Little Things....

...That make me happy.

Bath time has been really fun for the boys lately. Austin loves the water coming out of the spout and splashing and is loving not being in the blue infant tub (in the picture below) anymore, so he can crawl around. In fact, anytime we are upstairs, he heads straight to the bathroom and stands by the tub, pounding on it. He would be happy if bath time were 5 times a day.

Zach likes it most nights, too.

These two are buds.

Austin has 2 cowlicks on the back of his head, going opposite directions. It's going to make for some awesome hairstyles when it gets longer!
It looks like a heart. Can you see it?

Big brown eyes!

Funny faces.

Zach helps me watch the stairs so Austin doesn't fall. Especially the 3 steps going down from our kitchen to our living room. I rarely put up the gate there. He yells, "Mom! Austin's headed for the stairs!" and laughs really hard.

Crawling. Fast!

Standing (holding onto something). Playing. Laughing.

Cream cheese monster.

I was on a walk with the boys in the double stroller and looked down to see this:

Loving books already.

Even if it is mostly to chew on them.

What wonderful little things.

Christmas Tree "Chopping"

Tradition dictates that we cut down our own wild Christmas tree up in the mountains. We have done this as long as I can remember and I just can't imagine it any other way. Some people thought we were a little crazy for taking our little ones up there, but it's always a lot of fun. The first weekend of December we headed up to Winter Park to find the perfect tree. We were lucky and had really mild weather and not a ton of snow- no snowshoes this year. Zach wasted no time in wallowing in the snow. He did lots of snow swimming this trip.

Austin was happy to get out of the carseat and crawl around in the back of the car.

For the tree search I carried him in my wrap, to keep him close and warm.

This is the emergency shovel we keep in the car, but Zach thinks it's his, since it small.

We got to try out an early Christmas present made by Grandad Cal. Zach was excited. No big hills this time, just getting drug on the road. Still fun!

Pretty nice, huh? I love the snowflake.

A little blurry- me trying to take a picture and not let him fall out of the car!

No sledding for Austin, but some sled pictures, of course. He was pretty curious about the snow.
We really haven't had much yet at our house this winter.

No pictures of the tree this year, strangely. I forgot my little camera, and didn't want to lug my good one around...

What a fun tradition!

The Last of Mexico

I know this post is long past, but I wanted to post these pictures anyways. More for us to look back on than anything. So here are more Mexico pictures... in no particular order, because I'm feeling lazy.

Bananas poolside. Nice!

Austin trying a little boogie boarding.

I remember taking a picture just like this of Zach's toes on the same beach in the same swimsuit.

Cal playing in the waves with the boys. Zach especially liked to go out with one of us and jump in the waves. Austin seemed almost indifferent about the ocean and sand. He'll love it when he's a little older.

The boys.

Austin in the pink hippo floaty. He wasn't too fond of the floaties we had for very long.

There were a couple pools. This one was great because it has a shallow end just perfect for young kids to play in.

Oz loved to be motored around the pool Especially by Dad on the kickboard (not in the picture). On the trip he figured out how to really splash and had a great time doing that. He still LOVES to splash in any water he can.

Flip-a-rooskie.

Oz on the beach. When we spent the middle of the day on the beach, he just played on a pareo in the shade. It was wonderful to be able to come down for a bit, then run him up for naps, then back down... The beauty of a resort.

What a wonderful trip and wonderful time with family!

Zach Beanbag flip

Zach Beanbag flip, originally uploaded by ersphotography.

As you might have noticed from the last post, Zach is into being on the video camera. I'm also to lazy to edit this at all. And sooner or later I'll learn not to stop the camera while I'm saying something.

Austin Crawl

Austin Crawl, originally uploaded by ersphotography.

In the last couple of weeks Austin has decided that the world is more exciting if you are moving! Of course with crawling comes the perils of crashing, there have been a few but none that have slowed him down in the long run. On a strange note, he loves to bonk his head repeatedly into reflective objects such as our trash can. All and all he is a good crawler and climber.

On another note, did you notice Zach talking about Baby Miles? No, we're not watching our nephew. A few weeks ago we were supposed to travel to Dallas to visit some friends and Gary, Kim, and Miles. Emily got the stomach flu the night before and we had to cancel the trip. Zach was sad and within a few days, one of his bears became his "Baby Miles." Zach takes good care of him. He feeds him, changes him, puts him down for naps, makes sure he has toys nearby, and occasionally throws him across the room.

Puerto Vallarta: Zachers in the Sunset

I'm so slow getting these Mexico pictures posted... I need to just have a marathon blogging session...

These are from the same gorgeous evening as the last post... but of Zach this time. There are so many of him that I love. It's been really challenging to get any decent pictures of him recently. And while they're not of him smiling at the camera, they are very him. So that makes me happy.

An overload of pictures of Zach in the sunset on the beach:

When we headed downstairs, we didn't intend on him getting wet. I knew, of course, that he would. :) What boy can resist playing in the warm waves?

He was having a great time finding pieces of driftwood and throwing them into the waves. The funny thing was, they kept washing back up and he would throw the same ones in again and again. I wonder if he realized this? He told me it was a "very important job" to do.