Alabamaws Arrival

So, I hadn't mentioned it on the blog yet...but The Alabamaws came to town yesterday. Easton got to go to the airport with Daddy to pick them up, but Diddles was napping at first so he stayed home with me. When he woke up we had lots of fun playing chase upstairs:








Then The Maws got here. And they didn't come empty handed. The boys both got punch balloons:






Which led to a new game:

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What good sports they are!

Easton also got the world's coolest pajamas:

They have a cape!

Diddles got some too, but he wasn't chomping at the bit to put them on in the middle of the afternoon like his brother was.

We ordered pizza for dinner and Easton impressed us with his pizza eating once again:


The boy actually drank about an ounce of milk to boot! Milk normally makes him gag, but a certain Maw is a milk fan so Easton asked for some too...after his few sips he told us, "Water will be fine." :)

Dalton and G-Ma shared some high-fives over a successful meal...or maybe it was just for fun:

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Jason took G-Ma and July up to their hotel to check in, Easton wanted to tag along. So Dalton and I made the most of our time and we swept and mopped the kitchen:


Then we vaccuumed:

He's gonna be as great of a helper as his Bubba is.

Everyone came back to the house and we did some more playing:


But before long the boys had to go to bed and Jason eventually took the weary travelers to their hotel for the night.

Dalton slept through the night again, only it was a much shorter night. 7:30-5:30...I nursed him but he didn't go back to sleep so at 6:30 I gave up on him and he and I went for a walk. When Easton woke up it was exciting...both the boys were in their Batman jammies.






We picked up The Maws bright and early for our Monday doughnut run. We wanted to treat them to the freshest Krispy Kremes possible so we ate inside...and the boys wanted to wear their cool new p.j.'s. So we let 'em:




And then I snagged them some of the Krispy Kreme free hats:




We came to the house briefly, mostly so I could make up my shopping list and then we headed off to Wal-Mart. July got one of their ride-on carts and Easton asked if he could sit on her lap...lucky for him she agreed:

The Maws took off to do a little shopping of their own and Easton stayed with them...I was glad to see him do well. When Mimi and PawPaw were last here Easton was in his "clingier than normal" phase and wouldn't go with them.

Diddles and I took off to fill our own cart...man, I forgot how much quicker shopping goes with just one kid:


We met up and checked out and came home. The boys both ate some more doughnuts and then I put Mr. D to bed. He was cranky for D...which is still happier than most kids on a good day. Before Easton's quiet time he did a little painting in the new Justice League activity book The Maws brought for him:


And then we watched a few Batman and Wonder Woman YouTubes before turning on a few of Easton's favorite songs. G-Ma paused in her chicken salad making to dance with her grandson:




Then Easton went up for his quiet time and the rest of us lunched on G-Ma's "northern" chicken salad--pretty good!

As I sit here typing this Easton is done with his quiet time and he and The Maws are playing with PlayDoh:


And this is just the first day! Stay tuned for more fun with The Maws through the week.

You Want to See My Monkey?

Friday was Easton's "off day"...between his 2 poos, a nasty skid mark, getting soaked in the hose, and then spilling some juice the boy went through 6 pairs of underwear that day. So at one point he was in just underwear...less laundry that way. While I was IMing with Jason about what the heck we were gonna have for dinner that night, Easton went to the fridge, got some juice, put it and himself on the counter and proceeded to pour himself a cup without spilling a drop. We joked that he's ready for Montessori now! We've noticed they're big on pouring.

I was watching the whole thing from here at the computer. I told him that he did good but next time Mommy needs to help him. And you know what: when I helped him later, we spilled! Ha ha!

Later he put on his monkey costume and we went out to the front yard for a bit and my monkey boy did what he does best: climb:










And Dalton just diddled around because he's good at that:






Then we went to Target...what a nightmare that was. Easton was horrible. He wasn't listening, he was throwing fits, I went there to get dinner fixings but ended up grabbing only diapers because we had to hightail it out of there. With Easton tantruming the whole time.

I told you it was an off day.

Dinner wasn't too bad...we played with clothespins:


E went to bed slightly early and we kept Dalton up a tad later. Thank goodness for the early bedtime, everyone slept in till 7:30 on Saturday and Easton was much better for his 9 a.m. soccer game, even though he looks like a brat here:


He's in the warm up circle, I think he was making his Buzz face at me, the hands on hips thing is Buzz. He wasn't being a stinker. And he did more warm-ups channeling his inner Jane Fonda, or perhaps John Travolta:


I find this one hysterical, not because of Easton--he's not doing anything too exciting...but look at his teammate in the upper right corner. Click the pic for a closer view of poor Ben caught at a most inopportune time:

Bwah haha ha!

It was lovely and overcast that morning, Diddles wore one of his winter outfits, but just look at how cute our "BA!" fan is:




Go, Eastie, Go!




Dalton can't wait till one day when he can really play too:


I was tickling him to keep him entertained, Jason was all, I want to get a picture of that...but it didn't turn out well, looks quite the opposite of the fun we were having:


Not enjoying the baby banana half time snack:

Dizz didn't like them either. Oh well.

Watching the game:


After his game the little guys and I actually went to the zoo. Jason was due for some me time and he likes to have his at the house sometimes (he gets to leave all the time). So, he wanted to be able to crank his guitars and record some vocals and stuff without having to worry about the rest of us.

Plus our zoo pass expires this month. I totally plan to renew it, but not until we plan to go to the zoo again. And we don't go much in the summer: too hot. But not yesterday, I think it was an overcast 66 degrees.

Dalton fell asleep on the way there, he'd had two rough nights where he was up a lot (but no milk!):


Easton just made mischevious faces at me:


We did not do our regular path at the zoo. Instead Easton was wanting to see some snakes so that was what we focused on...but the giraffes are on the way:




The polar bears on are the way too:




As is the snack bar, tee hee...we had coupons for a free beverage. It expires with our season pass so I wanted to make sure we got it. Easton entertained himself in the line:

I bought some onion rings for myself and we got our free drink and then we sat to snack:




Some little critters decided to join us...we even invited them too by sprinking some of our crumbs for them:




The sea lions are right by that snack bar:


And then we finally made it over to their "Tropical Discovery" building where the snakes and such are. They don't allow strollers so Easton took a picture of me and D:


Checking out some sort of snake:


Looking at the fish and gigantic turtle:


Dalton liked the little ones:


I'm pretty sure this face is from when he was looking at the Komodo Dragons:


After we finished in tropical discovery we "needed" to head over to the carousel. We also had a "free ride" coupon that expired soon we had to use. Easton got to get really close to a peacock on the way:


And we stopped to share some ice cream:



You think that's cute? Just think how cute it must've been when all three of us were enjoying a simultaneous lick.

Finally we made it over to the carousel:


Dalton was excited when he realized what we were going to do:


Easton picked a monkey one...duh!


By default Dalton got the zebra next to E's:


Here's me!


Then I packed them both in the stroller with some Cheez-Its and hiked back towards the exit:


We spent much more time at the zoo than I'd thought. Jason got lots of time to work on his music stuff so that was good. I put Dalton down for a late nap as soon as we got home. Easton and Jason headed out to mow the lawn. I made sure not to let D sleep too long which was smart: he went straight to sleep at 7:45 and not a peep from him till 7:05 this morning. His second night of sleeping straight through! We're getting there!