Playhouse Disney Live

James attended his first ever live show Sunday afternoon. I took James and his friend Cameron to see Playhouse Disney Live. It took James a while to understand what was going on but after a few minutes he was interacting and having a great time. He got to see the Little Einsteins (Rocket included!!), Tigger, Pooh, Darby (My Friends Tigger and Pooh), Handy Manny, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). Both of the boys had a great time. It was a real treat for them to do something without their siblings.

James and Cameron (ignore the band-aid, he dreamt he hit is head and insisted he needed a band-aid)


Silly faces

Sam's birthday party

James attended a bithday party for his classmate, Sam on Saturday. It was an inflatable place. All the kids had an absolute blast. Their favorite was the huge slide. Towards the end of their time in the inflatable room, all the kids would line up on the wall of at the bottom of the slide and one of the dads would push the wall and bounce all the kids off. They must have done that about 20 times before the dad was worn out. I'm so glad that James has made so many new friends at his new school. Here are some photos from the party.

James at the bottom of the slide


All the kids lined up on the wall


Being bumped off

Christmas with MaMaw and Poppa Steve

We celebrated Christmas with MaMaw and Poppa Steve on the 27th. They got a new soccer ball, a few new reader books, puzzles, games and Pat Pat Rocket (Little Einsteins). They both love that toy. James loves to run around pushing it while John likes to put the Little Einstein figured in and out of their seats. They stayed home from school on Friday to spend time with Judy and Steve. James even got to help on Brian's big fence project! That was just the beginning of a very busy weekend for us.

James with Pat Pat Rocket


John opening the soccer ball

Merry Christmas!!!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year!! We had a wonderful time celebrating with the Lewis clan - Poppa, Gammy, Aunt Jocelyn, and Max. The boys had a great time opening gifts although James thought they were all for him. Once we explained that the gifts were for everyone but that he could help open them, he was happy. They got so many great things this year - lots of puzzles, books, learning videos and games, dinosaurs, clothes, etc. They will definitely be entertained for the rest of the year. The adults also got some great gifts as well. Here are some photos from Christmas morning. Please excuse the stain on James' pajamas. He didn't care for the hot chocolate we made him.

James got a bucket of dinosaurs from Santa


Color wonders markers and paints from Santa


John insisted on reading the book James just opened


James opening a game from Gammy and Poppa


John opening a gift

New tile!!

Well Brian and I finally made a decision on flooring for the downstairs in our new house. We decided to put in tile since it's less expensive and will stand up to the kids and dog better than laminate. The guys started the project on the 20th and finished up on the 22nd. It was three very long days but it's all finished and it looks awesome!!! We are so pleased with the results.

Here's the living room and part of the dining room


Here's the dining room

Congratulations Sally (and new furniture)!!

Sally is now an official college graduate!! We all met up in Georgetown to help her celebrate. We got to see all of her beautiful artwork (and even brought some home with us!!) and spend time with her and Jason before the holidays. During our visit, we made a trip down to our favorite furniture store to pick up a new dresser and nightstand for John. While we were there, we found a dining set that we loved and just had to pick up as well. We also got furniture for the guest room. My dad is going to bring everything down to our house on the 21st - just in time for Christmas!!

First trip to Chuck E Cheese

James went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time ever to attend a birthday party for a classmate. He had such an awesome time. He was totally into the toddler rides that just go back and forth. He would come get a coin and run to ride and then come back for another coin. His streak of disliking people dressed up as characters continues. He wanted nothing to do with the guy dressed up as Chuck E Cheese. We sat at the table while all the other kids ran to get goodies and tickets from the guy. Then it was off to ride Barney, Bob the Builder and Stuart Little again.

Mustang Children's Christmas Party

Shortly after returning from Tucson, the boys got to attend the Mustang Children's Christmas party. It was western themed so they got cowboy hats and bandanas, fished for gifts, panned for gold and lassoed stick horses. James didn't want to be within 10 ft of Santa. John on the other hand sat on his lap like it was just any other guy. Here are some pics.

