Couch Potato

Today is a week that I’ve been anchored to the couch.  I had arthroscopic knee surgery last Tuesday & tomorrow is my post op follow up appointment where hopefully the doctor will release me to drive & go back to work.  Of course, I’m more excited about one than the other.

Let’s see what’s been going on in our lives… Ethan is in 1st grade now & does well in school for the most part.  We haven’t had any behavioral issues in quite a while so that’s nice.  Evan is in Pre-K at the daycare now. I can’t believe that they’ll both be in school next year. It seems like the last 5 years have flown by. They are constantly growing and changing. Evan had his 5 year appointment the day before my surgery & we found out that he’s right at the 50th percentile for his age. 42 lbs & 42 7/8 inches. I’ll have to measure Ethan’s height, but I’d guess that he’s a few inches taller than Evan & when he weighed himself on his birthday he was 47 lbs. He won’t have his annual appointment until later in the year.

The boys are looking forward to spending Spring Break with Mamaw & Papa & going to the zoo & we’re all looking forward to summer vacation. Evan still doesn’t understand time frames & that tomorrow isn’t summer, so we don’t talk about it with him too much.  He’s still convinced that it’s almost his birthday (& Christmas) since Ethan has had his birthday. It’s pretty silly sometimes. :) They’re adorable either way.

There isn’t much else that’s been going on with us. Just working & hanging out at the house with the little people.

Pre-K Graduation

Our big boy graduated from Pre-K tonight.  They had a cute little program & gave them diplomas.  Ethan did not sing any of the songs or do any of the motions (even when they had the parents up there with them).  The kid’s all came in carrying little handheld flags & Ethan got to carry a bigger one & walk at the front of the group..  As much as he enjoys attention, since we’ve been home he was telling me that everyone was taking pictures of him, so I guess that’s what he didn’t like.  Since he was on the front row & closest to a lot of parents, I can see where it would seem that way.  After the program, they did a balloon release & had some cake.  Then we took the boys to Mighty Fine for dinner.  Ethan said he wanted burgers.  Evan was in a crappy mood all afternoon/evening & went to bed as soon as we got home, but Ethan got to stay up & watch some cartoons.  That’s about it for our night.  We just took a few pictures with my phone, but here they are.

Pre-K Graduation

An Entire Week’s Vacation!!!!

Yes, you read that correctly.  We got an entire week’s vacation this year.  We dropped Cody at the kennel in Hutto & headed out of Austin last Tuesday morning.  We got to South Padre a little before 6 that night & went to the brewery. :)  Beer was great as usual, but the service was crap. We go there every year on our first night & we know we’ll be back.  The particular waitress that we had that day was awful & I noticed a man at a table close to us that was having problems with her as well.  I wanted to go guy her a box a q-tips & tell her to clean out her ears.  The food was still good & we filled our growlers up to go so we had plenty of beer for the rest of the week.  Actually, Erik still has a growler of his Speckled Trout Stout in the fridge.  We didn’t do much that night.  Erik set up the wireless router for us to use & Evan & I went over to Port Isabel to the store. 

I don’t really remember the day by day breakdown like I did last year.  Lots of awesome seafood, lots of beach time (without having to share it very much) & lots of relaxing.  I think I read 6 books while we were there.  :)

We tried a couple of new restaurants this year as well.  Pelican Station in Port Isabel was wonderful & the boys both ate calimari with us & Ethan even ate some of Erik’s grilled tuna steak.  It was wonderful.  The food & the boys’ mood.  The last night there we went to The Big Donkey.  Funny name, but good Mexican & hell when you’re that close to the border why not throw some Mexican food into the mix.  We had one bad experience & honestly it was so bad that we won’t go back.  It was Thursday or Friday night & we went over to Pirate’s Landing in Port Isabel.  We’ve been there every year & normally it’s good food.  This year we had a problem from our first moment with the waitress.  Erik asked her what beer they had on draft & in the list, she included one that we hadn’t heard of.  So Erik asked what kind it was & she said it’s dark.  So he says okay, is it a stout a lager, what?  She was clueless.  Didn’t even know what he was asking.  He gave up at that point.  So we get our drinks & it’s time to order our food.  I ask what the specials are because the year before last they had an awesome deal on fried shrimp (yeah I’m a junkie).  She didn’t know.  She told me that she’d have to check.  So she walks away & then comes back a few minutes later & says that there isn’t one.  Okay, you don’t have to be a genius to remember if there’s not a special.  Anyway, I wish I could say that that was the end of it, but it wasn’t.  Erik had ordered blankened flounder with pontchartrain sauce.  So out comes our meal… with no sauce!  We actually ended up having to ask the manager for it (who was walking through the dining room) since we still didn’t have it several minutes later.  We finished our dinner & didn’t even think about dessert.  The Godiva cheesecake sounded good, but not enough to suffer through anymore of that place.  We had dinner several times at Daddy’s again this year & the boys enjoyed eating the fried crawfish with us. 

