Ethan and Jane's First Trip to the Beach

Back in May, we took a trip to South Padre Island with some friends of ours.  We rented a big house with 6 bedrooms, split up the meals, and relaxed...or tried to relax!  Vacationing is much different with kids.  Instead of staying up late watching movies and sleeping in, you stay up late watching movies, and dread getting up at 6:30am when the kids get up!  This house had lots (and lots) of stairs.  So Jane and Ethan's mission in life was to climb them.  Even though they didn't know how.

And the beach?  We probably spent a total of 1 hour (over all 4 days) at the actual beach.  But, that's just how it goes when you have two 15 month olds.  You find little joys in things other than sitting in the sand sipping an ice cold dr. pepper.  Mmm...sounds nice.

Like for instance, going out to eat and watching their faces when they taste a coconut milk shake.  Or laughing at how cute they look in pirate hats:

And you're telling me milk shakes have been around this whole time? 

That was a coooooold milk shake 

He did this face with his lips the whole trip.  It was so cute!

Ya I could get used to that!

I don't know what he was doing here, but he has a crazy face and 1 little tooth. 

Getting them to sleep at night was the hardest part about the trip.  They are quite fond of their cribs, which is something that we worked hard to make possible.  But for this trip, it backfired. It took them hours to fall asleep the first night.  They slept in a room below us, and one morning we heard them joyfully talking on the monitor at 6:30am, we went in and found this:

Ok ok...it's time for chunky baby cuteness at the beach:

Beach Beauty

Rolls for ankles.  Love it.

And the post beach bath:

Fun times at the beach house:

Still a little wobbly when she walks

 Oh that belly!

Curly Haired Cutie 

Trying to break through the barricade we made for the stairs. 

South Padre ~ May 2012

The Girls 

A Peek in to Present Day

I'm so behind on photos from the months leading up to present day, that family/friends who don't live here probably think Jane and Ethan are still babies.  They are toddlers through and through.  Running around, putting a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet, turning off and on the tv, tub faucet, dvd player, computer, etc..., fighting over who gets to pull the little red wagon (that is currently happening behind me), and talking.  All day long.

Jane, "eesh go go no sho eesh Eeeeethie!!"

---Translation = "Why does this kid with the big lips keep following me?"

Ethan, "a dadada shoe a show dada"

---Translation = "All I care about is dad, going outside, and baby einstein."

But really, they talk all day.  Jane has said at least 25 words by now and is starting to enter the phase of repeating.  The other day I said, "say please" and she said, "peeze."  I died inside cause that is a little too grown up for me.  When I said, "say please" it was more like an automatic thing I would say to anyone who was being demanding.  I didn't think she'd actually say it.

Ethan's favorite thing to say right now is, "HI!" To everyone.  Including strangers at church, his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his puppy, and me...like 20 times in a day."  I love it.  He says it with a big smile.  It's a peek in to his personality.

They have both said their first "sentence."

Jane = "Bye Dad Dee"
Ethan = "Hi Dada"

When do they say mama?  When they are hurt, hungry, tired, grouchy. :)  Just kidding, those aren't the ONLY times.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my cute little 18 month old kids, out on my front porch, riding a horsey.  Like a big kid would do.

Our Story from May (or part of it at least)

May was a fun month.  We had visitors, a trip to the beach, and 2 trips to Oklahoma.

First the visitors!  One of my best friends from high school, Briton, and her family came to visit for a few days. We had a picnic at the Arboretum together followed by some yummy Amy's Ice Cream.

On the way to the picnic:

Ethan and Isca chowing down 

Janey and Hollis 

Isca and Jane 

Beautiful Lady 

Silly Girls!

We were so happy to have them here with us!  We had a great time.

Then we took a trip to Oklahoma for my nephew Isaac's baptism.  It was great to see my family, even just for a weekend.

My brother's cute family! 

The Layton Siblings!

Back in Austin, we had our fun Friday visit from the Larsen family. Including lunch at Jessica's Cafe! We were lucky to be joined by the Renchers too!  (Gavin, Briton, Ethan, Dean, Amelia, and Jane)

The Larsen kids have been coming over on Friday afternoons after school for a few months.  They were usually hungry for a snack, so I started calling my kitchen "Jessica's Cafe." Sometimes I have menus for them to order from and a fancy tablecloth.  They will call on Fridays and ask if my cafe is open.  It's a fun thing for all of us to look forward to at the end of the week!

Amelia and Briton are always such cute helpers and ask when Jane and Ethan need bottles so they can help feed them. 

Next post will be all about our fun trip to South Padre!  The babies' first trip to the beach (they were probably there a total of 40 minutes over 5 days).  More to come! :)