A Laughing Matter

So many times I try and "plan" something fun for the kids: a trip to the park, a music class, a living room fort... Sometimes they work and sometimes they flop, but some of the best laughs I have are from when these boys surprise me with their spontaneous actions.

Like the time Morgan has to go potty when he's dripping wet from a bath and of course Dean then wants to sit on his potty so he can be like big brother. So there they are, fighting over who gets which towel and swatting at each other, but nonetheless potty companions. (I know they'll hate me for this photo later).

Or the time Dean empties out the mesh trash can and puts it over his head like a helmet, ramming his head into things - and Morgan - and running around the house laughing.

Or the time Morgan decides on a whim to color his fingernails and toenails with a marker. He presents them to me proudly and has to "repaint" them any time part of it rubs off.

Ahh, to be a child.

Cathedral of Junk

Visited the infamous Cathedral of Junk today where what started as a man/artist collecting hubcaps in his backyard turned into a "sculpture" of trash, 30 years in the making. There were so many random cast-offs intertwined through pieces of fence, held together with cement, or tied together with used wire, culminating in a monument that featured multiple paths and even 3 stories. All of junk! Road signs, wine bottles, broken plates, toilets, CD roms, old computers, wheel chairs, tires... It was truly a lesson in recycling. The kids had fun running in and out of it and Morgan made me laugh when he asked, "Mommy, why does this man have a house made out of trash?"

Morgan the budding Artist

Our numbers man has put down the calculator and taken a huge interest in drawing -- mostly cars, bridges, buses, and then most recently, sounding out letters to spell words. We have seriously gone through 4 packs of construction paper in the past 3 weeks and one of those is a bulk size!!! I wanted to share some of his latest works:

cars and numbers

writing things I like (I helped him with spelling on these- except for "you" which he insisted was spelled "yoo")

cars with numbers 1-5 on a bridge with poles

I don't know, but I like it

 

This has got to be one of my favorites. So, he wrote his name at the mid-left part of the paper, then above it, the lyrics to "Life is a Highway" starting at "EF..." = "If you're going my way, then I wanna drive it all night long, yeah, yeah, yeah..." Morgan wrote from left to right, then wrote up to continue to the next line rather than down, but see if you can follow it. Hilarious.

Morgan isn't much for drawing people -- I literally think he's drawn less than five in his life and none of them were very clear -- but the other day I almost cried when he drew this out of nowhere:

He said Dean had long fingernails and spikey hair. Ok, I'm a proud mom, this one has made it to fridge status : )

Date Nights are Back!

Our last month of living in Austin this past spring included date nights 3 times a week. Now that we've been back, we've been having fun as a family, but were missing that time to ourselves to enjoy Austin as a couple. Siiri used to be our babysitter last year, but now has a job and isn't able to watch the kids as often, so we were deficient in the sitter department. Then my friend Maria came up with the brilliant idea for us to swap babysitting for each other's kids one night/week to allow us both to get out and save on the cost of babysitting. Why didn't we think of this sooner??? They live just around the corner and their son is 1 year old, so this week was our first go at it. So Monday we made a repeat visit to Barley Swine and were back in time to put the kids to bed (although they know her, trying to ease them into being with Maria, not to mention avoid overwhelming Maria going from one kid to two at bed time routine). Then Wednesday, Ed put our kids to bed while I went over to babysit Beck - who had already been put to bed, so basically I just read my book for 2 hours. Remind me again why we didn't do this sooner??? And this is just the beginning!

Meanwhile, 2 weeks ago, we had a chance to go see Passion Pit at The Backyard At Bee Caves, which was a cool outdoor venue. The rain held off and it was relaxing to sit on the grass and have a beer, although other than the 3 songs we knew, they pretty much sounded the same. It was something fun to change things up though.

We look forward to having more date nights -- they keep me/us sane after being with the kids all day/week, etc. Ed said recently that we can't cut them from our budget. Ever. Thanks, Ed : )

Brotherly Love

Two and a half weeks in, we are starting to fall into a routine and even introducing new traditions. The boys have been getting along great and Dean seems to be a source of fun rather than irritation to Morgan. For our bedtime routine, we have started to read to the boys together in Morgan's bed. They each get to pick a book from the bookshelf and take turns with who's book is read first. Sometimes Dean gets antsy listening to the long ones and they start to push each other, but for the most part, they are able to sit through both books peacefully. Last night, when I suggested that I read to Morgan in his room while Ed read to Dean (since it was getting late), Morgan protested because he wanted Dean to be next to him. I had to do a double take -- Morgan preferred Dean to read with him? That was news to me.

Another bedtime necessity of getting dressed has developed into a regular game the boys created called "di-di" where I sit in the middle of the living room while Dean runs around the house chanting "di-di" in a high pitched voice. Morgan follows him everywhere and every time they pass me, I capture them and remove an article of clothing, replacing it with pj's until they are both all dressed. It has made getting ready for bed more fun and Morgan loves emulating Dean.

