Rainy Day

We finally got the rain they have been talking about for a while. It got really cold here and it was wet all day.

I needed to go to HEB, we didn’t leave the house until almost noon. It took a while for me to get everyone dressed and fed.

We spent a long time at HEB. Evan and Noah loved trying all the samples. Noah ate cinnamon roll, various bread samples, and some of my pasta sample. The woman at the pasta demo table commented about Noah doing the “more” sign. Noah really liked that pasta. During the shopping trip I fed Noah animal crackers as well to keep him occupied. Both boys did really well. Having all that food really helped. We saw Katy, one of the girls in Evan’s class. Evan was acting really shy when I was talking to her mom. Oh, and I did well with my coupons as well. I saved $18 in coupons today.

We got home at 1:30 and I started getting lunch ready and putting away the groceries. Blanca came about 1:40. She fed the boys while I did some stuff around the house and got ready for tutoring. On the way to tutoring I stopped at the party store to get some decorations and favors for Evan’s birthday.

I tutored 3 students and got home about 7. We heated up the leftover cornbread casserole for dinner.

Below is Evan’s class picture.

The Mall

We walked to school today. Well, I walked pushing the stroller most the way. Evan walked just a little when we were almost there. There’s a little field we cut through by the pool to get to school. Evan asked to walk at that point.

After dropping Evan off, Noah and I met Alissa at the mall. For some reason Noah was really cranky. He cried a lot. I’m thinking maybe he was just really tired. He would calm down as soon as I held him. I tried to get in and out as fast as I could. I picked up a few clothes for Evan and Noah at Old Navy, The Children’s Place, and Gymboree. I had something to return at Gap. It was a gift someone gave Noah that wasn’t the right size. I didn’t feel like trying to shop around Gap at that point, so I just got the merchandise credit and will go another time to pick something out for him. I also had to stop at the Mac store. It is Blanca’s birthday today, so I picked up an itunes gift card for her.

We got home in time for me to feed Noah lunch and then leave to pick up Evan.

After I picked Evan up at school we went to the bank. I had some checks to deposit. They changed the way the ATM works. You used to be able to be able to deposit all the checks at once in one envelope. Now, they have you insert them one at a time. It reads the amount on the check and you have to verify after inserting each one. It takes a really long time. I had maybe 10 checks to deposit. It took forever and Noah was screaming in the car the whole time. Sometimes, it makes more sense for me to just get the boys out of the car, go in the bank, and have the teller deposit them. I just didn’t feel like getting the boys out of the car since I just put them in at Evan’s school. Oh, and if we go in the bank Evan has to have a lollipop. I didn’t feel like doing all that, but it probably would have been faster.

For some reason Evan didn’t want to nap. Noah went down easily. Once Evan finally fell asleep, Noah woke up. He didn’t sleep that long. Evan actually ended up sleeping a while. Blanca came over at 5:00 and Evan was still sleeping when Morry got home at 5:30.

I tutored two students and got home about 8:00.

We took a short walk around the neighborhood and Evan walked most of the way.

The boys are in bed now and I’m finally going to eat some dinner.

Gardening

This morning I took a walk with Evan, Noah, and Lizzy.

Then, we went to the Meridian park and met up with Yenis, her mom, and Kevin. The boys played at the playground for about 30 minutes since Yenis had somewhere to go and we needed to get home for lunch. At the park Evan found some roly-polies and I let him hold one. He liked the way it tickled his arm. Noah kept trying to poke it.

We ate lunch and then I put Evan and Noah down for naps. Noah napped, but Evan did not. I heard him playing in his room the whole time. When I went upstairs to get him he was playing bowling with his soft soccer balls. I saw him rolling the balls and asked what he was playing and he told me bowling.

I cleaned the coat closet and had everything pulled out of it. Evan found a ski mask and had a good time putting it on and wearing it around the house. He thought it was for water, but I had to explain to him it was for snow.

For dinner I made a cornbread casserole with ground beef.

After dinner we went in the backyard to plant the veggies and herbs we go the other day. Evan, Noah, and Lizzy all enjoyed playing in the backyard while we worked. Evan and Noah went down the slide together. Noah even went down on his own once. Morry was watching him at the top of the playscape and Noah just decided to go, head first, down the slide. He wasn’t scared at all. He loved it.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed. I just heard Noah make a little noise, but it sounds quiet in Evan’s room.

Such A Good Boy

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Evan is finishing up dinner, Noah is playing on the floor and Rachel is cleaning up a bit, so I'm writing the blog.

This morning, Rachel decided to the Bagel Run at the JCC. It's a 5K run that kicked off the Purim Carnival. Rachel had to be there at 7:15am which was really 6:15am to her body clock. She and Alissa ran it together. She said the run went very well.

While she was running, I got up with the boys and got them dressed. They were both very well-behaved this morning.

When Rachel got home, we decided to go to the outlets in San Marcos. Evan needs some athletic shorts and Noah needs t-shirts. We also discovered that Noah and Evan now wear the same size shorts. Evan has no waist at all so his shorts are always falling down. Noah, on the other hand, has quite a waist. Basically, Noah is wide. And since length is not as much an issue with shorts, then they both wear the same size shorts.

We went to the Gap Outlet, Carters and Nike. Overall, there was really nothing there. It was very disappointing. Evan was such a good boy, though, while we were shopping. He found two women's headbands and started playing with them. He put them over his eyes and said he was wearing glasses or put both around his waist. They kept him occupied the whole time. It was very funny.

