Sunday - Lincoln Children's Museum

Lincoln has an AWESOME children's museum!! Thanks for sharing it with us!!

Erika got a little too serious about this experiment - she sort of took it over. Poor Ben...he's trying to help!

Driving the boat together.

Moving in for a hug. She doesn't suspect a thing!

The take-down! (What a sweet boy!)

Ahhh, the perfect costume for our little princess.

Love this face!

And this look!

I think Ben is taking the whole kneel-to-royalty thing to a new (lower) level!

Our gallant knight - Prince Benjamin!

That is one exciting discovery!

Princess turned dragon....there must be a wicked witch lurking about.

The big red chair - they're stoked.

Our little prairie dogs!

What a dad!! Kenny crawled into the tiny prairie dog tunnels with Mira!

Mira's first face painting experience - I gave her a butterfly and Ben a baseball.

Cutie Pie!!

Mira humors Ben and lets him drive.

Ben enjoys the vibrations of this display. Mira is tickling his fancy by pushing the buttons for him over and over.

Finally, something Daddy could really enjoy!

Dr. Wolfe giving the dogs their meds.

Checking that they all have healthy heartbeats!

Ben and Mira going for a ride in the firetruck. Ben is focused on the road, and Mira is focused on her accessories.

And, again, what a great Daddy!!!! (We LOVE this guy!!!)

Playing at the Park

We visited the park a couple of times since it was located just across the street! It was a great way for Mira and Ben to burn some energy while we enjoyed the weather - it was SO nice out!

Ben taught Mira how to walk along the wall. Ben was fast! Mira was careful.  =)

Crawl fast, Ben! Mira is coming to get you!

Enjoying some fresh air!

What a handsome guy!

Up, up, up to the big slide!

Buddies - they're so happy!

Mira loved the monkey bars - she held on for a really long time!

And then I caught her.  =)

Slide!

Corn growing in the front yard (not Erika & Michael's front yard) - we must be in Nebraska...

Ben and Michael - say "cheese"!!

Love 'em!!!

Semi-Annual Visit with the Balms!

It was our turn to visit the Balms, so we flew into Omaha, Nebraska a couple of weekends ago. Then we drove to Lincoln where we hung out with Erika, Michael, Ben, and Ethan for a long weekend! This was our first time to meet two month-old Ethan!!

We took it easy at the house a lot of the time. Ben and Mira had so much fun playing together. They got themselves into giggle fits on a couple of occassions and enjoyed playing games that they had made up all by themselves with no help from the adults.

We also took in an air show which the kids loved. We stayed back a distance, so there were only a couple of times when we had to cover their ears. Mira and, especially, Ben got so excited when the Thunderbirds would swoop overhead or soar way up in the sky.

There will be 2 or 3 more installments of this post - we visited the park often and went to the zoo and the children's museum! So, lots more pictures to follow!!

Yay! Ben has MegaBlocks!! One of Mira's favorite toys right now!

Ethan slept SO much during the day!! Pure sweetness right here!

Mira loved holding "Baby Ethan" (although, she did NOT love when "Mira's Mommy" held Ethan)!

Sweet girl! BTW - Ethan's onesie says "Short, Bald, & Handsome."  =)

Ethan was a joy to hold and snuggle and love on, but still no "baby fever" for Kenny or Reasie (or Mira, for that matter!).

Mira and Ben helping Erika make pancakes! Erika was so nice to find a vegan recipe! It was SO yummy; way better than Bisquick!

Blowing on the pancakes to help them cool.

We got their attention in the middle of a very rowdy game of "hop, hop, bunny"!

Storytime!

Kenny was such a natural with Ethan - like he'd held a million babies before!

Silly Ben and Mira - playing in Ethan's tub!

Bubbles!!

BUBBLES!!!!!!! (Isn't this the best face ever?!)

Just love their expressions!!

Went to a cafe, and they held hands going in. They both love trains, but both got terrified that evening when a train went by the cafe. Go figure...

At the air show. Can you see the hideous rental car that we were driving!? And Mira's port-a-potty beside Ben?

Mira and Mommy watching for jets.

We had a nice, relaxing time at the air show.

21 Months 3 Weeks

So, it seems like it's been forever since I've done an update on Mira and all the great things she's learning and doing! She's 21 1/2 months old right now and, yes, continues to amaze us (it hasn't ended yet - go figure!)!

I've been meaning to do this a long while ago, but she seems to do something new and noteworthy everyday, and so the list has gotten longer and longer and the task loomed bigger and bigger! But, "Enough!" I say - let's get this done before she learns to read a book and ride a bike tomorrow!!!!

Since the list is long, I'm going to try to be pretty brief, but if you know me at all....

