New Choppers, Old Choppers

Eli has been sleeping for long stretches at night for weeks now - going down around 8pm and usually only waking once around 4am to eat. So Andrew and I were rather annoyed when he suddenly starting waking up every couple of hours a couple of nights ago. Today he provided justification for his restlessness - two brand new pearly chompers cutting through his bottom gums! Those first ones always seem to sneak up on us!



Not to be outdone, Leah added to the excitement by losing her first tooth (by natural means). It's been incredibly loose for about a week now and on Sunday she was issued an ultimatum - wiggle it loose by Wednesday or Dad gets to pull it out. And, what do you know... it came out this morning while she was at school - just in the nick of time :)

"My teacher took me to the 'vet' and they gave me a little box to keep it in!"

Trains

We put a lot of the kids toys into storage while we were fixing up our house. Now that the foundation is leveled and the boys room is mostly done, we were able to get some things back down. First up was the trains! I had forgotten how long this wonderful toy will keep my crazy boys occupied...

HOORAY FOR TRAINS!!!

The Crowe's Nest

A group of Lincoln's friends took a little field trip to a local farm this week and invited us along for the ride. The farm is set up to teach kids about where their food and other items come from, so it was very kid friendly and we all had a lot of fun.

We started off with a hay ride where the kids got to see lots of animals, including ostriches and bison! Not your usual farm inhabitants. They also have some rescue animals like a bobcat and some raptors.

Then we got to see a milking demonstration, a longhorn, and the usual suspects: pigs, goats, sheep, etc.

There are lots of gardens and areas for the kids to run around and play. I'm sure they're even more impressive in the spring and summer when there are actually things growing. We may have to take a family trip back there to get ideas for our gardens!

Cousins!

My older brother, Keith, and his cute family are in the process of relocating - actually, my brother has already been getting things settled while his family enjoyed wider open spaces out west (with Becca's family). Now that his work schedule has calmed down a bit, he flew out to help them drive back and they were nice enough to do so by way of Houston.

My kids have never met their cousins, so I deemed this an important enough reason to take Leah out of school for the day. We drove down to Houston on Wednesday morning and played with cousins all day! Hooray!

Leah got her pet fix by playing with Craig's dog, Mac. I think she took him for at least 7 walks and one pretend airplane ride (courtesy of the hammock) in the space of one short afternoon. Hopefully that will content her for the next two or three years.

Since we had all the cousins on the my side of the family in the same city, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a formal picture of them together. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get everyone together until after 7pm, also known as the witching hour - and you know what that means....

BRIBERY!!!These pictures required a train ride and...
Chocolate M&M cookies!

Aaaahhh.... the things we do for family :)




Seriously though, it was well worth the trip for our kids to get to play together and to be able to visit a little. I think this is the first time since A and I got married that all the siblings were together (that's almost 10 years now!).


Thanks everyone for making the extra effort to get together and create some memories. Hopefully we can make it happen again sooner rather than later!

Third Child, Second Son

In our family, the third child-second son has the reputation of being a charmer - the kind of person who can sell ice to an Eskimo. Not every family is lucky enough to have one of these, but both my dad and my brother fall into this category and Peter is quickly showing himself to be worthy of the title.He has grown up so much in the last few months and is very much the mischievous little boy (as opposed to the innocent toddler), but he's so stinking cute that it's really hard to get mad at him about anything!

"Mom! Dad! I so glad you're here!"

We have to keep reminding ourselves that he's only two because he talks like a much older child, taking his time to make sure he gets the words right.

"Well, you know, guys...."

Luckily, we still get some of the cute syntax reversals to help us out:
"Don't like it naps!"

He's also a little carnivore. He's a really good eater in general, but especially loves any kind of meat - although he calls it all chicken. We had a turkey at my parent's the other day and he insisted on eating the drumstick.
"I want to eat da bone"

Peter also loves his baby brother very much... I've actually been surprised that I haven't had to deal with any jealousy issues, but I'm not complaining!
"Hey! Dat's my brother!"
"I love E-i, he da best brother I ever had!"

This cute boy loves playing outside, building with Legos, and being chased.
We love you Peter!
"You love me?"
(said with an impish look on his face)