They've Messed with the Wrong Girl

Christmas morning was spent at home, just with our immediate family. We leisurely spent the morning opening a few presents and of course, the best ones were things that the kids had picked out for us or had wrapped themselves. Example: Evelyn created her own wrapping paper by coloring a piece of white paper with a design and used it to wrap and tape a candy cane to death for me. She even created her own miniature tag with "TO MOM LOVE EVELYN" on it. Kenneth had chosen a chocolate-scented candle at Target with his Nana because he knew I would love it. I could not be more blessed. Later that day we headed over to my Mom and Dad's house and met up with them and Elizabeth's family for a dinner. The cousins always enjoy each other.

Today, I took the kids to the Texas Memorial Museum, which, despite its name, is somewhat of a natural history museum. The best thing about it is that it's free! The museum had several exhibits specific to Texas natural history, which made it more interesting for the kids. For example, we saw a huge underwater dinosaur skeleton that was found in the Austin area. Just neat. I should have brought my camera and am seriously regretting that I didn't.

On a different note, I noticed water leaking out of our water softener and when Rod got home tonight he confirmed that it was indeed broken--just a rubber piece on the inside so hopefully it's easy to find a replacement piece. All of the household water has to run through the softener (at least how ours is set up) so we had to turn off the main water source to the house to avoid continued leakage. I'll have to take the kids out first thing in the morning until it's fixed. We have people coming over for dinner on Friday so we need a solution ASAP!

Evelyn was outside with me briefly this evening when we went to get the mail and we saw our neighbor with several of her age-11 friends waiting for a pizza guy to deliver pizzas for a birthday party. One of the girls in the group must have said something like 'that girl is staring at us -- that's weird' because Evelyn heard it (she does not miss anything). I'm sure they were just being 11-year olds in herd form, but Evelyn has not experienced that yet. When we got inside she told me what she had heard and added "Mom. When I heard that girl say that, I just thought in my mind 'they've messed with the wrong girl.'"

Getting Ready for Christmas

Last night we got back from a nice trip to Houston to visit Rod's family. We saw his Mom and Tracy, Rod's grandmother, Scott and Lucy, and Gwen's family was visiting as an added bonus. Tatum is the most independent child I have ever met. Jeff had been on deployment for 7 months, so he just got back to his family and you can tell he's enjoying it.

We spent tonight back in P-ville getting ready for Christmas. The kids and I baked roll-out cookies and they decorated them. In contrast to the usual angels, crosses, Christmas trees, etc., Evelyn made a cookie snake for Santa "because Santa would appreciate that." She was actually very creative with the snake design.

We've been listening to old Christmas records that I listened to with my family when I was growing up. They really are much better than most of the currently available music fare, such as Mariah Carey's blah blah annoying songs.

Have a fabulous Christmas with your family and friends!

Purse Returned!

In a wonderful turn of events, someone found my purse on the street in Rod's Mom's neighborhood and tracked us down! Yea!

MIssing Purse

If you have located my purse (lost in Houston area) and found this site via my driver's license, please call me at 512-517-3746. Thank you!

Vacation Starts!

The past few days have been great. We hosted our neighborhood Christmas party and had a great time. Basically, everybody congregated in the kitchen the whole time and we laughed about suburban incidents.

We saw Tiffani, Jim, and Abby on their way back from a family trip to San Antonio. We met at Central Market, and Fred, Jed, Adrian, and Nate joined us as well. Later that night we went to the Zilker Park Trail of Lights. It was busy, but it was very fun. Most of the displays were pretty traditional, but there was one that had some kind of bastardized Jetson's theme with Santa in the flying car. Not sure where that came from. Supposedly Dell sponsored that display. Someone thought it was a good idea.

I went into work today, but now I'm on vacation till 1/2/07. Sometime over the break we have to work on Kenneth's Science Fair project. I have to admit that I hated Science Fair while in school, but Ken had a great idea so this one should be pretty fun--it's a take on 'Will it Float?'.

Evelyn lost her 2nd tooth tonight. She is quite excited. Nana was here to witness it!

The 3rd Grade Holiday Concert

Kenneth was in a 3rd grade Holiday Concert this evening. The picture is pretty bad, but it was the best I could do, given the seating and lighting circumstances. He was great! He had a speaking part (brief as it was) and sounded very natural, unlike many of the other kids. (Bragging Mom moment--sorry.) We heard songs about Christmas, Hannukah, Kwaanza, and threw in a Feliz Navidad. The kids were really great and were clearly enthusiastic.

