Wild Wednesday!

Wednesday was pretty wild!  The boys had a fun day at school, and they got to stop by the Dollar Tree to pick up little toys for the Treasure Chest in Lincoln's room.  He had earned a reward during class, and I happened to be picking him up while he was making his selection.  His sweet teacher said it looked like her prize supply was getting low, so we offered to pick up a bag full of new things for the kids to choose from.  It is so fun to help out the teachers because I know they spend way to much of their own money on things for the kids and the classroom.  They chose stretchy dinosaurs, Slinky's, Play Dough, whistles, Valentine things, and much more.  So fun!  Beau found a few canisters of silly string and was sooooooooo insistent that his teachers needed them.  He told the longest story about how they spray the "soap" on the ceiling before naps so they will have nice sleep and sweet dreams.  I confirmed that this morning when Beau proudly handed them the silly string.  They couldn't believe that he told me that whole story!  (They occasionally play with silly string, but spraying it on the ceiling before naps is just pretend!)  Lincoln's teacher was almost in tears about her bag full of treats.  We love our teachers!  After buying the toys after school on Wednesday, we came home to make dinner and some special cupcakes in robot baking cups!  While all of that was happening, the heater started to make some weird noises.  Daddy and Pops needed to investigate the sound and check out the level of heat coming out.  It was acting pretty strange, so we turned it off and called our favorite repairman.  Since he couldn't come in the evening, we headed to Nana and Pops for a family sleepover!  The boys were so excited, and we definitely took our cupcakes with us!

Mr. Byron gave the heater a full checkup, and all is good now.  Two little handymen were busy with their tools this evening!  I can't even imagine what they were fixing and building, but they were having lots of fun. 

Everyone is ready for a fun Friday and the weekend.  Let's see what all we can come up with to do . . . lots of playing and some nice weather, I hope!

Cookies and Swimming!

Grocery shopping is a family event each weekend, and the boys and Mommy have so much fun at Tom Tom getting our weekly supplies.  Daddy usually hits up Central Market for meat and veggies while we get the staples.  We usually stick to the list without buying random candy/treat things, but Lincoln always begs to get the seasonal pre-made and ready-to-bake cookies.  Mommy is pretty good about not caving to these not yummy cookies by telling him that we will make our own cookies for dessert.  On this Sunday, Lincoln asked for the Valentine's heart cookies.  He received the standard answer that they weren't on the list and that we could make our own delicious cookies at home.  He thought for a second before stating his response:  "Mom, you are going to change your mind that you will want to get these Valentine's heart cookies.  But by the time you change your mind, they won't have Valentine's heart cookies anymore.  You know they change them out, and we will all be sad that we didn't get the Valentine's heart cookies.  So let's just get them today, ok?" 

 

Clearly his logical explanation was too good, and the boys enjoyed Valentine's heart cookies for dessert!!!  (Homemade cookies are still way better, but these smiling faces were too cute!)

Monday evening brought a new semester of swimming lessons, and Beau was very excited to be reunited with Ms. Kerin.  He swam with Ms. Molly last semester, and it was a little less than perfect.  There were a few criers in his class and in the class next to them, so he sometimes caught the crying bug.  He and his two new classmates are the same age and skill level, so the class was really fun.  He did his best swimming ever! 

Lincoln was promoted to the Swimmers class, and he did an awesome job in his first class.  They really work hard on learning technique of the different strokes and swim the entire length of the pool.  The two girls in his class are a little older, but he kept up with them!  Lincoln has always had Ms. Kerin, and she knows how to get the best out of him. 

When we started Mommy and Me swimming with Lincoln, it was super terrifying for him.  The kids doing "real" swimming seemed so old and so good, and it never occurred to me that Lincoln would ever get to that.  There might have been a tear shed by this Mommy that Lincoln is one of those big kids now that is a super swimmer!  Of course, we have Ms. Kerin to thank for always making swimming lessons fun and challenging.  On a super cold January night, the boys spent their time in a warm pool having fun! 

Busy Saturday: Party and Stars Game

After sleeping in a little on a Saturday morning, the boys played and watched a few Mickeys.  Daddy joined us for a picnic lunch, and Lincoln and Beau were so excited!  Sometimes food is way better when not eaten at a table! 

