Downtown Aquarium

Thanks to the public library reading program this summer and my two little readers at home we were able to win some great prizes. We decided to wait and redeem our Aquarium tickets after the weather had cooled off. We had 4 free tickets to the aquarium and I think Kevin enjoyed himself as much as the boys. (For those of you who don't know, my husband LOVES fish and animals).

We headed downtown after breakfast and planned to spend the majority of the day at the aquarium. We saw lots of cool snakes, fish, and best of all SHARKS!! The boys loved everything!! We were even lucky enough to talk with a diver in the shark tank, and to see some rare white tigers while they were extremely active.

There were some tide pools with sting rays and baby sharks that the kids could touch and feel as well as starfish and little sea urchins. THe boys loved playing in the water and touching everything especially SHARKS!! Have I mentioned that they love SHARKS!!!

Kevin and Jace

Conner

Mom and Conner

Dad and da boys

After the indoor attractions the boys rode the Merry Go Round for the 1st time in their life. Jace loved it and Conner screamed the entire time. Since Conner wasn't a big fan, he and I went to wait in line for the shark train while dad and Jace rode it again. Kevin said he had to pry Jace's fingers from the ride because he was having so much fun and didn't want to get off. The train ride was pretty cool too, we rode the train through a large glass tunnel where there were tons of sharks swimming all around you. The boys LOVED IT!!! To end the day we rode the ferris wheel and let the boys go wild playing in the water fountain.

White tiger

Mom and Conner

They wore themselves right out and took a great nap in the car and at home. It was a blast for the whole family and I hope we get to go again next year for the summer library reading program.

Avery enjoying the aquarium with luxury seating from her carseat

Tick-Teet

Halloween has come and gone. According to the boys it is gone with much sadness....they ask me every day if Halloween is gone. Just when they were starting to get the hang of it, it up and left.


The boys were pirates once again this year (their mom was too lazy/busy to try to figure another costume out) and Avsee was a cute little pumpkin. It was actually quite cool here compared to last year's Halloween where we all sweated to death. This year I was glad Avery was in some sweats.


Conner and Jace


We were able to do a "pre" trunk or treat at the YMCA a week before Halloween so the boys could figure out what was going on. By the time the 31st was here there was no holding them back anymore. Since we are living in Houston we don't really go door to door around the neighborhood for a couple of reasons: 1) We live in a complex where there are very few kids and people probably aren't prepared for trick or treaters. 2) We don't know everybody around us like we did in SLC 3) There are some very sketchy areas close by that we try to stay far away from. For all of these reasons the ward always does a "Trunk or Treat" that evening for all the kids. The boys were excited because they knew they were going to get candy but they were a little hesitant about saying "Trick or Treat" to strangers. I told them they had to say it if they wanted any candy. Conner understood right away. He went up to the first car and said "Tick Teet" and then had a huge smile when he got "canee". Jace is more shy and just wanted the candy. By about the 3rd car they both had it down, they would say "tick teet" without even looking at the person because they couldn't take their eyes off the bowl of candy. By about the 5th car they would still say "tick teet" but then they would reach their hand into the bowl of candy and grab as much as they could. I had to explain that they could only have one piece at each place. That made it not as fun.



Conner with his sucker

Avery

Keys Family on Halloween

Conner and Jace

After a full round of trunk or treating there eyes were huge at the sight of their buckets full of candy not to metion their favorites---SUCKERS!!! They sat down in the middle of the parking lot and wanted to start devouring. I think they each ate about 4 suckers before we even got home. Lucky for us we have a fantastic and cheap* dentist in our future--keep the suckers coming!! :)

Halloween party

We had so much fun this year for Halloween. The twins are finally old enough to get the idea. They are absolutely infatuated with monsters and ghosts--which just happens to be perfect for Halloween. Since this is the first Halloween where the boys could actually understand a little bit about it we decided to have a little "Intro to Halloween" party with some of the kids their age. Brekke is a perfect party planner and kept it small with cute age-appropriate activities.

To start the party off we arrived, slightly late as usual, and Conner brought the Halloween sugar cookies inside (after of course fighting with Jace about who carried what). We were all excited to be there and the boys immediately went in and then I followed with my arms full of my baby, diaper bag, pumpkin sandwiches, and whatever else. The moms all started talking and when I turned around I found all the kids on the living room floor eating the sugar cookies Conner brought. I guess he figured we were at the party and so we might as well start eating. We all laughed at the kiddos because it was too cute to take the cookies away.

