Visit with the Bogarts

Grandma's friends from Pennsylvania, the Bogarts, stopped by for a visit. They are snowbirds and every year they stay in nearby Fredricksburg for the month of March. So, each year we get to spend some time with them before they head back North. Last year, Dax and Mr. Bogart really hit it off and they picked right up where they left off. As you can see from the pictures below, Dax wasted no time in "working his connections" to get some extra bites of ice cream. Mrs. Bogart is quite the accomplished knitter and she made Dax and Payton each a GORGEOUS nordic-style sweater. We always enjoy our time with them and we're already looking forward to when we can see them again.

Dax and Payton in their new sweaters

Snarking ice cream from Mrs. Bogart


Payton followed suit and worked on Mr. Bogart


Big "thank you" huggies for his beautiful sweater


Best Buds

Say "Hi"

We brought Badger with us on our walk today. When we got to the neighbor's house, we stopped to say "hello" to their dog, Scout. Scout is another white lab and since she has an iron fence, she enjoys hanging out in the backyard and greeting all the passers-by. Dax went up to the fence and was petting Scout when I asked, "Badger, do you want to say 'hi' to Scout?" At that, Dax got up, came over to Badger and started grabbing her leg. She didn't know what he was doing, but eventually he got her paw and raised it up and down several times. Like a wave. He showed Badger how to wave 'hello'. It was so cute.

Speaking of words, Dax is really starting to talk more. In just the past few days he's been repeating new words and really trying to get them right. He also puts two words together regularly, like "yellow ball", "Dax water", "more cheese", etc. Last night he learned "bath" and tonight he said "bath water". Yesterday, he even put three words together, "more outside Dax". It's so much fun to see him learning and how pleased he gets when we get excited about his words.

Livestock Show

After waiting out a torrential downpour, we headed out to the livestock show with Ethan and his mommy. The boys had a blast. We checked out the show animals first. Today the juniors were being judged on their heifers. There was a lot of washing and blow drying, etc going on. The cows all looked so clean and fluffy. We headed over to the kids area after having enough of dodging landmines. The boys ate their lunch while we waited until the 723 elementary kids on a field trip left the area. We then had the petting zoo to ourselves. The boys loved it! We couldn't believe how mellow and gentle the animals were. Dax was really gentle, too. Only a couple times did he try to run after them, but he went slow as soon as I reminded him. The baby llama, Patches, was a favorite. Ethan fell asleep in the car before I even pulled out of the parking space and Dax was just a minute behind him. A most successful outing!

Dax liked the big ears on this Brahma

Lunch time - with milk, of course

Petting zoo was so much fun!


Dax really got into it

Dax and Ethan liked the little goats


Dax scaled that fence before I knew it


Patches the llama was his favorite (mine, too)


But there was no lack of love for the goats

Happy, happy boy

Feeling Better

Dax had a rough night (he had me up every hour), but this morning he was cool as a cucumber and in a good mood. We still laid low all day, but he was back to his silly, outgoing self. Yay!

Sick and Crazy Hail

Well, after Kaylee's birthday party, Dax woke up with a slight fever, but in a great mood. As time wore on, however, he started obviously not feeling well and threw up (just as poor Duane came in the door to all the kaos that insues). I gave Dax some Tylenol and he took another nap for an hour (after he'd already slept 2 1/2 hours!). He woke up fine and ate a great dinner. We thought it was just a "48 minute" bug. But, come bedtime he was feverish and cranky again and wouldn't go to sleep. I had some leftover Tylenol with codine (from when Dax split his tongue) that I finally gave him at 11pm. He slept fairly well thru the night, but was still running fever. So, off to the pediatrician we went, suspecting another ear infection. But, his ears looked great. His throat on the other hand, had white, pussy ulcers on it (tmi? sorry.). The quick strep test came back negative, so it is "just" a virus that we have to ride out. Poor thing.

The other news of the day was the crazy hail storm we got. Huge hail between golfball-size and tennisball-size pelted the house and yard. When it hit the roof, the noise was so loud! I have never heard anything like it. It freaked out poor Dax. But when I showed him the "balls" coming down into the back yard, he wanted to go out and get them. After the storm passed, we did go get some and took a couple pics. Apparently people all around our area got hit really bad (some stones were as big as 3" across!); there were tons of windshields busted out - even while people were driving. Crazy!