We headed to Fort Worth for Will's 5th birthday party in the afternoon, and Lincoln couldn't get there fast enough.  He kept asking, "How much longer until we get to Houston?"  He was a little confused about our destination but held on to Will's gift with a death grip!  Will and Linc were besties for a few years at Pre-School until his family moved to Fort Worth.  We love getting to see them for special occasions.  Linc was a little shy at first, and Beau acted like he was one of the guys! 

Parties at Pump it Up are always fun!  Lincoln was game for the giant slide right away, but it took Beau a little while to warm up.  He finally needed Daddy to climb up with him to figure it out.  The guys were supposed to go together, but Lincoln couldn't wait and Beau followed so Daddy had slide by himself . . . I wonder who was the most scared!!!!   

One trip with Daddy was all it took for Beau, and he never looked back.  He climbed up after Lincoln over and over to slide so many times.  They mostly loved to slide on their tummies but occasionally slid on their backs while holding hands.  The next activity room had different things to do, and Lincoln loved the simulated soccer.  He and Beau were silly in a bounce house, and they took a break to build a dog house out of random blocks.   They loved their pizza snack and cake, the party favors were a super hit!  They sucked on their ring pops all the way back from Fort Worth!

We needed to grab dinner and tried out a BBQ place just name one of the top 5 in Dallas.  Lockhart's Smokehouse did not disappoint!  The boys loved the smoked turkey, and the brisket and jalapeno mac & cheese was superb!  Yummy dinner! 

It seems like after the excitement of a birthday party and a dinner in a new place would be enough for a Saturday, but we had tickets to the Stars hockey game.  That is a real treat for the boys, and they think hockey games are super cool.  Uncle Matt hooked us up with awesome seats just 15 rows off the glass, and the Stars scored three times!!!!  I'm pretty sure Lincoln's favorite part is the 7-11 Slurpee blimp (hot air balloon, according to him) that floats above us and shoots out Slurpee coupons.  He tried so hard to catch a coupon!!!! 

I mentioned that the seats were great, and I mean that!  It was easy to get into the action by being so close.  Beau loved to point out that they green shirt guys were the real hockey players because they had on his same shirt! 

We took a few selfies:  Mommy and the boys, Daddy and Linc, and Mommy and super sleepy Beau.  We got them Slurpees from the 7-11 stand (after they asked 1 Million times), and that kept Lincoln super busy.  Beau was just too worn out from the busy day to get too active.  He almost fell asleep but fought hard to keep his eyes open.   

So we didn't catch a Slurpee coupon from the 7-11 blimp, but Mommy snagged a $25 coupon from the Choctaw Casino blimp!  (I hope Nana and Pops will have good luck and win big with that!)  Lincoln was so proud that Mommy caught one!  We had such a fun family day, and everyone was super tired.  Days like this are the BEST! 

Fun Friday!!!

After a busy week, it is finally Home Day Friday!  We love to have Fridays at home to just play and hang out.  We slept in, watched a little Mickey, played picnic, got out to buy a birthday gift for Will, had a yummy lunch, and played store.  When it was finally time for a rest, we layed out the sleeping bags and watched Monsters University.  Two sweet little boys stayed quiet and still . . . how often does that happen?!?!  

A trip to Hobby Lobby was next because we needed supplies for our Sunday School craft.  We're making scrolls, and there was lots of explaining to do about what a scroll is.  They actually think that scrolls are kind of neat . . . until someone gets stabbed in the eye by a wooden dowel.  We will handle our scroll with care!  Next up was our last swimming lesson of the semester, and the boys have learned so much.  They happily collected their awards after class.  Lincoln was super excited to show his blue ribbon and new water bottle! 

Beau was loving his ribbon and bottle as well, but he was a little too excited to hold them still - or look at Mommy!  We can't wait to drink from our new water bottles.  Really?  That's all it takes to make a kids day . . . a ribbon and a water bottle?  No more expensive toys around here!!!! 

For some reason that I'm sure I can't explain, we stopped for Slurpees on the way home from dinner.  They convinced me that they did super great at swimming and ate a delicious and nutritious dinner (pineapples, chicken quesadillas, and rice), so we HAD to get Slurpees.  Sure enough, we stopped for Slurpees even though it's in the 30s here . . . it's warm in the car though!  Apparently we hadn't had enough fun during our Friday home day, so super hero costumes were necessary!  Lincoln was so proud wear his (from Halloween 2012) Batman costume!  Amazingly, it still fits! 