I got to go back to my favorite toe ring store & loved it as usual.  I had a really nice chat with the owner (last year it was the wife, this year the hubby).  Found out the DL on a few local places.  He calls the restaurant where we had the awful experience Disney Land.  LOL.

Anyway, we had a wonderful trip.  The boys were really good… super hyper, but good.  They slept in twin beds in a room by themselves & managed to stay out of trouble even then.  Granted, Erik told Ethan that he could do whatever was necessary to ensure that Evan didn’t touch anything to do with the TV, but we don’t know if he had to assert his temporary authority or not. On our last day at the beach the water was beautiful & warm (okay there was a ton of sargassum too, but still).  Anyway, both of the boys FINALLY decided that they liked the water! HOORAY!!  I guess that’s enough about our trip.  None of us were ready to come home yesterday & Mr. Erik (Smarty Pants) took today off so that he could sleep in.  I went back to work & dreamed about catching up on sleep all day. So now, it’s off to bed for me.

Here’s the link to all the pics.  I believe Erik has a few pics on his phone (I know several of the the boys running off some excess energy on the hill by the lighthouse), but I’ll have to add those later.

South Padre 2010

The Little Boys are Growing Up

My little men are growing up.  They recently took school pictures & Ethan’s class took some in a cap & gown since they’ll be graduating soon.  I can’t believe that in just a few weeks I’ll be registering him for Kindergarten. 

Evan is growing up, too.  They moved him into the 3 year old class at school & he’s working hard (at school anyway) on potty trainning.  He’s still giving us some grief at times at home, but we’re working on it.

There hasn’t been much else going on lately.  We went out to have a late lunch/early dinner yesterday & then went to Best Buy & got a scanner.  Hooray!!!  So, here are all the school pics.  Enjoy!  The files are pretty large so it make take a little bit for them to load.

School Pics 2010

Back to the Swing of Things

wow.  I can’t believe that it’s been so long.  We’ve had a lot of adjusting in the last few months.  I went back to work full time at the beginning of December & so the boys started going to “school.”  They seem to enjoy school, although Mr. Evan is still fighting potty training.  He can’t move up into the 3rd old class until he accomplishes that even though he turned 3 in December.

I’m enjoying my new job & being back in the maritime field.  I never thought I’d find a MARA job up here & am so thankful of the way that it has worked out for us. 

We haven’t really done much lately.  We took the boys to their first Renaissance this year.  Well technically Ethan had been before, but he was under a year old.  We all enjoyed it & Ethan managed to handle the whole day walking around & not bugging us to be carried.  We had Evan in the stroller of course.

We also had a beautiful snow fall in February.  It’s was the most snow that I’ve ever seen actually fall.  Of course the majority happened while I was at work, since I work California hours & don’t get home until late, but Erik took the boys out for a while after they got home & took a few pictures.  I took a few pictures of the snow men in the neighborhood the next morning, but the rest of the snow had already started melting.

Then yesterday, Erik & Ethan had a big boy day & went out to Enchanted Rock.  Ethan says that he enjoyed it.  Evan was home with me while I spent my first weekend on call for work. 

I uploaded all of the recent pics to our Picasa Albums this morning so if you have time, enjoy.