After the 3rd grade portion, the music instructor told the audience that we would be treated to a 5-song set by the 5th grade honor choir after a short break (What does 'honor choir' mean anyhow at the elementary level?) This was a surprise to me and the other adults around me (after a quick verbal poll). I think they were trying to force a performance on an already captive audience. Love to watch my kids (or kids of friends) perform, but I'm not too interested in watching a random performance. Given that we were about to be stuck for 30 more minutes, we bolted as soon as Kenneth came back to where we were seated. You know there were some other parents thinking what a poor example we were setting. I call it taking advantage of an easy exit.

More 5-Year Old Conversations

Elena was at our house again today. While they were coloring, they had a conversation about stealing and it was so funny I wrote it down as they were talking so I could type it out later.

Elena: "I used to steal, but now I don't."

Evelyn: "Stealing is bad. You know what happens when you steal?"

Elena: "Jail. Jail, Jail, Jail."

Evelyn: "You don't get to see anyone in your family for three whole days."

Elena: "I'm not allowed to steal anymore."

Evelyn: "Can I have the red crayon?"

I Saw Santa, No I Saw Santa

Evelyn and Elena (our neighbor) spent time debating on the reality of Santa while coloring at my kitchen table today. Kenneth knows the real deal and is keeping up the charade until Evelyn is ready to understand. The conversation went something like this:

Elena: "My grandma told me there is no Santa." (I have separate thoughts on grandmas breaking that kind of news.)

Evelyn: "Santa IS real. I saw him flying to our house last year. And I heard his jingles."

Elena: "Maybe you're right. Sometimes my grandma lies. Dad says so."

Evelyn: "Lying is not good behavior."

I was snickering when I heard that last part.

Erin and Elizabeth

Thought I'd post this picture of us that was taken at Thanksgiving. I can't decide if we're looking more or less like each other as we get older. We'll be visiting Elizabeth's family again on December 9th, for an early b-day party for Caleb (who will be 3). The kids really enjoy each other.

Kenneth had his end-of-soccer year party last night. His coach made individual plaques with special names for each kid. She did a great job and Kenneth was so proud. His name was "Lightning Speedster."

Rod heads out to Las Vegas tomorrow morning for only about 36 hours total in order to assist one of his clients in a trade show. He plans to wander around taking photographs in his spare time, and claims that he'll need no sleep. We'll see. :)

Evelyn's New Room

Rod and I spent a lot of the Thanksgiving break painting Evelyn's room and installing a closet dresser and cubby set. It looks so good. She is so proud. (Me too!) Only a couple of things are left to do. We've ordered blinds which should be here in about a week. We've started assembling a nightstand, which will eventually be painted to coordinate with her room colors. It is an off-white color now with an accent wall in pink (which Evelyn picked out). We also accented the area around her windows in the pink color. Fabulous! I have contacted a few seamstresses to get quotes on making a window seat cushion for her as well.

I will try to remember to take a picture when she's not asleep.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We did!

The Yearly Flu Shot

Poor Kenneth has to get his flu shot on Wenesday and he is very anxious about it. Evelyn can get a Flu Mist, but Ken has to stick (no pun intended) with the shot because he has a mild case of asthma. He was lamenting about it tonight and I told him that some kids have to get a shot every day when they have certain diseases (meaning, diabetes, although I didn't say the word diabetes). Kenneth said very seriously, "I know Mom. Rabies."

I am taking Tuesday and Wednesday off from work (of course, Th & F are holidays). The kids have one more day of school on Tuesday, but I will be participating in Evelyn's class Thanksgiving party in the afternoon, then we'll all go home and start the vacation together. I baked several mini-loaves of chocolate pound cake and pumpkin bread for the party and for a teacher gift (of baked goods) effort that is put on by the PTO.

Visit from Loretta and Jim

My Aunt Loretta and Uncle Jim flew into Austin last Thursday through this Tuesday to spend some time with my parents. On Friday night, we met everyone at The Oasis, which is a restaurant in Austin adjacent to a lake, and has an incredible view. Every sunset (which was at 5:33 PM that day) they ring a bell and signs claim that the restaurant has not missed a sunset for 26 years. Elizabeth, Caleb, and Kyle joined us as well (Josh was hunting). Elizabeth's family stayed with us at our house, which was great for the kids. Saturday night we met again at my Mom and Dad's house and had a fabulous pork roast. Elizabeth stayed through Sunday and joined our family at a birthday party where they rented out the entire Austin Children's Museum for 2 hours. From what I hear, Mom, Dad, Loretta, and Jim had a great time on Sunday and Monday, going to New Braunfels for a Bratwurst Festival and then to San Antonio. It was great seeing them. Now I am caught up with all of the Jacobson's except Keith! (Sorry the pictures are a bit dark.)

Are Your Abs Ready to Play?

This is the first time ever that I have gotten behind on my Oprah magazine. I realize this is a little pathetic. November is sitting on the table by my bed, right underneath the Real Simple magazine that is also unfinished (but at least started). The December Oprah arrived today. I'll have to force in a double issue of wisdom in the near future.

