Holiday Celebrations

This morning I went for a long run.

Grandma and Papa picked Noah and me up at 11:45 and we went to the JCC for a Hanukkah party.  It was huge.  There were a ton of people there.  We didn't realize everything was free.  I guess that's why so many people came out.  They had many food trucks and food stations, activities for the kids, and more.

We took it easy at home for a little bit.

Morry had picked up Evan from Josh's house, but soon after getting home Jack invited him over to play.

When Evan came home we lit the Hanukkah menorahs and the boys opened gifts.

Then, we went to an early dinner at Uncle Maddios and headed over to the Trail of Lights.  I was offered a special preview from a group of local bloggers I belong to.   We had a nice time and there.  The boys got dessert under the big tree.  Noah got a cookie and Evan got ice cream.

The boys are taking showers and then they will go to bed.

Here are some pictures from the Trail of Lights.

Busy Sunday

Yesterday we had a busy day.  Deborah came over, had lunch with us,  did some work on Lizzy, and then Morry helped her with some of her website stuff.

At night, we went to the Texas Stars minor league hockey game.

This morning Morry had a meeting.

When we got home Noah and I left to go to the Purim carnival at the JCC.

While we were gone Evan went to a birthday party and then Morry took him to baseball practice.

After the Purim carnival Noah went over to his friend Jude's house for a little bit.

I got the lunches ready for the week.

Noah got home around 5:30 and then I started getting dinner ready.

Morry and Evan got home around 6:30 and we ate dinner.

The boys had showers, FaceTimed with Grandma, Papa, and Maya, and are now getting ready for bed.

Baseball for a Party

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I've complained about this before, but why do smoke detectors alert you of a low battery when you are sleeping?  Can they not build in a nice timer that says, it will wait until say, 10am, to alert you?  Or if they are worried you might not be home, maybe 7pm?  This morning was really bad because the smoke detector went off in my room.  Why is that bad?  Well besides the fact it was much louder for me, we have extra tall ceilings in our bedroom and the normal step ladder I have cannot reach the smoke detector.  The only way for me to reach it is to go in the garage and get a big ladder.  I did not want to do that at 5:30am when everyone else was sleeping.  But this made Lizzy go crazy.  She's very scared of that sound.  I just dealt with it and I did change it around 8:30am.  I would have liked to have slept in.

We stayed in the morning and played with the Wii.

We went and took a look around the Far West area with Zayde to show him where the JCC was and the other types of things.  We then went to lunch at a place called Austin Terrier.

From there we drove down south and stopped by an area with a house we found on Airbnb.

After that we went to some baseball fields.  A boy that we don't know was having a birthday party.  For his party, he wanted to have a baseball game.  So his parents got a field and put together a team but they needed a team to play so they asked Evan and Noah's former coach, Mario to put together a team.  Mario called me and asked if Evan would play in the game.  A bunch of kids from Evan's select team were playing on the two teams.  Evan seemed to have a very good time playing.  The fields were very nice.  I think everyone had fun and Zayde was able to see Evan play baseball.  Rachel, who had been in Dallas, came by for a bit of the game.  She drove straight to the fields from Dallas.  It was a great idea for a birthday party.  The kids all had a really good time.

We came home and Evan and I watched football for a bit while Zayde and Noah played Legos.

For dinner I picked up Yaghi's pizza for us.

The boys are now in bed.

Until next time...

Recovering

Noah came in our room early this morning and wanted to get in bed with us.  I told him he could sleep on the floor next to the bed.  When he gets in our bed it's very uncomfortable for all of us.  Noah's all over the place.  Then, a little later he needed help going to the bathroom.  So, I didn't get to really sleep in this morning.

Morry and I were both really tired from yesterday.

We all went to look at a couch from Craigslist.  We are looking for a couch for Morry's office.  We didn't like the couch though. 

