First Bowling Trip Video

Everett in action ... well, sort of ... I guess there isn't really much action here!

Aunt Debbie's Visit

When Aunt Debbie asked if she could come visit, she didn't realize she'd be asked to stay in Everett's "guest house". She was a good sport when E was pretty insistent that she go inside so he could hand her things and then ... mow around the house ... not sure what that was about?!?!

Chef Everett

Everett's latest hobby is cooking. As soon as he comes home from school, he starts pulling out the pots and pans and gets very serious about making us some soup. He stops regularly to enthusiastically say "I cooking, I cooking".

"Thanks Mary Nell for my apron. ... It's been getting a lot of use! You should come over and try some of my soup!"

This needs a bit of salt.

Pryce even got in on the action. Turns out ladels and wooden spoons make great teethers!

Home Sweet Home

David and I returned late last night from 3 nights away in Las Vegas. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the boys while we were gone!! It was really nice to get away, but we sure missed our boys! Especially since while we were gone Pryce got his first tooth and mastered crawling. How dare he hit these milestones while we were absent! Today he was pulling himself up to a standing position on his own ... Glad we returned in time to see that one! I'll try to get a picture of that tooth soon. And while I did bring my camera to Vegas, I failed to take one single picture. I guess it's just as well ... like they say ... what happens in Vegas ... stays in Vegas!

Happy Easter

We spent a quiet Easter Sunday at home ... which was fine by us as we'd had a VERY busy weekend already and were quite worn out. David and Everett dyed Easter eggs, which was a messy endeavor, but worth it as Everett enjoyed himself. The eggs actually turned out quite pretty!

Happy Easter cont.

More pictures of our lazy Sunday ...














I was very impressed to see E give little brother a horse so they could play together. E's not much into sharing these days, so this was a pretty big deal!













Notice the evidence of Easter candy on E's face?













Where's my chocolate?

Egg Hunting

My family gathered to celebrate Easter and Jenny & Mom's bdays on Saturday. (Mom's bday was 2/17 while they were in California and Jenny's is on Tuesday, 3/25) The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt. My Dad took some video of the egg hunt and birthday celebrations which I've compiled into a little video montage. Here's a pic of the happy egg hunters:


















And here's the video for those who are interested:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Day at the Zoo

We had a wonderful day at the Fort Worth Zoo today. We couldn't have asked for better weather and the boys were both on their best behavior. The company was also perfect ... we met Grandma and Grandad Rankin, Aunt Kim, cousin Aaron, Aunt Helen & Uncle Mark and cousin Hayley there. Kim's previous work experience teaching preschoolers at the zoo came in quite handy as she made an excellent tour guide. (Thanks Kim!) Everett was very excited to see the animals and couldn't move from one exhibit on to the next fast enough. The only time he stood still for longer than a minute was to feed the birds. He seemed most impressed by the lion who came out and put on quite a show for us. Pryce was a trouper, remaining content in his carrier for the whole day and napping occasionally. When we left, Everett fell asleep within minutes of us getting into the car ... only for us to wake him 20 minutes later to meet the family for a yummy lunch (and yummy margaritas) on the beautiful patio at Joe T Garcias. I thought we were in for trouble with a tired boy and a long wait, but he kept himself entertained, happy and only had one minor meltdown ... not bad at all for an exhausted toddler! Once we got home he asked for some milk, got on the couch and was zonked out for the next 4 hours. He only woke up long enough for us to change his diaper and put him back in bed at 9:30. Whew - what a day! We all enjoyed ourselves so much. Thanks Helen for suggesting the outing ... it couldn't have been more perfect! Here's some of the pictures we took:

Pryce - 7 months old

The past 7 months have flown by!
















Oh, how I love that dimple!!!

And a couple more pics of him with big bro and Mom & Dad.

Movin' and Groovin'

Pryce has been wow-ing us with his strength and progress in the sitting up and crawling departments. He seems to be so close to crawling ... although I seem to remember thinking the same thing about E and it took a little longer than we thought it would. Pryce has figured out how to actually get up on his feet like he's doing a bear crawl. Quite impressive at 7 months (tomorrow). Here's a little sample of his progress:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dave & Busters

Everett had SOOOO much fun playing at Dave & Busters last Friday night. I'm sure we spent a small fortune on tokens, but it was so worth it to see him giddy and squealing with delight at all the games. Another advantage to taking a 2 year old to D&B's .... they don't know whether or not they are actually playing the video games so you don't even have to pay for those! LOL.

Visit with Big Sister

Pryce enjoyed getting some lovin' from Les on Sunday.


















Everett, however, apparently doesn't like to share his sister with baby brother!

And here's our happy baby with his new hat Les brought over from Mary Nell (Thanks Mary Nell!) Unfotunately, we couldn't get our grumpy baby to wear his hat long enough to get a picture!

Weekend Visit

We dropped by the lake this weekend for a quick visit with the Rankin GPs. We also got to spend a little time with Mark, Helen & Hayley. The boys were smothered with love & attention as well as cookies and cakes ... so the visit was a success (as far as Everett was concerned anyway ... I don't think he ate anything BUT cookies and cake all weekend!) Thanks Ray and Brenda for watching the boys in the morning so we could sleep in ... always a treat! Love you both!

Snow Day

Texas weather ... you just never know what to expect! Who'd have guessed that Everett would get to build his very first snowman .... in Texas ..... in March!!!

These pictures were taken on Monday, March 3rd. David took the morning off to play in the snow with Everett. As you can see, Everett doesn't own a pair of gloves (it's not often ya need a pair in Texas) so we had to settle for a couple of pairs of socks over his hands.













Mr. Snowman turned out quite nice ... complete with Mickey Mouse ears.

















By 3pm that afternoon, Mr. Snowman had lost his carrot nose and was looking a bit out of place in front of our house ... there wasn't a single patch of snow to be found anywhere in our neighborhood.

6 month check-up

Pryce had his 6 month check up on Monday, March 3rd. The doc says he's doing great. Here were his stats:
Wt. 17lbs 8.4ozs - 50th percentile
Ht. 27inches - 75th percentile
Head 43cm - 25-50th percentile





Here he is hangin' with Aunt Jenny last Sat night.

Future Engineer?

I think Everett has the makings of a future engineer, mechanic or maybe even a carpenter. He loves being Daddy's little handyman helper. Here he is helping Dad with some adjustments to his bedroom door.Here he is dismantling a small monster truck toy and then putting it right back together (well, almost back together ... there was one part he couldn't get back on ... however after he lost interest and left it David and I tried and also couldn't get that one piece back where it went!)

David and Everett assembling a wooden race car Aunt Jenny brought him (Thanks Brayden and Tom for picking it up for him).

The downside of having such a clever little boy ... he's already figured out how the childproof latches on our cabinets work ... uhg!