Lots of things

This morning we walked the boys to school.  Evan's Science Fair project was due today, so Morry carried it on our walk.

Since we had phone meeting scheduled at 9am, we knew we'd have to leave Camp Gladiator early.  So, I ran there from dropping the kids off.  It was about 2.8 miles.  Toward the end of my run it started really raining.  When I got to the park, Morry was arriving in the car and they told us camp was moved to a church nearby so that we could be indoors.  I got in the car and we drove over to the church.  We had to leave there around 8:45.

We had our 9am meeting that lasted an hour.

I met Deborah for lunch at Central Market and then went to Pink Ribbon Pilates after that.

I came home for just a few minutes and then drove to pick up the kids.  It was raining on and off and had gotten cold outside.

Evan went home with Wade.

Noah and I came home for a little while.

Morry picked up Evan at Wade's at 4:30 and they went to baseball.

Noah came with me to tutoring.

When Noah and I got home around 7:15, I started making dinner - lettuce wraps.

Morry and Evan got home around 8pm.

Now, the boys are getting ready for bed.  Noah is here standing next to me and watching what I am writing.  Now he's smiling.

Cold

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was very cold this morning when we got up.  It was around 37 degrees.  But the boys wanted to walk to school so we walked.  It didn't seem to bother Lizzy.

For lunch, Rachel and I went to Genghis Grill which is next to Central Market.  We wanted to go to Central Market to look at the Greenberg Turkeys they had.  The lunch was good.  We decided that it was better to order the turkeys from the Greenberg site directly.

We walked to pick up the boys.  By that time it had warmed up to around 50 degrees.

Rachel tutored this evening.

Rachel and I ate our leftovers from lunch for dinner and the boys had pasta.

Noah is reading with Rachel.

Until next time...

Late Morning

This morning at 6am we got the call that school was delayed 2 hours.  We drove the boys to school a little after 9am.

While they were at school I went to a Pink Ribbon Cowgirls lunch at Central Market.

We drove to get the boys from school.  It was in the upper 30s and drizzling.

For dinner, the boys and I had crab.  Morry had pork I had picked up Central Market.

The boys are ready for bed now.

37

Today is Morry's 37th birthday.

He had a meeting this morning.

While he was gone the boys and I went to HEB and then their checkup appointments.  Everything looked good. They did not need shots today.

We had lunch and Gabby came over.

I left to tutor.

For dinner we all went out to Logan's to celebrate Morry's birthday.  The boys did well there.  On the way home we stopped at Central Market so that Morry could pick out a dessert for tonight.  He picked a fruit tart that we'll have in just a little bit after putting the boys to bed.

The boys are having dessert now and then we'll get them ready for bed.

New Phones

After taking Evan to school Morry spent the rest of the day at home because he didn't want to miss the phone delivery.  We pre-ordered iphones and the were scheduled to arrive today.

I took Noah to school and went for a run.

I also went to a Pink Ribbon Cowgirl lunch at Central Market.

I picked up Noah on the way home.

We got our phone around 2pm.

I rode the bike to get Evan.

Jack came over for a little bit this afternoon.

We gave the boys an early dinner and then took them to the Little Gym for a Parent's Survival Night.   Morry and I went out to dinner at Cafe Blue and walked around the shopping center.

We picked the boys up at 9:45.  They seemed tired, but had a good time.

Morry is reading to Evan and Noah now.

Wii Preview

Morry and I had a meeting so Blanca came to babysit Evan and we dropped Noah off at school. 

After the meeting we came home and I got Evan.

Evan and I went to a Pink Ribbon Cowgirls lunch at Central Market.

Morry picked up Noah from school.  We all met at home and then left for this Wii Preview Event.

Someone contacted me through my blog to see if I was interested in attending a Wii event where they demonstrate the new Wii system coming out in December. 

