Goin' for a Walk

One day in March when the weather was really nice, we decided to go for a walk around the creek that runs near our house. We took the wagon, but it didn't take long before Piper wanted out. Wyatt likes to ride though.

My sweet, silly guy.

You can see his banged up chin in this picture. He decided to try jumping from the coffee table to the fireplace in our living room - and didn't quite make it! Instead he landed on the floor and slammed his chin on the hearth. Even with a thick blanket covering the bricks, he still managed to cut a gash in his chin. It had to have glue (the modern day stitches). I can't remember if this was before or after he fell about a week later on the driveway and reopened the cut. Fortunately he managed to let it heal the second time around, but I'm sure he'll have a scar to keep.

Ben made sure to stay close (so she wouldn't go swimming), but Piper was determined to walk on her own the whole time.

Looking for bugs (Lila's main reason for wanting to go to the creek).

Wyatt wanted out of the wagon when we found a field of "flowers" (weeds). It's nice to have lazy Sunday afternoons like this!

Mini Vacation

Back in February over President's Day weekend, we decided to take a little mini family vacation and go see some local attractions we hadn't been to before: the Legoland Discovery Center, SeaLife Aquarium and Ft. Worth Zoo. We didn't tell the kids where we were going until we got there! They were excited.

Legoland (which is what I will call it even though it was a smaller "discovery center") had a bunch of things to do inside, but the space was fairly small. Here you could build your own Lego car and then race it down the ramp. 

There were three rides. When you first enter you are given a little explanation on how Legos are made, then you are immediately in line to ride the first ride - a laser tag type ride where you can shoot guns at targets while you ride a car in the dark. So we didn't go back and do that ride because it was always busy. And I didn't take pictures because I was too busy shooting targets (plus it was too dark). The 2nd ride was little cars that you could drive around a track. Neither Wyatt nor Lila were brave enough to ride those (and Ben and I were too big). BUT, the third ride was a winner. It was a two-seater with pedals. The faster you pedaled, the higher your seats would rise as you went around. This is the best picture I could get of Ben and Lila (I just used the camera on my phone). She also rode it with me twice. We couldn't get Wyatt to try it though.

Meanwhile, Piper was having fun in the Lego pit. 

"Can't go over it? Then I guess I'll just have to go under it!"

Second time to ride!

This was probably Wyatt's favorite area too.

Piper decided she needed to gather up all the windows.

Legoland also had a 4D movie theater... where in addition to the 3D glasses, we also got misted with water or "snow" during different parts of the movie. We watched both movies they had (about 12 min. each).

Legoland had a small miniature city with several Dallas landmarks. It was neat to see. Every few minutes the overhead lights would dim, so we could see the city at night!

Here Lila is standing next to downtown Dallas, so you can see the scale.

Finally, right before we were about to leave, we convinced Wyatt to give the ride a try. You can tell he isn't so sure in this picture, but he enjoyed it once it was over! :)

We ate lunch before heading over to the Aquarium. Everyone enjoyed this too, but by far, Lila had the most fun of all the kids. She loves animals and asked all kinds of questions about the various creatures we saw.

This little bubble was under one of the fish tanks.

This picture is kind of hard to see because it was so dark, but Piper is laying flat on the floor looking through the window. We were above the large tank which had some sharks in it.

Looking through an aquarium.

Toward the end, there was a pool where you could reach in and touch some starfish.

Piper could have stayed in the water forever!

To continue the adventure (and decrease our driving), we decided to stay in a hotel that night since we were planning to go to the zoo in Ft. Worth the next day (which was pretty close to where we were already.) I didn't take any pictures at the hotel. We made sure to pick one that had a pool, so we could swim. The water was so COLD even though it was inside. We didn't swim long... ok, I didn't even get all the way in... that's what dads are for :) Everyone did a pretty good job settling down and once asleep, we slept all night long. 

The next day we went to the zoo. The weather was perfect - sunny and in the low 70s. Again, Lila loved the zoo. Piper did too, but mostly because she could get down and run!

One of the favorite things we did at the zoo was feed the birds.

Here's the moment the bird finally came over to her feeder. I had to hold her up to get her a little closer to the birds, so I took this picture by holding my phone out.

Wyatt also got a turn to feed the birds.

Taken with my DSLR. I love his bright little cheek. God is so creative!

I wish I remembered what this was called. Some weird type of eel I think - with lots of teeth. I took this through a window, or I would not have been that close! :)

This guy was sun-bathing right outside the food court where we ate lunch. I'm lucky the zoo employees keep their windows so clean!

