Red Box use #93

Our red box got a promotion from the toy room to the living room and Rowdy could not believe his luck. He stayed in there through all of Bolt (all to him 1/2 to us). Thanks Nan and Pops for the gift that keeps evolving.

A little sampling of our new home

So most of our peeps are not here in Texas, so I thought I would put together a few snipits of what life is like here in Texas.


We are never far from farm animals

or party animals
(Rowdy is raising the roof to La Bamba)

Lots of babysitters and future babysitters are just around the corner

You never know what the wind will blow in

Great sunsets

A friendly neighborhood frog

and this my friends is why they say everything is bigger in Texas...

EWWWWWW!

She finally did it

Dear Andersons,

All of that college tuition is finally paying off. This canvas has lived in two apartments and one house and has just reached its potential. Rowdy, Ezra, and I locked her in the studio (garage) all day and would only slide her toast under the door. Upon taking her off restriction she produced this masterpiece. sidenote: it takes oil paints forever to dry in Texas. She looked as if she had gotten into a paint fight but she still looked hot. So parents, we're sorry that tuition has erased your early retirement but a bunch more of these and maybe I can retire.


Love,
Justin Bowlers

Eda-Mommy

Today at lunch Rowdy chose edamame as the vegetable. Edamame comes in a close second to broccoli in his veggie department. He loves to squeeze the pods and watch the beans shoot out (watch your eyes). Anyway we were almost done and I noticed he had a few more beans in his bowl.
Me: "Rowdy, are you going to finish your edamame?"

R: Looking at his bowl, then Celeste, then his bowl again, "that's you eda-mommy! " pointing at Celeste and then the beans.

I love how the wheels turn in his head.

We have a jungle Gym!

Swing included!The sunset last night was Amazing! just like Dad.
Thanks for not being scared of the terrible twos, whiny newborns, and my postpardum-ness ;)

Its not gas!

Rowdy's Blueberry dance

Old man Ezra

Ezra was one month old on Sunday! I know his hair looks like he is goin' on 70, but he's balding what can we say? Its so crazy how fast these little people grow. I am excited for them to learn but my heart wants to keep them small and close to me for just a little longer.
I endorse all of these pictures being accurate representations of Ezra

Notice that Ezra is blurry because he doesn't understand how he is getting fed by his Dad.
p.s. at his one month Dr. 's apt. Ezra weighed in at 11.8 lbs

My Boys

These boys are sooo cute!post yard "work" pic

The boy bath

Ezra smiles even when he doesn't have gas. It seemed like Rowdy took a looong time to smile, but Rowdy has definitely made up for his lost time.

Amen

When I was younger I always looked forward to the day I would have kids and they would innocently say the funny prayers, blessing all kinds of things or people we older more calloused adults wouldn't normally think of including in our prayers. Well its around that time of my life now. I have been encouraging Rowdy just to say his own prayers for the past two days with no help from Mom or Dad. But Smarty Pants Rowdy already knows he is being funny.

Tonight Rowdy says, "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless Mommy and Daddy and baby brother, and cars.... (laughing) I blessed cars! and bless the incredibles..... (laughing) I blessed the incredibles! and bless Nemo and the penguins (laughs) I blessed Nemo and the penguins! (laughs) and bless Mommy and Daddy and Ezra and our home. inoJC Aaaaaaaamen."

I did not giggle out loud or egg him on in anyway, unless he saw me smiling behind my folded arms.

Please ignore the googlie mom voice

My new favorite past time is watching my new little boy. I love watching him try and coordinate his new little body. and his extreme facial expressions keep me waiting to see what will happen next. Its amazing just to be near him.
Anyway I may sound like a pageant mom, but Ezra is not very photogenic. Besides the pictures taken on his birthday I only have like one or two other pictures that really capture "Ezra"and darn it they are taken by my cell phone. The rest look fine but they don't really look like him. So I just figured all the non-Texans (hee hee that's how it works out here) needed some real Ezra. So pardon the googlie mom voice in the videos.

OK so we went to Dr. Martin's office for Rowdy's Two year apt. and Ezra's two week apt.(even though he is three weeks old) He gave us the growth percentiles and they made me smile. Rowdy is in the 50th percentile for height and the 75th for weight. and if you haven't seen Rowdy in a while its not as bad as it sounds, he is just dense. Ezra is in the 97th percentile for height! and the 90th for weight. So woe unto me, these boys may be better suited for football instead of futebol!
While we are on the subject of the Doctor's office. Everyone remembered Ezra on his second visit there. Because on his first visit he was only the second child to be seen in their new office, so he helped them break it in. Picture Me, Cody, My Mom, the nurse, Rowdy and the Doctor snugly fitting in one of the tiny rooms at the doctor's office. Ezra distracted everyone by pooping ALL over the nurse. Everyone was either trying to help with that or trying not to laugh while he peed straight over his head onto their freshly painted wall. He is only three weeks old and people already know his name.

