Family Fun

We celebrated Ethan's 6th B-day Thu. Aug. 15 with all the decorations, balloons, and of course an ice cream cake.  He must have had about 10 balloons taped to him.  Its always nice that Ethan is here on vacation during his B-day so we can all celebrate with him.

On Fri we fed the kids and gave them baths early, put them in their pjs and went to East Austin for our trailer fest.  Betsy and I along with the kids stayed in our cars while Steve and Scott went into Eastside Kings and ordered food.  I've always wanted to try Paul Qui's trailer and I thought our food was pretty good.  Then we were off to Gourdough's doughnuts.  Joshua fell asleep before we got to Eastside Kings but Noah didn't fall asleep till Gourdough's.

On Sat., we took the kids to Mayfield Park with the peacocks.  Then we headed to Ms. P's Electric Cock (fried chicken)  and then Coolhaus for ice cream sandwiches.  We were all pretty tired by the time we got home.
We went to church Sun. morning and that afternoon Steve, Joshua, Scott, Ethan, and Mia went to see Planes the movie.  It was Joshua's first movie in a theater.  Betsy and Eva came over as Noah and I got dinner ready for the family.  Mom and Dad joined us that evening for BBQ, all the sides, and apple pie.

Steve and I took off work Mon and Tue and we all headed to Hamilton Pool in Dripping Springs.  I've always heard this a must see in the Austin area and now I know why.  It was a 50 minute drive but well worth it.  You'll see the pic below.  Noble Pig sandwiches for lunch.

On Tue we went to Portrait Innovations for pics and then headed to Bull Creek Park where we met Abby.  From there we hiked up the cliff overlooking the Pennybacker Bridge where Steve got interviewed about whether there should be a guard rail since a guy fell off the cliff that morning.  We were on the 5:00 KXAN news.  We then headed to Waterloo for lunch and of course, Gourdough's ( the restaurant) for doughnuts.

On Thu. we celebrated my birthday with Pei Wei and what else - ice cream cake (toffee.)  Pretty delicious.

I feel like this year we were able to get out and see Austin and spend quality time with everyone.  We had lots of laughs, good conversation, and good food.  Joshua and Noah still say Ethan, Mia, and Eva's name all the time and I really think they got to know their cousins in these past 2 weeks.   
Enjoy the pics!!

                                                   Mayfield Park

                                             Hamilton Pool

 

                                            Bull Creek Park

                                    Hike up the cliff

                                   Overlooking the Bridge

                                  Steve's 10 seconds of fame

 

Welcome Christian Michael Varghese!

On July 16 we welcomed into the world Christian Michael Varghese.  He was 5 days past his due date and even with being induced he still wasn't born till late Tue. evening.  He must have Sunil's stubbornness. :)   
Of course, we went to Dallas that weekend and was able to see him on Sat the 20th.  Joshua was very excited about meeting Christian because he loves babies.  Noah glanced at him a couple of times.  He was so precious and cute.  He slept in my arms most of the time we were there.  He reminded me of how I love love love infants.  Can't wait to see baby Christian grow and interact with his cousins!  Such an exciting time for Sunil and Julie! 

Subin arrived in Dallas on Wed. July 31 from Germany.  His 3 year commitment was finally over with one deployment to Afghanistan.  For now he will remain in the States - South Carolina for a 1yr assignment in Sumter.  We went to Dallas Aug 2 and had his Welcome Home/Happy 33rd B-day party on Sat.  All our family in Dallas came that evening and it was so nice for everyone to visit with him and properly welcome him home.

We were unsure if we would even be able to go to Dallas that weekend because Joshua suffered his 3rd seizure on Tue July 30 at Mom and Dad's house and was hospitalized for a couple of hours.  He bounced back quickly but not before Noah also got sick.  Thankfully, by Friday they were on the road to recovery.

The Samuel family arrived in Austin Sun, Aug 11 after spending a week in FL.  Joshua was very excited about their visit and had a list of all the things he wanted to do with them.  Ethan and Mia are almost the same exact height with Mia looking so mature for her age.  Eva is adorable and quiet.  It's going to be fun getting reacquainted with the kids. 
Joshua was able to cross off #1 on his list:  Sophie the train.  And to think we did that on Sun.
Except for Noah and I, everyone else went to Top Golf on Mon morning and apparently had a great time.  We later went to  Rock and River Aquatic Center in the afternoon and got the kids tired out (us too!)  It was a pretty fun time.
Unfortunately, we won't see them again till Ethan's B-day on Thu.  But there's still more fun to be had!

