Central Market and Swimming

Today we did errands with Grandma/Lynn. One of our stops was Central Market. Evan and Noah had a ton of samples. Evan had a great time. Noah just tolerated being in the shopping cart. I’m glad they had samples to keep him occupied.

Evan and Noah took good naps this afternoon. I had to wake Evan up for dinner. There was a little bit of time before dinner and I asked Evan if he wanted to go swimming. He said no. He must have been pretty tired.

For dinner we had chicken and green beans that Grandma made. Evan ate 1 ½ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Noah just threw food on the floor.

After dinner we all went swimming. Evan and Noah had a great time and were a lot more comfortable in the water this time. Noah loved watching the airplanes in the sky as well. Every time one would fly by he would say “mama” or something like that.

Evan are Noah are in bed, but still making noises. It mostly sounds like Noah, but I just heard Evan clapping. I’ll have to go in there in a minute.

Mall and Mini Golf

This morning we met Sherah’s family at the mall. They have a really nice indoor play area there. The boys played for a while. Then we picked up food at McDonalds and Subway and brought it back to Bubbe’s house. Evan, Noah, Court, and Nolan watched some of the Rescuers movie. Nolan was very excited to show it to Evan.

We came back to Grandma and Papa’s house. Once we finally got Evan and Noah to nap they slept well. I had to wake them up for dinner.

For dinner, Grandma/Lynn made shrimp and rice. Evan ate a lot of shrimp, but not much else. Noah didn’t each much, but he did eat a whole banana.

After dinner we went to play mini golf. Evan has never been, but has been talking about wanting to play golf with Papa for a while. We played a whole 18 hole course. Evan did really well and was getting the hang of it. Noah did well in the stroller most of the time. At the end we let Noah play on the greens a little. It wasn’t very crowded there. Noah seemed to understand the point of the game and would get excited when one of us got our ball in the hole. Evan seemed a little confused on the last hole when the ball disappeared. We tried to explain to him that the ball goes back to the desk on the last hole.

Evan and Noah are in bed now and it actually seems quiet in there. We’ll see if that really lasts.

Dallas

So, we arrived in Dallas Friday night around 9:30. Evan and Noah were very excited and didn’t go to sleep until about 1am that night.

We had a nice weekend. Maureen and Doug were also in town. On Saturday night, Morry, Evan, Papa/Lenny, and Doug went to the Rangers game. They had a nice time and Evan was really following the baseball game.

Today, we went to brunch at Café Brazil. The food was good, but the air conditioning was broken in the restaurant and it was pretty hot.

After brunch Morry drove back to Austin. The boys and I will stay here in Dallas until Friday and drive back to Austin with Grandma/Lynn and Papa/Lenny.

After naps today we went to the sprayground. It was 105 degrees outside when we got in the car at 5:00! Evan ran right into the spraying water, Noah was a little more hesitatant, but eventually seemed really comfortable. We stayed for about an hour.

For dinner, we went to Sweet Tomatoes.

We just gave the boys baths and put them to bed. They are still up and playing around. They have been staying in the same room here which makes naps and bedtime difficult. Grandma/Lynn is in there now dealing with them for the 100th time tonight. Evan and Noah are just so excited to be staying in the same room together.

Petco and Petsmart

After dropping off Evan at school, Noah and I ran some errands. We went to Petco to get more food for Lizzy. There aren’t that many places that sell the particular food we get for Lizzy, but Petco does sell it. Then, we went to Target to return a few things.

Riley came over at 12 to watch Noah so I could get some stuff done and get packed. Noah did really well. He seems a lot more comfortable with her now. I left Riley and Noah at home while I went to pick up Evan at school. Right away Evan asked where Noah was.

Evan and Noah played with Riley until about 2:30 and then I put them down for naps.

Evan and Noah took good naps.

For dinner we grilled chicken and had sourdough bread.

After dinner, we all took Lizzy to Petsmart to get her nails trimmed. Morry took Lizzy to the grooming section while I walked around with Evan and Noah. They love Petsmart and looking at all the animals. We spent a lot of time looking at all the different fish.

Evan and Noah are in bed now. Let’s hope for a good night.

The Zoo and Haircuts

Evan was up early again this today Pretty much every day he’s been getting up around 7:30am and crying for Daddy. Like most mornings I put on a movie for him in the game room and went back to bed for about an hour. This morning Evan told me he slept in the game room. He must have fallen asleep on the couch?

Once Noah got up and I got the boys changed and fed we went to the zoo. We walked around a little bit and then sat at a picnic table and had lunch. Evan and Noah were very good. After lunch I bought a snow cone that we all shared. I got an extra cup for Evan.

After the zoo, I took Evan and Noah to Great Clips for haircuts. We didn’t have to wait and they were able to cut Evan and Noah’s hair at the same time. Noah finished a little before Evan and I let him have a lollypop. I was watching him eat it. He was doing fine, except he got a ton of sticky drool all over his shirt. When Evan finished his haircut he got a lollypop too and ate it very quickly.

Evan and Noah took good naps today.

For dinner, Morry made burgers on the grill.

We just gave the boys baths and now they are in bed.

Noah’s Check Up

After I dropped Evan off at school I took Noah for his 15 month appointment. Everything looked good. Noah is above average in both weight and height. Noah weighs 25 lbs 8oz and is 32 inches tall. Noah had to get 3 shots today, and just cried a little.

