A day at the museum!

For Memorial Day, since Hector got the day off, we went to the Perot Museum, here in Dallas. It was pretty cool. 90% of it was over Cohen's head, but he liked the Children's Museum area. So glad we went, though. Felt like true Dallasites, finally! ha!

Afterwards, we went to the Klyde Warren Park. Pretty neat place! It was on the brink of raining the entire time we were there, so we hurriedly selected a food truck to eat from (Abe's Flavor Flave..Mexican tacos..duh!) and got some Trailercakes cupcakes. A quick splash in the kid's area, and we got outta there! Both kids were getting fussy and tired.

Perhaps the only snake you'll ever see on my blog. Ever. I was gagging, it was so gross.

Checking out a giant tarantula! Ew!

Driving the farmer's market truck!

Shopping for produce!

Sliding down the big slide at the construction zone in downtown Dallas!

Sweet baby brother, just a-watching. :)

On a side note, Perot Museum... I saw signs for a designated nursing area, and Liam was hungry, so I asked the lady at the desk in the children's area where it was, and she pointed towards the bathroom and said, "it's there in the bathroom.. a private stall" I stared blankly at her, and said, "No thanks, I'll feed him over there on the bench." A brand new museum and the nursing area is a stall in the bathroom?? Come on. You could've done way better.

Learned that Cohen can "rock climb" :)

We went to the moon!

Big Dinosaurs!! Cohen was a little freaked by them.. He wasn't sure what bones meant.. 

Not even scared to stand by the edge! 

Saying he loved all the cars. Nice pic of downtown.

Feeling a tornado!

Not even real sure what this was, but the wood chips moved with your movements!

Liam liked the little splash pond at the museum!

Big bro, especially liked it! Got his whole outfit wet!

Once at Klyde Warren, we switched to swim attire.

Man, he looks big!

:) So happy!

He already wants to go back.

So, Klyde Warren is a really neat park. I'd love to go back when it's not threatening to rain. We were expecting 3 food trucks to choose from (per website) and there were at least 10! So cool. 

Both boys took terrific naps as soon as we got home!

First trip to the library!

I have been meaning to take Cohen to the library for so long. We're home most mornings, and there is a library like 5 minutes from our apartment.

So today, after our breakfast, a baby powder fight (Cohen found out if he shakes the powder, it will fly out and go everywhere) and showers for both of us, we loaded up and went to the library. It was only 98 degrees outside.. so.. yea. We were sweating by the time we got there. Yuck. Did I mention I'm ready for this outrageous heat to ease up?

Now, Cohen is a pretty loud kid. He's happy and excited and he shows it with his voice. :) So he had a pretty rough transition into library world. But then he kinda "got" it and started whispering. And he would mouth words at me and think I understood them. It was cute, but none of it made sense. Haha.

I love this sweet picture of Coco. I tried to get a picture of him just looking at books, but as soon as he saw me pull out the camera, he came up and started cheesin'.

It's still pretty fun (not to mention easy, since I'm 8 months preggo!) to get away from Mama, so, he liked to stay about one row over from me. And he would tell me, "I jus' lookin' mama! I only lookin'!"

Lots and lots of children's books. We came home with about 8!

Then he discovered the kids' computers. He didn't know exactly how to play any of the games, but thought he was real big, sitting there with the headphones on, pressing all the keys. :) Gosh, he's cute!

As I was checking out our books, he ran back over to the children's section and came back with a Cars book. I had seen him looking at it earlier, but he put it back. So cute that he remembered where it was and grabbed it for me to check out. It's a book that introduces and talks about all the characters in "Cars". That's my boy! :)

So, a successful first trip to the library!

Toddler on the Road

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we're road trippin' to Branson, MO. I believe it's my parent's official "Home away from home." It's easy to get to, only a half a day's driving. My parents have time shares and I can't count the number of times we've booked our trips to Branson. I like it, too... guilty!