On a different note, the instructor in Krav Maga class was on his self-proclaimed 2nd Rockstar drink (which I guess has a crapload of caffiene in it) and made the workout way more intense than usual--and it's pretty intense regardless. The Wednesday instructor happens to have trained Navy Seals and reminds us of that periodically. At one point he yelled "What's THAT? What's that? I hear your Abs calling! Are your Abs ready to come out and play?!?!?!??" Yikes. Mine were happy where they were, thank you.

The Candy Swiper

As I got out of my car from my Monday exercise class, Evelyn burst into the garage and said "Mom. Someone is in serious trouble with me." She found a Halloween candy box that had been given to her by a soccer friend under our coffee table, EMPTY.

The trials and tribulations of a 5 year old. The picture was taken on Saturday by Rod.

Family News...

Evelyn created a new word on her own. She asked me "What do you call a sneeze AND a cough? A Snoff!" I thought that was really clever.

I think this is the first weekend in 2 months that neither child has an 8:30 AM Saturday soccer game. THANK GOODNESS! After tomorrow, we have only one more game week (and of course, one of them starts at 8:30 AM).

We just found out that Elizabeth is pregnant with her third child, due in mid-July! To borrow a phrase, Holla! Let's hope she can make it through the holidays without getting exhausted. :)

Snow White and the Ghoul

Evelyn and Kenneth got dressed up (of course!) for Halloween. We started the evening at a family friend's house for a pre-walk party, complete with Chick-Fil-A nuggets, veggies, and homemade sandwiches that were baked in the oven. Fabulous! I went home to answer the door for trick or treaters and Rod went walking with the kids and the rest of the party group. They are still out and have dropped by twice now to dump their baskets of candy so they have room for more.

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Do Fish Eat Breakfast Cereal?

Tonight we went to the elementary school Fall Festival. For 25 cents a ticket, kids could play games at various booths. I worked the Moon Bounce from 6:30 - 8. My job included manning a stopwatch for 3 minute jump segments, trying to allot the correct number and size kids in at the same time. I am proud to say that only a bitten tongue occurred on my watch!

While I ran the booth, Rod walked around with the kids to spend their tickets. I don't know whose bright idea it was to have fish as one of the prizes, but when I caught up with them after my stint as Moon Bounce Coordinator, Kenneth had a bag of fish. Great. We put them in a bowl with some marbles (Evelyn's idea) and fed them grape nuts flakes, which is about the only thing I could think to feed fish at 9:30 PM.

Exhausted

I promise to post some family info soon. I am exhausted from a busy 2 weeks of travel to Taiwan and then to San Francisco. The weekend was as relaxing as it could be, but I'm not completely back in gear yet, although work and family demands remain ever present!

Back from Taiwan

The week went very quickly in Taiwan. I would get to the Dell Taiwan offices around 8:30 AM and by the end of the day, would be at one of our manufacturers working through product development tradeoffs till 9 or 10. Long days and a short trip. The only night I didn't work late was the first night there. On that night, a colleague and I (she happens to speak Mandarin) went to get a massage at a massage school for the blind. It was really one of the odder massages that I've had. You are given full-length pajamas made of a really light-weight material and the massages involved a lot of stretching. We also visited a Taiwan night market which was completely overwhelming with the number and proximity of vendors.

On one of the nights there, an earthquake happened while I was sleeping; someone said that it was a 5.9 score. The hotel was shaking in a wave-like fashion and there was a lot of clanging. Apparently this type of earthquake is somewhat normal and happens about 10-15 times a year.

One the flight back home on the Los Angeles to Austin leg, Sandra Bullock sat in the first class seat next to me! she was reading a script and making notes in it and we exchanged very basic pleasantries, but I left her alone. I'm still impressed.

I met Rod and the kids (and Nana and Pops) at Freebirds straight from the airport. It was great to see them and I got really great hugs from Kenenth and Evelyn.

To Taiwan Again

I head out tomorrow morning for Taiwan for a quick work trip. Tomorrow the kids will hang out with Nana because they have off for Columbus Day. After that, Rod has full charge till Saturday, when I return.

We made progress on Kenneth's landform, adding blue clay for water, and green and brown clay for vegetation. Evelyn kept busy alternating her time between giving us small pieces of clay and coloring her Hello Kitty's Neighborhood coloring book.

