Start of Spring

We have had a good (but wet) start to spring so far.  When it's not raining, the weather has been really nice so our family has been spending some time enjoying the outdoors.

One night last week I went on the patio with the boys and Gray pointed out two bunnies in our backyard.  We have never seen many bunnies in our neighborhood before so it was odd to actually see them in our yard.  Gray loved them and I was able to snap a quick video of him saying "hi" to the bunnies.

On Saturday I took Gray to Home Depot to pick up some flowers so the two of us could plant them in some pots on our back patio that afternoon.  I had seen some cute Mickey garden tools at Target a couple of weeks prior and we stopped by there after our trip to Home Depot and to my surprise, they were on clearance!  Gotta love a good deal.  I gathered our supplies on the patio and attempted to get Gray to assist me.  I must have the only boy on earth that doesn't want to get dirty.  He did like helping me put dirt in the pots using his shovel but had no desire to get dirt on his new Mickey gloves.  He was also ok watering the plants, but became hesitant to assist when the water on the patio began to impede upon the area he had to stand.  

 This was a pot and flower he picked out at Home Depot

 Watering his flower

 Kind of watering the flowers...looks like he's

watering the patio more than anything

The results of all "our" hard work

Our weekends are also filled with walks to the park, the mailbox or just around our cul-de-sac or neighboring streets.  I have a few hours alone with the boys on Sunday afternoons while Shane is teaching his classes so I try to find easy ways to manage both boys without keeping them couped up inside too much.  

My view during a recent walk with the boys to

build up Grayson's rock collection.

Beckett really loves being strapped in his carrier.

We really love our patio and I'm glad we have some space to hang out with the kids and have people over.  Recently we have had some discussions about expanding that space by pouring a slab adjacent to the existing patio and adding an arbor.  We would move the fire pit and chairs to that area which would open up the existing patio to serve more as a play area for the boys and their outdoor toys.  Along the same theme of home renovation, we recently had our foundation repaired.  Over the last year or two we noticed some cracks throughout our drywall in the house and decided to get some quotes to get the work completed to avoid further issues.  Our landscape was semi destroyed so we figured now was a good time to redo the front landscaping since we had talked about doing it before.  One of the guys that works for me does it as a side business so I gave him an idea of what we wanted and let him run with it. We think it turned out great and really opened up the front of the house.  

New Landscaping

Before

This past weekend we went to gymnastics after taking last week off while we were at the lake.  I'm never sure how cooperative Gray's going to be as he sort of likes to do his own thing from time to time and not follow the class structure, but this Saturday he seemed to really enjoy himself.  I think as long as he has a smile on his face and wears himself out as much as he does, we will continue to take him.

 I build a tower!

I hide!

 Look at that smile!  And that hair!

He had worked up a pretty good sweat.

 He decided he wanted to crawl instead of walk

 Drumroll...

 Hooray!

Tara
To switch gears, I had the opportunity to take my other cousin's senior pictures on Friday.  I have a hard time believing the little girl I once held in my arms after she was born is about to graduate from high school and go off to college.  She's been given a scholarship to play soccer at a private school in Kansas.  I am so proud of her and all of the obstacles she's overcome in her life with the loss of her mom at such a young age.  She has grown to be a beautiful girl!  The weather was absolutely perfect on Friday so we were able to get alot of great pictures in downtown McKinney.

With the start of spring means summer is just around the corner.  Where work used to be somewhat seasonal, it's become more steady in that I'm constantly busy year round.  Shane's school year is winding down but he's making preparations for all of the summer programs he will be offering through his college prep company.  Our summer vacation is booked, too.  We rented a house in Crystal Beach with 2 of my best friends from college and their families.  It will be a house filled with 6 adults and 6 children, between the ages of 8 months and 7 years.  We don't go until the beginning of August but I'm looking forward to spending some time with these girls and their families.

Beckett will be 6 months on Thursday!  We have a doctor's appointment that morning so I will try to get an update posted sometime this weekend.  

