Promised park videos

Sorry it took so much longer than I'd hoped. The blog wouldn't load them and then I got busy! Here they are now though...

Throwing food to the ducks.

Running with each other!

Rolling down the big hill!

We had such fun! I'm so glad they are finally loading so that you can all share in it with us!

First Lieutenant Daddy

Today Richard swore in as a JAG Reserve for the USAF. He is now a First Lieutenant for our esteemed AF Reserve JAG. We are so happy that he is going to get to live this dream and we are very proud of him! It was also really awesome that we got to all be there for his swearing in!

Picking Daddy up from work to go to the swearing in.

Lunch together before the big event. Daddy was a little nervous, I think!

Daddy is now sworn in.

Daddy signing on the dotted line!

And all of us proud of First Lieutenant Daddy! Way to go, Babe!

Thursday - Spring Break 2010

After Daddy's big event for the day Jonathan wanted to feed the ducks so we went to the little park in town and fed the ducks that didn't want to eat anything. Jansen was trying to get a bit too close to the water's edge and was tired enough that he was feisty with me when I tried to redirect him so I had Jonathan 'get rid of' the rest of the duck food and we went playing in the rest of the park. There is a part with toys, but it seems my boys are content to run around rather than slide and swing, well this time anyway!

Jansen started out trying to feed the little birds in the trees instead of the ducks. The little birds were the ones diving down to get the stuff that didn't make it into the water anyway since the ducks weren't hungry, but when he got excited and threw the stuff AT them they all flew away!

Look at that effort in Jonathan's face! I am now wondering if he was trying to feed the ducks or nail them for our dinner!

The pond looked rather pretty while we were there, good lighting and a nice clear day!

Coming and going.

'Mama, you hold my drink so I can catch up to Jonathan!'

'Wait for ME!!'

'See Mama, I made it to the top all by myself!'

Running down the other side to the stage!

Sitting together on the outdoor stage seating area.

Jansen climbing (a favored past time) while Jonathan watches.

'Here Little Brother, have some of mine since I know you lost yours on the way down!'

Jonathan on the stage. If I had a zoom that worked you could see he was the typical image of a pre-teen. He looked all broody and moody standing on that empty stage leaning against the wing leg. It was a really telling moment of how grown he has become these past few years.

Back to childhood for them both! Jonathan rolled down the hill as we were coming back down the steep side that we had climbed in the first place. Jansen decided to lay down like Jonathan was and rolled sideways rather than down hill, just about the time that Jonathan was standing up. I tried to get them both laying on the hill, but Jonathan moved too fast for the camera and is nearly out of the shot as he was getting up.

Videos to be posted tomorrow. They failed tonight and I'm tired. Check back if you want to see those!

Wednesday - Spring Break 2010

On Wednesday we got to go to the park with our new friends Kristyn and Jimmy! It was G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S so we stayed there for nearly 4 hours!!! We went to check out the 'falls' then walked around a bit until we found a good picnic spot. We had a picnic on a blanket on the ground, Jimmy wanted to run around though so his Mommy was chasing him most of the lunch, and then we blew bubbles, walked a bit more, and ended up back by the falls again. We all had to go shortly after that, but it was a splendid day! Going to the falls was the one thing Jonathan really wanted to do this spring break so I'm very glad that it was a perfect day for us to go Wednesday! Our man-made falls often runs brown (looking like chocolate milk almost) or is sometimes even turned off, so it was even more of a blessing that it was on and running nice and clear for us that day!

If you look REALLY close you can see Jonathan at the top of the stairs right before the curve or concrete. He's wearing a light colored shirt so he blends in with the foam on the falls there!

Jimmy blowing bubbles with the help of his Mommy. He was really doing a great job getting the bubbles to form with his own wind power! Jansen wasn't quite ready yet, he just wanted to suck the soap off of the wands and bubble pipes when we'd let him try to blow them himself!

Jansen, Jonathan, and Jimmy all reloading their bubble wands!

Tuesday - Spring Break 2010

Day 2 was another rehearsal day, but we went to eat at Carl's Jr instead because it was right near the school and Jansen was wearing out FAST! I needed to get some food in him before he knocked off! Jonathan amazingly was able to keep him up on the ride home, but once we got here it was 'Big Brother Snuggle Me' time. The first pic was just too cute. Jansen looks so possessive of Jonathan, but only a couple of seconds later in the next pic he was nearly out already!

'MY' Brother!

"Don't drop me, K? I just wanna take a little snooze."

Monday - Spring Break 2010

Spring Break this year is being spent here at home. On Monday, I had some students that were also sticking close to home that wanted to rehearse parts for the show. Since we didn't have very many of them come we ended up working a few individual things and then worked on costumes for a bit. The boys were so good and patient that I took them for pizza afterwards. Jonathan was pretty hungry. It was fun to see this skinny guy with so many plates AND dessert after all that!

Jonathan at CiCi's Pizza. Had to make room for that dessert plate!

Yup, even after all that he STILL ate the dessert too!

Rattlesnake Round Up Day

Saturday was the day we went to pick up Jonathan this time. He wanted to go to the Rattlesnake Round Up in Sweetwater, soooo we went! Jonathan and I pet a rattlesnake and shook the rattles on him, which are surprisingly light. I always thought they'd be heavier. Then we waited in a MASSIVE line to try some fried rattlesnake meat. I must say I had always heard that it tasted like chicken, BUT mine didn't taste like anything at all. I'm glad we tried it, but I don't feel like I'll have to wait in a line for an hour ever again for it! It was also really bony, there wasn't much meat to speak of at all. I guess if I'm ever stranded outdoors food-less, then I will know that it is edible if I can catch one to survive on. After we were on our way home I was struck with the same kind of sadness that I felt when I left my first rodeo. I'm NOT a huge fan of snakes, but they are God's creatures and it seems pretty cruel to me to catch them, tick them off in confined spaces all mashed on top of each other, then let people pay to skin them in front of everyone, only to get fried up and eaten that very day. It was a bad day to be a rattlesnake in TX. I forgot to take the camera in to the Round-Up and parking was insanely far away by the time I remembered. Sorry. Here's a link to some images though:

http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=rattlesnake%20roundup%20sweetwater&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

We picked Jonathan up at his Grandma's house and by then Jansen was in desperate need to stretch his legs. The boys played outside a bit before we jumped back in the car to head to the big event!

In Jonathan's Grandma's backyard playing.

Big brother helping get out the toys and making sure little brother is having a good time!

Jonathan tree climbing.

Not to be left out, but needing a little help... Jansen tree climbing!

It's awesome to have a Big Brother who loves you so much and is so patient with you, right Jansen?!?!

Whew!

Richard and I are both really trying hard to make fitness a major priority for us. We have both been very dedicated to our workouts and Jansen is often still awake when we are doing them. He is so cute trying to do them with us from time to time. He's got the yoga down pretty good, especially downward facing dog, but when he hears me turn on the camera he breaks his 'poses' so I haven't been able to capture those yet. I did get him after he was carrying the wrist donut weights around, then laid down on the ground and said, "Whew!" It was so darn cute!

Moving Day

... not for us, but 'we' helped friends a couple of weeks ago (I know I'm behind AGAIN). Actually Richard did the heavy lifting and I hung out with the kiddos! We got to meet Jimmy (21 months) and his Mommy Kristyn. It was fun! We have new friends! Jimmy's daddy, James, works with Richard. We Mommys decided that we should get together more since the kiddos got along so well. They actually played together some, which at this age isn't very common! Yeah!! We played with the footballs and basketballs, rolled across the floors of the empty rooms between loads, then read Curious George and acted like monkeys!

Meet Jimmy!

Jimmy and Jansen by Kristyn and James. Jansen was getting sleepy!

Me and the boys! Jimmy was so friendly he sat on my lap right away and was giving Jansen one-armed hugs as soon as we walked in the door! It was soooooo cute!