A White Christmas

We had a great time visiting my family up in Dallas for Christmas. It's nice to be within driving distance (it definitely saves on the travel budget!). The kids are to the age now where they really appreciate getting to see and play with their cousins. And between my two sisters, there are plenty of cousins to play with! (Ok, maybe not that many, but six is a lot to me.)

And did I mention that it even snowed? Who says it doesn't get cold in Texas. What the schnikes?!



Our semi-serious time was when we dressed up and enacted Christ's birth.

Our cute little shepherds.


Our silly time was when Andrea and my mom and my sisters did a skit to "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" with my dad singing alternate lyrics with reference to JuicePlus and the like (for those of you who know my mom, she's a big fan of JuicePlus).



We don't have Wii at home, but Mackay loves playing it at his cousins' house. Here's a fun little video of the kids steering their cars, with a bit of commentary by Beckett.

Mackay the Runner

Mackay decided he wanted to do a running race, so we took him to this one promoted by his school district. He was one of only a few kids in his school who had the cajones to take the challenge. It was a 1k cross-country race down by Town Lake in downtown Austin. The conditions were a bit challenging because it had rained that morning and there was plenty of mud present. Nonetheless, the kids did great and Mackay was a trooper, running through the pain to finish in 4 minutes and 58 seconds--roughly an 8 min/mile pace.

I decide to make his race into a video: en-dur-ance. Enjoy!

en-dur-ance (2010) from Be Strong on Vimeo.

Eme Learns to Clap

This is a cute little video Andrea shot showing her and the boys teaching Eme to clap. We love our cute little girl! She's already getting so big! Now we just need her to sleep through the night.

Full of Imagination

One of the things I love about picking Mackay up from school is hearing how his day went. He'll often come home and sit and draw and make other art projects. Nearing home recently he said:

I need to draw. I have too much imagination and I need to get some out.

Hearing him say that brought the biggest smile to my face. I often tell Mackay that he has a great imagination and is so creative. I guess he has so much some times that he just has to get it out on paper! Ah the small joys of parenting...





















As an example of Mackay's imagination at work, he just went on a school field trip to a local farm and decided to draw the experience.



Here he is describing his drawing.



And here he is describing some of his other recent art...and how he loves art more than Legos...and even Star Wars (love how he flops around).
















Mackay used to spend hours building Lego ships and other cool creations (this picture is from back in June). Beckett of course helped too (he's becoming quite the Lego builder in his own right). Now Mackay spends hours doing "art."

Of course, Mackay still plays with Legos...even the big ones sometimes. Here he is building a Lego zoo back in September.

Bed Phobia?

We bought a bunk bed for the boys, but unfortunately Beckett hasn't taken to it like we wished--maybe it has something to do with being on the bottom bunk, who knows.

Here are the boys sleeping on the floor back in June shortly after we bought the bed.

And here's Beckett in the play room sleeping on an old trunk (that he could easily fall off) instead of his own new bed! (Don't worry, I of course moved him shortly after he fell asleep...right after I took the picture!)

Mackay's First Day of School

Andrea and I were nervous to be sending our first born off to kindergarten. Mackay is such a sweet kid and I must confess that the thought of sending him off into the dark, cold world made me nervous to say the least. Nonetheless, I knew I couldn't keep him home forever. Hopefully we'll be able to counter the corrupting process as it goes along. Luckily it takes place slowly. :)

Anyway, back to his first day of school. Mackay didn't seem too nervous--at least if he did, he didn't show it. He was excited to finally be big enough to get to go to school. Andrea dropped him off and I picked him up. As you can see, he seems to be taking to school without a problem.
















Got to start with a healthy breakfast.





















Our cute little guy all ready to go!





















There's his classroom.





















Mackay seemed to really enjoy his first day of school. Nothing but big smiles!



Mackay explaining his first day in more detail...starting with the art project they made.

Kids First Circus!

We had a great time taking the kids to the circus with some friends of ours. I think it's safe to say they were thoroughly entertained. In retrospect, however, we probably should have brought more snacks--it was a long show.





















Our cute Beckett.





















Our cute Mackay.



My favorite part was the motorcycles in the spherical cage. Elephants just don't do it for me. Sorry elephants (and tigers and all the other animals).

Beckett Bug Party

Andrea did a bug-themed party for Beckett this year--at his request of course. As you will see from the pictures, there were a range of ages at the party. Beckett originally came up with just girls to invite. He seems to like older girls! Way to go buddy! :)





















Look Mom, bugs!





















A game of wrap the mummy.



I love Beckett's description of his party and his focus on his presents.
















A fun game of water tag.



Beckett blows out his candles.
















Bug cakes! Ummmm, good!





















Yes, the presents!

Line Up!

I took a quick trip up to visit my sisters while Andrea was at a wedding in California (with Eme). The boys had a great time playing with all of their cousins--both of my sisters live only a short drive from each other so it makes visits easy.

