Babies, Babies, Babies!

Three of my closest friends had babies within a month of each other. I love it! All three are extremely cute. Congratulations Becky, Robin and Kelli!
Evie June
3/19/2007
5lbs 10oz
18.5"





Reece Elizabeth
3/28/07
6lbs 12oz
19.75"







Zachary William
4/20/07
6lbs 14oz
20"
(He looks just like his dad!)

Happy Birthdya, Laddy!

Last Saturday we attended Grandpa McDanel's 80th birthday party. Of course it was a Scottish themed event. Bagpiper and all. We had a great time and it was great to see almost all the family. You'd have to ask grandma for the exact numbers, but I do know that all her children, most of their spouses, most of her grandchildren and all but 1 (I think) of her great grandchildren were there. That is well over 60 people without family friends. Every family brought two to three dishes so we ate really well too. Saturday night we relaxed and prepared ourselves for our usual hectic Sunday. Visit my Flickr to see more pics from the birthday party.

Bluebonnets, bunnies & bumps

This week has been incredibly busy, but I know that is no excuse for you blog addicts. Good news is that I love my new camera and have already taken over 600 pictures with it! With such cute kids around me all the time, how do I not take pictures? Last week was a tough one for Wyatt. He just couldn't stay on his feet. His first major crash happened while walking through the living room and he tripped on his sandals (the shoes I loathe) and went face first into Noah's little armchair. that left a bruise covering his whole left cheek. The next day he did something (no one else was in the room, but I think it involved the bunkbed ladder) and acquired a good scrape beneath his left eye and he tore that little flap of skin that connects your upper lip to your gums. Later that day we went to a birthday party for a little friend of his and he fell at least three times. He fell so many times past two weeks that he became attached to 'Mrs. Helpful' (character shaped ice pack) and he took her wherever he went until she finally got a hole and began oozing goo. Poor Wyatt. Noah was 'star of the week' at preschool last week. That means he got to take pictures of his family to school with him to show his class and also do show-and-tell. He took Herbie and his favorite Cars cars to show. He was so excited to get up in front of everyone and talk about his stuff. His class is also rehersing for an end of the year program. He talks about it all the time and can't wait to be up on stage on the big night. I guess we don't have to worry about stage fright or fear of public speaking for him. Last Saturday we went to Skylar's 2nd b-day party. Maggy the Happy Clown did a little performance, painted faces and make baloon animals. It was Noah first time to have his face painted. He chose to be a rabbit- not a tiger- a rabbit. Greg gave a little 'humph' when the clown put blush on his cheeks. He was the cutest little bunny I had ever seen. The clown painted a yellow happy face to hide Wyatt's bruised cheek. Monday of this week Christie and Ben met us at the Wildflower Center to picnic and romp in the pretty flowers. It is the perfect place to let boys be boys. They ran, climbed, chased butterflies, swung big sticks, admired planes and trucks, hunted bugs, threw rocks in the water, stomped on bluebonnets and just had a good ol' time. There is a section where they have put in a picturesque little babbling brook that winds around, tumbling over rocks and running beneath little bridges. Little boys, flowing water and rocks are not always to best combination. Early on Ben almost fell head first into the babbling brook, but Christie literally caught him by one foot and pulled him up- I wish I had been quicker with the camera. Then the boys were doing pretty good just playing at the edge. And right when Christie and I relaxed a little and let our guard down, Ben was lying in the middle of the little stream (again, I wish I had the camera out faster). It was really shallow and narrow so he was in no danger of drowning, in fact, after getting over the initial shock, he probably would have preferred to stay in the water. But we got him out, soaked chest to toes. Wyatt was very concerned about his wet clothes and tried to help wipe him off. He spent the rest of trip in his soggy diaper and onesie. The rest of the week I have spent doing church stuff, taking kids to the doctor (just check-ups) and helping out a friend who is pregnant and on total bed-rest. The bluebonnet picture at the top was taken in a field in front of our church. After two planned photo sessions, one at the lake and one at the Wildflower Center, the best picture I got of Noah in the bluebonnets was taken spur of the moment while we were just goofing around in the field a couple evenings ago. The last picture is of my beautiful rose. Two years ago Greg gave me thorny twig in a pot for Valentine's Day (the "dumb, made up, retailer's holiday" he doesn't usually celebrate). Now the twig is a gorgeous rose bush with humungo flowers on it. So now, in the spring and summer, every couple of days, Greg gets me rose.

