Yoga, Yoga

I finally tried my first yoga class. We have a family membership to the local YMCA, which has age-specific kid zones so that Moms and Dads can exercise without having to pay extra for childcare. Evelyn's best friend, Shaley, happened to be there at the same time as she was, so that was great for her. Kenneth played with a Wii the whole time, so he was good to go too. I have to admit, the poses required (even in a beginner class) were sometimes difficult to maintain, primarily because of balance. I have the strength though, so it has potential. I don't think I'll ever get to the point that I want to put my elbows propped up and my knees on top of my elbows, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I can do it. Yes, it is as complicated as it sounds. I found a picture of the pose for your viewing pleasure.

Tomorrow, we head to College Station for a couple of reasons. Elizabeth's family is moving, so we will create diversions for the kids all day. Also, my former choral conductor is having a surprise 20th-year-of-conducting gathering and I expect to see several former Women's Chorus members.

Rod's Twin

My friend Tiffani found a picture on someone else's blog that looks EXACTLY like Rod. I showed him and he agreed it was a match.

I wonder if we all have a "twin" in the world.

In Lieu Of...

In lieu of stories, here's a couple of photos of my sweet peas. Ken likes to do his funny face. Evelyn is sitting with some soccer friends.

Step It Up!

I officially really like the new Bravo reality show, "Step It Up!". Rod and I already have our favorite dancers...

Visit to Kerrville

A couple of weekends ago we visited Merle and Linda in Kerrville. They are still working on their house (along with a selective crew of workers) but they have a small cabin that they've been living in for quite a while now. It is fully functional and makes you question why we have become so dependent on large floor plans! Linda made a fabulous dinner, complete with homemade lemon pecan bread, which was a recipe I wrote down immediately. I'm definitely going to be baking some soon.

The other pic with my Mom is from when she visited us to see Kenneth in the school's talent show last weekend. We will be heading to College Station this Friday to see the Women's Chorus concert. I haven't seen a WC concert since '01. The kids will join us and they are looking forward to seeing me join the choir for the last song of the concert ("I Believe," sung in conjunction with Ave Maria), which is something that is done at every concert.

Mom, What If It Is a Turd?

I got a mean sunburn today. It was the one day of the soccer season that requires a lot more time than usual: the 2 normal games, but team and individual soccer pictures as well. To top it off, I volunteered for a 2-hour time slot to assist with the photo coordination. You may have no sympathy for me because of the volunteer aspect, but I keep most requests against our time at bay. Anyhow, it's a good thing I'm a calm person because so many are not. The forms that needed to be filled out for photos were complicated. I very much wish I'd saved a copy of the form so I could post an image of it and ask for comments on whether it was interpretable within 1 minute. I was berated a few times because parents couldn't figure the form out and talked to me as if I were with the photo company.

Kenneth spent the later part of the day mowing the yard and found what is probably a large acorn, but possibly a pecan. He brought it inside and washed it off then let Evelyn take a look. Evelyn was talking about how she was going to paint white lines on it to make it look like a football when Rod took notice and told her it was an owl turd. She dropped it on the spot but I could tell she still wanted to paint it. She came to me later and asked, "Mom, what if it is a turd? It would not be hard like this, right?" We've successfully gotten past the ruse.

Friday night, the school put on a talent show. Kenneth was in a skit with a few other boys called 'Sittin' on a Red Bench'. The premise is that a series of characters come out one at a time and sit next to each other on a red bench and lastly, a painter comes out with a red paint can; all the kids on the bench realize that they've sat on the wet paint. It was so funny and got a lot of laughs!

Easter Weekend

We had a nice Easter weekend. Nana bought Evelyn a couple of beautiful dresses, so she was set for Saturday and Sunday. It was pleasant outside so we let the kids run through the sprinkler during our attempt to make the front lawn green. Rod, Kenneth, and Evelyn all got haircuts, but Evelyn's was the boldest. She wanted it "between my chin and my shoulders" and that's exactly what she got: it looks great! She looks so much older.

Laura Ingalls Comes Back to Haunt

I was reading Elizabeth's blog and she had an entry that described her demotion from "Mommy" to "Mom" (Kyle's new term). Interestingly enough, Evelyn asked me if she could call me "Ma" instead of "Mom" after watching a 4-episode series of Little House on the Prairie.

I highly recommend Netflixing the Season 1 episodes. Not only will they leave you completely entranced to the point of fixation, but you'll have a deeper appreciation for not having to (1) wear the same sweaty clothes everyday and (2) pull a plow because the greedy storekeeper took your only ox.

