T.Rex Bike!!

We hit the jackpot! Someone was moving out of their apartment and offered to give us one of the bikes their boys had outgrown. Little did I know that those bikes included the T.Rex bike Derek has been obsessed with touching every time we pass by. What a huge blessing! I was so excited as I took it home. Mitchell had already left for his evening shift and Derek was still taking a nap, but I couldn't wait to show Derek (I know, I know, I should've at least waited for Mitchell to be there). I'll spare you the whiny, crying toddler in the reveal video but his reaction was a little less than interested at first. Once he really woke up, all he talked about was the T.Rex Bike. He wanted to sit on it all the time. He even wanted to eat dinner while sitting on it. The carpet proved to be too difficult to pedal on and, since this was his first time riding a bike with pedals, needless to say he didn't move that bike a single inch. Mitchell took him out on the sidewalks the next night and he made some great progress! Of course, this account of the T. Rex Bike would be incomplete if I didn't include the infamous T. Sex Bike. I took a picture with my phone and texted it to all my family with the caption, "The T.Rex Bike!" Or so I thought. I received a text from my dear sister-in-law, Sereen, who kindly alerted me to my phone's autocorrect sneak attack... my text really said, "The T.Sex Bike!" Ugh. 

 So excited when he woke up a little more!

 The T. REX Bike! ;)

 All he begged to do this evening was watch Dinosaur Train WITH his new bike. The bike wanted to watch Dinosaur Train. Riiiiiiight....

The next morning, he came out ready to go... or so he thought. No worries; I made him put on more clothes. 

Bryce is the Best Toy!

Derek loves doing tummy time with Bryce. He pulled out all his favorite toys to share with his little brother. :) Bryce usually hates tummy time but this time he actually stayed on his belly for a full five minutes until he remembered how this was supposed to go... sneaky mom and big brother! I am constantly telling Derek he can't pick up Bryce, or lay on him, or grab his legs and drag him to another fun activity... etc. I love how much Derek wants to be around Bryce. He's so loving and attentive; always the first to reach for a dropped binkie and happy to grab a diaper for me. I can't believe I ever worried about how these two would mesh. 

 Trying to show Bryce how the John Deere Monster Tractors work

 Bryce's favorite toy: the ring. He was fussing right before I took this picture.

 Trying to get Bryce to smile for the camera...

 Derek's favorite: "What are you doing? You're squishing my face!" Derek says both lines.

Bryce is a good sport.

Oh, the ring!

Trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

We decided on the spur of the moment to check out a museum in Fort Worth. Liz and I have reciprical memberships there buuuuut.... our membership cards hadn't come in the mail yet, so we had to pay full price. Darn. Oh well. It was still fun to get out and see a cool museum. Mitchell had to work, so it was just me wrangling a four-month-old who refused to sit in his carseat and a three-year-old who refused to sit in the stroller. Oi. David stepped up and helped me out by pushing the massive double stroller with Derek strapped in while I carried Bryce. Should've brought my sling. We went to the dinosaur exhibit first with a bunch of cool interactive touch screens and a massive puzzle on a low table for the boys to play with. Needless to say, Derek was more interested in the touch screens, lol. We moved on to a kids' section with a grocery store, kid-sized ambulance, life-sized railroad car, snakes/lizards/tarantulas and, of course, toy trains. The boys went crazy.... and Derek decided to go explore the museum by himself without permission. I spent several hectic moments trying to find out where he'd gone and he came moseying out of a nearby oil and gas exhibit talking up a storm about the massive truck with big wheels he'd found. You can bet I strapped him into the stroller and he didn't get another chance to go exploring (and I didn't get any other chances to take pictures). A pity in retrospect but I was desperate. Mitchell joined up later that afternoon for a quick tour of the museum and then a laser light show in the planetarium. After that, Jeff and Tammy treated us all to Cooper's BBQ in Fort Worth across from the Stockyards. That's THE BEST BBQ on the planet! What a great day!

