Fun with both boys and Zach's 6 months!

YAY! Zachy's 6 months old! :) Where has my baby gone??

On to the previous days events before the celebratory pictures.

Alex once again crawled himself into the exersaucer, and again he wasn't able to get himself out. But first Alex had some fun in the toy.

A change of pace - Alex in the exersaucer, Zach with the trains.....

A half-smile from Zach....

Zach getting ready to crawl....(but not just quite yet).....

Zach's smile to his brother.

We couldn't have a post without a picture of Alex.

Zach's 6-month smile. :)

Alex "holding" Zach - - it's more just wrapping his arms around him...Zach's a BIG BOY!!

Uh-oh...we're falling over!!!!

Crash!!

That's it folks! Off to baths and bed!! :)

Kidz Explore - Fun with Food!

Wow - what a busy weekend! We hope that all of you had better weather than we did - - Wednesday and Thursday it was just beautiful - temps in the 80's, and just perfect. Then this weekend it was rainy and cool. I love the rain, but it was just disappointing that we weren't able to be outside when we actually had time to be outside!

Friday night Alex chose supper. He wanted pizza, ABC tots, and strawberries. Much more colorful than his previous choice in meal (mac & cheese, corn, and bread). He LOVED the ABC tots!!

We couldn't let Zach feel left out!! (The "Z" was an improvised "J")

Then this Saturday we went to Kidz Explore in Kearney. It toook Alex quite a while to warm up to everything, so he spent most of the morning in Mom's arms. He did quite a few of the activities....like Plinko!!

The hospital had these really cool water color pages....the colors were up at the top of the page, and then you just dipped a Q-tip into the water, into the color, and you were set!

Zach enjoyed the antlers from the hospital.

One of the churches in Kearney had a really cool exhibit to promote their VBS this summer. It was VeggieTales (which I LOVE), and Alex even recognized Bob and Larry! He tossed the beanbag into the pond, and actually left my side to go and find it!!!

Another Plinko board...

Then we moved onto the floor. They had ice skating (which we didn't even attempt! Alex wouldn't take his coat off, yet alone his shoes!!) and a really cool ramp that Alex loved! (Of course, it had to do with balls - - that's what gets him all of the time!) Dad held him up to the chute. (Alex's ball is the orange smear towards the bottom of the picture)

Here Alex tried it on his own...

Here's the video of Alex and his ball - - watch the second time how his head bobs up and down as the ball travells along the track....too funny!!

Raspberry time!!

Zach has a smile for the camera.

Alex receiving his balloon for getting the bag through the middle of the target!

As one of his prizes, Alex got a harmonica. Here, as we were heading home, Alex tried it out. He didn't quite get the whole concept (towards the end he is blowing "tuned air" instead of just blowing into it.....he'll practice more, I'm sure.) :)

After Kidz Explore, we had to head to Target for a few "needs". Alex helped the checker at Target by pulling all of the clothes off of the hangars! (We realized with the 80+ temps this week that we didn't have ANY summer clothes for Alex! We have plenty of hand-me-downs for Zach, but Alex doesn't have any!!)

Cheez-It makes "Scrabble" letters - we were able to make all of our names! (We had to use upside down "W"s for the "M"s.)

That's all for now - - we'll post on Tuesday for Zach's 6-month picture!! :)

April 12-22

I figured I'd just write the dates, since we seem to only be able to do posts every few weeks....sorry.......

Going back to Easter - we had Great-Grandma and Grandpa Frank out. We had a very nice time. Great-Grandma was just sure Zach was going to break her back, but it didn't stop her from cuddling just as much as Zach would allow (which isn't much these days). Alex loved having a buddy around, and he and Grandpa spent many-an-hour at the train table downstairs. I think that Grandpa now knows more about Percy, Salty, Thomas, Neville, Emily, Whiff, Sir Handel, Gordon, James, and Harold then he ever imagined he'd know. :) They had a great time, and we loved having them here.

Here's a shot of Zach in his Easter outfit - -


I thought about buying one for Alex - but as it turns out, his "Easter outfit" was a battle anyways. He's 2 - and he is beginning to assert his independence by choosing the outfits that he wears. I was lucky - he did agree to wear a "dressy" shirt and pants to church - but I am afraid that if I would've bought an Easter outfit that it would have been unworn. So, here's Alex's "Easter outfit" as he hunted for eggs (this was after he IMMEDIATELY changed once we got home from church)......


This is the new chill spot for Zach - a few weeks ago it was the towels, this week it's the hallway.


This past weekend we had Kyle, Amy, and their son Micah out so the guys could try to deplete the turkey population in Central Nebraska. Here's a shot of the guys before they took off Saturday (sorry, Kyle, this was the best shot we had of everyone else.....) Kyle's about to sneeze.


