Happy Father's Day

Poor, neglected, blog. I actually have a decent amount of pictures to process and share with anyone who's still reading, but I can't seem to find the time to get to them. I had to get to this one though 'cause they're all just too cute. Happy Father's Day, Bryan. We love you!

Lock up your daughters

FOUR

So, I'm a little behind in my blogging because it's already been more than a week since Brick turned 4, but I just couldn't let this milestone pass us by without sharing a little bit of who our boy is at 4.

A few days after his birthday, he agreed to do some exploring near our neighborhood and taking some "4-year-old" pictures in exchange for skipping his "nap." We had the greatest time. I haven't spent time with Brick alone since well before Calla was born. Let's face it, in a family of 5, there's not really a lot of opportunities for any of us to have one-on-one time. We're definitely going to make more of an effort to do that. During our walk, I thanked Brick for spending the time with me, and he responded, "Yeah. I'm really glad we did this."



At 4, Brick's a pretty interesting kid. We've come a long way since this. Sometime this year, we told us he wanted his own Twitter (after finding the Twitter application on Bryan's iPhone). I'm tempted to take him up on it, because some of the things he says are just priceless. Although, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before he was posting updates himself. He LOVES the computer. In fact, when Bryan got me a new laptop for Christmas, we moved my older computer into the playroom for Brick to use. His favorite website is by far Boowa & Kwala.



He's all boy and loves things like Star Wars, superheroes and, most recently, Scooby Doo, but he's sweet and gentle wherever his sisters are concerned. He's extremely helpful with Quinn. Much more than I would expect a kid his age to be. Sometimes a little too much, like the time he carried Quinn upstairs, all by himself.



His favorite food, according to him, is "cheesy rice casserole" which is really nothing more than a packet of store-bought cheddar & broccoli rice mixed with some EXTRA broccoli (because it's good to eat your vegetables). He just recently given up his naps, a sure sign that he's growing up, in exchange for "quiet time" in his room.



All in all, we expect big things for Brick this year. It's his last year as a "baby." Soon enough, he'll be 5 and heading off to Kindergarten and impressing us with a whole new set of tricks. We love you, little man!

Happy Birthday to Brick

It was Brick's 4th birthday last week, and the entire celebration was a complete success. Bryan and I kicked things off Wednesday night (the night before his birthday) by blowing up 150 party balloons and loading them up into his room while he slept. I'll admit, the discovery of the balloons the following morning didn't quite have the level of excitement I was expecting, but it was cute nonetheless.



Brick woke up around 4am and, like he usually does at that hour, tip-toed into our room. He whispered to Bryan, "Dad. My room is full of balloons!" Bryan responded with a half-hearted, sleepy "Oh yeah? Do you want to climb up here?" (into our bed like he usually does). "No," Brick replied "I'll go back to my room." That NEVER happens!

Later that day, my mom and I took Brick to Build-A-Bear. For some reason he had it in his head that he needed to celebrate his birthday at Build-A-Bear, even though we've never set foot inside one before. I was frankly against the idea because I think the place is overpriced, but it was what he really wanted. I'm so glad we did. We had such a great time picking out a bear. And for once, Brick wasn't consumed with being tough or fighting bad guys or rocketing through space. He was my sweet, little boy getting excited over a teddy bear. Of course, even that sweet little boy couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress "Black Bear" up like a clone trooper.



That night we rounded out our day with some ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.



On Saturday, Brick indulged me with a photoshoot and we had a great time at his birthday party on Sunday. I hope to have those pictures ready to share soon.

Oh, and as for the balloons? Well, they're all gone now. Brick got tired of them, so Bryan pulled out some straight pins, and he and Brick went to popping them all. I think that was almost more fun for Brick than waking up to them all!

Unimpressed

I love Calla's impression in this photo. I can only imagine what a handful she's going to be as a teenager. No doubt she'll give the boys a run for their money.

Just because ...

... it's been too long since I've shared pictures of them.
... this blog was supposed to be about watching them grow.
... they really are growing too fast.
... I finally took the time to pick up my camera, and they remind me why I need to do it more often.

School Days

The kids at their pictures taken at school a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to wager that it was the mom and not the photographer in me that was compelled to buy the pictures. They're cheesy and traditional, but their my kiddos - and I love them. Not to mention I have so few of the two of them together!







Grandparents, your copies will be in the mail next week. Brick and I are sick this weekend. Both running fevers and generally feeling miserable. We've cooped ourselves up in the master bedroom with DVDs of Bolt and Madagascar 2, which is surprisingly funny in my fever-induced stupor. Bryan's taking care of us. He's such a good dad and husband.

