ZOO trip!

This past weekend we went to Dallas for a big fun Easter/Birthday weekend! We'd planned to take Ryder to the Zoo for the first time on Friday. Well, we woke up to a big ole' thunderstorm! We loaded up with Mimi & Poppy and headed out mid day anyway and fortunately it cleared up and by the afternoon it was nice and beautiful. Some of the animals still didn't want to come out, but for Ryder's first trip he got to see more than he could process for sure!

my little penguin:



On our way to the monorail through the wilds of Africa...


Paisley enjoyed it too! Especially while riding with Daddy:



The sun came out! So cool.

Feeding the ostrich - see he even liked the fake animals!

and hugging the monkeys...


This was the coolest part of the day: One of the gorillas had come down to pay everyone a visit at the glassed in area and Ryder literally got to stand eye to eye with that beast!

The best family shot - we are learning that getting a family shot with a now 2 year old is next to impossible. He was perfectly happy a second before this, and who knows what Paisley sees over there!

All in all we had a fun little first trip to the zoo. Ryder was intrigued and it was cool to see him connect with the "amimmals" he's been reading about in his books :)

TWO!

Ryder Marcus is TWO today! Our little baby is now a little boy and it happened so fast! Everyday is a new adventure right now. He's so inquisitive- learning more and more every minute! It's fun for us to watch him just experience life. He's definitely all boy and super active, but still has his sweet little side that I hope we can keep. We had our well-check doctor visit this week and he's measure in at just above average for height & weight. He's almost 35 inches and 28 pounds. He's actually lost a few pounds since the last check up, but the doctor said that's good for his age- just means he's active and not eating junk!! We love you so much sweet boy. You've changed our lives in the most amazing ways - may each year be blessed even more.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY!

4 generations!

Daniel & I are both so lucky to have all of our Grandmothers involved and active in our lives. They are all amazing Godly women who have all influenced us in so many areas of our lives. It's a blessing to see them with their Great-Grandchildren. Week before last (I'm playing catch up here) my mom came down during her spring break and brought my Grandmommie with her. They watched the babies and let me catch up on some work hours and then we got out and ran around a little too. I didn't take too many pictures, but we took these one night before we went out to have dinner near the lake. 4 generations of women here...
And this is THE best we could get with the ACTIVE little, Ryder in the picture, but it makes me smile anyway!
In other news of the past week or so:
Paisley has two little teeth that have popped through on the bottom!
Ryder's vocabulary seems to be still exploding by the day. He keeps us cracking up at things he sees and says. My favorite is that for some reason he doesn't say, "Rocky," but instead has re-named him, "Rodney!" haha. And he has a little bible story book that he refers to as his "Bible!" One day last week I asked him who was in his Bible (thinking he would say, "lions, rahhr" or something along those lines...) instead he said in the sweetest little voice, "God." "Yes," I said, "That is RIGHT." (We'll get into the theological answer that God is in his heart not his Bible later!!) So precious and again I am surprised, that he IS listening to us :) And lastly, this is day two of the PACIFIER stand-off and we're doing good. One full night and nap down with NO paci!

We have a VERY exciting week ahead and LOTS to look forward to!!!

Our budding little musician!

Last Sunday morning at church Ryder went big time! Our drummer at church gave him some old sticks a couple months ago and he's been bringing them with him each week. Well, this week Bud, the drummer picked him up and let him sit with him through the last song during rehearsal...

Ryder knew exactly what to do! ;)

SO happy!!

Yesterday after church I took this video below. We'd just gotten home from a long morning at church so he was a little delirious which adds to the humor. It's kinda long, but has some really funny moments!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U7O0RGtsTE

Paisley Rose - 6 Months old!

Our baby girl is already 6 months! How time is flying and how she is growing! She is beginning to develop her own little personality more & more now. She really is the sweetest little thing and is so relaxed and calm. She responds to us and is delighted to get any attention from big brother! She loves playing in the floor and her exersaucer. She is sitting up better and squeals and makes funny syllables. We go for her check up next week so we'll see how little bit is growing - still not very into eating solid foods yet, we're working on it. She just seems so petite, but she's still plenty healthy with lots of rolls! Kirsten & Todd took these amazing pictures while they were here this past week. This first outfit was made by Grandma Williams for Daniel's mom when she was a baby! And this is the beautiful quilt Daniel's mom made.








Happy 1/2 birthday sweet Paisley Rose. You have brought so much joy to our lives.

More fun with friends...

The fun continued... Kirsten & I did some outlet shopping, cooked and just hung out. Saturday once Todd rejoined us we decided we'd have a little taste of Austin! ;) So we headed to Rudy's for some TX BBQ. Anders looked excited...

Kirsten was not so sure about the lack of "plates!"


Todd & Kirsten...

BBQ Sauce anyone?!?


Us and our boys!

"Real People Eat Meat" haha.


sweet girl, just watching all the excitement.

cool.


We did some shopping (the guys took the babies to REI while we went to Nordstrom Rack!) and then we hit up another Austin fave - Amy's ice cream on the way home. Todd & Ryder on the Bull:

Sunday we did church and then went to lunch at Z Tejas. It was a beautiful day.


We took them to the airport Monday night and Ryder cried his eyes out when we dropped them off!!! He woke up Tuesday morning asking for them and when I found him talking on his toy phone I said, "Who is it?" And he said, "Anders?" :) And well, Paisley is so sad to have had to say bye to her love...


We had such a great time with our friends who we love and miss SO much! Come back SOON.

Babies & Mommies!

We took a lot of Mommy & Baby pictures one day during our visit... although again we never really got the shot with everyone looking we got some fun pictures. Anders - 7 months & Paisley 5 months (6wks apart!)
Rocky wanted in on the action too: