Breakfast in Bastrop

We drove to Bastrop (near Austin) to meet Steve Glover for breakfast before his flight back home. He's helped Brant so much with his research and is a great guy. We had a delicious breakfast at Maxine's and then found a park nearby for the kids to get some energy out. 

Spencer did a great job balancing even though he was nervous at first.

I'm 37 weeks pregnant and feeling huge. Ready for this baby to come as soon as she's ready!

I love how well the boys play with each other. Tyler's favorite thing in the world is when his older brothers play with him.

Christmas and New Years

It finally looks like Fall once December hits in Texas. We've had more leaves this year than normal because of a cold November. 

We got to help Spencer decorate cookies for his 1st grade Christmas party. Gavin loves going to Spencer's classroom.

We spent a few days in Austin before Christmas. The zoo was one of our favorite places. The boys especially loved feeding the animals and riding the train. 

Spencer lost his two front teeth just in time for Christmas.

Christmas morning came and Spencer and Gavin were more than helpful showing Tyler how to open his stocking and all his presents. 

Brant got the game Battleship and we've already played it a few times. Spencer's getting really good.

Tyler loves cars and tracks so he was thrilled with a car track bigger than he is. Brant wasn't so thrilled about putting it together...

Christmas breakfast

We spent a few days around New Years in Dallas and Tyler went bowling for the first time. He was pretty good with the help of bumpers and the rolling thing.

We stayed with the Joneses who always have a little New Years Eve party for the kids. One game was making someone into a snowman using toilet paper. Gavin was so excited to be a snowman and Spencer did a great job wrapping him up.

Before we left they played one last game of Headbandz. We had a great time!

Slushes and Rain

Some days it's really hot after school, but we need to be outside to get some energy out. Then we'll stop at Sonic for half price powerade slushes and take them to the park. Luckily most of the parks are shaded here so that helps keep the boys cooler.  

Spencer was Golden Gator in his class for being gracious and always helping other kids in his class. We got to go to a special assembly and he got an award and a cool keychain to put on his backpack. 

The boys love to play in the rain any chance they get. Usually when it rains here, it pours so they have lots of fun getting soaking wet. 

Colorado Family Reunion

We spent a week in Colorado in August at Brant's family reunion. We had so much fun and it was great getting to know Brant's family better, many of whom we haven't seen in 5 years. Most had never met Gavin or Tyler. We stayed in cabins and spent most of the day enjoying the beautiful Colorado mountains. 

Here is a creek that was really close to our cabins. Just a few feet down there were some hot springs. 

We spent a lot of time at the swimming pool. The pools were all naturally heated by the hot springs so they were nice and warm. The boys loved the 400 foot water slide and went down over and over again. 

The boys were champs on the 7 mile hike we went on. It was definitely too much for a 4 year old, but Gavin toughed it out and only had to be carried a little bit. He was all smiles once we were done. 

Jay and Amy brought a slack line that everyone got to have some fun with. I think it would be impossible to walk on that thing without holding on to something. 

One of our favorite things was kayaking. Gavin kept wanting to go out all by himself. 

Spencer was brave and did some rock climbing. He was fine until he was rappelling down and hit his back on part of the rock. He had a good battle wound to show for it. 

Since it was a 16 hour drive to Colorado (it takes us 10 hours just to get out of Texas), we stayed at a hotel on the way there. We all love staying in a hotel, though we usually try to get one with an extra room so we can actually sleep. It's hard to sleep with Tyler in the same room. On the way home we decided to drive straight through. We were so glad when we made it home safely. 

Smart chart

Gavin fell asleep during the boys' computer time today. They can play on the computer if they do the things listed on their 'Smart chart'. Well, usually just Spencer does the things while Gavin runs around. Spencer always chooses to go to YouTube to watch videos on how to assemble different Lego creations. The other day Spencer went into my bathroom with a Lego set, closed the door and I could hear him talking. Gavin opened the door a few minutes later and Spencer said, "Gav, I'm reporting!" He loves to pretend to teach other people how to assemble Legos. Maybe he'll get his own YouTube channel someday. 

Legos

Legos have officially taken over our entire house, but they sure keep these boys entertained for hours everyday. Spencer and Gavin are up at 6 each morning and the first thing they do is start on a new lego creation. By the time we eat breakfast at 7 they always have something new to show us. I love how creative they are and how well they play together. Tyler tries to get in on the action and gets frustrated that he can't put them together yet. 

We love minivans!

I have never appreciated having a van as much as I did the week we drove Brant's little Camry around since our van died. The kids are usually separated by an aisle or a row, but being so close together they couldn't help but constantly poke/touch each other and complain that the other person was poking/touching them. We did stop and get donuts one day which helped things since they had to hold on to the the bags.