After cookies we played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern---the best part was spinning the kids around and trying to make them dizzy, especially since none of the kids would let us blindfold them. Then we sang Halloween songs with hand actions (I need a copy of those cute songs, Brekke) and made monsters grow in cups of water. After all the games the kids had a spook-tacular lunch--pumpkin sandwiches (sanwiches cut out in pumpkin shape with chocolate chips for eyes and mouth), ghost cheese (provolone cheese cut out like ghost), and eyeballs (grapes)-- then for dessert we had worms in the dirt.

It was a great party and I can say that it really got my boys in the spirit of Halloween!!

Ucky, Ucky Rice Cereal

Avery is 5 months old now and while my mom was here we thought it would be fun to see how she did with rice cereal (10/20/09). Everyone who knows Aves knows that everything goes in the mouth..this is typical for the average baby but Avery has to constantly have something in her mouth, whether it is a toy, finger, hand, or whatever. And you have to understand that she isn't satisfied with just a finger she needs a whole hand in there and then more still. She just can't seem to get enough, then she takes a time out for a minute to yell at her toys. I think she is yelling at her toys to get in her mouth!!!

For the reasons above we thought she would just gobble the rice cereal up. After all everything else gets gobbled up in there. The first couple bites of that yummy cereal went right down. Then I think she actually tasted it and oh the face she made. It was priceless. And then the gagging and the noises and more faces. Of course I wasn't prepared at first with my camera (it's a third child thing) but I got it soon enough and the pictures are still pretty good.

Well she ate a good portion of her cereal but mostly because I loved watching her faces. My mom was dying and tears were running down her cheeks because Avery's faces were sooo good. She has only had rice cereal a few times since then and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Maybe it'll taste better with some food mixed in.

A quarter of a century!!

That's right I am now a quarter of a century old. The big 25!

I had a great birthday and enjoyed it with my favorite people. My two sweet boys, my little angel girl, my adoring husband, and my fun-loving mom!! We had a great day. We got some fun pictures of Avery taken, cleaned up the house, was surprised by beautiful flowers from Kevs, had the yummiest dinner, and the best little b-day party!!

The boys gave me the Chutes and Ladders game. Kevin gave me some new scriptures with my married name on them. My mom gave me some clothes and a framed pic of Aves. Nana gave me a Disney movie and CD. My bother gave me a gift card to Sonic. My sister gave me a new webcam to chat online with her. Then we had some b-day dessert and by my request we had hot brownie sundaes. Kevin thought since we didn't have a cake we could put 25 candles in the hot brownies and of course the brownies were still too hot and melted the candles from the bottom up. We had to try to pull them out and of it left little puddles of wax all throughout the cake. Kevin was so disgusted but he found a solution. Within a few minutes he came out of the kitchen with a tub of ice cream with all 25 candles lit. The boys were thrilled with all the fire. We sang happy birthday and blew out the candles TWICE- the boys loved blowing out candles.

Thanks everyone it was a great day!!

Grandma Time

It's not very often we get to have our "Grandma time" so we quite enjoy the few times we get it. My mom was able to fly in for the weekend to celebrate my 25th birthday with me. (I still can't believe I am 25!!) We are always so busy while she is here trying to fit in everything we want to do. We had to hit the Galleria first thing and get a much needed pedicure and some b-day shopping. It is sure the good life relaxing with my little baby girl, mom, and a good foot-leg massage. I could have lived in the moment forever!! We found some cute pants and a couple shirts which I have really needed since I haven't quite lost all the baby weight and my clothes are just not quite fitting right, if you know what I mean.

We headed home from the mall way too late and decided rather than trying to whip something together we would head to Saltgrass Steakhouse. Two words-YUM YUM!! Thanks mom, that was a really yummy treat!!

Sunday is always good because we get to just stay home and relax. We ended up making Halloween sugar cookies and frosting them with the boys. It was fun and very messy. Then Jace told us he "fels suck" meaning he felt sick. He laid on the couch for the rest of the evening and sure enough threw up during the middle of the night. I was worried that with Jace being sick my birthday on Monday wasn't going to be much fun at all. But then I realized it takes more than one sick child to make my mom lay low. We woke up and tried to get a jump start on the day. We got Aves all gussied-up for pictures and headed to Picture People. It was so fun to get pics with her and oh-so-wonderful to have my mom there to keep the little guys under control.


