Walking

Aaron has been walking for a few weeks now, but it's been super hard to catch him on video! He doesn't like to walk to Mommy or Daddy on cue. He'll randomly walk to a toy, but as soon as we get the camera he stops. It's like he knows how much we want him to do it! Little stinker!

I was watching him play with a door today (currently his favorite form of amusement) and realized he wasn't paying much attention to me besides the occasional giggle in my direction. I snuck off to get the camera and he kept playing. Toward the end of the video the door got away from him and you can see him take a few steps. He's surprisingly sturdy now and, as he looses his balance, can keep himself from falling most of the time. Enjoy!

Vacation Crashing

My brother, Thomas, and his family are vacationing in Galveston this week. They rented a condo (coincidentally, at the same location that Jonathan's family used to own a condo!) and are spending a few days relaxing as a family. They kindly invited us to spend the day with them yesterday. Jonathan was able to move his work hours around so he could join us, so the four of us went down to hang out!

Temperatures have been soaring here this week with highs above 100 and heat index 110+. I was concerned it would be too hot to really enjoy, but the breeze off the water and being in the water most of the day really made for a nice day! 

We arrived around 9:30 yesterday morning and almost immediately everyone but Kristen and Hannah Joy headed down to the beach (HJ needed a nap). The tide was coming in, so there was a lot of seaweed, but nothing we couldn't manage. 

Eli and Caleb checking out the water with their dads.

Eli was surfing : )

Our spot on the beach. Aaron wasn't a fan of being in the water (I think it was too loud), so he and I spent most of our time on the blanket eating a snack!

Around 11, we decided to have an early lunch. We watched some Walle, ate our lunches and let the boys play inside for a bit so everyone could cool off. 

Trying to figure out that sword. 

Can you find Aaron? 

Two silly kids

Look, a ball!

Aaron currently enjoys being the bigger of the two babies. He's in for a rough time when Hannah Joy catches up! 

The boys quickly ran off after we snapped the above pictures and had some fun playing on the bunk bed

Ugh, these boys make me nervous!

 After our break, we went down to the pool. Eli and Caleb both have puddle jumper floaties (Coast guard and momma approved)! They had fun being independent in the water. It was Caleb's first time to use his and he LOVED it! He regularly told us not to touch him! This was Aaron first time in the water at all. It took him a few minutes to warm up to it and ended up loving it too!

Hanging out on the step as the babies got used to the water. 

Leaning back and floating! He's not asleep here, just closing his eyes because the sun was so bright and he wouldn't wear his hat. 

Ah....we finally got the hat on! Check out this cutie! 

Mommas and babies

Check out Caleb swimming to me! 

 Aaron was amazingly calm in the water after he warmed up to it, so much so that he fell asleep while we were in the pool! I waited until he was sound asleep and found a shaded spot to let him nap. He slept over an hour!

It was too hot for me to nap, but I enjoyed relaxing and watching everyone else in the pool! 

We got back in the water as soon as Aaron woke up...this is the perfect way to wake up, in my opinion!

I think it's Aaron's favorite too : )

While Aaron was napping, Eli wanted to get out of the pool and job into Thomas' arms. Caleb had never done that before, but (of course) wanted to do what Eli was doing. He quickly got the hang of it and got to the point of not wanting Jonathan to catch him! He liked his head going under the water when he jumped in. I can't tell you how many times he did this!

After a few hours (and many sunscreen applications) in the pool, we headed back inside for ice cream sundaes! Aunt Kristen had an amazing assortment of toppings and we all created our own masterpiece!

Hannah Joy got some whipped cream and Eli and Caleb had their own ice creams. 

Aaron had some of my ice cream and then finished up with some cheerios, yum! 

We had an awesome day with Thomas, Kristen, Eli and Hannah Joy! Thanks for letting us crash your vacation, we sure had fun!

***And a note on how tired we were today.... Caleb is just now waking up from a 4 hour nap and Aaron (who usually naps around 2 hours either all together or two shorter naps) is going on 3 1/2 hours! 

