Happy Birthday Clint!

We had the best day today! We have had so much fun with Grammy and Grampy this week and our last day with them was the best! We had a super fun picnic in Austin at Zilker park.

Lane found a big rock near our picinic blanket and had a ball stepping up onto it and jumping off of it - over and over.

Grammy, Lane and I went for a short little walk on the trail. We got to climb up and down these big stone steps to get to the trail. Lane loved them of course.

Marlee got to hang out in her carseat. She was a happy girl the whole time. I think she looks like she's waving, she's a smart one.

Tonight we went to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. Lane has gone with us before, but it's been awhile. He was so much fun to watch.
He did not like the fire. You can see at the beginning of this video my Mom leans over to talk to ask Clint if there is going to be fire. Clint says yes so my Mom leans over to warn Lane. Lane's face is priceless. He loved the show, but wasn't sure about the fire.

Lane did an amazing job with his chopsticks!

And he even almost caught a shrimp in his mouth! He watched Grampy catch several and Dad almost caught one or two so he wanted to try. I loved his face in this one too!

The happy Birthday boy with his babies.
When we got home we had Clint's birthday cake. Lane was so excited to sing Happy Birthday and help blow out the candles.

I think I need to work with both of them on their technique. We love the way Lane blows out candles!

New Do

Laners got a haircut this afternoon. The woman who cut his hair asked if he would like a Mohawk when she styled it. I love the expression on Lane's face.

Apple or Onion?

I cannot keep Lane out of the kitchen when I make dinner. He is always running in to get a slice of whatever veggies I am cutting up for our meal. Last night I was chopping peppers and onions. He came in for a slice of green pepper while I was cutting it up, no big deal, he loves green peppers. Then, I starting cutting the onion and Lane said he wanted onion. I gave him a good sized wedge thinking he would eat the layers separately. Nope, he ate it like an apple slice. I ran to get my camera and got a video of him eating his second wedge.

He was so offended by my question. He really did have some serious onion breath the rest of the night!

Grocery Shoppin

How cute is this? Lane and Marlee got to go on their first ride together today at the grocery! Marlee sat up like a big girl and big brother loved having his Sister behind the cart with him! They got her picture taken by a stranger, wierd I know but they were so stinking cute, and several cheers from passerbys. No wonder Lane and Marlee love to go shopping!

Rainy Weekend

It has rained here ALL weekend. The rain was light Friday, stronger all day yesterday, and it's finally quit tonight. To stay out of the rain as much as possible we tried to do fun things around the house.
Friday night we had our first ever family movie night. Lane was soooo good. He sat on the couch the entire movie, Toy Story 2. We had popcorn and apple juice while we watched the movie. Lane was in hog heaven.
Saturday morning Lane got up early and had a good time before we woke up. He got a hold of my camera and took about 15 pictures. He took lots of pictures of the ceiling fan and his toys and took a few pictures of himself. This one was my favorite. After he was bored with the camera he moved into the kitchen, where I found him. He got a hold of what was left of a bag of Hersey kisses. I found him with all the candy unwrapped, the wrappers in a pile and all the kisses were in the little pink cup he's holding. He was eating the kisses one by one with his spoon.

This evening while I made dinner Marlee watched from her high chair while she wore brother's new favorite hat.

After dinner Clint took Marlee for her first drive.

Marlee changed out her wheels and Lane took her for a spin.

We had a great raining weekend and are ready for some sunshine tomorrow. I hope!

Mr. Lane

When this boy got up from his nap he...

- opened the blinds on the windows in his room

- got new socks out of his sock drawer

- put on his socks

- got his boots out and put them on the correct feet

- left his bedroom and shut his door

- went into the landing and saw his hat with Marlee's bows in it

- put Marlee's hairbows away on her dresser

- put on his hat

... and came downstairs ready to go

Lane was so proud of himself when he came in to show me, he was beaming. I was so proud too and just a little bit sad to see how independent he is becoming.

