Climbing at the Zoo

These boys love to climb and explore. Even at the zoo with all of the great animals to see, they enjoy jumping, running and climbing everywhere instead. I think we need to find them an indoor climbing wall soon to really harness this energy and prowess.

Reading to Tyler

Here is Sam trying to read to Tyler, or really just naming the pictures that he points to in a farm book. As you can see, Sam looks to me for confirmation on some of the tougher words, like wheelbarrow and farm loader. You see, really trying to create little Texans here.

The Bear

Here is real nature, happening, in front of our very eyes! Can't say much more about that...

Mike's Birthday!

We celebrated Mike's 38th birthday over an entire weekend, partly because it is so fun to have an all-weekend affair, and partly because I was away at a conference all day on Saturday. Mike had a lovely day with the boys on Saturday and at night, we went out to dinner with some friends and topped it off with some real country dancing at a place called the Cowboy Dance Hall. Mike even got to spend a whopping 20 seconds riding the mechanical bull, cowboy boots and all! Sunday we celebrated at home with some ice cream cake, the boys were thrilled!

Morning at the Zoo

Here are Tyler and Sam enjoying some fun times at the zoo, climbing on lion and cougar statues, hooting at the monkeys, grabbing for the prickly cactus (Tyler) and really just frolicking.

Birthday Party, Texas-style

Sam and Tyler attended one of Sam's friend's 5th birthday parties, filled with farm animals! Tyler had a lovely time actually sitting with all of the rabbits and the pigs, Mike was not too pleased to see his bottom after that siesta. So, this is how they do it in Texas!

Randolph Air Show

We went to see the Air Show last Sunday, but it got rained out. Nonetheless, we got to go on lots of military planes, most of which start with the letter 'C' (sorry, Mike). Here you can see Tyler and Sam sitting in similar seats that Mike did when he flew into Iraq, almost exactly one year ago. Sam was so excited to be reliving Papa's journey. Mike even gave us a tour of the pull down, no privacy toilet, Sam was a bit disturbed about that, I can't say I was happy about it either. Sam then got to sit in a cockpit of a small Civilian Air plane used to find brush fires and abandoned hikers. I think he was a bit more interested in his lollipop than flying the airplane. In the end, when the rain poured down, we took cover in a large Lego land tent and played with Legos for a good 30 minutes before returning home after a very busy morning.

Licking the Bowl

Another rite of passage during childhood must be licking the bowl. Of course, one must be concerned with the possibility of Salmonella from the raw eggs, but the look on Sam's face made the risk all the more worthy. I remember licking every bowl and beater that I found when my mom was cooking sweets. She even saved them for me. And now I get to pass that tradition along to my sweet tooth-prone son, thanks to my mom.

Tyler and his Red Shoe (or Martha's)

Tyler walked around all day saying "Martha, look shoe!" It is very fitting as there may be some of you reading the blog who will remember when I showed my aunt's dog, Puff, my new red shoes, saying "Puff, new shoes, Puff". I must have been a wee bit older than Tyler, but I was apparantly just as proud.

Give Me That Camera!

Tyler is a ham when it comes to picture taking. He loves to get very close to the camera, stare and then make a very funny face. He simultaneously will say, "Cheese/Smile", which sounds a lot like "Chemile". It gets Sam laughing every time.

No More Monkeys....

Well, we have a few monkeys living in our midst here in San Antonio. Despite our warnings about jumping on the couch, and readings from the famous book and singing the song, there are still avid jumpers here. They were just having so much fun, we couldn't bear to put an end to it. Luckily, no worse for the wear.

Tyler and Sam Really Getting Along

Tyler and Sam have really been enjoying some special time together. Here they are sharing space on the beautiful and durable Ikea chair, and then we had Shabbat rice krispy treats for the first time, oooooh, they LOVED them! "Even better than cupcakes!" said Sam.

Tyler Driving with Spectacles

Poor Mr. Potato Head, Tyler stole his eyeglasses and proceed to drive around the kitchen with them strapped to his face. He was having such a grand time, and all the while saying, "glasses, glasses, look, glasses!"

Driver's Ed

Thank goodness both Sam and Owen have another 12 1/2 years before they are eligible to get their licenses. As you can see, they truly make are making a menace of themselves, not only running over cones, but running over the car operator. Watch out!

Dizzy Tyler

We went to a school carnival last weekend and the boys had a BLAST. Tyler really could have been anywhere, however, as he had the most fun just running around in the big, giant sandbox and running in circles. Here you can see him getting a bit carried away with himself trying to make himself just a little bit dizzy.

Tyler in the bath

Here is Tyler playing hide-and-seek in the bath. He especially likes to imitate Sam doing this, but Tyler really puts all his effort into this game.

Martha's Birthday

We celebrated Martha's birthday one day late. Sam and Liz made cake and we lit some candles and sang some songs tonight after dinner. Tyler tried to help with blowing out the candles too. I just took some pictures.

The Pirate and Superman

Tyler and Sam had their true first Halloween together this year. I can't count last year when we shoved Tyler into a newborn Pumpkin costume (mind you he was already 7 months at the time) and sat him on the rug and took pictures, while Sam enjoyed a nice Halloween block party, and Mike was in Iraq. So really, this was the first ever Piesman family Halloween with all four of us in attendance at the Halloween party, what a treat!

Halloween in the 'Hood

People get VERY excited about Halloween around here. Our little hanging skeleton pales in comparison to the graveyards and spider webs and moving/talking witches and ghosts that each of our neighbors had. We must have gone through 6 jumbo bags of candy at our house alone. By 8 PM, we had to turn it off for the night as we had run out of candy. Lots of fun!

Heading to the Halloween Party

Here we are all making our way to the Halloween party. Sam and Tyler had been waiting for that moment all day and they were so excited to finally be dressed up in costume ready to PARTY! You can hear us walking through the neighborhood on our way to the party, discussing ghosts and pumpkins.

Spending Time Together

Tyler and Sam had a great time enjoying each other's company this weekend, here are a few shots that demonstrate how they really are getting a kick out of one another.