Ren Fest: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/RenFest2009?feat=directlink

Snow: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/Snow?feat=directlink

Enchanted Rock: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/EnchantedRock?feat=directlink

Halloween

The boys were Buzz Lightyear & Optimus Prime for Halloween this year. We took them out around the neighborhood trick or treating & then they came home & ate WAY too much of their candy while Ethan "helped" me hand out candy to our trick or treaters. He seems to like Optimus Prime more than Bumblebee for some reason, but that actually turned out good because we had at least 3 Bumblebees come to our house & didn't see another Optimus at all. ;)

We've been doing well. We're working on getting back on the BBQ trips & went to Southside in Elgin a few weeks ago on our way down to the coast. Erik & I both really liked it. I even spied a few Bonfire pics on a backwall. Yesterday, we had BBQ again while we were out & about, but it was Rudy's & we've been there a few million times. Love it & Erik says that their brisket has improved. I wouldn't know since I'm such a creature of habit & always get chopped beef from there.

We went to Dickinson/Hitchcock a few weeks ago. Erik & I went to our friend's annual Halloween party as Slash & Jessica Simpson (the theme was music). I'll have to download everyone else's pics to put one up because we didn't take any ourselves. The boys stayed with Granny & Grandpa Hamm in Hitchcock & loved it. Ethan keeps asking if we're going again.

There isn't much else new that has been going on. We have a reliable car now so trips out of town are more of a possibility. We got a new Nissan Rogue for my birthday a few months ago & I'm loving it. Having 4 doors is AWESOME! I think Erik's tired of me telling him how much I love my new car, but I do. We haven't been up to much otherwise. The boys are growing like weeds & are both over 30 pounds finally. They differ about 5 pounds in weight & 5-6" in height. Evan is quickly catching up. Mr. Cody is also growing. He's not the puppy that he was when we got him back in June. He's full of energy & loves to play which is exactly what the boys needed... and he's finally learned to stop chasing the cats... for the most part at least.

I'm not sure why the rest of the pictures aren't on here. Here's the link: Halloween Pics

Little Boy Logic

Quick, but funny stories of our day.

Evan got really mad at me & threw a pretty ugly fit this morning.  He thought that I had given Cody a cookie & he wanted one.  What I really did was put a doggie bone in Cody’s kong toy for him to chew on.  No cookies involved.

Later he saw me get a doughnut out of the box that we had stashed in the oven (to hide from them).  He waited until I was back in the living room & went in & got his own out.  He only got busted because he didn’t come back in the living room when I called him.

Both of the boys are napping now & I just finished getting my papers together to take to the county tomorrow to protest our appraisal.  Now it’s time for mommy to relax & maybe even get a nap in before work.  Doubt it, but there’s always hope.

Cody

Welcome the new member of our family.  Ethan & I drove to pick him up yesterday & he’s doing great.  We named him Cody & the kids just love him.  A little too much if anything.  He’s still a baby after all.  He’s 16 weeks, so just under 4 months old.

   

We’re all doing really well.  Cody slept in the room with us without being crated & didn’t have any accidents or chew on anything that he wasn’t supposed to.  In fact, he’s only had one accident at all.  Since then he’s waited until he’s outside.  Amazingly considering he wasn’t inside at all before he came to our house.  We went to the vet this morning & got him all checked out & he got a few more shots.  He has one more booster in 3 weeks & then he’s good for the year. 

BBQ Travels & the 4th of July

Erik & I decided a few months ago to start taking day trips a few times a month to BBQ places around the area.  For our first trip we went to Kreuz in Lockhart.  Erik is absolutely in love with their pork ribs.  I wasn’t a fan of their sausage which was really peppery, but Erik loved it too. 

Yesterday, we made our 2nd BBQ trip & went out to Cooper’s in Llano.  We went out down 1431 through Marble Falls & Kingsland & the drive was beautiful.  Once you get to Coopers, you get in line & pick your cut of meat off the pit.  Then head inside where you grab your sides & they slice the meat for you.  Their brisket was awesome.  I even ate some of the fatty part & didn’t gag.  I really don’t like fat on meat.  Erik wasn’t impressed with their ribs, after all he’s really in love with Kreuz, but we all like their sausage, and the boys ate quite a bit of it as well.  We drove around afterwards & even went in a rock shop that they had in the old square.  We were going to get out & walk around & play at this park on the water, but I hadn’t been thinking that morning & put on sandals with a heal.  As clumsy as I am, that wasn’t a good idea.  So we just drove around & then headed back home again a beautiful drive.

