Saying Goodbye

Today, Aunt Susan, Sherah, JW, Nolan, and Court came over to hang out with us and Grandma, Papa, and Bubbe. The boys played outside a lot. We picked up food from Salt Lick and ate lunch here at the house. I made pasta for the kids. The kids ate outside while the adults ate inside. It was a nice day.

Everyone left after lunch. Grandma, Papa, and Bubbe drove back to Dallas.

Evan and Noah played outside some more after everyone left. I printed out treasure maps that I found online for Evan. He hid them and then unburied them in the backyard.

For dinner we had leftover tacos from a few nights ago.

Evan and Noah are acting very tired and cranky right now. We are going to give them baths and then put them to bed.

Day of Cousins

This morning both boys got up somewhat early. I spent the morning cleaning up more. Evan watched as I made my bed and Noah’s bed. He said he wanted to make his own bed. He was very proud of himself. Here are a few pictures.

Also, lately Evan likes to style his own hair. He'll get his hair wet in the sink and then comb it. This morning I saw him helping Noah style his hair too. Very cute!

Sherah, JW, Nolan, and Court came over around 12. They picked up pizza from Little Caesars. Evan and Noah were so excited when they got here. The boys played very well together. After eating Sherah and I took Noah and Court party shopping. We went to Party City and Walmart to find some things for Lauren’s shower.

When we got home Noah was pretty tired so I put him down for a nap. They left pretty soon after.

Morry took Mottel to the vet today for a check up. Mottel has been shedding more than usual and they think it’s from his steroids, so they are lowering the dosage hoping to get him off them completely in a few months.

For dinner we went to Boston Market and then went to Matt and Rachael’s house for Rachael’s shower. We brought the kids with us. The men watched tv and the kids played upstairs mostly during the shower. At one point Noah was with the men and was eating grapes on a plate on the floor (there was no table in the room). Noah was jumping around and somehow tripped and ending falling and sitting right on the plate of grapes and smooshed them. Everyone thought it was pretty funny, even Noah.

We got home around 10pm and put the boys to bed. It has been a long day.

The last few days

Well, here’s what has happened the last few days.

Last Thursday, Evan’s class had their first field trip. I came along, as did most moms. We went to the Zilker Botanical Gardens. The kids had a great time, though were more interested in the rolly pollies than the flowers. Here are some pictures and videos - Evan's Class Field Trip

Thursday night we drove to Dallas.

I had my implant surgery on Friday. It was a lot better than I expected. I was just a little sore afterwards. I was even able to go to the park on Saturday.

Saturday night we went over to Sherah, JW, Nolan, and Court’s house. We had pizza for dinner and then went to Sonic for dessert. The boys had a great time playing with each other.

Morry flew home Sunday.

We saw Sherah and boys Monday and Tuesday as well. The boys were really excited to see each other each time.

Grandma/Lynn drove back with Evan, Noah, and me today. I’m not supposed to carry the boys so I needed the extra help.

Evan had his sports class tonight and then we ate dinner at home. We made one of those freeze and eat meals (mango cranberry chicken). It was good.

We just put the boys to bed. We are all glad to be back home. I hope they sleep better here than they did at Grandma and Papa’s house.

Kiddie Acres

This morning we met Aunt Susan, Sherah, JW, Nolan, and Court for lunch at Cheddars. Evan and Noah didn’t eat very much, but they did have a good time.

After lunch we went to Kiddie Acres. It’s a little amusement park for small kids. All of the boys had fun. They went on many rides and then had snow cones. Evan somehow managed to get the blue snow cone all over his face. He still has some on his face now. It wouldn’t come off. It was fun to see how well Evan, Noah, Nolan, and Court got along. I wish we lived closer to them.

We drove home for nap time. Noah took a nap. Evan played in the game room with his new Legos, a birthday present from Sherah and family.

For dinner we had the leftover stew from last week and I made some quinoa to go with it. Evan and Noah ate their leftover pasta from lunch.

