Reid's Words

I love hearing this boy chatter.  I love his high-pitched innocent voice.  I love how he understands most of what we say to him now.  I love the amazement I feel when he says a word for the first time that I know I didn't teach him.  I love how quickly he can pick up a word (which is subsequently a little scary, too...)

Here's our faves (and growing exponentially every day):

Momma, Daddy, hi, bye, bus, car, train, tractor, boat, truck, fan, light, sky, bird, tree, zoom, puppy, giraffe, moo, pig, duck, beep, book, peese (please), night night, words, hurt, whoa, wow, water, nana (banana), buhbees (blueberries), gape (grape), applesauce, apple, toast, milk, cup, spoon, hot, want to, this, this, this, that, matnat (napmat), shhz (shoes), teez (teeth), bath, fish, art, bubbles, roar, happy.

I love that last one.

Love,
Laura

A New Way to Blog

As you may have noticed, I've been a little sparse in my postings lately.  That's because, dear friends, I've discovered INSTAGRAM!

Okay, okay, I get it...I'm the last person on the face of the earth to finally get an iphone and to finally hop on over to Instagram and all I can say is that I wish I would have done it sooner.

I've always used blogging as a journal for myself..to keep up with our lives' events in some sort of organized, chronological sense.  And don't worry, I plan to continue to do so.

It's just that Instagram is the easiest way for me to document my life through pictures, and let's face it, it's all about the pictures!  I'm able to take photos of my boys, my family, my friends, what I'm doing, or anything in the world that inspires me, then edit it, then post it, all from my phone.  Bada bing.  Done.

Here on the bloggy blog, I've got to collect my thoughts, draft them up so they make some kind of sense, upload pictures, edit them with Photoshop or Lightroom, then upload the edited versions to the blog.  Fun, but time consuming indeed.  And these days, I could use all the extra time I can get.

All that to say, you'll still see me around these parts, but for your daily dose of Laura excitement (insert sarcasm), hop on over to Instagram yourself and find me at laurap2003.

Hope to see you there!

Love,
Laura

The Zoo

I wouldn't call us spontaneous people.  I mean, it's kind of hard to be spontaneous with a 1 year old.  So imagine my surprise when we woke up last Saturday and said, "Let's go to the zoo today."  We threw some things in the diaper bag and headed out in unseasonal 40-something degree weather to the Houston Zoo!

It was a glorious morning and we've been wanting to take this day trip for a while.  If you live in Texas, you know summers aren't kind, and the heat can make a trip to the zoo a sweaty, sun-burned nightmare.  So we were happy to pick up and go.  The cool weather isn't going to last long, after all.

Away we go!  Not a cloud in the sky and our McDonald's coffee in the console (the only way to travel).

So many great memories from childhood awaited me here.  I don't know why the crowds weren't worse on this gorgeous day...

Obligatory entrance photo.  The sourpuss look on Mister Man's face obviously means he has no idea how much fun he's about to have.  Oh yeah, and the photographer creeped him out.

We took our time and strolled the grounds.  Birds were chirping and I was amazed how relaxing our spontaneous trip was turning out to be!

First up, elephants eating breakfast.  Mister had NO CLUE what to think.  He just stared with his mouth open at most of the animals.  He also held on tight to Daddy.

Beautiful giant.

I love zoo landscaping.  We sure didn't feel like we were in Texas!

 There were lions...

...and tigers...

...and bears, oh my!

We had a fun time at the monkey exhibit and they put on quite a show.

Watch out...Primate on the loose!

So much to learn about.  I don't think a trip to the zoo would ever get old for a kid...

Just hanging out.

Walking around like he owns the joint.  I love how kid-friendly and safe the zoo is (and for good reason).  Even for the little bitty kids.

Time to break for lunch.  Mister thought he was big stuff...sitting in a real chair and getting to eat a hamburger and french fries!

Growing up so fast.  I cherish every moment and every memory.  At this moment in time, I was feeling such peace, joy and happiness and an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

After we filled our tummies, we headed to the Africa exhibit.

God put such amazing creatures on this earth, didn't he?

These guys look so cute one minute...

And then totally scary the next.  Good thing that glass is thick!

"Hey Mr. Chimpanzee, that wasn't very nice!"

The power of daily routine eventually caught up with us and there was no waking this kid up once he was out.

We headed to the car and were surprised that the whole area around the zoo has so many beautiful things to see and fun things to do, including Hermann Park.  It's all like an oasis in the city!