Since Evan was so well-behaved, we let him pick out a lunch spot. His choice - McDonald's. We decided to go to the one closest to our house. I have taken Evan and Noah a two times since the end of November when Rachel has been tutoring. I know that both boys just love going to McDonald's. I told Rachel how easy it is to take them there. Their behavior held true again. Evan eats all his food without any coaxing. He sits there without getting out of his seat. Noah sits in his high chair without complaining. They just love it.

After we finished eating, we went outside and played on the playground. They had this very tall climbing area. At first Evan wanted us to help him climb up but as he gained confidence he started doing it all himself. He was climbing to the top and then climbing through the tunnels and down the slide. He loved it. He could have spent the rest of the afternoon there.

We came home and put the boys down for naps.

After naps, the boys went outside for Evan to ride his bike and Noah to walk in the walker.

Now, Evan is finishing up dinner and we'll be putting the boys to bed soon.

Below is some more pictures from our new camera. Also is a picture from the least-talked about (but not least-loved) member of our family - Mottel. Mottel is the first member of the family actually. I got him almost 11 years ago. He just turned 11 last week but is showing no signs of slowing down. He's a good cat.

Until next time...

Saturday errands

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Rachel asked me to write the blog tonight.

This morning, Evan and Noah got up early. I was completely out and didn't hear either boy so Rachel got up with them. I slept until about 9am. I'm feeling a lot better and was able to actually eat meals without feeling awful afterwards. I'm still not 100% but close to it.

When I got up and came downstairs, Rachel was making Rice Krispie Treats. Evan was supposed to be helping but he was just playing around.

After we all tried some of the Rice Krispie Treats, we went to a garden store here in Austin that we just heard about called The Natural Gardener. It's a huge place and they have animals on the premises. They actually use the animals to help farm the land. Rachel wanted to get vegetables to plant in our backyard. When we got there the place was a madhouse. Apparently a Saturday morning early in spring is a big time for people to shop. After some idiot stole my parking spot we found a place to park and went in. They had old red radio flyer wagons to pull around and put your plants in. Evan loved it. At first he sat in the wagon. Then he insisted on pulling it. We got some tomatoes, peppers and herbs - like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (ok, start singing). We also got peppermint, some garlic thing and a few others. We'll see how it works out. We also bought some compost to add to the soil. The people working there were very nice, helpful and knowledgeable. I'd recommend the place.

We came home and made some lunch. Neither boy ate very much. Noah was very cranky, so we put him down for a nap right after lunch.

After naps, we went to a place called Precision Camera and Video. Last summer we got a new digital camera but we also said in the future we'd want a nice digital SLR camera. The regular digital camera takes some pretty good shots, but with the both boys having birthday parties coming up, we thought it'd be nice to get a really good camera. We knew which one we wanted and got it.

From there we went to Enchiladas Y Mas which is somewhat close to the camera store. That place has the best fajitas in Austin, if not anywhere I've tried fajitas, hands down. I figured I'd be taking a chance having just gotten over my sickness, but luckily I was able to handle it. It really is good. Evan was very well behaved and ate a bunch. Noah, on the other hand, was still cranky. I don't know if he's getting sick (hopefully not) or whether he's teething or whether he was tired or what. I had to hold him towards the end.

We came home, tried out the new camera (you can see some of the pictures below), and gave the boys bath.

They are now in bed and being quiet which is good.

Until next time...

Out of the house

We finally got out of the house today and enjoyed the nice weather. I’m feeling a lot better, though still not 100%. Evan seems pretty much better too, and Noah is still good, so far.

I took Evan, Noah, and Lizzy on a 2 mile run this morning. It’s been a while since I have run. I had planned on doing a 5k charity run on Sunday until I got sick this week. I haven’t registered yet. I wanted to see how I did today. I think I could probably do it, but I’ll wait until the last minute to decide.

We met Bodar and Marissa (from playgroup and school) at the park today. The weather was nice, but a little bit windy. Evan and Noah enjoyed playing outside. Noah loves playing with the little rocks on the playground. Evan spent a lot of time on the bouncy horses.

After the park we went to Target to return a few things and pick up others. I got some plates for both boys’ birthdays. They actually had Cars plates (Evan’s theme) on clearance, so I was able to pick up a few. We passed by the Easter candy display (or couple of aisles, actually). I decided to get our first Cadbury cream eggs for the year. I bought a box of the little ones for Evan. He was excited, but I don’t think he really knew what they were.

When we got home he ran into the office/bedroom (Morry was working at home today). Hew wanted to show Morry the cream eggs we got at Target. We told Evan he could have one if he ate a good lunch. Evan actually ate really well. He must be pretty hungry form not eating that well the last few days. Of course, he enjoyed his little cream egg at the end of lunch.

Evan and Noah took good naps today.

For dinner we went to Mimi’s Café. The food was good, but the service wasn’t so great. It took a long time to get our food. Evan and Noah ate well and behaved well even though we had to wait awhile. We ordered Evan a mac and cheese kids meal. It came with a oreo pudding dessert. Evan got a little cup of dirt (pudding, crushed oreos, and gummy worms). Of course, he loved it and went right for the gummy worms.

Evan and Noah are in bed now and it seems to be quiet in both rooms.