Date with Dinosaurs

Today was the first day of Dinosaurs Unleashed at the Fort Worth Zoo. It's a temporary exhibit that includes 12 life-size dinosaurs who open and close their mouths, roar, and move limbs. And they all once lived in Texas. There was a special zoo member preview this morning before normal zoo hours, so Nate and I made a date of it.

 First things first - complimentary Krispy Kreme donuts and milk for early comers.

They looked very real. I was impressed!

 Nate refused to get any closer than that to this one. I guess he was extra scary!

 Members also got to ride the carousel and train for free today.

We took advantage of it and rode both. I'd rather stand in a long line to ride for free than pay any day. Nate would beg to differ!

N-A-T-E

I've been teaching Nate to recognize, spell orally, and write his name. We bought these Super Why learning game cards, and he's been using them to spell his name and other words (with my instruction of course). And I've printed some traceable letter sheets from the internet so he can practice writing his letters. Here's a picture of his name written with sidewalk chalk. The one he wrote is closest to him. Not bad!

Sick Girl

Evie has been sick AGAIN! Maybe it's because Nate so rarely gets sick, but it seems like Evie is sick all the time. And she has a really sensitive gag reflex, so when she gets sick it usually involves lots of vomiting, which involves lots of mess! She's been in someone's arms or in her bed since Sunday night, but she's FINALLY happy and playing a little. Stephen stayed home today because I'm on the edge of craziness after the last couple days. No comments please.

I put Evie down for a minute on Monday to change the laundry, and this is how I found her when I came back. This is just the second time one of our kids has fallen asleep in the living room. Maybe they're a little too trained to only sleep in their beds!

Botanic Garden

Last week was Stephen's spring break. We stayed in town and did a whole lot of nothing (except for stay up too late watching movies). But we did spend one morning at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, where Stephen captured these sweet pictures of the kids. Thankfully we visited the pond before Nate chased the soccer ball through muddy grass and soaked his shoes and jeans with muddy water, or these wouldn't have been taken!

First Game

Nate had his first soccer game yesterday. Here's the recap:

 He was really excited before the game.

 He was a bit disinterested once we got to the field.

He played for about three minutes the first quarter, and then he spent the rest of the game with me on the sidelines crying because he didn't want to play anymore, begging for Evie's snacks, and playing in the grass. He said he was afraid of the purple guys (the other team was purple). Maybe he's too young to play after all!

Biker Chick

When Nate got this little motorcycle for his second birthday, his legs were barely long enough to ride it. Evie will turn two in May, and she's already tall enough to ride it! She's a little slow still, but I'm really glad to not be pushing her around anymore.

 It takes a lot of concentration to get those legs coordinated.

 Stopping for a cheesy smile.

Soccer practice

I never understood why parents would make their kids start playing sports at such early ages. Until I had my own kid! Nate LOVES anything that involves hitting, kicking, or throwing a ball. So he's playing spring soccer for a YMCA team. He had his first practice last night. Here are the pics:

 I put Nate's shin guards and cleats on early and told him to go run around to make sure they fit well. Evidently they do. He couldn't stop running!

 Nate was supposed to put his arm around Evie's shoulder for the picture. 

I think he confused her neck for her shoulder.

 At practice.

Showing off his skills.

Scooter games

Yesterday, while I was fixing dinner, Nate came riding into the kitchen on his scooter with a book in hand. He sat down on the scooter to "read," but Evie had a much better plan. She came up behind him and started pushing - most likely in an attempt to torment him - but it turned into a fantastic game! I think you can tell how much fun they had by the looks on Nate's face. AND I got to finish fixing dinner to the tune of laughter instead of the normal whiny meltdown. Thanks, Evie!

I think you should know

We found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago, but unfortunately the news I'm sharing is that I lost the baby. We hadn't told that I was pregnant yet, and because of the bad weather last week my doctor's appointment was canceled. I suspected that something wasn't right, though, because I was having a lot of cramping and spotting. So I wasn't surprised when I miscarried Saturday night.

I've missed my mom a lot this past week. This is one of those times when moms know what to say and do. And my mom also miscarried between her second and third children, so I've wondered how she felt and how she'd comfort me. But I'm still learning that God knows best how to comfort His children and that there is no greater comfort than His.

Throughout the past week Stephen and I have talked about my first miscarriage and how the Lord was so near to us and how He guarded our hearts. The coolest part of that was that my mom just happened to be flying into Istanbul for her first visit to Turkey on the same day that we were flying into Istanbul for me to have a d&c. So she was there the whole time. And after the procedure we got to spend a few days in Istanbul showing her our favorite sights until I was cleared to fly back to our city.

