Perfect Pitcher

Or maybe we have a pitcher on our hands! What do you think Nolan?!!?

My video skills are not the greatest but you get the idea! I did have a clip of Anderson striking out Granddaddy! Granddaddy must have deleted it!

Be My Valentine

We had a great Valentine's Weekend!

Friday Morning: Anderson and I hit The Little Gym, our new favorite weekly activity! It brings me SO much joy to watch my child having a blast doing something that he is SO good at! I love to watch his facial expressions! Here are a few pics:

Friday Afternoon: I started physical therapy for my lower back, hips, pelvis, abs, etc. My body is pretty much whacked out from having babies and playing volleyball all those years...it has been one thing after another since EJ was born! Please pray for me as I go to rehab every Friday @ 1:45pm for the next several weeks/months. Pray that the therapy will result in complete healing, much improved quality of life and also that none of my issues will require any kind of surgery or just having to deal with it!

Friday Evening: Amy arrived and we went to the Round Rock Outlets, our favorite place to go when she is in town, particularly the Coach Outlet (the best Coach Outlet around in my opinion, always great deals)! Then we had dinner at Chuy's... yummy! Aaron graciously watched the boys for us!

Saturday Morning/Afternoon: Aaron watched the boys again...I owe him big! Whatever...I have them all day everyday! :) Amy and I hit the Hill Country Galleria! It is a very nice outdoor mall! We bought out Francesca's and Ann Taylor Loft (my favorite clothing store and the only one around!). Actually we practiced self-control and only bought a few great things at great prices, including a few things for the boys! We ate at WhichWhich, a good little sandwich shop and of course stopped at Be My Cupcake on the way home so that Amy could try it out and so that we could bring some home to the boys! We also swung by Kristen's to say hello and bring her a cupcake since she was too sicky to go with us!

Saturday Evening: We ordered Olive Garden To Go since we had a giftcard that Grandma and Grandpa sent us and then stayed home with Aaron and ate Dove chocolates from Gigi and Granddaddy and watched the movie W, which they also sent us. All I can say about that movie is WEIRD!

Sunday Morning: Amy headed home and we headed to church.

Sunday Afternoon/Evening: Aaron and I exchanged Valentine gifts and also gave the boys gifts! Aaron made me a sweet video, basically a highlight video of the past 51/2 almost 6 years that we have been married...of course I cried...he said he knew I would cry because he cried making it! I will post the video when Aaron shows me how! We then went downtown to eat at Fogo De Chao for our Valentine's dinner/date while the boys stayed with friends. Thank you SO much Bryan, Melissa, Forrest and Betty! Dinner was delicious! We ended the date with dessert at Mozart's on the lake. It was nice to getaway...we can't remember the last time we went out on a date! Scary!

Monday Morning: The boys and I headed downtown to play at the Austin Children's Museum with Melissa and Grant! The exhibit right now is All Systems Go, which of course Anderson loved because he likes anything with wheels, particularly trains. EJ of course loves anything, all he does is smile...I had a hard time catching him on camera playing because everytime he sees the camera, he looks at it and smiles! Anderson on the other hand does not even notice the camera, he is too intent on what he is doing at the moment...I have to coerce him into looking and smiling! Here are a few pics:

We are headed to FW on Wednesday...Aaron has a conference and I will be hanging out with my family and friends and also attending my sister's baby shower...I will post when I return! Have a great week/weekend!

More Fun

It has been a big week at our house! I already told you about our adventure to the mall on Monday! On Tuesday, EJ and I met up with our friends MJ, Grayson, Melissa and Grant at the Baby Movie while Anderson was at preschool! I don't think I have told you about Baby Movie Day yet but every Tuesday at the Drafthouse, the first showing of the day is Baby Movie, which means that you are free to bring your babies...they keep the lights up a little in the theater and everyone else has kids there too so it is not a big deal if your kiddos make noise! Moms are used to the noise so they can still enjoy the movie and order lunch if they would like! Everyone knows what they are in for going into it because it is promoted with posters of crying children on them! We usually make it about once a month...it is SO nice to get out of the house, get some adult interaction and catch up on the girly movies that our husbands would rather not see anyway! This week we saw He's Just Not That Into You! In the past we have seen The Women and Nights in Rodanthe! Aaron does not care if I spend money there every month as long as I don't drag him to see these movies! Let us know if you would like to join us sometime at the movies, or at any of our other playdates...we usually try to get together about once a week and do something to get out of the house while our hubbies are working! You know Anderson and I go stir crazy if we are in the house too much!

On Wednesday, EJ started crawling officially! He has been doing his inch worm crawl for awhile now and I had suspected that he was ready for a real crawl but could not catch him in the act because he never had very far to go! He would take a few steps and stop and other times he would get somewhere really fast without me seeing him in action! So Wednesday morning I decided to entice him with the remote and sure enough, he crawled all the way down the hall and across our room! I will try to catch it on video and post it for you soon!