Thanks Uncle Sam!

I got a new camera! I'm so excited. It is awesome. Gotta love tax returns (and generous husbands)! I didn't get the camera until after Easter so I do not have any pictures from Easter. I was bummed I didn't have my new camera, plus mom and Dori were around with their fancy ones. So you have to wait for one of them to upload their pictures. This blog is filled with pictures taken in the past two days with my new camera. As for Easter, There will be no cute pictures of little darlings dressed in pretty pastels running through green grass to find brightly colored eggs. Since it was a miserably dreary weekend with rain and 38 degree temps, the best we could do were kids wearing sweatshirts purchased on clearance from Wal-Mart the day before, finding eggs in piles of laundry and life jackets in the lakehouse basement. However, the eggs were brightly colored and beautiful. Turned out that an egg hunt on a cement floor with a two and one year old is not the best idea. Immediately following the egg hunt was a boiled egg breakfast. Dacy and Wyatt loved the egg dying. Jon and Noah did about six each and went back to playing cars while Dacy and Wyatt could have dyed eggs all day long if we had let them. Even though we had a lot of fun, I can't really think of anything else to write about about our Easter weekend. Friday we attempted to take pictures of the four kids in bluebonnets. I think we may have gotten a few good ones. We'll see what Dori posts. The kids were pretty cooperative, but it is just really hard to get four little ones to look the same direction at the same time without any tongues out, noses running, hands flailing or eyes closing. We did not have an dancing dogs or Papas this time to entertain them. The rest of the weekend was eating, cleaning up kids spills, washing dogs, eating, playing games, cleaning up kid spills, eating, playing games, etc. So far this week has just been an enjoyable, playful week with the boys. I spent most of today in the garden weeding, planting and murdering aphids. Yesterday we found a dead lizard (from his physical condition, he probably died of natural causes) and the boys and I gave him a proper memorial service and burial. So when Wyatt found a rubber lizard today he attempted to bury it in the garden. It is still sitting by my tomatoes. Maybe it will scare off some bad bugs. So my new camera takes great pictures but I still have a lot to learn about it and I am not a skilled photographer by any means. But do expect to see more pics on here and my flickr. This last picture is Wyatt thinking "now mom has really lost it- she is laying in the front yard taking pictures of the sky."

2nd Annual Egg-stravaganza

We did lots of fun stuff this past weekend. Friday night our wonderful neighbors watched the boys and Greg and I went on a date. We went to a shwainky new bowling alley in Austin. There were colored dancing lights, black lights, the balls and pins glowed in the dark, there were numerous huge projection screens hanging over the lanes playing music videos, really loud music and a waiter for every lane. It was pretty fun, a little expensive and really loud. Afterward, we hung out in SoCo (that is South Congress for those out of touch with the hip Austin scene). There happened to be some big custom roadster rally. The street was lined with homemade hotrods and motorcycles. We had great pizza at some little trendy hot spot- again, it was expensive and loud. We enjoyed our date night and it was even better to come home to sleeping kids and a peaceful house. Saturday we went to a family friendly dinner party at Christie and Che's. I think there were about seven couples there and almost everyone had two kids. It was a little chaotic, but a lot of fun. We met some really cool new people and had a delicious dinner on the deck. I don't have any pictures from it but some may pop up on Christie's blog. Wyatt skinned his knee pretty good and one kid ate a slug, but everything else went rather smoothly. We headed on to Mama G's that night for more festivities the next day. Sunday was the second annual Easter egg hunt in Point Venture. Big crowd. I think there were something like 16 kids- one age 7 and the rest were four and under. But Mama G was very well organized with personalized egg buckets for each kid and 300 plastic goody-filled eggs. After a big, yummy lunch and the egg hunt, there was a chocolate fountain and all kinds of stuff to dip in it (is there anything you can't dip in chocolate?). Thankfully, the kids were busy with play dough and cupcakes out on the deck so the grown-ups could act like kids inside with the chocolate. I think Greg and his dad enjoyed the constructing and engineering of the fountain just as much as the chocolate itself. Dene, Mckenna and Avery were there Sat. night and Sun. as well, so the kids were able to spend some quality time with their cousins. The picture of all the kids lined up are all of Memaw's great-grandchildren- except for Trudy (second on the left) who is a grandchild. The last picture is Noah and Wyatt in the bathtub Sunday night. They received soap as one of their Easter Gifts. It was like silly putty so you could shape it. Noah's was red and, as you can see, the red made everything red. I gave them their soap to use and then went to set out their jammies and put some stuff in the laundry. Meanwhile Noah decided to wash himself and Wyatt with the red soap. It did not wash off. The next day Noah's hands and chest were bright pink and Wyatt's face and hair were also pink.