After dinner we took a walk. It was still light out and the weather was nice. We stopped and talked to our neighbors, Billy and Jan, for a little bit. Evan walked almost the whole way. Noah sat in the stroller.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed. They are both still making noises. I hear Noah playing with his new Woody doll.

Sherah’s Family

This morning I dropped Evan off at school and then Noah and I came home. I called Sherah. She and her family got into Austin late last night. They were going to Jungle Java (an indoor playground) so Noah and I met up with them. There were a ton of kids there. It’s was very crowded. Noah had a great time going down the slide with Sherah. He wanted to do it over and over again. They all went to lunch after that but I needed to head home so that I could pick up Evan from school.

Noah and I picked up Evan and then we came home for naps. Noah slept. Evan watched tv in the game room.

For dinner we drove to Aunt Susan’s house and ate Rudy’s barbecue. The boys had a great time playing together. We are going to get together with them again tomorrow.

We got home late. It is now 10:15. We just put Evan and Noah to bed.

Back Home in Austin

Evan didn’t go to sleep until 11pm last night. Noah was up once in the middle of the night. I didn’t sleep so well because I was hurting.

This morning I got everything packed up and loaded the car.

Evan, Noah, and I went over to Sherah’s house. Evan and Noah had a great time playing with Nolan and Court. Sherah picked up pizza and Starbucks coffee. We had a nice lunch. We stayed until about 2pm and then drove back to Austin from there.

It was not a very pleasant car ride. Evan was ok, but Noah was very whiny and cried a lot. I was so glad to get him home and out of the car.

Morry picked up Torchy’s Tacos for us for dinner. He made nuggets for the boys. Noah didn’t eat any. He cried in his highchair. We took him out so at least we could eat our dinner in peace.

I unpacked the boys’ stuff and then we got them ready for bed.

They are both in bed now, but Evan has already come out of his room.

Sunday the 13th

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel said she's doing a bit better than yesterday. She was nauseous but she was very achy from the Nuelasta shot. Right now she has a very slight fever and we're wondering whether the shot is actually doing that to her because the same thing happened last time. But other than that she is ok.

This morning, Evan came into our room at 7:30 or so. Grandma/Lynn and Papa/Lenny forcibly removed him so that Rachel and I could get some rest. Apparently, he was good once he got downstairs. Both boys ate a good breakfast including blue eggs and ham.

When I got up, I took the boys outside to swing. It had rained yesterday, but I dried off the swings. Lizzy had pooped right next to Evan's swing and he stepped right in it. I cleaned his shoes off and then pushed Noah while Evan did swung himself.

We came inside and played some and then had lunch. The boys ate ok, considering they had a big breakfast.

Evan and Noah both were good when it was time to put them down for naps.

When they woke up, Evan wanted to play Wii. He played all the sports on there and had Grandma help him pick out the games he wanted to play. Noah was happy watching Evan play the sports.

I got dinner ready for us while that was going on. I broiled a steak in the new toaster over/broiler/convection oven that we got for Hanukkah from Bubbe.

After dinner, we opened presents and got on Skype with Sherah, JW, Nolan, Court and Bubbe. Noah was very excited. Evan did come over to say hi.

The boys had baths and now are in bed. Although Evan just told me he needed to go to the bathroom.

Until next time...

Smoke Detectors

About 2am our smoke detectors went off 2 separate times for just a few seconds. They do that every now and then and we have no idea why. It’s so annoying. Evan got scared and ended up sleeping in bed with us last night.

Blanca came at 10:45am. Noah was still sleeping. I had to go wake him up. I didn’t want his schedule to be thrown off.

Blanca took the boys outside for lunch and they were out there for a while.

Around 2:30 we put Evan and Noah down for naps and I sent Blanca home. The boys took good naps and were still sleeping when Morry got home.

Emily, a mom from the mom’s club, brought dinner for us tonight. She made tortilla soup and fajitas. It was nice not having to worry about making dinner.