When I picked Evan up at school he was in his spare change of clothes. The kids played outside in the sprinklers today and Evan got soaked. Natasha said Evan had a great time and kept asking her to spray him more.

Evan and Noah took really long naps.

For dinner we made spaghetti.

At 6:30 Blanca came over and then Brian, our neighbor came over at 6:45. Brian is a photographer on the side and wanted to expand his portfolio. He was looking for couples for pictures. We volunteered. We went to South Congress and took lots of pictures until the sun went down. I’m looking forward to seeing how they turned out. It was fun being in that part of the city. There are lots of neat little shops and restaurants.

We got home around 9:15 and put the boys to bed. It seems quiet.

Natasha and Evan

Wendy and Evan

Shmevan

Well, today Shmevan, Evan’s evil twin, came to visit. He arrived uninvited and stayed until the evening.

Today was a tough day. Evan was really bad. I think he’s just overtired. This morning he kept hitting Noah. Evan spit juice all over the carpet. He wouldn’t stay in time out. We had plans to meet Yenis and Kevin at the mall, but if we hadn’t been meeting someone I wouldn’t have left the house with him like that. Evan was ok at the mall at first, but as soon as Kevin arrived, he was horrible. He was running around like a wild animal and wasn’t listening to me. I had to put Evan in time out in the stroller at one point. Evan threw a fit on the way out. He wanted Chick-Fil-A and a cookie, but I told him he did not behave well and couldn’t have it. I had to strap Evan down to the stroller to get him out of the mall. He was screaming. Noah was screaming. On the way out Evan kicked his shoes off. Not fun.

At home, Evan was not much fun either. Finally, he ate some lunch. He was bad again so this time I went upstairs and took his pacifier away.

I put the boys down for naps around 1pm. Noah slept. Evan screamed and cried until Blanca got here at 2:15. Evan wouldn’t even let Blanca in his room. He closed the gate on her. That’s unusual for him. Evan said wanted me and didn’t want Blanca. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I took his temperature. It was just barely high at 99 something. I thought about staying home, but Evan seemed to calm down a little and I left.

I tutored and went to the bookstore.

I got home around 6:00.

We had corned beef and potatoes for dinner.

After dinner Morry and Evan ran out to HEB to pick up Mottel’s medicine.

We put the boys to bed around 8:00

I just gave Lizzy a haircut on the upstairs porch.

Hopefully, Shmevan does not return tomorrow.

Mason

This morning I let Morry sleep in and took care of the boys.

Morry took Evan to soccer while I took Noah to HEB. Since we were going to Mason later and needed groceries, I used that time to get our shopping done. Morry said Evan did very well and soccer and played the whole time. He followed directions well and had a good time.

We left our house around 1:00pm and drove to Mason (about 1.5 hrs with no stops). Trent’s family and Lisa’s family were in town visiting JT and Helen. We stopped in Llano and got barbecue at a really good restaurant called Coopers. On the way into the restaurant you pass by the pitt and pick out the meat that you want. Our food was really good. Evan and Noah ate the food we brought for them. Most of Noah’s food ended up on the floor.

After lunch we drove about another 30 minutes to JT and Helen’s house. We had a really nice time. Evan and Noah enjoyed playing with the big kids. We mostly sat outside. They have a covered patio that gets a nice breeze. Helen also had lots of cats and kittens in the house that both Evan and Noah enjoyed.

We left the house around 7:30. They were going out to dinner at that time, but we weren’t sure how much longer Evan and Noah would make it. We decided to head home. We had to make quite a few stops, now that Evan is potty trained. We stopped at Sonic (that’s all that was really out there) to get dinner for Evan. Evan asked for hot dog. We ordered a kids meal for him, that Morry ended up eating. Evan did not want any of it once we got it. He did drink the slushie we got for him though.

We finally got home around 10pm. The boys are in bed now and quiet. It was a long and fun day.

Early Father's Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry. It's my night to write the blog.

Today, we celebrated an early Father's Day. Tomorrow we are heading out to Mason, TX to see Rachel's family so we decided to spend a nice day today. I thought this morning we could see the movie Up as a family and then tonight I wanted to go eat at Home Slice.

Evan woke up a little before 8am which was good, in a way, because the movie was at 9:45am so we needed an earlier start. We got up and got him dressed and then Noah dressed and headed off to the movie theater.

The AMC by us has a deal that if you see a movie before noon on the weekends, it's $5.00 for each person, so it's a pretty good deal. They also offered something called a "super ticket" which means it's $8.00 for a ticket but you get $4.00 in concession items (or item I should say). We knew that we were going to get popcorn for Evan, Noah and me to share so it worked out well - we just got one of these "super tickets".

The movie was excellent. It was just terrific. Pixar just knows how to make a movie that is so much better than any other animated movie, like any Dreamworks movie. It's also better than most other movies out there. On a sidebar, we saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night on DVD. Boy was that an overhyped movie. It was really long and boring. I also felt that Slumdog Millionaire was also very pedestrian compared to all the talk and build up. But Pixar knows how to make movies and this was one of the best Pixar movies. I'd rank it up with Toy Story (1 and 2) and Monsters, Inc - above Finding Nemo and WALL-E. The boys seemed to enjoy it. Noah did fairly well, he was a bit squirmy. He stuffed his pacifier into each of our mouths when we weren't looking. Then he'd giggle. Evan had me take him to the bathroom twice during the movie. There's definitely something to be said for diapers.

After the movie we went to Old Navy. Rachel got a $30 off $100 coupon and it was half off all men's clothes. So we made out.