This was Piper trying to pull Lila off, so she could have a turn "riding" the kangaroo!

Waiting for Piper to pet the goat before we moved on to the next exhibit.

Petting the goat (with Daddy's help).

Group shot!

Near the petting zoo there was a shoot 'em laser tag type game you could pay to do. We didn't pay, but Wyatt and Piper enjoyed pretending :)

When we were done at the zoo, we went home. It was a great little get-away!

Olympic Fun

We've been battling colds this week... by we, I mean Wyatt and myself. Wyatt, poor guy, has had it the worst since he's had fever and a cough. I've just been congested. I took him to the doctor today, and they ruled out strep and the flu (which has been going around). So we just have to wait it out. Sick days mean stay at home days, yet somehow my house doesn't get any cleaner when we have to stay home. Hmm... perhaps that's because even though Wyatt is content to lay on the couch, Piper is content to pull everything out. 

Speaking of Piper, today she said "okay" instead of "otay" for the first time. I'm not sure yet if that was a fluke, or if it means she's going to start pronouncing her Cs and Ks now. For the most part she speaks in full sentences, but has a few sounds she hasn't mastered yet... including R and L. She can say words that start with L like Lila but flash is "fwash". And a fork is a foke :) We've also noticed in the past week or so that she has started to show a preference for the color pink.

Anyway, about a month ago Wyatt had an Olympic day at school. They had their own Olympic games including a medal ceremony, followed by a pizza lunch.

The Olympics started with an Opening Ceremony where the kids entered the gym with the torch they had made.

After singing the National Anthem, they were divided up into teams of four - two kids from each class. Their badge color indicated which team they were on. Wyatt is sitting next to Samuel, the other boy from his class. During the Anthem singing, I had to strap Piper into the stroller, as she made it very clear she wasn't going to stay with our group otherwise!

There were six stations: the long jump, shot-put (with bean bags), discus (with foam frisbees pictured here), a catapult (no not a real Olympic event but the kids enjoyed it), a relay race (made more fun with scooters) and the balance beam. We spent 3 minutes at each station and rotated through the stations twice. Discus was our third station, and it was at this point that Wyatt's teacher brought Piper some toys to play with while she watched.

Here are a couple of Wyatt's throwing stances! This was probably his favorite station. We were in the hallway for this, and the little foam frisbees would bounce off the walls and go pretty far.

I took a picture of the two of them together while Wyatt waited for his turn at the next station. (He is holding a paper baton for the relay race.)

Wyatt also enjoyed the scooters.

The balance beam was challenging for all the boys in our group.

Standing in front of the wall of flags that the kids made.

I love Wyatt's smiles :)

After they finished the games, they had an awards ceremony. Everyone came up when their name was called to get their medal and shake the teacher's hand.

Wyatt's class waiting during the medal ceremony.

Random picture I took of Piper :)

Wyatt's teacher had asked if I would make some Olympic rings cookies to go with lunch. They turned out really well! I used candy melts for the first time at Wyatt's birthday party, and they are so easy. They worked great for the rings on these cookies.

Wyatt's class

(Teacher is on the left; assistant teacher on the right)

Holding his torch and wearing his medal!

Two Years

Well, I was listening to my little girl chattering away today, and I don't know why but I thought "I need to get some pictures of her at this age." I have a picture of Wyatt and Lila at age two, but when Piper turned two in December, there just wasn't time on the schedule for a trip to the Target portrait studio (where we normally go). So here they are - her "official" two year pics... no waiting to get to a studio... let's just go out on the back patio. It's worked for us before. 

I told her she could bring along "Tay Bear" as she calls him. It looks like this little furry friend is going to be her George... he goes EVERYWHERE with her. She looks kind of indignant in this picture, but I think I just caught her talking. She talks constantly. Not all of her sounds are correct yet, but that just adds to the cuteness :) Like today when she tried to squeeze through the dining room chair, and I heard, "Mommy! Me tuck! Help me! Me tuck!" (She got herself free before I could assist - or get my camera!)

So sweet.

This is one happy camper. I mean, she can be so (very) stubborn sometimes and gets upset occasionally when she doesn't get her way, but in general, her mood is always happy. Happy when she wakes up, happy in the car when we take Lila and Wyatt to school and back, happy as she chatters constantly around the house, happy when it's bedtime. 

Just happy!

This is the face I get if I ask her to smile.

This bucket has been a great photo prop... not sure I'll be able to squeeze her in there next year though :)