September In Review

Here's a review of the happenings of September. We had a lot of fun discovering some neat places around Austin and being goofy just hanging out at home...



We have officially discovered Brushy Creek Park. We had some professional family photos taken and the photographer suggested we meet at BCP. While there for photos, we discovered the playground, covered pavilions, running trails and the water park. Needless to say, we've enjoyed multiple trips to the water park. CCR has loved it!!


TMR just hanging out...


It's hard to see it in this picture, but there are a ton of pictures of CCR running around with his pointer finger extended...too funny!


How can anyone deny the pure enthusiasm in this little man??


A better shot of the finger...


I love the ripples in the water, but don't lose sight of the finger...


More of the finger...I never noticed it until I was going through all of the splash park photos at once.


He has no fear when it comes to getting soaked, sprayed in the face or anything else related to playing in the water!


He enjoyed playing with some of the smaller fountains and trying to drink the water...sheesh!


I love this picture in his towel...such an innocent face!


CCR was playing with his dad (who was in the front seat of the truck), but I love the reflection of his face in the window.


I love the exposure of this photo, but more importantly it captures what's left of his baby legs...I'm already tearing up at the idea of him thinning all the way out.


Doug is an avid reader of Community Impact. He read an article about a small post office located on the White Lime Company Quarry that is slated to close soon. We drove over there to check it out. The post office is located within the General Store onsite.


This is an original safe door that now leads to a storage room. I love when you have an idea of a really sweet photo of your child they decide to exude the most miserable facial expression...


When we were driving up to the post office, a train was passing by on the very nearby tracks (due to the quarry needs there are tracks that run all around the property). It was neat to show CCR a real train and for him to hear how loud and see how big they really are! He got so excited!!


CCR has not been enjoying bath time lately. In an effort to keep his interest, I gave him a soapy mohawk in the bath. I picked him up and showed him his mohawk in the mirror and he became smitten. So Doug gave him a mohawk after he got out. He thoroughly enjoyed it!


CCR pointing to his mohawk. It's pretty cute to hear him say it because he pronounces it "Moohawk". Precious.


TMR heading to bed. She is one rolling over machine! She doesn't hang out on her back much at all anymore, and she's up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Man how the time flies!!


CCR is the best big brother ever!! And I'm not just saying that. A wise mom, whose initials are Jen Wilcoxson, once told me to make sure to engage him in the taking care of TMR. As soon as we got her home from the hospital, we have kept him a large part of taking care of her. If she finishes a bottle and throw it on the floor, he will say "Tata dopped a bottle!" and then go put it in the sink. Recently he has been confronted with the notion of sharing with TMR. The first few times she showed interest in his toys, he was not happy about it. Then one time she took his toy (he wasn't playing with it), he took it from her, told her no, and then I could see the wheels turning. He held the toy still while evaluating his decision and then offered it back to her. She took it gladly, and he moved on. Now I can ask him to give her a toy (usually a car of truck) of his and he will gladly oblige even giving her two, three or four of the ones he's playing with. This is a picture we snapped before church a few weeks ago of the two of them playing together.


I am an avid coupon/deal hunter. I follow sites like LivingSocial and Groupon daily. A few weeks ago the deal of the day was half off of the one year membership rate for the Austin Children's Museum. I jumped all over that. Here are a few pictures of our trip. A very sweet picture of TMR smiling. They have a great 2 yo and under area that is a great learning opportunity for little ones. TMR enjoyed it!


I put the next two picture on the blog because I know parents can relate to the many facial expressions of children and just how quickly they change. The above picture is a pic I got of TMR and a split second later (after making a very quick goofy face), I got the picture below. And I think, even moreso than other kids, TMR has the most expressive face I've seen!



TMR really enjoyed making music on this star tamborine.



CCR loves fish! He really enjoyed watching them go about their day...


TMR playing around with a neat activity block.


Speaking of her expressive face, here is a sneer that I was able to randomly capture...I think she was done with me...


For those of you who aren't or haven't been around CCR a lot, he is in love with trucks and cars! Really, anything that's related to transportation or has an engine. He really enjoyed wearing his safety vest and playing with the dump truck and grader in the Funstruction exhibit.




Here CCR is putting all of the bricks in their spots to make a wall.


This is an area of the museum all about physics. He really enjoyed watching the parts roll down the slide/ramp.


Mimi (Doug's mom) had back surgery last week (everything went well and she's recovering very well) so her sister came into town to help her with her initial recovery. Aunt Connie was in town for a little over a week, and we had a great time spending our evenings with them. We were able to capture some really fun photos during one of our visits. TMR is just like her brother - she is very skeptical of new people until she's comfortable (which can take up to 5 visits). Well, she really warmed up to Aunt Connie after a few visits (quicker than usual) so we were able to capture some really sweet photos of the two of them.