After that we went to lunch/brunch at Austin Diner.  The service wasn't good and the boys weren't well behaved.  Noah was cranky and Evan wouldn't eat his food.  They didn't have powdered sugar so he wouldn't eat his pancakes.

After that we went to Dicks Sporting Goods to get baseball stuff for the boys.  They weren't very good there either.  They were being wild, touching everything, and not listening.

On the way home we stopped at the JCC.  They were having a "Jewish Scouting Event" with info on Boy Scouts.  We thought we'd check it out.  I wouldn't really call it an event.  There were a couple people sitting around.  One table was out with some papers on it.  They had a few derby cars out and old roof part propped up slanted on the edge of the table to use as a racetrack.  We were the only people there other than those manning the booth.

Morry played baseball with the boys this afternoon while I rested.

For dinner we ate at Carinos and then went to HEB.

Back to School

This morning Morry dropped Evan off at school. Gabby was here this morning to take care of Noah.

From 11:30-2:30 I went to a “Genetics and the Jewish Woman” symposium at the JCC. Most of the information I already knew from meeting with the genetics counselor, but there was some new information that was helpful. I was able to briefly talk with an oncologist (the one I’m going to see on Thursday) and an ovarian cancer specialist from MD Anderson. They were both amazed that I had just had a mastectomy 2 weeks ago and was there.

When I got home Blanca was at the house and the boys were sleeping. Jodie (one of the moms from playgroup and Evan’s class) brought Evan home from school. The kids at school made a poster for us and the families gave us 5 gift cards for restaurants. That was really nice.

For dinner we had a casserole that Beth, from Morry’s work, made for us. It was nice not having to worry about dinner.

Evan and Noah played for a while after dinner. They were running around being silly.

The boys are in bed now, but still playing around and making noises.

Another Busy One

This morning Evan got up early while Morry was getting ready for work.

At 10:30 we went to the JCC for Tot Shabbat. They were having a clothing swap. You bring in clothes your kid/s no longer wears and maybe get some other clothes they can wear now. I brought a big bag of stuff. Most the stuff there was for babies or small toddlers, but I did get a few size 3 and 4 stuff for Evan.

After the JCC we went to get an oil change and inspection. Morry met us there and then we went out to lunch. We ate at Zuzu’s across from Morry’s work. After lunch Morry dropped us off at the car place and we had to wait a while. Evan and Noah were good considering we were there for a long time.

Then, we went to Evan’s school. There was an open house from 2-3 for the kids to come see their new classrooms. School starts next week. Both Evan and Noah had a great time playing in Evan’s new room.

We came home and I put the boys down for naps. They both slept.

While they were napping a tv repairman came by. Our tv will occasionally freeze. Luckily, it froze while he was here. That never happens. Whenever you have a problem and someone comes to fix it, it always seems fine. Anyway, he took some notes, and will hopefully come back next week to fix the tv.

I packed food for the boys and we left the house around 6pm to meet Morry, Matt, Ben, and Molly for dinner at Phil’s Icehouse. Evan and Noah had a great time playing on the playground, but they didn’t eat much.

We just put the boys to bed. Evan is still up.

Morry’s Birthday

This morning Evan woke up right before Morry left for work. Morry gave Evan breakfast and put a movie on for him in the gameroom.

We were supposed to go to playgroup today, but the hosting kid got sick and they had to cancel. Instead, we went to the JCC for Tot Shabbat.

Evan and Noah seemed to have a good time there. Evan was one of the oldest kids there though.

After the JCC we met Morry at his work and then went out to lunch. We got pizza at Mangia. Evan and Noah gave Morry the birthday cards they made for him.

We came home and I put the boys down for naps. Evan slept really well. Noah only napped a little.

When Morry came home Evan ran up to him and asked him to open his present. Then, Evan said “we got a shirt for you.” Evan doesn’t quite understand the surprise part of gift giving. At least I didn’t tell Evan what the other gift was. I also got Morry Guitar Hero (a game package for wii). Morry played a little Guitar Hero before dinner.