 A told B and B told C I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree... on top of Emeri's head! ;)

 Isaac was putting stripes, scales and feathers on the Deinonychus

 Uncle David helped Derek put the dinosaur bone puzzle together. Derek loves touch screens.

 He sure loved those train sets

 What a handsome nephew I have!

 The original "dragon" that greeted visitors to the museum in the 50s.

 Supermarket Sweep, here we come!!

 Cranking the conveyor belt for a girl. Way to go, stud.

 Should have been an engineer. ;) No more pictures past this point because this is about the time Derek ran away.

That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like 'em... ASLEEP! ;)

Grandma Allred is here!

Grandma Allred has come to town! She doesn't like having her picture taken, but I wanted to record what we did on her visit. :) We got out to Prosper yesterday evening and have loved spending time with all the family! It's so great to see Grandma Allred again. Derek was more interested in his cousins for the first little bit, but I think he warmed up to Grandma eventually. Can't wait to see what the next few days will bring! (by the way: Happy birthday, Val!)

First time in the walker!

Has a smudge on the lens, but his face is just too cute!

Sweet little cousins!! :D

Emeri: "Hey kid, let me show you how tummy time works... head goes up, like this..."

Emeri: "And this is how you roll over..."

Took the kids to the shop today to get cookies. ;) Savanna was very chill.

These two were hilarious! 

"Yes!" (think Megamind)

Oh snap!

Sunshine Face!

Grandma Allred reached out to steady the stoller as Derek climbed up to give Savanna a kiss. :)

Playing inside Aunt Liz's druid alphabet circle

Bryce is Trying to Roll Over!

Bless his heart, he tries so hard. ;) He'll be four months old in four days and he's already starting to roll. I suppose it's about time, according to the development charts. I just finished changing his diaper when I noticed the look he was giving the nearby stuffed pug...

 I've got my eye on you, pug!

If only I could....ugh... just ...ugh ... roll over.... ugh! I'll get you, pug!

Ok, so I helped the poor kid out and he finally had his face to face. :)

Friday Night Fun

We spent last evening with some of my family. It was great! My mom picked us up and we got to talk to Kelly on the car speaker phone. Pretty cool. She regaled us with all kinds of stories about the kids she teaches in a Title 1 school (low-income, rough neighborhoods) until we got to my cousin Beth's house. Aunt Mary and Aunt Nancy were visiting for the weekend and brought pizza all the way from Chicago. Mitchell was thrilled! He always says pizza is best in Chicago. Jillian and Ally played princess dress-up upstairs and came down to show off their pretty outfits. Bryce was a big hit and loved cuddling with Aunt Mary. Such a little cuddle bug! 

Jilli posing with Aunt Mary, Bryce and Nana

 Bryce can make anyone smile. :)

 Aunt Nancy, Aunt Mary and Nana. Bryce is sleeping on Aunt Mary's shoulder.

 Princess Ally, Princess Jilli and Prince Derek. :)

We were both exhausted at the end of a long fun day

Bathtime with Bryce

I think there is nothing cuter than all those little baby rolls and wrinkles! Bryce loves kicking and splashing in his little whale tub. He's a good sport about washing his hair, too, but he lets me know when he's done. I asked Mitchell to take some pictures while he was home today and we got some great ones! What a sweet little face!

 I love squishing his sweet little face!

I tried spiking his hair to the right (look at all those sweet little rolls!)...

 ...and to the left...

 ...but I just loved it curled right in the middle!

 Wrapping up the baby!

Grrrrr! Monster Boy!

Picasso Derek

I finally got around to painting Derek's room today. It took me three months to help him quit coloring on the walls, but I finally got through to him. Just to remember his "works of art," I made him pose next to them. We can also get a little scale for comparison, too. I only picked the biggest two, but he colored on a grand total of 9 different walls in the apartment. Ugh.

 He used black/blue/red ballpoints, yellow highlighter, permanent marker and the blotchy water marks are actually tongue marks. Gotta give him points for creativity.

This one was behind the door to his bedroom. Mostly permanent marker and crayon.

Here's another burst of creativty. He calls it his tractor hat. What a kid!