Later that morning...EJ, Anderson and I met up with Grant and Melissa at the Austin Zoo so that Grant could test out the petting zoo to see if he was up to having one at his 1st birthday party! The boys had a blast seeing all the animals...but if you ever decide to go there, don't expect it to be like a typical zoo or else you will be disappointed! It is more like a farm with a bunch of animals in pins...and these animals are rescues, which is pretty cool! I forgot to bring my camera or I would have posted some pictures with the animals! The zoo did not take long so we went to lunch at Waterloo Icehouse afterwards, one of my new favorite spots! The food is good and inexpensive...plus there is a playground to keep the kids entertained while you eat! We met Rebecca and Brock there several weeks ago...both experiences were great!

Today, Anderson had a Valentine's party at preschool! He got to eat pizza and M&Ms...and give/get Valentine's! He gave out cool sports Valentine's that had baseball, basketball, football and soccer on them! He got alot of fun stuff in return!

Tomorrow, Anderson and I get to go to the Little Gym again...I will try to take some pictures this time so that Granddaddy does not hassle me about it! And then tomorrow night, Amy comes to visit again...we have alot of fun stuff planned for the weekend...I will post about those next week!

In the meantime...Happy Valentine's Day! I LOVE this holiday and I hope you have a special weekend celebrating with loved ones! Take time to tell those special people how much you care about them and let's not forget our one true love...

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4: 7-10)

By the way...I HIGHLY recommend the movie Fireproof, it is a MUST see! Watch it with your husband or significant other if you have not already seen it!

Family Fun

Just about every Monday me and the boys make our way over to the mall to play on the indoor playground and meet daddy for either lunch or dinner in the food court. It has become a little family tradition in recent weeks! The reason we choose Monday is because cupcakes are 6 for $6 at our new little addiction Be My Cupcake. Don't worry...we usually each eat one and then share the other three! If you have never been, you have to try one sometime...they are delicious! So far our favorite is chocolate chocolate chip, but they are all good! Yesterday while we were there, we also took the boys to Inflatable Wonderland and had a blast! Anderson went to a birthday party there a few months back and loved it, so we decided to take the boys there as part of our Valentine's gift to them! It was alot of fun to go out as a little family of 4...a rare occasion for us these days! Here are some pictures...

The Little Gym

This morning Anderson attended his first class at The Little Gym. We wanted to sign him up last fall but our schedule was just too crazy, we could not fit it in...plus he had just started preschool, so we decided to wait until now. He was supposed to start last week but he was sick so today was his first day and he absolutely loved it! He is in the Superbeasts class for developmental gymnastics, which is actually a Mommy & Me class so I get to do it with him! We both had alot of fun! Basically...they use music, rythm, games, and the gymnastics equipment to foster the development of their motor skills. It should help improve his balance, strength, coordination, flexibility, etc. as well as build confidence (not that he needs anymore confidence!). I told Miss Leah that my main goal was for him to have fun, get his energy out and learn a few skills! She could not believe that this was his first time in a program of this kind because he was not scared or shy at all, and in her words "an impressive little jumper!" I informed her that he has had alot of practice jumping and flipping off of the furniture at home! He will attend class every Friday this semester and then when he turns 3 he can enroll in the Mini Jacks class for sports skills, where he will continue to do developmental gymnastics as well as learn basic athletic skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, shooting, etc! He should start taking really good naps on Fridays from now on!

8 Months and Counting...

It is so hard to believe that our sweet baby EJ is already 8 months old!!! We will be planning his 1st birthday party before we know it! His newest tricks include...sitting up on his own, standing a little with help, jumping in his jumper, doing the inch worm crawl (his version of crawling, more like pulling and scooting), as well as "talking," smiling and laughing more and more (such beautiful sounds)! He and Anderson love to get down on the floor together and play trains or wrestle (which mostly consists of us telling Anderson to "give EJ his space")! A few weeks ago, Anderson spent the weekend with Gigi and Granddaddy so we had EJ all to ourselves...little did we know how laid back he really was until Anderson was gone...the kid was in heaven, not a care in the world, just chillin'...until Anderson returned and rocked his world again! I had always wondered how EJ could be so laid back with rambunctious Anderson around...now I know that he is even more laid back when he is gone! Oh and let me tell you about Anderson's newest trick...climbing into EJ's crib! It was so hard not to laugh the first time we saw them in there together! I wanted to take a picture but I really did not want to promote that behavior! And by the way, if you call us...there is a chance that Anderson will answer the phone and start chatting with you, without us even knowing that the phone rang! Oh the joys of having 2 boys...never a dull moment!