I gave the info to Aaron and he and Mandy came with us.  We parked at their place and walked across the street to the event.  They had lots of little stations with different types of games to try out.  The kids were interested at first, but then started acting tired.  We left early.  We spent a little bit of time at Aaron and Mandy's apartment and then left.

We made a stop at Bicycle Sports Shop and came home.

For dinner we picked up Blue Bamboo.  We had the kids clean up tonight.  Evan room looked like a tornado hit it.

Now we are going to get the boys ready for bed.

Another Busy Saturday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

While not quite as packed as last Saturday, we had a bunch of things going on today.  The day started early as Evan had a 9am baseball game.  We were asked to get to the field for warmups at 8:15am.  Evan and I left a bit early and stopped each got a donut.  We were at the field early and got some good practice in.

The game went well Evan's team won and Evan hit a triple.  Then when he scored, he insisted on sliding into home plate.

From there we drove to a karate facility.  We signed Noah up for karate class.  We felt like there wasn't as much competition in it and that it would give him something of his own.  Evan and I got there early because we didn't have enough time to go home so we drove straight from the field to the location.  When Noah got there, he seemed very excited.  He seemed to really enjoy the class.  Today was a free trial but we signed him up for a month.

We came home and had lunch.  Then a boy from Evan's baseball team, Josh, came over to play with Evan and Noah.  The three boys played well at the team party last week.  Josh and Evan play together a lot before and after games so we invited him over.  The boys played really well together.  Josh did not want to leave.  It was really nice.

When Josh left, Evan went out in the backyard throwing the baseball up in the air and catching it.

We then went to Play It Again Sports.  Evan's friend Miles is having a birthday party tomorrow.  In lieu of gifts they asked us to donate gently used baseball equipment to RBI Austin which is a non-profit that helps underprivileged youth play baseball.

We went to dinner at Hyde Park Bar and Grill and then went to Central Market to get some fruit.

The boys are now in Evan's room.

Until next time...

84 Pounds

This morning I wanted to go for a run. Noah was not behaving. He wouldn't get dressed and he wouldn't let me get him dressed either. I had to hold him down to get underwear and pants on him. I left his shirt on and didn't bother with shoes and socks. I was only able to go for a 2 mile run for two reasons. 1) We didn't have that much time. 2) The stroller was really heavy. I brought Lizzy with us too. We weighed the boys tonight. Evan weighs 49 lbs and Noah weighs 35 lbs.

Gabby came over at 11am and stayed until 2:30.

Morry had meetings and was out of the house most of the day. He got home around 3pm. We were going to go to Central Market then, but when I went to tell Noah it was time to go he was asleep. We let him sleep a little bit longer.

We all went to Central Market and picked out food for dinner tonight and for the rest of the week.

For dinner the boys and I had crab and Morry had steak.

We just got Evan and Noah ready for bed. Morry read Big Plans to them.

Let's hope they go to sleep soon. Evan goes back to school tomorrow.

Hanukkah at Central Market

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel and I slept in until around 10.  The boys played well in the game room, though Noah did come in several times to talk to Rachel.

Rachel met her friend Melissa for lunch at 11am at the Omelettry.  We had never eaten there.  She said it was pretty good.

Meanwhile, I gave the boys lunch.  They behaved fairly well for me.

Close to 1pm I met Rachel at Central Market.  They had advertised they were having a Hanukkah celebration with face painting, arts and crafts, music, dreidel games, etc...  When we got there, one hour after the scheduled start, there was barely anything going on.  There was a band playing with a large Menorah behind them but not one was watching them.  We let the boys play on the playground for a while and finally we saw a lady setting up an arts and crafts table.  The boys made a dreidel and a menorah.  Eventually some girls from some dance team performed and then another band and choir played.  They said there was no face painting and the dreidel games amounted to each child getting a dreidel and two pieces of chocolate gelt.  All in all it was pretty lame and pretty disappointing.

We came home and the boys rested for awhile.

For dinner I made oven-baked fried chicken.

