Deep in the Heart of Texas...

Deep-fried oreos, snickers, and corndogs, chicken and funnel cakes, cowboy boots and Derek's new cowboy hat, horses and cows and sheep and tractors and a girls' night out to see OneRepublic. 

 

Love #rodeohouston!

Spring Break Zoo Extravaganza!

Word to the wise: Never. Ever. Attend the Houston zoo on a spring break day. We pulled up fifteen minutes after the zoo opened and had to park in a small, overlooked parking spot farther away from the zoo, but were way better off than the other poor souls driving around for hours with no luck. 

But! Once inside, we enjoyed the most beautiful day. Derek loved all of the animals and was only upset that he wasn't allowed to climb over the fences...

and Luke made friends with a zoo keeper and peppered him with questions about the Ocelot we were looking at. (Why is it up there? Why doesn't it like to look at people? What eats these guys?)

The boys also enjoyed giant popcorn bags as a spring break treat, and other zoogoers enjoyed the spectacle of Derek lugging around a bag of popcorn the size of himself and shoveling handfuls in his mouth as fast as he could. 

And then we made someone else supremely happy when we left them a nice parking spot within walking distance of the zoo. You're welcome, white SUV. 

Super Early Easter Extravaganza!

Where: Luke was one of the oldest kids present and had his eggs in about 10 seconds flat, but happily accepted my "only twelve eggs" rule even though other children had full buckets. 

and: Derek opened every egg he found and commented on the contents ("Oh! Chocolate!") and then ate his entire basket and some of Luke's before he was done. (best mom ever.)

Also: We discovered Luke isn't quite sure what to do with life-size Disney characters, (Are they people? Are they animals?) but did encourage Minnie to collect some Easter eggs and helped point some out to her. 

The boys may have moved past the scatter-eggs-around-on-the-ground phase.

Touch-a-Truck

Every little boy's dream. 

The boys got to honk the horn in this one--Luke made the most of it and held that sucker down. For a long time. 

They also made sure they touched everything they could in the cockpit. (the nice cop commented on how much the boys were exploring) Luke found the altitude adjuster and was cranking it up as high as it would go. 

And they topped it off with a brisk run through the splash pad. Best spring break day ever. 

Derek at 22 Months

Derek's little voice can be heard all day long now! He finally has a recognizable word for his older brother (pronounced "Yukee") and loves pointing things out to him ("Lukey! Airplane!") and scolding him ("No Lukey!") and inviting him to play with him ("Lukey jump couch?"). He refers to himself as "Baby" and has also called himself "D" on occasion. 

Derek's also just kind of a tank. He is a solid little bundle of opinions and expressions and confidence that has no problem plowing other kids over at the park. He leaves a trail of destruction in his wake the likes of which we have never seen before, since Luke has always been surprisingly careful. Suddenly books are being ripped and toys are being broken and walls are being pounded on and there's Baby D, clearly determined to carry it out. He is, however, very honest about his destructive efforts, and will tell Kenny "Baby rip it" or "Baby break it" when he gets home. 

He's also very empathetic, however, and will come up to Luke when he's crying and make sympathetic noises and give him hugs and little kisses on his face. He gives the best little loves and the most painful face pinches and makes the funniest expressions.

And has the best little body. 

Parasites...

...the only thing I could think about while this was going on.

Especially since he may or may not have had a little drink while he was playing.