L-E-S-S

The Spring Break week went fast. I think Kenneth is ready to go back to school, but Evelyn is not. She could probably use a couple of more days. Good thing it's a short week (no school on Friday). One of the days this break was pretty windy, so we took the kites out to a huge park and flew them. Evelyn's kite is simpler than Kenneth's, so it was up in the air much longer. Nonetheless, both were dying laughing as we tried to hoist the kites and having them subsequently land on our heads.

My main goal for the week was to find time to get a haircut, which I did on Wednesday. After that, we spent some time with Nana at a bookstore and had a nice lunch at a deli to which we'll definitely return. Thursday morning we left for College Station to spend time with Elizabeth's family; of course, Rod had several work things to do so we dropped him off and met up with them. We went to Bee Creek park, which has much improved since I lived in College Station--very nice playground equipment and swings. Kyle posed for a picture for Kenneth. He is so hard to capture because he's always moving. I hung out with Ann Marie while Elizabeth spent more time chasing the boys.

When we got back to Austin on Friday, we zipped over to Central Market to listen to some live music and hang out while the kids ran around the playground. When we were leaving, I was waiting by the restrooms for the rest of the family and a granola lady came up to me (way into my personal space) and said something like "too many bands of children...these people need to stop reproducing...our resources cannot take it much longer...L-E-S-S is more..." I just affected a high voice and kept moving my eye contact from her while simultaneously saying "Uhhh--Huhhh". She actually spelled the word L-E-S-S to me. What I wanted to say was F-R-E-A-K. I did nothing to generate this approach. This type of thing happens all the time. I must have a sign on my face that says "Say crazy things to me."

Bad Luck Barbie

This week is Spring Break. I'm taking the whole week off (with the exception of this afternoon, where I had to close out a few things on email). We don't have any major plans--just a few around-town hang out activities. Hopefully we'll be able to zip down to College Station for one day this week to hang out with Elizabeth's family. The kids have already gotten into the mode of playing with some toys they don't usually play with. Kenneth found a toy American Airlines model plane and Evelyn found a Barbie cabana and pool. After about an hour of conspiring in Evelyn's room, they announced that they had made a play called Bad Luck Barbie. Poor Barbie, sitting naked in her cabana by the pool, sipping a solid, blue, plastic cocktail, gets knocked out of the cabana by a wayward American Airline jet. It's pretty funny, despite the mild morbidity.

Visit from NJ Cousins

My cousins, Chrissy and Keith, flew down from NJ a couple of weeks ago for a marathon in Austin. Keith's girlfriend Megan and his Mom, my Aunt Loretta, also flew down. Only Chris, Keith, and Megan actually ran in the marathon. It was Chrissy's first marathon--they all did great! Heck, just finishing is great. I would like to run a marathon someday, although it is much more likely that I'll do a half marathon. Elizabeth's family also visited and we got an amazing shot of Ann Marie.

I have promised prints for Elizabeth and my Mom. Kyle was almost impossible to get a picture of because he was on a mission to wander far and fast. Josh had to basically follow him around the whole time. Evelyn pushed Ann Marie in a swing, and she was content just to hang out, pretty much wherever we had her. It was one of those days where we just got a ton of good pictures all around.

On Saturday, Evelyn participated in the Austin Regional Science Fair. It was very odd though; out of the 1000 projects that were there (estimate, but at least 400), EVERY SINGLE project won a first, second, or third place ribbon. This completely defeats the purpose of such a competition. A mother near me when I was exclaiming "Oh you won 2nd place, congratulations Evelyn, uhhh, hold on, everyone won something?!?!?" said "It's criteria-based, not competition-based." Ummm, WHATEVER. Kids need to learn that you don't win at everything you do. Well, you can't control everything. I was proud of Evelyn when the judge was speaking with her. She not only was able to accurately answer questions about her project, but she was able to deduce on-target answers to 'what if' questions as well.

This coming Saturday is the first soccer game weekend of the Spring season. Evelyn starts bright and early at 8:00 AM.

The Orator

Kenneth was selected to participate in an oratorical contest in school last Tuesday. The contestants had been narrowed down from classroom-level competitions to the big night.