We gave the kids baths and they are in bed now.

Until next time...

Night Out

Evan and Noah had good days at school.

For lunch I met the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls at Central Market. Central Market was really busy today for some reason. It was hard to find parking and I had to wait a while in line. While I was there I got a challah.

We did Shabbat at home tonight and then dropped the kids off at Clubhouse for Kids. Morry and I went to Phara's for dinner and Mozart's for dessert. We sat outside at both places. It was a nice night.

We are home now and got the boys ready for bed. Morry is reading to them now.

Good Noah

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today the temperature dropped considerably.  It was around 60 this morning when I took Evan to school.  We both wore sweatshirts into the school.  Evan wore jeans for the first time since school started.

When I got home, I did some work and left around 9 for a meeting with StoredIQ.

Noah got up after I left and got himself dressed.  He and Rachel went out in the backyard for a bit and then they went to Central Market.  At Central Market, they had these real small pickles.  Noah tried them and loved them so they bought some.

When they got home, Noah told me that he was "very good" at Central Market.

Rachel left shortly after picking Evan up and Kim came over to babysit.

At 5:40, we left for Evan's football practice.  It was like night and day with how he performed today at practice vs the game.  He was very good today.  He was paying attention and running fast.  Their belts have two flags, one on either hip.  At the end, they had a "last man standing" and let the kids run around in a square without going out of bounds.  They had to pull everyone's flags off.  When you lost both flags you were out.  It ended up down to three kids - Evan and two others.  Evan had this massive collection of flags he had pulled.  One boy had two flags in and Evan and the other had one.  Neither of the boys with one flag could catch the one with two flags and eventually they turned on each other.  Evan and the boy pulled each other's last flag out at the same time.  But the coach said Evan won for collecting the most flags.  Evan was very happy.

We came home and had dinner.

Rachel just read to the boys.  Apparently, I've lost my job as book reader.

Until next time...

Gym and Central Market

This morning we went to the gym and then the Pink Ribbon Cowgirl lunch at Central Market.

Last time I went to the CM lunch the boys were not very well behaved. I thought I'd see how they were doing this morning and them make my decision about going. They were pretty good this morning and played in the child care at the gym so I thought they would be ok.

I don't know what it is about Central Market, but something there makes them have to go to the bathroom multiple times.

The boys were fighting at the table and then when I was trying to talk to someone Noah kept interrupting saying, "Mommy, I'm talking to you."

We were sitting inside by a window. On the other other side of the window was a fenced in balcony with more seating. I asked the boys if they wanted to sit outside. So, I sat them at a table near the window where I could see them and they ate their lunch outside while I tried to eat mine and talk to people inside. It worked a little. They still came in multiple times for various things.

After lunch Evan and Noah played on the playground and then went back in Central Market to pick up a few groceries. A few days ago Evan said he wanted to do Shabbat. We were talking about it and the fact that there is a Jewish holiday every Friday. While we were at CM we picked up a challah.

At home, they were both hyper. Neither one took a nap.

For dinner we picked up Blue Bamboo and we did the candles, wine, and challah. We let the boys have a sip of wine and Evan said it tickled his throat. After dinner I made chocolate chip cookies.

Morry is reading to the boys now and then they will hopefully go to sleep.

Central Market and Baseball

This morning we went to Central Market. We are going to have a seder here and needed Passover stuff. The HEB near us has a very small Jewish/Kosher section. Evan and Noah enjoyed Central Market. There were samples at every corner. They even have a kids table where kids can put in a quarter in the piggy bank and pick out a small piece of fruit. Evan and Noah both chose apples.

After Central Market we went to the park so I could help Evan with baseball. Noah was a pain, whining a lot, but Evan did well. We worked on catching, throwing, and base running.

At home the boys had a small lunch since they had eaten so much at Central Market. I made a carrot, apple, and lemon juice in our juicer and the boys both gulped it down pretty quickly.

