Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Technically, his birthday was yesterday, but since the buddies were in school and Steve and I had our monthly date night, there wasn't much time to celebrate. So, we made our cupcakes on Thursday and frosted them today.

So, how long does it take to make cupcakes with two little helpers? About three times as long as it normally takes. They took turns helping me measure and dump ingredients, blended it all together with the hand mixer (and licked the beaters), and then scooped the batter into our cupcake pans. Their excitement when Daddy arrived home from work was worth all the effort. They nearly tackled him, shouting, "Daddy! We made cupcakes for you!".

Museum Day

Today was Austin's 11th annual Museum Day, a free re-discovery of Austin's museums. 32 museums participated and opened their doors free to the public. We explored four of them today.

Our first stop was the LBJ Library and Museum on the University of Texas' campus. The museum docents couldn't have been friendlier as our two wild boys excitedly ran through the newest exhibit, To the Moon: The American Space Program in the 1960's. The buddies flew flight simulators, looked at rocket replicas, and posed in front of replicas of our first 7 US astronauts. Then, we sat through a 15 minute laser show set to popular 60's music. It was a great exhibit!

Our next stop was the Umlauf Sculpture Garden. This was our second trip to this outdoor museum but it was very different from our first. Today, over 25 sculptors set up booths with their artwork and gave demonstrations. And the buddies got to try their hands at their own sculpture creations. They found the stiff clay more difficult to work with than their usual play- doh, but enjoyed themselves nonetheless.

After that, we crossed the river and headed to the Austin Children's Museum, a must-do for any Museum Day goers with kids. It was a zoo. We stayed as long as Steve and I could handle it, which was about an hour and a half. The feature exhibit was "Play it by Ear", a very cool, hands-on music exhibit. Imagine 7,000 square feet of wall to wall children banging on pots and pans and that's just about what it was like. But the buddies loved exploring all the different exhibits, especially the train station and a very cool machine where they launched wooden balls down chutes and tracks.

Our final museum of the day was the Blanton Museum of Art, a very nice (almost too nice for us!) art museum on campus. I was a little nervous bringing two wild boys into a place filled with priceless art, but they did great. The museum did a phenomenal job making the event family friendly. Our boys made their own art at stations outside the museum and watched a music show, but skipped story time. Smartly, the museum stationed friendly docents near the modern art sculptures that looked very much like playground equipment, and engaged the kids, asking them what the art looked like to them (and reminded them that it wasn't for climbing). Our two explored ancient Roman sculpture, American and European paintings, and modern art (their favorite).

View today's pictures here.

School is Cool!!

The buddies and I are thrilled to be back in the swing of pre-school. We took our first day of school pictures this morning, despite it technically being the second day of school, since Ben stayed home sick on the real first day.

There were no tears at drop off, not even from me. They have a board-certified early education teacher this year and I happily left my children in her capable hands. I couldn't be happier with her credentials, especially when I learned she has a passion for reading. Bring on the books!


Today, the buddies made a special friendship snack mix. Each child in the class brought an ingredient which they mixed together and shared. Ace brought Chex. Ben brought goldfish, but somehow finagled his way into the coveted position of dumping the marshmallows into the bowl. They also went to art class, music class, played in the big room, and attended story time. When I picked them up, they were covered in marker from head to toe and smiling from ear to ear.

Camp Grandma and Grandpa

Last weekend, the buddies spent a couple of fun - filled days at "Grandma's House and Grandpa's Lake" while Steve and I traveled to Minnesota for a wedding. Our only request when we handed them over was that they spoil them lots bring them both back alive. I think they accomplished both goals.






On their first day, we heard that they were on the lake from 7am - 7pm, minus a couple of hours for Grandpa and the buddies to nap. They had their first root beers and orange sodas and Ben discovered the perfect breakfast food - Pop Tarts! Their second day was packed with activities: breakfast at McDonald's, church, a park, a quick lake trip, Chuck E Cheese, and Bass Pro. Grandpa even bought them a container of minnows and let them play with them. Most of them survived.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Two Young Chefs

This morning, the buddies and I invited our playgroup to Young Chefs Academy for a cooking class. It was a hoot! 17 of our favorite twin and triplet friends joined us for the session. Throughout the class, the friendly chefs taught our kids a little about kitchen safety, etiquette, hand-washing, and measurements.

For our main entree, our kids created "Piggies in a Blanket". They painted barbecue sauce on crescent rolls, sprinkled them with "fairy dust" (cheese), topped them with turkey dogs, rolled them up, and then sprinkled them with poppy seeds. Then, we popped the piggies in the oven for a quick nap.


While our piggies cooked, the kids all made tortilla cut-out cookies with sprinkles and practiced cutting the tortillas scraps with child-safe pizza cutters. Before long, it was time for lunch, which the kids really made themselves. The room was filled with proud smiles.

View the rest of today's pictures here.

