May the force be with you

Ezra loves both Angry Birds and Star Wars these days. The blanket is a long story, but let's just say he found an early Christmas present hiding in the closet at one of his grandparents' house. He was so enamored with the blanket that he immediately attached himself to it, forsaking his beloved "fuzzy blanket" (which the same grandparents gave him when he was born). Sad day. Anyway, I caught some photos of him playing Angry Birds Star Wars (did you know that existed? Ezra did...when he found it in the app store.) and wearing Yoda Blanket, which he can't sleep without these days. 

Take that, rewind it back

Kind of hard to update what all has been going on in our lives in just a few blog posts, but I had a little extra time while I'm working on the 3rd session slideshow, so here it is. A rewind of the past few months.

In May Chad's work sent him to a national nursing conference in Boston. I tagged along. It was so fun to visit a part of the country we had never been to before! I did some sightseeing on my own, and I can't remember what some of these pictures are, but here you go. This was in Boston Commons. It was a memorial to the Boston Massacre victims, but the site was elsewhere (and I took pictures on my phone, which I have not uploaded, so just google "Boston Massacre Site" and you can see it).

 The Boston Public Garden was BEAUTIFUL. Just FYI though, there might be a lady from Turkey wanting to borrow your phone to call her family back home.

 The sculpture honoring the book "Make Way for Ducklings." I should read that to my kids. We have it at home.

 The only picture Chad and I took together, even though we were with friends the whole time. Not the best, but oh well. Here we are at the Granary Burial Ground. One of my favorite sights.

 Lots of dead folks. FAMOUS dead folks, though!

 This guy's name was Ezra. See, we didn't make it up after all! And it's not just from the Bible!

 Peter Faneuil--the guy whose family Faneuil Hall was named after

 Look at all the people in this one spot! They just dug up the dirt and put another body in there every time someone died. The information said that at one point, it was a pretty gross place, and bodies were resurfacing. Ewwww

 Samuel Adams.

 Mother Goose's grave had bird poop on it. Definition of irony. Although anyone from Lubbock can tell you that is NOT goose poop.

 Paul Revere's grave.

We also went to the Old State House, a bunch of good places to eat, did the freedom trail, the USS Constitution, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. It was a fun, whirlwind trip right before we left for Blue Haven!

Day at the zoo

If this posts twice, sorry. For some reason the post didn't show up. For Christmas my sister's family gave Ezra and Ivy a trip to the Ft. Worth zoo, so we took them up on it a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and Ezra and Ivy both loved their first zoo experience. 

Ezra with Kellen and Bonnie with the giraffes behind them

 Ivy loved it too...I felt bad because once I got her out of the stroller she went crazy about the animals. Wish I had gotten her out sooner!

 Ezra, Kellen, Bonnie, and Noelle

So I thought it would take a really long time to get through the zoo, but once Ezra figured out that there was another cool animal just around the corner from the one we were currently looking at, all we heard was "let's go see another one!" He thought it was great. Thanks Erin and Josh for the fun day!

Superkids

Ezra has loved going to superkids on Tuesday and Thursday and only has one more year before he's off to kindergarten! Here are a few things he has been up to this year at superkids...

Around valentine's day they have a party and each class sings a couple songs for "parent's chapel." Here is where Ezra spots us sitting in the audience...

 And here he is singing "My God is so big"

 The three-year-olds took a field trip to Dion's, a pizza place here in town, and I accompanied.

 They got to go in the back and watch the huge mixer make the dough

 Then they all stood in line and got to put pepperonis on a pizza. Ezra was scared of the lady who was making the pizza so I had to walk with him to put his pepperonis on.

 Mmmmm

 Ezra's sweet little friends at their Easter egg hunt

 The end of year program was "It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Superkids!" It was so cute. Funny story though. We went out to eat before the program and Ezra had a lot of lemonade. We forgot to take him to the bathroom before the program, so by the time he got up there he was doing this little dance. There was no mistaking that he needed to go...BAD. I was up front taking pictures/video and got him down from there as fast as possible afterwards. He looked so cute in his little batman outfit and he did all the songs and moves while dancing and holding his knees together. :)

You can see in this one that he is looking down...making sure he's not wetting his pants.

