Playing dress-up again!

I mentioned before that Courtney loves playing dress-up, well here is her favorite thing to put on lately. Isn't my little fire chief just the cutest??

Another Trip to the Austin Zoo

This morning's playdate was at one of our favorite places, the Austin Zoo. We almost didn't go - it was gray and rainy at about the time we had planned to leave the house. But we decided to go for it anyway, and we're glad we did - it turned out to be a beautiful day!! (if not a little TOO hot!) Carter had fun with his friends Rachel, Derek and Natalie! Here are some photos...

Carter feeding the goats in the petting zoo area:
They fed the deer too.Carter took his job of rationing out the animal food very seriously. Maybe a little TOO seriously, we had to keep reminding him to share... :-)Courtney wanted in on the action!Carter and Rachel...My little sweetpea...Our friends Ms. Anne and Natalie - sweet baby Jack is in the stroller.Our friends Ms. Cindy, Derek & Rachel.This is truly how close you get to the tigers at this zoo - pretty crazy if you think about it!! Hopefully those cages are STURDY!

What Carter thinks of me...

This is a little quiz going around Facebook - thought it was cute so I'm sharing it here. I "interviewed" Carter and asked him some questions about me. Remember, he is three. Interesting to see how his mind works! Here are his replies...

1. What is something mom always says to you?
hug (we're off to a great start...)

2. What makes mom happy?
kissing

3. What makes mom sad?
lions & tigers (at first I thought he said "lying", until he added "and tigers!")

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
tickle me ("and when I tickle YOU I make YOU laugh" and he proceeded to do just that...)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
a bear (huh?)

6. How old is your mom?
14

7. How tall is your mom?
"this much" and held up a finger

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
make food

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
go to the grocery store

10.If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
touching poop (WHAT!??!?!)

11. What is your mom really good at?
make food

12. What is your mom not good at?
i don't know

13. What does your mom do for a job?
no

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
corn (ummm, no.)

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
hugging

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Thomas ("and I would be Bertie and we'd have a race!")

17. What do you and your mom do together?
play Candyland and my Thomas game

18. How are you and your mom the same?
you're purple and I'm green (he was saying our shirt colors)

19. How are you and your mom different?
Peter Sam and Carter match (he was comparing the color of his Peter Sam train to his shirt...)

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
gives me milk

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
his chin (???)

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
the grocery store

The Playroom

Today's post may not be interesting to all, but I thought at least the grandparents would enjoy seeing the kids' new playroom. I've been meaning to post this for about a month now and am finally getting around to it. First of all, remember how our diningroom used to look:Now it looks like this!We had painted the walls when we had the house for sale - we painted nearly all the walls back to a neutral color. Once we took the house back off the market, I decided I needed a place for the gazillion toys we have, rather than them constantly being all over the livingroom. I considered turning the breakfast nook back into a playroom, but I rather like the convenience of having our meals there now, plus the amount of toys Carter has, plus the influx for Courtney - that space just wasn't big enough anymore! So, bye bye diningroom! Here are some more details... I still had the paper chain Carter and I made for the Christmas tree, and thought it would be a fun decoration hanging in the window.Some of Carter's art from school hangs on the back wall - eventually we'll have to add some of Courtney's too!These bookshelves used to be in my stamp room, back when I had an entire stamp room! I didn't need them in there for Courtney, so they came in handy for storing the toys in the playroom.And in case you think it always looks so neat and clean, think again! This is how it usually looks. Carter's favorite game it "dump out each and every toy I have, but don't PLAY with a single one - just to aggravate Mommy!" :-) Here he is after dumping out a tub - which he decided made a fine hat. He's into dress-up lately - note he's also wearing a pair of Daddy's socks. :-)Now you just have to come and see the room in person. :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

Then & Now

Our sweet friend Rachel came over to play with Carter this morning. After lunch the kids decided they wanted to play outside for a bit, until it was time for Rachel to go home. As Carter and Rachel sat together on the slide, it brought back memories of them playing together when I first brought home the slide, nearly two years ago. They were so little then, and could barely climb up the steps on their own. Now they can pretty much get up onto the platform in one step. It made me nostalgic, so I decided to snap a couple photos and post a "then and now" on the blog. So here's today - they are 3 years old and a few months.Rachel said "let's take a shoe-off photo" before I snapped this one. Why, I couldn't tell you - but it made me laugh. :-) By the way, doesn't this look like a fall photo?? One thing that I still think is goofy, even after living here in Austin for nearly 14 years - our trees lose their leaves in the spring not the fall!? What's up with that?And now for the nostalgia - here are some photos from back in April 2007. Carter and Rachel would have been ~16 months in these photos, so a couple months older than Courtney is now. And I am also feeling the need to tell you - this slide is my greatest garage sale find of all time! I picked it up for only five bucks!! Woohoo! :-)Thanks for visiting us today!

Flowers, Animals and Books! (Oh My!)

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Austin today!! We got out of the house this morning and had some fun. First stop was The Natural Gardener, my favorite nursery. It's a fun place to take the kids, there are a few farm animals to look at - they have a couple donkeys and a chicken coop that provide lots of free entertainment. There was an exciting new addition today too - a goat pen! Yay! I just love walking around this nursery, looking at the gorgeous display gardens - a butterfly garden, veggie garden, herb garden, fountains, statuary - makes me feel calm and peaceful. Not a common feeling during the day with my little monsters! LOL! I also made some plans for my flower beds while we were there. Here's some photos...

