Blanton

Are we crazy?  Yes, we most certainly are.  It was Saturday morning, and Steven decided to mow.  Once he was done it began to rain, and our plans to go swimming were changed.  What to do, what to do?  Take the whole family down to the UT campus and visit the Go West exhibit at the Blanton museum!

Yep, we're nuts.  We brought a wiggly 6 year old, a tantrum prone 3 year old and an infant to a museum?  Honestly though, the boys were all very well behaved.  I was expecting some fits or frustration at some point, but they were very patient.  Maybe the promise of lunch afterward was motivation, I don't know.

Matt was enthralled with this modern art display of thousands of pennies on the ground.  He was begging me to take just one.  Just one Mom!!!!!  Pleeeeeease!!!  Uh, no.  There were museum employees everywhere watching every move my boys made.  Will stepped over the line just once, and I had a curator tell me, "Ma'am, maybe you could just hold his hand so he doesn't step over the line."  Ok.  Bunch of nervous nancies.  For good reason.  I wouldn't trust Will either.

Steven and I both can't stop giggling at the donkey in the corner of this painting. What's he up to?  No good, that's what.

Johnny took a little Bjorn nap through most of it.

And this painting is very similar to the one hung over the crib in Johnathan's room.  It was cool to get to see the real thing.

Steven & I were both impressed with the architecture of all the new UT buildings.  They've been built since we were in school, so they're new to us!

And, the rain continued.  So thankful for it!  The boys didn't seem to mind getting wet.  It may not have been the day we'd planned for, but it sure was fun.  A little bit of culture never hurt anyone.  Not even a three year old.  

Summer madness

Summer is drawing to a close, and we continue to fill our days with fun.  We took the whole family to Zilker recently--on a day that actually wasn't sweltering.  The train ride is always first and never disappoints.

Matt found several bottlecaps (he has quite the collection going now) and fifty cents in found change throughout the park.  He was ecstatic.

Thursday mornings Steven has been taking the big boys to the driving range.  While Matt takes it seriously and actually makes contact with the ball and gets some distance...

...Will finds other ways to keep himself entertained.  He's so special.  All I know is it's nice to have a quiet morning with just Johnathan and I.

We hit another splash park where Matt & Will ran around like crazy only stopping to devour some snacks.  Little John snoozed in his carseat.

We visited Deep Eddy pool a couple weeks ago (Uncle Tim joined us too!), and it was delightful.  The water there is seriously cold, but it felt great on that very hot day.

Johnny quite enjoyed himself.  He sat and watched the action, ate, napped and then kicked around on our picnic blanket.

Will looks like he's being quite the handful.  Well, he usually is, but I assure you he was having fun.  I had been photographing Johnathan and he asked me to take his picture.  And this is how he chose to pose.  Dramatic much?

Matt and Will spent a lot of time jumping in from the side of the pool.  Trying to synchronize their jumps.

And then they nearly smothered their baby brother while wrestling on the blanket as they dried off.  Johnny didn't mind at all.  He's quite amused by them.

The whole family loved watching the Olympics.  I get so excited and inspired watching all those gifted athletes compete at such a level.  Matt's favorite events were swimming and track & field.  He referenced the globe and the atlas to figure out where all the different countries were and what their flags looked like.  Voluntarily of course.

My birthday was certainly a nice one.  My dear husband gave me flowers, and that always makes me happy.

The day started at a kids' birthday party--one of Will's little friends, Nathan, turned 3.  Then, I fled from the party and ALL my children and headed to join my girlfriends at Lake Austin Spa for a much needed and very enjoyable massage.  If only I could afford to visit that place more often!  It's a little piece of heaven.  Especially with my best girls by my side!

Meanwhile, Steven had all the kids for the day.  I came in and out to feed Johnathan, and he did great all day.  To make things more fun, louder and messier, Zach, Ava & Henry came over.  Good times.

We had dinner at Contigo, a hip little place on the east side with tasty delights that we all enjoyed.  Then I devoured the awesome birthday cake that Nicole made for me while we continued to conversate and enjoy ourselves.  Special times with my sweet girls.  What a blessing.  It was great for this mama--it recharged me!  A brilliant way to kick of my 34th year.

3 months

Mr. Johnathan has reached the 3 month mark, yay!!!  Time has flown.  This boy is coming alive.  Lately he has been all smiles and it is the cutest thing ever.  He coos and makes the sweetest little baby noises when you get face to face with him and talk to him.  He LOVES to be talked to.  He must like being told he's handsome because he smiles big every time, and I give him that compliment multiple times a day.  

This is my favorite shot.  He looks like a little doll.  His eyes are so big and bright---and still looking like they're going to be blue.

His legs are getting chubbier and oh so squeezable.  He is very strong and holds that head very steady.  He loves to sit up and see what's going on around him.  He's not a sit and be content kind of baby, and in fact he really prefers to be carried around so he can observe everything.  And let's be honest, there's a lot going on here and it's happening at an outrageously loud volume.  So, since the little prince prefers to be carried around on my hip I do everything one handed or else deal with his protests.  That period of great sleep turned out to last about 2 weeks, and now he is back to 6 hour stretches.  I feel like we are in this limbo period where he is trying to figure out how to soothe himself but he is still dependent on me.  He sucks on his little fingers but ultimately is more frustrated with them than soothed.  We're getting there.

This shot here is all Steven to me.  Makes me giggle.  Johnathan continues to be infatuated with his brothers and they are just as in love with him.  This evening after he had suffered through me bringing in the groceries, putting them away, folding laundry, making and eating dinner he sat on my lap at the table while I spoon fed Will the rest of his dinner and giggled listening to Will make up some fantastically silly song.  This of course just fed the beast that is Will.  He ate it up and loved the fact that Johnny was laughing at him.  It's just the beginning of that, right?

This boy is a delight.  Only thing that's not so delightful is the spit up.  He juices me multiple times a day.  And on the few occasions that I dodge it it goes ker-splat on the floor.  Ew.  Soon he will outgrow it.  Then I'll do laundry every 5 days instead of every 4?  Who am I kidding.  It's constant.  He may be messy, but we're keeping him.  We love our Johnny boy!