Snow day

600th post! Ivy is 16 months

This post is all about Ivy. Poor second child. I should be better about updating for Ivy because I am the second child and I know what it's like for your parents to not have any stories about you! (Yes, mom and dad, you know it's true).

Ivy is 16 months and is so happy, fun, funny, and opinionated.

Morning bedhead

 This is embarrassing. Both the amount of toys and the look of pure excitement on her face.

 The best word I can use to describe this child is mischievous. She gets into anything she can. Just yesterday she ate macaroni out of the trash can, splashed her hands in the toilet, and pulled a plug cover off in the span of about an hour. She keeps me on my toes, for sure.

 First pigtails...so cute!

 Ivy loves her uncle Josh. She went to him at church when we were visiting my mom and fell asleep on him. That never happens.

 The girls

 See? Mischief.

 She was having fun with Bonnie at mom's house.

At 16 months Ivy is just barely starting to walk. She has taken a step here and there and there have been about 3 times where she has taken 4-6 steps. She has to be in the mood and even then she is very cautious. We are just glad she is thinking about it! Good grief! I was hoping by the time we got to Blue Haven she'd be a walking expert but I don't think that is going to happen.

Ivy is a people person. She will go to pretty much anyone. She does prefer Chad or me, and cries when we leave her places, but calms down quickly. She signs "more" constantly and it sounds like she is saying "each" which maybe she is trying to say eat. The point is, the girl likes to eat. It's kind of a gamble as to what she will eat on a regular basis, and when she gets full she throws everything on the floor and makes a huge mess. But don't worry, I just leave it on the floor and she eats it later when she gets hungry again. Just kidding...kind of.

Other words Ivy says...mommy, daddy, boo, ball, duck...not many words that I can understand yet. She points to her nose when we ask and says "moo" when asked what a cow says. But she also says "moo" for pretty much every other animal. :)

Ivy is a good sleeper and goes to bed early--before 7 pm. I love this because it gives me some time with just Ezra in the evenings if Chad is at work. She wakes up around 7 as well and is mostly down to one afternoon nap.

She is just so full of joy and we love her sooo much! Sorry Ivy, I will try to post more updates about you so that I can remember how fun you were at this age.

Ezra at almost 4 (45 months)

Things have been pretty good in Ezra-world the last few months. He is definitely growing up and gaining a lot of independence. He always dresses himself, puts his own shoes on, etc. 

I think I've probably mentioned before that Ezra stopped napping a few months back and in its place we have implemented "quiet time on the couch" where Ezra gets to watch a couple TV shows or play on my phone. Many times this means that Chad or I get a nap on the couch as well while Ezra is having quiet time (it coincides with Ivy's nap). I thought this was sweet--Ezra was awake but snuggling with his sleepy daddy.

 In his superkids class they were talking about dinosaurs and made "fossils" using plastic dinosaur figurines and play-doh. It was a great idea and he re-created it for weeks afterwards.

 Just playing on the playground at our neighborhood elementary school. Sidenote: every time we drive by that school, Ezra says "That's my new school!" Okay son, you don't have to sound so excited about starting kindergarten over a year from now. Settle down.

 When the camera is out to take a picture of the little sister, big brother has to do something "zany" to get a picture taken of him.

 What? He grabbed the broom out of my hand!

 Proud moment--Ezra wrote his name for the very first time! He loves to write words and draw.

 Fun times out to eat as a family

 A lion. I thought it was pretty good!

 Painting with daddy

 House is dusty, but that just means more opportunities to catch the dust bunnies in the light. This reminds me that he is also very into shadows right now and making shadow animals with his hand.

 Still loves puzzles and was proud when he finished this one.

 Just some candids of my sweet boy.