The last time we took a long road trip with Cohen, he was one year younger. (1 and a half years old) And it was like 16 hours or some other huge number. Tomorrow's journey will take 5-7 hours, I think. But because of this year we've tacked on to his age, he is much more headstrong. He can tell you "no", he can say, "I don't like it." He'll negotiate, "No supper today, supper tomorrow!" He'll try to weasel his way out of nap time, "I had a good nap, mama! No Thomas bed!" (He sleeps in a Thomas the train bed at Granna and Pop's house.)

Well, I decided to be proactive and plan some things for him along the way. I went through a bunch of posts on pinterest regarding 'traveling with kids,' and found these ideas somewhere. It's basically to make up activity bags that will last 2-3 hours each. I made two of these bags. That's 4-6 hours (hopefully!) and I'm guessing there will be nap time and eating time sprinkled in there. I didn't want this to cost too much, so I'll include costs, too.

Bag number one!

Contents:
The Lorax blu ray (already owned)
Jolly rancher gummies (<$1 at Wal-Mart)
Monster's University play cell phone ($3 Wal-Mart)
4 colors of play dough ($.50 from Dollar Tree, from a pack of 8)
Funny faces robot sticker book ($1 at Dollar Tree)
Color wonder drawing pad with 1/2 a pack of color wonder markers (pad: $5, 1/2 markers: $2.50 at Wal-Mart)
Total: $13

I plan on bringing the movie out last, so he can exhaust himself with the other activities. We've never played with these "Color Wonder" products, but sounds like a dream for a car trip. Supposedly the ink in the markers won't write on anything but the special Color Wonder paper.

Bag number two!

Contents:
Cars sticker pad ($1 at Wal-Mart)
more Cars stickers ($2 at Wal-Mart)
Cars blu ray (already owned)
Color Wonder pad and the other 5 markers (pad, purchased for other bag, 1/2 pack markers: $2.50 at Wal-Mart)
Cars cup ($1 at Wal-Mart)
4 colors of play dough (the rest of the pack $.50 from Dollar Tree)
"Sarge" toy car ($4 at Wal-Mart)
Total: $11

Bag number two obviously had a Cars theme... Which is why it's number two. I see cars and play cars and watch Cars all day long. I want the kid to wait a little minute before unloading the cars theme on our car. Again, the movie will be held until he tires of the other activities.

I found a few books to add to the mix, and a set of farm animals. I'll just pull these out as necessary.

All from Dollar Tree, except Caillou.

These animals were like $2 at Wal-Mart.

So, anyways, we leave in the morning. I'll let you all know how these go over and whether or not it helps or hurts the trip! ;) We're hitting the hay, now.. good night!

Our first few days in Paris

This is the week I've been looking forward to for months. And only because it is 9 uninterrupted days off from work. *Picture me smiling like the Cheshire cat*

It is the week Hector is off at YoungLife camp in Colorado. Now, that part, we're not loving. We miss daddy something fierce. But we know he's doing a good work there, and that he is having a wonderful time.

I had originally created these grand plans for Cohen and I to fly to Denver to stay with a dear friend who just had a baby, and to even go to Hector's camp one night to visit. But, alas, I chickened out. I had this recurring vision of me, 20 weeks pregnant, carrying a purse, carry-on bag and huge toddler car seat through a busy airport, chasing my 2.5 year old who likes to see just how far away from Mama he can get. I got cold sweats just thinking about it. So, I nixed the idea and called my parents and informed them we'd be coming for the week. :) They, of course, were thrilled. They bought the kid a pool, people. They booked a trip for the end of our stay. They hauled his Thomas the Train bed out of the barn and up to our room. They were ready.

We got here late Sunday morning. We even went to the church service with them. It was so nice to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in years. I never get a chance to visit on a Sunday. As soon as we got home and had lunch, Coco was ready to swim. Pop was the first lucky swim mate.

Cohen was super unsure of his hat, so Pop pulled out a similar one, just so he'd have hat company. :)

Coco and his Granna!

Then, can I just say, that as tired as this little boy was, he took a horrid nap, then stayed awake until 10:30, then woke at 7 am, after tossing and turning all night. O_o

Monday, we went to town to ship Daddy's care package to Colorado, praying it gets there Wednesday, but assuming Thursday. :(

We got home and Coco took a 45 or 50 minute nap, again, I thought he'd take a 2-2.5 hour nap. Not the case. So, we went swimming. No pics this time, because I was enjoying the water, as well! 

