Face Painting @ Chick-Fil-A

We occasionally go to Chick-Fil-A on Tuesday nights for "Family Night." The kids eat free and there is always an activity for them. A couple of weeks ago, Jason was working out of town, so my Mom & I took the kids there for dinner. There was a cute clown, Rainbow D. Clown, there doing face painting for the kiddos. Of course Zander wanted his done, so after eating we stood in line FOREVER!! & he got his face painted like a Tiger. It turned out really cute! Mason wasn't so sure about it, but he did stand there and wait the whole time with us. I didn't want him to miss out after standing there for so long, so the clown painted his arm instead. She copied the little monkey on his shirt. They both loved it!

Colored Bubbles

A couple of weeks ago, I needed to go to the store to pick something up. I told the kids they could get something. So, we looked through the toy section and found some Crayola Colored Bubbles. They sounded pretty cool and were fairly cheap so I let the boys each pick one and we went on our marry way. Of course they wanted to play with them when we got home. I sent them out back with thier bubbles to have a good time. I wanted to put the other things I had bought away, so I stayed inside for a few minutes. When I did go outside, this is what I found.....

Not only did it look like my kids splattered paint all over themselves, it looked like it was splattered all over the walls of the house, the patio, the dogs, and all the furniture and toys outside. These things were a crazy mess!! They didn't just dump them everywhere, either. The bubbles splattered these nice colors everwhere they landed. The good thing was they rinsed off pretty easy. When they were done, I took them inside, striped them, throw the clothes in the wash, and the kids in the tub. Everything came out ok, except the bubbles. I disposed of them :) They do not get a high recommend from me!

My Boys in March

Sorry I've been so scarce. I missed all of March.. oops :/ I'm going to try to catch up a little and keep up with my blog again. To start, I just wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from March.

 Mason enjoying a Popsicle. I love his big green eyes in this picture.

Zander spraying Mason with is water squirter. We had a lot of really warm days in March and the kids enjoyed playing outside.

This is just a cute picture of Zander playing with his trios. He loves to build things. He is very creative and always thinking.
 

Mason taking his nap... my favorite time of day :) He is so peaceful while he's sleeping. He is busy and on the go all the time! So when he's sleeping I always enjoy the break!

New Tradition

Somewhere I read that a family wraps all their Christmas books at the beginning of December and unwraps one book a night to read as a countdown for Christmas Day. I thought that was a fun idea. But, I only have 12 Christmas books. So, I decided to do the "12 Days of Christmas Stories." Zander and I wrapped all the Christmas books we have and put them in a basket. Each night, the boys pick one book and open it. We then read it before tucking them into bed. It has been fun so far. They are really enjoying it.


This is Zander and Mason unwrapping their book last night.

Sometime they can be so cute for the camera.

Mason LOVES to read!

All Ready for Christmas!

Zander has been really excited to decorate for Christmas. A few people down the road from us put up Christmas lights in the middle of November and every since Zander has been asking when we could decorate. I would not get that stuff down until after Thanksgiving, so he had to wait a looooong time for a 4 year old. So, once Thanksgiving was over, he knew it was time to get the tree and the lights down from the attic and put them up. He was sooooo READY!! It was fun to watch him with such excitement as he put up the ornaments. Mason wanted to help, and was very proud of himself when he got an ornament to actually stick on the tree. He danced around saying, "I did it!! I did it!" It was lots of fun seeing them both have so much fun with it.

The night we finished the tree, I gave the boys new pajamas and a new ornament for the tree. They both got Thomas pjs. Zander got a new Thomas ornament and Mason got Winnie the Pooh on a Scooter. If I had been thinking when I bought them on sale last year, I would've gotten them the same ornament because they both really wanted the Thomas one. I didn't realize that Mason would love Thomas like Zander at the age of 2. I guess now I know better.

I found this really cute Christmas countdown on the Church website. I thought it was great because it teaches the kids all about Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. Zander hasn't wanted to do it until today and once he started, he didn't want to stop. Each day you are supposed to pick a piece to the puzzle, find the spot it goes in, & read the scripture and do the little activity in that spot.

Zander enjoyed helping me find the right scripture in my Book of Mormon and Bible. It was fun having him help me look for the right number for the chapter and verse. Today we did 4 puzzle pieces. The first one talked about keeping a prayer in your heart, the second one talked about Jesus loving little children, the third one talked about Jesus wanting us to be happy and the fourth one talked about loving your neighbor. On the one that talked about being happy, it said to make a list of things that make you happy and hang it up in your room. The lists were both cute, so I wanted to share them with you. Zander did his on his own, except for the words. I helped Mason and he colored all over it :)

Zander's list was.. Hot air Balloons, blue birds, making new friends, playing with Paul, Troy, and Mason, Thomas the Train, walking on hills, going to Mimi's house, and rockets.

Mason's says, Mommy & Daddy, toys, playing with Zander, and helping Mommy & Daddy. I guess I should have added playing outside and his puppy.

