Texas, Part 1 (Houston sights)

OK.  Here it goes.  I'm going to break our trip up into multiple posts, since it was nearly 2 weeks of photos and events.  (I can do this, I can do this...)  First, the plane ride there was horrible!  Mostly because we drove down to Salt Lake City, where they were having a blizzard and half of the flights were cancelled.  Ours was still a go, but we sat on the plane for 1.5 hours before leaving the gate, so we were about out of tricks and snacks by the time we were airborne, and it was nearly impossible to contain an 18-month old in one seat for 4 hours.  I think both kids loved the idea of the airport and airplane though.

The kids were excited to be staying with Uncky Dan and Aunt Jenn!  The next day we took it easy at the neighborhood playground, and Owen really enjoyed wearing his shorts and flip flops again.  :)  You can see that he actually just ran around sans shoes since there was so much sand.  Quite a change from our blizzard experience the day before!

That night we headed downtown to see the Houston Zoo Lights.  It was ridiculously humid and warm.  We were all sweaty!  In December!  The zoo looked nice, but most of the animals were asleep or in their dens out of sight, and there were a zillion people there.  Not worth the price of admission, IMHO.

The following day we headed to the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences.  They have a fabulous new dinosaur exhibit!  I think Owen really enjoyed it, since he's learned a lot about dinosaurs from his favorite show, Dinosaur Train.

We also checked out the butterfly center.  (Yes, Hadley sat on some leftover food in her car seat, which gave her a red stain on her white pants!)  Anyway, the butterflies were really cool!

And then we headed to Fung's Kitchen for some dim sum.  Yum!  Owen is a maniac about dumplings, and only dumplings.

Whew, I think that's enough for now.  More soon!

Hadley is One and a Half!

I just had to post on Hadley's 18-month mark!  We're halfway to 2; hard to believe!  I haven't even started on photos from our trip to Texas, so here's a quick pic of H on her new, comfy chair.

Some new things that she picked up in the last month:

• "Muh-ning" - as in good morning when you come to get her out of her crib
• "Tay-Q" - thank you, used appropriately when you give her food
• "No!" and "My" - two words I could have waited longer to hear (no, mine)
• "Naan" - clementine oranges
• "Nigh-nigh" - night night
• "Ho ho" - recognizes Santa
• "Pssh" - pouring sound when she has a play bottle, vacuum, or faucet nearby
• Pointing to her diaper after she poops
• Raising her hands when Owen asks, "Who likes ___?"
• Opening lever-style door handles!  Yikes!  Nothing is safe anymore.
• Building 6-block-high towers.
• Up to 16 teeth now, since her 4 canines finally broke through!
• Her sense of humor is starting to show when she chuckles at books or people.
• Her current favorite book is "Fa La La" (about Christmas), and she knows and comments on several pages (like singing when they sing, sound effects, etc.)

This is a fun age besides travel and discipline.  :)  More to come soon!

Getting in the Holiday Spirit

Happy holidays to all!  We will be spending our time off with family in Texas, so I probably won't be updating the blog until the new year.  Until then, here are a few snippits of us getting into the Christmas spirit over the last month, starting with a lovely frosty/icy covering on all of our plants.

Sibling snowman sweaters

The Festival of Trees

And the first sledding of the season.  Too bad this picture is so blurry!

Owen was super-excited to go, and this was really Hadley's first venture out walking in the snow.  It took her about 3 seconds before she slipped on the ice on our driveway.

She enjoyed brushing off all of the fluffy powder from surfaces, including my snow boots while we were walking.  She was smitten.  At least until she fell down and then tried to wipe her face with her snowy mitten.  

Owen's an old pro at this now.  I even got them to go down together several times.  They both loved it!  (See two heads in the third picture?)

While I was helping Owen with his jacket, we heard an "uh-oh!" from behind.  I turned around to find this poor girl had fallen and she couldn't get up!  But, she was pretty happy down there at least.  :)

And she inspired Owen to create some snow angels.  Another task that he has mastered before age 4.  :)  I think he made about 5 of these in our yard that day.

Owen is 4!

Whew!  The morning started off rough, but an afternoon nap seemed to right the ship just in time for his birthday party.  His favorite TV show is Dinosaur Train, so we went with a dinosaur theme for the party.  There is a lot of stuff out there for dino-lovers, so it was kinda fun to put together.

They hunted for dinosaurs with their names on them (with dinosaur hats and stickered bags in tow),

Pinned the horn on the triceratops,

Dug for dinosaur eggs (inside!),

Smashed a T-Rex pinata,

And ate some dino-themed cuisine (not all pictured).  Now it's time to hibernate!

17 months for Miss H

Just wanted to share some of the things that Hadley is doing at this age now.  She doesn't talk often, but I think she's saying and understanding a lot more than Owen was at this age.  Here's a few off the top of my head...

• "mama", "dada", "uh-oh" - been saying these since at least 11 months
• "raar" - lions and tigers
• "mmm" - cow
• "bah" - book and/or ball
• "den-tull" - gentle, especially regarding cats
• "didduh" - kitty, sounds a lot like gentle - she may be confused since they are usually said together :)
• "ah duh" - all done
• "hi" - hi and bye with an awkward wrist wave
• "hoo hoo" - train
• signing pretty well for "more" and does an arcing hand (like a plane in the air) when she hears a plane outside
• can follow commands like "put that back", "close it", "get the book", etc.
• smiles, shrieks, and runs to the bathroom when we ask if she's ready for a bath
• can build small block towers of 2 or 3 blocks

She will climb into her own free-standing high chair when she's hungry.  And though provided with a spoon and guidance, she still prefers to eat with her hands, even for her cereal and yogurt.

She is currently going through the spastic hand phase, in which her arms flail dangerously when she is excited or angry.  Sometimes the hand contains a book or toy and the recipient can be heard exclaiming, "Hadley, no hitting!"  (Mostly Owen.)

When I was folding laundry the other day, she had actually found two matching pairs of socks and set them aside for me!  This was a surprise because usually she's just pulling everything out of the basket, which I have to ignore so I don't go crazy.  She is kind of obsessed with socks though.

She loves to play Hide And Seek with Owen or peekaboo with anyone.  I prompt her with an exaggerated "Where's Owen?" with my hands out in a questioning pose.  Now she uses that all the time when looking for things.  "Where's Daddy?" (She hid him!)

"Oh, there he is!" Poke, poke.  (She also loves to poke any exposed skin, say between shirt and pants, and giggle.)

She and Owen will go downstairs by themselves and play together.  Sometimes this even goes past 10 minutes without any crying!

And here's a video of them dancing to the Rockettes from the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Note that Owen is really into fake falls these days and asks about a fruit-looper?  Not sure what that was about...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for this year!  For starters, I'm thankful for our general good health and the budding friendship between these two.

Owen is thankful for Halloween candy, the gift that keeps on giving.

Hadley is thankful for shoes.  Every morning when Daddy is getting ready to go to work, she hurries to the mud room to get her own shoes.  I think she wants to go with him. Guess she's thankful for Daddy too! :)

Just had to add this picture of Owen (aka Cool Dude) telling me about his "hypopsis" from the other day. (That's hypothesis, a word he has picked up from his favorite show, "Dinosaur Train.") This one was about why a truck had a camper-top on its bed.

Family Football

We have enjoyed a bit of an Indian summer here in mid-November.  I'm talking it got up to nearly 60 degrees for several days in a row!  We got out in the sunshine for a little walk to the nearby school playground, but the boys spotted a football someone had left behind.  A little game of family football, anyone?

Oh, and then this happened today. :(