Little Monkeys

This weekend our friends, Heath and Barbara, and their son, Carter, came to visit. They made it in late Friday night, which of course, meant we stayed up late visiting when they arrived. The only reason we went to bed as early as we did was because we knew Jackson and Audrey wouldn't be sleeping in!

Saturday morning we loaded everyone into the car and headed to the zoo. We started with the traveling dinosaur exhibit. Jackson loves dinosaurs when they're in a book or on a puzzle. Up close and personal was a different story. His initial reaction was to cling to Daddy's leg.

Carter on the other hand had seen the exhibit somewhere else before, so he was ready to go!

It didn't take Jackson long to start "roaring" at the dinosaurs from the safety of our arms, and once he saw the baby dinosaurs, he was ready to check them out.

He still wasn't real sure though...

Especially after these guys started spitting at people and making them scream.

From there we made our way over to the children's section of the zoo, where the boys got to check out an injured bald eagle.

They had fun checking out the cows, lamas, geese, pigs, and other animals. Of course, getting to brush the goats was a highlight!

Audrey slept through most of this part of the visit, and as the older of the three, Carter made sure to take good care of both Jackson and Audrey. He held Jackson's hand to make sure he didn't wander off, and entertained Audrey during lunch.

Jackson helped entertain Audrey by being a bird and making her smile.

Our little monkeys enjoyed watching the monkeys.

It was shortly after this picture that I realized Audrey's ear was filled with blood! She'd scratched it, but she wasn't complaining at all. It took at least 10 minutes of putting pressure on it to get the bleeding to stop...I was beginning to worry that it wouldn't!

Next the boys watched the elephants eating, and Jackson spent a little time speaking to them in their language (raising his trunk and blowing at them).

To round out the trip, we hopped on the train and checked out Memorial Hermann Park. We were all hot and tired by this point, but it was a great way to end the adventure.

We took it pretty easy the rest of the afternoon and then made our way to Lupe Tortilla for dinner and some play time in the sand.

This morning we cooked a yummy breakfast of huevos rancheros and took our time getting ready. Then we headed to Kemah and let the boys play in the fountain. Again, they were a little slow to get started playing, but once they decided it was okay, there was no stopping them!

Audrey was great all weekend...she was simply adorable!

Believe it or not, there are even more pictures in the album from both the zoo and Kemah. We all had SO much fun...we already miss them!

A Walk in the Park

We spent Labor Day Weekend in Shreveport for the Stone Family Reunion (Ross' Mom's side of the family). It's been a wonderful tradition for many years, but this year was a little different. There were a few people missing for different reasons, but most notably was the absence of Ross' Grandmother. She passed away in July, and since we also always celebrated Ross' grandparents' wedding anniversary during this weekend, she was greatly missed.

Between the big family gatherings the Taylor family spent part of the morning walking together in the gardens behind the Norton Art Gallery.

Jackson had fun wandering down all the paths even when Mom made a request for him to stop and pose.

Audrey was all smiles most of the weekend. If you look closely here, you can see her two new teeth that cut through this week!

The water features in this garden are beautiful and very intriguing to the little ones.

There are several sculptures throughout the gardens that caught the kiddos attention. Here they had fun riding the mountain lion!

We all took a little break by the pond and snapped a few more photos.

Of course, we had to take advantage of the opportunity to get a few photos of our adorable nephew! He's another happy baby!

There are a few more pics from the weekend in the album.

I didn't take hardly any pictures at the big family gatherings this year, but here's one of the boys splashing around at the pool party.

It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and to see how much the kids have grown and changed. We are so grateful for this opportunity to see everyone every year!

Ready, Set, Play!

We decided to get Jackson a play set for his 2nd birthday. It's been sitting in our garage for a little while as we've been redoing the backyard. The playset has been part of the master plan for the yard though, and it's finally done! Over the last three weekends, Ross and a couple of good friends, Eric and Todd, have assembled the play set.