Typical Around-The-House Shenanigans

Ready for the Holiday Weekend

For three years now, we've visited the Arboretum cows during the week leading up to Labor Day. I hadn't intended to make it a tradition, but I suppose it is now. It's a fun little outing and we weren't the only family with the same idea this morning. The buddies especially love the fountains but are always miffed that I don't let them splash in them. There are signs posted everywhere asking patrons not to, or I might. Today, we tossed pennies and made wishes. Ben wished to be able to run up the stairs some more. And then he did. Ace, as always, wished for ice cream. He's a kid after my own heart.

Hot Sauce Festival

We took the kids downtown today, to The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival. I love a good festival. I love the music, the food, and I especially love a good theme - and hot sauce is a good theme!. We sampled a few great salsas - Ace was not pleased by the habanero hot sauce, but Ben said he liked it.

The highlight for our boys was the chance to have their faces painted. They've been asking since our trip to the Philly Zoo earlier this summer. Both chose Elmo today, although I tried to persuade them towards other choices. You can never have too many Elmo's, according to our face-painter.

After a short while, the tasting lines grew a little long for the buddies, so we left the park, grabbed a quick lunch with our friends, and headed home.

Bum...Bum...Ba...Bum...Bum...Bum...Bum

This evening, we attended a Beijing Olympics Party. Our hosts made delicious Chinese dumplings and had several Chinese sodas for us to sample. The buddies were so excited to eat dumplings, since their favorite tv character enjoys them. They were delicious! And Ben, who thinks he speaks Mandarin, said, "Xie-Xie, Miss Elaine" after slurping his down.

Steve and I volunteered to coordinate games for the kids and we got started right after dinner. Thunderstorms thwarted our backyard plans, so our friends pushed back their furniture and we held our meet indoors. The kids marched in to the Olympic Theme Song during opening ceremonies and then we began our games with a 100 meter dash. After a couple of false starts by a few of the 8 three year olds present, we finally got it right. Next up was the hop-ball race, followed by the balance beam. Then, each family chose a song for the floor exercises. Since none of the kids could resist dancing, the floor exercise event turned into one big free for all of giggling pre-schoolers. Our Summer Olympics completed with a water balloon shot put competition on the back porch. Then, we held an awards ceremony where each of our Olympians earned a gold medal. Everyone stood so proudly and so seriously during their turns on the podium.

Barton Creek Greenbelt

The buddies and I joined some friends at Austin's Barton Creek Greenbelt for some outdoor fun this morning. The greenbelt is a beautiful stretch of land, just minutes from downtown, yet a world away from the business of the city.



We hiked along the long, winding, wooded trails and admired the views. I don't think this is an outing we'll tackle again without a higher adult to kid ratio, since some of the cliffs along the trail were pretty treacherous, but it certainly was beautiful. And the buddies loved talking to all the friendly dogs we met, who were out for morning walks with their owners.



The trail ends at a natural spring, but sadly for us, after a long, dry summer, we only found a dry creek bed. That didn't stop the buddies and their friends from having fun. They loved climbing on all the rocks and even slid down a few of the ones worn smooth by years of running water.

View all of our pictures here.

For Sale: Twin Boys

Price: $917.96 (or one 42" flat screen LCD 1080p HDTV)

Thanks to their antics over the weekend, we have a box large enough to ship them. We'll even throw in two plastic baseball bats* for free.

*Not recommended for indoor use.

Yesterday's Project

We are laying low because Ace's "nose is sick". So, yesterday morning, I convinced Steve to temporarily lift my ban on power tool usage (put in place years ago for a very good reason). While the buddies played in the yard, I sanded, scrubbed, and stained an old table in need of some serious TLC. It turned out great! And Ace and Ben are excited to have a new place for their tea parties.

Before:

After:

Music at Ruta Maya

This morning, we checked out Ruta Maya's Free Sunday Family Kid Show, a fun musical event for the whole family. Ruta Maya is a cool little coffee house that serves only organic, fair-trade coffee from the Americas. And they offer lots of entertainment to boot!

Today, all four of us enjoyed music by the Sarah Dinan Band. She regularly told the little folks in the audience that it was okay to sing along, dance along, clap their hands, or just sit - whatever made them feel comfortable (and as long as the adults with them were okay with it). That is our kind of show! Ace danced so hard during a Celtic song that one of his crocs went tumbling over the balcony. By the time I made it down the steps to retrieve it, some kind folks had already tossed it back up. Ben danced along for a few songs but then found the many toys scattered about the place way more interesting. It was a fun outing that we'll definitely have to repeat.

Water Fun

Just some cute pics of the kids from the past few days. We love summer!

Warning...this post contains nudity!

