Austin. Mom. Blog.

I searched and searched for the perfect Christmas tree. I found one, but it wasn’t perfect. We looked at Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, H-E-B, Garden Ridge, Lowe’s, and finally Home Depot.  Our choice ended up being at Home Depot. The price ended up being our final factor. There were other trees that were just as nice at Lowe’s and Hobby Lobby. I put up the tree yesterday and with the new technology in trees, I thought it would be easier this year. That wasn’t the case. It’s pre-lit and only has three pieces to hook together. Well, the time consuming part was spreading all the branches. It took me over two hours. Our old tree took just as long. It was the old fashioned kind where you put each branch on at a time. On the old one, I would spread the branch before I put it on the tree.  So, I was looking for an easier and less time consuming set up of a tree, but the easy part just ended up not having to put the lights on it.  Don’t get me wrong; it’s a beautiful tree and I’m happy we got a new one, but my expectations weren’t met on the time. Maybe we will get a fresh live tree next year. Then again, I wonder what my husband will say on that.

We have been to Champion Park several times, but I have finally decided to share it with everyone. This is one of my favorite parks. The key area for my boys is the huge sand pit. Toys are left for others to play with and it’s shaded. In the summer time there is a small area where water spouts will spray. This area is shaped as a whale. Huge boulders are available to climb on with a set of swings near by. Trails go through the park to walk, jog, or run on. The park also includes two grills to barbecue on. Fortunately, restrooms are near. For the majority of the time my boys stay in the sand pit, but when we visited over the weekend they utilized all the amenities. If you’re in the Cedar Park area, I would definitely recommend Champion Park!

I thought it wouldn’t happen, but it did. My son got gum in his hair. I immediately thought about the whole “ice” trick. Before I tried it, I searched the web to see what I could find out first. There were solutions like peanut butter, baby oil, and vegetable oil. I didn’t have baby oil so I tried the vegetable oil. It worked. I got a paper towel and dipped it in vegetable oil. Then I soaked his hair with it. Slowly I rubbed the hair with my fingers and the gum started to come out. I also got a comb and gently started to comb it out. I’m glad the vegetable oil worked out. I didn’t want to leave a bald spot in my son’s head. So, all you parents out there, vegetable oil will take out the gum. It worked for me.

It was a great family day. The boys were great, the weather was great, and the view was great. When I say the view, I mean the Zilker Botanical Garden. We originally hadn’t planned on going there, but on a whirlwind ended up there. We wanted to take advantage of the outdoors. The boys both were off school due to the holiday. They are at the perfect age to appreciate the beautiful gardens and scenery. It was like an adventure for them. In each corner was either a plant, flower, rock, or some sort of nature. It’s free to visit. If you haven’t already seen the Garden, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who lives in Austin or is visiting.

I am about to start looking into ski vacations. I am looking for a ski resort that has the ability to ski in and out the front door of your room. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. It will definitely help with my search. The criteria I am looking for is that it needs to be kid-friendly, not a long drive from Austin or long plane ride, and it can accomodate my entire family. This will include 8 adults, 2 teenagers, and 2 boys. I will be searching for the dates during spring break. It is from March 13th through March 21st. We all went to Ruidoso, New Mexico one year and had a great time. We drove and the drive itself was exhausting. It was worth it, but this time I am leaning towards a short plane ride. Any tips? Any great locations? Anything will help.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I am already in the holiday spirit. I already forced my husband to bring the decorations down from the attic. I am searching for a new tree. We have one that you need to put branch by branch on. I need a more simple one. I’m looking for a pre-lit seven foot tree that’s not going to cost me $300. I have looked at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. Nothing caught my eye. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Some people are already calling me crazy for putting up my Christmas decorations, but at least it’s later this year than last year. I put up my tree and decorations the day after Halloween last year. I really want the boys to enjoy it longer. Their faces light up with all the little musical globes, the lights being lit up, and the over-all presence of Christmas. We have already got out their Christmas trees. They each have a 3 foot tall tree in their room. We have put on ornaments and they are using them as night lights. We won’t put out the outside decorations until after Thanksgiving. I don’t want everyone to know how crazy we are. We will limit the craziness inside for now.

The boys and I went to Old Settlers Park today for a few hours. We met up with two friends of mine. They each have a boy that play with my oldest and one has a daughter that plays with my youngest. The boys are the same age and the young ones are also. It works out really well. Every time we go to Old Settlers Park, I tell myself we should go more often. It’s a fairly large park with several playscapes, soccer fields, baseball fields, a pond where you can feed the ducks or go fishing at, and plenty more. We tend to go for the playscapes. It keeps the boys entertained for a little while. The weather kept us from staying longer. It was drizzling off and on. We left after two hours and on the way home the rain really started to come down. We left at the perfect time. I hope we can go again sometime soon.

