A Falling House

It's fuzzy for some reason, but still funny (and for the record, he did this over and over and over again):

Texas Bluebonnets; April 2013

For my non-Texas readers, an annual spring tradition in these parts is to take family pictures in a field of bluebonnets. This is our third year doing so (having kids greatly increases ones participation is these types of traditions). Though Austin wouldn't cooperate very well, I think we got some pretty great shots.

This is a Bluebonnet.

This is the sort of place where a lot of picture taking happens. You just pull off, hop out, snap some photos and hope you don't get killed in the process.

This is where we went this year. The bluebonnets had other wildflowers amongst them, so the pictures are more colorful, and it was on a headquarters' property, so it was MUCH safer than the side of a highway.

Graham gave a perfect picture from the first attempt.

Sweet baby.

I loved his look of concentration while attempting to grab the flowers while they swayed in the breeze.

Austin wasn't in the mood for pictures, so we thought we'd try some group shots, hoping to lighten his mood.

And then he either wouldn't look at the camera....

Or gave me this stupid frown face.

So we let him run around a little while Seth and Graham posed.

And then we tried some Brother Photos, thinking that perhaps he would want his picture taken if he was with Graham.

They aren't exactly smiling OR looking at the camera here, but I still love this sweet brother photo. There aren't very many flowers in this picture--it's a lot of green, but we didn't find many full patches to pose in.

And then Seth decided to horse around, trying to get him to be in a better mood.

And we did get some smiles from him during this.

And then he went and sat down amongst this dessert grass stuff. And gave a great smile!

and then a sweet concentration face...

And when we finally got him to sit amongst some Bluebonnets, he did give some smiles.

And with that, we were done. Those were literally the last two photos taken.

It seemed like the Bluebonnets weren't out much this year; we couldn't find a huge, lush patch. But we had an ok time getting some good photos just the same. Hopefully next year Austin'll feel more like smiling! (That's the second year in a row!)

A new curtain!

Every so often, you need a change, you know? This month marks the four year anniversary since moving into this house. (We can barely believe we've lived here so long!) And so though I LOVED this curtain my sweet friend Lisa made me nearly four years ago, it had turned from "young and fun" to "juvenile" in my mind. And so enter: new curtain! Such a small investment with such a big impact. I love the new curtain! (Props and Kudos to my MIL, Kim, who found it for me and to my sweet husband for installing it for me!)

The old one.

The yellow bows, while once cute and fun, had turned very childish to me.

The new one.

It's a fun, modern gray and white print. It's perfect for that space!

Graham's Progression Photos -- 6 months

Here are some photos from Graham's 6 Months Progression Photos. How is it that he's already half-a-year old!? He continues to be an easy baby and has finally begun sleeping through the night (we had to commence a bit of a Cry-It-Out session, but it only lasted two nights.) Love you, Baby G!

This was the best, most-upright photo we could get! It's not so much that he can't sit up, it's that he doesn't seem to want to.

He's started sucking on his two teeth, creating a bit of a duck face. lol

This is how he prefers to be. He'll "fall" over and roll over, pushing up like this.

Seth and I were like "He's already at the stage where he's pulling on the paper!?"

And it went straight to his mouth.

He loves to stand.

Such a sweet smiley man.

Getting so big!

The antler nubs on the top of this giraffe are showing chewed-on-signs. He loves it.

Compare to 5 Months.
Compare to 4 Months.
Compare to 3 Months.
Compare to 2 Months.
Compare to 1 Month.
Compare to 1 Week.

Austin wanted his photo taken too:

A Day Out with Thomas!

A full-size Thomas!

I subscribe to this Family eGuide email newsletter and a few months ago, it advertised an event in April where you could ride a full-size Thomas train. I immediately wrote it down on the April calendar so that we would remember it when it came around. I knew that Austin would be over the moon.

When our April Planning Meeting rolled around, we bought tickets online (and used a coupon code!) and the tickets simply came in the mail. The ride was about 45 minutes long and though Thomas is at the front of the train, you don't get to see him much because you're riding in the coach. You park in a parking lot and a shuttle takes you to the carnival grounds and tracks were Thomas is. There was a gift shop, Sir Topham Hat you could pose with (but stopped taking pictures just before we got there!), and vendors to eat food from--corndogs, cotton candy, etc. It was a tad too warm that day, but nonetheless, we had a good time. (I'm not sure we'd do it again, though.)

Loaded on the shuttle and waiting to leave. He just seemed so grown up sitting there like that.

Thomas is pulling into the station!

"Hi Thomas!"

We had to wait in line quite awhile and he did pretty good for a 2.5 year old!

And then we got to get on and sit in a little booth-like space (the seats flip back and forth, so we had two facing each other).

I loved how old they looked. The big round brown thing is a speaker, we think. Thomas songs were playing and we saw no other speakers.

I love both the look on his face and the windblown hair.

A real engineer!

Please excuse the man's butt in the background, but the train horn was going and Austin was shouting along with it "choo! choo!" "choo! choo!" So cute.

Graham had a good time, too.

Such. A. Great. Smile!

Such. A. Hunk!

We were being hustled along, so we didn't have time for him to pose with Austin, but he smiled great!

And then we got in this line to take a picture with Thomas.

They have professionals taking your picture, but you're allowed to come on the tracks and take your own as well.

They're looking at the professional, but it's still a good picture.

Showing the life-sizeness of it...

And then he wanted to pose with these posters, but instead of giving me a nice smile, gave me these faces.