Fun in February

 Now that it's March, I suppose it's time to update the blog on what we did in February. :-)

Joshua got a new big boy car seat!

Joshua climbed inside the "oven" while playing with his brothers--how else can you reach the toys in the back?

 Since it's been a while since I've posted a video of Joshua, here is one of him playing with his current favorite toy!

  

How do you keep three active boys busy on a rainy day? Let them set up an indoor jumping space!

We celebrated Valentine's day together.

These are the Valentines Eli (glow sticks) and Micah (bugs) chose for school.

Eli got all dressed up for a play date.

When Paul was in Costa Rica, Grandma C. (Kristy's G'ma) came to visit and help with the boys. She brought some cars with her that the boys loved. We really had a fun visit and hope G'ma C. can come again next year!

G'ma C. let the boys play games on her phone while she was here.

All that play is hard work! Micah got to sleep in our bed for naps while G'ma C. was  visiting. He always takes something to bed with him, but this day he chose a hat, a bug, and a bracelet! He was amused that the cats slept with him, too. :-)

We made our signs and were ready to go pick up Daddy!

 

Waiting at the airport, I heard, "When's Daddy coming?" and "Is Daddy here yet?" many times. They were so excited to see him--and they got to wear their pj's since it was past bed time when we got home. All 3 slept on the way to and from the airport.

Eli and Micah showed their friends how to make crowns on the computer.

When our friends' baby brother started crying in his car seat,  Eli started playing music and being silly in front of him. The baby quickly started giggling, which got Micah and Joshua's attention.

For her birthday, our sweet friend, Colleen, got to come visit!

Colleen loves to play ball and the boys love throwing them for her.

They even played some soccer--the ball was one of Colleen's gifts and she popped it in about 1 minute!

Here are the boys with Colleen. The boys have requested that our next dog be a girl and playful "like Colleen."

 Colleen isn't the only one getting attention from the boys. Joshua still loves the kitties and sometimes they tolerate him. He loves to give Smudges hugs and I'm always surprised at how often she just lays there and lets him hug her!

When she left the bed and tried to hide behind the curtain, Joshua found her and tried to give her more hugs. :-) 

Looking back, we had a really great February. We are so blessed by our many friends and family who add such joy to our days!

Anniversary Fun Video

Anniversary Fun

We started February celebrating Paul's parents' 40th wedding anniversary! For months, the "kids" (Paul, his brother, Mark, our sister-in-law, Rebecca, and me) have been planning to give Bob and Kay a very memorable gift. When Paul and his brother were kids, their family had a favorite fishing resort where they liked to vacation, so we thought it would be fun to all go back there with the grandkids!

We couldn't just tell them what we had planned, so we had Mark and Rebecca on Skype, wrapped several gifts as clues, then made them guess. The video at the end says it all! :-)

First, they opened a box of 4th of July crayons.

Then, Paul found a picture of their family's favorite road trip car.

"Yes, it's a block of wood, but what kind?" Answer: Cedar

Next, came the jig made by a man at the resort where they vacationed.

Finally, a gold bobber, which was part of a contest one year when the Cheney family was visiting the resort.

(I tried to embed the video here, but after several attempts I gave up and just made a new post. You'll have to watch the video there.)

The Great Outdoors

We had some beautiful weather this January, so we took advantage of it and played outside a lot!

 Check out Joshua crawling up the stairs of this playscape all by himself.

 He discovered recently that he loves slides!

 One Saturday, we went to a nearby nature preserve for a nature hike. Here's Paul explaining to Eli and Micah which snakes are dangerous in the woods.

 Eli, Paul, Micah

 We found some shelf fungus growing on a tree, so all the boys had to touch it. ;-)

 Then, we found these huge live oaks! Paul climbed up there immediately and the big boys wanted to join him.

 

 Mr. Blue Eyes wanted to climb up the tree, too!

 Then, I got a turn in the tree with the boys.

 I love this picture of the 5 of us! To get this picture, Paul wedged our camera into another tree and set the camera's timer. It only took a couple of tries to get a good picture of us.

Despite leaving the trail we thought we were following and walking a little more than we intended, all three boys did a great job on our nature hike. We are certainly going to have to visit this preserve again!

Children's Museum

I have several blog posts in my head with the pictures we've taken over the last several weeks--and the ones I'll post below that were taken before Buddy died. But, honestly, it has been hard for me to get on the blog and see the Dear Buddy post. We have been so blessed by our wonderful vet's office who gave us a clay imprint of Buddy's paw as well as three plastic disks that hold some of Buddy's hair--the red and white. We still miss Buddy, but we are moving on and are looking forward to loving another Greyhound one day. (We have had a Greyhound come here to play with the boys and we took a trip out to see some Greys one Saturday.)

Now, on to the pictures....Since everyone was sick over Christmas break, we scheduled a trip down to the museum early one Saturday. We got to explore and splash all morning with a picnic lunch at a nearby rose garden. It was really a good family morning.

We started the day with a visit through a city where the kids "work" and get paid for the jobs they complete. The boys liked doing the jobs and exploring the different careers they could have.

Maybe delivery drivers?

 Veterinarians?

 Or maybe HEB employees?

While they had fun pretending, the water was by far the favorite stop of the day. Joshua saw this feature and kept saying "baa! baa!" (i.e. bath)

 They built

 and experimented.

We were all soaked by the end of our time playing--next time I'll bring some dry clothes for them! We had a fun time and look forward to going back soon!

Dear Buddy

Thanks for choosing us to be your forever family. When we found out that you had lived in two homes prior to ours, we promised you that no matter what happened, you were stuck with us for the rest of your life! Thanks for making that an easy promise to keep!

From our first ride home

 to our first family picture

  to the first time we saw you "roaching"

and running in our backyard, we were in awe of you!

You were the best dog we could have asked for. You were patient with the cats from the beginning

 and you learned to be patient when the kids invaded your home

 

and your personal space.

 Okay, you weren't always perfect, but you were OURS!

 We enjoyed our road trips with you--sorry about the snow!

 We loved catching you sleeping on the couch--yes, it was okay!

  We loved giving you treats

  and taking naps with you.

 You've always been our "Angel Buddy" and we sure hope there are dogs in Heaven,

 because we'd love to see you run like this again!

We love you, Big Boy!