Meeting Preston

 Sereen, Jared and Preston got into town on Friday! YAY! We had a couple days to get to know Preston (and Sereen, too) and then Austin, Liz, Lanae and David (and the kids!) arrived Saturday night. It's been really fun having everyone together as a prelude to Christmas. We've got this whole week planned out and chock full of quality time. The crowning glory of this week will be Friday/Saturday when we move into our apartment and get our things from storage. I can't even describe the feelings I have when I think about being on our own. I'm terrified and excited all at the same time... we're going from one kind of stress to another, but I can't wait to start this new chapter. Here are some pictures from the first couple days we had with Jared, Sereen and Preston...

 Jeff has been remodeling his office in preparation for putting their house on the market to sell and Derek was allowed to help sand down part of a desk that had been chopped up. He was so happy to help! A funny side story - Derek picked up a hammer Jeff had laying in his office one day and tried to pound on the carpet. Jeff caught him and told him sternly to put it down. Derek jumped when caught, dropped the hammer and said," Oh, hi!" That's one of his new phrases. Whenever he gets caught or startled, he says, "Oh, hi!" He is such a cute little ham!

He sure does love his cousin!

Posing with Aunt Sereen - Derek put the hat on her head. 

Being cute

Her laugh is infectious

What a cutie!

All smiles

Except this one. He's so cute when he's mad!

Happy birthday Sereen!

Frank Buck Zoo - Gainesville, TX

 Sheila and I took the boys to the Frank Buck Zoo in nearby Gainesville, TX. It was a blast! Derek had a great time running after the bigger boys that he almost didn't want to look at the animals. He'd run right past a display and I'd have to call him back to come look at the animals. He thinks giraffes neigh. How cute is that?! Plus, he always loves playing with Sheila's boys: they're great fun and really good with him. My batteries died on my camera, but I managed to snap these pictures of some of the animals (including homo sapiens!) at the zoo.

First stop was the flamingos - Derek kept quacking at them and saying, "Duck?"

Cotton-Top Tamarin

 E was the first to spot this giraffe cut-out

 

M was close behind...

 I was surprised Derek stood still enough for this shot - getting him and M out of those bamboo stands was a different story altogether!

Had to snap this picture really quick - we loved the giraffes!

There were plenty of Sulcatta Tortoises around, too

By far the most entertaining animals were the goats! Derek had a very different reaction to them than he did at the Dallas Zoo - see that post HERE

M is a little apprehensive about feeding the goats

This goat was so greedy! He butted the other goats out of the way, but he was very gentle taking food from the boys

Brave boy!

This one wanted OUT!

E's laugh is contagious - he was thrilled with the goats

Usually these two duke it out over toys - it was fun to see them helping each other feed the goats!

M is so photogenic!

M happened to be the one near me the most when my camera was working. E would flit between me and his mom to get goat food.

One of the last animals we saw were the bears! Then my camera died, but there were plenty of animals to see and plenty of sidewalk for the boys to run! Great day!

New Ultrasound Pics

This baby is a mover and a shaker! The tech had a hard time getting the measurements she needed because of the little wiggle worm's propensity to wiggle. We got some great pictures of him/her, though. I even got to see her drink amniotic fluid. Sounds pretty gross, but it was super neat. Kept scratching at his/her face, too. No sucking thumbs yet, but we have a picture that looks pretty close. I'm on the fence about whether he/she is a boy or girl... can you see what I mean in the first picture? I saw some pretty suspicious looking parts between the legs, but we won't know til our 20 week ultrasound. It's $100 here to get an elective ultrasound!!! Good grief!! It'll be difficult to wait the extra month, but I'm sure it will be just as fun finding out!

 

Very suspicious...

 

 No thumb sucking yet, but it sure looked like he/she was ready to try!

 

 Chin/mouth grasped between the thumb and forefinger - not even kidding.

Turtle Kind of Day

I sent Derek outside in the backyard while I finished up dinner preparations. I recognized the sounds of splashing and, thinking he'd gotten into a puddle or something, I stuck my head outside. This is what I found... and it was one heckuva puddle!

When in doubt, grab the camera!

 He was discovered!

 Splish splash... he's is soooo takin' a bath!

 I finally caught his sneaky face on camera! He's got his hand covered with water and sand and I've just told him not to put it in his mouth as he raises it slowly to his lips... You sure you don't want me to do this, Mom?

 Sandy water doesn't taste very good, does it? Should've listened to me! :)

He had so much fun splashing in the water. Such a cute little dude!

Easter Egg Hunt!

Two very cute boys

No idea what the baskets are for

Found one!

Fascinated with the contents of the eggs

REEEEEEEEACH!

Cheesy grin

 My wonderful little family! And an insistent Logan who wants those jelly beans!

 Derek was great about sharing his candy with Logan

 We even had an imposter egg! Also known as a golf ball.

Look at that cute little chunk!

Mustaches and Playing at the Park (s)

I suppose this post is a little scattered. My laptop died... completely... and I was blog-less for about a week and a half til Mitchell set up our PC that he had thankfully insisted on bringing with us from Del Rio instead of putting into storage. So, here are my catch ups in no particularly coherent order, though I can attest that all the pictures/stories are posted in chronological order.

Introducing... Pancho Villa! Sheila sent this stick on mustaches for us to play with when we watched Merritt for a few mornings before Lanae and Logan arrived. So much fun! Derek kept trying to lick his while it was stuck to his face. Too funny!

Pancho Derek and Charlie Chaplin Merritt! These boys had a great time. Lots of Cars and lots of outside time kicking the ball around. :)

Logan going down the big slide (the day after Lanae, David and Logan arrived)

Little blurry, but such a cute pic!

While we were at the park, three teenage girls (12-13 yrs old) came to the park and sat on the swings (this is what he's looking at in the picture). Derek was riveted and tried to talk to them every chance he got. He was crushed when we had to go home. :)

Still looking at the girls, even though a puppy (his favorite distraction on walks) is a few inches away. Pepper was so good about making sure the boys didn't fall off the end of the slide. What a great dog she is!

We went to Aviator Park later the following week after David left... the boys always love these airplanes. I love Logan's face! He looks so mad to be getting a picture taken, haha!

Debating the flight path

Don't look up, Logan!

Sneaky shot

Logan loved running around, between, underneath and on top of all the playground equipment. He even tried to climb this rock wall. Lanae was a little worried about that one.

Of course, I found a way to introduce nature on this outing. I found a baby bullfrog and showed the boys. Derek begged to hold it, so I let him help release it.

He kept saying "frog, frog frog!" and trying to poke the poor thing. It hopped off his hand a few seconds later and back into the woods it came from. We took the boys home soon after for a much needed nap!