Easter's finest

Just like last year, I struggled to get a nice Easter picture of the kids together. Brick was surprisingly cooperative, but Calla still wants nothing to do with the camera. It's a shame too because she looked so cute in her new Easter dress from Grandaddy and Nana.

Showers and flowers

Yesterday, the most unusual storm hit the northwest area of Austin. I'd just gotten in my car and was on my way home from work. I was totally relieved that I had managed to make it from my office building to the parking garage before the rain really started pouring down. So, here I am sitting at a stoplight, when I hear this loud banging on my car. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't totally figure out what it was. Then, I see more of that something, and the banging on my car is only getting louder and faster. It was then that I realized what those "somethings" were: golf-ball sized hail!

The hail let up a few minutes into my drive, but it was unbelievable the amount of ice that fell from the sky in such a short period of time. There was a layer of hail about a foot wide on the sides of the highway; there were piles of hail near buildings; our entire yard was covered in tiny pebbles of hail.



And almost as quickly as the freak storm happened, the sky started clearing up, and this AMAZING rainbow appeared. It was really vibrant and totally visible from end to end.



Today, on the other hand, started out pretty dreary and foggy, but ended up quite nicely. Scott had mentioned this great spot for shooting wildflowers, and I'd been dying to take the kids out there. So glad we did! I think these are some of my favorite wildflower pictures yet.

Three

Brick is officially three. I'm hoping to have a chance to post some pictures from his birthday week+, but considering I have yet to post a single picture from Calla's first birthday, I'm not going to make any guarantees.

In genuine Brick-fashion, our (not so) little guy took his birthday in stride, deciding a few weeks before his birthday that it was time to hit a major toddler milestone - potty training! Our kiddo is officially in underwear. He's been mostly accident-free for several weeks now. We're still using pullups for naps and bedtime, but we can handle that.

He's also absorbing EVERYTHING. I don't think there's a thing this kid misses. The morning of his birthday, I woke him up excitedly, wished him a happy birthday and explained to him that he was three. Bryan chimed in, "Do you know what that means?" to which Brick responded "Uhm, yeah! I get to play with choking hazards!" Silly boy.

By now, he knows all his colors and lots of different shapes. He's also learned how to spell his name (though he likes to say it's "B-Ooh-I-C-K" - not sure what he has against "R"). These days in school, he's learning his letters and how to count. He's known how to recite the numbers for awhile now, but now he's actually grasping the concept of having multiple objects in front of him and counting them out.

He's starting to understand the concepts of "rude" and "polite" and not just in the "please and thank you" sense. Somehow he'd picked up saying "Whatever." which I am not a fan of hearing from our saucy three-year-old. We had a little chat about the use of whatever, and now whenever the urge hits him to say "Whatever." he tends to follow it up with "... you say. I said, 'Whatever you say.' It's good to use 'whatever' in a sentence." He's also quick to correct us when we use the word "stupid" - another one he'd picked up and was using much too frequently in a not-so-nice context.

He loves his baby sister and tells us all the time that he would like more babies (especially a brother) - and a dog - a boxer, to be exact. He and Calla play together all the time. He seems to love taking care of her and especially loves making her giggle.

So, with the (not so) terrible twos behind us, we are definitely looking forward to the year ahead. We couldn't be prouder of our little man.

Pancakes

We've started a little tradition in our family. Every year on Brick's birthday, we take him to IHOP for a special birthday breakfast. This year we woke up extra early to make it out before daycare and work. It's a fun little way to make sure the day stays special even though we have other things going on. He loves every second of it.

Quick share of the kids

A few pictures to tide you over since I've been a lousy blogger lately...

Blue revisted

Remember this picture of Brick? This one's not exactly the same, but it reminded me a lot of the first one. Needless to say, me and the new camera are getting along spendidly.

Sick

For the first time in a long time, Brick was sick. He vomited up last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast and spent most of the day curled up on the couch with me or Bryan. Poor kid. I hope he gets to feeling better soon!

When toddlers attack

Friday was my 30th birthday (more on that later, hopefully). Today, we were all a little tired from the festivities, so we decided to recuperate by taking extra-long naps (or so I foolishly thought). While Bryan, Jameson, and I were busy napping, Brick was quietly entertaining himself by unloading the contents of his entire dresser onto his bedroom floor. On the bright side, he didn't protest too much when I asked him to help me clean up.