Cowboys James and John


Panning for gold


John and Santa

Thanksgiving adventures

We took our very first road trip as a family for Thanksgiving. We traveled to Tucson, AZ to visit Brian's family. We stayed with his aunt Susie and Uncle John. The boys had a marvelous time. The weather was fantastic and so they were outside from sun up to sun down. Susie and John have an awesome playground in their front yard that James just loved. He spent hours swinging and going down the slide. They got so see lots of farm animals up close including horses, hens, and goats. The drive really wasn't that bad. John was fine as long as you read him stories and James was content to watch movies the whole time. We even saw snow on our drive back. A winter storm hit El Paso just as we drove through. Here are some pictures from our trip.

James caught his very first fish!


John lounging in the hammock

Four generations of Hadley men

Catching Up

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on our blog. I have lots to update everyone on so here goes...

Happy Halloween!!

The boys had a great time wearing their costumes to school and participating in the parade. All the teachers said John was super cute in his cow costume. James had a wonderful time trick or treating. Unfortunately, John was tired and went to bed before it was time to go out. We only had three kids come to the house and were left with tons of candy. Hopefully we'll have a better turn out next year. Here are some photos of the boys in their costumes.

Houston Zoo

Being members of the Houston Zoo is fantastic!! We can go anytime we want for free!! Both of the boys really enjoy looking at the animals and riding the carousel. Thankfully it's getting cooler so the animals come out more. They definitely don't enjoy the heat. One of our favorite activities is to attend the member mornings. The zoo opens at 8 am for members only so you definitely get to beat all the crowds. Plus you can pretty much hit all of the animals before the keeper chat of the month.

John and Mommy in front of the Okapi


James in front of the Okapi


James on the carousel riding a lion

Home Improvements

Well we just finished our first big home improvement project. We installed more ceiling fans to help circulate the air in the house. They've definitely made a huge difference already! We rented a 12' ladder which is HUGE! It just barely fit in our master bedroom. The fan we have in our bedroom is quite noisy so it will be replaced very soon. It's such a shame because it's really a pretty fan. Unfortunately, Brian and I need quiet when we sleep.

Our next project will be painting. We already picked up the paint for the upstairs bathroom and hope to get that completed this weekend. We really like the wall color the builder used but the quality of the paint is really poor. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun picking out colors for all the rooms in our house.

Stitches

Well even though John is only 18 months old, he's the first one of our children to require stitches. He had a fall off the last step and busted his mouth pretty badly. I took him into the pediatric dentist who recommended a stitch to help close up a really bad tear in his gums. John was sedated but it was still painful for him. I felt so badly for him since I had to hold him down on the chair while the dentist did his thing. Thankfully it appears to be healing well. I doubt there will be any scars.

John's a walking fool

John is offically a walker. He really started walking full time a few weeks ago but now it's all he wants to do. We drove up to the Greenspoint area to pick up Brian's cousin Jill and her husband for dinner. John was extremely annoyed at being stuck in his car seat and then the restaurant high chair. He's got this really annoying whine/screech when his not happy. Thankfully we'll never eat at that restaurant again so I don't have to worry about facing the other patrons again. The second we got home, all John wanted to do was walk around and play with his toys. We're so incredibly proud of John for mastering this skill. It took him quite a bit longer than it took James but we knew he'd get there in his own time. He's even started to run. He leads with his tummy and walks as fast as his two little legs will carry him. It's too cute. He's also mastering getting up on the couch upstairs. James is no longer safe up there. John can get up and down on his own and loves to be up ther with James just playing and laughing. They are just too cute together. I really hope they are great friends growing up.

You gotta love that smile :)

John's first steps

Getting started

For the past few years I've been maintaining websites on BabiesOnline for both James and John. I've decided to switch over to a family blog. I'll be keeping everyone updated on how the boys and Molly are doing as well as what we're up to as a family. I hope you enjoy reading our new little piece of cyperspace!