Then we went to Chick-Fil-A because we had a coupon for a free milkshake for Father's Day. We all shared it.

We came home, had lunch and put the boys down for naps.

After naps, we went to Home Slice for dinner. We got to Home Slice about 6:50. They said it would be a 45 minute wait. An hour and a half later, they finally seated us. We didn't get our food until 8:50. The boys were incredibly well-behaved. I can't tell you how disappointed I am with Home Slice. They are my favorite pizza place in town and I don't know how you miss the time to be seated estimate by 100%. In fact, when I'm done with this blog, I'll probably email them and tell them my displeasure.

The boys are in bed now and it's pretty quiet. Tomorrow we have a big day so hopefully they get some sleep.

Until next time...

Pool Day and Lunch with Morry

Evan woke up before 7:30am crying for Daddy. Noah got up around the same time.

For breakfast, Evan requested Blue eggs and ham. Evan and Noah ate together at the red table.

This morning I gave Evan a list of a few things we could do and he chose to go to the pool.

We have a nice neighborhood pool with a kids area. It was pretty crowded and there weren’t any chairs left so we had to put our stuff on the ground. Evan and Noah had a great time playing in the baby pool. Noah tried to wander some, but it wasn’t too hard with the two kids. We took a break and got a popsicle for Evan. He shared a little with Noah. I also brought some snacks with us.

We came home, got changed and then went to meet Morry for lunch. We ate at Zuzu, right across the street from Morry’s office. Evan and Noah didn’t eat that well there.

We got a call from the vet. They got the test results back. Good news! Mottel does not have cancer, but he does have some inflammation. The vet wants to put him on steroids for a short time period and hope that does the trick. We had to pick up his medicine at HEB on the way home. They didn’t have enough, but were able to give us enough medication until Monday.

I put the boys down for naps. Evan did not sleep at all. Noah only slept a little.

For dinner we went to Fish City Grill at the Galleria (outdoor mall). We had a $5 off coupon. Evan asked for shrimp and ate very well there. We were able to sit outside on the patio. It was warm, but not too hot.

After dinner we walked around the Galleria, listened to music, and let the boys run around some.

We just gave Evan and Noah baths and put them to bed.

Target and Tutor

I didn’t drop Evan off at school until about 10am. I think both boys woke up around 8:30. The reason why I say I think, is that I thought I heard Evan around that time. I was getting dressed and all of the sudden Evan walks in the room. Somehow he had opened his gate. He said he had been playing Geo Trax. I have no idea how long he had been in the game room. I think it had only been a little while though.

After dropping Evan off at school, Noah and I went to Target. While I was shopping in Target Noah told me he had pooped. He said, “poo poo” and sure enough he had. Maybe he will be potty trained soon. ha ha

I did some cleaning around the house and Noah and I ate lunch. Then, we picked up Evan at school. Wendy told me about Evan’s vanishing poop. He told her he went poo poo on the potty and asked where it was. Wendy said she looked everywhere in the bathroom thinking maybe it was on the floor or something. The only thing she could imagine is that maybe it had just gone deep into the toilet. Evan was very confused about where his poop could have gone.

Evan had made a Father’s Day gift for Morry at school. All the kids made tie shaped bookmarks for Father’s Day. When we got home I put it aside to save for Morry for Father’s Day.

Evan and Noah took naps and were still sleeping when Blanca came at 4:00. I tutored one student and got home about 6:00. Morry came home just a few minutes later. When Morry walked in the door Evan told him he had a gift for him and wanted to give it to him. Evan insisted on giving Morry his gift then so I went and I got it. Evan was very proud of the bookmark he made.

We had ribs made in the crock pot for dinner.

The boys are in bed now and it sounds quiet.

The Mall

This morning I took Evan and Noah to the mall. Evan was very good. Noah, not so much. He doesn’t like being confined in the stroller. Evan let me do the shopping and he asked if he could have a cookie. I let him pick one out since he was so good. As we were leaving he saw Chick-Fil-A. He wanted nuggets, so I got him some since I didn’t feel like putting up with a tantrum. It was about lunch time anyway.

After the mall I took the boys with me to a doctor’s appointment. That was tough. We were there for about an hour an a half. Evan did pretty well, but Noah … well, again, not so well. Evan asked to go to the potty 3 times while we were there. Each time he really did go on the potty.

When we came home I gave the boys lunch. Evan asked for peanut butter and jelly. He ate about half a sandwich and Noah ate a whole sandwich.

I put the boys down for naps. Evan went to sleep almost immediately. Noah slept for just a few minutes, but then wouldn’t go back to sleep.

For dinner, we met Matt, Rachel, and her kids at a barbecue place called Uncle Billy’s. Evan ate well. Noah threw most of his food on the floor.

Evan and Noah are in bed now. It sounds quiet.

Oh, and Mottel seems to be back to his self today. He was downstairs some of the day and Morry just watched him eat. I hope we find out the results of the test soon.

School and Mottel Comes Home

This morning Evan was up around 7am. The vet called a little before 8.

Overnight, they noticed an issue with Mottel. During the endoscopy the tube punctured his trachea which led to a small amount of air leaking out under the skin. They said it was very slight and we could bring him home, but just keep an eye on him.

After I dropped Evan off at school (first day at school in underwear) Noah and I went to pick up Mottel. He meowed a lot on the way home, but seemed happy once we got home. He immediately went under the bed in Noah’s room and stayed there most of the day.

