Egg Hunt

Well, Joseph is at Priesthood session right now and I am mostly putting off all the housework that has to be done.
Today we went to San Antonio to see our nephew Tyler be baptised. It was a great experience for Emily who is so curious and excited about baptism. After the baptism we went to Joseph brother's family's house to visit Grandma Cooper who is in town for the weekend and to play with the cousins. They were awesome enough to organize a little Easter egg hunt in their house for the kids who had a blast. The problem is, I forgot the camera. So instead I will talk about the Easter egg hunt Emily and Caleb participated in last Saturday.
It was a really fun activity. We had beautiful weather and there were a few snacks and treats available for the kids to enjoy.

Here is Emily carbo-loading before the big event.

A pep talk by the neighbor.

The under-three-year-olds got a head start so Emily was able to gather a few eggs before the masses covered the field and consumed everything in their path (kind of like locusts).


Here I am telling a kid off for grabbing two eggs right as Caleb was reaching for them. One of them was literally inches away from his little hand before it was swooped away. It's hard being a baby.

We have had so much fun with the commercial aspect of Easter, I am excited to talk to the kids a little bit about the real reason for the holiday tomorrow.
I hope you all have a happy Easter!

Lovely Weather

We have not been blogging lately because the weather has been so beautiful! We spend all our time outside. Seriously... I've been having a hard time getting to the grocery store because I feel like we're missing out on valuable outside time.
Maybe I'll blog more when the weather turns bad. :)

No Way to Hide it

Hey, everyone, we're having another baby! It's due in September, so it'll be pretty much the same spacing as with Emily and Caleb.

I was kind of hoping to keep it quiet a little bit longer, but I also wanted to avoid awkward situations where people are not sure if I'm pregnant or just letting myself go.

We're super excited and having fun trying to get Emily used to the idea.

Our Little Droolbug

Emily is a drooly kid. She always has been and she may always be. I hope she grows out of it though. Joseph has been coaching her on keeping it all contained. People always ask if she's teething, and she might be, but mostly she's just a drooly kid.

A Cooking Essential

We are the proud new owners of our very own can of CocoLopez cream of coconut.
I have no idea how much it cost, how to use it, or which child sneakily put it in the cart and then onto the conveyor belt.

St. Patty's Day

Joseph is really the domestic one in our family, so this morning he got up and made such a fun breakfast for us! Well, really mostly for him and Emily since Caleb is a crybaby and had to go back to bed before breakfast and I went running.
Green eggs, green pancakes, green drink (we didn't really drink that - we had milk) and green kiwis (not pictured). Emily thought it was the best thing in the world. She ate way more than she normally does. Caleb also thought it was awesome when he woke up and ate an entire one of my pancakes slathered in whipped cream and maple syrup. He is a bottomless pit if there's enough sugar in his food.

Later Joseph was invited to play Risk with some of the other guys in our complex. It is Spring Break right now so a lot of people are home. Since Risk is really not a family activity (it pits spouses against each other and has way too many small pieces for kids), Emily, Caleb, and I went to the library and then played outside with some of the neighborhood kids.

After naps we decided to grill some chicken for dinner so we headed down to the little gazebo area near our apartment. The food was so good and the kids burned a lot of energy. We had Emily running around in circles just for the fun of it by the end.

Here is Mr. Serious. He has such a great smile and laughs a lot when he has reason to, but otherwise his face is always very serious and contemplative. Like in this picture. Even though he's at the funnest barbecue in the world, he is not being tickled or chased so it is a serious affair.


Emily took a liking to the potato wedges and dumped the whole bag on her plate. That alone is probably more than an entire daily allotment of toddler calories. She really only ended up eating one or two.


These s'mores were the greatest things in the whole world. Chocolate bars were expensive so we used the chocolate covered grahams that Keebler makes and the kids loved it. Caleb must have eaten his entire body weight in cookies. Emily loved watching Joseph roast the marshmallows. I loved eating the gooey-ness. I think this picture is funny because of how full Emily's mouth is. She can barely close it!

It was such a fun day! We love when Joseph stays home!

'Tis the season

We love having a reason to celebrate with pie.

There's just something about peek-a-boo that is adorable to me, even when we've already posted multiple peek-a-boo videos.

Teething

This boy has a problem. When Emily was teething she would just wake up one morning and have a new tooth (even with the canines, which are supposed to hurt the most). Sometimes we wouldn't notice a new tooth until the doctor pointed it out to us.
Caleb took the cutting of the incisors in stride, but now has sore swollen gums and impending molars. This experience has been nothing like with Emily. I am home from church with him right now because he would not stop crying and he would not let me put him down. I knew I would be in the halls the whole time so I just came home. It doesn't help that we have to be at church by 11:30 for choir and don't get home until 3:30 - right through nap time. But he sure has been one grumpy baby. I hope this passes quickly for all of our sakes!

Explore UT

Last Saturday was Explore UT, a huge open house that the university holds. The different departments have demos for kids to try. Emily got to shoot a water balloon catapult with the mechanical engineering students and we caught the end of a chemistry demo that involved lots of fire, some liquid nitrogen, and lots of other fun stuff. There were lots of crafts and other activities, but we didn't stay for too long.
The coolest exhibit, though, had to be the one that Joseph had. He's told me before what he works on, but I've mostly seen lots of coding and math. Last Saturday I got to see kids playing with his creation and having a great time. I took these pictures just as the first group was getting there, but for the rest of the day Joseph had a long line and a huge crowd filling his lab. Basically, Joseph Rocks. And Caleb knows it.

Here, the very first girl is wearing the helmet that allows her to see the virtual world and is wearing a glove that allows her to manipulate virtual objects.


If you click on this picture here and look at the television screen you will see the cool drum set Joseph has created. The kids could really play this with their gloved hand and hear sounds through the helmet and external speakers.


There were also virtual blocks the kids could play with and a little dummy they could pick up and move just by pointing at it and waving their hand.


This is Joseph and his adviser getting a girl set up with the helmet. His adviser has been so great. Joseph has been working with him almost since the very beginning of his program. Because of this man, Joseph has been able to work on what he's interested in and create something incredible. We are very grateful for our situation here in Austin.

The Quilting Blues

I started planning Caleb's quilt before he was born, and I was so excited to start.
Now I am just frustrated because I cannot find the right blue! It is driving me crazy! Maybe I need to try a fabric store besides JoAnn's and Hancock.
My goal now is to finish it by this winter since he won't be using blankets for the next 6 months (it is supposed to get up to 78 today!).