More Ezra featuring Rowdy and Carys

Ezra footage

The Look and The Shirt

I really like the way Ezra's looking at Celeste in this picture. Oh so you're the one that eats all that hot sauce. In the background you can see my shirt. In between pushing Celeste looks at my shirt and tells everyone that the first time She saw me in that shirt (at TGI Friday's in Corona) she tried to break up with me. It didn't work cause we ended up making out after dinner. and now I'm wearing it during our second child's birth. who woulda thought. I woulda but celeste didn't. We all (including Laine the best nurse ever) laughed so hard that we missed a contraction and Celeste prolonged her own misery. I guess that's what she gets for trying to break up with me.

Enough of that already

Thanks for my hot wife.

The men

Bobby, Tad, and Cody with their heirs Rowdy, Greyson, Ezra, and Degan. Cody's brothers are so nice. Tad stayed in the waiting room for hours, watched Rowdy, and brought lunch. Bobby drove three hours and arrived about the same time as Ezra. They're all great dad's too.

Happy one week Ezra!

Happy Birthday to Ezra a la Rowdy

First Baths

Ezra cleans up pretty nice. Rowdy got a little jealous of his bro and asked Nan for a bath and she happily obliged. So Ezra got his first and Rowdy got his 10ooth. Thanks Nan.

Rowdy and Ezra

Ezra now has longer hair than Rowdy.

HE'S HERE!!!

Ezra Jay Bowler
9 lbs 1 oz
21 1/2 in
Born: August 13, 2009

pics to follow

Two years old!

Rowdy turned two this past Saturday. We had a little get together at Tad and Amelias. We had nachos and hot dogs, and the most delicious "Cars" cake made by cousin Kellie mmmmm. Tad and Amelia blew up their big ole' water slide and Cody made a 50 foot slip n slide out of a drop cloth and some more "kid washes" (see previous posts). Rowdy had the best time, actually... I think everyone did. Even all of the adults gave the slip n slide a go. Anyway Rowdy did have a great time. Except for when he almost burned his lip off trying to blow out the candle! (see video below) It was a really nice day.

Here are some fun Rowdy moments:

-His favorite movie Cars, has motivated him to use the toilet for 2 straight weeks now! and whenever you go in to help him he has a cars spiel. "Chick Hicks is Mean. He makes Mr. The King Crash. McQueen is nice he helps Mr. the King" and then he proceeds to tell you all of the other nice car characters.

-The other day Rowdy ran over and put his little hands on my big mama belly and said, "brother come out and watch cars with me"!

-A dog followed me home while I was out walking. Rowdy heard me say I would get the dog water, so he leaned down in front of the dog and said, " Dog you want juice?"

-Rowdy can be dead, I mean dead, asleep and wake up smiling and running to the kitchen, if Cody comes home early Saturday morning with Donuts.

-He is getting a little sassy in his old age and does the best teenage impression when he says to us,.."just a minute!" totally whining.

-Rowdy has a phenomenal memory. He will bring up people, phrases, or songs from months ago. He amazes me

-He loves to be outside helping his Dad with the lawn. He will imitate Cody's every move. If Cody bends down to pull a weed, Rowdy will bend down and rub the grass.

He is constantly cracking us up and surprising us. He has sprouted mentally and physically these past couple of months. It blows my mind to see him run through our home. He is changing so much everyday I can almost see it. and I can't help remembering the phrase, "Joy in our posterity" Rowdy truly brings us joy. We are so thankful he chose us and I think he will do great in the role of a big brother. and just for the record we asked Rowdy what Baby brother was going to look like and he said very matter of factly, "Mommy".

"Happy Birthday Two Rowdy"

Still No Baby!

I just finished doing jumping jacks in the backyard... still no baby. Today is my official due date. We were cracking up when a lady in the gas station asked, "when are you due?"....."today".
And since I have been such a tardy blogger I am going to give you highlights of the last three weeks.
My Mom and Dad came down for 2 days! We packed a lot in. Including yoga, horseback riding, the lazy river, longhorns and gaining 10 pounds




Then.. Two Sundays ago, a fast Sunday mind you. Cody disappeared right before dinner and wouldn't answer his phone. I was trying so hard not to be mad. I finally caught him on his phone and he told a lie, apologized and came home with my best friend Monica!!!! I was super surprised! We also had a totally fun week together, which included visiting the Dallas temple, trying to figure out the Kennedy assassination, another water park, more cows and some horses, a five star gas station restaurant, Monica's first trip to Cabela's, accessory shopping, and lots of trying to get me to have the baby shenanegans. Monica's visit overlapped a day and a half with my Mom returning for a second time. So I was really hoping Baby Bowler would be born on Sunday Morning so they could both meet him.
But Monica did get to participate in pictionary on Thursday night where the first word was..."SUrprise Baby Shower!" My sweet family, Amelia and Cousin Kelly, organized the little shindig, and it was so perfect. Just a good group of fun friends. It was perfect. I felt like it was Baby Bowlers birthday already. It made me all excited to have him here.

Then on Saturday was Rowdy's Birthday my mom and Monica got to be here for. I am just going to do a separate special post for our sprouting two year old. Thanks everyone who has made these last days of pregnancy , which are usually considered the most tedious, totally fun and amazing. Including the man who got me into this.. love you Cody. Thanks for being so great