Even though we can't see all that God is doing now since we're still in the midst of it, I do know that it was really good of Him to allow Stephen to be home all week last week while I was cramping and spotting and nervous about what was going on. AND my sister is pregnant! I could not be more thrilled and excited for her! We have so much to rejoice over and be thankful for that it really is hard to be sad.

So, because I can't blog without posting a picture, here's one from that visit with Mom. This was taken after we flew back to our city. That's Mt. Ararat in the background - one of our very favorite sights!

Snowed In

I was kind of dreading this week because Stephen was going to be working long hours and getting home late every evening. But, what a surprise! We had an ice and snow storm Monday night that closed school for the rest of the week. Instead of him being gone all week, he was trapped inside with a rambunctious preschooler, a whiny toddler, and a hormonal wife. I feel kind of sorry for him. But selfishly I'm SO glad it didn't turn out to be the long week I was expecting. And we've had some good family time. Here are a few pics from the week.

 Nate making a snow angel in the driveway.

 Evie couldn't move very well with all her layers.

Nate has been riding his scooter in circles around and around and around the house.
He stopped to pose for a picture.

 Finger painting.

ESPN

Downtown Fort Worth is ESPN's production headquarters for the Super Bowl, and the host city for the AFC champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers (Boo!). They began broadcasting from there this morning. On Saturday we spent the evening downtown walking around and looking at their setup. Downtown Fort Worth is very cool anyway, so seeing all the ESPN stuff was a lot of fun. Nate loved it and kept talking about going "up downtown."

I think this is where the "Mike and Mike" show was broadcasting from this morning. We weren't sure what would be going on in each place.

Nate and the football field where the broadcasters pretend to be the players.

(I don't know what you call it). 

Texas: The Cradle of Champions 

(Just telling you what the sign says.)

Crazy Texas Weather

January 29th. 75 degrees and sunny. What do you do? No question about it:

 Throw down a blanket and picnic Turkish style - minus the chicken, bread, salad,
and tea. Well, maybe it wasn't so Turkish after all.

We're soaking up the warm sunshine while we can. Temps will be back in the 30s next week. Texas weather is insane!

Mess

We've managed to train another child to like plain yogurt. The difference? Mess! Evie is the messiest eater ever! "Mess" was seriously one of her first words. And at every meal or snack time she does her very best to be able to say "mess!" Nate was always a very particular eater and didn't like to get food on his face or hands. So I'm not sure whether it's because she's the second child and I haven't been able to control her eating as well, or if she's just a mess. I lean towards the latter!

You can see some pictures of Nate eating his yogurt here. And below are some pictures of Miss Mess eating hers.

Christmas

Stephen was off school for two weeks for Christmas break! I feel like I should be on top of things after such a long break, but one thing I've learned over and over since being a mom is that a break isn't really a break. Every day is the same whether Stephen is at work or not! It was really nice to have him home for a while though. And since we didn't travel for Christmas this year, we enjoyed waking up in our own beds on Christmas morning and just being a family.

We took the kids to their first movie in a theater on Christmas Day. We saw Tangled, and I loved it! We had the theater to ourselves, which was a really good thing since both kids were pretty antsy by the end. I forgot how nice it is to watch a movie in a theater. I think that was the second time Stephen and I have been to a movie since Nate was born. What a treat!

We also LOVED having family come to us. Stephen's brother and his family came to visit the week after Christmas. It was really good to have them here. Their kids (and dog) entertained our kids, so it was very restful - for us anyway! We're really bad at taking pictures when we're with family, so unfortunately we don't have much to show for their visit.

Here's a sample of what we do have from the last two weeks:

 Nate got a tee ball set from Uncle Nathan and Aunt Erica for Christmas.

 We didn't know we have a little Babe Ruth on our hands.
He can really hit the ball - with or without the tee.

 Our gift to Nate was this scooter. Since it was so cold the week of Christmas he mostly rode it around the house. His friend Jack has the same kind of scooter and Nate has been coveting it for months!

 Evie got these blocks from Uncle Nathan and Aunt Erica.
She loves blocks (and Nate likes them too)!

 The main thing Nate asked for for Christmas was a guitar. Aunt Liza got him a really cool one. Evie figured out how to use the microphone that came with it ...

 Nate, on the other hand, couldn't quite figure it out. The microphone is in his ear!

 Nate and Evie with cousin Camo.

 Kate helping open gifts. They brought more Christmas gifts from the Blans.

Evie got a baby and a little baby stroller from Nanna and Granddad. This was her face when she first saw the baby in the package. This little girl LOVES babies!