RANDOM CUTENESS

Among these are a photo of Cal with his favorite teacher, Miss Pam. I'm sure all of our male viewers will appreciate his taste in women. Another photo here is of Cal next to his tallest-ever tower of blocks. Very proud smile.

PLAYING IN THE MUD
It started innocently enough...we had a nice, cool day in mid-May so the boys wanted to play some basketball in the driveway. Which was all fine until they discovered the L-A-R-G-E mud puddles that were everywhere after the huge rain storm. It was the end of the day and we had nowhere to go so mom and dad figured, who cares? We stripped them down to diapers, outfitted them with buckets and shovels and let them have a ball. They had a ball and we got some great shots. Oh to be so easily entertained!

More mud photos. Because I like them.

MOTHER'S DAY
What a long strange trip it's been! On April 30, mommy had an emergency appendectomy after driving herself to the ER at 2 a.m. As you can imagine, this was a super fun event with two young children mommy could not lift for 4 weeks after surgery and 4 remaining weeks of legislative session. Thank goodness Gramma & Bippy have some flexibility and were able to spend the better part of May in Austin helping out with the boys. I'm truly not sure how we would have managed without their help.

One of the benefits of that happening was that all of the mommies and babies were able to be together for Mother's Day. Gramma & Nana were both in Austin for the weekend and we had a wonderful lunch at Barton Creek Country Club. We also included Aunt Meredith and Aunt Kandice who were invaluably helpful during mommy's order (Meredith rushed to the hospital at 5:00 am to be there during surgery and Kandice came to the house to help with the boys). In any case, we were happy to have something to celebrate for Mother's Day instead of a mommy still in the hospital with a burst appendix. Here are some fun photos of the boys with their mommy, Gramma & Nana. Thankfully, Cal has turned a corner and now enjoys having his photo made, although he uses a scary looking fake smile in the process. Griffin is ever the ham. Note his "ET greeting" he shares with Gramma only for some unknown reason - finger to finger.

More Mother's Day photos. Because I'm the mommy.

CUTEST. VIDEO. EVER.
I call this "Griffin kissing daddy." Be sure to watch to the end. Pretty darned cute. I can say that because I am not in it.

CUTE BABIES

Sometimes I take random pictures of the boys just being cute babies. I know they won't stay this size forever so I overdo it on the photos but I think I'll be glad some day when they are big, sweaty soccer players eating pizza 7 nights a week and refusing to bathe until mildew is growing out of their ears. Until then, I take "cute babies" photos all the time. Here are a few. No special occasions. Cal went to the ER last week after hitting his head really hard at school when he feel. He was very lethargic and then threw up so we got a CTscan which was normal. Thank Goodness. Mommy went to the ER this week to have her appendix taken out in the middle of the night. Super fun. Mommy now cannot pick up the children for 4 weeks (hahahahahah!!!!) so the boys are spending a lot of time hanging out with mommy in bed. Thus the "sleeping like an angel" photo of Cal. Griffin is babbling a lot and says a few words that only we can understand. He says "hi" and "bye" and "dada" and "momma" and "mine" and "dog" and "that" and "choochoo" and "nana" and "hat" and some others. We think he's super smart. Cal is a genius and has started telling us how the world works. He keeps us laughing and his imagination is starting to grow. He makes us pretend foods (usually pizza and cake) and likes to tell us where to sit in the room for whatever he is planning. He loves to play outside on his "playground" (playscape Santa brought us), chase the deer and garbage truck in the car and walk around the block in the stroller and wagon which he enjoys pushing. He is starting to take care of his "little brother," bring him toys and keep him safe ("Sit down, Griffin!"). They really love each other and have a great time. Griffin never cries when Cal pushes him down - he just giggles.

EASTER v.2

Our big Easter outing was an easter egg hunt & brunch at the Museum of Art grounds thrown by Inherit Austin and attended by a BUNCH of other kids, most of them our friends. There was a big choo-choo train that ran around the driveway and gave rides the whole time and the big bunny himself was present. We put on our Sunday best and made a photo opp of it. Cal was pretty into the whole deal and nabbed himself some eggs filled with candy. All Griffin cared about was the train. He's been saying "choo choo" ever since. We could barely pull him away. I'll go ahead and boast that this will likely be Griffin's most adorable easter outfit EVER and it's all downhill from here. Note the 3-D cottontail on the bunny hopping across the front of his baby blue smocked jumper. Tough to beat. Cal also enjoyed his blue argyle sweater from Neiman Marcus - woo hoo! Sounds like they will have their daddy's taste in clothes. EXPENSIVE!