I think I will start with a Wyatt update. Like I have said before, he is talking. He will repeat any word you ask him to. Of course, it is all very much toddler-speak. Bugs, trains, dad, new dogs, boats and the little girl across the street make him laugh and squeal. All boy for sure. This first picture is blog-worthy because of the sandals he has on. They were passed on to me by a friend who also has two boys. From the minute I pulled them out of the bag Wyatt has decided to love them. For the first three days he even wore them to bed. He has worn them every day in the past (almost) two weeks! They are a little big and have rubbed blisters on his poor toes. But he still insists on wearing them. I have been able to limit him to only wearing them outside and on trips so his toes can have some time to heal. Those sandals have become my biggest enemy. He and I have had more arguments and tantrums over those silly things...ugh. I'd throw them away if I didn't think it would really and truly break his heart! Here is another picture of Wyatt (notice the sandals) playing with his Mozart Cube- it plays several pieces and you can choose, by pushing a side, which instruments perform the song. It was funny to watch him carrying it around the house on his shoulders like an 80's boombox- bustin' a move to Mozart. The past month or so I have been taking the boys to our local library for the weekly story time. The boys love the books, silly songs and crafts. Noah even got his own library card and every week we check out a few books. Last week Christie and Ben came over for a visit. My Flickr has some pictures from that day. We took the three boys to the library story time and then went to a huge new park nearby. There, the boys ran amuck on the playground and drenched themselves playing in the fountain. Christie accidentally whacked Ben in the head with a toy back hoe and gave him a big ol' goose egg, but that was the only noteworthy injury of the day. So I'd say we did pretty good.