Beau couldn't wait to put on his costume (also from Halloween 2012 that was crazy too big then), but he wasn't too keen on still being called Robber Man or Robin.  He told us he is his own super hero!  No matter his super hero name, he sure is cute! 

Super heroes have so much work to do, chasing bad guy and all.  They turned the basketball goal into a super vehicle to go super fast to catch the bad guys!  Batman drove, and Robberman, Robin, generic super hero provided back seat driver commentary!

I think they were satisfied that they captured all of the imaginary bad guys, so they joined Mommy in her nightly workout.  There are no two people who do push ups better than Lincoln and Beau!  Mommy can't even do her own sets of push ups because she's laughing to hard at the boys.  What funny workout buddies!!!

Fun Friday for sure!  We have a busy and fun weekend planned, so let's all get some rest.  Just to be clear, rest was not on Linc's mind.  He just couldn't fall asleep and needed to help me work on our on our Sunday School craft (we were making scrolls) from 10:00 to 11:00.  We are all ready for a busy and fun Saturday! 

Hump Day Fun

On the boys absolute most favorite day of the week, HUMP DAY!!!, we decided to have a little fun after school.  We made pizza pockets (pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pepperonis folded up in crescent dough), and they loved that the little pizzas were so easy to eat and just their size.  Delish with apple slices on the side! 

We played a few games while our pizza pockets were baking, but after dinner was reserved for craft night!  Brown paper lunch sacks were the focus tonight, and they got to choose what type of character to make from some examples I had compiled.  After much thought (and several mind changes), Lincoln decided on a Mike-like monster and snowman.  Beau gave it as much thought as Linc (and had as many mind changes), and he finally settled on a Valentine's cat and a different snowman.  We got busy cutting and glueing and having lots of fun!  Beau was very specific when choosing the name on the Valentine heart that the cat is holding . . . it had to be Mr. Pettibone because that is Goofy's cat friend.  (I actually looked up how to correctly spell Mr. Pettibone after asking them 17 times if it was Petty Bone or Pettybone!)  I've seen a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse over the last few years, but I'm not that familiar with Mr. Pettibone.  Well, I am now!  There might have been a few brownies mixed in with our crafting, but all evidence has been swept into the trash!  The boys were so happy to pose with their creations when we were all done.  Precious!

They ran off to practice their puppet show for a bit before they were ready to put on a show.  It was short and sweet!  For the most part, they had gotten super hyper and giddy so an impromptu dance party broke out!  I captured them dancing around the living room with silly squeals!   Beau was the initiator . . .

. . . and Lincoln is never one to turn down a chance to boogie! 

Daddy's not the glue-y-est kind of guy, but he loves our creations.  He also loves watching two silly boys dancing wildly, so everyone wins tonight!  Lots of giggles, yummy dinner, and dancing boys makes for a super fun Wednesday night!

Fun Monday!

After a super productive Sunday of church, brunch, football, a 3 mile run, and lots of playing outside, we had a chill Monday.  We slept in a bit and headed to the Cookie Mall for lunch.  (The Galleria is the Cookie Mall to Lincoln and Beau!)  We had a yummy lunch at Auntie Ann's with pretzel dogs and apple slices, and the boys needed Valentine decorated cookies for dessert.  Yummy!  They used the cookie gift cards that Santa left in their stockings, and they were so proud!  We played outside for a bit, and the boys were looking so cute.  Linc had to show off his cookie card of course.   

Beau took a moment to smile sweetly.  Those baby blues will melt any heart! 

Silly Lincoln couldn't be still when asked for a picture.  Luckily, he was caught in a little twirl.   

They went off to investigate together . . . the things they come up with are crazy! 

We took a break for a rest and a little cupcake baking in the afternoon, but another visit outside was necessary because it's 70 degrees in January!!!  An acorn hunt was our plan for the afternoon, and rain boots were required???   

Off we go with Beau leading the way!  Sometimes we need to take turns being the line leader! 

The acorn hunt got pretty serious!  The boys were super excited to find the perfect acorns and add them to their collections.  Mommy got a few yellow flowers (weeds!) during the adventure. 

After a super yummy dinner, we had the mini cupcakes we had baked earlier in the day.  Lincoln ate three in about three minutes!  Beau had two cupcakes but was a little preoccupied.  Apparently mini cupcakes are really great!!! 