The theme was related to Black History Month, so the passages that the kids memorized were from various black authors or activists. Kenneth chose a selection from the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King. About 80-100 kids total ended up in the final evening competition. I was so proud of Kenneth. Evelyn and I sat down on the floor of the cafeteria with a bunch of kids because I couldn't get a good view in the chairs. Kenneth called me the next day from school to tell me he won first place out of the whole 4th grade! You can click on the image of the video to see Kenneth's winning speech. We're so proud of him! He's pretty proud of himself, too.

Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

A few days ago, my sweet Evelyn had her 7th birthday.

She was so proud. We went to the same place she had her party last year (a local pottery place) but this time with a targeted effort: picture frames. We picked up the finished products last weekend and they all look great. The plan is to put a picture of each child in the frame that they created themselves, to send home along with Evelyn's thank-you notes. In the picture to the left, she is wearing a new dress that her Grandma Aixa got her, and a new pink sweater than her Nana got her. Kenneth decided that a picture frame wasn't quite his style and opted to paint a ceramic egg, instead. Most of the time, he spent taking pictures for us. Nana and Pops drove over for the party, too.

At the end of day, the kids went to play at our neighbor's house, while we shared a sitter and went out to eat at a fabulous Mexican restaurant off of Manor Rd. near downtown Austin. I'll have to look up the name again because there's quite a few down there. This one, however, had ambience and was packed with a late 20-something/early 30-something crowd. A definite repeat.

Spring soccer practice has started up again for Kenneth (they call it "conditioning" already). Evelyn will have her first practice this week. They are on the same teams as last season. I just hope Evelyn's shoes still fit her. Growing like a weed, I tell you.

The Trials of Hugo

Kenneth and Rod have spent several weekend days catching crawdads in the creek that is in our currently favored park (to put in his fish tank). Prior to their discovery, I thought crawdads were saltwater creatures. (Truthfully, I hadn't devoted much brain time to it.) Over the course of time, they've collected 6-8 crawdads, most of which are shorter than a pinkie finger, but one that was much bigger. ("Much bigger" is still relative--none of these guys were too big.) The biggest crawdad was Hugo. He owned the fish tank and made sure all the fish, snails, and other crawdads knew it. This weekend, Kenneth collected a couple of more crawdads, one of which was close in size to Hugo. Kenneth named him Reedy. Reedy challenged Hugo once and Hugo became very territorial in return. Hugo didn't really mess with the other, smaller crawdads; although, we noticed that periodically a leg would go missing. Reedy ended up spending most of his time at the top of a fake water bush. Unfortunately for Hugo, when crawdads molt, they lose their protective hard outer layer. Reedy took advantage of Hugo's vulnerable state. One recent evening, Kenneth was shocked to find Hugo's severed head floating at the top of the tank. Well, if you have to experience a beheading, I guess nature's soap opera is the way to go. The new master of the fish tank is pictured above.

Happy Birthday Rod!

OK, this is a bit belated for a blog post, but Rod had a birthday last Thursday. We celebrated on the actual day with Nana, who surprised us by making dinner and a cake. Later in the weekend, I made a birthday dinner too, so he was double-treated. Unfortunately, Merle and Linda were not able to come up this weekend, but we will see them as soon as we can. We did find out that Linda's daughter, Lisa, is having a baby girl in May!

Evelyn is so excited that she will have another girl cousin. We don't know names yet, though.

Poor Kenneth has been sick this week and has missed school on Monday and Tuesday. I'm not sure what got him, but there have been lots of kids out of school lately.

I'm going to go read "George and Martha" to Evelyn, even though she's quite capable of reading it to me!

Stars All the Time

Thought I'd include a few recent photos. The one with the kids and Ann Marie is from Elizabeth's family visit a couple of weekends ago. Kenneth and Evelyn (but particularly Evelyn) always want to hold Ann Marie.

Another recent drawing by Kenneth. The bulldog is their school mascot.

Evelyn's class read a book about a penguin named "Tacky." One of the catchphrases Tacky always uses is "What's Happening?" Evelyn had to create a catchphrase that she would use, and she chose "Stars all the time." I'll have to remember that one. Just focus on the positive things...

At the park with Rod.

Rod and the kids spent time spinning on the tire swing. The whole time, I was biting my tongue because I knew there would be a good chance they'd get sick. Sure enough, all three of them got sick. Our next stop was IKEA and the three felt nauseous on the way there. After a minor throw up incident in the IKEA parking lot (not naming the culprit), we meandered through the IKEA maze. I don't care what anyone says--IKEA rocks and I think that's where we're going to try to finish out buying some of the missing furniture in our house.