At 3:30 we went to Gymboree for Hazel's (a girl in Noah's class) birthday party. We had to leave the party a little early to get to Evan's baseball game.

Evan did well at baseball today. Morry thought he was throwing really well today.

After the game we ate dinner at Suzy's. We just got home and now we'll put the boys to bed.

Central Market Lunch and Playground

This morning I took a short run with Lizzy and pushing the boys in the stroller.

Then, we went to Central Market to meet up with the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls for lunch. Evan and Noah were not well behaved. They were both cranky, whiny, and fought with each other a lot. I kept having to interrupt my conversations to deal with them. They were the only kids at the lunch this time. Next time I'll go without them. No one else seemed annoyed, but still... it was not very pleasant for me.

After lunch the boys played on the playground at Central Market. They had a good time out there.

When we got home I tried to put Noah down for a nap, but was unsuccessful.

For dinner we used one of our Groupons at Santa Rita. We ate outside and the boys actually ate pretty well.

After dinner we made a quick trip to HEB.

We just did baths and now the boys are in bed.

Here's a video from the playground

Long Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The day began early for Rachel. She got up to go to meet with a running group downtown. Evan was up while Rachel was getting ready.

I got up after the boys were playing. When I came out of my room, I could hear Evan and Noah playing. I realized they were playing in Evan's room and they had the door closed. It sounded like they were throwing a ball and trying to catch it. I don't know. But they were definitely having a good time.

Rachel came home around 11:30 after she went to Luke's Locker - a running shoe store - and got some new running shoes for herself.

When she got home, Evan and I left to go to the park. I wanted to bring our tee for him to hit off of at a baseball field and work with him on running the bases. We stopped at the bank to deposit some checks before we went and then we went to the park. It was a really nice day. I set the tee up at home plate and then I'd yell out "single", "double", "triple" or "home run" after he hit a ball and I wanted him to tell me what base to run to and he'd run to it. I worked with him on running the right direction and to drop the bat after he hit the ball. He picked it up very quickly and he seemed to know which direction to run before I even told him. We both had a good time. Sunday is Evan's first tee ball practice so I wanted to introduce him to concepts he hadn't done before so he'd be more prepared.

We came home and had lunch and the went upstairs because Rachel was having a student over to tutor.

When Rachel finished tutoring, we left to go to Barry and Lisa's for Lincoln's third birthday party. As soon as we got there, Evan and Noah asked to go outside to play on the swing set out back. At one point, Noah and Lincoln were on the glider together. It was very cute.

After the party, we drove back home, stopping at Little Caesar's to pick up a pizza for the boys. Rachel had arranged for us to go to a cooking class at Central Market and Blanca was coming over to babysit. We got the boys set up with dinner, Blanca came and we jumped back into the car to drive to Central Market.

The cooking class was good. We had taken one there before. Actually it was before we had kids so it was a long time ago. They have a kitchen set up and you watch them cook it, like a cooking show and then they serve you the food. The chef obviously like pork products because there was some appetizer with serrano ham, prosciutto covered asparagus, and bacon in the scalloped potatoes. But it was good and Rachel and I enjoyed ourselves.

We had planned to see Just Go With It as we had a Groupon for Fandango that we had purchased a while back and it was expiring. Since we had a babysitter, we figured we'd just see a movie. The cooking class ended a bit earlier than we expected, so we had some time to kill. We bought some stuff at Central Market to kill some time.

The movie was very good. Of course, Rachel and I are Adam Sandler fans, but really it was enjoyable.

When we got home, we heard crying. It turns out that Evan had heard the garage door. It woke him up and he had run to the window overlooking the garage crying for me. Apparently, he had told Blanca he was going to wait up all night for me and he had fallen asleep. I guess he was worried that somehow he wouldn't see me or something. I don't know. But Rachel held him for a bit and then he wanted to come to me and I put him to bed after reading Captain Underpants. I read that to him every night and I think he had been a bit upset that I hadn't read it to him tonight. I think he's asleep now.