Making a Landform

Kenneth has been assigned the highly educational task of making a landform as part of a larger learning-about-landform-characteristics initiative. I don't have anything against the second phase of the project, but the first phase of actually making a landform is (1) a pain in the rear, (2) time-consuming, (3) expensive to some extent, and (4) of questionable educational value-add. I'm not bitter, but I remember projects like this when I was in school and I never understood the value of making models. Maybe it's just me. Brief sidenote: I remember re-using a model of an English castle that I had to create for SAGE in the 3rd grade again in the 6th grade for a Boston Tea Party project. The fact that the Boston Tea Party had nothing to do with castles was beside the point in my mind. I just didn't want to make a new model. Mr. Wichlep mocked my choice of model with some Lipton tea bags glued to the moat area. I can still remember the disdain in his voice. LOL

Back to Kenneth's project: Like a dutiful Mom, I made the "Landform Dough" which you can then mold into your selected landform shape, which has to dry for 48 hours. The kids were out of school on Friday, so I took the day off with them and most of it was spent locating items that can be added to the landform once it is dry. I have to admit, Kenneth did a great job molding out Florida (we chose Florida, the peninsula, as our landform). We rolled out a map of the U.S., I gave him the lump of landform dough, and told him to make Florida. He even molded out the Florida keys and some internal lakes. Since I am heading out of town on Monday morning, Rod will have to supervise the rest of it (it's due on Friday).

In case you're interested in making your own landform dough (which has the consistency of Playdoh): combine 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and 1.5 cups water. Knead together for 8 - 10 minutes.

Angry Cheerleaders

The kids had an early release day on Wednesday, so I picked them up at 12:30. We spent some time at home, and towards the end of the day I took them back to my work for about a half hour to wrap up a few things. While they were there, Kenneth played with Legos (which I keep in a drawer for those sort of moments) and Evelyn wanted to draw on my white board. She did a really good job on 2 cheerleaders. The problem came up when she decided to add teeth. All of a sudden the cheerleaders became angry-looking. The picture cracks me up every time I look at it. I erased it today because you never know who might walk by your cubicle and think you were spending time drawing people on your board. :)

You Should Tell People When They Have a Sticker on Their Face

I was at Evelyn's soccer scrimmage game tonight when I noticed that a couple of the parents were looking at me in a funny way. Evelyn had given me a sticker before the scrimmage and I put it on my shirt. Apparently my shirt didn't hold the sticker that well and I must have dipped my chin into my shirt and gotten it stuck onto my chin. LOL. It took me actually touching it to realize it was there. On that note: always tell people when they have something enormous on their face when you know if shouldn't be there.

Later in the evening, Evelyn pointed out a large freckle on her neck and said "an angel must have given me a really big kiss [insert prolonged pucker sound]". We call freckles "angel kisses."

Of Course Your AC is Connected to Your Sink Pipes!

Our upstairs air conditioner has been out for 4 days, and was finally fixed today. I will spare the details of why it took that long to fix it, but believe me, there were reasons. We had been sleeping with the upstairs windows down, and then shutting them during the day, which led to a very stuffy house by the time we got home each day. At least the downstairs AC was working.

The final "fix" was conducted by Rod and I, not the folks who installed our $2000 investment into a new outside unit. They had left and I noticed that cold air was still not blowing; Rod investigated and found that a float switch had been tripped, which could mean a couple of things, but in this case, it meant a somewhat rare event that was brought on by a clogged drain pipe that pooled into one of the piping structures under a sink in the kids' bathroom. The evening was spent with my thumb stuck up into a disgusting pipe against something that looked and smelled like sh*t so that I could create "pressure" so that when Rod yelled "OK!" and subsequently blew into the other end of the pipe (which was in the attic) I could count to three and remove my thumb from the sludge as the air forced the sh*t into the bucket below my hand. Of course this involved very awkward positions and a lot of cursing. We finished the job with our Wet/Dry shop vac (which has been way more useful than any appliance we have ever owned). Once that pipe was clear, the air conditioner blew cool air and has been working properly ever since. I would say that we're pretty good problem solvers.

The Tooth Fairy Has to Go to HEB

Evelyn lost her tooth yesterday! She is so proud. She told her teachers, her YMCA counselors, her Nana, her soccer coach, and our neighbor. I had to make a run to HEB to get some cash for the first lost tooth (we give $5 for the first tooth). When we were at a scrimmage game for Evelyn, I ran into another Mom that we know from Kenneth's grade, who was there with her children while waiting for her daughter's soccer practice to finish. When I told her that 'the tooth fairy has to go to HEB to get some cash' I got the withering look that basically indicated that I was not following the scripted Tooth Fairy Rulebook and that around her children, the tooth fairy does not need to go to HEB to get cash. LOL

Loose Tooth Update

Evelyn's first loose tooth is now almost out. It is bending forward all the way. The school nurse gave her a tooth-sized treasure box that she has been faithfully carrying--it has even made it next to her pillow in case it falls out during the night. If the tooth actually fell out in the middle of the night, the reality is that she would come crying into my room because her mouth was bleeding. We'll see if we make it to the weekend with this tooth.