When I picked up Evan at school Wendy said he did very well on the potty today. Evan proudly told me he pooped and peed on the potty today. Evan is pretty much potty trained now. He just wears a diaper/pull up for naps and overnight.

Evan was throwing a fit on the way home and behaving horribly. I was so mad at him, I brought him right upstairs for a nap when we got home. I did not put him in a pull up. He was not going to sleep and was playing at his gate. I went up a little while later to check on him and he had taken his shorts and underwear off and put on a pull up himself.

Evan did not end up napping, but Noah took a good nap.

Blanca came at 2:00. I tutored a new student for an hour at the bookstore. This student will be in 6th grade in the fall and wants help to prepare for the placement test to skip a math level. It seemed to go well. I will probably meet with him again next week.

I got home around 4:00. Noah was still sleeping. Evan and I played outside in both the front yard and back yard.

For dinner we had taco pasta.

After dinner Evan played outside more, some with me and some with Morry.

We made ice cream in a bag tonight and added blueberries to Evan’s ice cream. It was a hit. Even Morry thought it was good.

Evan and Noah are in bed now. I hope Evan sleeps late tomorrow.

Austin Java & Mottel to the Vet

This morning Morry dropped Mottel off at the vet for some tests.

Before Grandma/Lynn and Papa/Lenny left we went to Austin Java Company for brunch. Evan and Noah were good though they didn’t eat that well. Evan asked for peanut butter and jelly, but hardly ate any.

We came home and Grandma and Papa drove back to Dallas. Evan and Noah were falling asleep in the car on the way home. I put them down for early naps around 1pm. Noah slept, but Evan did not.

Blanca came at 4:00 and I tutored one student.

I got home at 6:00.

For dinner we had our leftover fajitas. Evan asked for peanut butter and jelly tonight and didn’t eat much again.

While I got Evan’s lunch ready for tomorrow, Morry and Evan played baseball outside.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed. Evan was being cranky and coming up with lots of excuses for not going to sleep.

The vet told Morry that Mottel's cat scan of his brain came back normal, but we won't get the results of the endoscopy for a few days. Mottel is spending the night at the vet and I'll pick him up tomorrow.

Soccer and Oasis

This morning Evan had soccer. He did better this time than last. He paid attention most of the time. He got a little distracted. They have video games there and he kept wanting to play on the video games.

After soccer we went to eat lunch at Chuy’s. Normally, it’s really crowded, but we only had to wait a few minutes for a table. Evan was very cranky there and was hanging on Morry. Once he ate he did better.

We came home and both boys took good naps.

For dinner we decided to go to Oasis. On the way there we drove through McDonalds to get food for the boys. It was a little hot at first at Oasis, but once the sun started going down it was very nice. We heard The Brew (salsa music). Evan danced a little with Morry and me. Evan and Noah ate very well. Evan ate 5 nuggets and Noah had 3 along with lots of other food.

It’s late. We just got the boys to bed. Let’s hope they sleep well.

Party, Potty and a Date

Hello everyone, this is Morry. It's my night to write the blog.

Luckily this morning, Evan did not start crying at 6:30 like he had all week long. That's probably because I didn't have to get up and shower so it was still quiet in the house. However, I heard him get up at 7:30 but he remained quiet. Around 9, he started banging things and making noise. When Rachel and I came out of the room, Evan had somehow gotten his gate open and was playing very nicely in the game room. He and I played some more in the game room while Rachel got ready.

Rachel went downstairs to start getting breakfast ready to so we could get to Sebastian's 3rd birthday party. I got dressed, got Evan dressed, and got Noah up and ready.

At the Sebastian's party, Evan quickly made friends with a little boy named Nicholas who is about a month older than Evan. They ran around together the whole party. It was really nice to see Evan make friends so quickly and easily. They had a pinata and Evan got to hit the pinata two separate times. He definitely didn't hit it as hard as we know he could have. I think Evan had 3 or 4 lollipops at the party. Both boys had cake and ice cream as well. And Noah had most of my lemonade.

After the party, we ran over to Sam's Club to pick up the order we had placed and then went to HEB to get some fruit and stuff for Rachel's parents who were coming in the afternoon. Evan said he needed to go to the potty so I ran him into the bathroom, but he didn't go. We washed hands, came out and found Rachel and Evan told me this time he really had to go. So we rushed back into the bathroom, but still nothing.

When we got home, though, Evan did immediately go and pee. A little while later he went and pooped without anyone asking him if he had to. It's just about safe to say that Evan is pretty well potty-trained. We have to get thru naps and night time but he hasn't had an accident since Monday and he's going without us reminding him.

We put the boys down for naps and I read as much as I could read about the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup last night. In case you missed it, the Pittsburgh Penguins won their 3rd Stanley Cup last night. This has been the best sports year that I can remember. The Steelers won the Super Bowl, Villanova made it to the Final Four and the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. Maybe the Pirates can pull off some sort of miracle?

While the boys were napping, Rachel's parents arrived. Shortly after their arrival, Noah woke up. We brought him downstairs and he was glad for all the attention. I think he was also glad that he was free to play with anything that he wanted without Evan telling him what to do or yelling at him for playing with something or taking toys away from him.

Evan slept for 3 hours and then I went upstairs and got him up.

Rachel and I went out to dinnner at the Melting Pot while Grandma/Lynn and Papa/Lenny took the boys to the Waterloo Ice House. It was a sort of belated anniversary dinner for us. After dinner we went to see The Hangover. It was pretty good.

