Quick pre-birthday catch up!

Jake and Miles are two! But before we get to that here are some catching up pictures...it seems like I'm doing a lot of catching up lately! I'm going to get back to posting more regularly!

Stay tuned for a birthday post to follow tomorrow...

Lucy came for a birthday visit and after an evening of outdoor play they all needed a bath!

I will post more pictures of this awesome new water table that the boys are way into, but I thought this one was so funny of the dogs drinking out of it.

Jake and Miles playing in the sprinkler for the first time...um...what took us so long?!

Getting the car washed...way more fun than you might think.

Miles feeding the ducks at town lake...a favorite activity lately.

Jake

Playing dress up in our new costumes from Aunt Robby. They love these!

Fire fighter Miles (pardon the reflective strips) and Conductor Jake.

Conductor Miles

We went to the pool in Lakeway with friends and had a blast!

Sweeping!!! Also more fun than you might think.

Miles and Mama riding the train.

Taffy with her boys on the Zilker train.

Me and my guys on Mother's Day...pre-brunch.

Our Austin weekend...the four of us have been friends since elementary school!!!

All of our kids at the pool in Lakeway.

What we've been up to..

Lots! Busy guys. They are going to be TWO YEARS OLD this month! I can't even believe it. They are so awesome and just really amazing. I don't even know where to start so I will try to gather my thoughts and share my most favorite things about them in some kind of birthday post. Coming soon. In the meantime...

Mama and Jake enjoying some frozen yogurt. Check out that smile ;) "Yummy tummy."

Daddy and Miles. He made his way from his own chair onto Daddy's lap after a nearby car alarm freaked him out.

Taking a "big bite" of frozen yogurt. He's not scared now.

Reading at the bookstore.

Serious stuff.

Having an absolute blast at Jiffy Lube.

Playing backgammon at Daddy's office.

Enjoying a smoothie and muffin outside of Great Harvest.

So. Much. Fun.

I had so much fun with the boys on Monday. But it was really about them having fun. I feel like every week I find something new that we can do that I thought would be too challenging with the 2:1 adult:child ratio. This week it was the Zilker Zephyr at Zilker Park. They love that train and I think I was honestly convinced that one of them was going to jump overboard. I did have to keep a hold on both of them but they were wonderful and we had a blast!

Please excuse my appearance...we were post-trail when we rode the train.

Jake seriously wore those glasses all day. Cool guy.

Patiently waiting to board the train.

Discovering the joy of playdates!

Suddenly I feel as though I am getting my first glimpse into the world of "play dates." What was once a situation that left me sweaty and exhausted is now a chance to relax and have some adult conversation. For the longest time getting together with kids and friends was more work than being alone with my guys and did not provide me with a chance to visit and enjoy myself. I honestly didn't understand what all of the hype was about. Something has changed in the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I don't get to catch any zzzz's or let my guard down completely but Jake and Miles are now playing WITH other kids. It is awesome. It burns up a bunch of their extra energy and I really value the opportunity to have some adult conversation. Here are some pictures of the boys playing with their friend, Beckett.

Easter Weekend

I was really going to try to narrow down the pictures on this post but I could not do it! We had such a wonderful weekend in Houston and the boys loved every second of it. We squeezed a bunch of fun stuff in and really did enjoy each and every bit of it.We had Easter on Saturday and Melissa & Andy's house and it definitely felt like their first Easter because they were so little last year. We did an egg hunt, Easter baskets, played in Lucy's bounce house and had a Mexican food dinner. On Sunday morning we woke up and went to the Houston Zoo...even more fun! I kinda have mixed feelings about the zoo but it was a super fun day. We also squeezed in some playground visits and lots of other odds and ends. Whew!

If you feel like you need a FULL dose of Jake and Miles the whole album is here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=489297360905%3A1375217233&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

On our way out of town we stopped to snap a picture of the boys in the beautiful bluebonnets. Jake was not about to throw a smile out there, so we got this...still pretty cute.

I'm sure I will hear about this picture one day but I think it's worth it. They are so sweet and loving with each other and we captured this little smooch!

On our nature walk in Houston. We did about a 1/2 mile walk along the bayou to get to a playground.

Miles and Papa discussing the meaning of life.

Miles was seriously tuckered out after an afternoon at the bayou. Neither one of the boys were interested in walking the 1/2 mile back...note to self: bring the stroller next time for the walk home.

The Easter Bunny brought Jake and Miles lawnmowers...a HUGE hit!

Jake needed to take a breather so he sat down and played with his tractor.

Checking out all of the loot...they didn't realize that there was stuff inside of the eggs!

Bouncing!

Exhausted...

But soooooo happy :)

Mexican food feast

Miles wanted to climb in there with those meerkats!

The giraffes were my favorites.

Jake and Daddy

Checking out the cheeta

Riding the carousel...they were not into getting on the animals so we went for the bench

Trying to get a picture of the four of us. Again.

We stopped for lunch after the zoo and played in the fountain.

Sweet boy.

Playground time

I will try to do this picture justice...there was a tractor doing some work next door to my parents' house. The boys were glued to the window watching, so I told them we could watch from the front yard. Shortly after this picture we brought their little lawn chairs out to the driveway and they just sat in their chairs and watched for the better part of the morning. They heckled a little bit ("Digging! Again! More dirt!"). The guys were pretty nice and waved at them every now and then. It was probably the first time they had an audience.

Gigi

We had a couple of days with Gigi before we headed to Houston. Jake and Miles totally enjoyed having her in Austin! We went to gym class together and played at the playground.

Passover

We celebrated Passover with the Strelitz-Block clan on Monday night and had a great time! Here are just a few pictures. The boys were totally enjoying all of the other kids.

Miles & Eva...don't they look like they are discussing something really important?

Ed, Satya & Jake playing connect-4 (LOVE her curls!)

Sports-ball!

We got the boys a baseball and golf set to get started on some sports. They are not sure what to make of any of it yet but sure are having fun with it. They are a little more into the baseball than the golf so far. Jake insists on holding the bat at the fat end and trying to get the ball with the skinny part. I've let go of trying to teach them how to use them and it's so much fun.