Kids Called Me at Work

This morning, my cell phone rang while I was at work. It was Amy. When I answered, I heard Caroline say, "Hi, Daddy!" Soon after, Caden said, "Daddy, we're going to school!" Not long after that, they hung up and the conversation was over.

A minute later, I called back to see if Amy had wanted to tell me anything. She was surprised when I told her the kids had called. In preparation to take the kids to Mother's day out, Amy walked into the garage to get a few things from the car. While Amy was outside, the kids found her phone and called me all by themselves.

This was the first time they have called me completely on their own. I didn't know they knew how to do so. Also, they normally clam up and don't say a thing or talk really quietly. It was nice that they were excited to talk to me (briefly).

Duck Pond

Another Dallas Easter activity was to go to go feed the ducks at a duck pond. The ducks were apparently not all that hungry and spent most of their time fleeing but we still managed to have a lot of fun.

Grandma wanted to make sure Caden didn't fall in the water.

Dallas Blooms

Over Easter weekend, we went to Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Arboretum with Grandma, Aunt Angela and George. There really wasn't much "bloom" going on but we still had a lot of fun. Not sure where all the flowers were but there were still a lot of great places to take photos. It was hard for me to narrow it down to just a few so I decided to just post a ton of pictures instead.

There was a small petting zoo at the gardens. Caden and Caroline loved petting the goats and lambs.

"I wonder what is on the other side of this fence?"

The twins always love checking out fountains. The through all the pennies that Grandma and Aunt Angela could find.

George also loved the fountain.

We came across a large lawn that was on a decent slope. So, I did the only thing I could do and I ran down the hill pushing the kids in the stroller. They loved it! Amy decided to take some photos on the third trip. I love Caden's giant smile in the last couple pictures.

I needed some rest after all the running. Going down wasn't too hard but running back up the hill was a workout.
Caroline posed for a mini photo shoot in the shade next to this small pond. For some reason, she was a very willing model here.

Caroline and George posed for a picture.

We tried to get Caden in on the cousin shot but this was as close as we could manage.

Aunt Angela holding her new little guy. I think George is smiling in this one.

Caden wanted to throw rocks into the pond but we told him he was not allowed to do so. Our little boy loves pushing the limits so he would grab a rock, hold it over the water, and wait for a reaction. When that wasn't enough, he started bending down to touch the rocks to the water. While doing all this, he had a cute little smirk that lead to some good pictures.

 

We had a lot of fun at Dallas Blooms...despite the fact that we saw more flowers at the Chick-Fil-A on the way home. :) We look forward to going again...both the Dallas Arboretum and Chick-Fil-A.

Meeting Baby George

While we were in Dallas for Easter, the twins and Amy got to meet baby George for the first time. I met George in the hospital, but for some weird reason, hospitals don't like toddlers running around the NICU.

The kids were very excited when Angela asked if they wanted to hold George. Caden did exactly what he was told to do to prepare. I think you can really see his anticipation in this first shot.

Caden was very gentle with George.

After Caden finished holing George, Caden exclaimed, "I did it!" He was very proud of himself.

You can see here that Caroline was also very excited to hold her little cousin.

I like that you can see Caroline smiling at George. I bet she can't wait to be the boss of George.

Caroline gently rubbed George's head with her left hand and patted his feet and belly with her right hand.

This is the first picture of the cousins. Caden and Caroline are very excited to be big cousins.

 

 Caden got another chance to hold his little cousin.

Baby George bought Caden and Caroline a birthday gift to help make sure there was no jealousy. While the kids liked getting a present, they much preferred hanging out with their new little cousin.

We can't wait to see George again.

Easter 2012 -- Dallas

We were in Dallas for Easter this year. Here are some pictures of the kids opening their Easter baskets.

Caden was very excited to see he was given packages of M&Ms.

The kids also got a bowling set.

After opening Easter baskets, we went to church. After church, we went to our standard Easter and Thanksgiving location where we had dinner with the Eakers, Meiers, and Shanks.

Before lunch, we went out to take some pictures.

Here is a Shank family portrait with Angela, Allen, and baby George. I think George posed very nicely.

Here is our attempt at a family portrait. It is hard to get Caden, Caroline, and Amy all looking the correct direction.

There was all sorts of fun toys to play with at the Eaker's house. Caden loved this realistic tool set. Caden is very interested in tools right now. He frequently points them out in our garage, tells them goodbye, and loves when we let him touch the tools.

We had an Easter egg hunt for Caden, Caroline, and Sammy. Caroline collected by far the most mainly because Caden and Sammy wanted to open each individual egg to get at the interior contents.

The kids were a little delirious at this moment. It was well passed their nap time. Soon after this picture, we loaded the car and headed home. The kids quickly fell asleep in the car.

We had a lot of Easter fun.