Back in Texas!

Our last couple of days in New York were great. It was the perfect amount of time there to really enjoy ourselves without spending too much money. We slept in on Friday and had a bagel brunch at a deli around the corner once we got up. There is definitely not a shortage of delis and pizza shops in New York. We visited the Empire State building on the way to an unusual museum: The Museum of Sex. This is the place that has hosted the statue of Britney Spears giving birth on all fours and currently has a Hilary Clinton bust next to an exhibit about females and politics and sexuality and the fact that the interaction exists. I'll spare my reader guests any additional details about the museum, because it truly is something you have to experience for yourself. Thursday night we saw Mamma Mia! on Broadway. It was terrific as well, but in a completely different way from Rent.

Saturday was our last day in NY. We took the subway down to the former World Trade Center site and it is astounding in person. You can still see the destruction via the gaping holes in the ground. There are pictures that are representative of the events of 9/11 all around the gates of the area. So sad. Even several of the buildings around the area have a level of dirt on the outside that could not be normal wear and tear--it has to be from the effects of that day. After a brief time there, we walked a few blocks to South Street Seaport, from which you can see the Brooklyn Bridge and shop for hours (if you wanted to). We went to a museum down there that had the "Bodies" exhibit which has been in several large cities in the US and other countries. That was amazing. I don't think I could really describe it well in words.

After that, we took another subway to JFK Airport but got off too late and had to take a bus in Queens (I think) to complete our journey to the airport. I have no regrets about the trip. I think we got a lot done in the time we were there. I am happy to be home though. Kenneth woke up to say hello and he gave me the best hug. I tried to wake Evelyn up but she was sacked out.

Hey Man, Can I Piss in Your Ear?

Rod and I are having a blast in Manhattan. We landed in JFK Airport around lunchtime Wednesday and jumped on the subway from the airport, which took us staight into Manhattan. Once we reached our stop (the 42nd St. A-Train), it was only about a 3-block walk with our luggage to our hotel. The hotel QT is right off of Broadway and within walking distance to just about anything you'd want to do. It is an extremely modern hotel and the room basically is about the size of the queen bed that's in it. The first floor has a pool with a unique design, complete with movie theater seating around it and clear acrylic form-over-function chairs.

We had to head over to the Late Show theater to pick up our tickets for the Wednesday show between 3-4 PM, then back again at 4:45 to file into the theater for the actual taping. "The Rock" and Norm MacDonald were the guests. It was really, really neat to see that live. Rod and I have been Letterman fans for awhile. The theater is MUCH smaller than you would think from watching the show. It is also incredibly structured (the process of taping the show and bringing on guests, etc.) He didn't do any audience participation stunts, so there was no opportunity for 5 minutes of fame. Directly after the taping, we walked 3 blocks to Caroline's Comedy Club, where we met Kristin and Brian (my cousins) and Kristin's husband Chris. It was the first time we had met Chris, so that was great! I would say that the comics that performed at the 7 PM show were about half and half (half pretty funny, half not so funny). Regardless, we had a great time talking with Kristin, Brian, and Chris. One more note about Caroline's: we saw one of the finalists from Last Comic Standing sitting at the bar on our way out of the show! Too cool. While we were talking outside after Caroline's, believe it or not, I saw someone I know from Dell! One of my mentors is here on business with some other Dell VIPs and we happened to be on 45th and Broadway at the same time! Truly amazing how small the world is.

This morning Rod and I spent some time shopping. It is truly a fabulous place to shop. I spent a good hour and a half in H&M. If you are a female you have probably heard of H&M. Great prices on trendy stuff... The quality is clearly not the best, but most of it is not bad and you can really get some amazing deals. After that we went to one of the New York Public Libraries, which may sound boring, but this particular one was apparently a very old one and the building was architecturally amazing. It looked like a combination of a castle and a historic church, including an area on one part of the ceiling that was painted intricately with figures and other images. We made our way down toward Rockefeller Center and the Musuem of Modern Art as well. After that we rested in the room for about 30 minutes and got ready for our Thursday night Broadway show, Rent. Can I say that Rent was INCREDIBLE. We had amazing seats, about 15 rows back from the stage and centrallly located. The cast was fabulous and it reminded me again why I like that show so much. After the show we stopped by Connolly's, an Irish pub and restaurant. Rod had Irish beer and we both opted for traditional Irish food. Rod had Shephard's Pie, and I had Irish Beef Stew. YUM.

When we got back to the hotel, Rod decided he wanted to go swimming, so he went out to buy a pair of swim trunks at 11:30 at night. Of course, so many stores stay open late, so that is not as odd as it sounds. He came back with a pair of trunks with I-Heart-NY printed about 800 times on them. haha. On his way back from buying trunks, he said a guy stopped him on the street and said "Hey man, can I piss in your ear?" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I still am laughing at that. What in the world would possess someone to say that?