We started the long journey home and made one final pitstop...Baskin Robbins (it's tradition).  Mister Man got his first taste of frozen yogurt!  It's funny how he hasn't really used a spoon.  Until now.  He sure catches on quick when he deems it important enough... 

Not only did we survive, but I dare even say I had a more relaxing time, sans the planning and thought I typically put into any trip we take.  We just might have to plan to have more of these unplanned excursions.  Haha!

Love,
Laura

April Wrap-Up

I'm just going to go ahead and wrap it all up for the month of April.  Work is busy and life is crazy (who knew house hunting could be so stressful??), so you'll have to excuse me if I'm not the most updated here on the bloggy-blog.

Okay, so April.  What a blur.  Every weekend it's important for us to go and do something fun, not just sit around the house (although sitting around the house sometimes is quite a relaxing and wonderful thing to do).

The weekend after the physics fair, we went to a vet school open house.  There was so much to do, including:

Learning about all things Equestrian and watching a jumping competition: 

Visiting with more horses and hanging out with our friends Dana, Ashley, Wyatt & Dade: 

Seeing the cow pens up close.  Mister Man kept saying, "mooooo."

Watching a real live ultrasound of a pregnant goat (he looks a little weirded out by that one):

And no learning experience about animals would be complete without a petting zoo: 

Next up, cousin Landon's 5th birthday party!  Mister had fun for hours.  There was yummy food, yummy cake, and a bounce house (which he's still just a little too small for): 

So we stuck mostly to the bubble machine and water table:

And then there was the "blob." A watery, squishy, trampoline-type-thing-a-ma-jig.  I don't know if there's a name for it.  But it was a hit with the kids...what more can you ask for?

And finally, to wrap up the last week of April, a date night for me and husband.  We took a road trip to the beautiful town of Chappell Hill and enjoyed the Sundown Social, benefiting Washington On the Brazos State Park.  It was held at a beautiful ranch, and even though the skies opened up and it POURED, the event was luckily covered and we had a great time with great friends of ours.

High Meadows Ranch:

Live music, delicious gourmet food, an exciting live auction, and good company...What a perfect Saturday night!

And now we charge into May!

Love,

Laura

Physics is Fun

I'm going to have to do a serious April wrap-up post.  It seems like we go, go, go every weekend, enjoying festivals, fairs, and events of all kinds!

Earlier in the month was a very exciting physics fair!

We met up with our buddy from school and enjoyed learning about centripetal force...

...and atmospheric pressure.

The boys were actually quite enamored with all the experiments.  We saw a bubble expert talk about and demonstrate all sorts of amazing bubble tricks (my favorite was the heart bubble).

We even saw a pendulum that swings on its own from the earth's gravitational pull.

I may not be a smarty-pants physics guru, but I do love the architecture of the physics and astronomy building.  Rumor has it there's a Magellan Telescope on the roof!

And because physics is a fun and light-hearted topic, there's always room for neat tricks for the kids.

Maybe he'll be the next Albert Einstein.  In which case, he's going to need to grow some serious hair on that dome.

Love,
Laura

Easter 2013

Happy Easter!

What busy bees we were this weekend!  We kicked off this special time of year with a very special egg hunt.  Our first one, to be exact.  Last year we were just a little too little to participate...

But, what a difference one year makes, and this time we were off and running.  Literally.

Checking out his prizes from the hunt:

We then played on the awesome playground with our friend Dade, and then drew artwork on the sidewalk with chalk.

The next morning, we woke up to celebrate Easter!  Before bed Saturday night, I explained to Mister Man the true meaning of Easter and that the bunny was not the real reason to celebrate.  Somehow, that bunny still made his way into our house with some nifty treats.

New treasures!

When we reminded Mister Man of the real meaning of Easter, he immediately went to his room and put on his best suit.  He was so happy to go to church to thank Jesus for what he did for all of us!

Family picture!

Awestruck!

We made it 40 minutes into the service before the 15 month old came out and needed to be antsy.  We gracefully excused ourselves and went for a short walk.  I took this picture of my boys:

...and was immediately reminded of this, on the exact same sidewalk 9 years ago (isn't time a funny thing?):

   

After church, we headed to Grams and Pops' house and had a brief interlude with a very hoppy singing bunny.

Followed by another egg hunt!  Boy, oh boy, this kid is a pro by now!

The highlight of the day was when Auntie Amy showed the boys how to use silly string.  It was a complete hit, to say the least.

Mister Man cried when we had to go home.  He never wants the fun to end!  I reminded him that, thanks to Jesus and God's gift to us, the fun won't ever end.

Happy Easter everyone!

Love,
Laura