What a fun Monday!  We had so much fun spending lots of time outside, and we had a few delicious treats.  There is usually a bit of chatter after the boys go to bed, but they were both asleep really quickly.  They were just exhausted from such a fun day!

Our Saturday

On a nice warm Saturday in January (sometimes living in Dallas is awesome!), we took the boys on a 3 mile walk/run in the double stroller then played outside for a while.  How nice is it to not be cooped up in the house with 3 feet of snow and crazy cold in the middle of January . . . God, please don't let me jinx us and we get a super cold February!  Anyway, we had fun outside playing today.  The boys came up with so many fun games to play, and Lincoln and I had several (hundred) races in the backyard.  He rarely waits for "Ready Set Go" and he almost always wins!  Beau was busy scooping potting soil and "cooking" us mud pies - yuck!

We got cleaned up for dinner at a new Italian place in our neighborhood that has been getting rave reviews.  Someone wasn't willing to cooperate at all . . . big brother tried to hug it out.  Saddest face ever!  All it took was saying that we were leaving, and Beau managed to regain his composure.  I mean penne bolognese was on the line here!!!!  

We split up at the restaurant, and Daddy, Pops and E had one table, and they were sometimes accompanied by Jackson.  They anxiously awaited their orders of lasagna and fettuccini alfredo! 

The fun table included Linc, Beau, Jackson (when he wasn't visiting his E), Samantha, Mommy and Nana.  We had a blast eating and chatting.  The boys loved the dinner and my Chicken Primavera was delish!!!   

Such a fun and laid back Saturday!  Such fun dinner dates . . .we'll definitely make this a regular stop.  So exciting to have a new fancy restaurant open in our neighborhood!  We have church, brunch, grocery shopping, and naps scheduled for Sunday.  And Daddy says there are two super important football games to watch . . . we are planning our run/walk in between the games. 

Being Brothers . . . In Pictures

This Throwback Thursday is all about brothers.  Lincoln first met Beau on 3-21-11 (after Beau was born on 3-14-11 and spent a week in the NICU).  It was love at first sight!

Sweet brother hugs were fun on 4-18-11. 

The Easter picture on 4-24-11 was a little less than happy for these two brothers!  

The tables had turned by 8-24-11, and it was big brother crying this time! 

Lincoln had learned that little brothers are always chasing after snacks on 3-12-12, and that won't change forever! 

Partners in crime solving, on 10-28-12 Batman and RobberMan played got close in their costumes.   

Sometimes little brothers need to let big brothers lead the reading lesson, and Beau was game for a little while on 11-10-12. 

Two silly Santa's yelled "Ho Ho Ho" after getting a bath on 12-17-12. 

On 1-16-13, it was fun to say cheese with chocolate chip cookie faces. 

Birthday party bounce house hugs are the best at Linc's party on 3-30-13. 

When the weather turned warmer on 5-1-13, a water balloon fight was necessary!

On 5-15-13, a game of Chutes and Ladders was a fun brother activity! 

Who else can be so silly in the tub but your brother?  On 5-25-13, these two wore their sunglasses at night! 

When a package arrives on 7-29-13, they immediately destroyed Daddy's office with tons of packing peanuts! 

On a visit to the Arboretum on 8-13-13, they wandered through the gardens hand in hand.  So sweet! 

Lincoln's biggest cheerleader during baseball season was Beau, and they had a few secret handshake meetings on 9-15-13. 

When it's time for a bedtime story, Lincoln and Beau can't help but be together.  They love to get ready for a story on 9-22-13. 

The State Fair of Texas Midway pitted them against each other, but they were happy to just play together on 9-27-13. 

We snapped a cute picture before church on 10-6-13.  Handsome guys! 

Two little Halloween monsters were so excited to trick or treat together and "ROAR" at all of our neighbors on 10-31-13! 

Sometimes it's necessary to strip down to undies and tell Knock Knock jokes with your brother, and they had so much fun on 11-22-13.  Priceless!!! 

But it all goes back to the first day they met on 3-21-11 . . . and they have been in separable since then!   

They may not get along every day, and they may know how to drive each other crazy, and they may know how to team up to drive their parents crazy, but they love each other like nothing else!  They don't know life without each other, and they are the best brothers I could imagine.