Water blogged

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted! Sorry! Jeez, I'll never be able to remember all that has happened. Maybe I should just write about the pictures. The first photo is from our first river trip of the season. It was after the first big rain a few weeks ago. The San Marcos river was in flood stage and Greg was so excited he could hardly stand it. The boys love throwing rocks in the river, watching Greg paddle, stomping around in the puddles and climbing on the rocks. This was Wyatt's first river experience where he has been old enough to really get anything out of it. He was ready to jump in the rapids and join Greg. He is a water junky like his dad. As you can see from the soggy smile, he really enjoyed sticking his hands in the water rushing over the rocks and having it spray back into his face. It made him squeal with glee. Noah, prefering not to have water anywhere near his face, was just as happy to stomp, shuffle, kick and dance in the water with his feet. Of course it ultimately resulted in a fall and skinned knee. It was obviously worth it, because this picture was taken afterwards. After paddling, Greg played in the water with them. He would grab plants and sticks floating in the river, throw them into the current and they would all watch as it got tossed up and down as it moved downstream. In the first picture Wyatt is asking 'where'd it go?' During Spring Break the kids and I visited Mimi and the rest in Dallas. We took advantage of the boys now being in school. I don't have any pictures because we used mom and Dori's fancy cameras the whole time. Dori has some posted. We shopped (of course), visited the Dallas Arboretum and just hung out. Noah spent the night with Jon one evening. And not ten minutes after arriving there Dori calls me at Mimi's house to tell me that Noah tripped running across her deck and took a nose dive off it onto concrete flagstones. She did a great job comforting and calming him. His right forehead, eye and cheek were pretty much raw meat and a little swollen. Jay asked Noah if he wanted to look at his face in the mirror. Noah asked why and Jay said because he got pretty hurt from his fall. Noah, with full confidence, told Jay "Don't worry about me. I'm going to be Okay!" I guess he was worried he might have to leave. When Noah finally did see himself he said "Ohhhhh." He is so funny. The following week he enjoyed retelling the story to everyone who questioned him about his scratched up face. Sorry I don't have any pics of that either. Our trip to Dallas was fun. Wyatt and Dacy are beginning to play together now. They are constantly on the move and both wanted to spend every moment they could outside. They are going to be great friends and none of us (except maybe Greg) are going to be able to keep up with them. This past weekend we went to Innerspace Caverns. We love to tour caves in the winter and somehow this winter we got busy and never went. Anyhow, the boys had fun. Noah thinks anything with mud puddles is really cool. I was a little scared of keeping up with (meaning losing him down some dark, unexplored tunnel) Wyatt in a cave, but it went pretty well. He tried to climb over a couple of railings, run down some pretty steep, slippery slopes and take a few 'souvenirs', but none of it was any more dangerous than a normal trip to anywhere with Wyatt. I don't think we were the most favorite family our tour guide had ever had- oh well. After the cave, we went to the new Amy's Ice Cream near our house. Right outside is a huge playground and fountain. The ice cream was soooo yummy and we had a great time playing with the boys. Once again, no pictures from our fun family day. I forgot my camera. I have more pictures and more to write but I am just too exhausted. I'll try to add more this week.

2 New Dos

Wyatt turned 18 months yesterday. I need to take both boys to the doctor for check-ups. We will get to it eventually. Today I gave the boys haircuts. It was Wyatt's first full haircut where I tried to actually do some blending. I think it looks really cute but Greg just laughs when he looks at it. I'm not sure what that means and I don't really want to know. He is cute to me. I wish I had a good picture of it. The teeth brushing picture was this morning before and the running Wyatt was this evening after, but you can't really tell much. It is much harder to trim Noah than Wyatt. Noah totally freaks out if one little itchy hair touches any skin below the nape of his neck. I used a clamp from the garage to hold the towel around his neck, forming a tight barrier that no hair would dare pass. Noah only puts up with it for about 10 minutes and then immediately needs a bath. Wyatt sat, in just a diaper and covered in hair, and played with the comb and cup of water while I trimmed away. He was totally unphased and even helped me comb his hair, oil the blades and change the guards on the trimmers. They are just so different it never ceases to amaze me.
As Noah gets older, we have devised many different modes and levels of discipline. One of which is 'time out'. Time out is a little spot on the kitchen floor he has to sit at quietly for at least 4 minutes. He really hates it- mostly because he is not allowed to talk. Sometimes I have to threaten it and when I do, Wyatt immediately runs to the time out spot and sits, waiting for Noah to join him. I guess he thinks it is some big boy game Noah and I play. Noah gets even crankier when Wyatt sits with him in time out, smiling and giggling like he is doing something really cool.
Sunday night we took our 10th grade Sunday school class bowling. It was Noah's first time. Greg, the amazing dad, did a great job teaching Noah what to do and helping him with each shot. He didn't even use bumbers or the kiddy guider thingy. The last game Noah got a higher score than two of the big kids. He had so much fun bowling and being tickled and teased by the high school girls he was asleep before we left the parking lot. Wyatt did good considering how crazy of a place a bowling alley is for a toddler. The first thing he did was run to the racks of bowling balls, pick up an 11 lb ball and try to run with it. I had my hands full and couldn't grab it properly and ended up tripping him, sending the ball bouncing along the floor. Making a bid rucus. He just went for another ball. I spent much of the evening keeping him from stealing people's bowling balls (he really could pick up and carry any size there) and from running down the alleys. Eventually I pacified him with a cup of ice.
We finished out the garden this weekend by putting in the warm weather veggies like tomatoes and squash. Noah's teacher gave the class sunflower seeds and told them to go home, plant them and 'watch them grow'. So a week or so ago we picked a spot behind our pea fence and planted them. After digging little holes, placing the seeds and watering them, Noah stood back, staring at where we just planted the seeds and said 'okay, let's watch them grow'. He was expecting to see them just pop out of the soil right then. We have done a lot of gardening with him so he knows the general process and timeline, but I had to explain to him that his teacher did not mean that those seeds would grow immediately and we would have to watch them for several weeks. He was a little disappointed his teacher did not give him magical presto! seeds.

