Tennis, Anyone?

This past month, we started Elina in tennis.  B and I both LOVE tennis so we need our children to enjoy tennis and to learn how to play it.  When we first got married we would play tennis after dinner all the time.  I played tennis until I was 8 months pregnant with Elina back in the day.  Fun times!  

We started Elina in Pee Wee Tennis once a week, just to see if she even enjoyed tennis.  It turned out she really liked playing.  So we decided to sign her up for a week-long tennis camp.  This week she played tennis every day from 9am-12pm.  It's HOT here, but she still liked being out there on the courts.  We were really proud of her...not complaining too much about the heat and just being a good sport about learning a new sport during this brutal summer weather.  

After a week of playing, her backhand is actually quite impressive...her forehand is definitely so-so.  She doesn't like to turn her body, so her forehand is all over the place.  But she just started this month, so we're really proud of all she's accomplished.

Here is when she started working on her backhand--

This is a far away shot of her backhand (great follow-through)--

For her last day of camp, they gave each kid a certificate and she was awarded the Best Attitude.  I told her that's a good one to get because she doesn't get down about things.  She was pretty happy to know that she had a good attitude.

One evening, the stars aligned and we actually managed to all go to the tennis courts nearby to play some tennis.  (Side note..."stars aligned" = Eli took a nap in the afternoon and Evie took a late nap)  We made Eli the ball runner, which he absolutely loved.  We thought he would get tired of it quickly and want to go home, but he was a great sport about it.  He worked up a sweat and took a few water breaks, but he chased down every single ball like a champ.  He was a great ball runner!  Eli also wanted to be like his big sis and hit a few balls.  It was so cute because Elina was trying to teach him and gave him a few pointers.  Now we have to get Eli some real sneakers and a racquet.

We didn't know what to do with Evie, so we simply brought our walker to the courts.  Since no one really uses them, we just let Evie roam free in her walker.  It's sad that she still only walks backwards in the walker, but she managed to have lots of fun.  She thought it was the coolest thing!  And we loved watching her have so much fun.  I mean, look at her face!!

I think we will try to put Elina in tennis lessons this fall.  We are all for it as long as she enjoys it.  Tennis camp was fun, but I did not enjoy getting her to camp on time by 9am all week.  This is summer break after all!!  But we'll definitely be taking the kids to the courts ourselves more often now.  We are all having so much fun with tennis! It's a dream come true!

All About the Groupons

This past Saturday was a day of random, Groupon events.  I admit that I probably purchase way too many Groupons for my own good.  I always think, "I've been wanting to eat there!" or, "I could totally take the kids there!"  Well, this past Saturday I was so excited because we managed to use up 2 of our Groupons in 1 day!  Score!  

We were meeting with some friends for our kids to play (Elina's old friend, D), so we decided to go to Dinosaur Quest at the Rivercenter Mall.  Honestly, who knew a dinosaur museum would be located in the mall??  The admission prices ($12/adult on weekends) are pretty steep, so I've always been hesitant about trying this place out.  With the Groupon, we all got in for $6/person so I thought it was definitely worth it.  The museum was small and didn't have dinosaurs that are as popular, but it was a good way to spend an hour.  The kids are still WAY into dinosaurs and this week in "summer school" my lesson was about dinosaurs so this was a nice reinforcing field trip.  The kids thought it was a cool place, but they actually enjoyed the 5 minute T-Rex movie that played inside more than the actual skeletons.  Oh well....typical.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice lunch at Panera with our friends (sadly, no Groupon for this part of our day).  D's baby sister is just a few days younger than Evie, so we love getting them together.  These girls don't know it yet, but they will be good friends later in life!

After lunch, Elina and B went off on their Father-Daughter date to paint some pottery.  I had purchased a Groupon for this a few months ago, so I was excited for them to go use it!  They both had a great time.  Elina was even sweet enough to paint Eli a dinosaur.  She also painted a heart, some cherries, and a few other things.  I was a little sad that this was the first year she didn't paint a coaster though.  She said that there were no coasters there.  Bummer.  As long as they had a fun time together, I don't need another coaster, right?  =)

What a great Groupon day!

