept waving to and yelling "Hai!!!!".

Yes, we brought one home with us. It was hanging in his room, but mama had had enough of waking at 7am hearing "Whoo Whoo!!!! WHOO WHOO!!" over the baby toddler monitor. And nap time was becoming quite a challenge. Now it hangs in the hallway.


"Grampy, I'm waving to THOMAS!"

getting a temporary tatoo on his hand



Posing with Sir Topham Hatt. I'm not sure who he thinks should be holding his other hand...

Such a wonderful day! Thanks Grampy and Nana!

*read: completely obsessed and thinks about nothing else. THOMAS IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS.

goodbye, summer

Steven and I had a wonderful summer. The first half was pretty mild, lots of rain to keep the temperature in the low nineties. We had lots of days like this:

and days with sidewalk chalk like this:

Yep, that's my boy with a stroller. But it's BLUE, so it's a MAN stroller. (Thanks, Coopers!)

We visited a new splash park very close to the house more times than I can count.

Early September brought about the start of PRESCHOOL. Yep. My only baby is in Preschool. He goes two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday from 9a.m. to 2p.m. He LOVES it, and has had no issues adjusting. He has only gotten upset one morning and only stayed upset for a few minutes. I can't even get a kiss goodbye before he runs in to start playing with his classmates. He is in a classroom with 4 other boys, aged 18 months to 2 years. He even napped on his nap mat the very first day of school. I wish I had a video camera to see how his teacher actually made that happen since he will hardly even stay in his crib at home (see last post for details).

How freaking adorable is this?!

Mama is very grateful for the ability to run errands in a timely manner and grocery shopping solo, but she still misses her Little while he's at school. BUT she LOVES the excitement at pick up time! Running, smiles, hugs and kisses are the best!

So, farewell, summer! We will miss you, but Fall aspires to bring about lots of excitement, too! A certain Little will be turning TWO! :)

escape artist

Long time, no blog, sorry. There will be more soon, I promise, but this is just too good (or bad?) to not share ASAP.
This happened about 5 minutes ago when he was (supposed to be) napping.

Crazy Little Monkey Man. LOVE the clapping at the end. He's just so proud of himself.