On top of our trips, last weekend for the 4th of July we decided to take the kiddos to Round Rock for their parade… at 10 am.  The boys were pretty impatient waiting on it to begin & it felt like it was 100 degrees already at 10 in the morning.  I actually ended up with a tan.  Once the parade begin, Ethan was really & drug daddy out to stand in the street with him so that he could get candy & beads.  He was a really happy boy.  Evan was too, just not as in the middle of everything as Ethan. 

We’ve been enjoying ourselves.  This morning, however, Ethan was back to being his normal hellion self.  He decided to break out of the baby gate & come downstairs without getting us up.  Got some vaseline that I had from when they were babies & rubbed it all over the ottoman & coffee table.  Add a bottle of my liquid makeup to the ottoman.  Vaseline hands rubbed all over the couch & black permanent marker on the cabinet doors in the living room.  It took a few hours, but Erik & I managed to get almost all of it cleaned up.  I’m still working on the couch since it didn’t come out when I cleaned it earlier.  However, as frustrating as it was, it was a hell of a lot easier to clean than the sunscreen he decided to rub into his bedroom carpet a few weeks ago that took the 2 of us combined 3 hours to get out.  Hopefully he’ll get out of this phase soon. 

Forgot to mention the link to the pics.  Here you go:

4th of July: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/4thOfJuly?feat=directlink

BBQ: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/BBQTravels?feat=directlink

Mr. Segura’s Birthday & Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s. 

We spent our Saturday at the Segura’s house.  David & Jenn had rented a huge waterslide & we had burgers & hotdogs.  It was tons of fun & just a nice relaxing day out of the house.  We got Ethan to go down the slide with me once, but he didn’t like all the water getting in his face at the bottom & wouldn’t go down again.  Anyway, here are the pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/MrSeguraSBirthdayEarlyFatherSDay?feat=directlink

We didn’t do much today.  We tried to let Erik relax as much as possible since it’s Father’s Day, but he ended up mowing the front yard anyway since we weren’t home yesterday.  But we’ve already had dinner (with lots of leftovers since I made way too much) & relaxed for a while. 

 

Tyler

Our dog Tyler passed this morning.  I’m not sure what exactly to say other than that he will be greatly missed.  Erik had had Tyler since he was a 10 week old puppy & he would have been 12 years old in August.  I remember how terrified I was to meet him for the first time & then realizing he was just an overgrown lap dog.

Vacation!!!!

We’ll we’re back.  Our vacation was wonderful & we can’t thank Aunt Janna & Uncle Eddie enough for letting us use the condo.  I can’t even begin to explain how much better this trip was than the last time we went.  Even after the first night it was a million times better.  We had a few issues as can be expected when traveling with 2 & 4 year olds, but nothing major & loved our vacation.  We ended up staying an extra day & it’s our longest vacation since we went to Cayman Brac for the wedding.  Here’s the link to all the pics that I put up on Picasa.  Hope you enjoy.

South Padre 2009 Pics (I will be adding some more pics later today, but I have to get on the other computer since Erik took them & it won’t let me access them from the laptop at the moment)

Let’s see, what did we do?  We got in on Wednesday afternoon.  That night we just unloaded & then went to dinner at Padre Island Brewery.  We actually got there during happy hour & got to refill our growlers at almost 1/2 price.  Erik was more than a little excited.  They still didn’t have my Raspberry Wheat.  I guess they only have it during July & I got lucky the one time that they had it in August.  After dinner, Daddy & Ethan went to walk on the beach (we needed to get Ethan accustomed to it as quickly as possible) & Evan & I went over to Port Isabel to grab some groceries.  That was about it for the night.  We all just relaxed & enjoyed being out of the car.  The boys both slept incredibly well & Erik & I were able to sit outside on the balcony & just enjoy being alone for a little while.

On Thursday, we got up & went to lunch at Daddy’s.  It was our first time there & it was wonderful.  After lunch, we went down to the Sea Turtle rescue.  I remembered driving by there when we were down previously & wanted to make sure that we went during the week so that it wasn’t crowded.  It was fun.  The boys enjoyed looking at all the turtles.  After that we went back to the condo so that the boys could nap before going to the beach.  When we went down to the beach it was so nice.  Since it was late in the afternoon, it was nice & breezy & just wonderful.  We all had a great time.  After we were all cleaned up we went to dinner at Tom & Jerry’s.  Erik & I had gotten take out from there previously & weren’t too worried.  The service this time was completely awful.  We won’t be going in there again.  Take out in a fix, but that’s about it and with so many other options on the island, it just isn’t worth it.