Pictures turned out wonderful (duh, it's Avery) and my mom got me a beautiful framed picture for my birthday. That night we had my favorite dinner, salmon and baked potatoes with my favorite salad and homemade red onion dressing. Delicious!!

Then sadly our fun filled weekend had to come to an end. Grandma had to take the twins to ride on the train at Hermann Park because it has become tradition. The boys loved it and then we had to get grandma to the airport. ALL of us wished she had stayed longer but we all no vacation can't last forever. Conner loves lots of frosting with a little bit of cookie- just like his grandma

Like mother, like daughter

Gma and Jace

Avery loves to be a part of the action

Thanks grandma--it was loads of fun and we can't wait to do it again!!

Oil Ranch

I know I am quite behind on my blogging as usual. But I can't neglect the cute pictures from the Oil Ranch. Yes, it was quite an experience and one I don't think I want to repeat anytime before next year.

This was our first year going since last year I thought the boys would be too young to get anything out of it. So this year I was determined not to miss it. I was so determined I even canceled Avery's 4 month well child appt so we could go. (Now of course she doesn't have an appointment until Nov 5th!!)

Since the Oil Ranch is about an hour away my friends and I decided to caravan together. We met at our house at 9:30 and took off. THe car was packed with kids, snacks, lunch, diapers, extra clothes, sunscreen, cameras, sunglasses and who knows what else. The kids were more than happy watching "Cars" on the TV while Avery slept and we drove. We finally arrived and of course we had to ride the train first...and second!! We rode twice consecutively because the boys loved it so much.

Don't they just look thrilled!! :)

I do have to add a side note ** Although this post may sound fun and happy. It was extremely hot and humid and during parts of the day I questioned myself as to why I wanted to do this. Looking back it was great, but I have to warn you that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with an infant and definitely not on a hot and extremely humid day. **

After the train ride we played in a little park and then trekked over to the animal petting area. The boys loved touching the goats, pig, sheep, and chickens. They were even lucky enough to get some food to feed them. Just when I thought the day was starting to look up a little bit as we were walking out of the animal area Jace started screaming that the ants were biting him. Sure enough we had to rip his shoe off and mom had to sacrifice her hand and rub all the ants off. It never fails---the boys seem to migrate to the fireant hills.

After cleaning up the ants and washing our hands we headed over to a covered pavillon to eat our lunch. I was of course starving and didn't bring close to enough water for myself (nursing makes you really thirsty!!) or my boys. The boys didn't eat much I--I think they were too hot to have an appetite. I of course gobbled my sandwich and by then the boys were ready to take off for some more adventure.

We got some cute pictures of the kids climbing on the wagon of pumpkins and playing around. Then we had the opportunity to milk a real cow --but of course my boys weren't getting anywhere near that thing. The highlight was that the cow had to take a pee and it splashed all over. The boys laughed so hard, I just had to roll my eyes......

Jace and mommy trying to get some milk

Not so sure....

Next the boys rode some horses around. Conner rode first and was completely afraid; he made me hold him and walk along next to the horse the whole way. Jace was just excited. He couldn't wait to get on and let go of mom. I was so proud of him. They really liked the horse part and both of them even rode twice!! By this time of day I was starting to get tired and Avery was starting to wonder why she had been in her carseat and stroller all day. Was mom ever going to rescue her?? She is of course the world's best baby and was a great sport just tagging along and enduring the heat.

ConnerJace riding his pony

The boys found a barn and couldn't help but explore, just like boys do. They found some little animals to look at and then even better---a slide!! They climbed the stairs to the second level and then slid down a big tube slide. They had a great time!!

Our last event was a fun tractor ride to the cow pasture where the cows came right up to the wagon and the kiddos could feed the cows--or actually it turned out more like the cows could eat the kids! Either way we had some good laughs and lots of fun.

The whole crew

Brekke, Avery, Audrey, Me, Jace, Conner, Dawson, ??, Jillian, Mariah, Grayden

Finally after all the fun was over and I was dripping out of my clothes we ended our day picking out pumpkins to take home from the pumpkin patch. The boys loved climbing in all the pumpkins and of course they each found about ten that they wanted to take home. One just didn't seem like enough to them.

Conner and Jace

Of course as we drove home it only took about 10 minutes before all the kids were quietly sleeping. Jillian and I were able to enjoy our drive home chatting without any background noise (I think that might be a first). Thanks Jillian and Dawson we had a great time with you guys!!