Bluebonnets

Even though the sun was shining brightly with not a cloud in the sky, I headed west from Cypress to take pictures of the boys in the bluebonnets. A tradition here in Texas, and one I've continued with my boys, is to take pictures during the blooming of the Texas state flower, the bluebonnet. It blooms for about 4-6 weeks in late winter/early spring. It wasn't the best day for quality photos (unless you have an assistant to hold a sun shade, which I don't), but I wanted to make sure we got something.

The boys were being super cooperative so I got some nice shots, even with shadows on their faces and less than vibrant colors.

My Loves

Easter Activities

Now that Jacob is in school everyday, we don't have as many opportunities for crafts and special holiday activities, so he gets really excited when I have one planned for after school.

One from last week was to make a Bunny Train. The boys and David love decorating a gingerbread house each year at Christmas, so when I saw a kit at the store for making the train, I bought it. After I put train engine and caboose together,

I let the boys be creative and have fun decorating it as they wanted.

This one cracks me up. One of the best parts of working with icing, is getting to lick your fingers...


I didn't get a picture of the finished product. I guess I'll have to do that before it gets tossed. It is definitely a work of art.

For the last two weeks, Jacob has asked about dyeing Easter eggs. With all the after school activities taking up our afternoons, we just hadn't been able to make time. Until today. Jacob ran off the bus and immediately asked if today was the day for dyeing Easter eggs. Thankfully, Luke and I spent some time before he got home, getting things ready.

Here they are, ready to make masterpieces.

Luke put one egg in each color, and it looked like he would be done in record time.

But then he decided every egg needed to go into every color.Working hard.

Jacob was ready to go.

And was very meticulous about placing each egg.

And he was very pleased with his results. Even making an egg with the word 'Mom' on one.

The finished products. Jacob's are on the left, and Luke's are on the right. 2 of Luke's took a nose dive to the pavement, as you can see with all the cracks on a couple of them.

Winter Soccer

Winter Soccer is coming to a close. Each of the boys' teams has one game remaining (it is actually the second of 2 make up games as we had 2 rained out this season.) Jacob loves to play and is turning into quite the good little soccer player as well.

I volunteered to coach Luke's 3 year old team in the fall, and really enjoyed it, so I'm doing it again this winter.

Luke likes soccer ok, but isn't nearly as excited about playing as Jacob. He doesn't have the speed and aggressiveness you need for the sport, but perhaps that will come with time. I think soccer is such a great sport for the kids, so I plan to keep them in it as long as they are enjoying themselves.

This week with Luke

Love this smile:

Luke always sleeps in the most random positions, and rarely on a pillow or under a blanket.

Easter Egg Hunt with friends:

A make-up soccer game last night:

One Year Later

Yep, it has been a full year since I've posted to the blog. Ridiculous. There's really no way I'll ever catch up on all that has happened, so I'll likely just catch up with a few posts of the hightlights when I make the time, but for now, perhaps I should figure out how to post once a week. We'll see.

So, here are a couple of pictures of how the boys look today.

Luke, playing at home while Jacob is in school:

Jacob, at a Tae Kwon Do birthday party:

Two-Wheeler

Just after Christmas, we decided it was time to teach Jacob how to ride his bike without training wheels.

He isn't the most confident bike rider with the training wheels on, so I wasn't sure how it would go.

They started on the sidewalk, so Jacob could use the grass as a safety net.

Much to my surprise, after just 15-20 minutes working with Daddy, he got it.

Once he was confident, they moved onto the street:

Note: April 5, 2011 - It took another few weeks to master starting and stopping with grace, but he's got it now.

Happy 3rd Birthday

July 7th, 2011 marked the first day of a "no toddler household." Luke has officially become a preschooler. For some reason, 3 sounds so much older than 2! I remember thinking the 3s were more difficult to handle with Jacob, so for another reason I am sad to see the 2s go. I would be happy if my boys could have just stayed 2 and 4. Such fabulous ages!

Now this is not to say that 3 and 5 will not be wonderful too, but only time will tell.

Here is Luke at 7:51am on July 7, 2008:

and 7:51am on July 7, 2009 (poor kid had an eye infection):

7:51am on July 7, 2010:

and finally, 7:51am on July 7, 2011

Preschool Comes to an End

I like to document the boys' stats on the first and last days of school to see physically how they have changed.  I wish I had been good enough to really document what they had learned or how they had changed emotionally as well, but I didn't, so....

This year was the final year of preschool for Jacob and the first for Luke.

Day 1 of preschool for the boys, Sept. 9, 2010, Jacob was 4 years and 1.5 months and weighed in at 37lbs and stood 40.5" and Luke was 2 years, 2 months and 28lbs and stood 33" tall

And on the final day of preschool, May 26, 2011, Jacob was 4 years, 10 months and weighed in at 41.5lbs and stood 42.75" and Luke was 2 years, 10.5 months and weighed in at 32.5lbs and stood 36.5" tall.