The BIG Zoo

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I went with some friends to the Austin Zoo. What? You didn't know Austin had a zoo? You were sort of right...But last weekend Owen got to go to the BIG Zoo (San Antonio) with Bee and JoJo. (Rebecca and I were at the beach with a bunch of girls--AWESOME! and Kyle was studying for his big test.) They made a whole trip out of it--staying the night before in a hotel so they could beat the crowds the next morning. I am told that a great time was had by all, including Lucky the Elephant (who Owen tells me is a girl, not a boy, and a Momma). 

I did send a stroller, but looks like Owen found a better ride... 

 

At every exhibit Owen would say "I want to go IN there!," to which Bee replied that its not allowed because the (fill-in-the-blank animal) likes their own space. She conveniently left out the part about how many of the animals would like to try and eat him. :) The hippos were a highlight--they pressed their faces and other ends right up to the glass.

Thanks to Bee Owen now sleeps with a four-foot long stuffed crocodile in addition to the already-out-of-hand assortment of blankets of every color. All in a day's work as a grandma.

Easter/Grand Canyon, Funnies, RSM Milestones

Easter was a little different this year because Kyle was at the Grand Canyon. He had been planning the trip for months with a couple good guy friends and no one realized it was over Easter until plans were set. They backpacked down into the canyon and back up over a 4-day period. Carlos was the photographer of the trip and we don't yet have pictures, but I'll share some --of the 600!--when we get them. He said it was a "trip of a lifetime" but then took it back because he doesn't want it to hurt his chances of taking another "trip of a lifetime" in the future, meaning next year. :)  Kyle came home with great stories, one minor booboo that he calls a wound (which I think is hilarious even though how it happened was a little scary and it could have been much worse), and big dreams for taking me and the kids when they get older. 

So, after church with Bee and Nana we had a little picnic in our backyard with Nana. Here's Rebecca pretending to crawl off her blanket.

 

We tried tried tried to get a family photo but nothing quite panned out...

 

It was all-important that Bee push Owen in his swing after church.

Random: our new grocery-shopping modus operandi...

 

Owen funnies:

• The other day I told Owen it was time for lunch to which he replied “Lunch is a bummer. Let’s just eat grapes.” 
• The day Kyle got home from the Grand Canyon Owen spent the evening running around yelling at the top of his lungs “Yippee! We’re going to Grand Canyon!" (The funny part was it was pretty clear while Kyle was gone that Owen knew where he was. We had a special map with pictures of the GC on it to help Owen count down the 5 days until Kyle got home. Everywhere we went he told people what his Dada was doing and when he'd be home.)
• He has a pair of kids sunglasses and yesterday afternoon he put them on and said "how do I look?” Oh boy.
• No doubt he understand superlatives (good, better, best) because he has decided that Kyle is the "better pusher" (for our swing) and that Stan/Dahdo's eggs are better than mine. At least the boy knows what he likes.  
• Owen manages to work the following statement into conversation at least once a day. "Flies eat poop.  _______ don't eat poop." (At least we're clear on that...)

Rebecca milestones:

There is a lot going on with our little princess--she's hitting a bunch of milestones, seemingly all at once!

• She definitely knows her name.
• She LOVES blowing bubbles/spitting/zurburting--it feels like we can have a little conversation. I do it, she does it back, I do it, she does it back and on and on and on.
• She is waving bye bye...she doesn't put her hand up but her fingers are definitely doing it. She does it a lot just to watch her fingers move which is pretty cute. 

Drumroll please...

• She is crawling!!! Her first crawl was Saturday night (4/10) and both Kyle and I got to see it. We were having dinner and she was sitting on a blanket on our living room floor where Owen and cousin Bailey were having a "pizza picnic". She decided to go after Owen's juice cup and she got it!  She can get her hiney up in the air but usually resorts to an army crawl right now...still, she's mobile!

AND

• Her first tooth is coming in!!! I just noticed it this morning. It's her bottom left and it has just poked through the skin! 

So, this coming weekend Rebecca and I are off for a girls' weekend to Port Aransas with some awesome girlfriends. I am really really looking forward to it. In terms of relaxation, Rebecca is such a chill little girl that it'll almost be as easy as going alone! (And it is one of my goals to get videos of her blowing bubbles, crawling and waving bye bye...so stay tuned!) While we're gone, Owen is spending 1 night with each of his 3 local grandparents. He is going to have a blast and I'm sure he's going to be spoiled rotten when he gets home Sunday...the price I pay. We're all getting out of the house to give Kyle some peace and quiet so he can finish studying for his Anesthesia oral board exam which he takes Monday (4/19) in Atlanta. We'll all be glad when that is behind us!!!