Great grandmother Ivy showed up during our swim, and ended up staying for dinner (baked potatoes - my request!). She just loves coming down while we're here. 

After dinner, we (read: Cohen) rode tricycles:

With boots on, down a gravel driveway, with a trunk full of rocks. :)

We fed the catfish:

Man, I love this face...

And to top off a great evening.. we had Popsicles on the patio. 

He kept saying, "it's so cold!!" Still learning...

Shorts: immediately in the wash, no stains!

That sweet, chipped-tooth grin of his... gets me every time.

We are having a low-key day today, Granna and Pop both had to work for a while. And this guy, did NOT sleep good last night. He's staying in my room, in his toddler bed. And he tossed and turned all night, again. Every time he moved, I popped up, thinking he was awake. Then at about 1am, he was awake and was awake for about an hour. And at 6, he woke for good. I put him him in my bed and convinced him that even Granna and Pop weren't up yet. (He wanted to go make coffee.) So, he laid down with me for like 30 minutes, then Granna came and got him, so I could sleep a little longer. What is it about this place that has him waking at the crack of dawn and getting poor sleep??? He's been asleep for a morning nap from 11-1, still sleeping. We'll see how long it lasts. Then I bet he and I will go swimming. :) It's been a great trip so far. 

Father's Eve and Day

So, I live with Mr. Impatient.. ahem... Hector.. I made the mistake of wrapping his gifts and setting them out on Friday night. Then I worked on Saturday. So he was here all day with the gifts just teasing him. By the time I got home, at like 8pm, he was itching...aching.. to open them. Like, he was getting borderline mean when I told him to wait until morning. But alas, I couldn't hold him off any more.

We sat down to eat our spaghetti and he rushed through his just so he could open the gifts. Coco thought it was someone's birthday. :) I told him it was something he "wanted" and something he "needed".

And this was the "need"! 

An electric razor. He has to shave everyday for Booster, and he hates doing it, so I figured this would make it easier and less time consuming. Score, he loved it!

Some nice face products to go with razor!

Silly papa!

Pretty surprised!

"Coco we got a new game!" (Coco with a FULL mouth of spaghetti)

FIFA 13. He's been playing a demo for quite a while now. Poor baby. Well, now he has it. 

We sure are lucky to have Hector in our lives. I can't imagine a better daddy for Cohen. He plays for hours, reads to him at night, makes sure he's never hungry, changes diapers, helps with baths, teaches him to pray, disciplines him (when he needs it) and is generally awesome with him. It's wonderful to watch. He's so very excited for our next little boy, too. It's so sweet. I'm also reminded of what a wonderful husband he is, too. He is so good to be the main parent when I get home from work and am so tired. I'll play with and love on Cohen, but he will give the bath, make sure we're both fed and get us both to bed. :) He doesn't get upset that I'm pretty much too tired to do anything. He just does it. And I notice. I love you, Hector!

Then today, Father's Day, we had a lazy first part of the day. He went to a church service in Plano to do some YoungLife stuff, so Cohen and I stayed home to clean. We had company coming! Granna and Pop and Uncle Josh and Cortney were coming over around 2 or 3. Once Granna and Pop got here, we played and played, for what seemed like HOURS. Haha, this kid can wear out the most energetic adult. Then, at 5, we loaded up and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings, my dad's favorite wing place. It was yummy! We left stuffed! 

We came back to our apartment to hang out for a bit. (Josh and Cortney went home.) Granna wanted to see our pool, so we walked and Coco rode his tricycle to the pool. It was crowded. And that's an understatement. I like a sparsely populated pool. Cohen was just in his clothes. We were just going to look. 

This was ok. I was ok with this.

Then this happened. Granna is laughing.

So let's just wade out there.

 My Dad! Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!

World's Best Granna and Pop! Love them so much!

We had a very nice day. So happy they were able to come and visit. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Your job is oh-so-important. Thank you for caring enough to do it well!