Easter 2011

Easter was a fun time at our house this year! We started off by celebrating Uncle Jon's birthday with a delicious chocolate cake. Steven really loves blowing out candles and he thinks anyones birthday is also his own.

This was his first year dying eggs and he was too cute about it. He was very careful and he loved seeing them turn colors.

Easter morning we went to mass. Little was SO great during church- we never had to take him outside! I think this was a first ever for church-going.

Hunting for eggs was just about as much fun as dying them. We hid the real eggs (hardboiled) and he would get so excited he found one he would throw it in his basket. I think most of them were cracked by the time we were done.

All in all it was a great Easter!

floaties!

Little and I went to the pool for the first time this season! I was so anxious for it to open, and I knew it would give us a lot more to do in the hot afternoon. And can I just tell you? It's HOT already.

Steven did not like floaties last year, so I was hesitant to even try them this year. He loves being in the big pool, but doesn't want to wear anything, sit in anything, and he doesn't like me holding him. Guess what that equals? Baby under water. Not acceptable. So I busted them out again and....

Success!! (I was right there, by the way. A nice neighbor friend took these pictures, so I was close to him, but wanted to show off what a big boy he is.)

It's SO NICE now, being able to just stand there next to him while he kicks and paddles instead of fighting with him while he screams "Down Mama!" not knowing what "down" would mean. He still loves the baby pool, too (or the "play pool" as I call it so he doesn't get all "I no baby, I big boy" on me).

YAY for summer!

flashback friday, video version

big boy beds and bluebonnets

Our little man is growing up so fast. A crib can no longer contain him, at all. Mama tried all kinds of tricks. I took the spring board off the bottom so the mattress was laying on the floor, he could still climb out. I turned his crib around so the high back was in the front, he could still climb out. Naptime was beginning to look like circus acrobatics, so I finally gave in and we converted his itty-bitty-baybee crib into a big boy bed:

We did it a few months ago and he's done really well, right from the start. He will still get out, but he goes back in and falls asleep easily when he's tired. Nighttime is a breeze and he loves his bed. What a big boy! I can't even believe it. I feel like tomorrow we're going to be looking at colleges (hopefully Baylor ;) ).

We did our annual bluebonnet picture taking a few weeks ago at a near by park. Here's a flashback at this time last year:

SO cute. :)

Here's a few from our shoot this year:

it didn't start off well...

it was hard to get him to sit still...

and he was easily distracted by bugs...

we were in a field full of flowers and he brings me a weed.

"here flower mama" :::melt:::

something was evidently hilarious here....
and I finally got some super cute shots...

and I think it ended with a bang. :)

he's a sucker for petting zoos

It's Rodeo time of year again!! There's just not much to say about the Livestock show. It's pretty fun. We learned how to milk a cow, we learned not to take a $300 stroller because it will be covered in cow poo when you leave, and we learned that Steven really loves petting zoos. Up first: Houston Livestock Show with Mimi: *sorry for the horrible quality of photos- the lighting was weird and I just couldn't get a good setting on my camera.

aww, come here sweet baby goat... ..let me plug your nostrils so you can't breathe... hey, llama- why aren't you biting my finger when I stick it in your mouth? I had the wrong lens with me, but it was an actual horse he was sitting on

pony rides with Mimi

look, MAH! no hands!

carney rides!

Next up: Austin Livestock Show with Nana and B!

you guessed it- more petting zoo

he only tried to stick his finger into one animals' orifice. I'll let your imagination run wild with that one. unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch it on camera.

pony rides with B! they were really haulng ass tail, so it was hard to get a good shot

carousel with Nana!

he was less than excited about this train ride. can't imagine why, I'm pretty sure everyone is aware of his obsession with trains.

let's get a close up of that face, shall we?LOL!!! And it was with ASHLEA!

but he loved this ride!! first ride all by himself!

Until next year, petting zoo.

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. ;)