One of the donkeys came right up to us to say "hello", and then enjoyed a drink of water.Courtney got a huge kick out of looking at the chickens!This was heaven for Carter - a long row of windchimes!Mommy loved all of the poppies in bloom today.After Natural Gardener we headed over to the library to return our books and check out new ones. One of Carter's favorite things there is the fountain out front. Daddy fyi there are no more pennies in your car...!Carter with today's selections. One Thomas book and two Thomas videos. Yes, if you were wondering, he is still a Thomas fanatic!!

Meeting Tyler Florence!

I don't know how many of you watch The Food Network, but one of my favorite chefs on there has always been Tyler Florence. His shows are Food 911, How to Boil Water, Tyler's Ultimate... anyway, he's just launched a new line of baby food (Courtney says you're about six months too late, Tyler!) and he has a new cookbook, so he's doing the book signing tour, trying to promote the baby food. This morning he was at Central Market, my favorite grocery store in Austin. It's completely random that I even found out about it - I hadn't been to Central Market in about a zillion years, but last Thursday went there in search of some lamb and a special spice I needed for some kofta kebabs I planned to make. While I was there I saw the signs promoting the event. Typically I'd have Carter with me on a Monday, and don't know if I'd brave it with the two of them - but it so happened that Carter was spending this morning playing at Rachel's house! Yay! All I had to do was cross my fingers that Courtney would cooperate! Well, she did great - and as it turned out, most of the people there were moms and babies (duh, he is promoting BABY FOOD afterall!) so it was just perfectly fine to bring her. So we got to listen to Tyler talk for a bit, he answered questions, and he seemed just as nice as he does on TV! When it was our turn for the book signing, he shook my hand and I said hello and that was about it because I completely clam up when I'm around celebrities! (LOL - that made it sound like I'm around celebrities all the time!) Somebody snapped a photo for us - of course it turned out slightly blurry - but you can tell that it's me, Courtney and Tyler Florence, so that's cool. :-) His cookbook looks awesome, btw - can't wait to try some of the recipes!!

So... SO WHAT, she's still a ROCK STAR...

Eat your heart out, Pink! ;-)

Trip to the Library and Pet Store

It's another cold and gray day in Austin - so this morning we did a couple of my favorite *free* indoor outings with the kids. First was a trip to the library - we love the new Bee Cave Library down in the Galleria mall at 620 & 71. They have a nice little kids' corner with tables, stuffed animals ("babies" as Courtney calls them!), puzzles, and of course books. I read a couple books to Carter, Daddy and Courtney worked on a puzzle, and then Carter discovered that they also have dvds you can borrow! He found two Thomas dvds and is so excited to watch them after his nap. So much for him being excited about the books! We also stopped by Petsmart - a *great* free outing for little animal lovers! There's always fish, cats, dogs (being groomed, on leashes with shoppers, etc), mice, lizards and birds. Today they had puppies, which was even more of a treat! I believe the cats and dogs there are always from the shelter who need adoption. I took a couple photos before being told photos aren't allowed (oops!). I didn't get to take one of Courtney looking at the birds, those seem to be her favorite, although she gets excited about all of the animals. Or "babies" as she calls them! :-) Here's some photos...

Carter perusing the books at the library...Courtney working on a puzzle, holding onto a baby...Carter found a book to look at. Of course it's one he has at home...Family shot in front of the fountain outside of the library...Carter checking out the puppies at Petsmart...Courtney says "Daddy can we get a kitty? Pleeeeease?" (or was that Mommy?)Petting The World's Sweetest Puppy. *sigh* While we were petting him, Carter put his head down next to him and said "I love this puppy!". It was soooo sweet! We did see this puppy leave with a nice family, yay!

Princess Courtney!

Every week (more or less) I make a card inspired by one of Courtney's outfits. I post them on my stamping blog - if you're curious you can see all of the past weeks here. This week I thought she just looked way too cute in her little princess dress-up dress, so I thought I'd share with you. My little damsel in distress!! What is she distressed about? That hat - here she is about to reach for that hat and pull it off!!! It was quite a struggle to get a photo of her wearing it! LOL! And here's the card I made inspired by this picture. :-)

Courtney Bunny!

My sweet baby girl loves trying things on - shoes, hats, sunglasses, and now bunny ears! She caused quite a commotion wearing these around JoAnn's yesterday - all the ladies shopping there oohed and aahed about how cute she looked! And Courtney seemed to eat it up, like she knew what they were saying! She was all smiles (and so was Mommy - it was the brand new super JoAnn up by IKEA - it is NICE!!). So I thought I'd take a photo of my little Courtney Bunny and share with you. And while I'm at it - here's one with sunglasses, too! :-)

Playing with Rachel

Do you remember our friend Rachel? She used to stay with us a few days a week when Carter and Rachel were babies. Rachel is only one day older than Carter, and they used to always get mistaken for twins when I'd take them on outings. Well, now Carter and Rachel have gone their "separate ways" - different preschools, not nearly as much time together... *sniff* But we try to get together for playdates on Fridays with Rachel and a couple other friends and mommies. And Rachel's mommy, Cindy, and I have been trying to do Monday morning exchanges, where the mommies get a little break! Today Rachel spent the morning with us, and next week Carter will be at Rachel's house. Here are some photos from our morning with Rachel today...

Rachel always loves to color pictures when she comes to our house. In fact, Rachel always requests we do all the same things as the first time she came on a Monday - right down to the exact same lunch. It's too funny! She's a girl who knows what she wants, I guess! :-)Carter posing for the camera.Rachel is so cute - she was sure to tell me that she needed to color one picture for Mommy, and one for Daddy - and I had to hang them on my refrigerator until Mommy picked her up. :-)Courtney also got in on the "coloring" today!Back in the playroom - this was the reaction when I said "ok, look at me and say cheese!" - Rachel looked at the wall, Carter looked out the window, but they both did say cheese!Best friends having one big bear hug before our playdate ended. :-)