Avo's first 2012 visit!

Spring came early in Dallas, and Avo came up to enjoy some time with us and the boys.  Check out a few pics below:



Having some frozen yogurt before bedtime - Red Velvet & Cake Batter
were the hit flavors of the night!



Avo and Ethan enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon.



Smiles all around!

 

Avo and Noel sharing some Cheddar Bunnies

 

 

 

Noel kept wanting more tulips, much to our chagrin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethan practicing his best javelin throw!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing's better than Ethan flashing a great smile!

Miscellaneous Pics - April, 2012

Definitely doing some blog spring cleaning today . . . in addition to catching up on our posting, we've found some older entries that were never completed . . . and they're some good ones!  Here's an amalgamation entry with some super adorable shots:

Sweet Pea in a Pod! Ethan, who took over Brady's dog bed, while enjoying a day at Gramma and Papa's.

Do you like our new knick-knacks?  They don't exactly fit the decor, but I think we'll keep them!

Popcorn!!!

A watchpot never pops!

We don't see many of these days (posted 03/13), but the boys did love a co-sleep.

So much so that Noel apparently didn't mind the Ethan-influenced breathing hindrance.

Noel dragging Pai to the top of the Tower!

Now that we've almost completed the first full year of school, we've realized that there is a rotation of three or four locations for class birthday parties.  Luckily for this weekend, the boys were invited to another event at the Flight Museum, a favorite for both the boys and their parents.

Normally, we wouldn't post new pics for such a routine event, but we saw some new behavior from Noelly Canoli that was worth a post . . .

In addition to the normal Flight History and Southwest Airlines exhibits, there is also a large play area for kids that includes a multi-level "flight tower" that reaches 20-25 feet in the air.  Normally, we'd see Ethan tear after an opportunity like this, but Noelly decided to stake his claim to the best athlete title for this particular day, dragging Pai up the tower with him for extra security.  Here's a quick photo series:

First up, an adorable "before" shot with Noelly flashing some dimples:

Next up, Noelly screaming for Pai after making it to the first level on his own:

If you look closely to the upper right-hand corner, you can now see that Pai has entered (sandwiched himself in??) the tower . . . Noelly's little legs are at the top and that's Ethan in his lap . . . Ethan ultimately abandoned the climb, having achieved it in an earlier trip.



Almost at the top!  You can really get a perspective of how how this tower is in this pic, which really shows just how impressive the boys' respective climbs were.   Poor Pai is pretty sweaty by this point . . .

 



Great shot (if you look closely) of Noelly in the top of the tower . . . SUCCESS!!!!!!

And a final shot of the trip back down with Pai having a good chuckle at the level of ridiculous he's willing to achieve for the wishes of his children.  Impressive feat from Noelly, equally impressive parenting from Pai! 

  



Avo and Uncle Ronny in charge for Easter Weekend - Part 3: Easter!

However, the best part of the weekend was Easter Sunday where the family gathered and the boys were in for a special surprise:

 

Family shot:

Aunt Suzee came by for the festivities:
 

The boys see something outside and he "hobbles" like someone they know:

As they walked out they kepot saying, "That's Uncle Ronnie!!"  His cover was blown out of the gate:

The Easter Bunny leaving more treats:

Noel decided to let check Ethan check things out first:

But once he saw that Ronnie had treats he was all in:
 

Ronnie enjoying a post-costume break:
 

Avo and Uncle Ronny in charge for Easter Weekend - Part 2: Dallas Aquarium!

Next up was a trip to the Dallas Aquarium.  For those of you that have never been, you start out in the jungle up top and work your way down until you're underwater looking at the underwater creatures:

 

Starting up top:

 

 

Looking at some monkeys:

 

 

 

The boys are captivated byt he underwater tunnel where the sharks swim overhead:

Hanging with Uncle Ronnie:

Avo and Uncle Ronny in charge for Easter Weekend (Part 1)

Catching up on some blogs we never got around to posting:

 

We're incredibly fortunate to have such a wide support structure around us . . . not only do the boys have a great appreciation for extended family and friends, said extended family and friends allow their Dad and Pai to maintain a pared down travel schedule, taking a couple of weekend trips per year on our own.

In celebration of Pai's birthday and our 3 year wedding anniversary, we headed to San Francisco over the long Easter weekend to enjoy some time with Kitty and Mike Burn.  Avo and Uncle Ronny stepped in to own the majority of the boys' workload for the weekend . . . this is the first of three posts covering their activities for the weekend.

First up, Noelly and Uncle Ronny having a mid-afternoon cuddle . . .

Cute pic of the boys, posing with their new "just my size" chairs, courtesy of Avo!

Ethan with one of the boys' favorite toys, their trusty fire truck:

Next up, a completely adorable picture of Avo and her grandsons . . . all three of them look so charming in this pic.

Last up, Uncle Ronny showing us just how difficult it is to chase after a couple of two year olds over consecutive days!

Ethan and Noel's Spring Class Party

It's hard to believe that the boys first full school year is coming to a close . . . seems like it was just a week ago that we were consoling a hysterical Noel after staying for only one hour on the first day.

Today was a spring party for all four Toddler classes . . . it was a party that we co-sponsored as part of the school's annual fund raising effort . . . fun day at the park with food, an easter egg hunt, and a portable petting zoo for the kids. Some great pics below

First up, a rare pic of the boys together (the event photographer painfully tried to get them to pose together), staring at the farm animals as the vendor set up.

Next up is an Ethan series . . . he absolutely loved holding the animals

(1) Chasing the guinea pigs around their container

(2) Holding the baby chicks . . . it was during this phase that he was convinced the baby chicks could "FLY!" So much so that he would hold them high and then drop them into their bucket hoping to see his theory in action.

(3) Look at that face, admiring the baby duck

(4) Here he is after picking up a soft brush (unassisted) and proceeding to gently brush each and every animal in the pen . . . here, he's covering the baby goat.







































































Next up is the Noel series . . . Noel was slightly more apprehensive around the animals, but he did just fine after some coaxing from Pai and Dad.

(1) and (2) A couple of pics of Noel's unabated joy in experiencing a baby duck.

(3) Noel and a classmate admiring the baby chick from afar.

(4) and (5) A hysterical set of pictures . . . first Noel followed the goose around the pen simply waving at it (from behind). After doing this for a couple of minutes, he literally belly-flopped on to the ground where he (unhappily??) began to pet the goose. Guess he thought it was better to be at eye level for this exercise.

Boys do the darndest things...

Adam Milam, reporting live. We just received images from South Versailles of not one, but TWO babies stuck in a cupboard. They're in good spirits and, in fact, appear to be enjoying the close quarters.





















We'll have an exclusive interview with them later today, so stay tuned for more news at 11.00!

Our first of many plumbing adventures....

Last night we realized the boys officially moved into a curious phase of cause and effect. An age old "If/Then" experiment, if you will. And they did...

We were getting ready for bath time and while Bruce got the boys' bath ready, I was in the other room getting PJs. No one was paying attention to the boys. Given it was so quiet, we should have known something was up.

I walked back into the bathroom and saw the boys at the toilet, giggling as Ethan flushed it. Naively, I assumed they were just fascinated with the flushing process. Their laughter raised to squeals of utter delight in correspondence with the rising water - this was no ordinary flush.

They ran to the bath tub to get more toys and dumped several more in. After about 30 minutes of trying to fish something out with a wire hanger, I gave up for the night.

Tonight, the toilet came off and after fishing around the business end of the toilet, we found the culprit - the nasal bulb they loathe so much!