Thursday, May 26, 2011

22 Months Old

The boys turned 22 months on May 15, and I think this is the first month that I actually forgot...totally forgot until the day after when someone asked me how old they were! I didn't take any pictures on the 15th, but luckily, we took some the day before while we were at the Dallas Arboretum. So, these will be close enough to serve as our 22-month pictures! I think most of you have seen these on Facebook, but I wanted to include them in the blog (for when we convert this blog into a photo book) because the boys were actually looking at the camera!

Here they are already looking so grown up...


And, here they are with daddy...miraculously posing for the camera (i.e. my iPhone)!


They sure know how to chill out...


The boys showing their sweet and gentle side by hugging their monkey backpacks/leashes... right before they threw the monkeys out of the wagon!


Freedom!! This is the reason why I need and love those monkey leashes...

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Fort Worth Zoo

About a month ago, we took the boys to the Forth Worth Zoo for the first time. We knew the boys would love seeing all of their favorite animals, but we were especially excited about showing them the dinosaur exhibit that the zoo was currently having!

Here is one of the many dinosaurs that we saw shortly after entering the zoo...


Daddy and Bryce looking at the gorillas...


Benjamin holding the zoo map and determining our route...


Daddy and one of the boys looking at the elephants...


I love that they're still at an age when they can't differentiate between a live animal and a statue... the only problem is that they now think dinosaurs are real since we did see them at the zoo!


Bryce was really excited to see the giraffes...


So we took him out of the stroller to get a better view...


I guess this is how mommy and daddy look when we stand next to each other...


We love elephants!


This closeup picture brings back fond memories of our trip to South Africa :)


A family picture...


I think Bryce was excited that a rhino was looking at us...


Beautiful white tiger...


A sleepy tiger...


Another family picture...


At least we got one of them looking at the camera in this one...


Walking with mommy...


Bryce was a little spooked by these dinosaurs for some reason...

 
But, not Benjamin...


Daddy consoling my scared Bryce...


Bryce decided the birds were safe enough to get close to...


But, Benjamin left the birds to see the dinosaurs again...


Ben had no fear at all, even of the ones that moved...


Until we came upon big T-Rex! This time daddy had to walk up with him...


I can understand why... T-Rex looked scary!


Picture with my boys during their juice break...


Bryce loved watching the otters swim...


Mommy loved the kangaroos!


Couldn't leave without taking a picture of one of the boys' favorite animals...


So eerily human...

One last picture before heading out...

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Easter Egg Hunt

This Easter we decided to give the boys their own Easter egg hunt in our backyard. Momma got a little carried away and covered the yard with 100 plastic eggs and 20 colorful pinwheels! Unfortunately, it's kind of hard to see the little eggs and pinwheels in this picture...


I also put a few on various parts of the swingset to add a little challenge... afterall, they are almost two. :)


Here are the boys ready with their baskets and entering the backyard...


There goes Bryce! It looks like he may have spotted one right away...


Benjamin decides to go in the same direction as his brother...


The boys chose to wear their blue Converse shoes for the hunt!


Two eggs found and 98 more to go...


Daddy shows the boys where to put their eggs...


They both caught on pretty quickly!


Ben sees his brother find an egg...


Daddy is trying to get Bryce to hold his own basket... I guess it was getting too heavy!


The hunt continues...


Bryce decides to collect the pinwheels too...


So, Benjamin decides to do the same...



Lots more eggs to be found...



Bryce goes off on his own and discovers a bunch around the tree...





Bryce stops to scratch tree bark... something they both often like to do!


Benjamin admiring his full basket...


One of them finally discovers the eggs on the swingset... I can't tell them apart from behind!


Aha, I think it's Ben...


Bryce tries to blow on the pinwheel to get it to spin... but, more spit came out than air :)


The poor boys had to work hard to find all 100 eggs!


"Oh man, this is hard work!"


Benjamin decides it's time to open some of his eggs...


Yay, stickers!


And jellybeans... yum!


Tricked him to look at the camera for a second...


Ben takes advantage of this moment to eat as many jellybeans as he can before someone stops him...


Bryce finds the egg at the top of the swingset and throws it down the slide...


Bryce is wondering if his momma is going to stop him from climbing those bars like she usually does...


Bryce finally figures out that his brother has a handful of stickers...


It was so hard to get a picture of them together facing in the same direction, so I quickly grabbed this opportunity...


Family picture :)


After all 100 eggs were found, we went inside to open them up...


"How many of these can I eat today, daddy?"


With so much family nearby, every holiday is like Christmas for these two lucky boys! Here they are opening Easter presents from Oma and Opa...


Bryce is so excited to see his new basketball, football, and soccer ball and waits anxiously for daddy to open the package...


They also got lots of stickers and new books to read!


They love it when Oma reads to them...


That afternoon, we continued our Easter celebration with ice cream at Braum's!


Benjamin created a more efficient way of eating his ice cream...


Bryce was enjoying a little of everyone's dessert...


After Braum's we went to the playground at the Firewheel shopping center...I love this playground because it's completely enclosed!


Silly Bryce with his silly hair...


A big step for little legs...


They love climbing and crawling all over this train...


And the benches too...


Now that is a face of a boy with an important mission...which was to get to the creek on the other side of the yard!


Hmmm...who's teaching who how to use the iPhone? Ben is scarily good with it!


I think Ben was having a lot of fun!


He's such a goofy kid!


I couldn't resist adding a few pictures of the boys from last Easter... my, how they've grown!