New shoes

After being in desperate need of new shoes for several months, Reef finally has some new kicks.  He loves them, especially because they light up.  Thanks Gigi!

He insisted that I take his picture showing them off!

Zoo Field Trip

Last week Reef's preschool class went on a field trip to the zoo to celebrate the letter Z.  They like for one parent to come with the child, and Reef chose Troy to go with him while I stayed home with Lachlan.  They had a great time!  A trip to the zoo with just one child is a totally different experience and really gave Troy time to focus on Reef and get some good pictures.

This is their whole class, minus Ethan who was home sick.  Reef said the zoo was fun but not great without Ethan.

See Reef on the head of that lion.  He talked about getting that spot all the way to the zoo and climbed up the front of the head to get it.  He's such a monkey!

 At the aquarium.

 He also made sure to be the first one to leap onto this elephant. 

 Troy let Reef take a few pics of his own, a very rare treat.  This is a horrible shot of bird poop, but if you look closely you can see that the zebras are back after a year-long absence.

 Reef also took this one of those caterpillars.

 Reef and Kourtney

He had a great day with just Daddy and was so ready for a nap when they got back.  Maybe Jonas will pick Mommy to go when it's his turn in a couple years...

Goodbye Pacifier!

We finally bit the bullet and said goodbye to Jonas's paci on Saturday.  We talked about putting a hole in it on Friday but then forgot, so we made sure to get it done on Saturday.  It actually was much less painless than Troy and I expected.  He sucked on it and knew it was broken, and it spent the night with him in bed but not in his mouth.  Sunday night (and every night since), it spent the night on the bookshelf.  He's not ready for it to leave his room but we're okay with that!  We celebrated this accomplishment with a trip to Krispy Kreme last night, where they each got to pick whatever they wanted and "not have to share!"  I can't believe what a big boy Jonas is becoming!  No more diapers and no more paci!  So excited!

Dentist Days

Both of my big boys have visited the dentist in the last couple of week.  I took Reef on a Tuesday morning while Erin took the other boys to LBC.  I was worried since our last visit didn't go that well and he remember almost everything that happened to him while he was sedated, including the metal thing used to hold his mouth open.  No need to worry, though; he did great!  He was a little bummed that the computer game was broken but handled everything else fine, even the xrays where I had to leave him alone.  There were no cavities (yes!), his extra tooth doesn't seem to be causing any problems yet, and our "oral hygeine report card" graduated from poor to fair.  Reef got to celebrate his good appointment that afternoon with a trip to the bakery with Troy.  And a big piece of chocolate cake all to himself!
Jonas's turn at the dentist was last Wednesday.  Let's just say, it went as I thought it would.  He threw a fit when we dropped the brothers off at Erin's and continued that fit all the way to his appointment.  He warmed up to the office when he saw the fish tank and computer games, which, thankfully, were fixed from the week before.  Just as I started to relax, the hygenist came out to take his picture and things went down hill from there!  He refused the picture and the weigh in.  We did get him into the exam room where he refused to lay on the table.  After several attempts, we decided I would just hold him and the dentist would take a quick look.  There was no cleaning of any kind.  He screamed the whole time.  The good news: no obvious cavities.  The bad news: we need to say goodbye to the paci and he has a lot of calcium build up on his bottom front teeth.  We'll try again in 6 months. 
I thought he'd be calm after the appt, but he continued his fit when he learned that his trip to "his shop" would not be until AFTER his nap.  He did manage to get him in bed, and he was all smiles when we headed to the bakery for a big piece of chocolate cake!

Kidz Fest

We decided to take a last minute trip to Conroe last weekend, thinking it was probably our last before baby comes.  Gigi had convinced Reef that he and Jonas should stay with her and Mr. Don while Lachlan stayed with us at the grandparents.  Reef was sooo excited about his sleepover; he even invited his best friend Ethan.  Our trip down there was long and traffic-filled, but the boys did great. 

We dropped the boys off with strict instructions to listen to Gigi and NOT go outside where the pool was.  Being paranoid parents, we had to call later and have Gigi put a chair in front of the door, in addition to the lock and alarm.

After getting Lachlan to bed at Grandma's and visiting with Taylor for a few minutes, Troy and I settled in for a rare movie night.  Lachlan slept great that night.

On Saturday, we ventured to Kidz Fest, a free kids event downtown.  The boys had a great time but we were definitely ready to escape the crowds by noon.

Our first even was the inflatable obstacle course!  I was impressed with both Reef and Jonas, who jumped right in without hesitation.

Then we headed to the giant sandbox and lego station.  Then we tried our hand at some of the games.  Jonas won some free kids meals from Chipotle and Reef scored me a new t-shirt.  We lost Jacob and Taylor for awhile here because that boy LOVES any game with a ball.

Lachlan really likes his new bike helmet, that was FREE!  We actually got one for all the boys!

Love this mischeivious look!  They loved this caterpillar tunnel.

Highlight of the day:  The giant bubble pit!  The big boys loved it, Lachlan tolerated it for a few minutes, and I don't think Jacob ever made it in.

Bubble Men!

We rinsed off all those bubbles on a giant water slide.  Again, they jumped right in.  That's a big deal for my usually cautious Reef.

After a picnic lunch, we wrapped up the day with a search for the train and quick ride.

Reef hoped to jump in the jumping castle one last time but the line was SO long.  We convinced him a funnel cake would be better...After our cake, we parted ways as Reef and Jonas headed back to Gigi's.  It was kind of weird saying good-bye to them and that we'd see them at dinner.

Lachlan took a great nap, and we spent that evening with the whole family celebrating Taylor's acceptance to nursing school.  Sitting at the opposite end of the table from us, Reef had the opportunity to put away tons of food':  strawberries, 3 biscuits, oranges, his shrimp, AND some of Troy's!  Oh, and he still had room for dessert too.

After dinner, we said good-bye to our big boys again and headed home to put Lachlan down.  We picked them up bright and early on Sunday to have breakfast with my dad before heading home.

We had a great weekend, and I know Reef and Jonas really enjoyed their sleepover!