Story through iPhone pics

Part of the reason I have been so horrible about blogging lately is that I use my iPhone to capture photos rather than using my camera mainly because I always have my phone with me and my camera is kind of large and annoying to constantly carry with me. But after looking at the quality of these pictures I really need to start carrying the big camera with me daily! Here is a story through iPhone pictures of the past few months, a little out of order:

Grandma Juanita came to visit the first week of March and found herself reading 1,567,345 books to the kids

Look closely and you will see our Elf on a Shelf.  Quinn really wanted to take a picture of this by herself

A trip to the Austin Zoo!

Two buds fast asleep while watching the tube, classic!

One day Joshua is really going to be upset that all of his hand-me-downs are pink and purple!

Dancing dude!

Homemade play-doh!

A baby in a box!

This is a minor example of the tornado that follows in Joshua's path

Freedom to run!

This little costume was my brother's Halloween costume when he was about Joshua's age.  He didn't like it at all! 

All the energy this little man expends wears him out!

Sweet baby boy...

Cinderfella

You give this guy some wheels and he is in heaven

Trying to help Quinn do dishes!

Mall rides- leverage for good behavior while trying to "shop"

Donuts at HEB- lets face it, sometimes the only way I can complete my grocery shopping

Quinn is trying to teach Joshua to color

Let's read!

Quinn did her own lipstick!

Loving this homemade play-doh!

Quinn got a big girl bed for Christmas.  She has so much fun playing barbies on it!

Such a good big sis!

Roller skating for the first time.  This girl can scoot on those wheels!

Spidey Quinn

Trial of Lights and the next best thing to a good family portrait, ha!

 

Full Circle

Quinn started gymnastics again this spring and has really looked forward to every class. She is now in the 3-4 year old class and is learning so many new skills. Gym equipment and sure work up an appetite on a three year old- she's always starving and asking for a snack when she gets out. Joshua and I watch as she does her class from behind the glass windows at the YMCA. And by watch I mean walk/run up and down the hall, eat snacks, wonder into the exercise rooms- you get it, he's a busy man! I don't even have any pictures to show of the class yet because of this! My mom sent a box of my old dance clothing from when I was little and Quinn was so excited to try some of it on. She's pumped to wear this one to her next gymnastics class!

 

Christmas 2012

Yikes! I'm officially the worst blogger! Here we are in March and I'm just now getting around to blogging about Christmas. So much has gone on since then but for now I'll post about our holidays. We started off the month of December in New Mexico celebrating the several graduations. My brother Eric graduated from the Albuquerque Fire Academy and we were all just so proud that we was one of the twenty out of hundreds that made it through the rigorous sixteen week program. He is now working full time as a fire fighter and is absolutely loving it. I'm so jealous, what a blessing to be able to do something you just love for a living! Jaime's sister Elissa also graduated from UNM with a degree in biochemistry. We got to meet her sweet new baby boy Cole, what a cutie! We returned to Austin to celebrate Christmas with Mama Rose and Papa James. Quinn was soooo eager to celebrate Christmas as she would admire her gifts under the tree every day. Christmas is just such a magical time with young children, we love every minute of it!!

Joshua got this train table from us and it has been the one of the best purchases we've made!  Both Quinn and he have spent countless hours playing with it since Christmas!

Quinn asked us for a Furby.  It talks, sings and dances, its hilarious!

 

Playing catch up- Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone! This year's Halloween was so fun having two little ones to dress up! We had so many celebrations to attend this year between school, play dates, Trunk-or-Treating, and birthday parties that Quinn became a pro at getting dressed up by the time Halloween actually arrived. She had her heart set on being a 'cute' witch so we did our best to make that happen. And as for Joshua, he got to be the pumpkin that Quinn wore on her first Halloween. Maybe next year he will have a little say in his costume. ;) Quinn had a parade and party at her school on the Tuesday before Halloween. Here are a few pictures of that day:

This little parade was the cutest thing ever!

Witchy pals!

This little guy was content completely happy playing with the kitchen set in the classroom

There are so many fun kids and families in our neighborhood and the past two years we've all gone trick-or-treating in our neighborhood together. I'm hoping this becomes a tradition!

These two were ready to go!

Family Photos and the Latest

I've been a horrible blogger the past few months, eek! The whole reason I'm doing the blog is to have in place of baby books so I better keep up. One day I'll turn these posts into a book and when we're old we can look back and lament on the way things used to be! Several weeks back we took family photos with a dear friend of mine, Jen Loves Photography and Design and we're so amazed with the sweet moments she was able to capture! Especially since Quinn decided she wasn't going to smile or talk! Jen's got some talent!! We did take some family photos of all four but I'm not going to show those since we'll use them on our Christmas card. Here are a couple that I loved:

Aren't they great photos?  We even had one with both kiddos smiling!  Victory!!

Things at home have been BUSY to say the least.  Joshua is on the verge of walking, yikes, and is getting into everything.   He crawls at the speed of light and will crawl even faster if you are trying to pick him up.  He loves to walk around while pushing one of his stand up toys and will go around and around our kitchen.  He is understanding so much more and is starting to speak a little more.  His favorite word (and person) is Dada.  He is now pointing to an object and will say "ssaaaat?"  I think he's saying "what's that?".  He also likes to say "no, no, no".  Peek-a-boo is becoming his favorite activity now too.

This has become common place in our house right around the time I have to make dinner.  The only thing you can't see here is the mess his older sister is making in her room/living room/playroom/other side of kitchen!

Quinn is loving school so much and I'm so glad.  There for a while I was so worried that she wasn't making any friends or talking to anybody because she was really being sooooooo shy at school.  I spoke to her teacher about this and she set Quinn up to play with another sweet little girl who is just as equally shy as Quinn and now Quinn tells me they are best friends!  I saw them playing on the playground the other day and Quinn was pretending to be a dog while her friend was pretending to pull her on a leash.  It was hilarious!