Easter

As usual, we had a packed schedule for the holiday weekend.  It started on Thursday night when I took Gray to The Colony's Easter Eggstravaganza at their ballfields near our house.  My friend runs their programs up there so I wanted to show our support and try to get Gray out to enjoy a fun event.  Shane had his PSAT clinic that night so I enlisted the help of my friend Shannon (a.k.a. Aunt Cray Cray) to come help me.  I honestly don't think I could have handled both boys without her.  I have gotten better about taking care of them alone, but being in that atmosphere was challenging.  I had Beckett in his new carrier that I bought so it made it hard to get down and interact with Gray.  If Beckett was in his stroller it would have been much more difficult when we got out to the field to hunt eggs.  Luckily it all worked out and Gray really seemed to enjoy himself.  He even showed me how sweet and kind he can be.  Once he had almost filled his bucket with eggs, he began picking eggs up and giving them to other kids near him.  It was so sweet!!

 Gray petting the bunny from the outside of the

petting zoo enclosure.

 Cray Cray and Gray with the Easter Bunny

Gray was not a fan of the odd looking bunny.

 Waiting to go out to the field

 Gray and his Cray Cray

 Having alittle fun before the hunt started

 Cray Cray helping Gray hunt for eggs

 Giving someone nearby an egg

 Gray and his loot

Cray Cray wore Beckett for alittle 

while to give me a break.

The next morning Grayson had an egg hunt at his school.  I had taken the morning off to clean house, do some laundry and pack for our weekend at the lake so I was able to go up to school and join him. 

 Gifts for Gray and Beckett's teachers

 Grayson and his girlfriend, Eleanor

 And they're off!  He looks like such

a big boy in this photo.

 Had to get the eggs under the playground

 These two are always together.

 Going through his stash.

Me and my little man

Friday afternoon I picked the boys up at school and we headed down to the lake.  Shane had school to make up for a bad weather day so he came down later that evening with Aspen.  Beckett slept the entire way down and Gray enjoyed watching Mickey on my iPad.  Both of them did really well.  We spent Saturday doing all sorts of activities; driving the golf cart, playing outside, hunting eggs, pictures in bluebonnets and watching a movie.  The weather was so nice so we tried to enjoy it as much as we could since it turned rainy on Sunday.  As always we had a great time at the lake and realized we had not been down there since last Easter.  My parents should be spending more time down there in the coming months and we are hoping to join them for 4th of July weekend.  

 I drive!  Anpa took Gray out and let him drive.

He said he does a really good job and actually

knows how to steer.

 Anpa and his mini me

 The Easter Bunny made a visit to Gee's house

 Beckett checking out his goodies

 Grayson mostly got puzzles in his basket.

He is starting to love putting them together.

 His third and final egg hunt.

 We had alot of eggs for him to find.

I think we emptied his bucket about 4 times.

 Anpa's traditional photo.

He has taken this photo with all four of 

his grandsons.  

 Beckett inspecting the eggs.

Gee and Becks took a nap together

 We found a small patch of bluebonnets and captured

a few photos.  We don't have many family

pictures so I was excited to finally get one.

 These two love each other!

 My attempt to recreate Grayson's famous

bluebonnet picture.  I may have to try again.

Gray was being uncooperative but randomly

decided he wanted to give mommy kisses.

I think it worked out pretty well!

When we got back to town on Sunday, we had made plans to go visit a friend of mine that's an EMT/Paramedic in Carrollton so I could get the boy's heartbeats with an EKG machine (I will explain the necessity of this sometime in the future).  Gray got to "drive" one of the fire trucks and we were able to get a nice family photo together, too.

It was a jam packed weekend and one that left all of us fairly exhausted.  Sunday afternoon was spent curled up in our bed watching a movie.  We noticed Beckett didn't seem to be feeling well so I took him to the doctor yesterday.  In true Bybee boy fashion, he has a double ear infection.  Hopefully a round of antibiotics will help him to feel better (and sleep longer!).  

I did have a couple of other cute photos from last week I wanted to share.  Hope everyone had a great weekend and is starting to enjoy the warmer weather!

 Becks hanging out while I give Grayson a bath.

 Super Beckett!

One night Shane had to work late so I bathed both boys

and we hung out in the living room before bedtime.  

Gray had grabbed a book in Beckett's room and goes 

"I read to Beckett".  He then held the book like he was a 

teacher and "read" the book to Beckett.  

It was the cutest thing!