What girl can resist big blue eyes and a hat?

Sometimes love hurts...

Curious about the title? Let me start with last Monday. I was pushing Noah on the swing when Wyatt zoomed between us and Noah came back, slammed right into the side of Wyatt's head, knocking him totally off his feet. Without a thought, I dove for Wyatt, putting my hand out to stop Noah, picked up Wyatt, turned around and to have my nose smashed by a still swinging Noah- guess I only slowed him down. I heard a horrible crunching sound and was momentarily blinded by pain. All three of us are now crying (Noah, because by big old nose bruised his back!). Noah and Wyatt quickly recovered and returned to playing, while my nose swelled up and my whole face ached. Thankfully, I have a fairly prominent nose and most of the damage was done towards the tip so I did not suffer any black eyes. I'm not sure if I broke it (I could still breath) but it still hurts. Maybe I just smashed up all the cartilage in it. Last night while I was dressing Noah, he swung his arm around and whacked me right in the nose and sent a searing pain through my whole head. The moral of the story: little boys are harder to break than their parents are. Tuesday was Daddy Joe's funeral. Below is the eulogy Greg gave. He did an awesome job and I am very proud of him for how he honored Daddy Joe. We had to take Wyatt with us because he woke up that morning with the beginnings of pink eye. I gave him my homeopathic pink eye preventer drops that work really well if you catch it early. After two doses, though, Wyatt got ahold of the bottle and broke it. By that point his eyes looked okay. Wednesday night I was pulled out of my Bible study at church because Wyatt had fallen head first into the corner of a bookshelf in child care. She said he had a huge goose egg on his head. I told her he already had a small one there from a fall he took on Tues. (picture on the left, holding ice to his boo boo) and asked her if he was upset and needed comforting. She replied that he was fine and went right back to playing but she thought with a bump that big he might need some tylenol. I told her if it wasn't bothering him then he didn't need anything. She looked a little aprehensive. He was fine and that night at home he hit his head on something else and got a matching bump on the onther side. Gotta be even right? By Thursday his eyes were starting to look gooey again but my local store did not have the drops I like. I also began feeling a little under the weather that day too. Did I mention Greg flew out of town immediately following the funeral and was gone until the wee hours of Sat morning? Friday morning I woke up, well I tried to but my eyes were gooed shut. So I took Wyatt to the doctor that morning, got a prescription for $60 drops and used them on both he and I (shhhh, don't tell my doctor). Since then, I made it a point to find my herbal eyes drops. By friday I was beginning to feel really sick. That night I had both boys ready for bed by eight. Noah went running to his bed, tripped and fell face first into the bunkbed ladder. He is much more dramatic than Wyatt and required cuddles, Mr. Bump and a lot of kisses on his purpling cheek. Since then I have been really sick. I think I have some sort of virus I probably got from Noah- the kind that gives a toddler a runny nose for a few days and makes an adult feel like walking death for two weeks. Because of it, my pink eye won't totally clear up. I will post more pictures later tonight when I have more time. So much for more time. Greg and I are watching a movie right now (Facing the Giants - I highly reccomend it) so I thought I'd catch up a little. Today was Cowboy day at Noah's school. The kids dressed western and had a cowboy cookout. Noah was the cutest little cowboy ever. Tonight we went for a walk and Noah wanted to wear his boots and both boys insisted on their cowboy hats. Wyatt looks more like a little hillbilly than a long tall cowboy. Still, he is just as cute of a hillbilly as Noah is a cowboy. This last picture is of Wyatt enjoying his first smoothie. Maybe blueberry wasn't such a great choice... Yesterday Wyatt learned to say 'Godsey'. He is surprisingly clear. He says 'I-ah' for 'Wyatt'. I can't believe how much he is talking already. Noah wasn't saying as much when he was 2. Noah and Wyatt are officially sharing a room now. We bought bunkbeds about a month ago. Advice for new moms of siblings: if they fight all the time- try bunkbeds. Seems counter intuitive but it really changed Noah and Wyatt. Noah was so excited to have Wyatt sleep on the bottom bunk that he has become more generous with all his stuff. Of course, it took a few weeks for Wyatt to prove that he could handle the new arrangement- he would talk and make noise until Noah would get up and ask us to take him out. He finally realized to sleep in the bunk he had to keep quiet. Today I moved Wyatt's stuff from his room to Noah's and turned Wyatt's room in to the guest/'Learning-Fun' room. It's where we can all play games together and the boys have a place to do some 'quiet' play. Most people have a game room for noisy play, but we have one room for quiet play because the other way just seems impossible. So, you can all come and visit (well, no more than two at a time if you want a bed) if you don't mind stayin' in a room with frogs and dragonflies painted on the walls.

Daddy Joe's Eulogy

Here is the eulogy Greg gave at Daddy Joe's graveside service. Some of you requested a copy. I know how hard it was for him to do it, but he did an awesome job and just the way Daddy Joe would have wanted it.

Like Joe, let's get right to the point.
We believe Joe Godsey knows Jesus Christ as his personal savior the way the Bible describes. Let me read John chapter 3.
(reading)
... But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (Jn 3:21)
If you believe the words of Christ, then you may know Joe is with Jesus now, in heaven living as the young man many of you remember, the young man I've always wanted to meet. We know Joe lived by the truth and was in the light and we could plainly see God's work through him.
Knowing his life is eternal with Christ, let's celebrate his time on earth, where he made decisions for himself and his family that affected eternity.
90 years and a few months on earth.
66 years with the love of his life, Ann.
Joe Godsey tenaciously sucked the marrow out of life.
Did he ever tell you how he proposed to his wife? He once told me. He said he had had his eye on this girl who was coming to see him once in a while. At some point, without a great deal of discussion with her, he decided he wanted her to be with him until the end. In his recounting the story he asked her, "I'm going to see and travel the world, do you want to come?" Ann, in her equally direct approach, asked "as your spouse or chauffer?" We know Joe's answer...
Joe and Ann raised 3 children. One West Point graduate and one Fightin' Texas Aggie. I remember him as my Daddy Joe. Working on his giant RV and building furniture in his workshop. I remember an old man with a young heart. Many of you remember a young man with an unquenchable zest for life. Never lazy, never tired, never negative. Always courageous, always true, always fair, always giving, always intentional, always decisive. A man driven by a purpose.
Joe didn't miss a moment. He lived 90 years and a few months fully self sufficient and in good health right to the end with his wife by his side. I figure if I'm lucky enough to get 90 years on this earth and it goes about like Joe Godsey's story, that would be alright with me. Let's live that we may be remembered the same way as Joe. We miss you here Daddy Joe- we'll see you soon.

A New Look!

I am creating a new look for my blog. It may change a few more times before I get it right. The boys and I had a fun week playing, working in the garden and running errands. Friday, Noah's friend, Taylor, turned five. We went with her and some of her family to Gattitown. It was our first experience with a Gattitown but even though it is a little loud and wild, we had a lot of fun. Noah and Taylor had a blast. They ran from game to game and loved eating pizza in the 'cartoon room'. Taylor's little sister, Skylar, is about the same age as Wyatt. Skylar and Wyatt were a little overwhelmed by the arcade but were more than happy to chase each other and chow down on bread, pasta, cottage cheese and peaches. Yum. As you can see, Taylor and Noah visited the photo booth. I think these pictures are hilarious because they made the same spontaneous face in every picture without any coaxing from us and no planning on their part. There was a big indoor carousel that we all enjoyed. Wyatt rode the elephant and did his elephant impression the whole time. Monica and I decided to have a little fun too and handed the little ones over to Matt while we paddled a virtual raft and went crazy on the bumper cars.
Greg and I made Saturday family day. All four of us actually slept in. We had pancakes, went for a big family walk around the neighborhood, went to Sears for more carpet cleaner (as important as milk around here) and had a fun lunch at Red Robin. It was a really good day with the boys. Today is church day. We are at church from 9-12, eating lunch with the youth leaders from 12-2, and doing our own dicipleship classes and youth activities from 3-6. Sunday is always so hectic. The boys actually love it. They both enjoy Sunday school, playing with the other youth leaders and their kids, and then going to evening childcare with church ladies that shower them with attention.

