Our Tiny Dancers

Everyone knows that our kids love to dance. Elina doesn't have any technique down, but she still loves to dance. Right now she's a very literal dancer. In this video she's dancing to "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" which is on that Laugh 'N Learn Puppy toy. It goes like this--

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can they go flip-flop?
Can you do it while you hop?
Do your ears hang lowwww?

I'm typing out these lyrics so you know what the words are while you watch Elina dance. It's SO funny because she does everything literally. I especially love how she ties the knot and bow. I also enjoy Elina's intro movements to the dance....very unique stuff!


And then we have our little Eli. He's not quite as "advanced" as Elina, but it'll do. We started doing songs with him before bedtime and he's picked up a lot. One of his favorites is "Itsy Bitsy Spider." He usually does the spider part more, but in this video he only wanted to do the "rain" and "washed the spider out" (and he didn't want to do it for very long). He's also gotten really good at "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "The Wheels on the Bus" but that'll have to be another post.

UT Graduation Part II: Busy Busy Busy

Luckily, there was more to our weekend than the cookies. We were busy busy busy. The graduation was at 8am, which is too early for my family. That was a long day for us. We sat through the 2 hour ceremony, then went for coffee and lunch. Then we went on the Austin Duck Tour, while B took Eli back to the hotel for a nap. B and I already did the Duck Tour back in November, but I enjoyed it a lot so didn't mind doing it again. This time our tour guide wasn't quite as funny as the first guide I had. Plus, he didn't go to some of the same stops. But it was still a fun time with the fam.

We also managed to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant, Austin Land and Cattle. We LOVE this place. The portions are big, the steaks are delectable, the sides are actually included with the steak, and the service is wonderful. Luckily, our kids are well-behaved in restaurants, so we felt we could take them to this fancy place.

On our last day we went to McKinney Falls for a short hike. Even though it started raining, it was fun. The water wasn't high, so the falls weren't really "falling," but it was still a pretty place. Then we grabbed lunch at Whole Foods while it rained some more. After the rain stopped, we went to Butler Park to let the kids play in the fountains. They had a blast! It got nice and hot, so they were having a great time splashing around.



As you can tell, our schedule was jam-packed. It was so much fun, but we were exhausted. It didn't help that I didn't sleep well at night. We got a one bedroom suite at the hotel, with the idea that Eli and Elina would sleep in the bedroom by themselves (Eli in a crib and Elina in a king-sized bed!) and B & I would stay up late and just sleep on the sofa bed. Well, we were always so tired and couldn't stay up late anyway, so we just decided to sleep in that big bed with Elina. Man, Elina is an awful sleeper! I constantly woke up with feet on my face or on my neck. Ugh! I don't know how people do the family bed thing. I mean, I love my kids, but I also love my undisturbed sleep. Every night the kids would only get about 8-9 hours of sleep, which is less than their usual 12 or so. Plus, Eli wasn't really getting his naps. We could tell they needed some real sleep.

So on the day we were heading home, Eli actually slept for 2 hours in the car. He would wake up and see that we were there, but then his eyelids would get really heavy and he'd fall right back asleep. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED! Elina also fell asleep within minutes after we left Austin. Our kids were SO tired. We put them to bed at home that night and they woke up super late the next morning.

It was such a tiring weekend, but on our drive back, B and I were already talking about the next time we'd visit. We just love Austin because it's so much fun for the kids. It's like Portland, but in Texas. Well, congratulations, J! Hook 'em horns!

UT Graduation Part I: Hook 'Em and Ice 'Em

We just had an exhausting weekend in Austin...so exhausting that our kids slept in until 9:15-9:45am the morning after we got back home. What a tiring, but fun weekend! Since one post about our trip would be too long for anyone to sit through, I'm going to break it up into 2 posts. This post will be about the infamous cookies. The next post will be about our actual activities.

J graduated from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin on Saturday. At J's request, I made longhorn cookies for the graduation dinner. There's some background info that non-Texans need to know. 1. The UT mascot is Bevo, a Texas longhorn. A longhorn is basically a breed of cattle that has very long horns. 2. Everyone knows this UT hand signal that looks like sign language for "I love you." Well, that hand signal is known as the "Hook 'Em Horns" sign in UT-land. So when you see people doing that in all my pictures, that's what they are doing. They aren't all lovey-dovey.