My New Trick

I may have discovered a new trick to get Lane to eat! Dinner has become Lane's favorite time of day to socialize. The boy does everything but eat. His behavior at the dinner table was driving me crazy so I did some reading up and found that toddlers eat the majority of their calories in the morning and afternoon so by the time dinner rolls round they would rather socialize than eat. Since learning that, I have eased up on Lane when it comes to eating his dinner but I still encourage him to sit in his seat and eat a few bites with us.

Last night we had chicken enchiladas with rice and beans while Marlee had delicious home pureed green beans. After a few bites of his dinner Lane looked over at Marlee and said he wanted her green beans.
So, what did I do? I bribed Lane to eat three more bites of his chicken in exchange for the rest of Marlee's green beans. Worked like a charm. Lane finished his chicken and got in a few extra bites of veggies. Obviously Lane loves his veggies!

Talking up a Storm

Marlee is a busy girl! When she is awake she wants to be up and moving. She spent over an hour in her jumper yesterday morning! When she got quiet I went to check on her and found her asleep. I left her there since she seemed happy and when she woke up, about 30 minutes later, she went right back to playing.

Then, last night before bed she talked and talked. She makes me laugh because she is so serious about what she has to say. Lane wasn't much of a talker so it's funny to me that she likes to talk so much.

In Lane news: Yesterday morning Lane met me coming down the stairs on an old cell phone. He stopped when he saw me and said "good morning Mommy". Then, he said "oughie on my face". I was afraid he had run into something or accidentally hit himself with a toy. As I was running over possible scenarios in my head he turned his face and had a band aid on his cheek. I asked him if he had an oughie where his band aid was and he said "Yes". He found the band aid in a junk drawer and was so proud of himself. He says and does so many things that make me laugh. I love my two little talkers!

Marlee Grace is 6 Months

Little Miss MGM is growing leaps and bounds! We had her 6 month checkup on Friday and she checked out great! She weighed in at 18 pounds 7 oz (90%tile), measured 26 1/2 inches (75%tile) and her head measures in the 75-90%tile. Poor Marlee is just recovering from her first illness. She began throwing up the 1st and threw up so much while we were in Hobby Lobby on the 3rd that they had to get a mop! She is just now starting to feel better. She's lost a couple ounces since we went to the Doctor on Monday, so I'm sure her weight would have been more had she not gotten sick. These six months with our sweet girl have been so much fun! She is such a sweet happy girl. She loves to smile, get kisses, and be held. She loves her brother more than anything else. He just has to walk by for a huge smile and oftentimes a squeal. Marlee loves to sit up all by herself and play on her playmat, stand up on her legs with support, and she still hates tummy time. I have fun every morning picking out an outfit with a huge bow to match. So far Marlee doesn't mind her headbands and bows. She loves to be out and about, but if we are home she wants to be on her schedule. She is always good to let me know if she needs something. That's the polite way to say she throws a royal fit if she's hungry or tired and not being fed or put in her bed. We love our sweet girl so much and cannot wait to see what the next six months bring.

Movin Up

The past three mornings Lane has climbed out of his crib. We've known it's been coming, the boy is a climber. I've caught him up on the kitchen table, on the vanity in the bathroom, and most recently he's been climbing up onto the kitchen counter to get into the upper kitchen cabinets, but for some reason he loves his crib so much he hasn't tried to get out of it... until Monday morning. I found him at the top of the stairs throwing his "entourage" (the 5+ stuffed animals he sleeps with) down the stairs. Tuesday I found him throwing down the animals and books. And then this morning he greeted Clint at the bottom of the stairs holding his entourage and said Good Morning??? Like, am I in trouble for being downstairs? Clint said he laughed about it all day. So, tonight we finally bit the bullet and converted Lane's crib to a toddler bed.

One last picture by the Crib. He was so excited, I'm not sure he realized what was about to happen, but he was excited none the less.
Lane helped Daddy unwrap the piece that changed his bed over.
The finished product!
All tucked in and ready for bed. I've had so much fun watching Lane in the monitor tonight. He was in and out of his bed at least 5 times. He would hold his pillow or an animal out over the bed and then drop it on the floor. He would hop out and then hop right back in after he picked it up. All the fun and excitement must have worn him out, he was out in less than 10 minutes!

This was Lane's practice session with Clint. I can't wait to see how he does tonight, or maybe I can...