Snow day!

It also snowed during February, but since that's such a novelty here in Central Texas, I thought it warranted its own post.

Colt was SO excited to discover it had snowed when he woke up. He immediately got dressed to go outside. Levi wasn't all about the snow though, and chose to watch from the warmth of the house. Colt played for a bit, then we went inside for breakfast after he got too cold. After breakfast, Levi still wasn't interested in going outside. As Colt and I were outside playing, Levi eventually emerged from the house dressed like this...

He is potty training, so was running round the house with his pants off.

He soon discovered the snow was LOTS of fun, so we went inside and got him properly dressed.

Tatum meanwhile stayed toasty warm inside! 

 Warming up by the fire...

 Snow down the back of the sweater is really cold. 

 We didn't have any gloves (and every store I tried to buy them from was sold out!), so we used socks on our hands instead. We loved playing in the snow this morning. By the afternoon, most of it had melted away, but we'll cherish these memories till next time! 

SO far behind!

I can't believe I didn't post anything during the month of February! Time really is flying around here. Life with 3 kids is definitely busier!! Here's a quick recap with the very few pictures I took during the month. 

My mom came to visit for a week. We loved having her here! 

Colt wanted his picture taken with Molly. He loves for her to give him kisses, and yes, he opens his mouth in order for her to lick him. Gross, I know! 

Nanny, nanny, boo boo.

Levi is generally a happy go-lucky kid, but lately he's become a bit more serious about things. He's busy potty training. I love that I haven't changed a dirty diaper from the kid in weeks!! 

I was trying to get a picture of the boys together to send to my Grandad. This is the best shot I got of the boys together. I should do a separate post about how HARD it was to get them both to look at the same time, with no hands in their faces. It really was quite funny to look at the progression of images :) 

This is one of my favorite shots from the day. I just love how they are having fun talking to one another. This really does happen from time to time, despite the fact that sometimes I wonder if people walking in front of our house sometimes think we are having a screaming/crying/who-can-drive-mom-the-craziest party inside our house! 

First Father-Son trip

Ty recently took Colt on their first father-son trip. They drove from Austin with one of Ty's high school buddies and his son to Oklahoma City to visit Ty's best friend from high school and his family. 

It was a weekend of 3 little boys getting to play and the guys getting to catch up. Ty took some pictures with his phone, but apparently forgot to take several pictures (like one of all 3 boys together).

 

He did, however, get a picture of the dog. 

One night, the guys went to an OKC Thunder basketball game. 

On the way back, they were welcomed home with SNOW! They let the boys out of the car to play in it for a bit and stretch their legs, then braved the traffic to finally arrive home. 

 While Ty and Colt were gone, Levi and I enjoyed some 1 on 1 time. 

 I brought out some dinosaurs and Levi was in heaven! 

 I enjoyed playing around with my new camera while Levi played in Colt's room. 

 Photo op of the two left behind kids. 

 We love our little family! Ty is excited to take his next father-son trip. Next time, he's taking Levi with him to a family wedding in Minnesota and I'm looking forward to time to focus just on Colt. 

3 month comparison

 Tatum

Colt

Levi

Obligatory Christmas Post

This Christmas was our first to spend in Abilene since we've had kids. Jennifer did a great job decorating the house and making it festive. The tree was stunning! She decorated it with little picture frames with a picture of each family member. After the tree came down, she hung them on a mural tree that Ashley painted in the guest room. Such a great idea! 

The house was packed. My whole family came, as well as my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Don and their 2 sons. Our boys had SO much fun playing with some older boys. And Stephen and Grant were extremely patient with my kids. 

Here we are during our own family Christmas. The kids mostly got board games and books from us. 

I got some chocolate covered cherries (with a few days to eat them before my sugar fast began on New Years). Ty got some shoes and a pillow ;)

After Christmas, we all got sick. The weird thing was that everyone had different symptoms. But we all came down with something. Fortunately, we are better now! 

 Here's Levi being his silly self by sitting in Tatum's car seat. 

 Over New Year's we celebrated Christmas with Ty's family. Colt and Levi got new golf clubs which they love! 

The boys also enjoyed playing with next year's Christmas ornaments that I got on clearance :)

Miss Priss is growing up too quickly! She's already 2 1/2 months and just moved into her 3-6 month clothes. She's a big girl! Tatum holds her head up really well and continues to be a sweet as sugar. 

We had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed taking lots of time this winter to share the story of Jesus birth with our kids. We went to the Living Nativity at Colt's preschool again this year and took time each evening to read from the Bible as we completed our Jesse Tree. It's fun to begin new traditions with our young kids! We are so thankful for God's precious GIFT to us in His son, Jesus and for this time to celebrate his birth. 

Austin Zoo escapades

We recently bought the Groupon to the Austin Zoo. I'd always heard that the Austin zoo wasn't really a zoo and was really disappointing. But with young kids, you can't pass up the zoo in your own city unless you want to win "Worst Parent of the Year" honors. Since the year was winding down and I was in the running for this honorable award, I figured we should pack up our own zoo crew and head that way.

The first animals we saw at the zoo were roosters and chickens. "Here we go..." I thought. 

 However, the zoo ended up being a GREAT experience. We saw bears, jaguars, lions, tigers, HUGE turtles, as well as a great feeding/petting zoo with goats, llamas, etc. The really neat part was how close you were to the animals. The lions were literally 3 feet from us, behind a fence of course, but still.... The zoo was also in a really shaded, not paved environment, so you feel a bit better for these caged animal's wellbeing. Also, quite a few of the animals have been rescued.

The day was a great outing... until the boys melted down in hunger and fatigue at the end of the morning (see picture above). There is a train that we chose not to ride due to the tired and hungry boys in our party. Hopefully next time we can take our little conductors on the little train. We look forward to our next zoo outing!