Mosquitoes

The mosquitoes have been out of control the last few days. We had a lot of rain at the end of last week and they have been really bad ever since. Isabella is some kind of mosquito magnet. I think she has at least 15 bites right now and it seems like she has new ones constantly, even though we have not been outside. Some how they are getting in and going after her.

I told her tonight that those mosquitoes just really like her. She replied, with great conviction, "I just wish those nasty mosquitoes would quit licking me!" I had to laugh.

Can I have it?

Zach has started saying several phrases that are very cute.
"Can I see it?" "Can I have it?" "Can I do it?"

It's not what he's saying but how he says it. He has this way of raising his voice at the end that makes you want to give him whatever it is that he's after. I can't really describe it very well, so we tried to get him to say it on camera. I took a while, but we finally got this clip.

Asleep at the... swing?

Yesterday and today Zach has not been feeling too good. He has a cold or something and has just not been his usual happy self. They went out yesterday to play in the back yard and Zach fell asleep in the swing.

Having Fun

Potty Training

Last week Liza and I worked on potty training with Zach. He hasn't actually gone yet in the potty, but he is starting to figure out at least when he is going.. just not before he has to go. When he got up from his nap the other day, he wanted to sit on the potty. For a long time he was sitting there with his blanket over his head, but pulled it off right before Liza got the picture. I thought the look on his face captures his feelings pretty well.

And this, I think, is what he thinks he should wear while sitting on the pot. :-)

Another of Zach's favorites

Here's another of Zach's favorite videos. He loves to watch it... along with "Sliding Doggies" and "hahaha" which we've posted before. I hope you enjoy it as much as he does...

x-rays

In my "daddy weekend" post I mentioned that Zach got stepped on in the bounce house on Saturday. That day when he got up from his nap, he stood up and fell over. I picked him up and he said, "my foot feel funny." He was limping on it pretty bad, so I took him over to Andy's to have him look at him. He examined his foot and thought it was just bruised, but said to keep and eye on it. By Monday, he was limping even more and only putting weight on his heel. So, we took him to the hospital on Tuesday for x-rays and a visit with a pediatric orthopedist. We spent the whole morning there and got to see several pictures of his foot and leg. In the end they said they thought it was a sprain and not a fracture. We're still keeping an eye on him, but he seems to be getting better. We'll keep you up to date on his progress.

Bluebonnets

2 weekends ago, Marti from our new parents class took pictures after church with the bluebonnets nearby. She got some great pictures of the kids. These are full size, so if you click them you can see or download the full size picture.

It was pretty bright, so Isabella had a hard time not squinting. But, once she figured out how to keep from squinting, Marti got some really good pictures.



Zach, however, was not interested in the least. Isabella tried to chase to him down for a picture...

Daddy Weekend

This weekend Liza had her annual "girls weekend" with her friends Nancy and Angie. It has also, by default, become the annual "Daddy weekend" for me and the kids. This year we had a lot of fun. On Friday night, we had "movie night" and had a great time watching "Toy Story" while eating popcorn. The kids had never seen it before and really liked it. Zach now wants a "Buzz Lightyear" and Isabella is concerned for her toy's feelings when she is not playing with them.
On Saturday we went to "American Hero's day" at Camp Maybury here in Austin. They had a fair with lots of food and stuff to do with the kids. They bounced in the bounce house, which was fun for Isabella, but Zach got stepped on and didn't last long. We saw the ponies and wanted to ride, but the line was about 3 weeks long, so even the kids decided it wasn't worth waiting for. They had lots of equipment out that you could look at too. They really loved the helicopters. Isabella got in a life flight helicopter, but Zach wanted to go to the green one.

Here are Zach and Belle in the cockpit of a working military chopper.




They also had a little "train" there, but it got too late and once again the line was too long. So, I took them home for naps and when they got up, we went down to Zilker park to ride the Zilker Zephyr. It's a 25min train ride around the park. They were SO excited about riding on it and going under the bridges and through the tunnel. Here is a little video I shot on my phone of the ride. The quality isn't great, but you can hear how excited Isabella was. Zach was too, but he knew the camera was on and didn't want to talk.

After the train ride we went to Sonic and wrapped up the night with a fun meal and a shared banana split. They went to bed when we got home with no arguments either. I think they really enjoyed the day. I know I did. Today we went to church and then out to eat with our friends Andy and Ashley at Rudys. The kids had fun, but they are happy to have their mom back home.

Extraction

Today Liza was rocking Zach for his nap when she spied something blue in his nose. The night before last he went to bed with a blue band aid on his chin and when he got up it was missing. We figured it was in the sheets somewhere or behind the bed. Not so. Liza went to try to find some tweezers, but went to the garage and got a pair of needle nose pliers. I laid him down on the hood of Liza's car, grabbed the blue corner and popped it right out. He said, "Ow! That hurt my nose!" I told him if he is going to go sticking things up his nose, then it is going to hurt. :-)


I took him back up stairs to go back to rocking when Liza spied something else. I figured it was just snot, but I got the pliers again. Out came a small green smiley faced sticker. Nice. I then went and got a flashlight so I could look closely to make sure nothing else was lodged up there... nothing so far.

Movies

Many of you know that we shot 2 movies over the last weekend and the start of this week. They were very ambitious... and some of the more difficult films we've taken on as a team. It was a challenge, but we got it done and what we got looks really amazing. Here is a timelapse we set up on the first night of the set up. We started at 6pm and wrapped up around 7am. The time lapse covers about the first 2 and a half hours of setup. You can see two of the super bright lights we had. The brightest one is behind another house shining down. You can tell how big it was by how much "moonlight" it casts on the houses. There was a rumor going around the neighborhood that Disney was shooting a film there. Funny. :-) You can see the neighbors gathered across the street at the end watching. They were there until about 1am then all was quiet.

Zach's Birthday Party

On Saturday we had Zach's big 2nd birthday bash. He had friends and family over and so did we, so there were plenty of people in and out of the house. Thanks to Brad and Judith for loaning us the bounce house. It was a big hit!

Here is Zach coming out of the bounce house.

Emily watched from the slide as the kids bounced and played.

Here Katie looks like she's trapped...

Zach's cake was very tasty...

Here is a video of the "happy birthday" song and him blowing out his candles.

He really really wanted to grab a handful.

He got his chance on the back porch.

That is a happy face!

After that was present time. He got a Mr. Potato head from our friends Dan & Kristy.

He got this crazy light up soft ball from his Nonny & Papasito.

And a very popular soccer ball from Matt & Haley. Plus, lots of other gifts that he has really enjoyed playing with. Thanks to everyone!

After the party, Zach and Katie wound down, and up and down again on the swings. They had a great time.

Zach's Birthday presents

On the day of Zach's birthday, we opened presents from family that wouldn't be able to come to his party on Saturday and from us. He had a great time opening presents. Here is opening one from Liza's parents, Grammie and Papa.

He got cars from his Aunt LaDawn which he was very happy about...

And a bike helmet from Mom & Dad. I was happy about that... now he won't run around in Isabella's pink one anymore. :-)

I also got him some new trains and a bunch of new "road" track for his Thomas trains.


He was really excited about that. Here's another little video of him playing with the trains.

Later, we went to Chuck-e-cheese to have dinner and celebrate. It was Zach's first time there and he and Isabella had a great time playing on all the rides and games and then picking out "prizes" at the end with the tickets they collected. All in all it was a great birthday!

Dentist

On Thursday, which was Zach's birthday, Isabella had her first dental appointment. We brush her teeth every night and talk about it quite a bit, so she was prepared to go. When she got there, she did really great. Sarah, a friend of ours from church, is a pediatric dentist, so we took Isabella to see her. Here are some pictures of her while she got x-rays, fluoride treatment and her teeth cleaned. She did great through all of it.


Here is a little movie that Liza took while they were cleaning her teeth.

After Isabella was done, Zach climbed up in the chair. Sarah asked him if he wanted to get his teeth done too, and he said yes. What better way to celebrate your 2 year birthday? He got in the seat and let them fully clean his teeth without complaint. Here are a couple of pictures from his time in the dentist chair.

New look

With the hanging of the curtains that Liza made, we have completed the makeover of our living room. Here you can see the old... it looked, well, collegiate, but it got us through.

Here is the new look with new furniture, curtains and lamps.

Happy Birthday Zach!

Zach turned 2 this morning. I went out and got him a really big "hot wheels" balloon along with a couple of small ones. Isabella carried them in to his room this morning and his eyes lit up. We then sang happy birthday to him and he danced around clapping and singing. I can't believe he is two already! His party will be this weekend. I'll put some more pictures up as we get them.

"We need to put this on the blog!"

I heard much laughing on Sunday coming from the other room. I was wondering what was going on when I heard Isabella say, "We need to put this on the blog!" So, I got the camera and got a picture. You would have thought we had gone to Disney World with all the laughing and that was going on. :-)

Camping

The last weekend of March, we went camping about an hour from Austin 3 other families from our New Parents class at church. We had a lot of fun with everyone and the kids really had a great time.

We had a little tent city.
Zach had fun helping to set up the tents.

Zach took a face plant while we were cooking. He skinned up his chin and nose pretty good.

But he got over it pretty quickly. Here he was enjoying the mustard as much as the hotdogs.

Liza with Zach and baby Katherine.

The next morning we had breakfast tacos. We also discovered that someone stole our brand new cooler that we had brought along. Later we talked to a park ranger and he said they took it to a restroom and spread the condiments that were inside all over the walls. We didn't get it back, but we did get the sippy cups back that were inside, so that was good.

Here are Zach and Dianna enjoying breakfast.

Isabella and Elizabeth (who had the birthday party with the ponies) had fun too.

Bailey climbed up a tree and Zach wanted to "get up there too," so I lifted him up so he could be in the tree. He was very excited about it.