Father's Day Weekend '12

Last Sunday was Father's Day. We spent the whole weekend celebrating all the dads in our lives and had fun with family. On Friday, I truly didn't feel like cooking, so I suggested we meet my parents at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Jonathan can't say no to Cracker Barrel - so it worked out! We enjoyed a very relaxing dinner. Both boys were well behaved and we were able to catch up with my parents. 

Funny story - we gave Caleb the children's menu and asked what he wanted (it has pictures on it)....he looked and almost immediately pointed to the ice cream! We laughed and said he could have some if he ate a real dinner first, so he picked out something else. I was impressed with his understanding that he had to have something else first, so we let him have ice cream later. A few days after that, he randomly looked at me and said (seriously, word for word), "I had ice cream at the restaurant. It was good!" I was amazed at how clear the statement was and the fact that he remembered several days later! 

On Saturday afternoon, Jonathan's dad, Dao, Aunt Laura and Uncle Drew came over to celebrate an early Father's Day. I made a simple dinner and we all enjoyed a relaxed evening together. Uncle Drew even suggested going out in the backyard after dinner to kick the soccer ball with Caleb (who was running in circles after dessert). The evening ended with somersaults and cartwheels in the living room... and no, that wasn't Caleb! You never know what to expect when the Lutzes get together! 

Grandpa and Dao with Aaron and Caleb

On Sunday afternoon, we had over my side of the family for dinner. My mom offered to bring dinner, so I wouldn't have to make a big meal two days in a row, so it was an easy evening! I didn't manage to get a single picture of Jonathan the whole day! I'll have to do better next year! I did, however, get a picture of his gifts!

He had 5 cans he could open through the day. One had a gift card for amazon, the others had some of his favorite candies. 

And Pop's gift, a can with peanut m&ms and some Caleb artwork.

Uncle Derrill playing on the floor with the boys! 

I hope Jonathan had a great Father's day weekend. He's an amazing dad to our two boys! There isn't anyone else I'd rather raise these two little monsters with!

Mullinnix Family Reunion '12

Our Mullinnix family reunion was at the beginning of June, but I haven't had much time to sit and work on my blog post. I think I've also been avoiding it a bit. The reunion forced me to accept that Grandpa wouldn't be there and I'm not sure I'm ok with that fact yet. I don't know how everyone else felt, but (while it was a great reunion) there was something missing. I think twenty years from now I'll still feel that way. 

One great thing about the reunion being at the Delhi community center is that we can walk over to the cemetery to see Grandpa's grave. Several of us brought flowers and we took some time to visit before everyone else arrived. I walked over again later on my own just to spend some time there. 

Like I said above though, it was a great reunion. Quite possibly one of the best we've had. I think it's gotten better as all the little kids have gotten older. They play more together and the adults have more time to sit and catch up. 

Jonathan and I decided to spend as much of the day there as possible, so we left early in the morning and left after dinner. The boys did great the whole day, we couldn't have asked them to be any better behaved! 

Eli and Caleb playing at the table together. 

Aaron found some pegs to steal...I mean play with

Caleb and Walker were checking out a walking stick bug. 

I've seen lots of these bugs, but never one this big!

The babies playing

Hannah Joy waiting for more food!

The old people....I mean "mature adults".... talking : ) Granny's close friend Agnes also stopped by. She (jokingly) claims to be Grandpa's adopted sister so she felt that she should be at the family reunion too!

Almost all of us around the big table

We really enjoyed the day with the Mullinnix family. It's been a rough year, but I'm glad we can still get together and catch up. It was a great day overall!

Cousins, Painting and Waving "Hi"

Ok - three random "events" that happened to be on the same day.... so I'm throwing them all together! 

Kristen, Eli and Hannah Joy came to visit yesterday afternoon for a few hours. They met us at Chick-fil-a and had lunch before coming to our house to play. I only took one picture the whole time they were here. The boys had played hard and were getting tired, so we let them put on Toy Story. They sat on the couch with their goldfish and relaxed for a few short minutes. 

