Rolling

My friend Katie just rolled into town and will be spending the rest of the holiday weekend visiting with us. So far we've just been hanging out, shopping, laughing...

... crying, fussing, teething, and rolling over. 

Check out the cool pond blanket Katie made for Clark! I'm sure he'll be rolling all over it for a long time to come. That is, until he starts crawling off of it. Why do they have to grow up so fast?

Baby, it's cold outside.

Too Much Fun

While my parents are certainly making progress after a full week in Austin, fixing up their house has not been too much fun. Luckily, we've been making it worth their while with good meals, cute company, and all sorts of fun activities - including mom, dad, and Clark's first 3D movie!

We brought Aurora's friend Presley, too - these girls are 3D experts. Clark did great, sleeping through the entire movie. Dad said it gave his eyes a workout. I told him he'd better get used to it because our family knows how to have too much fun!

First Christmas

I asked my parents what we should do for our first Christmas together, and they said it was up to me to create whatever traditions I want - so, that's what I did! It was Clark's first Christmas and probably the first Christmas Aurora will remember, but we've had a lot going on so I kept our plans pretty low key.

Yesterday we went to a candlelight service at a local church, which was really beautiful.

We followed that with a nice holiday dinner at home complete with turkey and all the fixins, and enjoyed a relaxing fire in the fireplace with our happy little guy.

We also lit our yahrzeit candle and toasted in memory of Grandpa Sandler. Then today my folks came over for brunch and a full morning of opening gifts. I hadn't realized that twice as many kids meant twice as many presents! It took over 2-hours to unwrap them all.

Aurora picked them up one at a time, read the tag, then patiently opened each one. It was very helpful of her to open all of Clark's presents for him, too!

Everything we got was great - the perfect variety of clothes, books, toys, movies, ornaments, and snacks. We'll be decorating cookies, taking a walk and eating leftovers later today. I suppose we can continue refining our traditions as the years go on, but this seemed just about perfect.

Day and Night

We've spent the last couple of days unloading the moving truck. Well, Dad, Chuck and I have been unloading the truck while Mom supervises (holds the baby) and Aurora "helps."

We've been spending our evenings enjoying Austin. Last night we went out to catfish for dinner, and tonight I took my parents to the Trail of Lights. Not the one at Zilker Park... that is WAY too crowded this year with upwards of 40,000 people in attendance per night. Instead, we went to the Lakeway Trail of Lights, which is a lot smaller but wasn't crowded at all. It was perfect!

I know that driving, moving, and trying to make the house livable has been really hard on my parents, and they have a lot more work ahead. Amazingly, they've been in much better spirits than I expected and are taking the time to enjoy the holiday season with our family (which was the whole point of coming to Austin, after all). I'm sure the days will continue to get easier and their nights more restful as they settle in to their little home.

Welcome Grandma and Grandpa!

My Mom & Dad took off driving on Tuesday and made their way up through Ocala to Austin. They arrived in the middle of the night and we all had breakfast together this morning before heading over to the new house to meet the movers, do the final walk through and sign the closing documents.

It's a cute little fixer-upper in a nice neighborhood about 5-minutes from our house, and they bought it sight unseen! The hype today is that the Mayan calendar ended, signifying the end of the world. I like to think it's just the beginning of a new era...

Holiday Concerts & Snow!

The last few days have been full of music and fun. Friday was Aurora's holiday party at CCOA, followed by a cute holiday concert. Aurora's class sang the Dreidel Song and Jingle Bell Rock.

Santa stopped by her classroom during snack time, and while I was listening to the kids sing I got this cute picture emailed from Clarkie's teachers. None of the Lambs class were afraid of Santa... but I hear the ones and twos didn't feel the same way. He'll be scared next year.

Yesterday we headed out to the Hill Country Galleria with a few friends to enjoy a little patch of man-made snow. They do this every year and let me tell you, it's CRAZY! We saw several of Aurora's classmates, a cute snowman, and ended up in the middle of one big snowball fight.