It's easy to smile around Dean - he's always finding ways to amuse himself like kissing the couch or spinning in circles or burying his head in pillows or hiding under the sheets. His laugh is infectious. At almost 2, he's become our little boy now, no more "Baby Dean." He is starting to talk, calling strawberries "happy" and "meow" for music. Whenever we put on his shoes, he claims "I ready!" and points to things all around him saying "mommy, this" to have me tell him the names of things. I can't believe how quickly he's growing.

Morgan has become quite interested in drawing cars, bridges and race tracks, as well as sounding out words to spell out things on paper. We are going through lots of pads of construction paper as a result. He even wrote a few (early) birthday cards for Dean, which was another welcome sign of affection for his brother. Hopefully the idea of Dean being his permanent playmate has sunk in and the brotherly love will continue...

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, the boxes have all been unpacked and the routines are starting to take shape. We spent our first weekend catching up with some friends, going to Batfest on the Congress/Bat Bridge and getting ready for school. We walked to the bridge to enjoy some live music, artist tents, the Bat Mobile and funnel cakes but it was a little too crowded and they boys had to get to bed so we kept it short.

Bat Mobile at Batfest

Monday, Morgan started his first day of school. His class size has grown, but his teachers and half his classmates are the same as last year. Morgan seemed to have a good week, not wanting to leave when we came to pick him up. Even Dean remembered the school, anxious to play on the playground at pick up and drop off times.

back to school shopping at Target

So I guess you can say things are starting to feel normal again and the car isn't feeling so much like a trap : ) We're back to taking lots of walks, Ed is back to playing tennis frequently, and I'm back in my Stoller Strides group and already sore. The kids are adjusting well, except for Dean who has been having trouble sleeping through the night now (is he wondering why we're not in a hotel???) so if only we can get that fixed, we'll be good...

Heading West

This time we decided to ramp up our drive time to Austin, averaging 7.5 hour days from Greenville, NC to Austin. This put us at a 3.5 day drive with overnight stays in Atlanta, GA, Jackson, MS and Corsicana, TX. The first day was great, clear skies and no traffic. We arrived in Atlanta just before dinner and were able to take advantage of the hotel's free limo service to & from a nearby restaurant. Of course the boys loved it -- they didn't want to get out!

Morgan decided not to partake in the limo bar : )

After turning in early (what is it about driving that makes you so tired???), we set out just before lunch for Jackson, Mississippi. We had an uneventful drive along an unending tree-lined highway. Once at the exit for Jackson, we were surprised at how, er, how do I say politely... unkempt it was. Our hotel was nice, but the downtown was lined with condemned buildings and not much to do. We did manage to get a good meal at The Mayflower restaurant close by that specialized in authentic Mississippi cuisine (i.e. fried everything). The interior looked like it hadn't been altered since the 1940's and apparently, some movies have been filmed there, most recently "The Help" as well as being featured on the Food Network for their seafood. It was definitely good, but when talking with the staff about things to do for the next morning, they all told us to keep on driving as there wasn't anything to see there. It was a little depressing to be honest.

breakfast in Jackson, MS

After waking up the next morning and happy to find that our car was not broken into, we set off for Corsicana, TX. We stopped in Monroe, LA for lunch at a surprisingly delicious restaurant called Cotton with such intricate combinations such as duck fat fries, pork ribs topped with watermelon pickles, pickled fried okra and strawberry & egg salad. Thank goodness for yelp!

We were happy to pass the Texas state line, although the main road passed through lots of small towns, requiring us to slow down, then speed up, slow down, speed up. 5 minutes from our hotel in Corsicana, we must've missed a reduced speed limit sign and got pulled over. Bummer. But I suppose that was better than getting into an accident. Corsicana wasn't anything to write home about, a smaller version of Breezewood, PA, populated by chain restaurants and big box stores in the middle of nowhere, but it put us at only a 2.5 hour drive for the following day so that we could be in Austin by noon. It was funny when we pulled up to our hotel in Corsicana, Morgan looked confused asking where the pod was that we had all our things stored in. I realized he thought that because we had passed the Texas border, he thought we'd be sleeping in Austin that night : ) I explained that Texas was a very, VERY big state.

On Wednesday, August 22nd, we woke up happy to have our long drive coming to a close. The 2.5 hour drive was a breeze compared to the past 3 days and Ed and I had to smile when Crystal Fighters "At Home" came on as we crossed into Austin proper. It felt good to be back, familiar and not as hot as we had expected. Our new landlords were there to help us move in and the place felt better than we had last seen it, as they had moved out a lot of bulky furniture per our request. 

Our boys have become quite the travelers, used to life on the road. We've explained to them that we are here to stay (at least for the next 10 months). They were really awesome on the drive this time. Ed and I were pleasantly surprised at the lack of tantrums and crying. Shows that some activity books at Target can go a long way to entertain!