Perot Museum

I had a few family goals set for us at the beginning of this year. One of them was for us to learn all the Articles of Faith, which we did great for the first four and then totally fell off the wagon. One was for us to do service activities, which we have failed at miserably. But one was to do one family date a month (meaning, a fun outing with all of us, once a month), and we've been doing that pretty well. I wanted to force myself to plan something out of the ordinary just once a month, because it's amazing how it's easy to spend every Saturday just doing chores or puttering around the house instead of ever going out of our routine and trying new things. Of course, I want to spend our Saturdays being productive and doing chores, but I also want to do stuff like this every once in a while. 

So, for Labor Day, when Tommy was off work, we headed downtown into Dallas and went to the Perot Science Museum. It is a cool science museum, mostly aimed at kids, with some really cool and interesting exhibits. I've been once, when we first moved here and Camille and Brandon were visiting, but we've never been back. Reasons why: it's super expensive, and far away, and Dane was so young last time we went that it was totally pointless. Now, it was fun (but still expensive and far away, so we won't go back for a long time). I'm really glad we went, because it was a nice morning and really interesting and interactive, so both Dane and Graham were entertained. There was a robotics exhibit that Tommy was really into also. It was a great family date and something I've wanted to do for a while.

Dane has been really interested in space lately, so he liked the space exhibit.

Tommy the meteorologist, with his assistant.

At the bottom of the science museum was a kids' museum. Of course, they were thrilled to be there and once we got there, there was no going back to the "educational" part of the museum. Graham spent like 20 minutes moving these bananas around.

And Dane could have worked forever moving these blocks up this ramp. He seriously was enthralled. And then they found the sandbox in the back and it was all over. Why bother with anything else when there is dirt to dig in? That is my kids' philosophy about playing, anywhere, ever.

And after we finished at the museum, we got Shake Shack for lunch! Yep, a real official Shake Shack in downtown Dallas. It was really fantastic and satisfying. I can see why people are obsessed. 

Little Things in September

Okay, I've kind of let this blog fall by the wayside the last few weeks. I've been SOOOO busy with other things... NOT. I just didn't feel like blogging, ha! But, here goes with some catching up and posting some pictures for Bethany to enjoy!

Graham wrapped himself up with his blanket and said "I'm Angel Moroni!" He's been very interested in the Angel Moroni on top of the temples lately.

Graham crying because he wanted some salad with dinner and I didn't make a salad. Yeahhhhhh.

LOOK AT THAT GIRL.

Dane and Ben carpooling to school in the back of Tommy's car. LOVING IT.

Graham on a date with a girl. Emmi sat on the couch next to Graham and kept scooting closer and closer to him.

Such a cutie! I always think that every stage is the cutest stage yet. Look at this boy. I love listening to him talk and think that it's my favorite stage yet.

But look at how big Dane is getting! This is making me sad. I'm not going to be able to hold him any more soon.

Some early morning cuddle time. We are going to miss the chance to do this next year when Dane starts kindergarten.

Graham laid out his blankie for a picnic for his nighttime friends.

Perfect angels who do NOT constantly fight over who gets the green jeep.

Sometimes it's hard to wake up from a nap, okay?

Lucy, determined to eat Dane's hair.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME. 

So happy about eating baby food!!

A family home evening involving fishing--way more work than I usually put into FHE activities, don't worry, haha!

We started off on our walk with Dane on a scooter and Graham on his trike, then they both wanted to be in the stroller.

Dane was sick-ish one day and fell asleep and could not be woken up. Lucy was hitting him with her toy and Graham was crawling all over him and he just kept sleeping on.

Lucy is six months! And grew from the 3rd percentile to the 9th! Winning!

Lucy loooooves this new bouncer. She was too short for it so we had to put a pillow underneath her.

This is what being a mom is like. So many people on you, all the time.

Lucy's Elvis hair when she wakes up in the mornings.

And, I'll just leave you with this to enjoy at the end. Best baby ever.

The big #5

It's hard to believe we have a five-year-old! And also hard to believe it's *only* been five years since we started as parents. Sometimes it feels like it's been wayyyyy longer, since I can't remember what life was like or what I was like in that other pre-children life. Either way, life would be sad without this newly minted five-year-old. He came SPRINTING into our room this morning as soon as he woke up to give us huge hugs before rushing to the table to see what loot he'd gotten. It was so dang cute.

Hilariously, most of his presents were hand-me-downs from the neighbors who brought a big box of things by a few weeks ago. I figured he didn't need any more toys, and he was thrilled about these. THRILLED. I'm really glad we ended up using them because they were his favorite presents hands down.

Someone is excited to be five!

I grabbed the nice camera and took him outside to try and get some nice-quality pictures of him on his birthday. Took two minutes and this was the best I could do.

Graham wanted a picture too. He was being silly. 

All Dane wanted for his party was to have his friends over and watch his favorite show, Octonauts, with them. We were total rookies and made the party a little too long (2.5 hours, 2 hours would have been perfect) but they all had a great time. 

We had to instigate every single party game we could think of by the end, including Duck Duck Goose.

Money shot! This is Dane's whole Primary class. Luckily all of his best buddies are in this class.

Such cuties.

Dane is so cute. He said, "You're the best cake decorator ever, Mom." So pleased he has such low expectations still. I'm doing my job well.

Dane insisted on his party including his Primary class and his uncle Kurt. So nice of Kurt to drive up and be here for his party.

We sure love our Dane! He is so fun and cute and easy to be around (most of the time). He's gotten really into being a know-it-all lately, which I could kind of do without, but we are working on it. Something I really appreciate about Dane is that he is a really good listener and follower of instructions. When I explain something to him and tell him how something is done or how to fix something, he always does it right the next time. Last week we were delivering his invitations for his party and at every house we went to, as we walked up to the door, he would think and tell me, "Mom, Millie has a baby. We shouldn't ring the doorbell because she might be napping." Because we've talked about how the doorbell can wake up babies. He is going to be a dream student in school. He is also the dreamiest big brother to Lucy that I could have imagined up. He and Graham are great together maybe 50% of the time, and fight together 50% of the time--but he is always, always sweet with Lucy and always, always trying to help her and take care of her. I can ask him to do anything for Lucy or help me with her somehow and he will do it, every time. No matter what he is doing or what it is. He is so great.

We sure think the world of this kid and can't get enough of him. I'm so glad he had a good birthday and happy to have gotten our first real birthday party behind us!