Grandma/Lynn text messaged Rachel with a picture of Evan at the Waterloo during dinner. He was on the stage shaking maracas with the band that was playing. Apparently the band announced that they needed help and Evan was the first kid to go on the stage. He played with the band for two songs. It sounds like everyone had a nice night.

Until next time...

JCC, Boats, and Spaghetti

Evan got up early again. He was up around 6:30am.

This morning I took Evan and Noah to the JCC. Noah seemed to really like the music during Tot Shabbat. Evan like the challah.

After the JCC we met Morry for lunch since he works by there now. We ate at Kneaded Pleasures. I was able to find a coupon and we got a buy one get one free sandwich. Evan and Noah did well there and we had a nice lunch. During lunch Evan said he needed to go potty. Morry took him to the bathroom and Evan peed in the urinal! He was very excited to tell me about it.

Then, we went to Morry’s work to get the tour of the office. Noah must have liked what he saw because he was very loud there. He kept squealing and yelling.

Not too far from where Morry works there is a boat ramp to the lake and a neat bridge. I took the boys there. Evan and Noah liked going over the bridge and watching the boats.

At home, both boys took good naps. I put Evan in a diaper for nap time.

After naps, I went upstairs to get Evan. He had taken off his diaper, threw it away, put on underwear, and got dressed! His pants and underwear were backwards though.

Morry got home and we went out to dinner. We ate a Spaghetti Warehouse, which we also had a coupon. We had a buy one get one free dinner. Today was the day of coupons. We ate our dinner inside the trolley. Evan loved that. Evan and Noah were very well behaved. Evan went potty in the urinal twice while we were there.

As we were leaving the restaurant there were a ton of motorcycles outside. The Motorcycle Rally is going on this weekend here. We watched all the motorcycles for a little bit.

Morry’s watching the hockey game and Evan and Noah are playing with toys. In a few minutes we’ll put them to bed.

Water Day at School

Well, Evan got up around 6:30am again today. He was crying and Morry went to get him. Morry put on Wall-E for him and let him play in the gameroom.

Today was Water Day at Evan’s school. They had a blow up bouncy water slide. Below are some pictures and video from this morning.

Riley came over from 10-12 to help with Noah. Noah did much better today. He only cried a little. Noah seemed happy to see Riley when she got here. I was able to get some stuff done around the house.

We picked up Evan and then went to Postmark’d (mail/package store) to send back the defective DVD player.

On the way home Evan was throwing another one of his fits. I put the windows down to block out the sound.

Evan actually ended up napping today. He really needed it. Noah napped too.

Blanca came at 4:00. I had a new student scheduled for tutoring. This student is taking summer school and needs some extra practice with Math before school starts again.

On my way home I stopped at HEB to get tortillas. Morry made fajitas for dinner tonight. They were really good and he used the jalapenos that we grew in our backyard.

The potty training is still going ok. Evan wore underwear the last part of the day. He wore diapers during school. If given a choice Evan picks diapers, but when he wears the underwear he seems to understand about going on the potty.

We just gave the boys baths and put them to bed. Evan is still crying.

It’s pouring down rain right now. There’s a lot of thunder and lightening. Hopefully, we don’t get it as bad as Dallas did last night.

Evan is downstairs now. He got scared of the thunder and lightening.

Hopefully, he’ll go to bed soon.

Swimming

Evan woke up early again this morning. He started crying around 6:30am this morning.

Blanca came over at 10 to help me out. Last summer she came a couple days a week so I could get stuff done or take one of the boys out. I decided to just take Evan out and leave Noah with Blanca. I gave Evan a few choices and he decided to go to the pool.

We got to the pool around 10:30am. There were a ton of cars parked at the pool and we had to park way down the street. I was worried it would be too crowded. It wasn’t too bad. They had a lot of swim lessons going on, but it didn’t affect us. Evan mostly played in the baby pool. The pool has a very nice baby/small kids area. There is a shallow pool with slides, spraying water, and dumping buckets from above. Evan and I went in the big pool for a little bit, but he preferred the baby pool where he was more independent. We saw Sonya and Avery (from playgroup) there. Evan and Avery played a little. We left the pool around noon.

At home I put underwear on Evan. He went in the potty twice. Once with Blanca. He told her he wanted to sit on the potty.

Blanca fed the boys lunch while I cleaned around the house.

Blanca left and I put Evan and Noah down for naps.

Evan did not nap, Noah did.

For dinner we had leftover chicken rolls that I had frozen from last week and some couscous.

I really needed some help cleaning up the house. The game room was mess. Downstairs was a mess. There were toys everywhere. Morry cleaned up around the house while I took the boys to Barnes and Noble. I needed to get them out of the house so Morry could clean up all the toys. I’ll do real cleaning tomorrow while Riley is here, but I needed toys picked up and things put away so I could clean. Morry did a good job!

Evan and Noah are in bed now. Let’s hope Evan sleeps better tonight.

More Potty Training and School

At 5:37am and 6:37am Lizzy was whining at the back door. Morry let her out the first time and I let her out the second. Morry said she just ran around the backyard when he let her out. When I let her out she did go to bathroom.

Then, Evan woke up at 6:42 and was up for the day. We let him go in the game room and I tried to sleep some more.

Evan had school today. I put a diaper on him since he really isn’t potty trained yet. I told the teachers we were trying potty training and to see if he wanted to sit on the potty. They said he didn’t want to go on the potty today.

