Zoo Days

Bradley and Chris love the zoo. When Brenham was born, they went up there almost every day for a month! Here are some pics from two recent trips where Brenham and I tagged along.

The zoo has stations set up all over where kids can press buttons and hear animal noises. Bradley loves these stations!

Except the one that has a bobcat roaring:

That's him running away after pressing it!

 Bradley also enjoys crawling through the clear tunnel underneath the fish!

Here's a shot from the inside:

The sea otter exhibit is especially neat. The otter plays with the kids as they come up to the glass!

Bradley gets so excited when the otter "plays" with him!

Lastly, there is an opportunity for the kids to pop up into the mongoose habitat:

The Houston zoo is so well done-- these are just a few of the many exhibits that hold Bradley's attention-- and I'm thankful that we are close enough to pop in anytime to enjoy learning about the animals!

Mardi Gras 2015

It was a fast, but packed, Mardi Gras trip this year.

But before we get going, we did take a quick family pic. Guess how many pictures it took to get all dozen of us to look at the camera??

Then the kids stayed up late for the parade!

(That's pretty much the only shot where they are all in focus and kind of smiling... whew!)

Chris has many fond memories of parades while he was growing up and he loves sharing them with Bradley. Like the tradition of buying overpriced light-up swords from the street vendor:

And, of course, watching the parade from his dad's shoulders:

Bradley was so excited when the parade started:

And when the Maid's and Queen's floats came down, he exclaimed, "Look!! Angels!!"

It didn't take long for Bradley to collect lots of goodies:

Thanks, in no small part, to Chris' techniques (and Bradley's obvious cuteness):

These cousins have amazing fathers/uncles... I'm so thankful for the good influences that they are:

It's safe to say that Bradley loved it!

I couldn't get a good shot of him because he only wanted to look at the parade!

And you might be wondering where Brenham was?

That's him in the Bjorn... sleeping on mama the whole time!

The next morning Bradley woke up and saw his bag of beads in the corner of the hotel room. He exclaimed, "Look!! Treasures!!" and happily played with them for quite some time. He still refers to any Mardi Gras beads as his "treasures". 

The next morning we took Bradley to do something every child should:

Roll down the hill!

The problem was, he didn't know how!

A quick lesson from Chris and Bradley was giggling and rolling and climbing for the next half hour!

(Listening to those giggles will turn around even the worst of days!

After some breakfast, a day parade and a looooooong bath in the large hotel room bathtub (he was doing laps, it was hilarious), I left the boys with a sitter and enjoyed watching Chris in his parade. Then we both enjoyed the ball.

It's always good to get out every once in a while, right??

Would you believe this is Bradley's THIRD Mardi Gras? Let's take a stroll down memory lane:
Year one (he was 6 months old).
Year two (he was 18 months old).

Excited to see Bradley and Brenham continue to enjoy this family tradition!

Five Months with Brenham

Brenham is 5 months old!

Despite the occasion giggle (or belly laugh), he's still pretty serious:

And downright moody at times!

He's rolling over (and over and over... that seems to be his preferred method of traveling across the kitchen floor) and will sit with assistance.

As you can see, Big Brother still loves to be with Brenham, but sometimes his play is just a little rough.

Here's a shot of Brenham:

Immediately after this shot, I turned the camera toward Bradley:

Which I think sums up both of their personalities pretty well!

Brenham also "talks" a ton! Lots of coos and babbles from this guy!

He's not sleeping well at all. But I'm hoping by the next monthly report we'll have that all worked out.

Brenham we love you and every little smile we can get!

I especially love our snuggles... even though at times it feels like you won't ever let me go!

I know it won't be long until you're wiggling out of my arms like your Big Brother!

Here are the two Hill Boys at 5 mo:

You can see our gentle giant, Brenham, is definitely gaining on Bradley at that age!

Brothers Playing

Bradley loves to play with his little brother!!

And Brenham loves it too.

So far Bradley's *pretty* good about "sharing" his old toys with Brenham. He loves to show them how they work!

I hope these boys grow up to always be great friends!

January Randoms

Here are some highlights from January-- there are many... but none were worthy of their own blog post!

Brenham is a smiler!! Lots of sweet photos of this guy looking happy and oh-so-adorable!

Lots.

Builder Bradley. He likes to build towers, houses and ice cream cones. Sometimes he creates them entirely, other times he's the architect telling Daddy what to build!

We're becoming somewhat regulars at BB's. Here Chris and Bradley are coloring (Bradley asks Chris to draw him owls.)

Brenham watches on as Big Brother dances around in a backwards cap, sweater and no pants. Just a typical afternoon!

Rocking the goggles at a science-themed playdate.

A "selfie" attempt on a warm January afternoon in the backyard playing on the...

Bouncy house! Pretty much if its not raining, we're playing on the bouncy house!

Cheering on the Houston Marathon runners.

Chris keeping him off of the course!

How Brenham chills most of the time we're not at home!

The "box toy" is a hit!

Bradley sharing all of his stuffed animals with a "not impressed" Brenham.

Soccer lessons with Bradley's BFF are tooootally paying off (this is in the middle of practice).

More fun with cones at our house (notice the bouncy house).

Celebrating a dear friend's wedding on the last day of January. This was the first time in over a year that I was not pregnant and baby free! I might have danced so much my shoes fell apart. It was a grand time!!

That wraps up January with at the Hill's Country!