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!)