It was a great Saturday. I felt like a productive mom today. I took the boys to the kids workshop at Home Depot (in which I will go into detail later), we went and ate at Chick-fil-a, went to the park, visited my mom, and ended the day playing with the neighborhood kids. It was a filled day.

The first Saturday of each month Home Depot has a free kids’ workshop at their locations from 9 to 12. My oldest son has ten pins on his home depot apron so I believe we have been participating for ten months now. It is a totally free workshop for the recommended ages of 5 to 12. Each month is a different project. Today we made a trivet. I usually only bring my oldest son, but decided to bring my youngest also. My youngest son doesn’t like to stay still for long. However; he did very well today. I believe it was because the project didn’t take as long. It was a simple project, but I still did not get it correct. The project consisted of four wooden pieces and I didn’t line them up right. The boys didn’t notice, but I did. When I got home, my husband noticed also. Oh well… The boys worked together on it, had smiles on their faces, and we got an end result. That’s all that truly matters. Home Depot’s goal on these projects is for families to have family time. I believe they have been successful. My oldest son looks forward to these projects and treasures the pin and certificate he receives after the completion of the project. Today my youngest son also seemed happy about the completion. My husband works weekends so he isn’t able to participate, but I really wish he could. I think it would be easier for him to follow the written instructions. I seem to end up having extra pieces at the end. I’m told that’s not supposed to happen. Fortunately, my brother is able to take my son sometimes. Before the event, home depot has a posting on what the project will be and I thought it looked easy enough for me to get. I guess not. The next project looks even harder, so I’m hoping my brother will be able to step in. I really think this is a cool event that home depot has for the kids and totally recommend it.

My husband attempted to make barbecue chicken for the first time. It was delicious. At the last minute I decided to invite my family over. I have two brothers and a sister. Both brothers are married and my little sister is only 16. My mom, sister, brothers, and one sister-in-law came. My dad had to work and the other sister-in-law had to attend a college class. I was happy that we had a good turn out. Usually everyone is too busy to come over. If possible, I believe it is so important to surround yourself with loved ones. My two boys loved having them over. I honestly can say I didn’t hear one whine or cry out of the boys while they were over. Don’t you just love those times? Overall, it was fun and I can’t wait until the next family dinner.

I love a good sale. Target has their Halloween merchandise 75% off right now. I got a lot of cute items for the kids next year. I enjoy making treat bags for the boys’ classmates so I stocked up for next year. There was a lot of people grabbing the candy. I glanced over to see what was left, but passed it up. We already have so much candy and with more candy around I would be forced to eat it. The sale is focused on Halloween items, but there were a lot of items I bought that you could use any day. I bought a package of pencils and erasers that were Transformers. I could use these items for when we play bingo. I enjoy having company and sometimes we play bingo. I like to have little prizes for the kids to win. I also bought 16 packages of crayons for a dollar. They were the small packages that held 4 crayons in each bag. They had some good bargains. I want to check out another Target tomorrow to see if I passed anything up. Like I said, I love a good sale!

Anyone who has children and pets I give my full support to them. I honestly can’t do it. My boys really want a dog, but I know I can’t handle another task. It took me a whole hour to clean out a betta fish bowl and that was more than enough for me. Sad, right? It’s one little fish and I thought it would be easier to take care of. It just proves that we do not need a dog or any other animal right now in our lives. We also are the “get up and go” kind of family. We wouldn’t be able to do that with another family member that is a pet. I really want the boys to be happy, but I’m not ready. Does anyone have any advice on how to let them down gently?

My oldest son has been going to school for ten weeks now and still says he doesn’t like school. He tells me on a daily basis he doesn’t want to go. After school he tells me he has fun and informs me of all the activities he participated in. I was really hoping the “dread” of going to school would have passed by now. It has been TEN weeks. As his mom, I do understand where he’s coming from. He has been home with me for 5 years of his life. I had the opportunity to stay home with him since the day he was born. He did go to pre-school, but it was only for 3 days of the week and for 5 hours a day. Now he has to go 5 days a week for 7 hours. What a change! I truly miss him every day, but I know in my heart I couldn’t give him the education he needs if I home-schooled him. We have great communication so I’m hopeful it will all work out. I have tried different exercises on how we could make school more enjoyable and would love some feedback on more. A few things we have agreed on include; me going to his lunch once a week, letting him have rest time when he gets out of school, and letting him buy his own lunch. For some reason, he loves to buy the cafeteria food. He tells me he likes the ability to choose different side dishes. My husband tells me we need to take him to Luby’s. My son can pick as many sides as he wants there. Well, I’m hoping the school routine gets better and I will keep everyone updated. If anyone can give me any tips or advice, please feel free to do so. I know this might sound too dramatic, but my heart aches when he tells me he doesn’t want to go to school. I want the comfort of knowing he’s happy.