Aunt Connie really understands the energy levels of boys, and CCR had a great time goofing around with her!


Again, I remind everyone of her expressive face...I love this one!!!


We are a big kissing family and kisses between kiddos is part of that. CCR loves his sister and loves to kiss her on her head. It's very sweet...


Here CCR is hanging out with Mimi playing with a light wand. It's very cool!

Here's a very sweet picture of TMR and Mimi...she absolutely loves her Mimi!!!

I hope you've enjoyed this recap of September. Maybe one day I'll get better at posting individual posts...but I simply don't have the time these days...I hope you understand! (I know you do)

Skipping Ahead to October (for a moment)

I know I haven't posted any pictures from the month of September, but we're going to fast forward for a moment and share a video from this morning. It's pretty cute!! Enjoy...

A few random shots from August

Doug was such a sweetheart and brought me home a variety pack of cupcakes because I was just craving a cupcake one night. CCR found them on the counter and had to have one. We let him have one with blue icing, and this is what we got...he was a mess, but it was fun watching him do it.

TMR has started eating solids. We tried when she was a little bit younger, but she wasn't ready. She's doing really well, loves just about everything we give her and seems to not mind getting it everywhere.

This afternoon, randomly, we decided to go down to The Salt Lick for dinner. We went down nice and early to beat the crowd. Dinner was fantastic, and Doug and I were able to capture some really sweet photos.



CCR finishing up his blue cupcake...


TMR after eating sweet potatoes and pears.


In order to facilitate feeding TMR, we let her sit up in her seat. I guess that's a round 'bout way of saying that she's sitting up too!


CCR munching on the wonderful bread at The Salt Lick.


TMR eating her sweet potatoes and blueberry/pear mixture.


CCR loved the brisket and turkey, but he truly loved the bread...we'll have to work on that. :)


I took CCR to the edge of the parking lot and was able to capture some really sweet photos.


CCR after realizing that his dad was just a few yards away. He was so pleasantly surprised!


CCR hanging out at The Salt Lick.


Walkin' down the dirt road...


Checking out the brush.


Checking out the wildflowers...

Orlando...Part Two (Late)

Well, I know these are a bit out of date, but I wanted to get them posted nonetheless. In the latter half of our trip to Orlando, we went out to dinner as a family at a fun, little German restaurant in Sanford. The food was very good, the dessert was even better, and the memories are the best. We were able to get some really great photos of TMR and my dad.

On Wednesday night, my older sister, Molly, her boyfriend, Jamie, and my two nephews, Troy and Justin, flew into town. They stayed for two weeks, but our trips overlapped by a day and a half which was awesome! On Thursday, Doug and I took all of the boys, CCR, Troy and Justin, to the Orlando Science Center. We had a blast!! We went to most of the exhibits and took some really great photos. I know Troy and Justin love hanging out with their cousins, and CCR really looks up to his cousins!

I'll have to do another Orlando post because these pictures are only the ones I caught with our camera. My mom and dad got some really great photos and video of the kiddos. Once I get those from them, I'll be sure to post them too.




Pops at his finest.


Munchin' on TMR's hand.


I absolutely love this photos! She loves her Pops!!


Just hangin' out...


Goofing off in the restaurant.


What a great smile, TMR!!


The best of the photos of us.


Justin hanging out with CCR.


Troy was so helpful by entertaining CCR!


Listening to the dinosaur expert.


The kids really enjoyed playing around in the planes, trains and automobiles room.


Changing the oil in the car...


Too funny!!!


This was at the frog exhibit. You could get under the tank and look up inside the "bubble".


All four of the boys in the hurricane simulator.


Climbing up the stairs to the treehouse...



Justin hanging out in the treehouse.

We had such a wonderful time with the cousins!! Thanks guys for the great memories!!

Orlando...Part One

Well, since our kids are so close in age, we thought it would be fun, and cost effective, to fly one time before we'll have to pay for a ticket for CCR. Since my older sister was already planning to take her family to Orlando to see my parents and sister, we thought we'd schedule our trip to coincide with hers for a few days. So fast forward to current day, and we're all hanging out in Orlando. It was both CCR's and TMR's first plane ride, and our first time to fly with kiddos, so needless to say, it's been an adventure so far. We did got on a road trip with CCR when he was almost a year to Big Bend National Park in West Texas, but this has been completely different. Let me start by letting you know that our household has been sick, in one form or fashion for the past 3 1/2 months. We've had viral infections upon viral infections (all four of us), severe bronchiolitis (TMR), strep throat (thankfully only me), and to top things off a ruptured ear drum (CCR). So we knew the plan ride would be challenging already because we had to make sure CCR's ears were taken care of. We made arrangements to have a successful plane ride - related to ears - and hoped for the best. Well, it wasn't half bad. CCR was oblivious at the Austin airport, and had a few meltdowns on the plane, but all in all, he did great! TMR had two little fussy episodes, but was also wonderful! We planned for us to take the kids to the zoo and CCR to Disney World while we were here. We stacked those trips early so we could spend the rest of the time relaxing with family.