 

Leaps and bounds

This past month Noah has expanded his vocabulary by leaps and bounds.  My 17 month old is now able to say so many words such as:  shirt, pants, change, brush, paste, glass, cup, sleep.  He can also say 2 words together,  his favorite being "hold me."  He has even made up words for the difficult ones he can't say yet such as "bo doh dohs" for vegetables and "sonin" for lotion. Medicine is "simisin." He says those words very adamantly like we are mispronouncing the words and he is saying them correctly.  He has a fiery personality and is very rambunctious and unyielding to any sort of danger.  No fear whatsoever in that child - except when he hears a vacuum and that still sets him off.

We've had a busy month.  Joshua and Noah got sick the first week of June and were both on antibiotics for ear infections.  Joshua started Stepping Stone at TeraVista on Fri June 14 and has continued for the MWF program.  I had to travel to Dallas on the 14th for my friend's mother's funeral at the Luna church.  I went back to Dallas the following weekend for my cousin Mili's baby shower.  Both weekends I traveled solo and that was an experience.  I came back on that Sat. each time.  Missed the kids and needed to relieve Steve :)  Joshua and Noah enjoyed giving their card and a T-shirt to Steve on Father's Day.  I think Steve enjoyed a relaxing Sunday with the family.  We had Mom and Dad over for Pokejo's lunch. 

We had baby Teagan, Dave, and Siji come visit us on the 28th with it being Teagan's first time in Austin.  Joshua really enjoyed having her around since he loves babies (she is now 10 months old.)  In his words, "I will protect her."  We did have 2 eating out adventures : Mighty Fine and Chuy's.  Our only outing was the mall and church.  How are lives have changed. :)

Though I had to work on July 4th, Steve and the kids ran errands and relaxed at home.  I picked up Rudy's after work.  Note to self:  Never go to Rudy's on the 4th again.  Horrendous line - what was I thinking?  (But still was worth the 30 minute wait)  We fed the kids early and then went to the Elizabeth Milburn Park to walk around and look at all the festivities.  We still made it home by 7:45.  Steve and I watched the fireworks from our driveway after the kids went to bed.

Shormi and Masoud came up on the 5th and spent the weekend with us without their kids.  We went down to Town Lake on Sat and they went kayaking as well as Steve and Joshua.  It was Joshua's first time on a kayak and I was a little nervous but he did fine.  It was extremely hot - the high was 103.  He was excited at first but by the time Steve rowed in 30 minutes later he was tired and hot.  Noah and I stayed back on the dock in the shade.
We went to Oasis later that night and had a nice dinner overlooking Lake Travis.

Joshua had picked a bed out from Ikea months ago and it took us this long to get it set up in Joshua's room.  The crib is finally out but we didn't know where to really put it since Noah is still sleeping with us.  So now its disassembled in the garage!  Joshua slept in the bed last night with him calling for Steve around 1 am.  However, he kept talking about how comfortable it is.  His poor crib mattress was pretty firm so he just loves his bed.

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of baby Christian whose due date was July 11.  Poor Julie!   Induction is scheduled for July 16.  We are continuously praying for Julie, Sunil, and precious little Christian.  Can't wait to go to Dallas next weekend!

Subin will be coming to Dallas at the end of this month after his long 3 year commitment to Germany is complete.  Within that 3 years, my brother survived a deployment to Afghanistan.  We are so thankful that he will have a state assignment in South Carolina.  So much happening in July!

                                                  Father's Day

                                              No caption needed

                                            The boys loved Teagan

                                                   July 4th

                                                  Before

                                                    After

Fun times

I thought I'd post some pics of the past couple of weeks.  The week after Noah's dedication Trisha and I went to New Orleans for Jessica's wedding.  It was a short but very fun weekend.  We went to Acme Oyster Bar for lunch where I had chargrilled oysters for the first time and then we walked around the French Quarter.  Jessica's wedding was that evening (Fri May 17) at Rosy's Jazz Hall and it was a blast.  Beautiful wedding with great food, drinks and a jazz band.  The next day we met Gloria and her son at Café Du Monde and then took a streetcar down the Garden District.  We ate lunch at Café Palace on Canal where I had the best bananas foster.  Then we went on a foot tour of the French Quarter and that evening we ate dinner at GW Fins.  We left the next morning at 5:45 to catch our flight.
BTW, it was the first time I had left both Joshua and Noah behind without Steve.  It was easier than I thought it would be but I was ready to see them by Sunday.
The very next weekend we went to Dallas for Julie's baby shower that Mom and I organized at the house.  Some of Julie's close friends and her mom flew in from Chicago.  I can't believe I didn't take one picture but I will get some to post.  Mom made a nice diaper cake and the banana cake was tasty!  Julie looked great and is now about 5 weeks away!  Baby Christian will be here soon!