Evie's First Sea World Trip

Last week we went to Sea World 2 days in a row with LW and her kids.  It was kinda crazy, but the kids had lots of fun so we thought we'd just go for it.  Ever since we've lived in San Antonio, we've had Sea World season passes every year and it's been totally worth it.  But last year we actually didn't even go to Sea World because Evie was an infant...and a colicky infant at that.  So last week was Evie's first time to Sea World and she loved it! On the first day we only visited the new area at Sea World called the Bay of Play.  It's full of fun kid rides and a huge splashpad.  Evie was in heaven playing with the water!

Here she is enjoying the little fountain at the baby splashpad section.

Here are the kids enjoying one of the new Bay of Play rides.  Elina and Eli loved this ride...I don't think you can see them in the video though...

The 2nd day we only spent time at the water park.  When we were at the Bay of Play, Elina and Eli preferred the rides to the splashpad because the water splashed in their faces a little too much.  Honestly, I don't know what I did to make them not like a little water in their faces!  That night I asked Elina if she would want to go to the water park and she said, "Yeah!  I want to go back to that pool with the octopus slide."  Folks, she's talking about the baby pool.  I think Elina's the only child who's spent the last few years at the same place in the water park.  All of her friends have outgrown it, but every year she returns to the baby pool.  It's insane!  But it actually works out for me since Eli and Evie can only handle the baby pool...so I guess it's better that Elina enjoys it too.  

At the baby pool, there's this umbrella that has "rain" and every year we've gone, Elina doesn't like going under it.  (You know, the water-in-the-face issue.)  Well, Elina finally went under it and enjoyed herself!  I just HAD to take a picture of it because it was a big moment for her.  

Evie loved crawling around in the baby pool and Eli really loved pretending to swim in the deeper part of the pool.  We had a great time at Sea World and can't wait to go back soon.  These kids definitely can't wait to go back!

First Steps

It's finally happened!  Evie took her first steps today (right before she turns 15 months)!  Elina and Eli were also late-walkers, between 13-15 months, so I didn't expect much from Evie.  And, honestly, I feel like once she starts walking things will be only become more chaotic around the house!  She already gets into a lot of things by just crawling...imagine when she starts walking around.  Yikes.  (My dad was actually the one who was the most worried about this entire thing.  Every time we spoke with him on the phone, the first thing he would ask was whether or not Evie was walking.  Now he can rest easy.)  

I noticed that the last few days, Evie was standing on her own more often.  She'd pull herself up and just stand there.  I would reach out to her, but she would keep her hands to herself.  I guess I should have known that something was up!

Here she is, taking her first few steps!  We're so proud of her...and you can tell that she's so proud of herself!

I love this video, too, because she falls down on her bottom, but she just laughs about it.  I LOVE kids!

Let the tornado in the house begin!

Happy Father's Day! (A Little Late)

B began his Father's Day by sleeping in while the kids and I got things ready around the house.  We decorated a little and then fixed him his breakfast tray...complete with cinnamon rolls, a big mug of coffee, strawberries, and his favorite sections of the Sunday newspaper.  He loved his breakfast in bed, but he was definitely accosted by the kids.  They had all eaten breakfast already, but for some reason, at that exact moment, they all wanted to eat more strawberries.  I guess that's what being a Dad is all about...sharing everything with your kids!  Here is a pic of B with the kids...everyone still looks like they just woke up, but it's still cute. (I'm just amazed everyone is looking!)

This year I helped the kids make this little book for B.  On each page the kids drew pictures and wrote sentences about things they love about daddy.  This project took us a few days because Eli will only draw one picture at a time.  After one picture, he says, "I all done" and he doesn't look back.  No form of bribery will get him to sit back down to draw something else.  Luckily, each kid only had to draw 2 pictures.  Then I had Elina decorate the cover and write the intro and final page. 

The book turned out pretty adorable. 

Here are 5 reasons (out of many) that B is a great dad to the kids--

1. He is always willing to attend any crazy, crowded kiddie outing that I come up with on the weekends.  I know he would rather be relaxing at home when he has days off, but he is always up for anything that the kids will enjoy.