When I picked Evan up, he was very excited to see Noah. Evan ran up to Noah and gave him a kiss.

When we got home I let Evan and Noah play a little and then put them down for naps. Evan would not nap. I watched a movie with Evan downstairs while Noah napped.

When I brought Evan downstairs I put his underwear on him and started giving him Cool-aid. Evan did great tonight. He did not have any accidents and went on the potty a few times.

At one point when Morry and I were making dinner I heard Evan go in the bathroom. We went to check on him and he got on the potty and went to bathroom all by himself. It was very exciting.

I hope we can keep this up tomorrow.

For dinner we had spaghetti and salad.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed and it seems to be quiet. I hope Evan sleeps better tonight.

Potty Training: Day 1

So, I decided to really start potty training Evan today.

Evan woke up at 6:50am this morning. Before Morry left the house he got Evan out of his room and put on the TV in the game room so I could sleep a little more. Around 8, Evan came in the room and told me he wanted me to wake up and get out of bed. Noah got up around the same time.

My plan was to give him Cool-Aid all day. When I went to make it this morning, the container we had wasn’t good anymore. We went over to Walgreens. I thought we’d be able to get in out quickly there. Walgreens did not have Cool-Aid so we went to HEB and picked some up. Evan picked out the different flavors he wanted. Then, I let him pick out a bag of candy as a reward for each time he sat on the potty. Evan chose Gummy Bears. As we were getting ready to checkout I saw Evan’s shorts were wet. I changed him before we got back in the car.

Evan pooped and peed on the potty early on in the day, but the rest of the day he threw fits and had a lot of accidents. For more than 30 minutes over lunch time he was crying and throwing a fit because he wanted me to put a diaper on him.

I put a diaper on Evan for naps and then put underwear on again when he woke up.

Evan threw another crying fit this evening. He had more accidents. Then around dinner time during a fit, I just forced him on the potty and he peed. We made a big deal over it and he was very happy and asked to sit on the potty a little later and actually peed that time too.

I’m trying to decide what to do tomorrow. He has school tomorrow. I’m not sure if should continue with the underwear and potty training or just put a diaper on him for tomorrow during school. Either way, when he gets home we’ll go back to the potty training.

Well, it’s been a very long and tough day. I hope this was the worst of it.

Soccer Sunday

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Rachel is talking to her parents so I'm writing the blog tonight.

This morning, Evan woke up around 8am and was playing with his Buzz Lightyear. He's been extra excited about Toy Story stuff since he saw the Toy Story 3 trailer. We played upstairs in the gameroom a bit and then came downstairs and watched Toy Story.

When Rachel and Noah got up we went over to Evan's 2nd soccer class. This one started out much better than last time. Evan was following directions and really playing. He was doing very well. A father came up to Rachel and said that Evan can really kick the ball. The second half wasn't as good as Evan was playing with his friend Kevin and not paying as much attention.

After soccer, we went to a new grocery store called Newflower. They sell mostly produce with some meat and a few other things. We got a bunch of fruit and vegetables for the boys. At one point, I turned my back on Evan while we were next to the bulk candy and he helped himself to two sour gummi bears.

We came home and had lunch and put the boys down for naps.

After naps, we had a birthday party to go to. They had some baby pools there and they had a little petting zoo and pony ride. Neither boy rode the pony but they had baby goats which Noah loved. Evan just wanted to splash in the pool. They also had fruit there and both boys ate a ton of fruit. They also had cut watermelon into triangle slices. Evan had 3 and Noah had 1. Evan did have a little pizza and a piece of cake.

After the party, we stopped at Little Caesars and got a pizza for Rachel and me. Evan ended up eating a piece as well as a piece of Crazy Bread.

Once dinner was over we took the boys upstairs and gave them baths. One of the party favors was a little pill that expands in water into a sponge. Evan picked the green one and put it in the water. It turned into an elephant.

The boys are in bed now and are fairly quiet.

Until next time...

Just Another Saturday

Hello everyone, this is Morry. It's my night to write the blog.

This morning, Rachel left the house at 5:30am to help Alissa with the garage sale. I continued to sleep and was awakened at 8:50am by Evan saying that he wanted to play GeoTrax. When I got him, he instead said he wanted to go downstairs and play.

We went downstairs and watched the Tales of Despereaux and ate some breakfast. After the movie, Noah was still not up and so I showed Evan the Toy Story 3 trailer on the web. Evan had a smile from ear-to-ear when he saw it. We literally watched it nearly 20 times. He was so excited to watch it. He said, "I think we should go see this in the theater."

Noah got up a little after 10am. I fed him some breakfast and then we drove over to Barnes and Noble. I let the kids play with the trains for about 40 minutes or so. Noah started to get bored and was trying to walk away. Noah has started to use walking more. In fact later this afternoon, it seemed that he had given up crawling.

When we got home, Evan asked me to make blue eggs and ham. He helped me put the food coloring in. He ate those and then wanted "yellow eggs and ham." That was easy of course. He ate all of it. Noah ate ok. He has started to use a fork and basically will only eat if he can use a fork to pick his food up.

Rachel got home around 1pm. She ate lunch while the boys played. When she finished we put the boys down for naps.

After naps, I fixed Evan's car seat. It seemed like it was too tight on him and there was this superfluous fabric that seemed to get crunched down thereby making the straps too tight. We figured that the fabric was so you could pull it off and clean it easier.

For dinner we ate at Dimassi's Mediterannean Buffet. Rachel seemed to like it but I wasn't a big fan. I like Kofta Kabobs but theirs were not very good. Evan ate a ton of tabouli.