Tomorrow is another busy day!

Paper Taste Good!

We had a pretty busy weekend. On Saturday, the kids had their first soccer games of the season. Both games were at 8:45 AM on Saturday, so Rod and I switched fields at halftime to be able to watch both kids. Evelyn is much more engaged than last season. She has always really liked soccer, but now she is running after the ball rather than running behind the other players. Kenneth is doing really well, too. His coach has been great this year and is teaching the players strategic moves. After attending our friend Gabi's 4th birthday at Pump It Up Inflatable Play Zone (the name suffciently describes the concurrent fun and chaos), we returned home and played a few games of Bingo. Evelyn got to practice her double digits by being the caller.

Today, Elena and Justin (our neighbors) came over. Justin, Kenneth, and Rod played the game "Risk" while Evelyn and Elena colored at the kitchen table. (Evelyn played Risk for awhile, but she got tired of it and Justin took over her slot). Before Elena came over, I was coloring with Evelyn. Evelyn looked at some of my work and pointed out that I had colored outside the lines a little bit. "But that's OK Mom, you tried your best." I overheard a very funny conversation between Elena and Evelyn:

Elena: (in a loud voice) "Have you ever ate paper?"
Evelyn: (in a serious voice) "I haven't ever tried paper."
Elena: (in a loud voice) "Paper taste good!"

It was cute enough to make note of it.

Evelyn Has a Loose Tooth

Evelyn was so excited because this week she had a verifiable loose tooth! She keeps wiggling it and announcing things like "I can't eat crunchy things on the left side of my mouth because of my loose tooth" and "My tooth almost got stuck forward!".

We went to a restaurant called Cafe Java tonight. There is one that I go to fairly regularly on my lunch break near work, but one recently opened up near our house. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is owned by the same folks and the menu is the same. Everything is so fresh -- I don't usually gush about restaurants, but this one's worth it. My favorite is the avocado grilled cheese with sprouts on whole grain bread. YUM.

Rod and I are making final plans for our trip to New York next Wednesday - Saturday. We had emailed The Late Show (Letterman) to be put in the queue for tickets, but they don't guarantee anything until the week prior. They call you with a trivia question and if you answer it correctly you get tickets reserved for you. I answered the question right so we're set up for the Wednesday taping. Look for me and Rod--maybe we'll get called for an audience participation segment! After that taping (which is actually from 5:30 - 6:30 PM the day it shows), we'll meet Kristin and Chris (my cousin and her husband) at Caroline's Comedy Club for a show. Thursday and Friday nights are reserved for the Broadway shows "Rent" and "Mamma Mia." We are very much looking forward to this trip. Nana will be staying with the kids while we're gone.

Steps 4 & 8 are "Silent"

On Brian's last night here (Saturday) we went with the whole family to County Line BBQ, which is an Austin favorite. Even my Dad ate his meal without wiping his mouth! Ribs, pork, smoked chicken, etc. You cannot purchase a single 'green' item from the menu. (Seriously.) They also make delicious homemade wheat and white bread. After dinner, Rod and I took Brian out downtown so he could experience a little bit of Austin's famous Sixth St. We started with salsa dance lessons at Copa from 9-10 PM. You get to rotate dance partners pretty regularly, but Brian and I ended up as partners during the merengue (SP?). Salsa was a little trickier than merengue. As the instructors kept reminding us, salsa is an 8-count dance, which gets confusing because steps 4 & 8 are "silent." Once you realize that it gets easier. After lessons and a little bit of dancing at the club, we walked around Sixth St, heading home around midnight.

Brian Visits Us in Austin

My cousin Brian flew down from New Jersey to visit us in Austin. I have not seen him since he was 10 and I was 16. For those of you who don't feel like doing the math, that is 15 years since we've seen each other! He is staying with my parents, but we will see him a lot this weekend. Dad was out of town till sometime late tonight, but we met up with Brian and my Mom at Central Market. Elizabeth, Josh, Caleb, and Kyle also drove up for the day to hang out with them. I got off work around 3 PM because of the holiday weekend, picked up the kids from YMCA, and headed down to meet everybody. On Friday and Saturday nights, for most of the year, Central Market has live local bands that play adjacent to the deck and playground area. Tonight there was a really great band so it made the visit really pleasant.


Tonight, Rod and Brian went out to an Irish pub (OK, it's Austin, and there's not a lot of folks of Irish descent, but we try). Rod had a couple of friends join them.

I think Austin is winning over Brian already!