I can’t really remember much about Friday.  I’m pretty sure that’s the day that we all ended up taking LONG naps after lunch & just relaxed in the condo for the most part.  I know that we had lunch at Dirty Al’s which was awesome & ended up having dinner at Daddy’s again after everything else had closed.  We were trying to get the boys to watch the fireworks from the front area of the condos before we went to dinner, but Ethan was a little scared of them.  I’m not sure why since we used to do fireworks at Erik’s parent’s house for the 4th & New Year’s, but I guess it’s just been long enough that he’s forgotten.

On Saturday we had lunch at Lost Galleon in Port Isabel.  All you can eat shrimp for less than $12!  Erik & I had way too much, but it was wonderful.  However, we’re both convinced that the shrimp at Dirty Al’s was the best.  Anyway back on track… after lunch (& naps) we went back to the beach at the condo.  Ethan said that he wanted to go in the water with daddy, but changed his mind after got close.  However, because it was low tide there was a pretty big puddle & the boys & I played & splashed around in there for quite a while before we went back to playing in the sand.  We had a great time.  We didn’t do anything special that night.  The boys had fun playing around with daddy while I went to Port Isabel to take back our movie.  While I was out, we found out that we were going to be able to stay another day & didn’t have to leave the next morning.  YEAH!!!!

On Sunday after lunch (we just had DQ – nothing special, we’d had more than enough seafood at that point… never thought that was possible after being landlocked for the last 8 years) we went to the Nature Trail that’s by the convention center.  We had lots of fun looking at all the birds & Evan loved running around out there.  Ethan got a little scared when we got to the end & were out over the water, but all in all it was a good time for all of us & a good spot to just let the kids run since there weren’t many people out there.  After that, we headed to the north end of the the island where the dunes are.  We found a wonderful spot to get shells (once you got past all the trash) & the boys enjoyed it out there as well.  We just had to keep an extra close eye out since people can drive on this part of the beach & they tend to drive like they’re on the highway.  Erik & Ethan ended up going out there again after Ethan’s nap since Evan was still down.  Sunday night… wow.  We thought that we would head over to Port Isabel to go to the store & get some crab legs & Erik was going to cook.  BAD IDEA #1  We aren’t sure what caused it but traffic was completely backed up like crazy.  It wasn’t moving really at all.  We ended up taking a back road to go to Shell World so that Erik could look for some big shells (& then couldn’t decide) & then the same way to get back to the condo.  The boys ate in for dinner & headed to bed & we planned on Erik heading out later to the store alone, however when traffic was still backed up at 10pm I resorted to Whataburger.  BAD IDEA #2 I’m assuming this is partially because a lot of other restaurants on the island had already closed & partially because so many people had come onto the island to start their vacations on Sunday (it had been pretty quiet up until Saturday) but Whataburger was jam packed.  The drive thru didn’t look too bad (I’ve sat in longer car length lines at home) so I was hopeful.  It was awful!  By the time I got back to the condo I’d been gone for an hour!  and it’s just a couple blocks away…. and this delay WASN’T caused by traffic.  Craziness.  Erik & I ate, had our nightly ritual of sitting on the balcony & relaxing before heading to bed. 

On Monday morning, we just got up & packed & headed home.  We got here about 4:30-4:45 so we unloaded the car & I headed to work.  Luckily that only lasts a few hours. 

Like I said before, we had a wonderful trip and we can’t wait to go back.  When we were almost home yesterday, Ethan asked if we were going back to the condo, when we told him no that we were going home, he got upset & said No I just want to go back to the condo.  It was really really cute & I couldn’t be happier that he enjoyed himself so much that he didn’t want to come home. 

Momma, I really don't like that.

Mr. Ethan is four.  I can't believe it really.  We had his birthday party on Saturday and he loved it.  This morning was his doctor appointment and he's 34 pounds and 38 inches now.  They checked his eyes & ears too.  He was bored with the eye check before we were finished and he wouldn't really talk anymore.  He passed both but will probably do better next year.  They said that 4 year olds don't always cooperate, and then they just do the check at the 5 year appointment.  He also got his booster shots, and he was not at all happy about it.  He wailed, and then as soon as Mary (Dr. B's nurse) left the room, he told me "Momma, I really don't like that."  This progressed to "Momma, Mary shouldn't do that" by the time we were in the car.  He's still talking about how much his legs hurt and that he needs to be careful.  I feel so guilty, but I know it's for the best.

