Junior's fascination this week

For the past few months or longer, Junior has been thrilled to see the garbage truck come blazing through our alley every Friday. But ever since last Saturday when the garbage truck made a day-late visit due to Memorial day being that week, he has talked non-stop about it. It is cute to see him interested in one thing and want to know about it, but it starts to wear on me when the only question that seems to arise lately is "When trash truck coming?" Which leads me to say, "Not until Friday," and then prompts him to say, the ever popular..."WHY?" Of course no answer is ever good enough and that battle lasts 10 minutes. I wondered at that point if I was going to make it 6 more days until the garbage truck graced us with its presence again. Wednesday rolls around and we headed to my grandparents house for the day. As I turned the corner onto their street, overwhelming excitement consumed me as I saw trash bags on the curbs of every house! Could it be that Junior would not have to wait until Friday? Sure enough later that day, the truck came rolling by and Junior had a front row seat for the show. He was already outside coming back from checking the mail with his Great-Grandma. He could barely control himself! Much to his delight, just a few short days later, he got to see the truck again. Not once today, but twice it made its way down our alley! Oh the simple pleasures of a 2-1/2 year old.

The Houstonians pay us a visit

We were delighted to get a phone call from our old college friends letting us know that they would be in town for the weekend and wanted to try and get together. Of course, no matter what we had going on, we were going to make something work so we could see them! We planned on them coming over to our house Saturday morning and stay for a couple of hours. I originally had to work the night before and was preparing myself to be up for over 24 hours when I received a phone call from work that I was to be canceled that night. It sure made for a more pleasant evening and next morning; me being bright eyed instead of dragging my feet through mud. All three boys played well together and the adults were able to somewhat catch up in between time-outs and overtired meltdowns. It sure is nice to see them enjoy each other when we meet up from time to time. P family, thanks for a wonderful visit and we can not wait until next time!

All the boys and the dads: Baby C, Daddy G, Toddler G, Junior and Daddy


All the kids with the Mommies: Baby C, Mommy D, Toddler G, Junior, Mommy and Baby girl

Dallas Zoo

Daddy took Tuesday off from work after Memorial Day so we could go to the zoo when it wasn't so busy. Sad to say but it was the first time we have taken Junior. It was a little on the warm side, but plenty of trees and a nice breeze kept the day bearable. We mentioned to Junior that morning where we were going and what things we would see. He was extremely interested in seeing the elephant which is all we heard the first hour we were there. "Go see elephant?" If I had known that he was going to make such a big deal about it we would have gone straight there, but I decided we would go to the other side of the park first since it was smaller. At the first side of the park is a monorail that we took around to see some animals that walking otherwise not allow us to see. Daddy and I came to the conclusion that the whole park should be like that. It sure was relaxing! When we finally made it to the side with the elephant, she was not out in the habitat because they were changing out her things. We were only able to see her through a window into her stall where they kept her. They told us that she would be out later that afternoon so we thought we would check back later. So of course from that point on all we heard again from Junior was "Go see Jenny? No Jenny?" At this point we had found out the elephant's name was Jenny. After we visited all the other animals and had checked back twice we found out that we were still not going to be able to see Jenny. Junior was disappointed and will sadly tell you if you ask him "No see Jenny." Poor guy. All he wanted to see was an elephant and he could barely see her through the windows. :(

I forgot to mention that we rode the DART down to the zoo and that was also a treat in itself for Junior. Click on the picture below to see the zoo and DART fun!

Dallas Zoo

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Friday night through Sunday night in Austin this past weekend. My sister met us there to spend some time with her favorite niece and nephew and we stayed with my aunt, uncle and cousin. We made it out to the Children's Museum the first day and then walked around the lake until we saw and heard thunderstorms coming our way. My aunt and uncle made us a wonderful dinner that night and we stayed up late watching movies! Sunday was spent at Zilker park riding the train and playing on the playground. Late that afternoon we headed south to eat dinner at an amazing BBQ place, Salt Lick. The weekend was quick, but well worth the drive. We enjoyed every minute of it even if we had a cranky toddler who missed naps for two days and was not sleeping in his own bed. :) Thanks to Aunt K for making the trip to come see us and a special thank you to our gracious and incredible hosts, the B family.

Click on the picture for more photos of the weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend - Austin

Last day of school

Junior sure has grown up over the past school year. This was me picking him up the first day of school back in September. (He looks like a baby!)


And this was me picking him up from the last day of school in May. He looks too old! :(


He grew accustomed to going every Thursday and loved to be there. When asked what he was going to do in school that morning he would reply, "paint". And sure enough we would arrive at school, he would put his folder, backpack and lunch away with my help and stand next to the art table and patiently wait his turn if someone else was there already. He brought home numerous art projects each day. (I wonder if he will miss any of them.) He could recall all the names of the other 9 kids in his class and talked about them often. Towards the end of the year he was asking me to "Go, momma" when I dropped him off. I knew then that he was enjoying his days there!

It's hard work being a baby

Baby girl

Junior

How sweet it is

Junior and baby girl watching a movie together


Junior enjoying playing with baby girl under the toy mat

First foods

Baby girl getting ready for her first bite of food...doesn't look too sure about it


Everyone watching as baby girl looks worried about what is going to happen


First bite


Don't think this bite will make it down

Nope, only breastfeeding for this baby...I guess we will be holding off a little while longer

5 Months Old

Family visits

My Aunt D, Uncle G and cousin A came up for a weekend visit in the beginning of May. This is the only time I dug my camera out to take a picture. Baby girl with her Great Aunt.


Nana and Great One surprised us with a weekday visit. It sure was nice for me to have a break from the little ones.