Anyway, these cookies caused me trouble from the get-go. First, I had to run to the Guenther House just to get the longhorn-shaped cookie cutter. It pained me to go to that restaurant to buy a cookie cutter and not get to enjoy some yummy breakfast. Grrrrr. Then I had to find a cookie carrier to transport these delicate cookies. I ended up borrowing a cupcake carrier from a friend and buying another one since I knew I would have a lot of cookies.

I was up until 12:40am on Thursday night making these cookies! I made the America's Test Kitchen holiday cookie recipe, which I've made 2 times before, but I guess I forgot how long it would take. This recipe is delicious and makes the perfect dough for cookie cutting, but it takes FOREVER because you have to keep chilling the dough--after you make the dough and then after you roll it out between parchment paper. So I was in the kitchen for at least 3 hours slaving away.

I didn't have time to ice the cookies Thursday night, so I figured I would ice them on Friday morning before we headed up to Austin. Half of our stuff was already packed, so I felt like I could handle that. Boy, was I wrong! For those of you who know me well, I was stressed out the morning we had to leave. Imagine that! We had to finish getting all the kids' stuff together, pack up snacks, get the kids ready, make the cookie glaze the right UT burnt orange color, and still ice the cookies. The thing is, once you iced the cookies, they still needed 30 minutes to dry before you could transport them! I knew I couldn't accomplish all this, so I decided to ice them in Austin before the dinner.

After we ate lunch in Austin, we checked into the hotel and let Eli take a much-needed nap. While he napped, I just sat there and iced the cookies for an hour. I have a new-found appreciation for iced cookies in bakeries. It took me awhile to ice them all, but it was actually kind of relaxing....sitting there quietly "painting" my cookies. Although Elina just sat next to me and kept asking, "When can I eat the cookies? Can I eat them now?" Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for Elina), we had a few casualties during transport and 2 of my longhorns ended up with broken horns, so I let Elina munch on those cookies.

I'm telling you, these cookies were just trouble! But in the end, everyone was impressed with how they turned out. When we took them into the restaurant, some people saw the cookies and they told their family and friends about them. My dad joked that I could probably make some money selling them on campus. So in the end it was well worth it since they brought a smile to everyone's face. But I definitely didn't have a smile on my face when I was baking them the night before!

I'm going to end this post with a quick video of Eli nibbling on a longhorn horn. I'm just glad everyone liked the cookies!

Mrs. Wishy-Washy

Recently we went to the Twig Bookstore to check out a children's storytime. The lady who reads the books, Miss Anastasia, was supposed to be really good. I've been meaning to check out her Friday storytimes but have never gotten around to it. Once a month she has a big, themed storytime on a Saturday where she reads a few books, then there's a themed activity, and then the character from the theme comes to take pictures with the kids. It turned out that this month's theme was Mrs. Wishy-Washy! When I read Elina Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm a few months ago, she loved it. She had most of the lines memorized within a few days. And honestly, who doesn't like Mrs. Wishy-Washy?? Once we heard Mrs. Wishy-Washy was going to be there, we had to go!

Well, it was the cutest event. Miss Anastasia is really really good at reading children's books. She is VERY animated, VERY loud, and VERY entertaining for the kids. Even though it was a little too over-the-top for me at times, I have to admit that she had me laughing out loud during certain parts. B thought she was kinda crazy, but all the kids LOVED her. They were all laughing and doing the hand motions. Elina and L had so much fun listening to Miss Anastasia read 3 of Mrs. Wishy-Washy's books.

Then they let the kids play outside with bubbles and soap. There were buckets of toys filled with soapy water everywhere. Elina's favorite activity was "painting" the walls with soapy water and a paintbrush. At the end, Mrs. Wishy-Washy came out to take pictures with the kids. Elina wasn't super-excited, but I sure was!

Elina didn't really remember who Mrs. Wishy-Washy was, but she still had lots of fun. Even Eli had a good time playing in the water. We will definitely be back to see Miss Anastasia!

Mother's Day

I'm a little late posting about Mother's Day...I am in the midst of teaching the last few preschool classes, so I've been staying up late doing prep work. No matter how well I plan for preschool, I'm always up late cutting something the night before. Poor B usually has to join me! But that's a post for another day. Now back to Mother's Day...

It was a nice, laidback day for all of us. We took the kids to the Sea World water park for a bit in the morning. It wasn't very hot that day, so sometimes the water actually felt cold! We went to the Lil' Gators baby pool first. This year Eli can walk in the water, so he really enjoyed it. Elina finally started going on the "big" octopus slide, although we still have to hold one of her hands when she slides down. You guys don't understand...this is the BABY POOL. This is Elina's 3rd year straight at the baby pool and it's still her favorite pool. Her friends have all graduated to the other pools, but for some reason Elina still wants to hold onto this pool. She just doesn't like water splashing in her face. So sad. (But it actually works out for me because then she doesn't complain that she's bored since Eli can only handle the baby pool.)