Our backyard

Our front yard

Most hailstones were a little bigger than a golf ball

Kaylee's Birthday Party

Dax's friend, Kaylee, turned 2 years old. Horray! So, for playgroup, we had a fun party at her house. She has a new puppy, Lily, that was a HUGE hit with the boys. With all the playing, running, swinging, and laughing, I think the party was a big hit. The best part is that, even though Dax ate a chocolate cupcake with neon blue icing, he took a 2 1/2 hour nap afterwards!

My personal victory with the party is that I managed two almost-2-year olds. Ethan's mommy couldn't come to the party, but we didn't want Ethan to miss out, so I loaded him in my car and took both boys. They were cracking up about having a friend in the back seat. Trying to get them both out of the car and into the house was a little daunting. But there was only 1 "break for it", and I contained it quickly. Then I got both boys holding hands, and holding my hand and we all walked like a train to the front door of Kaylee's house. Whew! I made it 50 feet with 2 toddlers! Good thing I don't have twins! :)

Dax & Ethan in the car


Good times at Kaylee's party


Ethan, Dax, Kaylee, & Payton


Cupcakes!


It took a few scrubbings to get all the blue icing off

First Painting

While Dax was in Sunday School with Grandma, he got to hang out with the slightly older children. They had an art project, so he joined in. This is the first painting by Dax DeRouen. This piece is for display only - not for sale. :)

Rodeo

Dax spent the night with Grandma, while Duane and I went to the rodeo with Kateri and her friend, Robert. We had a really fun time. We decided that I need to bring Dax at some point to check out all the animals at the livestock show. Through Duane's work, we got free passes into the Founders Club. We thought it would be great, until we realized 1)you can't take drinks out of the club, not even water, 2)the drinks cost more than they do outside the club (learned that a little too late) and 3)all the action was taking place across the arena, in front of our seats! So, we chugged our (expensive) waters and made it down to our 2nd row seats. We were right next the the chute where the calves come out (for the roping events). We enjoyed the bronco busting and the bull riding, but my favorite was the "mutton bustin". That is the event where 6- and 7-year old kids don a helmet and a protective vest, then climb on the back of a sheep in the chute. When they open the chute the kid holds on for dear life while the sheep runs like a bat outta you-know-where. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time - those sheep are FAST!


All packed and ready to go to Grandma's


Largest steer I've ever seen!


Sweet baby calf


BFF - Kateri


On the balcony of the club


Robert took this cool pic from the balcony of the rodeo prep below


View from our seats of cowboys getting ready


Trying to push an uncooperative calf into the chute


Robert's pic of barrel racing


Newspaper pic of mutton bustin

Playing in Backyard with Grandma and Payton

Aunt Hollie and Payton met us at Grandma's house for a little play time. Aunt Hollie brought her camera and got some great pics of the kiddos. To see more pics, check out the Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/karen.derouen/March2009#

My favorite


"If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it..."

Spamalot

The Broadway musical, Spamalot is in town. It is based on Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. Duane and I have seen it before and loved it. My regular seats are on the first row of the first balcony. However, a gal in the neighborhood needed to trade days, so I traded tickets with her. Her seats are 4th row orchestra, center. Talk about WOW. We could see Sir Gallahad's spit when he sang! The cast really seemed to be enjoying themselves. One actor messed up a dance move and just walked off stage disgusted, and it was so funny that the Lady of the Lake started laughing. She had to stop singing to compose herself. She even got King Arthur laughing. Later, the Knights Who Say Nee gave the Hook 'Em Horns sign and sang The Eyes of Texas. But the best part was that King Arthur was played by Richard Chamberlain. I remember him as the hunky priest in The Thorn Birds, but my mom remembers him as Dr. Kildair. Anyway, I snuck a couple pictures for my mom (and to remember how amazing our seats were).

Richard Chamberlain - still hunky! (with audience member they pulled on stage)


The Knights Who Say Nee, also sing The Eyes of Texas

Uncle Craig's Birthday

Tomorrow (the 13th) is Uncle Craig's birthday. So, to help him celebrate the family all got together for dinner at Buca di Beppo. Dax helped pick out Uncle Craig's birthday card - it had Thomas the Train on it. We had a good time at dinner, especially when we brought out the cupcakes for dessert. Oh, and when Grandma made the sailor hats. The hats were very cool. Happy Birthday, Uncle Craig!