We are all excited for this holiday season. It's so fun to watch the little children get so into the festives and light up with excitement. I hope you all are enjoying the beginning of this Christmas Season with your family and friends.

Trick or Treating

We went trick or treating last night with our friends. The boys were not feeling very well, but I didn't want to disappoint them, so we went anyway. They enjoyed it, but by the end they were both really tired of walking. Here are a few of our pictures...

Mason Trick or Treating

Mason trying to keep up with all the big kids.

Zander after getting some more lute for his bucket.

The boys taking a break about half-way through.


I sure hope you all enjoyed your Halloween!

"Thomas" Room

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to move the boys into a room together. Mason loves to be near Zander, day & night and they are always playing together in Zander's room, so we thought it would be best to just put them together. Zander wanted to make the room a "Thomas" room. He picked the colors to paint the walls and I found some Thomas decals to stick along the chair rail. It turned out really cute and they seem to like being in there together.


Zander & Mason in their newly painted room.

A picture of the room all put together.



The curtains I made to match the decor.



A collage of different pictures from the new "Thomas" room.

Day Out with Thomas 2010

Friday, October 1st, Thomas the Train was here at the Austin Steam Station. The boys and I went with our friends, Dana, Evan, and Colin, to see Thomas. I didn't really want to take them to ride on the train. But, when we got there that is all Zander really wanted to do. So I gave in and bought some tickets for us to ride Thomas. They both really enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun. The got to play with some of the trains sets, make a page with some Thomas stamps, get Thomas tatoos, do a mini golf course, run through an inflatable train, listen to storytime, and get some balloon characters. It was a fun filled day!

Mayborn Museum

About 2 weeks ago, the boys and I went with our friends, Dana, Evan, and Colin, to the Mayborn Museum in Waco. They had a very cool Lego exhibit with lots of fun lego structures to look at and of course legos to play with. I think we could have spent the whole time in there, but we ventured out to the other areas, too. Zander's favorite part was the lego boulder launch. You built a lego wall on the computer and then launched a boulder at it to see if you made it stong enough. He really enjoyed that! Mason was fascinated with everything. He loves to follow his big brother around and do everything he is doing, so he had lots of fun at the museum doing just that. After spending a few hours playing at the museum, we enjoyed some lunch together at Favoli's (my favortie!) before heading home. As we were getting in the car to go home, Zander said to me, "Mommy, that was great! I had fun with Evan at the musuem playing with legos." It always makes me smile to hear him say things like that.

1st Day of Pre-School

Zander is old enough to start Pre-K this year, but we don't qualify for him to go to public school. So, when I heard that some of the girls from church wanted to start a pre-school co-op, I was very interested. We got together and decided to rotate having the kids meet at our houses, one day a week, for 2 1/2 hours to have "school." Zander was really excited to go. He went to his good friend Reagan's house for the 1st day and learned about the letter A and the number 1. He had a great time and told me all about his day at school when I picked him up. I'm excited to be the next Mom to teach (we shall see how that goes) and for Zander to have this opportunity. I'm also very glad that he is so excited about going to his "big school" when he turns 5.

My Kiddos & the Fair

This Saturday evening, we didn't have much planned to do, so we decided to take the kids to the fair. I knew Zander would love it and I always like to go to those things. First, we headed to see all the animals. At 1st, Mason wasn't too sure about them. But he warmed up to it and enjoyed watching Daddy feed them.

After seeing all the animals, we went outside to the fair grounds. We watched a juggler do a crazy little stunt show and then we watched the bicycle team do some cool things off the ramps. Zander liked the juggler, but he got bored with the bike show. I think he was really just ready to go play carnival games and go on some rides.

After the bike show, we headed over to the dart board and watched Daddy throw some darts to win some little stuffed animals. Then, off to the rides. Mason was too little to ride anything but the carousel, but he really liked that one.

Zander could ride all the little kid rides and he wanted to ride them all, but we just let him ride a few. He really enjoyed them, as you can see. Mason had a hard time watching Zander go on the rides while he just got to stand there and watch.

We all had a pretty good time and I can't wait for the fair again next year :)

Cannon Ball

Zander and Mason both love going to the lake and playing on the boat and in the water. They especially like jumping off the tube. This is a video of them doing Cannon Balls. We always have lots of fun together out there and just wanted to share this little video.

2 Boys + Water = Major FUN!

June 9, 2010

A photo slideshow by Smilebox

1st Boat Trip 2010

May 29, 2010

Zander was really excited to get out on the boat and ride. He loves it!

Mason fell right to sleep. He was a bit tired and the boat always seems to make the boys sleepy.

Look at them, they are so cute in their little life vests. They were pretty anxious to get in the water. Zander did not want to sit still for this photo.

Zander found this rock on the shore. It broke apart and we found this fossil inside. Pretty cool, huh!

Cooling Off

My boys havin' fun outside in the water. Zander loves to go play in the water. Mason, on the other hand, was not very sure of it. He did have fun once he got in, though.