Sassy Candy Corn

This week, Evelyn's teacher has asked that the students wear Red on Monday, Orange on Tuesday, Yellow on Wednesday, ...etc. you get the picture. Evelyn wanted to wear a shirt that is primarily black, but has three candy corn on the front (it was a Halloween shirt from last year). There is orange in candy corn, but we're talking about a pretty small amount of orange on some pretty small candy corn images. She told me about a kid in her class who confronted her about the lack of orange on her shirt: "This kid, Mom, was so sassy to me. She said I didn't have orange on in an ugly way and she was WRONG. I don't have to listen to her. I know i'm right."

Oh boy. I am looking forward to this kind of conversation with her when she's a teenager. She'll be convinced she's right at any given moment. Wish us luck.

Fun with a Rocket

Kenneth's Grandma bought him a rocket for his birthday. We used it in Houston when we visited in late July and brought it out again this weekend to have fun with it in our cul-de-sac. It shoots up about 200 feet. A couple of weekends ago we brought it to Central Market--the one we go to has a huge open area and adjacent shaded play area. Of course, it caught the attention of all of the kids that were there. What's great about it is that it's completely safe and portable--powered only by pumping air.

You can see the rocket flying up in the air in the picture.

Love at Age 5

Tonight we went to a school dance (not any dancing actually occurred--it was more of a run around the gym thing). I sold glow sticks between 7-7:30 at 3 for a $1 to help out the PTO. Evelyn and Kenneth ran around with their friends and a special friend of Evelyn's stuck by her side the whole evening. His name is Blaze and Evelyn informed me that "He thinks I'm in love with him." I think it is the other way around.

Evelyn's First Soccer Practice of the Fall '06 Season

Evelyn had her first soccer practice tonight. Evelyn is 1 of 2 returning team members to "The Titans." The coach's son is the other. The team has grown from 6 members to 9 and all of the new kids are first-time players. The coach is pretty ingenious with learning techniques that are appropriate for the age group. Three of the parents had their cameras out and were snapping away. Since I am an old school soccer mom at this point, I take photos at the games only.

A interesting domestic issue: I ordered 3 pairs of shoes online and the company sent 3 of each set! I got home yesterday to find an enormous box by the front door with 9 shoe boxes; of course 1 of the pairs I ordered were boots, and boot boxes are enormous, hence the triple-enormous box. Just another random thing to deal with.

Don't Forget Your Positive Attitude

Kenneth and Evelyn are about to start another soccer season. Ken is on a new team (whose name currently eludes me) and Evelyn is returning to her previous team, "The Titans." Ken has had one practice so far; his new team seems much more organized. There are 3 coaches heavily involved in drills and the players responded well. The only problem is the practice field, which is COVERED in fire ants. Evelyn and I showed up to watch Kenneth practice in our sandals and had to constantly move our feet in some sort of ridiculous band marching pattern to avoid getting bitten. Despite our best efforts, we both got a few bites.

Evelyn has her first practice on Thursday and her coach sent out a reminder note with several important tidbits like "Comfort is directly proportional to fun" and "Don't forget your positive attitude." Apparently there was a U14 (14 yr-old) Girls team that has been disqualified from playing for a full year because their parents thought fist-fighting was a good way to solve differences of opinion. That is so unfathomable to me. This year, Rod and I bought the De-Lux Sports Chair for both of us because we were tired of either sitting on the grass or sitting in the junky Walmart chairs that are $3.99 for a reason. I am officially a soccer Mom.

Visiting the Cousins & Salsa Dancing

We drove to College Station to see Elizabeth, Josh, Caleb and Kyle on Saturday. As predicted, the cousins were thrilled to see each other. I tried to take some decent pictures but they just wanted to play--so you can see the picture that is probably representative of every family picture ever taken with young children.

While Caleb and Kyle were napping, we went to Freebirds for lunch. Nana was visiting Elizabeth too, so she went to Freebirds with us. Later, Caleb got a haircut from his Dad and did not like it one bit. Kyle watched the process with a concerned look (Kind of like: 'What are you doing to my brother?'). Evelyn was also watching and offered her two cents: "I think he's overreacting to the hair on his neck." (ha ha)

Later in the day, Rod had a work event to go to, and Nana & Pops offered to watch the kids Saturday so I could go out. I had been invited to join a small group of people to go salsa dancing. There is a club in downtown Austin called Copa, where you can pay $5 for an hour of salsa lessons from 9-10 PM prior to the official club opening at 10 PM. It was so fun. The way they handle it is that the men and women rotate periodically so that you can work with different partners. This is good because there are varying ranges of dance experience. Once the club opened, it got pretty packed and I was not ever short a dance partner. I will definitely go back (next time I'll bring Rod!).

