2 Years 5 Months

Sawyer is definitely a two year old boy! He is so active and strong-minded!! Why is it that two year olds are so bipolar? One minute he can be happy and laughing, the next grumpy and screaming. Oh the joys! His new favorite thing to say is 'Don't you' when we are doing something he doesn't like. Which, unfortunately, is a lot! But my favorite thing that he says is 'nude' for new. So he has a nude shirt, a nude toy, and a nude diaper! I don't even try to correct him because it is so funny! He has loved having the twins home for a while. He is pretty good with them, minus trying to tackle them with hugs! We have been working on potty training a bit. He can go pee-pee in the potty and gets super excited. I need to buckle down and do the real thing soon! Any tips? 
He loves going out to get his pictures taken. He even requests it by saying 'take picture?' He definitely knows the monthly drill by now!

Houston, We Have a Problem

Abby and Jordan have been living in Houston this year while Jordan sells alarm systems. My mom and I decided we wanted to make a trip out there to visit and see the sights. The twins were turning one soon, so we booked flights and were soon on our way. All Sawyer could talk about for weeks before leaving was: Sawyer fly airplane, Grammie too, Mommy too. He had flown once before, but was too little to remember. Luckily for me, he was a great passenger! He slept most of the way, enjoyed the view out the window, and watched Cars.

We had a great time playing at the park and visiting the pier in Kemah. Sawyer got to go on another airplane ride and also the carousel. My mom and I enjoyed the extra humidity at the boardwalk and our hair showed our delight!

Abby threw a little party for the twins' 1st birthday to celebrate with all of their friends in Texas. It was pure chaos with so many people crammed into their small family room, but we had lots of fun!

Then we were off for a quick side trip to San Antonio. We had planned on going to Sea World from the very first minute we started talking about going to Texas. Everyone was super excited. But as we looked out the window on the morning of the twins' birthday, it looked quite gloomy and was pouring rain. We decided to go buy some ponchos on the way to the park. But as we discovered in the local Walmart, everyone else had already had the poncho idea. All that was left were Cowboys ponchos, a few yellow ones, and infant PINK ponchos. But still we weren't deterred. As we pulled into the parking lot of Sea World it was still pouring rain. When Jordan got out to unload the strollers, someone pulled up behind him and said they were only keeping the park open for a few hours because of the rain. We decided it wasn't worth it to stay. So we waited in the car while mom went to see if we could get a refund. As we waited, I decided to see what other things we could do in San Antonio that day. Everything worth doing was outside, and since we were already ponchoed up, to the zoo we went! 

 Jack and Jake on the morning of their birthday.

Waiting in the car at Sea World.

Arriving at the zoo, the parking lot was a river. But we decided we would rough it! We are definitely glad we did, even though it rained for most of the day. It was one of the best zoos I have ever been to! We even perfectly timed a visit to the hippo house during the hippo show. They were very well trained and waited patiently, with their mouths wide open for their treats, after doing some tricks! Sawyer's favorite thing at the zoo were the kangaroos. We don't have them at our zoo, so he had never seen them. He would laugh so hard as the jumped around and they even came right up to see us. Overall, the zoo was absolutely worth it!

For the other day in San Antonio, we hit the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The Alamo was really interesting, but the kids didn't have much patience for all the sign reading involved. There was a very cool tree that grew in every possible direction. It had been transplanted there almost 100 years ago. Then we went down to the Riverwalk. It is a really cool area set below street level. It follows the river for miles and you can walk around and shop or eat. We didn't have a ton of time before we needed to head back to Houston, so we hit the mall for a quick bite and let the kids get out their energy at the playplace. Then we got on the road again.

 At dinner for the twins' birthday.

Showing me his new Mater truck that Grammie got him!

World's tallest man at Ripley's Believe it or Not.

We spent our last day hanging out and eating yummy food in Houston. Then it was time to fly back home. After a very long and exhausting day with two delayed flights and three cranky babies, we made it home! Thanks for letting us visit Abby and Jordan. We sure had a blast in Texas!!

Fair-mania

We made it to the fair this year! I always love going to the fair, so I made sure it was a priority. Sawyer has a new love of slides, so I started prepping him and getting him super excited to go on the Big Yellow slide. (My favorite thing at the fair since I was a little girl!) All we heard about from the backseat of the car on the drive down was: lellow slide, climb stairs! He was pumped, and I was too! We met Grammie and Anton there and headed straight for the slide. As we neared the slide, however, Sawyer spotted something a little more exciting. AIRPLANE ride. One look was all it took and he didn't care about the lellow slide anymore. Go figure! But we went on that first anyway. He loved the actual sliding part. He even got to go once with mommy, daddy, and Anton and a second time with Grammie.

Then the real fun began for Sawyer. He got to ride these 3 different times throughout the night. Talk about spoiled!

We hit the kiddie farm this year because Sawyer was old enough to enjoy it. I had never done it before, but they do a really cute job. The kids walk around and gather things from stations on the farm. When they finish, they get paid a fair dollar to spend on a treat.

Then we wandered over to see the animals. Sawyer is not a fan of big animals up close. But I couldn't resist getting a picture of him by the goats, screaming to get away. Mother of the year award, I know.

Afterwords, Shane, Anton and I all rode on the Pirate Ship. You know, the big one that swings back and forth. None of us had been on one for a long time, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one having fun! We even got the back row. Perfect for flying out of your seat as you reach the top and your stomach doing that awesome drop as you come back down! 

We completed our fair experience with a delicious funnel cake, because you definitely can't leave without one. See, I told you I loved the fair!!

2 Years, 4 Months

Another month older, and wiser too. Sawyer has finally started to enjoy watching shows. His favorite, of course, is Cars. What two year old boy, who is obsessed with any wheeled thing, wouldn't love it? He requests to watch it by saying: Watch Mater? He can identify people's cars just by seeing one like it, even in a different color. I often hear John's truck, Daddy's car, or Kam's car from the backseat! But my favorite has been GRAPE (instead of great) Grandma's car, when he saw a Lexus like Shane's grandparents drive! He knows Mommy drives a grey Rogue, Poppa has a red RAV, and Grammie drives a black Q5. I think he is a little OBSESSED! I also love that he thinks Mater is a TOAD truck! We need to work on pronunciation.

He has known how old he is since his birthday, but he also knows when his birthday is (May 3rd). But recently, since his discovery of Mater, he starts to say May and ends up saying Mater. So then he can't figure out the rest! So cute!

We have done lots of fun things this summer. He loves the train and giraffes at the zoo, going to the splash pad, feeding the ducks at Wheeler Farm, going down slides, penguins at the Aquarium, and going on bike rides in the bike trailer. He also loves swimming, jumping in from the side, and blowing bubbles. We have a very active two year old!!