At Grandma and Grandpa's house last week, there was a lot of this going on:


It was perfectly acceptable, wild boy behavior at their lake front home. Why bother to go inside when there is a perfectly good deck with perfectly good bushes below to pee upon? Plus, it was great entertainment for the grown-ups. Those little bottoms are so darned cute! So, what is the problem? Since we've returned home, the buddies have whipped it out (or tried to):

1) in our driveway, onto our neighbors' lawn (said neighbors also happen to be HOA board members and the neighborhood busy-bodies)
2) at the YMCA pool
3) and our neighborhood pool
4) at Symphony Square, during Art Park
5) and at two of our favorite parks

If you live near the Austin area, watch out for the peeing bandits!

A Little Bit of Culture for Two Wild Boys

I'm trying, people. Austin is such a cool town with so many educational and cultural offerings for little people. Yet, most days, you'll find us running, jumping, playing, climbing, swimming, or just generally causing a ruckus somewhere. Today, our weekly play group decided to branch out and explore Children's Day Art Park, an educational program developed for kids by the Austin Symphony.

We paid our $.50 entrance fee which gained us access to a crowded concert by local musician, Aunty E. We enjoyed the music and then followed the crowd across the street to Art Park, where the buddies took their turns creating wind catchers and coloring trumpets. We danced on the lawn to the music of 5 members of the Austin Symphony. Both boys like the tuba the best. And, as a special treat, they got to meet Ronald McDonald and get his autograph and coupons for free apple dippers.

After two hours of fun, and as I was hauling 105 pounds worth of kids and wagon up a very steep downtown hill in 100 degree weather, I asked the buddies if they enjoyed Art Park. Ace said, "Mommy, that was NOT a park". I'm certain we'll return to our usual routine of running and jumping and playing and climbing and swimming tomorrow.

Dino Park

This morning, we visited The Dinosaur Park, a little place for BIG imaginations. What fun we had! The buddies and their friends walked through the nature trail with life size dinosaur replicas three times and couldn't get enough of the cool creatures. They cheered as they discovered each one and listened attentively as we read the information plaques to them. Many of the species, including the huge Tyrannosaurus Rex, once lived right here in Texas.





In between nature trail walks, the buddies and their friends played on the play scape, enjoyed a picnic lunch under the cool misters, dug for dinosaur bones, and climbed inside a T-Rex head. They also played dinosaur games inside the Dino Store and made crayon rub drawings of their favorite prehistoric animals. It was a terrific, educational outing and we'll have to return soon!

Road Trip to Texoma and Kingfisher

After almost a full week on the road, we are home and back in our routine. We had an awesome time catching up with family, both at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake and in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. It was the buddies' first trip to Kingfisher. I have such fond childhood memories of this gorgeous little town and I loved showing it to my kids. We took them to two parks that I played at often as a little girl: Shaw Park (near my paternal grandparents' house) and Kingfisher Park (just over the railroad tracks from my maternal grandma's house). And they loved swimming in Granny's fancy indoor pool during morning water aerobics. We even met up with dozens of relatives at Eischen's Bar (Oklahoma's oldest) for chicken and beer.


It was a special treat to have Uncle Jeff along during all of our road trip adventures. We just don't see enough of him and the buddies are big fans. For those that don't know, the song playing on our blog is an Uncle Jeff original, written in honor of the buddies' second birthday.




We're wondering if Uncle Jeff is still talking like the buddies now that he is home on his island. Throughout our visit, we caught him saying things like, "I'm larry larry firsty. I need some water please. RIGHT NOW!" In Jeff's defense, he did make an effort to teach the boys to say, "just whenever you get a chance" in place of "RIGHT NOW!", which is a new (and rather irritating) piece of language in their vocabularies. I'm hoping it catches on.

View all of our pictures here.

Hello from Kingfisher!

The buddies just wanted to send a quick hello to their daddy, who didn't get to join us on our road trip. We're enjoying ourselves!

Exploring Aggieland

The buddies and I took a quick road trip to College Station to pick up Uncle Jeff and bring him back to Austin with us. We were thrilled at the opportunity to explore my old college town and spent the night so we'd have plenty of time. Ahh, College Station. Just driving in on Highway 6 brought back memories. For a brief moment, I even felt that exhilarating "whole life in front of me" feeling that everyone must have during their college years.

The boys were excited to see Uncle Jeff, who came to Texas for fire fighter training. We went to lunch with the crew from his brigade and then went off on our own to explore campus and Northgate. The first stop on our tour was the famous Dixie Chicken and it smelled even worse than I remember. We checked out the rattlesnake inside, bought a t-shirt, ran through Bottle Cap Alley, and then continued on our journey. Our next stop was Loupot's for a few gifts and then on to campus. The buddies enjoyed splashing in Fish Pond, checked out Sul Ross (Ben tried to swipe his pennies), walked underneath the Century Tree, and just generally ran around in the wide open spaces before the 100 degree weather pulled us back to the hotel pool.


Later, after a quick nap, we met Uncle Jeff's friends at Gattitown for a fun night of pizza and games. They were all very sweet to forgo the many better restaurants and spend an evening with our buddies. It was a fun, quick trip and now we're resting up for a full week of fun with Uncle Jeff.