2. He doesn't mind looking like a fool for the sake of our themed Halloween costumes.  I mean, who else would go trick-or-treating wearing a box...while inhaling the toxic fumes coming from the freshly spray-painted box?

3. He loves to take the kids camping.  I think his laidback nature makes camping more fun for the kids.  I would be a little more obsessive about the bathrooms and stuff like that.  Camping with daddy is definitely more relaxing and fun.

4. He is very patient when he helps Elina practice the piano.  With taking care of house stuff and running around with the kids, I have to admit that my patience can run thin when it's time to teach Elina piano.  Bogie, on the other hand, seems to have an unending amount of patience.  Thank God for that!

5. He is able to overlook how messy our house is.  When the kids play with everything and the house is a disaster zone, I can feel my blood pressure rise.  Then I feel the need to try to put everything back in its place before I go to bed.  B could go for days stepping over the same toys.  He just doesn't notice and doesn't care.  Sometimes it drives me crazy, but in the long run I think it's a good thing.

Elina and B are going on their Father-Daughter Father's Day date this weekend to paint pottery.  We had to postpone since we were worn out from the coast the day before Father's Day.  Elina absolutely cannot wait to go on her date!

Thanks for being a wonderful father, B.  We love you!

Off to the Beach!

This past Saturday we decided to take a day trip to the coast, which is about 2.5 hours away.  We've never been to the coast at Corpus Christi and thought that it was time.  Plus, my friend, RT, was out there with her family so we knew the kids would have more fun with some friends there. B had his doubts because Evie can get quite cranky on long drives.  Even though he agreed to go, he was not convinced that this was a good Father's Day gift.

Well, the drive was surprisingly uneventful.  No needless crying from Evie at all because...we've discovered the beauty of Baby Einstein DVDs. None of my kids have ever watched or enjoyed these, but we thought we would try it out if she started getting fussy.  I hate that we had to use them because when they're babies, it's not like they are actively asking to watch something in the car...so essentially, I'm rigging a DVD player right in front of her face and saying, "You will watch this and you will enjoy it."  But desperate times call for desperate measures.  I mean, just last week we went to Austin and on the hour drive back, she screamed for more than half of it...so we were hoping--praying--that Baby Einstein could come to our rescue this time.  It worked out wonderfully and now we know that we DO have a last resort in case of an emergency.  Phew!

Now back to the beach...

The weather was so nice, especially compared to the 100F weather we've been getting here in San Antonio lately.  On the coast, it was in the upper-80s, but windy, so it was very pleasant.

We went to a beach just outside of Padre Island National Seashore.  It's so bizarre (and yet, so Texan), but you can literally drive your car right up to the beach....I mean, right up to the water.  Seriously.  This is strange, but actually very convenient when you have little kids plus a million things to lug to the beach.  The beach wasn't amazing or anything, but it was really more about hanging out with friends, beach combing, playing with sand, and feeling the water and sand beneath your feet.

Elina and Eli were NOT that interested in actually going into the ocean...which was sad because that's part of the point of the beach, isn't it?  Eli would run into the water after his friend, T, but when T sat down in the water, Eli would squat down a little and then change his mind.  Elina didn't even venture that far into the water.  I don't think the top of her suit was even wet.  She is just too scared of big waves.  And, honestly, I can't blame her.  When we were in the Bahamas a few years ago, Ah-Gong was carrying Elina into the ocean.  They both got hit by a big wave and Ah-Gong was caught off-guard, so he fell back and was completely under the water.  On his way down, he managed to push Elina up with his arms so that she wouldn't go under.  We were thankful nothing bad happened, but from Elina's perspective, she just saw the ocean swallow up her Ah-Gong.  It was frightening and the memory has been burned into her brain.  It's really too bad, but what can you do?  So, for Elina, a trip to the beach is all about looking for the perfect shells.  Unfortunately, there were none on this trip.  There weren't any bigger shells...and if there were a few, they were broken.  She found a bunch of small clams, but they were all living so we had to leave them.  It was pretty neat to watch all the clams come out of their shells in the pail when it was filled with water.  Then the kids also found a baby crab, which was the highlight of the entire trip!