Hannah Joy is now crawling, so she enjoyed being down on the floor and Aaron enjoyed attacking her. It's a good thing he napped most of the time they were here! I don't think she would have been very happy otherwise!

Yesterday afternoon after family left, I knew Caleb was getting a little bored. I had bought some watercolors recently and figured it would be fun for him to try. He really enjoyed it and behaved very well! He said he was making a rainbow!

I've been trying to teach Aaron to wave hi and bye. He did it yesterday evening for the camera! Such a big boy!

Speaking of the big boy...he still isn't walking a lot. (A few steps here and there) But, he loves to walk around things. He walked from the blue chair in this picture all the way around the corner with one hand on furniture or the wall the whole time! He thinks it's funny! 

Crafting

During the spring, I was invited to join an i-spy quilting co-op. The general idea of the group was to send in i-spy quality squares and I would receive more back. For example, I could send in ten identical squares and I would get back ten different squares. (As in all ten were different from each other, I didn't have any duplicates) This was a GREAT way to get started in i-spy as it's hard to collect that many different prints (and rather expensive!). 

I've slowly been working on a quilt for the boys since that co-op started. A few weeks ago I finished the quilt top. I still haven't done the quilting or binding, but I'm so excited about the quilt, I wanted to share it anyways! 

This is my first quilt top to be completed on my own. I've done plenty of projects, but always with a little help from GG or my mom. I'm excited to say I did all the cutting, planning and sewing on my own for this one! 

The co-op is doing another exchange in July and I've got most of my squares cut to send in. I can't wait to see what cute things I get back! I've got a few more projects in mind to work on soon : )

I love getting to be crafty and creative!

Aaron: 11 months today!

I CANNOT believe that Aaron is 11 months old today! Where on earth has the time gone? I feel like just yesterday he was starting to crawl and now he's already taking steps! 

 Aaron is always going! He rarely sits still and prefers to stand no matter what he's doing! At a family reunion just this weekend, Jenny said she's never seen a kid move so much...and he does it ALL DAY LONG! He's got the energy of three kids!

 Just a few weeks ago, he figured out how to go up the stairs. I'm sure he could have figured it out before, but he never seemed interested! As much as he's going all the time, he always froze at the bottom of the stairs and waited for us to get him! The baby gate is now always up because as soon as he sees the stairs, he's ready to go up!

 Aaron is FINALLY eating! I have never been so excited to see a kid eat food! He eats most anything we eat, just cut up really small. He also lets me feed him yogurt for breakfast. (He eats more yogurt than Caleb does in a sitting! - Can we say hollow leg?!?) There was a day when it suddenly clicked with him that he could/wanted to eat and it's been non stop since then. If he eats so much now, what's he going to be like in a few years? I'm interested to see how much he weighs at his one year checkup. Within two weeks of starting to eat, he really started to feel heavier.

 He now has six teeth! Four up top and two on bottom. These last two came in a little easier than the first, but they seemed to take forever! Poor guy just doesn't have it as easy as his brother did!

 He blows raspberries all day! I swear my carpet stays wet from the amount of drool this guys produces! Some of it is from teething, but a good portion is from the raspberries! Silly guy!

 Aaron has ZERO interest in baby toys. He only wants his big brother's things! It drives Caleb crazy...but there's not much that can be done about that!

 He loves to be down playing on the floor but if Momma or Dada walks by those arms immediately go up. He loves to be held and loved on and will get upset if we walk by without scooping him up! (Not that we don't have to do that sometimes...but he lets us know he's not happy when we do it!)

And last, but certainly not least...Aaron took his first steps 5 days before he turned 11 months old! He's not "walking" by any means, but he does occasionally take a step or two before falling. He's at most taken six steps in a row, but that's not his usual. He's not extremely interested in walking yet - crawling is much faster and he's got to keep up with his brother!

