"Call your parents" and other Spring break fun

Found this great mural on a walk through the neighborhood.
 Painted on the back of a tire shop or some such.
I plan on giving this photo to each of them when they move out many years from now.  

Everyone else in my life was looking forward to spring break.  Spring break means not getting up for work in the morning or having a spouse who stays home or going on a fun trip.  JB and I remembered too late this year that these are the reasons he usually takes off for that week.  Well, he didn't this year, and I have to say I wasn't looking forward to having the whole week of potentially very long days.  

Well, we managed to eek out some fun despite ourselves.  In fact, the end of the week, with Grandmommy and Uncle Richard here to visit, was positively delightful.  I even got to get a hair cut!  

Ready for spring break.  Thanks to Aunt Mary for finding this picnic table
in her house while doing spring cleaning.  

We tried to go on an outing every day, which is a challenge when one of them is either asleep or ready to sleep between the hours of 10 and 3pm.  (With Ben I was sad to lose the morning nap when he was about 15 months.  With E, I will be just as glad to see it go.  I think we'll have more freedom and maybe she'll sleep longer than 30 minutes!)  

Anyway, Benjamin really wanted to see Baylor, where I teach part time.  So we took a little snack picnic and strolled/ran around the near-empty grounds, played in fountains, and got to see mama's office and classroom.

The next three pics are from the zoo, which is THE place to be on spring break apparently.  I like it better in the middle of the "winter" when we have the place to ourselves.  

But then, when no one else is there, they don't have things like snow cones...

And I know this pic below is dark, but I like how the light all around Liza Jane kind of captures the wonder of the lights and colors for her little mind.  

Well, the pictures just keep coming.  Last morning before getting back to work, and JB is trying to teach the children the pleasures of a leisurely Sunday morning reading papers and magazines.  For Benjamin, this is only half a joke.  He can sit and look at his magazine for a while if EJ doesn't pull it out of his hands.   

One quick Benjamin story.  He has really taken an interest in learning the sounds of letters and other pre-reading activities.  JB has been making him drawings for each letter...the drawing for "B" has a scene made up entirely of things that begin with "B." He loves these drawings.  Last week I found him kind of clawing at and crumpling the "R" page that JB had made.  I asked what he was doing, and he pointed to the piece of cheese that JB had drawn next to a rat.  He said, with much upset in his voice, "I'm trying to take the cheese out of the picture because cheese doesn't start with R!"  

I agreed that he was quite right that cheese did not begin with R . . . but then did feel the need to explain to him that JB had written above the cheese "roquefort." 

And finally, but in the wrong order, the weekend before spring break, JB hosted a spanish-themed party with tapas and paella for my birthday and he really outdid himself this time.  I was worried that JB would be rushing around at the last minute a lot with so many different dishes to think about, however small they may be.  Rushing was not what I wanted for my birthday.  It didn't end up being rushed at al.  I think JB is really perfecting the paella party. . . Although maybe we'll have to try it a few more times to be really sure.  

The pictures here only capture courses one and five. It was truly a grand event...though also intimate and casual, as only a tapas party in one's living room can be.  

I don't get many pictures of me with both kids these days...this was a happy moment.  

Birthday gifts

I started this post back on my birthday when I was thinking how lucky I am to have these wonderful people in my life as I turn 33.  They are still wonderful, but some of these pictures are old news.  

There's Eliza Jane above, completely oblivious that free-standing like that is a developmental milestone.  She does this all the time now and can even get up to standing from sitting without support.  She seems to enjoy just balancing on her feet.  

And here's my valentine's date (above) on a rare (this winter anyway) balmy february day.  

And of course the sleeping children are always a gift.  I sat in the courtyard of this episcopal church near our house for a good 20 minutes before they woke up.  

And here's E just delighted to have ALL the toys to herself while B is napping.  The delight of teaching them about sharing, taking turns, etc. has only just begun, I'm sure.  The video below (if it works) was taken over a month ago, but I just love how Liza gets into the dancing in this one.  Maybe she'll be like cousin Jack and have a little dance whenever she can hear anything that sounds even remotely like music.