The boys are now in bed. It seems quiet up there.

Until next time...

Ice Cream and Bats

This morning we went to playgroup. The plan for playgroup was to make homemade ice cream with the kids. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but it was actually pretty good. It was very easy too. Basically, in a small bag you add milk, sugar, and vanilla. You put that bag in a larger bag with ice and rock salt and shake for 5 minutes. If you want more details go here.

After playgroup we came home and ate lunch.

Then, I put the boys down for naps. Noah napped, but Evan didn’t.

Alissa came over around 6. We made signs for the garage sale. I’m helping her sell the rest of her stuff tomorrow. We got rained on a few weeks ago.

After Alissa left Morry and I were trying to decide where to go for dinner. A lot of times we make the decision based on what coupons we had. I had a printable TGI Fridays Coupon for buy one get one free entrée. We decided to go to the Fridays downtown on the lake.

When we got there it wasn’t very crowded and we were able to sit outside. The patio overlooks the lake and the Congress Bridge (where the bats are). After dinner it was just about time for the bats to come out. We sat at our table and had a great view of the bats. It worked out very well and we were able to use our coupon.

We just put the boys to bed. I hope they sleep well tonight. I have to get up very early in the morning to be at Alissa’s at 5:30am.

Here’s a video of ice cream making at playgroup today.

Lots of Cleaning and Crying (Noah)

After dropping Evan off at school I had Riley come over. She lives in our neighborhood and babysits. She is only 12, but had great recommendations/referrals. I started babysitting when I was that age. I wanted to find another babysitter as a backup when Blanca is not available.

Anyway, I had her come for the first time today. I planned on being home the whole time and having her help me with Noah. When Riley first got here Noah was very clingy. He cried for about the first 15 minutes. I sat on the floor with them and slowly backed away. I did a lot of cleaning around the house. Noah was fine until the end when he saw me vacuuming. He wanted me to hold him and got very upset. It seemed to work out well except for the first and last part. I plan on having her come again next Thursday to help me.

When I picked up Evan the kids were on the floor for story time. I put Noah on the floor and Evan came over him and hugged him.

At home, I tried to give the boys haircuts. Both were very cranky and didn’t want to sit still. I managed to trim their hair a little.

Evan and Noah went down for naps around 2:30 and they both slept well.

Morry got home around 6:00.

For dinner we had hamburgers and corn on the cob.

I put some hot wheels/matchbox cars in a container and put it in the bathroom. I’m going to fill it with a few more toys. We told Evan he can pick out a car each time he pees/poops on the potty. He sat on the potty tonight for a long time, but didn’t do anything. He was upset when we told him it was time to get off and get ready for bed.

We just put Evan and Noah to be and it seems quiet.

Smoke Detectors

Last night our smoke detectors went off at two different times during the middle of the night. It’s so annoying. They went off for just a few seconds each time. We had someone come and look at them before when this happened. He said that the smoke detectors have motion sensors and if a bug gets in there it will set it off. That’s most likely what happened last night. We have no idea which smoke detector is was. Because of the baby monitors it makes it even harder to tell where it is coming from. Luckily it didn’t seem to bother Evan and Noah. I’m sure they woke up, but just went back to sleep. It made Lizzy really nervous though.

I was really tired this morning.

Evan and Noah slept until almost 10am. They really needed the sleep.

Yenis and Kevin came over around 10:30 and then we went to the Hill Country Galleria. The kids played in the spray water fountain and then we sat at a table and had snacks. Noah did not really play in the water fountain. He didn’t want to get wet for some reason. Evan and Kevin had a great time though.

When we got home I made a smoothie. Noah drank his pretty quickly so I filled his cup with more. Somehow he managed to get the top off the cup and spilled the whole thing on the carpet.

Evan and Noah took good naps today.

When they woke up I put Sesame Street on for them so I could make dinner.

Morry got home a little after 6:00. We ate pasta salad and then drove to the mall. Morry needed more nice clothes for work. Before leaving I printed out coupons. We got a 15% coupon for Old Navy and a free cookie at The Great American Cookie. Noah was a pain at the mall. He didn’t want to be in the stroller and he was very fussy. He was throwing a fit at the cookie counter. He really wanted a cookie. We let Evan and Noah eat their cookies in the car.

We left the mall around 9 and got home and put the boys to bed. Hopefully they sleep well tonight and hopefully the smoke detectors don’t go off again.

Back to School

I had to wake Evan up at almost 9am this morning.

Evan went back to school today. It had been a while since he was there, but he did great. No problems. He seemed happy to be there.

Noah and I came back home. I grabbed Lizzy and we went for a run. I ran about 2 miles.

Then, I spent a little time at home making a grocery list and getting coupons together. Noah and I went to HEB. We needed a lot of stuff. I was there for over an hour, and Noah did very well. He ate an apple while sitting in the shopping cart. He looked really cute biting into a whole apple. My coupon clipping and organizing paid off. We saved $33.19 in coupons today.

After HEB, we went right to Evan’s school to pick him up.

We came home and Evan and Noah played while I got the groceries put away and started dinner. I decided to make stuffed chicken. You sauté cut up carrots and celery, lay it on chicken breast and then roll them up. The longest part is preparing the veggies so I wanted to go ahead and get that done.

I put the boys down for naps around 2:30. Noah napped, but Evan did not.

After a while I let Evan come downstairs and he watched Robots while I finished getting dinner ready.