Beyond all that, he's gotten down to 4, 8 ounce bottles a day! I celebrated that one because it means formula lasts a little longer! Can't wait to ween him completely next month! He's also down to two naps a day. A late morning and early afternoon. (Although today he seems to be taking one REALLY long nap instead....I have no problem with that!)

Aaron is such a joy and a blessing! He's so much like his brother in some ways and completely opposite in others! I love this boy!

Aaron's 1st Steps!

Aaron took his very first step last night, June 6th, 

at Aunt Katy's new apartment! 

I was sitting with Katy on the couch and he was standing on the floor using my foot to hold onto. In the middle of our conversation, he let go of my foot and took one step to grab the coffee table in front of him! I quickly asked if anyone else saw him do it. Jonathan said he did, but it took a bit to register what Aaron had done! I tried to get him to walk again, but he wasn't interested.

Today I've been trying with him some more and he's starting to get it! This afternoon he took SIX steps to me!

I haven't been able to get any videos (it's hard to video and get him to walk toward you at the same time - I need my hubby home)! I wanted to document these first steps in writing though!

Officially: Aaron, you took your first step on June 6th, 5 days before you turned 11 months old!

My Cuties

Some random pictures of our cuties!

Two stair climbers : )

YUM - - - LASAGNA! 

I know I'm cute!

Shuttlebration & a Sprain

On Friday, the mock shuttle arrived! 

For those that have no idea what I'm talking about...since Florida was given one of the real shuttles, they sent us their display mock shuttle. I'm actually appreciative of not getting the real thing. If we had a real shuttle, all we could do was look at it. The mock shuttle is one that we will actually get to go inside of and explore. I'm sure Caleb would not be thrilled to simply look at the shuttle, so this will be much more exciting! 

After I worked out at the gym that morning, I saw on the news that the Kemah bridge would be shut down as the shuttle arrived. I hadn't considered how the barge carrying it would arrive, I just knew where it would end up. I called GG and asked if we would be able to see the barge from her house since she's right down the street from the bridge. She said we should, so I threw the boys in the car and went to GG & Papa's house to watch for the shuttle. 

We ate lunch and waited for it to come into our view. I noticed a helicopter flying around and commented on it....then GG said, "Is that it?"....haha, right below the helicopter was a white dot I hadn't even noticed. It started out coming toward us so we couldn't see the shuttle outline but as it got closer it was turned perfectly to the side. 

Loved the parade of boats! We watched the sail boats sit out and wait for it to arrive and then they all kind of fell in line behind it!

Caleb was using his "noclars" to see it!

I love this picture...just the view of a shuttle squeezing into a rather narrow water way next to the boardwalk with it's roller coaster and carnival rides!

So - we planned to go to "Shuttlebration" across from NASA where the shuttle would actually arrive on the barge that afternoon. We talked about it all week and Jonathan planned to come home early from work to collect us all and we would have fun cheering for our new shuttle! Unfortunately, that didn't happen : (

During my workout that morning, I stepped wrong on my left foot and rolled it to the side. At the time it hurt but I walked it off and didn't feel anything weird. I was only about half way through my class, so I kept going and then spent a few hours at GG and Papa's without any trouble. After I got home and put the boys down for a nap I realized there was a problem. By the time I was going down the stairs I was having to hobble and after I put ice on my foot it was swollen and I couldn't put any weight on it. Jonathan came home and my mom came to watch the boys while I went to get an x-ray. Turns out it was just a bad sprain, but I'm now on crutches and having to keep my foot elevated. 

I feel bad that Caleb and Jonathan didn't get to go to the Shuttlebration event, but in a few months the shuttle will be ready to walk thru and I'm sure that will be a lot of fun for Caleb (& Jonathan too)! Hopefully my ankle will just take a few days to heal and I'll be back to normal. I can't take too much more of this sitting and doing nothing! 

Side Note - Uncle Derrill went down to the boardwalk to get some closer pictures of the shuttle coming in. Here's one that he sent us that afternoon. So cool!