Alex liked having a playmate for a while - and Andy, Amy, and Kyle enjoyed playing on the Wii. Amy is quite the camera fanatic, so every time she got out her camera to take a picture of the boys playing, Alex would stop playing and go and grab his camera, therefore completely defeating Amy's intention of taking any kind of picture. She got creative, though.....


We were able to sneak in a shot of the boys playing.

Andy, Kyle, and Alex playing on the Wii.

Micah and Alex also got out the HUGE Thomas that Alex got from Aunt Elly, Uncle Neil, and Noah. It was quite the entertainment!!

After Kyle, Amy, and Micah left, we enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home. After baths, Alex decided to play doctor with his brother.....or maybe Zach was the doctor......

So Daddy came over to help Zach with the diagnosis. (Notice the camera - Alex noticed that I had mine out...)

Dr. Bowin chews on his stethoscope.

And now on to today! (This is the most recent I think that we've EVER posted! These pictures are less than 2 hours old!

About 2 months ago, we (Grandpa Dave) noticed a small crack in our basement wall. Upon further inspection, our front stairs were sinking and leaning against the foundation of the house - therefore causing the crack. To make matters worse, the driveway slope was also sinking, therefore causing all of the rainwater to run down under the stairs. Today they got started on pulling out all of the concrete....

Where the stairs used to be.....(they are going to repair and tar this, fill it in with dirt, and then we'll build a wood deck to go up to the door)

Looking from the side of the house....

And guess who L-O-V-E-D the "bucket" and dirt?!??!? (The "bucket" is really a bobcat.)
Daddy and Zach inspect the work...(can you read the temp on the bank sign in the background? It says 83 degrees!!!) WHOO-HOO!!

Our beautiful plant out back....I don't know what kind it is, but it is breathtaking in the spring.

The bumblebee thinks so, too. :)

And here I am channeling my inner Sarah (my sister - she's amazing with photography!)....

That's it!! Hope all is well with all of you - we'll be posting for sure in another week when Zach's 6 months old! (Already??? Where has my baby gone???)

First Part of Easter Weekend!

Yes, this is only the first part, because we'll be posting more by Monday, I'm sure!!

In anticipation for Easter and our Easter company (Great Grandma and Grandpa Frank from Lincoln), we made some fruit slush to freeze. Alex helped! First he cut the bananas.

Next he put the muffin cups into the tins. Then Mommy filled them and froze them. We'll have to eat them tomorrow! :)

Alex helped feed Zach one night.....Zach liked smiling at Alex more than actually eating.

The boys got an Easter box from Grandma Le and Grandpa Dave. Daddy thought that Zach was a good fit for the box.

Alex enjoyed the bubble wrap (after I hid the presents for tomorrow!)

Then I tried to get Alex to step on the bubbles. It wasn't quite as fun for him - - he wouldn't step on them without his shoes on, so once the shoes were on, it was tip-toe only. Then he decided that popping with his fingers was best.

The boys, sitting on the floor playing. (Anyone else think that their expressions are almost identical?!?!)

The other night (after baths), Alex took to crawling ALL OVER. I couldn't resist the "baby butt" and started tickling him. It was quite fun, Andy got all of the giggles on "tape".

And here is a video of Zach's giggles....he doesn't give them up too often, so we were lucky to get these. It's especially toward the end. Alex has a knack for getting Zach to giggle, and Alex hitting Daddy with the ball was the ticket to the giggle. Enjoy!

Weekly Update

Well, it's been a while, again, so it seemed high time to get another post up. In our defense, we tried to get a post put up last night, but blogger was being a tad difficult. Anyway, here is another batch of photos. This batch has a strong flavor of Alex, who hasn't gotten the spotlight to himself for a while.

Alex decided to crawl into the exersaucer. It had been a while, but he got in a played for a little while. Much fun was had, until it came time to get out. That required help.

Maybe just a little too tall for it.Little help, please?

Later on, it was time for Alex and mommy to make their very own bunny house (kit provided by Wal Mart)

All of our supplies.....

Alex carefully inspects the gumdrops.....

Here's what it's SUPPOSED to look like.....

That's how our bunny house turned out. Not as cute as the picture, but we had a lot of fun!

NOT for the faint of stomach......we were eating "Plain Red Soup" (Tomato soup to the rest of the world) and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Alex also wanted a banana.........the rest? See for yourself.

The boy has his father's sense of creativity when it comes to food combinations.

While we got everything out of the kitchen for the sweep/mop...Alex found something new to try. Another thing he can climb into, but not out of!

Well that's the news from our little corner of the world. The epic blizzard of 2009 pretty much blew right past us, leaving us with only a couple inches. Work is going well for us, and he boys are happy at home and at daycare. What more could we ask for. Hope everyone has a great week.