Spring Break

We had a wonderful spring break!  Matt was traveling for most of it but the boys and I found plenty to do to stay entertained.  We kicked off the week with a trip to their favorite restaurant, Benihana.  Ben loves the hibachi cooking but Alex can't stand when they use fire, so this is the perfect flame-free location for them both.

Next stop was the Houston Children's Museum for some intellectual fun.  It was Ben's first trip and he spent almost an hour creating and modifying this water maze.  It was love at first sight.

The other outdoor water areas were lots of fun.

Plenty to do inside, too.  Alex was ringing up Ben's groceries at the little store.

Alex manned the wheel of the ambulance while Ben did his medical work in the back.

We spent several days in Dallas playing with cousin Reid.  The first afternoon we took the kids to this awesome playground....

...but when Stacey and I looked up, the little guys had started their own hike.  We forgot the playground and spent the rest of the afternoon on the trails.

It was super muddy but it didn't slow these guys down at all.  Alex did walk for half an hour holding his pants up, though!

The next day found us enjoying the carousel at Grapevine Mills.

Good times!

And a little lunch at Cici's afterward.  Reid wasn't impressed.

My kids were a little more excited, but not about taking more pictures.

That afternoon we visited another park to feed the ducks.  Alex was really into his throwing form!

Ben had some nice throws, too.

We did a little paddleboating, but I realized it's much more fun with another pair of legs to help with the paddling.  Kids have it easy on this ride. 

We went back to the original hiking park on the next day to have more time to wander through the trails and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Picnic lunch at the top!  I was amazed that this reserve is tucked into the massive metroplex because it had beautiful hills and a clear stream running through the middle.

All the boys were happy to take a break at the stream and throw rocks.

We always have to get a bathtub picture of the cousins together (as long as they can fit in the same tub, anyway) and this was the best of the night.

My favorite outtake...

And then back to business...

Aunt Stacey had some awesome mustaches but I could only convince two of the three to try them on.  It went perfectly with Ben's darth vader 'stache t-shirt.

After a little more fun together, it was time to head home and welcome Daddy home and finish out the break.

We enjoyed a fantastic crawfish boil with some of our great neighbors and Ben and Austin watched the little guys before they went into the big pot.  Yum.

Saturday morning was Alex's first scrimmage and first day to wear a real t-ball uniform.  Look at our handsome guy!

Ben loves to "coach" his little brother.  Alex was getting some tips in the dugout.

It was a wonderful break!  So nice to throw the routine aside, play, and enjoy some family time.  Now we're into t-ball games and the home stretch of the school year.

School Events

It seems like I've been to one or both of the boys' schools for something every day this week!  Lots of fun things going on in the 4 to 6-year old crowds.

Ben's school had a first grade "reading restaurant", which was very cute and I was so proud of all the work Ben had done.

The classroom was decorated as a restaurant and each kid had written out a custom menu of all the things he would read.  Ben read me three books and then one he'd written and illustrated himself.  He's worked hard on his reading this year and I love seeing how much progress he's made!

The next day was Alex's rodeo day.  It was in the youth building of the church this year so the lighting was a bit interesting and the parents had to take pictures of the rodeo activities and races from upstairs.

 

Alex's class with Miss Heather.  Love the huge hole in Alex's jeans that exploded that day so his entire knee is hanging out in this picture.

The following day it was back to Ben's school twice, first to read to the class (one of my favorite activities!) and then a few hours later for his school fun run.  I had my doubts about this one but they had a DJ out there playing music and getting the kids to run, skip, race and tag, so it was actually really fun.  Plus, it was a gorgeous sunny day so I was (almost) inspired to run with him.

Ben was fired up before the run kicked off.

The track was 1/16th of a mile and the kids kept track of how many laps they had run by tick marks on the back of their t-shirts.

He started off really strong but a few dozen laps later, this guy was worn out!

I was proud of this guy for his 23 laps.  More than I could have run :)

A few older pictures off my phone...

Ben lost a filling last week and had to go to the dentist.  He was then referred to a pediatric dentist who recommended two crowns due to the shape and position of his fillings so we wouldn't keep having the same problem.  He was pretty upset, so what better way to cheer a kid up than a huge slab of cookie cake?  (and later he asked me "what's a crown?"  He just knew he didn't want it)

At the third appointment of the week, this time at 7am, both kids were pretty thrilled to play on the train in the waiting room.  Ben had to be sedated for his dental work and he drank his solution then played till he was about to fall over.  Right when he was slowing down, they took him back, fixed him up, and he was a new guy once he woke up.  I was relieved that he was never in pain after it was over and the experience was as easy as possible.  (and in a slightly ironic note - just a few days later, we discovered his first adult tooth coming in BEHIND his baby tooth, which isn't the slightest bit loose.  Looks like we'll be back at the dentist again soon!)