In Loving Memory...

Joseph Daughety Godsey
9/26/1916 - 2/15/2007
We will miss you Daddy Joe!

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

Last Saturday we celebrated Noah's 4th birthday with a small birthday party. Of course the theme was the movie Cars. Mama G made an awesome Lighnting McQueen cake. Between transferring my pictures from the camera to the computer and doing some editing, I somehow lost the really good picture of the cake. I have the worst camera luck. The party was a lot of fun. He and his friends played like crazy. Wyatt, Skylar and Ben are all about the same age and had fun playing too. Noah now has nearly every Cars item ever made. He loves every one of them.
This past week we just did our normal thing. Noah's actual birthday was Tuesday which was a school day. So we took cupcakes for his class, they sang Happy Birthday to him during Chapel and he got to wear the birthday crown all day. Now, the first thing he tells everyone is that he is four. He has decided this is a turning point in his little life. Tuesday he promised to be nicer to Wyatt from now on and help with him everyday. With the exception of punching Wyatt in the face today, he has actually done a pretty good job at upholding his promise. A few days ago I took the boys down to the San Marcos River for a fun walk. Instead, we spent an hour throwing rocks into the river. Boys are so funny. They only stopped out of hunger and because they wanted to go check out a huge standard poodle playing near our car. This past weekend we tore up our veggie garden and got it ready for the spring. I felt like I planted things too late last year so I started early this year. On Saturday we amended and turned over the soil, added compost and planted lettuce, potato, broccoli and kale. The lettuce, spinach, carrots and peas we planted in the fall actually survived the freezes and are still thriving and producing. This last picture is the morning after Noah's party. Wyatt's hair always looks charged and these balloons clung to him all morning.

First day of Preschool!