The first weekend, Eric and Todd came over with their drills in hand and spent most of the day in the swelltering heat piecing together the play house portion of the set. It was so hot they eventually got smart and set up a tent and a box fan to provide a little relief. They came to a pretty abrupt stop when we when decided to head to Shreveport because Ross' dad, John, had gone into the hospital, which you can read more about here. Eric and Todd were awesome! While we quickly started gathering our things to leave, they helped clean up the yard so everything was in place before we left.

When we returned home from Shreveport later that week, Ross was able to get the swing set portion of the play set up with minor help from me. Knowing Jackson's love of swinging, this was an important milestone!

Today, Ross put the finishing touches on the play set which included the ladder to the second story, the rock wall, and most importantly, the slide! When Jackson woke up from his nap today, everything was ready to go, and he was one excited little boy! Here are a few pics of him checking everything out today. There are more pics in the album.

Thankful!

This picture of Jackson sums up the emotions we've had over the past week...tears, laughter, and exhaustion.

Last Saturday Ross' dad, John, went into the hospital. He had an acute liver event that put him in the ER and then the ICU. The doctors were pessimistic after reviewing his medical history, but they didn't know who they were dealing with! When one of his doctors that knows him arrived, the attitude changed completely, but he wasn't necessarily in the clear at that point. Ross and I loaded up the car as fast as possible that day and made our way to Shreveport. We dropped the kids off with my parents and met Ross' mom, Susan, at the hospital. We got about two hours of sleep before seeing John at the next visiting hours, which were at 5 AM. Ross' sister, Leslie, and her family made it all the way from Leakey by 7 AM. The first 48 hours were pretty scary, but on Monday he had a turning point. They now believe the liver event was triggered by anesthesia he had earlier in the week for an out patient procedure. By Wednesday he was moved from the ICU to one of the regular floors and was able to return home this Saturday. We came home on Wednesday when John was moved out of ICU, and Ross went back to Shreveport on Friday night to be there to help out when John came home on Saturday. We are so thankful for all of the prayers and support from family and friends. It definitely made a difference! More than anything we are thankful to still have John in our lives!

While Ross was in Shreveport this weekend, Jackson and I made our way to the Houston Zoo for a birthday party. Our friends, Todd and Heather, kept Audrey so she could get her morning nap and some quality time with them! We had a blast at the zoo. Jackson loves seeing the animals. The river otter exhibit has a window that lets you see the otters swimming under water, and Jackson followed them back and forth for a while. He also got to pet a chinchilla and a 2 year old alligator! The carousel was one of his favorite things we did that day. He got to ride a bear and an elephant! Many thanks to the Allyn family for such a fun time!

Today was a pretty typical Sunday. I took the kiddos to church this morning, they napped after lunch, and then we made our way to the grocery store. I have to admit...this was the first time either of us have attempted taking both kiddos to the store by ourselves. It went surprisingly well. Now that Audrey is able to sit up she can ride in the buggy, so bye-bye sling!

Jackson has had a rough time since we got back from Shreveport. He was sent home from daycare on Thursday for biting and then ended up getting a fever on Friday. I can't decide if the fever is from teething...he's getting his 2 year molars in, which could explain the biting too, or if this cold he's had for about a week has settled into his chest and turned into something worse.

Audrey had the same cold, but surprisingly she's already over it! I dressed her up for church today. Our church is pretty casual, so we don't have a good excuse to get dressed up. My grandparents gave Audrey a beautiful pink, smocked dress at her baby shower, and I was planning to save it for her baby dedication. Unfortunately, I think she's going to out-grow the dress before we can find a good date to schedule it, so I decided to dress her up for church and take a few pictures today.

This one's for Barbara...her monogramed bloomers are adorable!

There are more new pictures of Audrey in her album.

I also managed to get a couple of pictures of Jackson and Jackson with Audrey today too. Getting him to smile for the camera is impossible right now, and I didn't have my "clown" to help get their attention, so they're pretty focused on their train toy.

He's such a sweet big brother...most of the time.

There are more pictures of Jackson and Jackson with Audrey in his album.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the new school year! Jackson will be moving up to a new room, and Audrey will begin attending the same day care. We're excited to see what this year has in store!