Our Dear Friends

Earlier in the year, Father's Day weekend, we had some dear friends come to our aid and give us a place to stay! Well, they came to the rescue again with a place to nap for the afternoon while we were having an open house at our house in Houston. Carol, Donny & Julie will always be near to our hearts, even if they are not near to our house! The boys and I had fun hanging out there and trying to forget about the move ahead of us.

We brought a few toys with us so the boys could play when they woke up. Matt showed Carol all of his cars.

Jonathan read his favorite book.

More car talk with Carol!

If there's an empty container around, the boys will try to climb in. It doesn't seem to matter how small the container may seem!

My big boy!!!

One of their favorite parts of playing at Carol's is the water fountain.

They are soaked after playing with the rocks and turtles.

Matt is fascinated by the grandfather clock, and also with keeping Jonathan from opening the front of the clock.

Donny came after nap time was over and it was like a tornado had hit. The boys went wild and entertained us all!

Fun Max party

Nick had to leave for Dallas a bit earlier than planned, so I braved the bouncing birthday party and took both the boys! It was a crazy morning, with a few tears (from Matt mostly), but overall the boys had a blast and were very tired afterward!

Here they are taking advantage of a piece of equipment all to themselves.

Jonathan climbed what must have seemed like Everest to him, with socks on and his brother jumping continually, knocking him over.

Kaboom!

They kept insisting that they should be trying to climb up the slide!

He was a champ, but about halfway down, he had a look much like his mommy gets when she's suddenly going too fast! I think he only did this huge slide once (a choice we agreed upon).

Children's Museum

I'm still in September with our pictures, so these pics are from our time in Houston! We took the boys up to the Children's Museum shortly before Nick started his job in Dallas. They had a blast and this was the first time we actually separated them for something like this and we each had one boy to fully engage with during our visit. It was great! That being said, I was with Jonathan and I had the camera, so here's Jonathan's visit to the museum!

He started off slow with a simple puzzle.

He got going and then we moved on.

H.E.B. had a grocery store set up inside and Jonathan enjoyed his shopping trip!

He kept unloading the produce department into his basket and then into the stroller.

We hung out in the toddler area for quite a while. He's getting some gas in his car at this point.

Looks like he's crawling through a mailbox, but it's really just a tunnel, I promise. He's a big boy!

Jonathan had a blast trying to figure this thing out. When you opened the door, there was a mirror right inside. There were also doorbells, porch lights and all kinds of locks.

We stopped off at the gift shop on the way out and met up with Nick and Matt. Jonathan has been fascinated with the word "no" lately, and shaking his head while saying it. He cracks us up!

Reunited for lunch and some black beans! We love 100% Taquito!!!

They were laughing hysterically while I was trying to get some pics of their black bean faces!

He loves his big brother!

I tried to get the boys on video while they were laughing, but it got a bit loud, so I had to cut the video short!

On the way home the noise continued!

I tried to catch them singing, but when they saw the camera, they decided they didn't need to sing any more. Oh well, I still like to move it, move it!

Putt Putt Adventures

During a hot day in September, we took the boys to Putt Putt for a bit of fun! Jonathan chose to run around and Matt was on super speed during his golf game. They had a bit more fun inside playing games, even though we didn't even put tokens in many of the games.

Here's Jonathan trying to putt. He's no Tiger Woods with only one hand on the putter.

Matt was taking his turns quickly, but at times he would run back to see how Nick did.

I think Matt went 2 weeks solid wearing his rain boots. There were a couple of rainy days in there, but it was a complete fashion move. We got a lot of comments while running errands!

Matt's least favorite hole, number 18. Bye, bye ball!

Relief from the heat and time for some fun and games! Jonathan still tries to lift up the guitar to play, but it's still too heavy. Maybe next time, little guy!

Check out those curls. He's had a big boy haircut since these pictures, and I forget just how curly his hair was getting. Practicing driving is fun, even when the game's not on!

Matt likes to practice driving too!

Another fashion statement picture!

This must have been a wicked turn!

They cracked me up, so amused with the buttons and we didn't even have to put in any tokens.

Daddy joined in for some fun!

The little kid area kept Matt's attention briefly, but it was the big boy games he liked the most.

More driving, with a dysfunctional computer, but he didn't seem to mind.

Making Brownies

Someone supplied us with a great, easy, homemade brownie recipe so we just had to try it! The boys decided they both needed to help out. As you can tell from the boys' attire, it was a fall Saturday!

The measuring spoons kept them busy just long enough for me to make sure I had all the ingredients ready and measured out correctly!

Last Pool Day

These are just a couple of pictures of our last days in the pool in Seabrook. Sure wish we could have taken more advantage of that pool, but with the boys limited swimming skills, nap times, and mosquitoes, we just didn't get much time in the pool over the summer with the boys. Can't wait until next summer with them!

Daddy's Shoes

The boys are very into finding our shoes and trying them on. One day last month, Daddy's tennis shoes were out and the boys had to give them a try!

Apparently, Jonathan was worried that he hadn't put on his sock before donning daddy's shoes. I don't think that would have helped them fit better.

I guess he couldn't move his feet, so he tried just moving his body.

Matt attempted to put on daddy's shoes while sitting down. Then, he tried to stand up!

He was defeated by the big shoes!

Big shoes are hard to fill, and Daddy's are big ones. We only hope we teach you well and guide you toward the right pathways so you too may someday have big shoes to fill!

A Hot Trip to the Park

Late in August, the boys and I headed for an early morning trip to the park. Boy was it HOT!

My sweaty headed, red-cheeked little boy!

Matt kept asking Jonathan to race him, but he never waited for Jonathan to get there.

The best giggles come from the boys when they are playing together. Lots of screaming comes too at times, but I just love the giggles!

We ended up doing a tour that morning, of 4 different parks. Each one had something the other was lacking, but they all had mosquitoes and heat! We had a good time though. The tour was more for us to shift gears, cool off and for me to get a bit of rest between parks!