riding the "ponies" at gamma's

Lauren insists that we call Noni "gamma" now, so here are Colson and Lauren riding the ponies at gamma's house

Central Market playground and picnic

We met my old friend and co-worker Carrie at Central Market this morning for some play time and a picnic lunch. She has a little boy Lauren's age (who was at school) and a little girl Colson's age. We had a nice time catching up and reminiscing about our days of pumping in middle school classrooms 4 times a day! We got to celebrate being stay at home moms today and commiserate on some of the daily struggles with our kids. It was great to catch up and Lauren and Colson had a lot of fun playing on the playground! 

Lauren brought Lion to out to play today. 

Colson mastered going down the steps head first 

He found the steering wheel with no problem

Lauren and Colson really enjoyed their day. Lion eventually went to the car for a nap and Rajah came out to play! 

Carousel Ride at the Mall

The mall had a cute little carousel so of course we had to go on it!

Flying to Austin

In November I signed up to run the 3M half marathon in Austin this Sunday. It was meant to be a girl's weekend away but I quickly realized Colson wouldn't be done nursing and he may have to tag along. Then my mom wanted Lauren to come since I was already making the trip and Colson was coming... So my girl's weekend turned into traveling alone with two kids but we were all excited to see my mom, Wayne, Jeannie, Malinda and hopefully Taline.

Colson has two ear infections so I was nervous about flying with him. We did experience a little ear pain on the first flight, but the real challenge was that Colson does not like to sit still, so keeping a very active 9 month old on my lap for 2 hours worth of flights was beyond hard- especially when I had a 2.5 year old who was being extremely difficult as well.

The kids dressed in matching footed pajamas and I got a lot of compliments on how cute they were, but surprisingly not a lot of help... I had Colson in his pouch and Lauren walked along with us. I decided against the stroller because it adds another dimension of hassle when you have to get it tagged for gate check, fold it up and then wait for it between flights only to repeat the process at the next gate. It was much easier without it now that Colson can sit on his own.

both kids loved looking out the window while we were on the plane!

Making clouds

Lauren and Violet had a playdate today in anticipation of them being apart for 5 days...We decided to make clouds out of Ivory soap

Ivory soap on a plate (in hindsight a bowl may have been better, but then we wouldn't have been able to see it as well)

Put it in the microwave

and you have a fluffy white cloud! 

We then added a little water and lots of ripped up toilet paper to get a final working project of cloud dough. The girls had fun playing with the soapy smelling fun! 

Tangled

Tonight we had to give Lauren's Tangled doll a haircut because her hair was, well…tangled! Very, very tangled! What toy company makes a doll with fake hair that is over a foot long for little kids to play with?! Really…that is just asking for disaster.

Anyway, I gave Lauren the option if she wanted me to cut Tangled’s hair or if she wanted me to put it in a pony tail forever. (She thinks the princess’ name is Tangled, so that is what we call her). I couldn’t deal with the long strands falling out all over the place and the tangled mess her hair was becoming… the hair was wrapped around her face and arms and every other place! Lauren didn’t like the pony tail idea, so she agreed to let me cut the doll’s hair.

I cut the doll's hair to her mid-back...then the crying began. She was so upset when she realized that the hair could not go back on and it was gone forever. She was slightly hysterical and I felt horrible. I tried to convince her it was going to be okay…I told her how pretty Tangled looked but nothing I said was working. Then all of a sudden she stopped crying and said, “her hair is short like in the other part?” I realized Lauren remembered that Tangled cut her hair in the movie. Lauren was instantly happy despite the huge tears still rolling down her cheeks. We talked about the movie and how Tangled cut her hair and was still a beautiful, happy princess.

Me: She looks gorgeous with her new haircut!

LF:  Mommy, what is gord-uss?

Me: Really, really beautiful, just like you.

LF: Oh, and you too.

I love that girl.

Lauren was also happy when she found out Tangled could come take a bath with her now that her hair was of a reasonable length! 

Playing together

Lauren and Colson cooked some food together this morning

I think Colson was serving Lauren here

then Colson needed a break to bang some pots

Later today they crawled around the floor together. 

Lauren tries to lead Colson around the house where she wants him to go.

and here they are enjoying the furry dog bed...

but rolling around in dog hair is so much fun based on how much they were laughing! 

I LOVE watching these two play together. It gets better and better every day!