After dinner we did Skype with Bubbe and Sherah. The plan was to have the boys talk to each other. We saw Court for a little bit, but Nolan was watching a movie. They saw Evan at first, but then Evan ran off to play. Noah stuck around a little bit. So, it wasn’t too successful.

Evan and Noah are watching Toy Story now. In a little bit we’ll put them to bed.

Sherah’s Family

This morning Aunt Susan, Sherah, JW, Nolan, Court, Lauren, and Presley (the girl that Lauren nannies for) came over. I made cranberry blueberry oatmeal muffins. Evan and Noah ate a ton of them. The kids all played really well together. Evan and Nolan played upstairs in the game room. For lunch I picked up Little Caesar’s pizza. Of course I had coupons. All of us ate for a total of $11.something.

After lunch we called Bubbe on Skype and then we all went in the backyard for a little while. It was hot out, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. We took a Popsicle break. Noah had his own Popsicle for the first time. He did great and ate the whole thing.

Sherah’s family went back to Aunt Susan’s for naps.

I put Evan and Noah down for naps, but only Noah napped.

For dinner we met Sherah, JW, Nolan, and Court at Red Robin. We had to wait a while for a table that could accommodate us. Luckily there were lots of things to keep the boys occupied. In the front of the restaurant were video games and candy/toy machines. Even though we didn’t give the boys any change they had a good time playing with all the stuff.

Dinner was good. And what made it even better? Morry, Evan, and I ate for free! All we had to pay for was our drinks. Morry and I each had coupons for free burgers for our birthdays and Red Robin is also having a promotion where kids eat for free. Good deal!

Evan and Noah are in bed now. It seems to be quiet.

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.

Jungle Java

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Rachel is finishing up putting the boys to bed. Well really it's Evan that she's trying to put to bed. He's being really picky, asking for a certain song to be played. Then he asked to have his humidifier put on. He really knows how to drag out bedtime if he wants to.

This morning, I was awakened to our neighbors having their lawn mowed and leaves blown - at 8am. Yes, 8am on a Saturday. If that happens again, we are going there are going to be some problems. On either side of us we seem to have neighbors that have no regard for our sleep.

Everyone else got up at 9am. We got the boys ready and then we went up to Round Rock to meet Aunt Susan, Sherah, JW, Nolan and Court at a place called Jungle Java. It's an indoor playground, basically. It has these things to climb and tunnels and slides. It's really meant for kids Evan's age. I'd say the ideal age is about 3 to 6. They offer free wireless and fancy coffee for the adults which is why it's called Jungle Java. There was also a little section for kids Noah's age to crawl around. Both boys really enjoyed themselves. Evan was crawling around, swinging on things, going down the slide. He insisted on having help climbing though, even though I know he can do it. We took some good pictures with our new camera. We got lunch there, but I think that was a mistake because Evan was too preoccupied with playing. We ate our lunch and he was running around. During that, I guess he tried to climb up somewhere and got himself in a position that he was too scared to go up or down. So he just sat there crying. I felt awful that he was "stuck". JW found him and then I climbed with him everywhere and he was happy. A 5-year-old little girl named Avery attached herself to Evan and me and wanted the two of us to play with her the whole time. It was nice.

Both boys were cranky when we left because they were worn out from playing. We got home and put them down for naps. Noah actually slept on the way home. We kept Evan awake because if he fell asleep in the car, we wouldn't be able to transfer him.

For dinner, we went to Texas Land and Cattle. We ordered shrimp for Evan. That's what he insisted he wanted. We didn't know, but the shrimp was fried again. He insisted we take off the "bread". He did eat all of his shrimp, some of Rachel's french fries, and applesauce. The whole time he was incredibly well-behaved. Noah was somewhat well-behaved. If he had food he wanted, he was happy.

On the way home, Evan told Noah it was "dark". Then he called Noah, "Dark Vader".

Now the boys are in bed. I bet they sleep pretty well. It was a big day.

Until next time...