Miscellaneous Pictures - Late November/December, 2012

Continuing to look back and fill in the blog holes today . . . this post is just some great, miscellaneous pictures from last Fall when the boys were in a supremely adorable phase . . .

 

Pai willingly gave up his front yard flower bed for the fall so that the boys could have a constant source of dirt for their tractors and bulldozers.  Definitely had daily site visits!

Love this picture - Ethan looking like such a big boy on a neighbor's chaise lounge.  Also love the lumberjack attire.

Playing "restaurant" for Dad and Uncle Ronny (with some old mouldy gourds that made Dad mildly nervous)

Ethan's Fall, 2012 talent - building train tracks.  He certainly has a mind for puzzles, we've learned

Dad's favorite pic . . .we're in our last days of being able to co-sleep in a chair, simply based on the boys' size, but discovered Pai and the boys in an adorable sleep on one lovely Sunday morning.

3rd Birthday - First Bicycles!

For their birthday, Avo bought the boys their first bikes.  There have apparently been amazing developments in bike technology since I learned to ride a bike.  These pedal-less bikes are supposed help the boys develop their sense of balance.  It's an amazingly simple product that seemingly makes learning how to ride a real bicycle amazingly less painful:

 

Noel taking a test drive:

 

Ethan loved his helmet for exactly one second and then thought it was for the birds:

 

Super smiley Ethan and super smiley Avo:

3rd Birthday - The Next Day . . .

Cleaning up some of our "draft" posts today and found some "day after" photos from the boys' 3rd birthday back in December . . .

 

I stumbled upstairs to find an adorable picture of Ethan with Auntie Kim, enjoying some alone time before she has to depart.

Ethan showing what a big boy he's become . . . sitting in between Avo and Aunt Kim.

Many previous posts have been written about the boys' pure love for Miss Coco . . . no words cound convey that affection more than this picture of Noe and Coco, the morning of their departure.

Everyone enjoying the Play Dough set, a gift from Aunt Suzee

Love this picture of Avo getting some Ethanol love pre-departure.

3rd Birthday - The Party!

The boys' third birthday snuck up on us and we managed to pull together a party at The Little Gym.  I'm sure this experience sounds awful to most non-parents, but it was pretty great, self-contained and required little work from us.

 

We were thrilled to have Kim in town on this special day and she got to spend some great time with the boys.  The boys had been sick all week, but they managed to rally together and with the help of special "Super Ethan" and "Super Noel" shirts courtesy of Aunt Carol, the day turned out to be Super Fun!

 

The boys arrived and were checking out the scene:

 

Avo and Ethan sporting cute smiles:

Aunt Kim and Pai:

It's hard to believe that he was throwing a MASSIVE tantrum only 30 minutes before.

 

Avo and Pai patiently waiting for cake:

 

Ethan loving his cape:

 

 

The birthday gang waiting for the bounce pad to inflate:

 

 

Noel showing off his shirt:

 

Taking a break with Gramma:

 

CAKE TIME!!

 

Travis and Papa:

 

A quick photo of their "Super" cake - it was Super Delicious:

Brotherly love . . . Miscellaneous Pics from November, 2012

While our blogging skills maybe have slightly atrophed as the boys have aged, we continue to be inspired by their supreme adorabliciousness that its too hard to not throw these posts out there.

Today, some unrelated pics that create a clear picture of the boys' current relationship . . .

A perfect example of the Ethan-Noel relationship . . . Ethan will take every opportunity to cuddle on Noelly during naptime and bedtime.  It's incredibly sweet.

Another adorable picture - the boys, on a walk with Pai, plopped down in front of the turkey and Ethan couldn't resist giving Noelly a big hug

Finally, the boys experiencing our 2 weeks of Fall in Texas - burying an always good sport Pai in leaves.

Adventure to Klyde Warren Park

The city recently finished construction on Klyde Warren Park, a great green space connecting Uptown and Downtown.  

Earlier this week, the weather was perfect for an adventure (Noel's new favorite word) so we packed a bag and headed downtown.  Some great pictures of the boys exploring the area:

Ethan sliding down the artificial grass in the kid's playground area.

Noel got some speed and lost some control by the time he made it to the bottom of the hill.

Perfectly captured moment of Noel's stiff-bodied run

Ethan captured his prey!

Noel spinning himself into a dizzy frenzy.

Noel was totally eyeing Ethan's Teddy Grahams.  Needless to say, Ethan wasn't about to share.

Cute shot of Ethan on the hilltop.

Ethan saw some girls making sand angels and decided to make one for himself.

I promise Noel has pants on, though it was dicey for a moment as to how long they were going to stay on.

Noel was crawling under the arches of water.

Ethan doing his best Army crawl.

Noel found a faster route to the end.

Professional Photos - 3rd Year Edition!

There was a lot of pressure on our Year 3 family photos given that we've enjoyed our Christmas Card endeavors and our 2012 card was depdendent on whatever came out of this shoot.  Our first effort was a bit of a disaster as the boys were compeltely enamored with Chad and Marci's daughters and felt that pictures were an unwanted distraction.  We literally managed just two pictures out of that first effort.  Luckily, Chad was willing to re-schedule another day at the DMA Sculpture Garden and we got some super creative and adorable shots.

Hard to believe how far we've come over three years . . . even looking at last year's family photo, the boys are such little men now in every way.

Here's the only good shot from our first attempt - love the steps and the ivy and the boys are not really hiding their moods.

Big Daddy and growing Ethan

 

Pai and Ethan the super grinner

Another shot of happy, happy Ethan with Dad

Definitely the shot of the day - Noelly stealing the show

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Noelly officially in the "Do Not Walk in the Ivy" area

Noelly and sweet Pai

This shot was 100% conceived and staged by Noelly . . .

And a last, very happy Family shot