4 Years!

I really can't believe that our baby is about to be 4 years old. It seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. All tiny & cuddly. He's such a big boy now. He wants to do everything for himself and is really helpful with Evan, when he isn't being a bratty big brother anyway. He's super sweet too. Every night when I leave for work he has to have a hug and kiss... and make sure that daddy gets one too. And ever since Granny was here because of Hurricane Ike, he tells me to watch out for the storm. Everyday! Don't get me wrong, he has his days... but he's really such a good boy, and I love him (& Evan) more than I ever imagined, but then who wouldn't. The pic is from Sunday. I took him to get his hair cut before his party this weekend and they spiked his hair up. The goofy grin is because they gave him a sucker & he chomped it up so quick that it was stuck in all his molars & he was enjoying that his teeth were sticking if he bit down. Here's a new one of Evan as well. He got a haircut this week also, but I just did it at home.

Time flies

It's been almost 2 months now, and in some ways it feels like it's flown by.  In others, it feels like the weeks just drag on.  We've had some good times, Christmas and Evan turning 2, and some that I'd prefer to forget.  But all that really matters is that the four of us are good.  We're healthy, we're happy (most of the time anyway), and we're together.  We have each other, and some days coming home to those 2 adorable faces or waking up to them grinning at you (even when Evan's managed to get all his clothes off again) it makes everything else seem less important.  That's it for now, just wanted to let you all know that we're okay.  I'll try to post more soon.  Don't forget to check out the evite for Ethan's party.  It's hard to believe that our little man is about to be 4.

December already???

I can't believe it's December already! It seems like this year has completely flown by. I can't believe that my boys are about to be 2 and 4. Time to start getting ready for Christmas and Evan's birthday. I have all the invites ready, but haven't mailed them out because I keep forgetting to buy stamps.

We had such a busy week last week, or I did at least. Since my work was closed on Thursday and Friday, I worked late on Monday & Tuesday & then went in during the day on Wednesday. Plus, there was grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning that all had to be done before Thursday. I took on making a carrot cake & stuffing from scratch for the first time. The cake was wonderful. I actually just ate the last piece a little bit ago. HEHE. The stuffing was okay. The recipe called for 2 whole onions and it ended up being entirely too much. So we had dinner with my parents at our house before heading down south for dinner with Erik's parents that night. Erik even let us use the Thai flatware that we got from Rooster for the first time. Hurray! I really like having part of it here. It made it so easy with the boys. Next year, we'd like to have everyone at our house, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

On Friday, I braved the crowds and went shopping with my dad. I made a list of what I wanted from the stores and went in on a mission. We were at Walmart before 4:30 & then Target in line to get in at 5:15 & back home by 6:30 (this is only impressive if you note that Target didn't actually open until 6). We made a stop after Target but due to some convenient advertising techniques I didn't get what I wanted from Office Depot. It wasn't a Christmas present anyway so I don't really care. All said I saved a little over $100 by going out and shopping then instead of waiting, which means the kids will get to have more presents to open. I was able to finish all of my shopping for Ethan and Erik & just need to grab a few things for Evan still... granted, I have to decide what that's going to be.

The rest of the weekend went well also. We watched movies on Friday afternoon/evening and then my parents left on Saturday morning. Erik & I stayed up together (since I'd been crashing out on him all week even though I'm usually up later than him these days) & all in all it was a great break. This week is more running. My boss and coworker that normally do the same thing I do, are both going to be out part of this week. Since it is closeout, it's bad timing, but there really wasn't a choice, so I'll be trying to get in some extra hours the rest of the week to keep us caught up. Then on Friday is Erik's work Christmas Party. Erik's mom is coming to watch the boys, so we should be able to have a nice adult evening.

Just a few pics!

I realized that I haven't put up pics in a while & the boys are getting so big. So here you go.

