New bike, new goggles, new chair

Drew's wild hair day
New goggles (For those who are thinking, "Why is he swimming in a hot tub?" Don't worry, it's not actually hot)

New bike

We had a very fun weekend. On Friday we bought Blake a new (used) bike. He has a tricycle that he's had problems getting the hang of. Someone told me that a bike might be easier for him. Got the bike, perfect fit. I was excited to see how quickly he jumped on the bike and started riding(with training wheels, of course). Then I realized he wasn't actually pedaling, he must have just been on a hill :( We've tried it a few other times and he still just likes to coast or pedal backwards, which puts the brakes on. Any suggestions? He also tried on goggles for the first time on Friday. He's getting braver in the water now. He still doesn't see the need to kick his legs, but I'm sure that will come. Now that he has the goggles maybe he can start retrieving things under water.

Friday night Kyle and I helped out with an apartment ministry pool party with our small group. It was very hot since we were not in the pool. Saturday night we had some friends and their two sons over. It was a great time. Blake and their oldest son played together and the two younger boys just kind of hung out. We actually got some adult conversation in and it was wonderful! Sunday we met a friend from Truman (Kara Cappos) and her husband for brunch at a very delicious breakfast place called Moonshine in downtown Austin. They were in town for a wedding. After that we drove to Taylor, Tx to buy a chair for our upstairs. We were only able to drive about 20 miles an hour on I-35 so that was pleasant with two tired kids in the back. Gotta love I-35 traffic. I love the chair though so it was probably worth it.

La La's visit

This was at the church while we were waiting for Kyle to finish his audition. This was shortly after Drew took a nose dive off of there and had wood chips in his mouth and all over his face.
Blake tolerated shopping as long as he got to ride a few of the rides

Ok, so for those of you that don't know who La La is, I'll tell the story of how that name came about. When Blake was a baby we decided to have Blake call my parents Mimi and Pampa. We were going to have Kyle's parents be grandma and grandpa. Well, Blake's way of saying grandma and grandpa was La La and Lo Lo. We never told him to call them that and even tried to correct him. La La and Lo Lo stuck and even though he is old enough now to say grandma and grandpa, I think they will always be La La and Lo Lo to him.

We had a great time hanging out with Kyle's mom. We went swimming a few times and did a little shopping. We went to a very yummy BBQ place, which is now our favorite here. It is called the Salt Lick. A new one opened not too far from us so we might start making that our new regular BBQ. Kyle's mom was nice enough to watch the boys for us so that we could go to the Drum Corp Finals in San Antonio. We went out to eat downtown at a really fun restaurant called Mi Tierra and then spent the next 4 hours at the competition. My only complaint is that it was really late when we got home. The next morning we went to church and then Kyle had an audition for the Edge Band, which is the 4th and 5th graders. (Just in....Kyle made it!!!) We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing at my parents pool (who were out of town) while Blake pouted and Drew slept. It was a very nice time for the adults to enjoy the pool and do nothing. Before we left we went fishing, but only had sliced ham to use as bait so the fish just grabbed the ham off the hook. It was still a fun time.

Nature's Spring Garden

Blake on the easy part of our hike to the creek (Drew stayed with Mimi)

Everything is bigger in Texas. This is a beetle for those northerners who've never seen a bug this big.

Garden

Yesterday we braved the beastly hot temperatures and went on a play date to this organic garden. Blake probably would have enjoyed the garden more if he actually ate vegetables. We are still working on that one. He really liked the little hike down to the creek where he got to feed a turtle and see and giant beetle.

4th of July

Blake's ice cream mustache

Drew in his 4th of July outfit

**We bought a new camera and I think they were too large to load more than 2 pictures. Once I figure it out I will post more.

Blake had a great 4th of July weekend. He started it off with a bike ride to the pool with daddy and then a very special treat. He got to go see the movie UP. He was so excited about it and kept talking about how the balloons hooked to the house and made it fly away. Friday night I drove Blake to see the Avery Ranch fireworks. He loves watching fireworks from the car because he doesn't have to hear that loud noise. Saturday we had a nice relaxing day getting a few household things accomplished and making delicious homemade ice cream. Blake helped crack the eggs. We only lost one egg to the floor so I thought that was pretty good. Saturday night we got together with some neighbors from the playgroup and had pizza, watermelon and ice cream. We put Blake to bed before the fireworks started but Kyle and I got to see quite a few nice ones from our neighbors' firework displays. We taped the Washington D.C. fireworks TV special so that Blake could watch more fireworks when he woke up. He kept wanting to watch and listen to the part where Aretha Franklin sings. So I asked him why he liked her. He said it was because she was pretty and loud. To finish off the weekend we got a couple of new addicting games for our PS3. We actually have hardly used it at all since we bought it in January. Now that we have a classic game like pin ball we are getting much more use out of it. Don't worry we are not addicts and only play one or two games all day. No, I did not forget about Drew. He also had a nice weekend. He has now climbed all the way to the top of our stairs (with me right behind him) and even stood unassisted for about 4 seconds yesterday. What a big boy!

Drew officially has a tooth!

Blake eating his chocolate egg with a toy inside from Kyle's trip to Toronto

Drew eating his first cheeseburger that he grabbed from Kyle

Drew finally got his first tooth! Yes, Kirsten, he really did :) After 6 months of teething Drew's bottom right front tooth broke through. Now he can eat cheeseburgers! See picture for proof. Drew has also mastered pulling himself up on to anything he can grab on to. He has already fallen down the stairs as he is attempting to master those too (of course his father was watching him when that happened :)) There is no slowing Drew down right now. Blake has also been quite fun lately as his big goal is to get fat. The other week he stepped on my parent's scale and asked my mom how long it would take to get to 170. She said he'd probably be in high school before that happened. Then he pointed to the scale and said, "How long will it take me to get to this number?" as he pointed to the highest number on the scale which is probably like 300. She laughed and said, "Pampa doesn't even weigh that much." We've been trying to explain to Blake that weighing a lot isn't actually our goal. Growing is. He's also been sucked in to the diet commercials. We were in the car driving yesterday and a weight loss commercial came on. Blake said, "mommy, she lost a lot of weight, isn't that good?" Oh, their little minds are so fun. Blake is continuing to have quite the imagination with everything he sees. We are superheros in case you were wondering. There are lots of chases, big crashes and the typical boy behavior going on at our house now. Drew can definitely hold his own in these battles. Hmmm....Where can I go for a quiet moment?