Alex was proud of his baseball cap and asked for this cute picture one day.  Love this guy!

Alex has a take-home reader and homework worksheet each week.  He's usually pretty happy to read and do the work, but last week he was in no mood for it.  Lucky for him, Ben was home and willing to be talked into doing his brother's homework.  I probably should have stepped in but I was happy that Ben was being so helpful and that Alex had such good negotiation skills!

Honesty

Alex and I were headed into a restaurant for lunch.

Me:  Will you be on your best behavior while we're in there?

Alex:  Yes ma'am!  I'll be good.

Me:  Thank you.

Alex:  But I'll be even better if you let me play on your phone.

Rodeo Time

We love a good small-town rodeo in Texas!

 

 We enjoyed a great night at the rodeo watching the cowboys ride bulls and broncos.

 

The kids were reluctant to join in the stick horse race in the arena but I forced them to get in on the fun.

 Once they were lined up with all the other kids under the big lights they were pretty excited.

One child was so excited that he made a second lap long after everyone else had called it quits!

 The boys proudly displayed their participant ribbons.

 It was an action-packed evening and someone couldn't even stay awake for the 10-minute drive home!

 

The boys are both doing great at t-ball practice, but Alex was more interested in the dirt yesterday.  When his attention wasn't needed on the ball, he was parked on his bottom filling his glove with dirt.

Fast forward a few minutes and he has gathered four other kids to play the same game.  What can I say...BOYS!!

Valentines and T-ball

We started celebrating Valentines day a bit early by visiting a nearby strawberry farm.  It was fun picking our own berries, but even more fun dipping them in chocolate and eating way too many of them!  The kids enjoyed the farm but liked the big dirt pile better than the strawberry picking.

 On the actual day, the kids woke up to some treats and a day full of parties.

Ben's party was first thing in the morning so I had to take Alex, too.  They both had a lot of fun and the hit of the party was the photo booth with fun accessories for the pictures.  Ben took some cute pictures on the official school camera but by the time I took a few for my own keeping, he was pouting that I wasn't going to take him home with me (at 9:30am...no way!).  Is this not the saddest BFF picture ever??

Alex's party was at the end of his school day so after many cookies he made a little craft and it was time to go.

This was my favorite valentine!  translation:  Hi Mom, I luv you so much.  Do you wunt to be my valin tine? Circle yes or no (conveniently, yes was already circled).  Definitely a keeper.

Both boys are playing t-ball this year.  Alex is on a 4-5 year old team and Ben is on a 6-year old team.  I'm glad his birthday falls just after the cut-off for age so that he can play t-ball one more year because it's really making sense to him this time around.  We will be busy running these boys to their practices and games!  So far they've mostly overlapped, which means Matt is coaching Ben's team and I'm taking Alex to his practice.  It is pretty hysterical watching a bunch of 4- and 5-year olds learning the game...and his team doesn't seem to want to listen so there are lots of moms yelling at their kids from the stands.  Should make for a fun season!

Alex has been so excited to be on his own team and get to practice.  He's been paying attention and showing lots of enthusiasm for trying to catch balls (ie. fighting other kids to beat them to the ball).  The first time he hit off the tee, he promptly went to catch his own ball and throw it to first.  Love my little slugger!

 

 

But, if practice goes a little long, count on this guy to check out and pass the time playing with a zipper or something else handy.

At home, Blue and Mario are still the favorite activity and those birds get more attention than most, I'm sure.  Here's the happy gang...

Eat More Spinach!

Phone Pictures

We haven't done much out of the ordinary lately and it doesn't seem like I've taken many pictures at all.  Both kids are about to start t-ball and have many school parties and events coming up so I'm sure this photo lull will pass quickly.  In the meantime, here are my favorite random pictures from the past few weeks.


Ben has taken to sleeping without a shirt in this warm weather.  This night was particularly funny because he looked posed and extremely uncomfortable.

Alex was determined to build the birds a new house and forced them to "love" it....

...I think trapped would be more likely to describe how they felt but Alex was proud that they stayed for a while.  As though they had a choice.

We enjoyed another beautiful warm day by visiting the water wall again.

Afterwards, we stopped for a little gelato at the Galleria.

For dinner we tried a new barbeque place and enjoyed more lovely weather and a beautiful sunset.

This was the best smile I could coax out of my little clown.

The birds haven't missed out on our lovely spring-like weather.  They've had a few field trips to the trampoline and love climbing on the net.  (and relax - their wings are clipped!  no escaping this big cage)

Alex was practicing his mad gymnastics skills before class this week.  I'm not sure I have the muscles for this move.

I wanted to get a picture of their crazy car track (and how they never seem to play with toys the way they're designed - notice the "ramp" made of a gear panel) but instead ended up with a sweet shot of the brothers.  These guys really love each other.