Artcrank and Ben's Birthday

Ben's birthday fell on the same day as the Artcrank Poster show this year. (Remember his poster from last year? It was beautifully letter pressed and ended up winning an award from a paper company.) This year Ben was so incredibly busy, but still wanted to enter a design, so he worked nonstop to the last minute to get a poster together. It's an abstract wheel, it says, "Bike to Work, Work to Eat, Eat to Live, Live to Bike" going around the wheel. On his artist's description next to his poster he made a note that he would be happy email a PDF to anyone's tattoo artist if they wished to have it tattooed on their back or face. It was pretty funny. (And he actually wanted them to say tattooer, not tattoo artist).

 

   

Anyhow, after Ben played two basketball games, we headed out the door at 9:00 to the poster show. I'm so not cool enough to hang at these poster shows with all the cool hipsters drinking their beer and smoking their cigarettes, but I did enjoy seeing all the cool posters. We were out of there by 10:00 and headed to dinner. Dinner at Gordough's, which used to be just a donut trailer, but is now a full blown bar and restaurant. We shared a sandwich and a donut. Ben's contact fell out while he was looking at the menu and we looked like dorks trying to find it with our cell phone lights. BUT Ben finally found it in his water glass!

Sunday night we continued the birthday celebrations at the Pete's house. It was Adam's birthday, too, so we had a combined party for the boys. I made this yummy chocolate cake with strawberries, whipped ganache and whipped cream filling. It was pretty delish. Although, I don't think the whipped ganache is necessary. Next time I'll use plain old ganache.

 

Speaking of cakes, I mentioned a post or two ago about how I made cakes for my friend's birthday. I made one chocolate one like the one above, but without the weird chocolate on the side. And this was the other one. Raspberry curd filling. Yummy chantilly cream frosting.  And yes, I know I should take the time to clear the table before I take pictures... oops.

 

Evan Schmevin

OK. Yes, I've been slacking lately. I'm sorry. Cute things are still happening around here, though. As a matter of fact, every day someone does something cute. Sometimes, two people are cute even. This post focuses on Evan's cuteness.

Last month I made a couple cakes for my sweet friend's birthday. Evan was very happy because cake baking means beater licking. In these pics he's enjoying some of the best frosting ever.

I've decided I need to teach my boys to be helpful in the house. When Lucas was 2 or 3 I didn't really want him to clean the toilet because it's gross. And now guess who thinks is gross to clean the toilet? Yes, Lucas. That's not gonna happen with Evan. He's my toilet helper now! Look how manly he is.

These two love to mess up my bedroom. They thought it was great fun to get under the covers and make a parachute.

Evan likes to be helpful in the shower. He always wants to use the squeegee... even on Lucas's face.

Funny things he's said:
Lucas made a fantastic Rock Rattlesnake diorama last week. He made the clay out of snake and I put it in the oven to dry faster. When I opened the oven door Evan saw it and shrieked.
I explained that it wasn't real, and he said, "oh how cute!" Then a minute later hesitantly asked, "Do I have to eat it?" So cute.

On Thursday we went to see the dioramas on display. I took Evan with me and he was so sad to leave and gave Lucas kiss after kiss. Each time he'd start to walk away he'd cry again and go back for another kiss. So sweet. 

My friend, Helda, and I started the Insanity workout a few weeks ago. Sometimes Evan gets on the floor and does stuff with us. I'm sure he looks so much cuter than either one of us. The other day he was even yelling "Dig Deeper!" at us, just like the guy on the video.

Evan is still crazy for airplanes, trains, and things that go. Last month we got to go to the little Georgetown Airport for a study trip with Lucas's class. Evan was in heaven. He sat with the rest of the kids and listened to the guy, who was a little boring, talk the whole time. Probably because they got to sit under an old B-25 Bomber the whole time. BUT, ever since then Evan has wanted to go to the BIG AIRPORT. And he asks multiple times every day to go to the stinkin' airport. EVERY DAY. Poor kid. 

Evan can be a little grouchy sometimes. His signature catchphrase is, "It's not funny!" whenever he is slightly offended. Whether or not someone is laughing doesn't matter. Also, "Its not crazy!" is another one. You can also tell he spends a lot of time in the car with me. As we drive around he'll say, "Seriously, car? Come on!" and nice stuff like that. We've all got to watch our mouths. Evan is so silly, sweet and funny. We sure are glad to have him.

Hoop Dreams - Knights Never Give Up!