Today we had a nice brunch with Daniela followed by a free holiday concert by the Austin Philharmonic Orchestra at the Texas State Capitol rotunda. Their conductor is our neighbor across the street, David, and we saw his wife and son, and even our local librarian!

Aurora danced and played with a few other little girls while we listened. It wasn't crowded and they sounded amazing. Such a nice way to spend the day. Daniela even took a family photo for us:

There are so many more fun festivities in this town that I hope we have the chance to see and do. Perhaps we'll talk my folks into coming along for a few - they'll be here in less than a week!

Family Favorites

It's the holiday season, and I feel like I've been going to a lot of fancy restaurants lately. When we only had Aurora we went out quite a bit, but now that we have two it's usually easier just to make food at home. We do still get out on occasion, and for those occasions I definitely have my favorites. Today I'm going to count them down for you. My favorite kid-friendly restaurants in Austin (primarily West Austin):

7. Phil's Ice House. Phil's offers a cool play area, a great selection of burgers, and an attached Amy's Ice Cream to round out the meal. The newest location on South Lamar shares a parking lot with Half Price Books, which is another favorite spot of ours. It's not the healthiest place, which is why they don't rate higher for this vegetarian - but good and super fun for the occasional splurge.

6. Hat Creek Burger. The Westlake location is nice and new with a great play area for all ages. I don't really like their veggie burger or salad options, and they have it set up so the kids can walk along the top of the fences, which is just not safe. You really have to keep an eye on the little ones, but they certainly have a good time - and the grilled cheese and chocolate milk are sure to please even the pickiest eater.

5. Cracker Barrel. I consider this a must for all road trips. They offer child-size rocking chairs, oversized checker boards, games and coloring activities at the table, and tons of inexpensive meals big enough to share. Aurora loves the biscuits and jam, and I'm a fan of the baked apples.  

4. Chick-fil-A. I'm counting Chick-fil-A because the play areas are indoors, which makes it a good place to go all year round. I don't eat chicken so I prefer the breakfast menu, plus it's usually less crowded in the mornings. If you don't mind a crowd, Tuesday night is family night and kid's eat free! They often give books in the kids meals, and on family night you have the option to trade it in for a free ice cream cone. 

3. Waterloo Ice House. There are several locations and they all have great outdoor play areas. The one off 360 is best for smaller kids with its huge sandbox, but the Bee Cave location has a nice big outdoor playscape within view of the indoor seating. I like their fish tacos and salads, as well as the weekday happy hour specials, including (very small) $2 margaritas.

2. P. Terry's in Lakeway. This is a new location and it's just a short drive from our house. You already know you love their fast, cheap, not-too-unhealthy food (including my favorite veggie burger in town), but the Lakeway location also has a great outdoor seating area complete with a kid's table and sandbox! Aurora's favorite item on the menu is the banana bread, and have you tried the root beer milkshakes?

1. Mandola's Italian in Bee Caves. They just added a nice playscape outside and while they do have outdoor seating, the best seating is inside. There are big tables for grown ups next to little tables for the littles, which is great. Kid's meals are inexpensive and come with a drink and gelato. In the women's restroom they have a fully stocked changing table with all sizes of diapers, wipes, and powder for anybody to use. I love their mozzarella caprese sandwich, and Aurora's a huge fan of the parmesan cheese (which she sprinkles on her bread, pasta, and directly into her mouth). I'd call it the perfect combination of family-friendly fun for the kids and parents. Here are a few photos of my top pick!

I may still have more research to do before I can call my list definitive, but these are the places we tend to go. Of course, you can pretty much take your kids anywhere these days. We've gone on date nights to fancy places that I figured nobody would take kids (uhm, Uchi?), and there are always kids there. But for my money, I'd much rather relax while Aurora runs around making friends on the playground. Did I miss your favorite? What are your top family-friendly picks? 