The Birthday Boy


Mmmm...cup-cakes...

Payton liked her cupcake, too


Thanks for the fun hats, Grandma!

Payton looked more "Dutch" than "sailor"

Uncle Travis, Dax and Payton

Tractor

This morning Dax ran to the front window and started yelling, "ta-to! ta-to!" I figured out he was saying "tractor" when I saw the huge bulldozer/backhoe in front of our house. It seems the city is installing a new lightpole around the corner. So, we packed up and went to watch the digging. Dax was fascinated! I don't know what it is about little boys and construction equipment, but it is magical. We sat on the neighbor's lawn and Dax barely moved for over 30 minutes.

Later, we had lunch with the ladies from the neighborhood. We sat at the "Captain's Table" at PF Changs. The table is in the kitchen so you can see everything that's going on. We thought Dax would like all the activity, but he wasn't really keen on all the noise. He did pretty well, though, especially considering it was past his naptime.

Dax LOVED the "tractor"


Dax's impersonation of a backhoe


At noisy restaurant

Another Great Weekend

Wow - we had a busy weekend. We started off with Duane's flag football game. It was very windy, but we enjoyed hanging out on the sidelines with Nichole and Baby Madison. Dax really likes them. As soon as he saw Nichole, he said "woof" (her last name is Wolf). And for Madison, he does the sign for "baby" and says "woof". He also really liked the Elmo on Madison's diaper.

That afternoon, we had a fun game of football in our front yard. That is, until Daddy kicked the ball and it got stuck about 20 feet up in the tree. Luckily, he was able to get it down and the game went on. We also enjoyed a family walk around the block.

Saturday night we went to the Central Market grocery store. They have a great cafe, a lovely shaded deck, and a huge playground. We met our friends, Jeff and Tracey, and their daughter, Avery, there. Dax LOVES Avery. The feeling seems to be mutual, because as soon as she saw me, Avery said, "where's Dax?" like, "my mom promised me that Dax would be here - you better produce him, lady." After a yummy dinner, there was actually a Zydeco band on the deck. They were a lot of fun and the dance floor was full (mostly kids, but some adults). Dax, however, wasn't dancing. (What? Is that MY child?) He actually just stood there and stared at the musicians. He thought they were so cool (God help us!). Avery tried her best to get Dax to dance, and she got a little out of him. I guess he'll figure out soon enough that girls dig it when you dance with them.

During church on Sunday we put Dax in the nursery. He wasn't too happy about us leaving him. He really worked that bottom lip and the alligator tears. But, apparently he settled down pretty quickly. Until, half-way thru mass we got a call from the nursery. Duane ran over and apparently a mom had come to pick up her kiddo early, which upset the boy that Dax was sitting with, which then GREATLY upset Dax. Dax was sobbing uncontrollably and heaving and sputtering. Poor thing. But, once Daddy was there, he started settling down and he was great by the time they came to sit in the church with me. He enjoyed watching communion, but during the quiet "reflection" time I guess he got bored, so he started reciting, "Momma, DaDa, DaDa, Momma..." quite loudly. Another trip out the back. At least the people in our section were smiling about it.

After church we had lunch at Grandma's with Uncle Travis, Aunt Hollie, and Payton. They're always fun. Later in the afternoon, Duane and I went to a parenting class at church, while Grandma watched Dax. I can tell this is going to be a good class - it's all about choosing the right words to help your kids to listen and to properly express themselves, without losing it yourself. Hopefully we'll get these techniques down now, before he gets super verbal.

We got to test some of our new-found skills at dinner tonight. Dax had a complete meltdown when we sat down to eat. We eventually figured out that he wanted to eat Daddy's taco and not the food on his plate (all the same things, btw). And, putting his food in a tortilla didn't cut it. But, as soon as I got a new tortilla, and made a fresh taco for him, he was fine. Whew. The only tears shed were his. Half success. I guess the Terrible Two's are starting.

with Mrs "Woof"


Dax liked the Elmo on Madison's diaper


Daddy trying to get the football out of the tree

Cool treasure from our walk

Listening to the band with Avery

Avery trying her hardest to get Dax to dance with her