Evie, on the other hand, was all about the water.  The minute we put her down on the sand, she just crawled quickly to the ocean.  We kept doing this over and over again.  We'd bring her back to the dry sand, put her down, and she'd immediately squeal and crawl to the waves.  She was fearless and had a blast.  Look at this girl go!

As you might have noticed, this year I got all the kids long-sleeved rash guards.  The older kids just get too dark too quickly now, so I had to do something.  I mean, it's only June and Eli is already too dark!  Well, Elina and Eli's hands both managed to get a little sunburned!  I couldn't believe it.  I guess I need to get gloves now?  Evie also got a little sun on her face because she kept ripping off her hat.  B's stomach and chest got burned because when he went boogie boarding, the board rubbed off the sunblock that was on the front of his body!  So his belly and chest are bright red.  As for me...my back and shoulders are as red as a lobster!  In the shuffle of kids and everything, I completely forgot to put sunblock on myself.  Oh well.

Despite the sunburns, we had a great time at the beach.  (I just couldn't take as many pictures of the fun we were having because my hands were constantly covered with sand...imagine that!)  The kids can't stop talking about how much fun they had.  Elina's favorite thing was looking for seashells.  Eli loved that the "water make me move."  (Translation: he loved that it felt like he was moving when his feet were planted in the sand and the water was going back out.)  Evie's favorite thing was just crawling on the sand and into the water.  There was a point where she was just crawling circles around me while I sat on the sand.  It was so funny....as if she was creating a force field so I couldn't leave.  B and I both thought the trip was worth the 2.5 hour drive each way.  I mean, the water's not pretty (it's just brown) and there weren't many seashells to collect, but the water felt good and the kids had so much fun....which means we had a lot of fun, too!

PJ Day--Finally!

Today was awesome because we had our first official PJ Day. Before the summer started I had declared that we would have a PJ Day once a week...but so far it hasn't happened!  The first week of summer, Elina got pink-eye and then last week we had a few medical appointments in the morning, so we could never really stay at home in our PJs.

Today was finally the first day we had absolutely nothing planned...and man, it was heaven!  It was perfect because I had trouble sleeping last night and only slept 3 hours.  So after breakfast, I just laid in bed with all the kids.  Then I put Evie on the floor and I kinda nodded off a little.  I didn't really fall asleep because the kids were jumping on the bed and talking to me, but I had my eyes shut.  Then Elina came up to me and said, "So PJ Day means you're going to sleep and not take care of us?"  I just looked at Elina and jokingly said, "I wish."

We really had so much fun today hanging around the house.  We played a few games, read books on my bed, played with the water table, painted with water and ice on the deck, built forts, and had "restaurant night."  Elina loved creating the menu (drawing all the food items), seating everyone, and writing down all the orders.  She named her restaurant Pastalishis ('pastalicious').  Cute, right?  I think I might have to designate a restaurant night once a week because we had so much fun!

I hope PJ Day really comes once a week this summer because we sure had a ton of fun!  Yay for PJ Day!

Pigs and Chefs?

This was a weekend of random--but fun--events.

On Friday night I took Elina and Eli to see a play.  It was a puppet show/play based on The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka.  For those of you who don't know, this is a book told from the perspective of the wolf.  According to him, he just wanted to borrow some sugar from his pig neighbors and he also happened to have a cold.  He says that it was his sneezing that knocked their houses down.  I wasn't sure how it would go over with the kids (because they are kinda sorta scaredy cats), but I figured I would give it a try.  Plus, I thought it would be a nice date with the kids (since B stayed home with Evie).

The show was really funny and the kids enjoyed themselves. Some parts were kind of loud...like when the wolf sneezed, so halfway through the show Eli ran to sit on my lap.  He also looked away during some of it.  Later I asked him if he had been scared of the wolf and he denied everything!  Ha!  Elina thought it was a really funny show.  She said that she read it a few times in class so she knew he would be sneezing a lot.  We all had a wonderful time and the kids thought it was so special to be out after dinner with just their mom.  What a great night!

Then on Saturday, J and I headed to our local grocery store for the Top Chef National Tour stop.  At each stop this year, 2 former Top Chef contestants compete in a quickfire while answering questions from the host and the audience.  J and I love Top Chef, so we had to go...but what was even better was that one of the contestants on our stop was Dale Talde from Season 4 and from All-Stars.  Yay!

