More of Caitlin walking

Caitlin has been walking now for about two weeks and she is already so much better! I can't wait until she does more of it on her own.  She could totally walk everywhere if she wanted to - but unless we are there on the ground having her walk to us, she prefers to crawl to get around still.  I suppose it is much faster but with summer just around the corner, it would be great to have her walking rather than crawling when we are outside.  She does a great job standing and even changing directions so I'm sure it won't be long.

Anyway, here's a video of her latest walking.  Evan is great at encouraging her and it's just too cute to watch them together.  He is a great big brother and she adores him.  I think I could watch this video a million times and still not get enough of it!

Evan's new haircut

I don't have much to post... I guess not much is going on!  This weekend was a get the yard ready for the season weekend.  Bryce did LOTS of work on it while Evan helped.  And then Sunday morning I ran the Cap 10K and did great - time of 55:29 which was much faster than I expected to do it in.  I guess it helps when you aren't pushing two kids in a double stroller! 

Today, I ran a bunch of errands, one of which was getting Evan's haircut. We tried a new place in Cedar Park called Pigtails and Crewcuts. I had a groupon to use there! It was a nice place. They had a fun train table to play at while waiting.  Evan got to sit in an airplane while watching Toy Story so he was VERY cooperative after that point.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of his new haircut to tide you over until I have something more exciting to report!

Spring Break Staycation

Note - I wrote this last Friday (the day we went to the Rodeo). Just forgot to publish it so here you go!!

We have been having a fabulous staycation this week. Our wonderful nanny Elizabeth is on vacation so my mom is visiting and being the nanny for the week.  It's been so great having her here.  This past week, I worked 3 days and then the other two days we have been doing some fun things. 

Monday, we took the kids up to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco.  What a great zoo!  It's not too big which is nice for little kids.  Also, for most of the time we were there, it was not crowded at all!  Almost like we had the zoo all to ourselves.  The Blankenships joined us and Evan loved having Avery to pal around with.  It was a little cold but it warmed up eventually and was a gorgeous day.  I've embedded a slide show of some pictures from the zoo (trying something new). If you watch, it should scroll the pictures.  It might not work in the email but I think if you click on the picture, you will be able to see them all on the picasa website.

Friday, we had a very busy day between a Drs appt, the library, and then finally the Rodeo!  Caitlin has been battling a few ear infections so we saw both an ENT and her Dr this week.  They are recommending tubes.  We are going to wait about two weeks and see if this latest ear infection clears up and if not, then we probably will be getting tubes for her.  Poor baby!

Anyway, back to the fun stuff. We had a great time at the rodeo today.  I took the kids last year and this year was just as fun.  We randomly ran into our friends the Isaacsons just as we pulled in!  Evan was so happy to see Alex and pal around with him.  What great luck!  First, we hit the kids area where Evan got to ride a pony - loved it and did such a good job riding the horse all by himself.  Then, we went in to the petting zoo where we met some very nice goats.  After that, we headed to the bbq competition area to sample some delicious Texas bbq. After lunch, we let Evan ride the carousel.  Then it was over to watch some pig races with Alex before we checked out the barn of animals.  And finally back home!  An exhausting but great day.  Here's another picture slideshow similar to above.

Tomorrow, Oma has to go home. I know Evan will be so sad.  Every day he wakes up and says, "Oma, Oma, come get me Oma.  Open the door Oma."  I'm sure he will be very sad for a few days as he has loved having her here.

Walk This Way

Caitlin walks!  She has been so close to walking for about a month and a half now and finally, she decided it was time.  The past two months, she has just loved to walk with you holding her hand.  I could see how much she wanted to do it but she just wouldn't.  The second you would let go of her hand, she'd sit right down.  It's funny because sometimes you'd let go or she'd let go of something and she would just be standing there all by herself. Then, it would hit her that she wasn't holding onto anything and plop onto the ground she'd go.  Well, this week on Monday (Pi day 3/14), she just started walking on her own!  Aunt Baba and Oma and I were on the floor and got her to walk between us.  It wa so exciting to watch.  Here's a video we took.  Evan was also very helpful in encouraging her.  Since then, she's only gotten better and has gone some pretty far distances. I know it won't be long before she is running to keep up with big brother.

Way to go Caitlin!

Evan's Spring Concert

Last Thursday evening, we went to Evan's preschool for his Spring Concert.  It was very similar to the Christmas show in that the 2s class sang two songs up on stage.  However, in some ways, it was very different.  This time, there was a lot more participation!!  Evan actually sang the words and did the movements.  He was awesome!  We were so proud of him.

Here's the video of the production... not quite as good on my part b/c Evan was on the far side of the stage so I had to shoot from an angle.  Sorry for the poor quality!

And here are just a few pics from the evening.  Aunt Shell and Uncle Brett got to come this time and see Evan perform. He LOVED having them there.

Evan is so cool.

A performance shot

Caitlin just chilling with Aunt Shell

Evan and Avery enjoying their post performance cookie

And family photo! Can you tell it was past Caitlin's bedtime?

Evan can ride a bike (sort of)!

For Christmas, we had bought Evan a balance bike (if you remember).  He LOVES to ride it but with the weather, he didn't get much opportunity.  The last couple weeks though it has turned to spring here in Austin so we have been spending lots more time outside.  Consequently, he is doing more bike riding.  For a long time, he would just run with the bike.  He could go so fast that I had to literally run myself to keep up with him.  So, the next step was getting him to pick up his feet and actually have to balance the bike (hence the name).  He was reluctant to do that and I'm not sure he quite understood what we meant.  But, just last weekend we went for a walk/ride.  We told him to pick up both his feet and he did!  And then he was just gliding away!!  It was awesome.  He had such great balance.  He could glide and steer the wheel, just like you would on a real bike.  Amazing!!  Our 2.5 year old can almost ride a bike!  I highly recommend it.

Anyway, I took a few short videos on my Iphone while we were out for our walk to capture the moment so here you go! 

Kite Festival 2011

Today, we headed to the annual Kite Festival down at Zilker Park.  I went last year with the two kids and had a blast so I was excited to bring Bryce along this year.  Baba and Casey joined us as well as some other friends.  Parking is always tricky, but we managed it fairly easily.  We got there early and enjoyed missing most of the crowds.  I bought a cheap $3 kite from Target which actually flew pretty well!  Bryce could be the next kite runner :)  This year, Evan was less interested in the kite flying and much more interested in just running around.  He and Matilda loved chasing each other and falling on the ground.  Caitlin enjoyed crawling all over as well.  We had a lovely picnic lunch and visited with friends.  Then, it was home for naps. Overall, a great day!

Here are some pics from our adventure:

Woohoo - kite fesitval!

Caitlin chilling on the lawn

Family photo - kids were tired by the end of the day

Me and my sweetie

Austin skyline in the background - just gorgeous!

Here's what Evan did most of the time- chase Matilda! I'm not sure if I should be happy or not that he loves to chase girls at this young of an age :)

Run and the dive to the ground - so much fun!

Flying the kite with Daddy

Buzz gets into the air finally! The Greenbergs had a cool Buzz Lightyear kite. Next year Evan...