Here the boys are lining up to use the bathroom.

Beckett with a new look.

Mackay with a new look of his own.

Mackay and Beckett with all of their cousins. Get back in the box!

Water Fun

In mid-July we headed to my parents home for a little summer fun. The boys had a great time playing on the slip and slide, swimming in the hot tub, and riding on grandpa's boat. Nothing like a little water fun in the middle of summer to stay cool.



A little fun on the slip and slide.

A not-so-hot hot tub. Note Mackay's bruise on his hip from the water slide.


















Beckett loves his little sister!


















Mackay and Grandpa taking the helm.























Eme and Grandma enjoying the ride.























A fun trip.


















My great parents!

Independence Fun

We celebrated Independence Day with more family than I can ever remember! Andrea's parents and sister and her husband came down. So too did my sister and her family (check our her post on the fun). We had a full day of fun on the 4th. We started out by going to Hamilton Pool, a natural swimming hole about 30 minutes southwest of Austin. After that we came home and let the kids (and some of us "adults") play in the water slide. You should have seen the bruise Mackay gave himself on his hip from the way he flopped down on the ground. We opted not to go see the city fireworks this year because of the kids bedtimes, instead doing our own "show" on our culdesac. All in all, it was a great weekend. Yet another advantage to living here--being close to family.

Our cute little guy.

Beckett and I had fun floating around the "pool."

Mackay and Hannah loved playing with Julie and Jimmy.

A cute little girl.

Mommy and daughter.

Mackay going in for the kill!

Mackay and Hannah are the best of friends.

A full house!

It's getting harder to get everyone to look at the camera!

Amy's family stayed an extra day. The kids always love playing together.

Boys Love Their Sis!

Mackay and Beckett both seem to really love their sister. It's funny how even the craziest kids (e.g. Beckett) can still be so gentle with little babies. I'm sure it will wear off with time, but it's fun to see them both be such great big brothers (note their shirts!).


















Here they are welcoming her home with their Aunt Melissa (on June 12th).



Don't you love their Big Brother shirts? (Andrea made them.)


















Here they are taking good care of Eme...got to love how Mackay is holding her hand.


















How cute is Beckett (Eme is 3 weeks, 1 day old)!

Guitar Jammin'

Mackay likes to do air guitar and (in this example) real guitar when we listen to one of my favorite live songs--Two Step, performed by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds (at Radio City). Admittedly, the camera I think made him a bit shy. But you can get a sense of his sweet moves near the end. He sure has his eyes fixated on the camera! If you listen carefully near the beginning, you'll hear Beckett giving some sweet vocals...and I love his "Hi Dad" near the end.



In case this video seems familiar, it's because I posted something similar last year. What a great duo Mackay and Beckett are!

A Picture of Eme's Name

I had fun making these on wordle.net. They are a compilation of the name announcement post I wrote--with a few tweaks to make sure the word sizes worked okay. Thought you'd enjoy seeing them.

More Picts of Eme

I know it was killing some of you not to know her name--sorry to make you wait. :)

Rather than commit too early to a name, I like to "try a name on" at the hospital before I commit to one. We opted to go with Emersen Marie. The Marie comes from Andrea's family. Emersen is just a name we liked. We'll probably call her Eme or Em or Ems or Emers. We opted to spell her name with an "e" instead of an "o" because it is a unisex name and we wanted it to be more femmy.

Here are a few recent picts a friend took for us (thanks Melody).

She's Here!!!

Well, after over 41 weeks of waiting, we finally got to meet the newest addition to our family! She is the cutest little baby girl! After giving nature its time to kick in, we decided to follow the doctor's advice and go the c-section route (Beckett was an emergency c-section, so we couldn't go the inducement route again). We got to the the hospital around noon and at 2:22 p.m. on 6/9/09 our daughter came out to see the light! Everything went really well. After a quick check with the neonatal specialists, Andrea was even able to to kind of hold her (see picture below).

After that, I was able to hold our girl and carry her to the nursery where they did their standard tests. She weighed 9 pounds 1.5 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. After a short time to warm up in the nursery, I was able to take our girl to see her mommy. She took to nursing right away and has been doing well ever since. She's already on her 3rd nursing after a good nap laying in Andrea's arms.

As for Andrea, she looks great! She's feeling a little sore, but is doing well otherwise.

Other than that, we felt blessed to have family living so close. Andrea's parents and two sisters were able to come down last night and watch the kids today while we went to the hospital.

And here are a few pictures...(and for those who want to compare our girl with Mackay and Beckett, you can compare them here).

Mommy meets daughter face to face for the first time!

Already trying to suck those fingers.

Taking a quick rest.

Mackay meets his little sister.

Beckett's excited to be a big brother!

Another cute pict of Mackay and his little sister.

The boyz...and a baby!
(Note: I've now made it a tradition to wear my Hopking Cycling shirt for each birth. 3 for 3!)

A family of 5!!!

Our cute little girl.