Here is a video of when the chefs came out--

The event took place outside under a few tents and at the Top Chef mobile kitchen.  We arrived an hour early and were number 56 in line, so we didn't make it in to sit down for the first show.  Instead, we just stood at the perimeter and watched the competition.  We didn't get to taste the food, but we enjoyed ourselves.  The former contestants told funny stories...we got to see them cook...and J got a picture with Dale!  We decided we didn't need to wait around to try to get into the next show so we left.  But it was a wonderful way to spend a morning!  We'll definitely be back next year if they stop here again.

This was a fun, eventful weekend!

First Haircut for Evie

Evie's hair has definitely been getting long these days. It was getting into her eyes and the back of her hair was growing all unevenly. Essentially, she was looking a little disheveled.

My good friend, LW, has always cut her girls' hair, so I asked her if she would trim Evie's hair a little. As many of you may know, B and I are NOT good at cutting hair at all. We attempted it with Eli and he ended up with a classic bowl cut--exactly what we DIDN'T want.

Well, LW did a great job with Evie's hair this past Tuesday. Now it's out of her face and it looks healthier...plus, she's not as "dirty-looking" with her scraggly, unkempt hair. Evie was great and sat there quietly the whole time eating her snacks.

Although there were times when she made this ugly-uncomfortable face when the scissors were in front of her face (see the top right picture of the above collage and this next video).


Here's a before and after pic so you can all see the difference.

What was funny was that after the haircut, Evie took a nap and this is what she looked like when I got her...
...definitely doesn't look like she has a cute haircut!  J says that she looks like a homeless child.  But after some combing, it all looked ok, right?

Thanks, LW, for doing such a great job!  Evie looks so cute (not that she wasn't cute before, but you know what I mean...)!

Show Week

For the past few months, Elina and Eli have been taking a Sports Skills class at the Little Gym.  We purposely put the kids in this class because it's one of the few classes where they can be together.  They really enjoy being together and I feel like Eli performs better whenever Elina's around.  In the class they have learned about lots of fun sports--hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, as well as gymnastics.  

Their all-time favorite game there was Slam the Cheese.  At The Little Gym, they call the wedged mats "cheese" because they're in the shape of a triangle.  So the game is that the cheese is standing up on it's short side (it's standing up tall), the kids stand far away, then run toward it to knock it down.  This is the funniest thing to watch and the kids get so giddy about it!  I mean, look at these faces!

Last week was Show Week, where the parents go into the gym and the kids get a chance to show the parents everything they've learned.  Unfortunately, Elina had pink-eye on her Show Day so she wasn't allowed to go into the gym.  It was quite a sad scene because everyone went into the gym and Elina was the only one left outside.  I would look over to check on her and she'd have her sad face pressed to the glass.  She admitted she was kinda sad about it. We had to have her do a make-up Show Day on Saturday with another gymnastics class.

The whole thing was really cute though.  First, they make the parents go inside the gym and sit.  Then they announce each child's name and they run out and do their favorite trick.  In Elina and Eli's class (which is a small class), all the boys ran out and just smiled.  They were really just excited about getting to run out by themselves while the parents applauded for them.  

During the class, the kids just showed off tons of tricks and did a great job!  Here is Eli having some fun--

Here is Eli showing off some golf skills--

Here is Eli trying to do a tummy roll on the bar.  Unfortunately, he's still at the stage where he just lets go as he's rolling over.  It's terrible because it's so dangerous.  Luckily, the instructor was prepared to catch him!  She says it's a natural reaction for little kids, but it just looks scary when they fall like that.

Here is Elina (in her make-up class) doing some tricks of her own.  She has gotten so brave on the bar.  She loves to do flips over it.  She's also gotten better with her handstands and can now do cartwheels!

Here is Elina doing a few small routines--

 

Then at the end of the class, the kids each got to run up to this "podium" and get their medals.  They were so excited about it.  It was just adorable.  

Don't they look so cute with their medals?  I was just sad that they couldn't get the medals on the same day because Elina couldn't even be in our last class picture!  Boo on pink-eye...but yay for Little Gym!