On Sunday we took Joshua to the World Aquarium and he loved seeing all the different animals.  Can't believe Steve and I had one of our first dates here and 9 years later we're taking one of our sons.  We also had a great lunch at Babe's Chicken House in Frisco - such good chicken fried steak and catfish.  In the afternoon, we went to see baby Zachary and Makayla.  He was such a good baby sleeping in my arms the whole time. 
We went back to Austin Sunday night and Steve and I both had Memorial Day off.  We took the boys to the Quarry Splash Park in the morning and they had a freezing good time!  It was overcast and they both shivered the whole time with Noah laughing most of the time and Joshua being very careful which fountains to get close to.  We lasted about an hour!

The next weekend we went to Ben's graduation at Brentwood.  We were able to see Ben walk on stage and celebrate with him at the reception afterwards where Joshua and Noah ate lots of cake and cookies.  So proud of Ben!  He'll be attending Texas Tech in the fall!
The next day we went to the Chandy house for the graduation party.  Lots of people there to celebrate with Ben.  And of course the food was plentiful - Uncle's BBQ and all the sides.

                                                 Jessica's wedding

                                                Splash Park

                                              Pre-haircut

                                                     Post haircut

                                                  Dallas World Aquarium

Apr - May

This past month had had many great moments with the biggest being yesterday:  Noah was dedicated at our church, Grace Covenant on Mother's Day, May 12.  He did great, and didn't make a peep the whole time the pastor was praying.  Joshua couldn't control his excitement so he just jumped up and down a couple of times :)  The rest of the service was spent mostly in the lobby and outside since we had two energetic boys.  Both sets of parents sat in the front row and we were so blessed to have them there.  Afterwards, we went home and had Chinese take-out and peach cobbler.  What a wonderful Mother's Day!  I also got a card, a watch and bracelet that Joshua picked out on his own.

This past month has also been a month of sickness with both boys being on antibiotics and a week of anxiety with Joshua on the threshold of another seizure.  That all started around April 22 with Joshua getting sick and then of course Noah ending up with an ear infection.  It was so hard to get Joshua to take the medicine initially.

Noah has developed such a vocabulary in just the past few weeks:  this, that, car, dog, juice (which he doesn't get yet), teet, for teeth, bye, gone, baby, stawbewwy (strawberry) and of course, daddy, done, and all done.  He tries hard to repeat what you say.  Still has two teeth on top with a big gap and 3 bottom teeth.  Drooling is still evident.  He will take small bites of table food and at this time loves broccoli (go figure) and ice cream.  He still just drinks milk and water.  Loves to play with the CD player and listen to music and dance.  He "plays golf" with Joshua by taking the putter and using one hand to connect with the ball and then yells "Ayyyy" to get you to clap and praise him.  He gets into absolutely everything with the new thing being that he can reach into drawers and grab whatever out.  He is still very much my explorer.

Joshua is still enjoying school with just a couple of weeks left before they let out for the summer.  He still plays golf as much as possible and likes to go with Grandpa to the range.  He enjoys anything with trains and we try to ride some kind of train every couple of weeks.  He is slowly getting better about eating but we still have to do lots of encouraging.  Because of him being sick the past couple of weeks he has started crying again at night and we are starting to retrain again with sleep.

Here are some pics from the last month:

                                                Zilker Park - Apr. 13

                                  The new Chandy house - Apr. 28

                                   Noah's dedication - May 12

Easter, egg hunts, and wedding

We had a great past couple of weeks with the highlight of course being Easter, March 31. 
We went to a couple of Easter Egg hunts, the first at Brushy Creek Park on rainy, cold, March 23.  And then the next Sat. March 30 at our own Red Oaks Amenity Center.  Both Joshua and Noah loved carrying their Easter baskets and trying to find eggs.  
On Easter we went to church and then had Mom and Dad over for a BBQ lunch courtesy of Pokejo's.

Joshua actually started his first day of Mothers Day Out on March 21 and he did wonderful!  Steve and I took him to Round Rock Baptist on his first day and we met his teacher Ms. Michelle.   He goes now on Tue and Thu from 9 to 2 and he takes a lunch and a sleeping bag.  I think he really enjoys school.  I still can't believe he's grown up enough to go!

Last weekend, Apr.5 we went to Dallas and stayed with Sunil and Julie.  On Sat., Joshua and I went to Alex Achen's wedding where we met Mom and Dad at the reception.  Then we met up with Steve and Noah at Jason and Shawn's house, where we all later had dinner.  Avery is almost 6 months old and such a sweet, laid back baby.   Joshua and Austin, of course, had fun playing together.

On Sun, we went to see Shane, Sylvia, Selah and baby Stone who was  1 1/2 weeks old.  Can't believe I didn't think to take any pic. but I forgot how still and quiet they are at that age (at least when visitors come)

Brushy Creek Easter Egg Hunt

Red Oaks