Then we went to the wave pool, which both kids did NOT like. They had Bahamas flashbacks and did not react well. When the waves started, Eli started bawling and Elina immediately ran for dry land. She literally, turned around and booked it. She didn't turn back around when she heard me yell her name. She didn't turn back around to see if the wave would get her. She just wanted to get out of the water. Wow.

After this, we tried the pool with the big bucket that pours down water. Elina didn't really like it that much because there's water splashing from lots of different directions. Eli froze once he got into that pool. So we called it quits. The kids ate lunch poolside and then we headed home.

Eli went down for a nap and I headed out for some solo shopping. It was really nice. I didn't do much at all. I just wandered through a bookstore for a few hours. I looked through some books and then I sat and read my own book with a cup of coffee. Ahhhhhhhh....

I came home to a cute surprise. B and Elina had made flowers out of paper for me. Elina cut out the shapes that B drew for her and then they taped everything together. It's a cute centerpiece that will stay on our table for awhile. And what a great idea with the paper flowers! They'll never die! I asked B if he looked the craft up online and he said that he actually came up with it himself. Initially, I didn't believe him, but then he said, "W, there's really nothing to it...it wasn't THAT hard to come up with." Pretty impressive, right?? I feel like I'm always stealing other people's crafty ideas, but B just came up with this himself. Maybe next time I should ask him for craft ideas.

Anyway, it was a great Mother's Day. I'm really thankful I can stay at home and be a mom. It's busy and tiring, but one day I'm not going to have this great job anymore. (I mean, I'll always be their mother, but I won't be staying home with them.) So here's a belated Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!

Stop Chasing Me, Mr. McGregor!

[This post is a little late because I was out of town.]

About 3 weeks ago, Elina and her friends went on a field trip to see a Peter Rabbit play at the Steven Stoli Playhouse. This theater is small and really kid-friendly. We love this playhouse so much that this was actually Elina's 3rd time there.

Prior to the play, we had been reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit before bedtime. I wanted Elina to at least know the characters and storyline. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Beatrix Potter and her tales. I just don't see the appeal, but then again I'm not a world-famous children's author. Regardless of my opinion, Peter Rabbit grew on Elina. The first time I read it she was bored out of her mind. It was too wordy and unexciting. But after a few more readings something clicked in Elina's mind. See, right now Elina is really really into chasing people and being chased. She plays chase with all her friends. Sometimes they are monsters, alligators, or "bad guys." Of course, we get sucked into the chasing as well. Elina will come up to me and say, "Mommy, be an alligator and get me!" After a few rounds of this, I'm pretty exhausted. Well, Elina figured out a new version of chase through Peter Rabbit. She pretends to be Peter Rabbit and I have to be Mr. McGregor. So I have to chase her around the house because she ate my radish and beans. Oh, how I loathe Peter Rabbit.

So with all this Peter Rabbit chasing, I figured Elina would love to watch the play with her friends. She was all excited to go. This was the first time the playhouse wasn't packed, but it made it nicer because Elina and all her friends sat up front on the floor. Eli and I sat on the chairs a few feet behind them. The plays put on at this playhouse are always interactive and fun for the kids. The actors usually ask the kids to shout out responses or to play a prop/extra on stage. It's really cool. The Peter Rabbit play was actually the MOST interactive play we've been to so far. And because the audience was smaller this time, the kids got to participate multiple times. I thought it would be great for Elina. Wrong.

She didn't want to be bunnies, like her friends. She didn't want to be birds, like her friends. The actors even asked her if she wanted to be a wheelbarrow and she politely declined. That's my girl! So she was a quiet observer for the entire play. She'd participate, but only from her seat. I was sad because I wanted her to participate so badly. She knew the story...she knew the characters...her friends were there...but no, Elina didn't want anything to do with it. KT said that the good thing about it is that we know Elina probably won't cave to peer pressure anytime soon. The funny thing is that when everything was over, she was still willing to sit on Peter Rabbit's lap to take a picture! (Even though I thought Peter Rabbit was a little creepy-looking.) How bizarre.
Eli was a good sport the entire time. I think Peter Rabbit freaked him out a little, so he quietly sat on my lap for most of the play. I mean, I was sad he was a little scared, but it ended up being the perfect sitation. I was worried he'd be all over the place, but he wasn't. Phew! So we all pretty much had a great time!