Morry came home and we ate the chicken with French bread and roasted garlic.

After dinner we went over to Bernardo and Gabriela’s house (our neighbors behind us). It had been a while since we had seen them. Evan and Noah enjoyed playing with Sebastian and his toys. Evan and Noah started getting cranky so we came home and put them to bed.

Evan threw a little fit at bedtime, but he seems to be quiet now.

Trip Recap

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Rachel is talking to her parents so I have the job of recapping our trip to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Our flight from Austin to Philadelphia was fairly uneventful, thankfully. Noah was pretty antsy at the beginning but he ended up sleeping for the last 2/3 of the flight.

At my mom's house, Evan and Noah stayed in the same room as their cousin, Quin, who is also 3. We put Evan and Noah down first and we could hear Evan and Noah playing and laughing. My sister, Rachel, got Quin ready for bed and had him lay down in their bed to start. Then she read Quin the riot act about talking when she moved him to the bedroom with Evan and Noah. As soon as Quin was in bed, we heard Evan say "How old are you? How old are you?" and then we heard Quin say "shhhh!" It was funny. The boys didn't sleep for a long time.

The second day we went to Ruby's for lunch where they had trains going around the ceiling. Evan loved that and he and Quin had their played with their menus that turned into planes. They'd pretend to crash them into each other. Ruby's is a GREAT place for kids. That night my mom hosted a nice party for all of the guests for my dad's party (the reason we went to Philly). There was also an eventful time with a photographer who had zero clue about how to work with small children. He was sort of an embarrassment.

The next day was my dad's 75th birthday party. It was a very nice event and it was really nice to see all these people show up for my dad. My dad has made a very nice life for himself and that's great. The restaurant's food was good, but they were very slow to serve food. The party started at 6:30 but food did not start to be served until after 8pm. Luckily the room was fairly big and Evan and Quin ran around playing with each other. Also Aunt Fran and Uncle Scott were a BIG help playing with the boys. Uncle Ron got to meet the boys for the first time.

On the fourth day, we met downtown for brunch and then took a double decker bus tour of Philadelphia. Evan had seen a double decker bus tour in Garfield 2 and had really wanted to do it. Both boys loved it but eventually fell asleep on the ride. I found some of the things on the tour very interesting and I hadn't heard it before. That night Evan and Noah were playing with each other when they were supposed to be sleeping. I heard all this banging. I went up there and Evan told me he needed a diaper change. While I was changing his diaper, I asked him what the banging was. He said "nothing". I said it wasn't nothing, so he said he was clapping. I said he wasn't clapping because it was banging on the floor. His next excuse was that it was Lizzy. I can't believe he blamed the dog that was 1500 miles away. What a character!

The following day we took the boys to McDonald's as a sort of present for behaving so well. That night we put the boys down for bed and Rachel and I went to see Angels & Demons. The movie was very good.

Our last day in Philadelphia we went to see my mom's friend and my old boss and friend, Najib Nadi from the Villanova Computer Science department. It was really great geting to see him and I think the boys enjoyed being on a college campus. That night we went to see my friends Linda and Jeff, and their 3 little ones, Madison who is 5, and the twins, Luke and Ethan who are 15 months old. Evan and Noah loved playing with new toys and it was nice for me to be able to see my friends.

Thursday we rented a minivan, picked up my dad at the train station, and drove to Pittsburgh. The boys did very well on the trip. We only stopped once. We ate dinner at friends of mine, the Gordons. They have a little girl Rebecca who is now 8 and Dora who is 3. Again, I think the boys liked playing with new toys.

Friday saw us going to breakfast with my dad and my Aunt Eleanor. My Aunt Eleanor, who is 87, just looks wonderful. Noah played with her at breakfast. Then we went to the Carnegie Science Center. We saw a bunch of things that were great for kids including a massive miniature train set. Evan thought it was great. The Science Center is next to Heinz Field and Evan kept asking if that's where the Steelers and Roethlisberger played. Then we went to Rachel's cousin, Trent's house, for dinner. He has two boys that are 11 and a little girl who is 7. The boys, Taylor and Carter, play lacrosse. They had a little lacrosse stick that they showed Evan how to use. Evan thought he was one of the big kids. He loved playing with them. We couldn't get him away.

The next day, Saturday, we went to Aunt Eleanor's for lunch. My uncles Arnold and Dave and Uncle Dave's wife Estelle came over. Also my dad's cousin (my cousin too) Rita came over as well as Aunt Eleanor's daughter, Ann, and her husband Alan. Ann had dropped off toys for the boys to play with, plus Aunt Eleanor had bought some toys for Evan and Noah. Both boys were excellent. Later in the day we drove out to my friend from college, Katy's house. She and her husband, Rex, have two little boys - Aidan who is a month younger than Jamieson who will be 2 in August. They have a great house in a Pittsburgh suburb with a great basement and a nice pool. They cooked us dinner and then we went to Dairy Queen for dessert.

Our last day on the trip we met up with the Gordons again as well as my old bosses and friends Tom and Marianne Anderson. The restaurant was a great restaurant for the kids but it was a bit slow with service. Then we took Evan and Noah on the incline in Pittsburgh. Noah was so excited and kept yelling and pointing things as we went up and down. I think Evan thought it was really neat as well.

Today was my first day at my new job at TicketCity. I'm the new Development Director there. The first day went very well.

Rachel took the boys to the zoo and both boys fed the animals.

Until next time...

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