I just read Christie's blog about our day at the zoo. It's great, be sure to check it out.
Tuesday was Noah's first day of preschool (this is the corresponding scrapbook photo). He has been on the waiting list for our church's highly esteemed (at least that's the word in the yuppy mommy group) program since last summer. I was impatient, but God timed it perfectly. This week just so happened to be 'transportation week' and they are learning the letter 'N'. How perfect is that? Least to say, Noah Loves it and now, instead of waking up in the mornig and the first words out of his mouth being 'I'm hungry', he asks 'is it a school day?!' Of course the teachers love him. They were immediately impressed when he marched into the room, sat down with another little boy and played cars without even a glance back at me. His teacher told me she was a little nervous about adding another boy to a class of only 11 boys and only 4 girls, but that Noah fits right in and needs very little instruction. Such a good boy.
Here is a picture of his second day of school with his super cool lunch bag. I randomly decided to match the boys today. Notice they even have matching shoes. I was looking forward to the couple days a week I would have with only Wyatt in tow, but I have come to find out that it is not any easier, even harder in some ways, when the one boy is the more 'challenging' of the two. I almost feel like I am being less efficient because I now seem busier and I only have one kid. And, because I have to pick Noah up right about Wyatt's naptime, it looks like there will be days when Wyatt will not get more than just a nap in the car. Fortunately today I was able to transfer him from the car and not wake him. But Wyatt was crazy today. The only releif was the lack of intense disagreements he and Noah often get into. Wyatt wouldn't eat today, was cranky, mopped the dining area floor with his mop and dog water (I was on the phone- briefly), destroyed his room, and made a mess of my tubberware. When Noah was Wyatt's age we went on walks all the time. Sometimes he would walk along and sometimes he would sit peacefully in the stroller. So, I decided to take Wyatt on a fun little walk today- just me and him. Well, he got tired of the stroller after about 5 minutes so I let him walk. He wanted to push Riley by the behind, making Riley very nervous and getting me all tangled in leashes and an unused stroller. When I finally freed myself, tied the dogs to the stroller and got Wyatt to take my hand, he broke free in a mission to touch every trash can in the neighborhood and declare 'trash!'. Mental note- I should never take Wyatt for a walk on trash day. I was okay with this, I just walked slower. Then he preceded to pick up dog poop from a yard so he could put it in the trash. This stems from one of his favorite hobbies: helping Greg and I pooper scoop the backyard. Except on the walk we did not have the scooper. So that was gross and my only option was to wipe his hands as much as possible on my jeans. At that point I forced him in the stroller and took off as fast as I could so he didn't have a chance to jump out. Instead, he decide to wiggle out of the straps and stand- which turned into jumping. So now I'm bookin it through the neighborhood smelling like poo, pushing a stroller containing a jumping toddler and scolding two poor, tired, tangled, stressed out dogs just trying to stay out of the way of stroller wheels. My relief came in the form of a garbage truck making its way down our street which captivated Wyatt allowing me to slow down and make it home with no more incidents.
All that said, Wyatt is really a sweetie and all he really wants is someone to always play with and give lots of 'huggies'- as he calls them. I'd say he is fully talking now. He will repeat anything I ask him to and say two word sentences. He just won't talk much around other people. The last hour before it was time to go pick up Noah he walked around the house sadly saying 'Noah gone' and 'Noah school'. Finally he stood in the entry hall saying 'Car? Noah?' over and over. I was surprised to see how much he missed him. But he was asleep less than half way into the drive. He also learned two colors today- red and blue- while we were playing with play-doh. I think he knows yellow too.

Lions, Tigers & Bears... & Mimi!

Last week Greg and Papa were out of town all week so Mimi drove down for a visit. We had a great week of shopping, playing, eating at all our favorite Austin resturaunts and driving around looking at pretty houses just for fun. This first picture was taken on National Red Day. It really was, but we actually did not plan the outfits knowing that. Here is Wyatt with a busted lip. After about 5:00 in the evening the boys transform into little beasties (as my friend Christie would say). I guess that is nearing the time they are used to Greg getting home and playing with them- the dad way. Well, by the end of the day Mimi and I did not have the energy (or the flexibility, volume and strength) to involve the boys in intense physical activity. So they would just go wild every night and all we could do was try to keep up and prevent them from hurting themselves, the dogs or us. We survived- barely. Last Saturday Christie and Che invited us to go to the zoo. We had a blast. The Austin zoo is very small, but perfect for the kids to freely run around and there are so many animals they can really interact with. They even sell food you can feed many of them. The boys loved feeding the goats- well, Ben enjoyed watching Wyatt and Noah feed the goats, sheep, llama and deer. He was not keen on long tongues and llama slober. I don't blame him. Twice a goat snatched Noah's feed sack from him and ate it- bag and all. He fed the pigs some of Ben's banana that fell on the ground (and some that Che gave to him thinking he wanted a snack). Since most of the animals were rescued from neglect or abuse, they are a little... quirky. Like the llama with the severe underbite jutting out of his mouth, and the goat with only one twisted, knobby horn and the prematurely neutered lion with no mane. Ben and Wyatt really liked running around with the loosed chickens, roosters and peacocks. They got to hear first hand what rooster really sounds like. Wyatt made sure to point out every trash receptacle and anything that looked like one. Noah loved it all and got to ride the little zoo train. Afterwards we went to the Salt Lick for some ribs. They were so yummy I only left the bones for Wyatt to gnaw on. Not really, I gave him beans too, which he decided to wear from head to toe. By the end of the day, the boys were filthy, tired and perfectly content. I will try to get most of the good pictures Christie and I took posted on my Flickr as soon as I can.