Home Grown World Christians

Kyle and I love to travel and although we're not in a period of life where we get to do as much of it as we'd like, we're always thinking/planning/dreaming about trips, both purely for fun and for mission. These dreams are starting to include our kids too...But while we're "grounded" so to speak we get really excited about teaching Owen (and soon Rebecca) things about the world beyond our house and our neighborhood. For example, Owen knows that panda bears live in the mountains of China, that Bengal tigers live in India and a variety of lemurs live in Madagascar (confession: we didn't teach him any of that, Dora the Explorer did)...but we have started showing him where these places are on the globe. It has made me go back and re-read an excellent little article Noel Piper wrote a few years ago about raising "Home Grown World Christians"...not just for parents--we all need to be reminded to open our eyes to the bigger picture in the bigger world, right? And she's got some great tips broadening our kids' horizons (and inevitably our own). At the risk of sounding preachy, I'll say everyone should read it! :)

So, on that note (and for several other reasons), we have started sponsoring a young boy in Rwanda through a great organization called Africa New Life Ministries. (We had the honor of hearing their founder "Pastor Charles" speak in church on Sunday. We also got to hear the story of and music by an amazing street kid who went through the program. Both were awesome.) Owen is really excited about his new "friend" James. He can show you where Rwanda is on the globe, knows that we're helping James go to school, and knows James like soccer and numbers. I can't wait for us to get to write our first letter to him (and then get one in return)! I believe that the work this organization is doing will significantly impact James' life, and selfishly we are getting so much out of it as a family (and our sponsorship just started a day ago)!

Update:

The pillowcase dresses I made are now on their way to Haiti (Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center). It really was a fun (and easy!) project.

My favorite was definitely this little pink one because the pillowcase had scalloped edges which made for a really pretty bottom.

Springtime!

Spring is here and we're so happy! We are bound and determined to enjoy this beautiful Austin weather before it turns into the (dreaded) Austin summer weather, which will surely occur before we're ready and last longer than we'd like. Anyways, here are some recent shots of the kiddos enjoying the great outdoors...

Bailey and Owen "gardening" at Nana's. We've been over there twice in the two weeks (all of us) to celebrate Luke's and then Mel's birthdays. Thirty and flirty!

Kyle put a swing up in the front yard. Good times for both kids and a sign to all the neighborhood that children live here!

We went on a picnic to one of our favorite parks the other day. The weather was perfect and surprisingly we were the only ones there. They still had a great time playing. Owen found some leftover Easter eggs and filled each of them up with rocks and burried them. Dirt/rocks/sand is way more fun than slides/swings. Rebecca dirtied her outfit right when we got there, so she did a little "sunning". Here are a few of the big girl, she actually doesn't stay sitting up for long these days because she's busy rolling all over the place to get what she wants. She also does a move we're calling the "baby plank". If you're familiar with yoga and/or pilates you know what I'm talking about. Picture this: lying on her stomach, body straight (back flat, not arched), she lifts her weight onto her arms (like a pushup) and her TOES. Then she falls back down because she doesn't actually move anywhere doing this. We definitely think she'll be truly crawling soon. Right now she just rolls and pivots to get pretty much whatever/wherever she wants. :)A great shot that a "helping parent" took of Owen at school. Isn't that smile great?

And here he is "climbing" a tree in our backyard. Confession: I put him up in the tree (he wanted to). He stayed up there a really long time and talked about how he was an owl and did lots of hoo-ing. He threw a mini-tantrum when I told him it was bedtime and made him come down.

 

In other general kiddo update news...

Rebecca: 

• As it goes with poor 2nd children, we're not doing as good of a job keeping tabs on when exactly firsts occur. No doubt she "found" her hands a long time ago, but we noticed it recently because  she was staring at her hand wiggling her fingers. We've also caught the beginnings of a "bye bye"--she doesn't move her hand up but Bee and I have both seen her move her fingers into an almost fist when we wave bye bye to her.
• I already mentioned the rolling and baby plank...life is about to change!
• She tolerates Owen constantly touching/patting her cheeks like a champ!

Owen:

• Owen is fascinated by what various animals eat and drink. It's a major topic of conversation these days. Yes Owen, all animals drink water. Yes Owen, baby mammals drink milk just like you. As it relates to people--he loves to ask people (usually as soon as we see them--before hello) if they're hungry or thirsty.
• Owen really really likes to know what's coming next in a day's schedule (even if there isn't a plan/schedule). He asks lots of questions and then likes to repeat back (in order) what we're doing and when and why.
• We have a great family devotional guide for Easter that we'll probably start using next year when he's a little older, but this year we've been doing the "resurrection eggs" you can buy at any Christian bookstore and Owen has really enjoyed it. He calls it "the egg game." More importantly, he's able to follow repeat most of the Easter week story which is exciting (especially since we recognize its very very different from the stories he's used to hearing at school, at bedtime, on kids tv, etc.).

Well, that's it for now. Kyle is off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow with two guy friends. They are doing a major backpacking trip wrought with all sorts of perils, so if it occurs to you, keep them in your prayers. He'll be back Thursday.

And Happy (almost) Easter! He is Risen!!!

(Blogger has changed some recently and I can't find the spell check icon...so sorry!)