Happy Holidays

4-Month Foods

Yesterday our sweet boy turned 4-months old and today we had our well baby visit. Clark did great through a long wait and smiled for all the doctors and nurses. He weighed in at 16lbs 11oz (75th percentile) and measured 25" long (50th percentile). A perfectly healthy little guy!

Then he got two shots. Poor kiddo didn't know that was coming! He's almost sitting up, almost rolling over, and Dr. Day said he's probably ready to start eating solid foods. She recommended just starting him with rice cereal mixed with water, so we'll try that this weekend. I didn't mention that we'd already given him a taste of food earlier in the week. We went out to eat and he was looking so jealous of our food, so I let him try some applesauce. Do you think he liked it?

I'd say so! I've also been changing what I eat, cutting back on dairy and coffee, and I think it's helping him sleep better. He's still getting up once in the night to eat, but perhaps if we can fill his belly with rice cereal before bed, that might help. Time to pull out the high chair!

Cake

These days it seems like we're going to at least one birthday party every weekend. You'd think we'd get tired of it all, but they provide Aurora a much needed outlet for all her energy. Last weekend Chuck took her to a superhero party at Pump It Up. She chose the Hulk mask and came home exhausted.

Yesterday's party was at a gym, and this time we went as a family. Here's what it was like from Clark's perspective as he watched the big kids play from a comfy spot on my lap:

It won't be long before he gets in on the action and we're double booked with big girl parties and little boy parties every weekend. I told Aurora that we don't have to go to every party we're invited to, and she said "Yes we do, because we're invited - and I love cake!" She has a point.

Got it!

What is that, a toy?  I think I can grab it.

Now what do I do with it...

Oh, hi mama!

Yessss! I got it in my mouth!!!

Trees

Friday morning we put up our little Christmas tree. It's a fake tree that I've had for years and we always talk about getting a real one, but this is just so much easier. Aurora and I had a great time listening to holiday music and placing the ornaments, and now the whole house feels so festive.

Saturday we headed to the library for Nature Storytime. We'd just been talking about how the leaves were changing on the trees in our yard, and that just happened to be the theme! After a story, Aurora made leaf rubbings on her collection bag and we headed out to find different color trees and leaves.

Clark enjoyed the whole experience more than I expected. Lately he's been paying more attention to his surroundings and he wants see everything. Suddenly he's very easily distracted when eating, and he's starting to use his hands a little, which is so cool. I think he was a little jealous when he saw his big sister climbing way up in the trees during one of our (several) playdates this weekend.

And the weekend isn't over yet! Aurora's going to a yet another birthday party this afternoon. I'm sending Chuck to take her, which means she gets lots of energy out, while I work on getting us ready for the busy week ahead. I might also work on getting a few more presents under that tree.

Turkey Day

I was going to wait and post one big blog about the five days of fun we all have off together this weekend, but decided it might be better to split it up. Just like last year, we spent Thanksgiving with my friend Carmen at her daughter's house. Ruthanna has three daughters and the youngest is Aurora's age, so the girl's have a great time together. We ate, played, swam (it was almost 80 degrees and they have an amazing pool), and all the little girls LOVED baby Clark. Here are some pics!

Chuck's been watching what he eats and has lost 30lbs since Clark was born, but instead of counting calories he decided to indulge, which... it turns out didn't work out too well. After eating tons of food, several helpings of desserts, and drinking wine throughout the afternoon, let's just say he didn't have the most pleasant evening. The upside is he didn't gain any weight! We also had a slight misadventure when I was sitting at the pool watching the girls (two photos up) and Clark had a massive blowout all over that nice new lounge chair. Yikes. I didn't have an extra outfit for him so he spent the rest of the day in a diaper, showing off his cute chubby legs. I hope they got that stain out. Oh well, it was still a wonderful day and it's been a great tradition two years in a row. Next year we'll begin a new tradition of having Thanksgiving with my parents! I wonder if Ruthanna would let us all come over...