In the Doghouse

Ryan wasn't so sure about Kyle closing the door to the dog's cage on him.



So, he got even.

We are the Aggies

We took a family trip to Aggieland on Saturday to watch our Fightin' Texas Aggie Baseball team B.T.H.O Kansas. Even though it was a pretty hot day {90}, we had a great time.

Kyle had fun eating snacks and climbing over and leaning on {H}Uncle Hubba. Baby Ry was restless for awhile and {finally} fell asleep. That baby sling is probably the best purchase ever. It's so nice to be so close to College Station again! I love being able to spend the day and come back home.

Gig 'em!

A Few Firsts

Kyle gave his first talk in primary yesterday. Someone canceled on Saturday, so the Primary secretary called us that evening to ask if we'd prepare a talk for the next morning. Even though Kyle hardly had any time to practice, he did pretty well for his first time. He walked right up, held onto the microphone, and said {most} of the words I helped him with.

Since Dad and Grandpa didn't get to hear the talk, Kyle also gave his first Family Home Evening lesson tonight, by giving his talk again. Here he is, holding up one of the pictures that went along with his talk.


Here's pretty much what Kyle first talk said:

Our Father in Heaven has told prophets to write down things He wants us to know. These writings are what we call scriptures. We have four sacred books to help us--the Bible, Book of Mormon, The Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price.

By reading the scriptures, we learn about Heavenly Father's plan for us and what we must do to be happy. We also learn about Jesus Christ.

Our living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson said, "The holy scriptures are for children, to fill their eager minds with sacred truth." We have been taught by prophets to read and pray about the scriptures.

In my family, we read Book of Mormon Stories ever night. I like to hear the stories about fire, or trees, or boats. There are stories about good guys and mean guys. I also like to learn about Jesus.

Like President Monson said, as we read the scriptures, they will fill our minds with truth, and we can know that the scriptures are true.

Zoo Day

Today we decided to make a field trip to the zoo. {We weren't the only ones with the idea, and by the time we got there, the parking lot was completely full! We got lucky and found someone pulling out, but Grandpa wasn't so lucky.}

Here we are, waiting for Grandpa to find a parking spot.
Still waiting....


We finally made it inside, and Kyle wanted to go on this "ride."

We had to pose by the rhino!


Kyle really wanted to take a picture of this Giant Eland.

While Kyle played in the kids' zoo area, Ryan and I went to prairie dog land.



Then, we saw some giraffes.

Kyle got to ride one!

My favorite--elephants!



Grandma couldn't help herself and had to stop by the gift shop on the way out. Kyle wanted a giraffe to go along with his ride on the carousel, and picked out a crocodile for Ryan because they didn't have any Rhinos.



Thanks to great weather, lots of cool animals, and happy boys, our zoo day was so much fun.

Bathtime Craziness

Ryan LOVES bathtime. His new bath trick is to fall back from a sitting position and splash and kick like crazy. Usually, he sits up, falls back, does a few huge leg splashes, and sits back up to start the whole thing over again. When I finally thought to take a video of him, I think he just found it hilarious that Kyle and I couldn't stop laughing at all the kicking and splashing!

Sweet Ride

Ryan is up and walking all over the place, and Kyle has decided to put this new skill to work. His little brother is finally getting big enough to be of a benefit, especially when Kyle needs someone to push him around in his car. {I love Stephen's comment about how that looks like something Bando would have made Hubba do!}

Kyle's a giver, too. He decided to give Ryan a turn to take a ride in the car.

Aren't brothers cool?

Welcome, Spring

In honor of the first day of spring, the boys and I decided to take a little walk before church this morning.

Kyle found a small, yellow flower and picked it for me.

Then, both boys decided to take a rest and chew on some barely green grass.


It's a beautiful day and a great start to one of my favorite seasons!

Just What the Doctor Ordered

That's GOOOOOOOD stuff!

Luck o' the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Mommy's lil' charmer was up bright and early this morning, ready to find some lucky charms.


After a breakfast of green eggs and ham {Ryan had some cereal and fruit}, the boys were off to search for the leprechaun box to see if he left us any treats or tricks.

We searched the whole house, but that tricky little leprechaun left the box outside.


We found a bag of "gold" coins, some fruit snacks, candy, a game, and even a treat for Max-o!


Kyle had to be taken to his room after this photo was taken because he couldn't stop throwing a fit about Ryan "taking his coins." {Sharing still is not one of his strong suits!}

After we all calmed down, we got some family pictures to document our wearing o' the green.





The leprechaun was good to the boys, leaving them treats and a bag of gold. Our pot of gold came in the form of certified letters from the IRS, and by "pot of gold," I mean a report of money WE OWE THEM from 2008. So much for luck....

Carousel

We took the boys for a ride on the merry-go-round at the mall the other day. Kyle just had to climb up to the 2nd deck. He wanted a lion, but when there weren't any on level 2, he chose the zebra.

Ryan wasn't too excited about the whole thing. He was shaking and had a nervous look on his face until the ride came to a stop.




Appeasing the 3-year-old and terrifying the toddler--fun at its best.

Kyle in a Box

It's pretty easy to win at hide-and-go-seek against Kyle!



Peek-a-Boo. I see you!

He's Happy & He Knows It

Last week I saw a friend's video of her son clapping. I thought, "Oh, man. I'm slacking on teaching some of these little tricks to Ryan!" Later that night, I thought I'd try to teach Ryan to clap while he was in the bathtub. Amazingly, once he was washed and dressed and ready for bed, he was also clapping on command. Then , I had 2 thoughts: a) Ryan is a quick learner and b) I must just that good of a teacher! I made sure to take a video of the new trick.

Then I went downstairs and proudly announced, "I taught Ryan how to clap!" Stephen just smiled at me and replied, "Didn't you see us clapping earlier? I thought you knew he already knew how to clap."

So, Stephen was the great teacher. I just reinforced the learning.

{But, Ryan really loves to clap--my favorite is when he starts clapping along with people on tv game shows!}

Brothers

I love capturing moments like this:


It's SO much better than, "Kyle, don't push your brother!" or "Kyle, be nice! Ryan is just a baby. He's little." or "Ryan, DON'T BITE!!!!"

I'm glad that Kyle and Ryan do know how to get along and can enjoy being brothers.

Prison Break

I have a feeling our makeshift living room corral is not going to hold much longer.....

Feed the Birds

The sky was clear this afternoon and we had half a loaf of stale bread. We decided to head over to the park and feed the birds.


"YES! He got it!"


"Did you SEE that???"


"Here comes more!!!!"

This big goose didn't have any patience and ended up biting Kyle on the elbow! Kyle put him in his place.


I think these birds have this system down. They were all over the free bread. Kyle loved it.

The babies watched from the safety of their strollers!



After running out of bread, we headed over to the playground to take advantage of the sunny {and windy} spring day.