Funny Realization of the Week

The boys have been fighting a lot lately. Really fighting. Pulling each other to the floor, hitting (well their version of hitting) & just being mean to each other a lot. Well Monday morning the boys were fighting over a toy. Evan had been playing with it & Ethan decided he wanted to play too. Evan didn't want to play with Ethan & told him No several times & Ethan wouldn't listen. Ethan tried to take the toy away & Evan bit him. He actually had Ethan's entire thumb in his mouth. So I took the toy away, checked on Ethan & Evan got in trouble. A little while later after they'd both calmed down & stopped crying, Evan climbed up on the couch to sit between Ethan & I. He looked at Ethan & told me "he bites." I kept looking at him & saying, "No, he didn't bite you, you bit him." I don't know what made it click but after the tenth or so time that he said it, I looked at Ethan again & realized that Evan (who has never sucked his thumb or wanted a pacifier) thinks that Ethan is biting himself when he sucks his thumb. I tried to explain to Evan that he wasn't biting himself but I don't think that he had a clue what I was talking about. It was cute either way.

Our Crazy Life

I realized this morning that it's been almost 2 months since I've written anything. I haven't felt like there was anything interesting in our lives to write about. We get up, play, cook dinner, and go to work. Most days it just seems very monotonous. I guess I'll try to pick up any high points by starting off where I finished.

Jeremy's Party was fun. The boys had a great time with the grandparents and it was awesome for Erik and I to get some time away by ourselves. I was a little panicked at the time, but resisted the urge and the boys did great. Evan even got to go swimming. Of course, coming home after they've been away is fun. It always takes a few days for things to get back to normal. We got a chance to see Erik's friend Doug while we were in Houston as well. While we were there, we discovered the infatuation that is Rock Band (it's an xbox game). It was all that Erik could talk about when we got home.

In October, we were able to go back to Doug's for his Halloween Party for the first time since I was pregnant with Ethan. Ethan got to go to Bandera with Mammaw & Papa and on a boat for the first time for a party. Evan went to see Granny & Grandpa in Hitchcock and got to ride on his new Spiderman trike. Maybe he'll actually learn to use the pedals (I forgot to ask if he tried), Ethan still doesn't use them on his.

Halloween was fun. After procrastinating getting costumes so long that I couldnt' find a Robin costume, Ethan ended up being a police officer and Evan was Batman. We took the boys out in neighborhood & the basket was overflowing before we got home... with Ethan telling me "It's just killing me, you carry it." We didn't even go around the block.

We took the boys to San Antonio last weekend to see their first air show. Ethan loves airplanes and Erik had been showing him videos of the Blue Angels online to get him ready (and used to the noise). Mammaw & Papa went as well & Papa took a ton of really awesome pics. I'm not sure Evan caught anything that was going on & Ethan was really just interested in playing with the toy planes that Mammaw got them, but we had a lot of fun either way.

So it's November... I can't believe it's the Holidays already. Time to get it together and figure out what we're going to do. I plan to get Evan's party invites out before Thanksgiving, since his party will be on December 27th and I know planning things around the holidays is hard. I'm thinking we're going to have another Diego party, because Evan loves Diego & first thing every morning (well as soon as he's sitting down with his food), he tells me that he wants Diego.

Evan is pretty much on full sentences now. He does use single words occaisionally, but it's mostly when he's just pointing something out. He's also started taking up for himself when Ethan is being mean and a lot of times, Evan is actually the bully himself these days.

In other adventures, we thought that we'd move Evan into the room with Ethan a few weeks ago. We moved Ethan into his big boy bed and room when he turned two, so we thought it was time. We were so very wrong. Papa brought the McQueen bed up and at naptime that day I put the boys down together. I don't think either of them slept at all. That night, when I got home from work they were in there still awake, even though Erik had put them to bed hours earlier. Initially, Ethan wouldn't stop kicking Evan out of the McQueen bed because he wanted it, and then Evan wouldn't stay in bed after we got Ethan to stop. We finally got them to bed that first night by me laying down on the floor in there until Ethan was asleep so that I would keep Evan in bed (and Ethan wasn't about to get out of his while I was in there). The next day was the same story. At nap time, I moved all the toys out of the room (they're actually still in Evan's room in tubs), but when I got home from work, they were still up again. So we went in and moved Evan back to the crib. We'd really like to be able to put them in a room together, but I think it's going to take a while longer. The freedom alone is a little overload for Evan at the moment.

