illinois trip - day 1 :: airport, grandparents' house, coasters, noes

wednesday, september 24 ~ day 1 of our illinois adventure

we got up bright and early and headed to austin-bergstrom airport for our 10:00am flight to chicago.

ok, we found our gate. now i just need to run off some of this excess energy before we have to sit in our seats for two and a half hours.

whoops. i ran off too much energy. i need a quick break with my brand new cars cup.

that belly looks like it could use some tickles!

i dressed my boys alike in case i lost one of them. i could just point to the one i had and say the other one looks just like him only bigger (or smaller depending on which one i lost).

here's jonah and daddy checking out the very exciting airplanes. jonah was very enthusiastic about getting to ride on a plane. he kept saying "fwy" and pointing up in the sky and flapping his hands like bird wings.


we made it safe and sound to chicago o'hare. jonah did great on the flight. we ate teddy grahams, fruit snacks and crackers with cheese dip and watched movies on daddy's laptop. jonah didn't make a peep until we were taxi'ing into our gate when he decided to scream at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. "use your airplane voice, jonah."

my bestest friend rachael picked us up from the airport! sooooo good to see her!!!

classic rachael.

grandma was very excited to see jonah boy. here he is playing with his new obnoxious ninja frog. it is pretty funny... and loud.

daddy working on mastering the tower. this toy is from my grandma's house when i was a kid. it's awesome.

cute cousin kylee!

we had ice cream for dessert.

jonah found the mini ice cream scoop magnet on grandma's fridge and an empty bowl and served himself some imaginary ice cream. mmm... low cal.

playin' with uncle jeff


kylee and jonah finding stuff in i spy with grandpa.


now this is a classic gurbal past time... coaster spinning. i am a pro. it takes skill. let me tell ya. it's fun to see how many you can get going at once without a toddler stopping them. that's the challenging part.

ooohhh... whirley...

ooh, there goes one now.

hey, get back here with that! you crazy silly coaster stealing monkey!

rachael and the boys arrive!

i love this girl!

i am so happy i finally captured jonah's surprise face. he's so silly!

playing slinky with jaycob. they would look through each end at each other and then jonah would fall down laughing... over and over again. hee hee.

"tackle him!" don't worry. no 7 year olds were harmed in the taking of this photograph.

zack zack, the lego maniac. there's that smile!

aw! jonah's pals! we've missed you!

two years in the making...

finally! we have family photos! my dear and lovely photographer friend laura met my whole crazy giant family at island park last weekend when dave and jonah and i were in illinois for a visit and helped us get some family photos. i'm just putting up a quick sneak peek. i still have to do some editing, but i was just so excited about the amazing and beautiful images she got of us that i wanted to share a few of them right away.

i will have lots and lots and lots more pics from our trip up soon. i took almost 3,000 pictures during our trip so it might take me just a little while to sort through them all.

here we are!










i love you, laura! thank you so much for capturing me and my boys on a beautiful fall morning in september.

go-go with dada

here are my tough boys. jonah had just woken up from his nap and had to sit down and put on his headset and get his "go go" controller like his dada.

he calls it "go go" because dave used to have a game where the guys would shout "go! go! go!" all military style. i'm sure you can imagine it.

"i used force push to throw the barrel at that guy! did you see me, dad?! huh?! huh?! did you see me?!"

"ooohhh... i died." so sad...

check out the look on jonah's face on this one. i can't tell if he's thinking "my dad's so cool" or if he's thinking "my dad's a little crazy".

"ah ha ha ha! i'm so cool with my headset on!"

"we're boyz"

"dad, you gotta mute it when you talk to mama about making dinner. we don't want to look like mama's boys."

awe! jonah & dada! =)

10 pounds of dynamite in a 5 pound bag

that's how dave often describes his mom. =)

nana is the principal at a local christian school. the kids adore her. could it be her unapologetic school spirit? i mean how could you not love a face like this?

friday night :: pizza picnic & movie night

a week ago friday (boy, i've been away a long time, haven't i?) daddy was out of town on business working a vendor show or something like that. so jonah and i decided to have a really fun pizza picnic and movie night. we popped in el dorado from the library and ate cardboard pizza on a big blanket spread out on the floor.

jonah really gets into movies so i usually have more fun watching him than the movie and the other night was no exception. i lost track of how many times he said "uh oh! _________!"

tossin' back a cold one.




woo hoo! what a great date!

stuff to do with toddlers: bubbles! bubbles! bubbles!

oh glorious glorious day! we finally had a day where it wasn't 98 degrees by 9am and we took full advantage!

we went over to jackson's house on wednesday morning and played in the backyard. there was a lovely breeze and i tell you, 83 degrees has never felt better! texas welcomes you fall!!!

lara busted out the bubbles and the boys went to town. well jackson was into them most of the time. jonah on the other hand has never had full reign of his own bubble wand and bottle before so i think he blew bubbles for about 56 minutes of the hour we were outside. there was a brief tee ball intermission, but when sharing was not going his way he went back to the bubbles. and i mean, who can blame him? besides a barrel of monkeys is there anything more fun?


hey, at least he's getting good practice for blowing out his birthday candles at the end of this month!


where's your happy place?


see. breezy.


oh i love when they squat.



"so i went up to the girl and i was like, 'hey baby, do you want to share my fruit snacks? they're nemo.'"


still going...

happy birthday my friend jenn!

dave and i went out last night to celebrate my friend jenn's birthday. we went to this awesome restaurant at the domain called jasper's. i wish i would have remembered to take a picture of the food. it was to die for. lots of fun!

then we went back to jenn & tony's place for cupcakes. dave and i ended up staying pretty late. it was so nice to be out. i think neither of us were in a hurry to get home. it's a small luxury to have a full conversation without being interupted by a short one. we've got to do that more often. (thanks nana & papa for babysitting!)

here are a few of the pictures from our night. the rest are here.

happy birthday, mrs. harrison!!! (it makes me smile so big that my beautiful newlywed friend still giggles and scrunches up her shoulders when you call her that.)

tony, ethan & jenn



me and my handsome hubby

make a wish!

jj & tonia's kids are awesome!!!