Seriously Adorable

Lucas played on his very first basketball team this winter. It was a really fun. We managed to get a bunch of kids from his class on the team, so they were all friends. Ben coached, with Fiona's dad, Stephan, stepping up as Assistant Coach. It was quite a great crew.
Since the kids were all such good friends they had a tendency to goof around a lot at practice, but they had so much fun and it was totally worth it. I remember one night Ben just gave up and allowed the kids a minute to roll on the ground like maniacs. I think that's the same night everyone on the team ended up in tears except for two kids.

Lucas and Griffin celebrating a basket.

Lucas's dribbling improved a lot over the weeks.

 

Watching little kid basketball is probably the best entertainment you can get. It's also really stressful for some of us crazy parents who spend the majority of the time yelling, "Where's your guy?" or "Guard your wristband!" or "SHOOT!"
It was so fun, though, and we look forward to another season starting in June!
Soccer starts in just a few weeks. Ben won't be coaching that team... he doesn't do soccer.

Well... Thank You, BUT We Didn't Really Ask for Bikes.

Ok. It's been a while. I'm sorry. So, there was Christmas. Then there was Albuquerque. Then there was tile, then there was Evan's birthday. And throughout all of this was croup, a stomach bug, another gross bug, a throat thing, the flu, and then a sinus infection. SO LAME. But, I'd like to enlighten you as to what a magical and joyous holiday we had. Please enjoy...

So, for Christmas Ben and I really wanted to get the boys bikes. Ben agreed that it was a worth while investment and went to 5 bazillion stores a few days before Christmas to find bikes. Then a few more stores after the bike we bought for Lucas was broken.
Christmas morning, Lucas woke up really early. We held him off upstairs for an hour and finally agreed to wake Evan up and come downstairs. The boys saw the room with the little tiny tree and presents and new bikes. And you know what? They could have cared less about the bikes.

But they were excited about the presents. And that Santa ate the cookies. And we should have let Evan sleep in. He was tired and just wanted to lie on his pillow. Poor kid. Lesson learned.

 Everyone had fun with scissors opening their presents. Evan LOVES scissors.

Lucas got a new Lego Star Wars book, and they both got cool Indiana Jones hats that I bought for my mom to give them if she was desperate while we were on our cruise. She didn't need them!
Lucas made that cute plane for Evan at one of the Lowes workshops. He loved it. 

After a simple breakfast of grits, eggs, and bacon/sausage we finished opening presents and got ready to head to the airport! I wanted to make it to ABQ in time for Christmas dinner. The boys were great on the airplane. Evan was an angel and sat/slept the whole time. Lucas took a nap, too.

 

In Albuquerque (where they grow bigger trees) we had lots of fun. It was FREEZING for us whimpy Austinites. And dry - our skin got dry and flaky, and our lips got chapped, and then there's all this stuff that happens to your nose.  I was sick the whole time and had horrible sinus headaches, so I didn't get to see any friends. But we still had a lot of fun playing games, hanging out, and cooking fun food. Lucas and Evan enjoyed many adventures to the zoo, aquarium, museum, and lots of other places. And there was BAHAMA BUCKS. Just a couple miles from the house. Dreamy. 

Carrie had her birthday while we were there. She got a cool $20 paper airplane from Evan. Rad, right? 

And bath time in ABQ is always loads of fun. And annoying, honestly, with the whining and fighting over toys. So we started bathing them separately. 

And as you can see from Evan's face, IT WAS SO FUN!

 One of the greatest things about ABQ is the view from my parents' house. We have little bison friends occasionally, beautiful sunsets, great lighting, and mountains.

 And SNOW!

We were so happy to get to spend time with our family. Lucas and Evan had lots of fun with their ABQ cousins, aunts, uncle, and grandparents. And of course the fun sleepovers and adventures were super-awesome.

We were extremely happy to see my dad on Christmas Day! A couple weeks before Christmas he had some internal bleeding from an esophageal ulcer (that he didn't know about). He ended up in the hospital with a dangerously low blood count. He stayed several days and received 10 units of blood. It was scary and he was a lucky man. Thank you blood donors! And thank you, friends, for your thoughts and prayers. Thank you, Dad, for staying strong!

 

Here we are on our flight home. Evan loves the safety instruction manual. Loves it. The boys were well behaved. We got home in 4 pieces and I don't remember any horrible feuds. But my minds a little foggy... I've been sealing tile with cool chemicals for a couple weeks, but that's a story for a later time. 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Recent Sweets - Christmas edition

 As we gear up for Christmas we have some excited boys around here. Lucas has been drawing lots of cool pictures of Santa, Elves, Army Elves, etc. He's also written some fun notes to Santa. Here's one from school that I love:

 

 Last night for homework he had to write about which holiday he celebrated. He really got into it and I was really proud of him for writing about the true meaning of Christmas without being prompted.