Potty training is so much fun. UGH! Ethan's down to only wearing pull ups at night. We tried making it so that he could get out of his room at night to go to the bathroom but he still thinks it's dark and won't go in there by himself. What he was doing instead was coming downstairs and sitting on the couch and getting into everything that he couldn't when I'm awake. So we moved the gate upstairs and put a doorknob cover on Evan's door. So Ethan could get out of his room but couldn't go anywhere but the bathroom. So he dragged a chair out of his room, climbed up and turned on the hallway light and got the stylus to the a/c. The first night he even went in the bathroom and put shampoo in his dry hair. So I had to move EVERYTHING out of his reach (even if he was standing on a chair). Part of this stuff was put in a tub, and moved into Ethan's closet. So since there wasn't anything for him to get into, he taught himself to open doors with the door knob covers still on them. While Evan was in the room with him, he broke into the closet and got into the tub with the shampoo in it again. Erik said that they both had their hair full of it that first night before he washed it out. The boys are back in separate rooms now, and we had to turn Ethan's door knob around (otherwise, when he got sent to his room for being bad, he'd just come right out). So now we have to lock Ethan's door from the outside at night. But don't think for a second that this alone has stopped him. Erik has had to take the knob apart twice now because Ethan's managed to break it where he could get it unlocked. Actually, he did it again last night as well. I woke up in the middle of the night to what I thought was him kicking his door, and when I got up to go tell him to stop, he was in Evan's room agan (with the door locked from the inside). I caught him in there on Friday as well when I got home from work (I went in during the day since Erik was home) & he had climbed up on the changing table and found the lysol bottle that I was using on Evan's bed when I couldn't stop the kids from taking his clothes/diaper off and putting him poopy hands on everything. Ethan had sprayed the whole room with lysol & I'm pretty sure he even sprayed Evan. So now we're back on the quest to figure out how to keep him out. Whoever coined the term, Terrible Twos was way off, the Threes have been much much worse. Let's just hope he stops soon (although I don't expect that it will)... since Evan'll be entering the hellion phase before the end of the year.

Potty Training & More

I thought it would never happen, but Ethan is almost completely potty trained. FINALLY! He still has to wear a pullup at nap time & during the night, but we're working on it & he's doing really well. He goes all by himself now & after Erik comes home he'll even put his clothes back on for himself. Granted, he's still trying to convince me that he can't do it & that I need to put them on for him.

Evan is getting bigger all the time. He still thinks that he needs to eat everything in sight (even if it belongs to a stranger). At the grocery store yesterday, I let the boys have a sample of the sausage biscuit that they were demo-ing. The lady cut is pretty small (thankfully because I knew Evan would shove the entire thing in his mouth as soon as he got it). So they ate their pieces & then Evan proceeded to cry for the next 10 minutes because he wanted more. Mind you, I fed them before we left to go to the store.

He's also starting to talk more now. Ethan rambled & baby talked quite a bit at this age and Evan doesn't really do that much. He will do it from time to time, but most of the time he's quiet unless he has something to say. For instance, he's started asking for his cup now when he wants it.

The boys will be spending their first night in a long time away from me next weekend. Erik & I are going to Houston for my best friend Jeremy's 30th Birthday Party Roast. Ethan is going to Mammaw & Papa Wilder's & Evan is going to Granny & Grandpa Hamm's house. It should be for an interesting weekend.

Hurricane Ike. What can I say? It's so crazy to look at pictures of Texas City & Galveston and realize that things that I'd known my whole life no longer exist. The dike looks to have been wiped clean on both sides. No more bait camps, no more docks for the shrimpers. And Galveston... wow. My mom's office was on Harborside Drive (Port Industrial or Port I to those of us that grew up down there). The building is at the corner of 37th & is just after you come off of the big 4way bridge if you are headed towards UTMB. It took on 14 feet of water, 4' of which was over the loading dock and into my mom's office. Below the loading dock was the warehouse. All of the saws and metal in stock was under water. Mom's office had to be gutted and she lost all of her pics of the boys. Thank God this is the digital age & I can reproduce any picture that she had. Their house fared surprisingly well. There was no damage other than the loss of a few shingles, and the loss of power for a few days. Mom came up here & stayed with us, while dad rode out the storm in the house in Hitchcock. I'm so very very grateful that he is okay, as is their house. Some friends in the area weren't as lucky. I can't imagine what would have happened if this had been a stronger storm.