He-Man Was an Environmentalist

We've been renting old cartoons and sitcoms from Netflix for the kids because today's available cartoons are awful--and I'm not just being nostalgic--but that's a separate conversation. The DVD we received recently was "He-Man: Masters of the Universe." I watched this all the time when I was growing up and believe me, this stuff comes back to you ("By the Power of Grayskull...I have the Power!!"). Anyhow, what I do not remember at all is the fact that He-Man provides inspirational messages at the end of every show based on the moral lesson demonstrated by He-Man out-thinking Skeletor. ("Kids, sometimes people try to get ahead by acting unfairly towards others..."). The episode we watched today involved what was basically a chemical plant killing the environment around it and He-Man had plenty to say about that.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Elizabeth, Josh, Caleb and Kyle in College Station. The cousins all flip out when they're together (in a good way). Caleb has taken to grabbing Kenneth's or Evelyn's hand and showing them around his house several times. Caleb has a grin that won't quit.

Glittery Women

Kenneth informed me today that "glittery women" scare him. I asked him what he meant and he said something like 'Women who wear all that glittery stuff, shirts and jewelry and lots of lipstick. I don't like that -- they scare me! You're not glittery Mom!'

While it's nice to know that I am not perceived as 'glittery' by children, sometimes it is nice to be glittery. I told him that people make their own choices about how to dress and act when they are adults and that some people just like to be glittery more often than others. hee hee

The Enormous Slide

Because Rod is the esteemed "Vice-President" of our Homeowner's Association, we have access to this humongous water slide that is probably as tall as the ceiling on the first story of the house. Our backyard ends up being a neighborhood kid hotspot every time we bring out the slide because you can see it set up over the fence. Both Kenneth and Evelyn have dramatically improved their swimming skills this summer, due in part to a sum of 4 weeks of nightly swim lessons and the fact that Nana and Pops have a pool at their house (and they are now in Austin, so they are close by). Kenneth is putting on his "serious" face in his picture.

Rod and I have officially scheduled our (somewhat delayed) 10 year anniversary trip to Manhattan. We went there for our honeymoon in July 1996 and will be going back in mid-September for a Wed-Sat trip. Plans are to visit Caroline's Comedy Club and at least 2 Broadway shows. Nana will come to our house to stay with the kids while we are away.

First Day of Kindergarten and Third Grade

Today was the first day of school for Kenneth and Evelyn. Kenneth is in 3rd grade now and Evelyn started Kindergarten. They are in a new school (our city is growing dramatically and new schools are popping up everywhere). We took a picture this morning to celebrate the momentous occasion! I know, I know...Kenneth has a Longhorn shirt on. Rod took the kids to Academy last night for a last-minute back-to-school shirt shopping trip. Kenneth says that the Aggie shirts were only in size Large, but I have seen him privately make the Longhorn hand gesture. Evelyn has on a volleyball shirt (she doesn't play volleyball, but the writing on the back has glitter, so that did it for her). The kids are getting so big!

Getting Ready for Back-to-School

Today I picked the kids up early from summer school so we could go school supply shopping. Yesterday we visited the new school, which was finished being built in late July. The kids are excited about it being a brand new school with a gym that is "not smelly" (yet). We had to go to 6 different stores to locate all of the required supplies because so much was sold out. The most elusive item was a white folder with brads. I don't know what is up with the specific color requirements, but hey, who am I to judge? :)

Evelyn got a call from her kindergarten teacher tonight. We will meet her tomorrow in person. Her name is Ms. McCool. Evelyn thinks that is just great! She told us only to label the scissors and watercolors with Evelyn's name. Apparently there are mothers who label every single crayon in the 48-color box (not making this up).

August 6, 2006

This is my first attempt to create a Walline family blog so that extended family members and friends can keep up with us and watch the kids grow up. I will start posting pictures soon.

Today, Rod and Kenneth went to the putting range to hit some golf balls. This was Kenneth's first time golfing in any capacity other than the occasional putt-putt. He was very excited the whole day in anticipation and when they came back he was incredibly proud. Apparently Kenneth didn't miss the ball once the entire time they were out there. He has a great swing and even other people were commenting on how good he was. We'll definitely keep this up and let him practice frequently. Besides, Rod likes to golf too and he has gotten out of practice. Having Kenneth as a partner will keep him motivated, I'm sure!

While they were at the golf range, I was doing some much needed house cleaning (boring). Evelyn was helping by organizing the game room. For the most part, all she got done was putting the play food away. She would periodically come downstairs with a "sandwich" for me to eat.

We also managed to make it to Book People, which is out favorite local bookstore--it is huge though. Rod found a good book on Adverstising truths, and I found 2 books: "Smart Women Finish Rich" and "Thinking for a Change" (about how successful people approach life and work). Check with me in 20 years and I'll let you know if the books' tips worked for me. :)