A Real Getaway

I just got back from a nice vacation. You heard me right--I just got back...not my family and I, not the kids and I, not B and I. It was JUST ME. Now that's a REAL getaway.

Back when I was still nursing Eli, I told B that since I was going to nurse for a year, I thought that I deserved a little reward at the end. After all, my freedom was really limited since I had Eli practically attached to me. Don't get me wrong. I love spending time with my kids every day and I love spending time together as a whole family, but I needed a break. I needed to feel like an adult again. I kinda feel guilty saying this since I'm the one who signed up for the husband and the kids, right? But, honestly, sometimes you need to recharge yourself to be a better wife and a better mom. My time had come and B was nice enough to give me this trip as my birthday gift. What a great guy, huh?

So I decided to go visit my friend BM up in Boston. BM had a baby (A) with his wife (SY) about a year ago. I have been wanting to visit them since the baby was born, but we couldn't work anything out until now. S (Auntie S who visited back in January) drove up from NYC and Manolo flew up from Miami. I went to college with all these people and we've known each other for about 15 years now. Besides S, I haven't seen the other people in about 2 years...so this get together was much needed. It's funny because when we all met up 2 years ago in NYC, Manolo and I had also planned our visit together back then. We're definitely vacation buddies now.

Since I was flying solo, I decided to take the first flight out at 5:30am. Ahhhhh...the joy of being able to pack my ONE bag in 10 minutes...to fall asleep on an airplane....to read a book on an airplane...to not have to entertain children...it was almost too much for me to handle!

For the first two nights, I stayed at BM's place. The last two nights S and I shared a romantic room in a nearby bed and breakfast. Since BM's son wakes up WAY early in the morning, I had to stay somewhere else so that I could sleep in at least a few mornings during my vacation.

Honestly, we didn't do too much during the 5 days that I was gone. BM, SY, and A were all kind of sick (not the swine flu though--phew!), so we took it easy. We watched TV shows (along with some basketball and boxing), ate out, took long walks, ate ice cream, told lots of stories and jokes (some raunchy, thanks to Manolo)...this was my kind of vacation. One day we walked around the North End (I had the yummiest ricotta cannoli from Modern Pastry), the Faneuil Hall area, and part of the Freedom Trail. I think that was our longest day.

After walking around Boston, I've come to the conclusion that I'm definitely a northern girl, not a southern girl. I forgot how beautiful spring is up north. We don't really get a springtime here in Texas. Our transition from "winter" to summer is pretty abrupt and early. (Although this year our April was beautiful with a lot of breezy, cloudy days.) I'm so jealous of all those pretty flowers and trees people get up there. Everything was in bloom...tulips, lilacs, dogwood trees, redbuds, cherry blossoms. We get some pretty flowers here, but nothing as abundant and diverse. I think I have a need for four distinct seasons.

I also love that in Boston you can walk everywhere or take public transportation. I miss those days. I hate that I always have to drive my car to get almost anywhere. A lot of times I'd be willing to walk, but there's a huge lack of sidewalks and crosswalks here. And let's not forget the heat in the summertime. When it's 95 degrees and humid out, it takes a lot to get me to take a walk outside.

The best part of the trip was catching up with my friends again. We've known each other for so long and have been such good friends that we always pick up from where we left off. There are never any hard feelings about not calling or emailing. These are lifelong friends. These are keepers. I think that's the hardest part about living in the south. It's not so much the weather, the flora, or the public transportation...it's just that my bestest friends aren't here. I mean, I've made wonderful friends here (some lifelong as well), but these are the people who knew me when I was a naive undergrad. You know what I mean. These people know my secrets. They know how far I've come.

Before I start shedding a tear, let me sum it all up...

I really had a great time in Boston. It was relaxing. There was no pressure to go sightseeing...no pressure to watch the clock...no pressure to wake up in the morning. I accomplished so many things while I was gone.

• I read a whole entire adult book while I was away. (In case you don't know yet, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a wonderful book.)
• I finally met A, who is a cute, snuggly baby.
• I caught up with my good friends and spent quality time with them.
• I got to vacation with Manolo again.
• I fell asleep on an airplane.
• I discovered my favorite coffee-flavored ice cream (coffee oreo at JP Licks!).
• I saw beautiful spring flowers.
• I slept in.

What a great vacation! I miss you all already...hopefully it won't be 2 years before we see each other again. Remember that you can all visit anytime!