For dinner we met Morry’s friends Joszef and Janos at Benihana to celebrate Morry’s birthday. We had to wait a while for our table. It was hard waiting there with Evan and Noah. Noah wanted to walk around, but it wasn’t safe as there were lots of waiters and people walking back and forth.

Dinner was fun. We enjoyed watching the guy cook in front of us. Evan and Noah were tough. Noah hardly ate anything and threw most of the food on the floor. A little before the guy starting cooking, Evan became really clingy with Morry and was like that for the whole show. Evan did end up eating a lot of shrimp. He ate Morry’s appetizer shrimp and then all the shrimp that came with my meal. For dessert, they sang and brought ice cream for Morry. Morry and Evan shared the ice cream. Noah had a few bites.

On the way home we had to stop for gas and then drive to Matt’s house. Morry needed to pick up Matt’s car so that he can pick Matt and the kids up from the airport tomorrow.

It was a late night for the boys. It’s almost 11pm and they just went to bed.

Making cards for Daddy

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.

JCC and Panera

This morning there was no playgroup, so I thought we’d just go to the JCC. By the time I was able to get both boys out of the house and get food for lunch in the diaper bag it was after 10:30.

We got to the JCC about 11:00. They had already done the Tot Shabbat. Evan and Noah still had fun just playing. The toys are really for babies or toddlers, but Evan still seemed to find stuff to play with. We only stayed in the room for about 30 minutes and then went outside to the playground. When it was time to leave Evan threw a fit. It was really hard carrying Noah and getting Evan to the car.

We met Yenis and Kevin at Panera. I got there before Yenis and took the boys to the bathroom there. Noah needed a diaper change. I was really having a tough time managing Evan and Noah in the bathroom. There was no changing table, so we took the handicap stall and I had to change Noah on the floor, on top of the diaper pad we have. I had to do this while trying to keep Evan from touching things. He kept touching the toilet or the trashcan. Then, he was unlocking the door. I heard a woman ask me if I needed help. I said, “Thanks, but I’m ok.” She offered to help Evan (must have heard me say Evan’s name a few times) wash his hands. I thanked her, but kept Evan in the stall with me. Somehow, I managed to get all of our hands washed and get out of the bathroom. That was really tough.

While we were in line to order Yenis and Kevin arrived. We ordered and got set up outside. My buzzer went off saying my food was ready, but it was a while before I could get it since it took a while to get all the other stuff to the table and get a high chair. I ended up eating cold soup. Kevin and Evan had a good time playing on the deck outside. Evan didn’t eat much. He just had a blueberry muffin and a yogurt drink. There were two women sitting near us who brought a dog with them. Noah and Evan enjoyed petting it. Noah called the dog Lizzy.

We came home and I put the boys down for naps. Evan did not nap. Noah slept a little bit until the phone rang and woke him up.

After nap time we went out front and Evan rode his “big boy” bike a little. He was very good at going downhill, but he needed me to help push him up the hills.

For dinner, we went to Blue Bamboo, a new restaurant near us. The food was good, but the boys, especially Evan were not well behaved.

We put the boys to bed early. I hope they sleep well tonight.

I have to get up very early in the morning. I’m helping Alissa with her garage sale and I’m going to her house at 5:30am. There are still a lot of things that need to be priced, we need to set up, and signs need to be put out.

JCC and Haircut

We had a busy day today.

For some reason Evan woke up at 7:15am. That’s early for him. I let him play in the gameroom while I lied down in bed some more. I didn’t truly go back to sleep. I know he’ll be ok in the gameroom, but I kept checking on him. I closed the bathroom doors and the gate at the top of the stairs.

Noah woke up around 9:00.

