9

I can't believe our sweet girl was born 9 years ago today. Nine year old Eliza:

• is a total math geek. She plays Think Through Math and a game called Set for fun.
• is the teacher's pet again this year. When her teacher gets overwhelmed by students asking questions and needing individual instruction she sends some of them to Eliza so Eliza can explain it to them. 
• is kind. One of her classmates is from Russia. I met her mother at a birthday party recently and the mother said, "Eliza is so kind and smart. When Alisa doesn't know a word Eliza always explains it to her."
• is very into girl power. She was crushed by Hillary's loss but immediately went into her room to change her shirt for school and wore her hero shirt "for Hillary."
• is a great big sister. One of my favorite things in the world is to watch Eliza read to Ezra. 

She's all I could have asked for and more and we love her so much. 

Spring Break 2016

We had such a good spring break, the kind of spring break that makes settling back into our regular routine hard. We went to 5 or 6 playgrounds. Ez started off the weekend by asking for me to take him to the playground where we had his dinosaur party. He climbed all over the playscape like a monkey. Other parents routinely comment on his climbing prowess, sometimes they're impressed and sometimes they're horrified because they think (incorrectly) he'll need my help. He discovered a great swing under a huge old tree and had a blast.

We also went to San Antonio for a couple of days with my BFF and her kids. The kids loved staying in a hotel room together, swimming, going to the zoo, the Doseum and on a train ride.

Scott took the kids for donuts, then they spent the day at Mt. Bonnell.

I also took them to Mayfield Park and Ezra fed a peacock. We went on a big hike and the kids slid all the way down a big hill on their bottoms, which they thought was hilarious.

We also went to Lady Bird Lake with Marshall and Janet and their kids and ended up randomly eating at Joe's Crab Shack when it became clear that the kids couldn't soldier on without French friends and the adults were in need of a cocktail.

We ended the week by celebrating Eli and Ryan's birthdays (more playground) time and meeting up with Emily and Duval and family (even more playgrounds).

Beautiful weather, the kids are at super fun and easy ages and we got to see so many friends! We are so lucky.

No more training wheels

So, it's been forever since I've blogged (mostly because I use Facebook instead) but Eliza is doing an assignment this week that required me to look back at this old blog. She needed the dates for her first word, first step, etc. and I had to look back on the blog to remember! Which made me think that poor Ezra has had some milestones lately that might get lost if I don't update the blog. Over the weekend he learned to ride his bike without training wheels! Last weekend S removed them on a whim when he looked really tall on his bike (he's grown an inch in the past two weeks!). He had a couple of short successful runs but then crashed and said he wanted his training wheels back on. We tabled the bike riding for the day. Then on Sunday S took him to the parking lot nearby to try again. Five minutes later he called me to come over right away. Sure enough, something clicked and off he went! He was SO proud of himself. He now weighs 41 pounds and he's learning to read short Bob books. My baby isn't such a baby anymore. :(

Vacation

S and I were together a long time before we had kids. During that time we went skiing probably 3 or 4 times.  On those trips there were always a few adorable kids who caught on to skiing right away and we always said when we had kids we'd take them skiing when they were old enough. With a 7 year old and a 3 year old, we thought that time was probably now. S hadn't been able to get away from work for more than a couple of days since Ez was 1but finally the stars aligned. We booked a place back in September and looked forward to it very much.  Probably at the beginning of December I started to have a few doubts. The kids fight all the time. They aren't particularly good at road trips and this would be 15 or so hours away. They aren't used to cold weather. They've never tried skiing before. What if this was a disaster?

I'm happy to report that the kids did great. We had a few minor meltdowns on the slopes (realizing you really have to pee and are on top of a mountain is pretty tough for a kiddo, but we  made it in the nick of time). Ez was a tad too young for the ski school so that morning I watched some YouTube videos of teaching toddlers to ski and we just did our best. :)  For the most part he loved it. In one day of Ski School Eliza learned a lot.  The 2nd day she skied with us and really took off.  It was thrilling and also terrifying to watch your kids careen down a mountain.

We also made time to stop at the ABQ aquarium and spent New Year's Eve in Roswell looking for aliens. On the way home we got stuck in Abilene due to some major ice but all in all everyone was a trooper.  We got used to hotel breakfasts and being surrounded by snow.  It was also really good to get home. 

We didn't make it back in time for the annual NYE tea party so Papa and Grammy recreated it on the 3rd, complete with Papa wearing a scarf and playing the previously recorded NYC count down and ball drop.

Waking up so early was a bit of a feat this morning but the kids were so excited to see their friends and Ez was particularly excited to show off his bell from the Polar Express (which was awesome) and his Darth Vader shoes that sound like him breathing.  Eliza was excited to show off another tooth she'd lost (that makes 7!) and tell her friends how she learned to ski. 

I loves you

It's been way too long since I've blogged but I wanted to drop a quick note to remember something cute Ez is doing.  He will snuggle up to us and say "I loves you" rather than "I love you." He also get so excited when he sees an excavator. I'm so used to him saying "Excabator" that sometimes I can't remember which way is the right way. :) We pass one every morning during our commute. 

Donuts Come Back

Yesterday Ezra told me about how he and his friend Hudson tried to cheer up Hudson's little brother Archer when he was crying at school.  Ezra sang Archer a song from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. The song is called "Grown ups come back."  I don't know if Ezra was confused or making a joke but instead Ezra sang, "Donuts come back."  So, if you're having a rough day, just think to yourself that someday soon you'll be able to eat a donut again and that should perk you right up. :)

This morning Ezra must have said 30 times that he wanted to eat a hamburger for breakfast.  Maybe it was the fact that he was so calm and not throwing a tantrum but just clearly stating his preference, or maybe I was just in an agreeable mood, but after Eliza and S left for school/work, Ezra and I headed to the only place I could think of that serves hamburgers at 8am, Burger King.  To his credit, he did polish off an adult-sized hamburger in less than 5 minutes.  I guess sometimes you just have a craving. 

1st grade journal

Both kids had Back to School Night this week.  Which makes for long days and tired kids but that's another post. I already know Ezra's teacher really well so his event went as expected.  Eliza's teacher seems equally great but my favorite part was getting to read her journal. I'm getting better at reading her inventive spelling and her messages cracked me up.  Some examples:

Today I soul my BFF and she soul me.
I ate twelv waffls this morning. (to be fair, they were the mini waffles)
This weknd I had a slip over with my BFF.
This summer I went down watr slids and ate smors one time.
This morning I was vary vary vary tird.

Ez is talking all about his new class.  The other day he said, "Ms. Sarah brought some sparkly soap and now it's all gone.  Can you tell Ms. Sarah to get more of that sparkly kind?" 

These kids.  They crack me up.