 

I just love that boy so much. He's such a sweetie and I'm so impressed with him.

Last weekend was Ben's work party. We didn't dress up like elves or anything cool, BUT a quiet guy from the office totally rocked a Santa outfit! They had a photobooth, so we hopped in before we got food in our teeth.

 

 This year our Christmas will be a little funky (just how I like it) and we are flying to ABQ on Christmas afternoon. BUT, while we are gone, there's a good chance our house will get torn apart and have new tile put in because our original tile is messed up. Long story short, we'll have to empty furniture out before we leave. I don't want to take a big live tree down in a hurry, so instead I bought a little tiny 5' skinny tree. (I originally wanted a forest with 3' and 4' trees also, but the price was too high, so I just got the one). Lucas was pretty disappointed when I pulled it out of the box, but once we turned on the lights he was pleased. I think Evan liked it from the beginning. He is so cute when he gleefully screams, "Merry Christmas!" Tonight the boys decorated the tree and they love it. It's so... different :). Pics will come eventually.

Sweetness is...

A cute boy who helped his dad make Mom's birthday breakfast:

An excited kiddo going over "the big big bridge" aka the 290 flyover:

Three lovely dolphins waiting for a snack:

A Sea World Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed in town again. And, if you haven't noticed, sometimes when a holiday isn't going to be "normal," like going to be with the family, I like to just make it all crazy. Part of me doesn't want to make a big holiday meal for the four of us, and part of me knows I'll just be sad if I do and we have no one to share it with. So, this year we headed to Sea World on Thanksgiving.

It was a perfect day. Lucas was such a good boy in the morning, helping as we got ready. He even cleaned up an entire bag of trail mix that Evan spilled on the floor. And once we got to Sea World, both kids were still really well behaved. We had nary a fit to deal with, and only a mere whimper at the suggestion that Lucas try a big roller coaster (which would have been a horrible idea).

The boys loved the animal shows. My favorite was the dolphin show where there are people performing - divers, acrobats and synchronized swimmers.

The boys loved the little Sesame Street land where they could climb to new heights and crawl through tunnels that freaked out the bravest of claustrophobic moms.

For dinner we didn't break Thanksgiving tradition too much. Well, sort of. The four of us, like a little lion family, dined on one turkey leg. Yes, the same turkey leg I usually scoff at. It was my first turkey leg ever, as I am usually disgusted by the sight of people, like cavemen, gnawing on a huge hunk of meat. But, it was quite an economical decision, as it did feed all four of us for $8. And it also provided for some excellent photo ops. We also ate at a perfect little spot, by the river ride under some beautiful trees.

Evan was really sad that he couldn't go on the roller coasters. He thought they were trains. The boys did go on a little train ride, though, while I was in line at a roller coaster. Then later, I told him that the little Shamu roller coaster was a train... it wasn't really. It was a lot faster than I thought it would be. Oops.

Ben and I did get to go on a ride together. I was in line and he waited at the exit for me, so we could switch when I was done. A lady next to me in line, who wasn't going to ride with her kids, volunteered to watch our kids while we went. So, she and her family stayed with ours at the exit while we road. She told us she didn't want any more kids and wouldn't steal them. But, I knew they were good people because before I ever talked to them, her husband reminded me of my very own brother. And, yes, Evan cried a little. But Ben and I had fun riding a roller coaster together and it was terrifying, so I'm glad we could scream together. That was our anniversary date!

I loved that they had all their Christmas lights up. It was so pretty. At the end of the night we walked by the Candy Cane Forest and there was a quaint little concert going on. We sat at a table and enjoyed the show, while Ben went in search of a funnel cake. He was successful in his conquest and we enjoyed funnel cake while we listened to a really good local musician.

 

As we left the park we swung by the aquarium and saw some sharks. At the car we put the boys in their jammies and they were both asleep within minutes of driving away.

We tinkered with the idea of staying the night and going back on Friday, but instead we drove home and finally stopped at Buc-ee's. Yes, it was as amazing as legend tells. Both boys slept most of the way home. Evan was starting to get sick, which began our next adventure - 5 days of croup.

I sure love my boys and I'm glad we had such a fun Thanksgiving adventure. I liked it so much I think we'll go back soon. Like maybe tomorrow!

(And yes, we had a real Thanksgiving/family anniversary dinner on Friday since we were stuck home with a poor sick baby. It was great. And Saturday was my birthday. The boys made a lovely breakfast, then Ben and Lucas went to a fun run our friends organized while Evan and I stayed home sick and sad. After that Lucas was at a friend's birthday from 11-6! It was a lazy day for us at home, which was nice.)