The zoo was a lot of fun. We took the kids to the Central Florida Zoo which is a smaller zoo (closer to my parents' house) and great for little kids. They have just enough animals to keep a child's interest but not too many that you can't get to them all before the kids lose interest. We wanted CCR to have a chance to see some of the animals he's learned from books. We were able to snag some great photos, and the kids were champs! We dipped the kiddos in the pool when we got home which helped to cool them off quickly. They both enjoyed that!

The next day we took CCR to Disney World. We started at Magic Kingdom which was a complete madhouse. It was blazin' hot by the time we got there, and everyone decided to go on the same day as us (I think everyone feels this way when they go in the summer). We took CCR to ride the Aladdin Magic Carpets which he enjoyed, ate some much needed lunch and rode It's a Small World. I would've preferred to take him on Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan, but the lines were approx. an hour, and in case you've forgotten, CCR is not even two...not a good combination. And since our reasoning for taking him to DW was really about exposure to facilitate hands on learning, it wasn't worth it. So we took the monorail over to Epcot. We took him on Spaceship Earth, Nemo and the Imageworks Figment ride. We also took him to meet the main Disney characters that we watches on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the mornings. He met, most importantly, Mickey Mouse (Miee Mouw), Pluto (Pwuto), Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck (Donal - Cack Cack), and Goofy (Goocky). He even got so excited to meet Goofy that he went running to hug him and ended up in another family's pictures...oops! The highlight of the entire trip, and the primary reason for going to Epcot was to go to the Aquarium at The Seas. CCR loved it! He was running around saying Hi to all of the fish and the two dolphins. It was precious to see him be assertive in finding a front row seat at the window and running back and forth across the walkway to look into the two different tanks. It's been a lot of fun watching him come out of his shell and grow his vocabulary.

Please know that taking a two year old to DW is challenging, and a lot of people told us we were crazy and that he was too young, but he really had a great time seeing a ton of new things, observing a ton of people (young and old) and thoroughly enjoyed meeting his Disney friends, and most of all checking out the aquarium. If you have the right focus when taking little, little kids, you can have a successful trip and not waste your money. Our trip was worth every penny. Will we be taking TMR when she's two? Probably not, but that has more to do with the logistics of coming back to Orlando than regretting our decision. Gaga (my mom) is already making arrangements for us to come back next summer, but that'd be too early for TMR. Maybe we'll come back in two years when TMR is 2 1/2. We'll have to see what's in the plan for us then...

Please enjoy the pictures:



CCR at the airport - checking out all of the "big trucks"


The glazed looks once we landed in Orlando


Checking out the frogs, spiders and other critters


Playing around with the theater at the Discovery Center


Using the magnifying "glass"


Checking out the monkeys...can you see him lounging on the branch?


It's not easy being a "big kitty cat"


Gotta love the elephants


CCR and Gaga posing with the porcupines


Checking out the bald eagles


A llama was the first sound that really stuck with CCR - from an early age when Jen was teaching her kids animal sounds. Here we got to make the sounds and see what the animal actually looks like.


CCR in his Handy Manny mechanic's shirt leaving Gaga and Pop's house for DW. With sweat and spilled water, the shirt didn't last long, but I got it on clearance online so it was great for the photo op.


The Aladdin Magic Carpets


Riding the monorail to Epcot


Meeting Mickey Mouse was a really big deal!! With all five characters, he would go up to them, hug them and walk away as if that was the only reason he was there. We had to remind him to go back and pose for photos. It was very cute!


Hangin' with Goofy...


Following the fish at The Seas aquarium


Running around making noises from different instruments by stepping on the squares with the pictures.


Zonked out after 7 1/2 hours at DW. As many times as I told him he could rest his head while we were moving around or waiting in line, he was completely engaged in everything we were doing until he knew we rode the last ride. We told him we were going to ride one last ride and then go home to see TMR. He and Doug shared a frozen, chocolate covered banana, he had some water, handed the bottle back to Doug and was out! He slept the entire way home, woke up long enough to eat a little dinner, take a bath and head to bed. He slept 13 hours and woke up a new boy! We had a blast!! We are so thankful for this experience and have thoroughly enjoyed being in Orlando with family. Tuesday is a German restaurant, Wednesday possible the Atlantic Ocean and a hibachi style dinner, Thursday we're bbq'ing at home and Friday we're flying home.