Marshmallow Free-For-All

This is what I get for leaving the buddies alone for 2 minutes when a bag of marshmallows was within reach. I've never seen two kids stuffing their mouths so fast...

Austin Children's Museum

This afternoon, the buddies took us to the Austin Children's Museum, which is free after 4pm on Sundays. We all had such a good time that we may have to rotate it in to our regular weekend activities.

The museum is packed with fun, educational exhibits for its pint-sized visitors. The buddies quickly found the tunnel slide and could have spent the entire afternoon there, had we not steered them towards other exhibits. They went grocery shopping in the Global Market and cooked a tasty meal of real-looking pretend food for us in the Global Diner. They found stations where they could sit on little chairs at little desks and build with blocks or learn about parabolas, bell curves, and ovals. They even milked a fake cow and then delivered the milk bottle to the market. Both enjoyed splashing with pretend fish in the "Splish" exhibit.

There was little doubt what their favorite part of the museum was. Overhead, an electric train ran on tracks above the main part of the museum. Every time it went by, they stopped in their tracks and looked up. After climbing a short flight of stairs we discovered the train depot, where the buddies could restart the train by pressing a button and make the "woo-woo" sound by pulling a cord. Best of all, the could observe the train chugging along up close through the observation glass. They seem to have inherited the train- loving gene from Great- Grandpa Jeff.

Golfing with Daddy

The buddies had fun at the driving range with their dad today. They watched patiently from their stroller while he hit balls and even joined in on the fun and threw their golf balls onto the driving range. When Daddy was finished they "helped" him chip and putt. I think we're ready for Easter egg hunting.

Lottery Un-Lucky

The buddies have decided they might like to try a 1 or 2 day / week pre-school in the fall. After calling all of the programs in our area, I discovered that most registered in early February and are already full. Early February! We're talking about pre-schools beginning after September 1st! I can barely think past two weeks into the future, much less 7 months. Anyway, my phone calls resulted in two programs of interest: one that registered this morning and another that has on-going registration but still has at least 2 openings in the young 2's class.

This morning, the buddies and I skipped our regular playdate and headed over to our first pre-school registration. As we entered, we were given a number and told to have a seat with the other 100+ families there, vying for spots. At 10:30, the pre-school director began calling numbers at random and those lucky families went to the front to register their children. Parents and children anxiously awaited their numbers and cheered when they "got in". The buddies and I waited and waited and watched all the families around us register. After about 10 numbers were called, the director announced that the 4-year old classes were full. After about 10 more, the 3 year old classes filled. And then the M/W/F 2-year old classes. We were hoping to be included in the T/Th 2-year old classes which eventually filled, before our number was called. In fact, by the time our number was called (about 10th from the last), all the classes were full. Ace and Ben are numbers 8 and 9 on the waiting list, with little hope of getting in.

Some of the parents that didn't get spots were actually crying. It was intense. We were just as happy not to get in since I'm still not sure that I'm ready for the buddies to be away from me. But, we will tour the other program tomorrow and see what we think. I don't remember it being this hard when I applied for college 13 years ago.

Happy Birthday to Jesse and Ben

The buddies were invited to our twin -friends, Jesse and Ben's birthday party this morning. Ace still isn't well, so Ben and I packed up our gifts and headed out, leaving Ace and Daddy at home.

Ben carried our presents to the door like a big kid, and then threw them on the ground when we got to the door. Luckily, we didn't bring anything breakable.



The highlight of the party was the giant bounce house in the backyard. He bounced and bounced. Ace would have loved it and it made me a little bit sad to think of him missing out on the fun. After he bounced and played with his little friends, Ben ate a huge lunch of fruits, veggies, and potato chips, all dipped in onion dip (yes, even the fruit).



Some of my girlfriends asked what it felt like to be out with just one toddler. While I had to admit it was very easy, I would have much preferred to have my other little buddy and their dad with us.

Ace's mc-flu

After a very fun Saturday afternoon at McDonald's, Ace and his new friend Olivia have the flu. Is this the saddest little picture ever?? Yesterday was a tough day in our house. When we awoke, everything seemed normal, but as we were walking downstairs to head to the car to go to a Valentine's Day Party, Ace barfed through the railing. And it continued through the rest of the day. I pushed fluids and tried to get him to eat but every time he did, it all came back up. I lost count of how many loads of laundry I did or how many times I changed his clothes and mine. He seemed scared when he had to throw up and was most comfortable doing it while hugging me so I just held him and let him puke on me. Motherhood is a tough job sometimes. My low point was when I had to scrub vomit off my fuzzy purple slippers.

By mid-afternoon, Ace was refusing all food and liquids and was pretty lethargic. He just laid in my lap watching his favorite tv shows on Noggin. Ben busied himself with his puzzles and trucks and was no trouble all day. He even ate his supper at the kitchen table just like a big kid since I hadn't had time to clean off the high chair trays.

Since I was concerned that Ace might become dehydrated, I gave him a few teaspoons of a pediatric electrolyte drink every thirty minutes after he fell asleep last night. We did this from 6pm - midnight and I managed to get him to drink (and keep down) about 7 ounces. He's a little better today and is drinking slowly and eating small meals and keeping everything down. I'm hopeful that we've seen the worst of it and plan on spending the rest of the day hugging my little Valentines.

A Valentine's Day Playdate

Ace and Ben hosted a Valentine's Day party today for some of their little friends. It was too cold to set up the bounce house but we had a toddler "tunnel of love" for everyone in our living room. Ben spent quite a bit of time in the ball pit with an older lady (by about 2 years, I'm guessing). I'm not sure what they were talking about but he was cracking up. I was even able to get a picture of him smiling (which is rare!) during his love connection.

Ace had a good time playing with the other kids and eating heart-shaped snacks. We served fruit ka-bobs (with heart- shaped cantaloupe and watermelon), heart- shaped chicken salad sandwiches, and heart- shaped cookies. Since they might not let me make such festive food when they get older, I went a little crazy.


And, each of our guests created a glittery photo Valentine. Everyone had a great time.

Sweet Brothers

I don't have much to report today - just wanted to share these sweet pictures of the buddies playing in our backyard.

Super Bowl Sunday

The buddies declined invitations to two Super Bowl parties this year. They really can't be trusted for long periods of time in other people's houses. They get in to everything. Between the two of them, last week they broke a picture frame, a willow tree angel, and a beer bottle from our recycling bin. So, we sent Daddy to a party and celebrated with our own little Super Bowl party. They each had a bowl of salty snacks to munch on and settled down on their couch to watch the game. They made it through the first quarter (although they only sat on the couch and watched for the first minute) and then it was time for baths and bed. Maybe next year they'll be able to stay up until halftime.