Once I got everyone dressed and fed we went to the JCC. We hadn’t been there in a while. Our normal playgroup is normally on Friday mornings. No one volunteered to host today. The playgroup is kind of fizzling since many kids are in pre-school and busy. Anyway, I decided to try the Tot Shabbat at the JCC again. Evan and Noah seemed to have a good time. Evan ate a lot of challah and juice. Noah enjoyed exploring the toys in the room. There were a lot of people there. I didn’t know anyone except for the lady that leads it. I talked to a few people.

After the JCC we went to the Great Clips near there. Evan and Noah really needed haircuts again. Great Clips is having a promotion. All haircuts are $6.99 and the deal ended today. We normally go to Great Clips, so I thought I might as well try to go today. It was busy in there and they told us the wait would be around 30 minutes. I put our names down and we went a few doors down to have lunch. The boys were very good at lunch. Evan and Noah shared a raisin bagel as well as other stuff from the diaper bag. I had lox and bagel. As we were about to leave I thought Noah had pooped so I wanted to change him. We went in the bathroom there. Luckily they had a changing table. I put Noah on the changing table. There was only pee in his diaper. I had his diaper off and was reaching across the table for the clean diaper. Noah started peeing. It went all over his socks, a little on his shorts that were at the end of the table, and on the table itself. The paper towels were on the other side of the bathroom. I couldn’t reach them. They were high up and the kind you have to wave your hand in front of to get the paper to come out. I had to ask Evan to get toilet paper for me. I cleaned up what I could with the toilet paper and then carried Noah over to the paper towels. What a mess!

After that we walked back to Great Clips. We had to wait just a minute and they were ready for us. Evan and Noah got good hair cuts and Evan got a lollipop.

When we got home Evan and Noah took very good naps.

When they woke up we Skyped with Grandma/Lynn. Evan was being very silly. Noah was excited, but kept saying “Papa” for some reason.

Morry got home from work and then we went out to dinner. We ate at Carinos. This week they were having “Moms eat free”. We thought it would be a good place anyway since the boys like pasta. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. Evan and Noah were very good and ate well. They had stuff from the diaper bag, bread, and spaghetti.

After that we went to Petco. We needed to get more food for Lizzy. Evan and Noah love Petco. They had a great time there. Evan loves looking at the fish. They both liked the mice and birds too.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed. Let’s hope they sleep well tonight.

JCC - Tot Shabbat

We went to the JCC this morning for Tot Shabbat. It had been a very long time since we had gone there. Usually we have playgroup on Friday mornings, but lately the playgroup hasn’t been meeting as often. I decided to take the boys to the J and try it out again. It was ok. Evan seemed a little bored, but Noah enjoyed the freedom and all the toys. Toward the end both boys were a little cranky. Noah didn’t sleep well last night and both were up early this morning.

After the JCC we went to Alissa’s new house near there. We hung out for just a little bit. She put on the movie Cars for Evan.

By the time we got home it was after 1:00. I fed Evan and Noah and then put them down for naps. Neither napped well. They each maybe slept an hour at the most.

After naps we played around some on the computer. We took some videos and Evan played some online games on Fisher Price. He’s getting pretty good at controlling the mouse and clicking on certain objects.

For dinner we went to this new place called Mighty Fine Burgers. They pretty much only have burgers and fries. We think it is owned by the same people who own Rudy’s. It was good. Evan and Noah had a lot to look at there. There’s a window where you can watch them make the patties and the fries.There were a lot of people there. The restaurant just opened.

After that we went to Barnes and Noble. I sat with Evan and Noah in the kid’s section while Morry got a couple of things he needed. Then, we went to Babies R Us. We bought a kid’s seat that goes on top of the toilet for potty training. We thought that would maybe help Evan be more interested in the potty.

At home, Evan did sit on the potty. He did not pee on it, but at least he sat there. IN fact, he sat there for so long we eventually had to pick him up off of it so he could go to bed. He wasn’t too happy about that.

Evan and Noah are in their rooms now, but both are still awake.