We love you, Spring Break

This week was Spring Break for me and the boys!  It was the perfect mix of fun family time and a few days of getting to relax, since they boys are spending the end of the week with their grandparents!

To start the break off, we went to Tulsa to see my sister and brother-in-law, as well as many of Mark's friends from college.  Just about everyone has kids now and as we sat at the kitchen table with children running around us and screaming, we laughed and remembered the days when we used to get together sans kids and just stay up late with all the adults.  This time, everyone was ready for bed at 9:00 - kiddos and parents!

My sister and her husband both work for Prairie Ales, a brewery in Tulsa.  We took the kids up to the brewery for a tasting one evening.  Well the kids just ran around and played with the barrels while the adults did the tasting!  It worked out great. 

We also visited the Oklahoma Aquarium, which was the perfect activity to wear Henry and Parker out before we got in the car and drove the four hours home.  Parker slept all the way until we stopped for gas in McKinney, and even though Henry slept only about half the trip, he did keep his grumps to a minimum.  So this road trip was a success all around!  I think the boys are old enough now that longer car rides are much more doable for us.

After the Tulsa trip, I took Henry and Parker up to Muenster to spend a day at my parents' house.  They are really into cows right now, so we took a couple spins around the property to check on the longhorns.  My mom was at work most of the day when we were there, so it was just us and Grandpa, which made for a really fun day.

We really lucked out when the Schwan's man showed up while we were there!  A cool truck that drove all the way down the drive, and then grandpa bought popsicles for the boys to try too!

Parker climbed up onto this step on the deck and was doing his ninja tricks, leaning way back behind him.  Henry was doing the same on the step above him and it was so funny!

Take me to the cows, Grandpa!

Henry's dream came true when he got to pet a cow!

We ended the day with drinks on the front porch, watching the sun go down.  Oh wait, there was no sunset watching because of the time change!  Instead, we roasted as the sun beat down on us.  Oy.

A rather tame rabbit came through the yard and Henry and Parker realllllly wanted to be its friend!

My mom let the boys splash around in this birdbath, which was filled with water from all the rain and snow the week before.  They thought it was the best. thing. ever.  And then we went inside and took baths because who knows what was growing in that water!

We drove home at bed time and had a nice morning at home the next day.... and then the other grandparents came to get the boys for the weekend!  So that means this mom had a day at home ALONE today which has not happened once in the past 16 months {at least not that I can remember.. an ENTIRE day home TO MYSELF!} It was glorious.  Thank you, Spring Break.  We look forward to your return next year!

Henry and Parker's First Birthday!

Back in October {you know, over four months ago}, Henry and Parker turned one!  I never blogged about their birthday, but I have a great reason to hop in my time machine and share it today.  One of my favorite blogs, Twin Talk, is turning ONE today {yay!} and they are hosting a link up for twin's first birthday posts.  Plus, I am on Spring Break this week so I have a little bit of time to dust off the ol' blog and join the link up.  So welcome to Henry and Parker's First Birthday!

October 29, 2014

Silly birthday poses

We did not really plan a big birthday party for the boys. We wanted to just celebrate with family, which is exactly what we did.  I was thrilled however, when my sister and brother-in-law from Oklahoma City and my brother and sister-in-law from Austin both emailed me and said they wanted to come to Dallas for the occasion. Add in grandparents and local family and our little shindig turned into a pretty big deal!  The morning of the party Henry was grumpy and acting so out of character.  We ended up taking him to the doctor and discovering he had a small ear infection (our first one ever, on his birthday!) so we were a little behind schedule getting things ready.  But everything came together eventually and hey, a great thing about having family only for the party is that they don't care if they show up and nothing is ready!  They will gladly help blow up some balloons, throw together the food and decorate for the party, so Mom can go take a shower :)

I hung up pictures of the boys on the mantle and my sister made adorable first birthday prints to display.  This was a super last minute thought that she put together for me in about two days, which was awesome!  We got cupcakes from Central Market, which were yummy and super affordable. 

Guests

If you thought a small birthday party means not very many presents, you would be wrong.

Parker

Henry and Grandpa

 Neither of the boys were that impressed with the cake, but Parker gave it more of a taste than Henry, who pretty much just threw it on the floor!

We have this large, grown-up-sized tricycle that we pulled out during the party.  It was a hit with everyone!

The picture above with the boys laying in the birthday party aftermath makes me laugh.  It was a great day and Henry and Parker had so much fun, despite spending the morning at the pediatrician and barely getting a nap that afternoon.  The best part was that their birthday party was the day before Daylight Savings Time and they wore themselves out so much that they slept an hour later the next morning {which NEVER happens!}  They set themselves to the new time without even knowing it!  

Happy Birthday, sweet boys!

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Happy Tuesday!

A New Year

A few days after Christmas, Mark and I took the boys to Target, just to get out of the house.  We do that a lot.  Go places just to go.  None of us do very well when we are cooped up inside for more than a day or so, so there are often mornings when Mark and I look at each other (while Grumps 1 and Grumps 2 are melting into puddles of despair at our feet) and say WHERE SHOULD WE GO?!!  This means trips to Lowes, the mall or any other indoor place that has wide aisles for the stroller and is loud enough for the occasional shriek.  The destination on this day was Target.  And not even our neighborhood Target. Oh no, we need variety here and a road trip that is longer than five minutes to stretch these outings as long as possible.  So we went up to Plano to go to the Super Target. Cue angels singing.

Now I can wander around Target with absolutely no agenda or anything in particular I am shopping for any day of the week.  Am I right ladies??!  I could easily kill an hour or two going up and down every. single. aisle. and buying all the things.  But Target is not so leisurely when you have a husband and two one-year olds in tow.  It's more like a rapid lap around the perimeter (must keep moving or Parker will decide he'd rather you carry him than ride in the stroller) looking at holiday clearance and vacuum cleaners (yes, that is exactly what we did).  We might have lasted 25 minutes in there before we were out of Cheerios and getting close to two meltdowns. 

On this particular morning it was very cold and slightly raining.  So basically perfect weather for unloading two grumpy boys from the stroller, strapping them into their carseats, taking off the stroller seats, loading them into the back of car, dumping out all the Cheerios that fell down into the bottom of the stroller, and then folding it up and lifting it into the car.  While we were doing this (and getting rained on and freezing, btw) a pick-up truck was ever so slowly coming up to us in the parking lot.  I thought that he wanted our parking place and was thinking, "Seriously?! Can't you tell that this is not a quick process so you should just scoot on past us and find a spot a little farther away?!" when he stopped beside us and rolled his window down.  An older man, probably my parents' age, peeked over the window and into the cold and smiled at us.

"You're doubly blessed," he said.

And Mark and I looked at him and back at each other, nodding.  We knew he was right.