Vacuum Obsession

Just like his older brother, Austin loves vacuums. He always wants to use it and cries if we use it and don't let him help.

Maybe we should turn the tv off during dinner

Sometimes the tv is on during dinner and the kids finish watching the show they had on so I could make dinner. To see the tv Austin leans in his chair so he can see around me. He gets in such a zone so I think maybe we should turn it off from now on!

And here are just some cute pictures of Rexford taken on the same night so that he didn't feel left out :)

Busch Gardens Trip #2

We went for our second trip to Busch Gardens on May 13th and it was not crowded like last time so the kids do lots of rides over and over. They had a lot of fun and I got to ride Sheikra (thanks Aly for watching the kids!) which was awesome! Alyson has pictures of Austin with Sesame Street characters I think so I'll have to add those later. The drive wasn't too terrible although the kids had their fussy moments. It was a good day and I got Rexford to ride the Grover kiddie roller coaster with me 3 times! I couldn't believe it but it was so much fun! We definitely aren't going to go during the busy, hot summer but I hope to make it there one more time in the fall before the year is over.

Rexford loved this hippo water ride

Aly and Matthew on the ferris wheel

Austin on the carousel

Rexford giving me his goofy smile

Matthew didn't want to ride an animal on the carousel so they just sat on a bench instead

This tiger came right up to the glass which totally freaked Rexford out. He was covering his head and crying. He did not like the tigers :) Austin and Matthew liked him though.

Aly, Austin, and Matthew watching the tiger

Cooling off in the splash area

Austin and Matthew having fun in the water

They really did like this ride although they aren't smiling in my pictures. They rode it over and over.

Rexford loved it too.

Kisses

Austin has the cutest little lips and whenever he gives kisses he puckers up and comes to you for a kiss. It's the cutest thing ever and we love him! What a sweetheart :)

Colorful Cupcakes

I am now working with the teenage girls at church and we were having a "Values Fiesta" for Personal Progress night. I was supposed to bring dessert and so I searched the internet for a fun value themed dessert. I found this website: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/05/cupcakes.html and decided that while it would probably take forever, I had to try it. Brian thought I was crazy of course :) Since I was a youth they have added a new value (Virtue in case you are old like me and didn't know about the new one) and its color is gold and so that is why I used gold wrappers. It took about three hours but they came out pretty cool and were a big hit!

All of the value colors in order

Yummy!

They left fun, colorful designs on the inside of the wrapper

Rexford did the sprinkles on this one so it has way too many :)

This is a chair, right?

I found Austin sitting in this dump truck toy watching tv one day. He fell over and cried for a second but climbed right back in again :)

Fireman Austin

Austin likes to dress up lately as a fireman. Most of the time he will pull out his fireman costume from Halloween and bring it to me so I can put it on him. The other day he wanted to wear Rexford's costume and was so cute in it.

He is just the cutest little guy :)

Splash Zone

One day last week the kids wanted to play outside so I pulled out our little pool, filled it up, and let them play while I sat in the shade :) They had lots of fun splashing, sliding, dumping water, and jumping. Austin loved the slide and filling and dumping his bucket but did not like having little pieces of grass stuck to him and would come to me to take them off. Rexford loved jumping in and splashing. Summer fun is here!

Marriage

The other day in the car Rexford said something about marriage and I told him that one day he would get married when he was older.

Rexford: I don't want to get married.

Me: It's still a long time away.

Rexford: Well, who will marry me?

Me: You'll find a nice girl and then you'll get married.

Rexford: Well, I want to pick you Mom. So I pick you. Okay?

So sweet! I love Rexford :)

Car Wash

Rexford has been wanting to wash our cars so Brian let him wash his truck one day. The next day they washed my car. It did need washing and he had so much fun doing it.

Cuddle Time

Rexford and Austin have their moments of fighting over toys and hitting each other as I think all siblings probably do. It's nice when they are sweet to each to each other. The other morning I came out of the bathroom and found them cuddling on the couch watching tv. So sweet!

Here they are the other day after Sea World so tired laying on the floor watching tv together.

Ouch!

A week ago I was at my dad's house and it was lunch time so I put a couple of chicken nuggets in the microwave for Rexford. I cooked them for 30 seconds and they weren't done so I did another 20 seconds. The nuggets weren't super hot when I felt one but they were good enough so I grabbed the plate to take it out of the microwave. It was so hot that I couldn't hold on to it and I dropped on the counter/stove and of course it shattered everywhere. I cannot believe how hot that plate was after only 50 seconds! My hand was hurting really bad and I held it under water but that didn't do much. Immediately blisters popped up on 4 of my fingers and the only relief from the pain was to hold my hand in a bowl of ice water. The dishes have burned other people in my family but not this bad. Anyway, we went home and the short drive was so terrible because I didn't have my hand in water and it killed! I held my hand in water for 7 hours that day and whenever I took it out it hurt so bad I had to put it back in. Finally that night I got some ointment and wrapped my fingers with gauze and bandaids and that helped. Luckily they didn't hurt after that and the little blisters healed quickly. The dime size blister on my thumb was there for a week until finally it started to deflate and rip and peel off. I can't imagine people who get burned on their whole body. My fingers hurt bad enough. Anyway, so glad that it is healing and I will never touch those plates again :)

my sore little fingers all wrapped up

Blister on my thumb after a week. It isn't as puffy and starting to deflate a little :)

My Little Artists

Rexford loves to paint and usually does it everyday while Austin is napping. Lately he wants to paint trains like Thomas and James and Gordon and he likes to also paint Tidmouth Sheds where the engines sleep. He is always so proud of his work and it's so cute.

I let Austin paint for the first time last week. I have been putting if off because it's so messy but I knew he would love it. He has done it a few times now and the last time I had to stick him in the shower and get him clean because he was such a mess. He rubbed it in his hair and all over himself. He did paint a lot on the paper too :) Now he wants to paint all the time but I am only up for that a couple of times a week :)

18 months

Austin is now 18 months old! I can't believe he's getting so big. He says a few words like sun, home, hat, bee, hot, all done, mama, daddy, door, me and his favorite phrase "hold me." He points a lot and pulls me and he's very good at letting us know what he wants. He has mastered unlocking and opening doors, is doing very well with a spoon and working on the fork, loves bedtime and waves goodnight to Daddy with a big smile on his face, and puckers up his lips for the cutest kisses ever. He doesn't like it when Rexford gets in his face or takes stuff away and has gotten him back with a few bites. He can definitely throw a fit when he doesn't get what he wants. He wants to be a big boy and do what Rexford does. I took him for his appointment today and he is long and skinny, coming in at 33 inches (75%) and 25.75 lbs (50%). He's doing well and we love him!