Note the steps up against the dresser. My resourceful child decided to take the steps that are normally used to help him get into his bed and put them near the dresser. And, you can't tell from the photo, but he changed his own diaper. He stripped off his clothes, took off his wet diaper, threw it away in the Diaper Champ, and put on a new, clean swim diaper. The only casualties from this little "experiment" were the Curious George book (though it was pretty much on its way out anyway) and my park ticket from when I visited Tokyo Disneyland in 1997. At least Brick was courteous enough to throw it away after he tore it into shreds.

So much to be thankful for

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. Calla kicked off our weekend by taking her VERY first steps on Wednesday. Much like her brother, Calla's not really taking her time learning how to walk. All of a sudden, she's taking steps every chance she gets. She's mastered getting from the ottoman to the couch, or from the couch to Daddy. If I had to guess, I'd say we'll have a full-fledge walker on our hands by her birthday - definitely before the new year gets here.

Thanksgiving morning, Bryan got up early and cooked us an awesome breakfast. We watched the parade while eating breakfast. At one point, we saw a commercial for St. Jude's Children's Hospital that said "Give thanks for the healthy children in your life..." So, I commented, "I'm thankful for my healthy children." Brick responded, "I'm thankful for my healthy Mommy and Daddy." It was so heartwarming.

After breakfast, I was laying on the floor watching the parade, and Calla was hovering over me. Out of nowhere, she did a big belly flop right on top of me. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Since it's just the four of us, we've kind of made a tradition out of visiting the Hyatt Hill Country Resort for our Thanksgiving feast. This year's spread didn't seem quite as impressive as it's been in years past. For one, they were lacking two Thanksgiving staples: mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie! We're already making plans to have Thanksgiving at the house next year.

On Friday we braved the malls and did a little Black Friday shopping. We got some great deals on toys for the kids, new jeans for Daddy, new boots for Mommy, and let's not forget the best Black Friday deal of all ... DIAPERS.

Saturday we headed downtown for the Chuy's Children Giving to Children Christmas Parade. It was a perfectly chilly but sunny day, and we were running late, so our spots for viewing the parade were pretty limited. Luckily, we ran into some friends of ours and got to hang out with them.

And since no post would be complete without a few pictures, here's a couple of the kids' (first) visit with Santa this year. We've been trying to prep Brick, getting him ready for the idea of telling Santa what he wants. With us, he's been alternating between "Bob the Builder" and "Handy Manny". Well, when the big man finally asked him what he wanted, Brick totally froze. You could see the wheels turning in his head ... "Bob the Builder or Handy Manny. Which one should I say?" Finally he blurted out "Handy Manny!" I think it's safe to say Santa was listening, and there's a Handy Manny toolset in Brick's future.




On the other hand, Calla wanted nothing to do with Santa.



I guess when you're this beautiful, it's okay not to like Santa.

Ra Ra

Still catching up ... Almost a month ago, we headed to Dallas for the Texas State Fair. We ran into some Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders again. As the photo shows, Brick's demeanor was a little different this year than it was last year.



Yes, he had a black eye. He had a run-in (literally) with another kid at school. It's all healed now. As you can see here.

More photos to come

We went downtown today and had a photo-swap with a photographer friend of mine. Believe it or not, we haven't had a professional family photo taken since, well, Calla's birth. Scott shared so many great little spots with us. I can't wait to see how the photos come out.

In the meantime, here's one I grabbed of Brick. He's been a much more willing subject these days. Maybe it's because I'm taking fewer pictures, or maybe it's the mounds of Halloween candy I suddenly have to bribe him with.

Happy Halloween

I have some pictures of the kids in their costumes, but they're buried on my camera. I'll get to them, eventually, but it will probably be much too late to share them. In the meantime, I have these, from our good friend Lyndsay, who did a photo shoot with a whole group of adorable kids.





© Life in Motion Photography, used with permission

Pumpkin Patch

I'm going to ignore my complete disregard for this blog lately to take a minute and share some photos of the kids during our recent visit to the Elgin Pumpkin Patch (aka. a barn with some pumpkins in it). I genuinely love the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm, but the whole pumpkin "patch" left something to be desired. I did appreciate that there were more than a few great spots for taking pictures.

I just adore this cheesy little toddler grin from Brick. I can't even remember what I told him to get him to sit still and smile. It's totally posed an so unnatural, but it makes me smile!









So, I have no idea what Bryan was thinking, but I assumed the farm-hand was kidding when he asked Brick if he wanted to ride the "big horse". This thing was seriously 6 or 7 feet tall, definitely no pony (and there were plenty of ponies available for riding). But they helped him up into the saddle, and Brick rode around in a circle, happy as could be. I think there's some ranching in that boy's future.