Sweet Evelyn. She was looking through photos of her 6th birthday and she found one of her friend Shaley, who was in her Kindergarten class, but not in her 1st grade class. In the first semester of the year, Evelyn and Shaley got to see other during recess, but this semester the recess schedule got switched around and she no longer sees her. I promised to try to get Shaley to come to her 7th birthday party, which is very soon!

Carbon Dioxide or BAM?

Since the kids returned to school after the holiday break on 1/7, it's been fast-paced at home and work. Lots of work on the computer after the kids go to bed (and it's been real work, not entertainment). By the time I would finish what needed to be done, I would be too tired to post anything. Things should be settling back into a normal pace, though.

News from the past couple of weeks:
* Evelyn won 2nd place in the 1st grade division of the Science Fair. This means she gets to present her project in the Austin Regional Science Fair in mid-February.
* Rod launched his 4th edition of AboutTown press and developed a coordinating website (http://www.aboutownpress.com/)
* Elizabeth and the kids visited us while Josh was out of town. They stayed at our house, so the cousins got plenty of play time. Ann Marie has started crawling a little bit, but she is not a fast crawler yet. She is the easiest-going baby I have ever met. We also learned that Kyle does not like movies with cartoon cars.
* Kenneth was accepted into the after-school Art Club. He still works hard on his drawings and is getting more detailed as he practices.
* Spring season soccer sign-up occurred. I imagine practice will be starting in late February. The kids are ready for it, but I want the weather to get nicer first...
* One morning as I was walking into work from the parking lot, a work acquaintance called out "Hey, did you spill coffee all over your car?" No. He asked this most likely because of the following factors: (a) I was carrying my shoulder bag/laptop, an expandable folder with an excessive amount of paperwork, a bowl of sliced fruit, my morning protein shake, and an empty styrofoam cup tilted downwards, (b) I was fumbling with attaching my badge to my pants, and (c) My car was (and still is) absolutely filthy on the outside due to the rain and compounded because I drove behind a big truck that spewed muddy water mist into the air and onto my windshield. I guess he assumed the styrofoam cup had held coffee that spilled onto my windshield. Sigh.

Evelyn and Rod spent time creating poems the other night while Evelyn was hanging off his back. The outcome:
Rod: "Evelyn tried to hop but she just went plop!"
Evelyn: "Dad's back went pop, and he didn't say stop!"

Tonight, Evelyn asked me what is used to clean mirrors, "carbon dioxide or BAM?" I have not used either, I promise!

Been Awhile...

It's been awhile since I updated the blog, partially due to exhaustion. Friday night I couldn't even keep my eyes open during a new episode of What Not to Wear. That was a first for me. I will post again soon with pictures...

Visit from Marlee and Cailyn

My cousin Jeanne's children, Marlee and Cailyn, visited my parents last weekend. We met up for dinner at The Salt Lick off of 360. I had last seen Marlee when she was 1 or 2 and had never met Cailyn, but that's how it goes when large families live far apart. Both go to Rutgers University in New Jersey. Each brought a friend and they spent time downtown and shopping along Guadalupe. One of the places they visited was called Book Woman, which claims to be the only feminist bookstore in Texas. I had never heard of it, but plan to visit when I get a chance.

http://www.ebookwoman.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

Peanut Butter Preferences

That's the name of Evelyn's science fair project. It's basically a taste test for Jif PB versus Target brand PB. It allows Evelyn to do some basic data collection and a bar graph. No surprise, Jif won. Jif PB rocks. Nothing like heading to Walgreens at 8 PM on a Friday night to pick up 5x7 photos of peanut butter jars "Before" & "After" the black paper masking. We also simulated some spoon-enters-the-mouth shots.


Kenneth's project is not quite done yet. We need a few more people willing to perform 3 types of exercise for 1 minute time periods, then measure heart rate. Maybe next year I'll come to my senses and suggest topics that don't involve getting multiple participants. My cousin's children (college-aged) are visiting my parents, so I think I can get two more participants for him.


We had a visit from Grandma Aixa and Tracy last weekend. They stayed for a couple of days and had a nice visit overall. They bought the kids an official soccer goal with which to practice in the off-season as a joint gift. Evelyn received a rock-painting kit which she loved; it is a very cute idea. I just need to get some clear glossy paint to secure the current designs she's already done. Kenneth got a sketch book, which he promptly started using. It has a built-in easel, which is uber-convenient.


Tonight I will thoroughly enjoy What Not to Wear, my favorite show and really, my only TV indulgence.