General

• Mira is wearing 18-24 month clothes, size 5 shoes, and size 4 or 5 diapers - depending on brand/style.
• She weighs about 24.5 pounds, but I'm not sure how tall she is right now - I'll have to check after nap and edit this stat.
• She has 17 teeth now - 3 more molars and we're done for a few years!!!! Yay!!!
• She can identify when there are 2 of things immediately and tells us (i.e. Today she pointed out, "two toilet papers in there" in the public restroom). She can count up to 4 items.
• She is going through a Wonder Pets craze! It's a show on Nick Jr about Linny the Guinea Pig, Tuck the Turtle, and Ming Ming the Duckling who live in a classroom, but moonlight as baby animal rescuers after school hours. She talks about them all the time and loves watching the show, which we try to keep to one episode per day, but sometimes she convinces of letting her watch two.
• Mira has really started "imaginative" play. For example, she makes her plastic animals hug or kiss each other and often wants them to join in whatever activity is going on.
• We did Potty Training Boot Camp a few weekends ago, and Mira has been day-time potty trained since. She wears undies all day, everyday - except during naps and at bedtime and on long roadtrips (when she might fall asleep). She hardly ever has an accident, and when she does, it's usually just a little before she catches herself and then finishes on the potty.
• Not as happy in the tub these days. Ready to get out almost as soon as she gets in. We did get a new bath toy that she loves, but when she tires of that, she's done! She HATES having her hair rinsed! We've tried just about every trick in the book to keep the water out of her eyes, but nothing has worked really so far.
• We've finally gotten past the "no hair accessory" phase! Mira often sports bows and even pigtails these days! Her hair is getting so long and still has lots of curls!
• Mira is having a very hard time with sharing right now. We are practicing and having lots of talks about taking turns and sharing. Hopefully, she learns quickly and gets through this phase soon! It's maddening!

Language Milestones

• One of our favorite phrases that she uses often right now is "Look, Mommy (or Daddy, etc.)! Did you see that?!" One day, she said to me, "Look, Reasie, look! Did you see that?!" Oh, geez....
• She uses quite a few polite phrases on her own, appropriately: Thank You (usually, "thank you, momma" or the like); Please; Bless You (after a sneeze); Excuse Me (to get past you, and we're working on saying it after a burp or toot); Sorry (again, usually, "sorry, Jeter", etc.) 
• She has started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" by herself (not completely accurate, yet) and is very good at filling in the words of other songs, too (Farmer in the Dale, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's, etc)
• She is starting to use the "D" sound less and less as the first letter of every word. She used to say "daydee" for "baby," but now says it properly with the B sounds. Same with "dat" for "that," and tons of other words.
• She is very sure and assertive when answering "yes" or "no" in response to a question. She almost always means what she says and says what she means!
• She has begun labeling everything under the stars as to whom they belong to: "Mira's baby"; "Mommy's water"; "Daddy's shoes"; etc.
• She recognizes her written name.
• She speaks in sentences most of the time. Some examples are: "Mommy's swimsuit right there!"; "Be right back, Jeter."; "Pee pee goes in potty, not undies."

Physical Milestones

• She can jump with both feet simultaneously and is working hard on standing on one foot. She puts one foot on the other knee - yoga-style, but still needs to hold our hand or lean on something.
• She has turned into quite the climber. We found her on top of one of our bar stools a couple of weeks ago! And, at Gymboree, she has a lot of fun climbing all the ramps, ladders, and steps. She can easily get up on all the sofas and chairs in the house now. We got her a Learning Tower for the kitchen, so she can be involved and see what's going on. From the Tower (which she can scale in no time), she can get onto the counter in about 2 seconds!
• She now loves oatmeal and eats it pretty much every morning, usually with a couple of pieces of Fakin' Bacon - loves that, too! She usually insists on feeding herself these days.
• Other new foods she now enjoys are: slices of Tofurkey; Light Life hot dogs; any kind of rice - Spanish, white, wild medley, etc; dill pickles; green olives; and Boca burger or chick'n patties
• She can draw a straight line and has recently learned to draw circles. She can't draw just one circle, but she can go around and around in a circular motion, all in one spot. She knows the difference and will draw each one when asked to do so.
• When she colors, she does not scribble all over the page. She actually localizes her coloring in specific areas inside outlined shapes. She doesn't stay completely in the lines or color the shape in completely, but she definitely has the idea and is trying. This is with absolutely no urging from me - I'm okay with scribbling from a 21-month old!
• Mira knows a couple of yoga ("goga") moves and loves to do them! She does Downward Dog (bent over with hands on floor, body makes an upside-down V); Bridge (lay on back with knees bent and feet flat on floor, lift hiney off ground using legs and core); and she's working on Tree (the one footed thing as mentioned before).
• Still can't take clothes off or put them on by herself, with the exception of socks/shoes. Is helping to pull pants up, but can't do it alone, yet.
• She can walk upstairs and downstairs by herself, but she insists on a hand when going down (which is a good thing!).

Mira makes us laugh so much - she makes the funniest faces sometimes and says the silliest things. We're so thankful that she is so healthy, strong, and smart! We know we are so lucky to be her parents!  It won't be long now before I'm doing a 2 year update!

Kenny's "Vida" Painting

Kenny and I agreed not to "get" each other anything for our birthdays this year. I said I didn't want anything since we'll be in Paris on my birthday - he can buy me a croissant for my birthday! So, he decided I shouldn't buy him anything either. So, he's having a birthday party instead.

But, I had this idea for a painting for him for a while and decided to finally give it a try. He seemed to like it...   =)

After taking a close look at this painting, you should know all about Kenny!

"Vida" painting

Top half close-up (if you click on the picture, you will see it larger and will be able to zoom in quite a bit)

Bottom half close-up

He loves soccer, scuba diving, running, and the Denver Broncos. We met at Tony Roma's. He's lived in Australia, Egypt, Louisiana, Denver, and Texas. He's a numbers man. He's been in the Oil & Gas business for a while now. He's interested in real estate. He graduated from Baylor and got his MBA from UT Arlington. He loves the ocean and plays the guitar.

There are also a couple of Kenny's favorite quotes in there that I don't think you could read even after zooming in, plus a couple of important dates (our wedding date and Mira's birthday).

The quotes are:
"If you want to rise higher, use your own legs! Don't let yourself be carried up, do not sit on the backs and heads of strangers!"  -Nietcsche
"Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule #2: Never forget Rule #1."  -Warren Buffet