Until next time...

Lots of Activities

This morning I went for a 2 mile run with the boys in the stroller and Lizzy.

When we got home I quickly showered and then we left the house again. We met the Pink Ribbon Cowgirl group at Central Market. When we got to Central Market the boys and I walked around the store picking out what we wanted for lunch. They have a café there too, but the boys eat better when we find stuff in the store. I got soup and egg salad. The boys picked out bagels, juice, and Pirate Booty. I let them pick out one type of candy from the candy bins. Noah picked gummy raspberries and blackberries. Evan got hard lego candy. I also brought a few things from home for the boys. Evan and Noah did well at lunch and were well behaved. There were 2 other 2 year-olds there today.

After the lunch I took the boys to playground outside at Central Market. Evan and Noah played a while at the playground and had a good time. They were good when it was time to leave because I told them they could have their candy in the car.

When we got home I put Noah down for a nap and mopped. Evan helped me mop.

Noah wasn’t napping so we left to meet the playgroup at My Gym. My Gym has an open play area room with lots of climbing toys and gymnastics like equipment. We got there around 4pm and stayed until almost 6pm. Morry met us there after work.

From there we went to dinner at Cypress Grill.

When we got home we gave the boys baths and then put them to bed.

School Open House

For lunch today we met the breast cancer group at Central Market. There was one other kid there. Before we met the group in the café area I took the boys through the store and we picked out stuff for them to eat for lunch. They got fruit from the salad bar, rolls, and pirate booty. They also picked out juice bottles. I got soup for me and then we met the group upstairs in the café area.

Evan and Noah were very well behaved. After the lunch I took them on the playground.

We came home, but were only home for a little bit.

From 3pm- 4pm was the open house for school. Morry met us at school. First we hung out in Noah’s room and then Evan’s room. Both boys seem completely comfortable in their class. I hope that’s true when we drop them off on Tuesday.

We all came home and Morry worked a little bit from home.

For dinner we went to Olive Garden for the Never Ending Pasta Bowl. I had 1 bowl. Morry had 4! The boys shared a kids spaghetti.

We got home a few minutes ago and just put the boys to bed.

Good Morning / Bad Afternoon

This morning Evan and Noah were very good. For lunch we met up with the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls at Central Market North. We ate lunch upstairs and Evan and Noah were very well behaved. I brought a lot of food and snacks to keep them occupied. I also bought them smoothies. There was another mom there with a 4 year-old boy, so after the lunch we went to the playground together. Evan and Noah had a great time playing. I gave them a 5 minute warning, then a 1 minute warning. I had to pick up Noah because he didn’t want to leave. Then, Evan wanted to keep showing me things he could do on the bars. I let him show me one thing, then I said we needed to leave. He became very angry and was yelling at me. I just ignored him, but he was yelling while we passed all the people eating lunch outside. Both boys were screaming and crying.

On the way home I had to stop at a vacuum repair place. Our vacuum cleaner has not been working right for a while. It vacuums some, but the brush doesn’t move like it is supposed to. The guy told me it would probably cost $69 or so to fix it. I decided to pass. We only paid about double that for the vacuum in the first place. They had some toys for kids to play with at the Sew and Vac shop. Then, Noah threw another fit when it was time to leave because he didn’t want to leave the toys.

By the time we got home both boys were seriously cranky and in need of naps, but of course neither one did today. I tried lying down with Noah, but Evan started crying because I wasn’t able to give him attention and then Noah wasn’t sleeping because he heard Evan.

Eventually I gave up on Noah’s nap and let him come downstairs. He was really cranky though.

When Morry got home we decided to go to an early dinner. The boys were in bad moods so we just picked a place close to home, Craig-Os. Evan ate a lot of pizza. Noah didn’t eat very much.

We just put the boys to bed. I really hope they fall asleep soon.

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.