Just plain cute

Lately Levi and Judah can be found sitting in the reading chair in the playroom together. Levi hasn't quite figured out how to get into it when Judah is in it but always gets interested when Judah takes a seat there. Judah, in return, asks me to put Levi in the little space he creates next to him. As the picture shows, this arrangement will physically not be able to last much longer. They will either need a "reading couch" or Levi will have to have his own chair! How cute is it though when they sit in it together?!

And I had to throw this picture in for good measure....look closely at that face Levi is making! And that is him playing with cars and trucks just like his big brother does...sounds included...I can't believe he's growing up so fast!

Artists in the family...

Judah has recently begun to tell us what he is drawing when he is using the sidewalk chalk. It used to be that he would just scribble and then dictate to me and Stevie what he wanted us to draw. Now don't get me wrong, I'm still ordered to draw my fair share of "ocho", "sol" and "flor" and Stevie still gets talked into drawing "tren" as well. But just this week Judah started telling us what he was drawing. In the picture below he was drawing "pez" (fish) and "agua" which of course also led to him talking about his papi's "lancha" (boat). He has drawn many fish this week. He also has taken to drawing the number "ocho". He gets a least one semi-circle looking object down so I guess that's a good start! As you also see, my little artist is a bit "artistic" in his clothing choice as well. I call this look "east L.A. meets Lavon, TX".

We also have another artist in the family....I'm sure this wasn't Judah who did this with the bathtub crayons! Of course Stevie's Marine Corp emblem fades in comparison to my flowers, suns and pigs that I get to draw when on bath duty!

Week of Firsts"

This past week was filled with quite a few "firsts" around our house.

On Saturday, Levi finally signed the word "mommy" several times! What a great Mother's Day weekend gift to me. Of course, he hasn't signed it since last weekend but oh well!

Levi at 10 months

On Sunday, I celebrated my first Mother's Day with both of my boys! We went to church that morning like always but on our way out decided it was such a nice day, why not take the boys to the zoo? So we also had our first family outing to the Dallas Zoo. There were actually quite a few families celebrating Mother's Day there. The boys did great but completely made us laugh. Levi was content to sit in the wagon the entire time, munching on whatever he could get his hands on. Judah didn't spend too much time in the wagon....or too much time caring about the animals either! He payed attention here and there but to him it was much more exciting to climb things and run around-oh and he did get excited about some squirrels (hmm...so we payed $20 to watch squirrels...). Although I have to say, the children's zoo area was a HUGE hit with him. He got to pet animals, play in a huge sandbox, see farm animals, walk in a lazy river/creek bed and basically just get to be a kid. We could have spent the entire time there.


This is as good of a picture you can get when you wait until 8pm on Mother's Day to take a picture with your kiddos!

This is the general gist of our zoo trip....Levi munching in the wagon and Stevie and I trying to get Judah interested in all the animals!

He loves elephants!

OK so Levi got out of the wagon a few times!

Also this week the boys had their first trip on daddy's boat at the lake. This is something Stevie has been waiting for now for a very long time-well, we've been talking about it since I was pregnant with Judah! Judah's initial reaction getting on the boat was fear and tears (it's a bass boat which means it's low to the water and moves a lot so I think he was scared). But as soon as Stevie started up the engine, Judah got excited and loved it! He also loved fishing with dad. He talks about Stevie fishing all the time. Often when Stevie's not around he asks me "papi pez" (daddy fish)? Levi of course was happy to just explore around the floorboard, playing with the toys and well.....of course eating! It was such a beautiful day. We had a great time listening to the radio, fishing and just having family time out on the lake. I can't wait to do it again!

Me and the boys on the water! I think Levi is eyeballing his Sonic bag on the floorboard.

The wind in Judah's hair as Stevie drove the boat!

Fishing like daddy and driving the boat!

Busy Busy Boys!

I can't believe it but this week Levi turns 10 months and Judah turns 28 months. Sometimes I stare at them in disbelief-I can't believe these two little rambunctious ones are ours! Lately they have become busier than ever. Here's a little update:

Judah
1. Truly a little kid now-as you can see from the picture he has turned into quite the ham. He makes all kinds of funny faces now and tries really hard to get me to laugh at him...especially when he knows he is in trouble!

2. Super bilingual boy! I am so proud of him these days as his vocabulary in both languages has really taken off! He can count to ten in both English and Spanish (his favorite number is still "ocho")! He even recognizes a few of his numbers and can tell you several colors as well. Thanks to his cousins Carmen and Sofia, he is learning almost as much English as he is Spanish!

3. Disney Pixar's movie Cars has just about superseded Mickey Mouse Clubhouse around here. He still likes Mickey but Lightning McQueen and Mater are head to head with the mouse with big ears!

4. Goes non stop all day long! He has so much energy now it has really taken me off guard. Throwing, climbing, kicking, jumping, tackling, running ("on your mark, set, go!" as he says), and just plain being a boy-this describes his daily activities. On occasion he has begun to play a little rough with some of his toys too...this is new territory for mom...

5. Lately he has taken a new interest in "pez" (fish). He knows Stevie goes fishing and when Stevie hasn't been around lately, he asks me if he went to catch a fish. Makes me laugh!

6. Is on his way to being potty trained...although the road still looks long to both Stevie and me!

Levi

1. Oh boy-Levi is constant motion! Although he knows how to crawl up on all fours, he still prefers his army crawl at lighting speed. But what he most prefers these days is pulling up to standing on whatever he can get near and cruising. He spends most of the day cruising along furniture, people, the wall-whatever! He tries to let go sometimes and take a step on his own but he falls. I think he'll be on his way to walking soon...

2. Still loves to eat (as evident by the picture). Yes that is a black bean on his right temple and rice in his nose.

3. Has been sleeping through the night for a month or more and is still nursing during the day-10 months and going strong!

4. Can be very LOUD! Often times he likes to be loud in the car by yelling at Judah. If Judah is asleep he likes to yell at him and try to wake him up. Judah being the hard sleeper that he is could care less.

5. Still only likes to sign the word for fan. Just smiles real big at me when I try to get him to sign mami, milk, eat or more. I think he knows what he's doing...

6. Just like his big brother, Levi makes funny faces. If you stare at him for about more than 3 seconds, he begins to either snort and smile or scrunch up his nose and smile. Another favorite face is the one he makes when he doesn't want to eat something-he is super dramatic about it. He doesn't simply turn his head away-he throws his head back to one side as far as possible, squints his eyes, scrunches his nose as if you just put the foulest smelling object in the world under it, and purses those big lips. It really is hilarious! I'm hoping to catch it on video soon...

Oh how I love my sweet BUSY boys!