It’s the day after Halloween and I’m exhausted from last night’s activities. My boys still seem as energetic as ever. From a time change to the “going door to door” routine I must admit, I am tired. My two boys still woke up this morning at seven-thirty and it didn’t phase them we went to bed at 10:30 the night before. Their usual bedtime is 8:00. The energy of a child is priceless. Last night was fun. My oldest son  dressed up as Jango Fett from Star Wars and my youngest son dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine. We met up with a close friend of mine and did the “trick or treating” with them. She has older kids so they lasted longer than mine. My Jango Fett kept up with them, but my Thomas only lasted a few houses. Their bags were filled to the max with candy. Honestly, I had hoped they wouldn’t get so much candy. I will just end up giving it away once they forget about it. I’m the kind of mom that likes the pretzels, erasers, and pencils instead. I know that sounds pretty lame, but keep in mind they are still 3 and 5. Fortunately, they stuck to my rule of only one candy last night and to my surprise my Jango Fett actually chose the pretzels over candy. That was a shocker. So, overall the kids had fun, we were in good company, and nobody got hurt. It was a successful night. Anybody as tired as I am?

Our family went to the fright fest at Fiesta Texas in San Antonio on Friday, October 30th. Since our boys were only 3 and 5 the rides they had for them weren’t too long of a wait. Throughout the summer we went to Fiesta Texas several times and that seems to be the case each time. For kids under six, the lines aren’t bad. We have season passes so we go each chance we get. I really wouldn’t recommend the fright fest for our ages of boys. It was too scary for them. Luckily, they didn’t have any nightmares or screams through the night, but some of the props and costumes were a little much for them. If you have kids that aren’t too spooked from these kind of things, then it’s a place I would recommend to check out. The rides kept us busy for almost four hours. For the most part, we focused on riding the rides and avoiding the spooky stuff.

We really enjoyed a room set up for cookie decorating and pumpkin painting. You had the option to buy, keep, and paint a pumpkin or buy a large round cookie to decorate and eat. The price was five dollars to do both. We ended up buying both. I thought that was reasonable. The boys really enjoyed it and in the end that’s all that matters.

Also, they had Scooby and Shaggy passing out treat bags. We waited in line to go on a large stage to meet them, take pictures, and receive a treat bag. It was the perfect experience for the whole “trick or treating” concept. My youngest son was a little freaked out being near them so I held him the whole time. We saved this experience to the end so it would be a final ending to our day. It worked out perfect.

The theme park had a haunted house for an additional five dollars a person that looked pretty scary. I didn’t go in, but there was a huge line for it. For older children and adults who enjoy the whole Halloween experience and in the middle of it getting to ride roller coasters, I would recommend the fright fest for them. For our family and the ages of our boys, I would not. We had fun, but next time we will wait until our boys are a little older.

I’m not sure how this came to be, but my three year old son is refusing to wash his hands. I am having to monitor his hand washing. This has been going on a month now. I really thought it would pass, but now I’m starting to look for guidance. He tells me he doesn’t like his hands wet. I make sure his hands get washed, but it’s an ordeal each time. I have explained to him why we wash our hands, but it doesn’t phase him. Is there anyone with any advice or any books to recommend? I am about to search the internet, but thought I might blog first to see if anyone has any solutions.

What a weird title, right? Well, the title fit my experience at Target today. Recently my boys and I read a book called, “The Case of the Gimmies” Berenstein Bears. It talked about how brother and sister bear wanted everything they saw at the store and eventually it go so bad, the parents had enough. Well, the outcome ends up being that they agree on one item to buy before going to the store and only one item. If they ask for anything else, they get nothing at all. Well, I have been reading the book to my boys at least once a week and decided to try it today at Target. I explained to my youngest son that he only gets to choose one item and if he decides to whine about it or ask for another item, he gets nothing at all. To my astonishment; it worked. I was pretty pleased with myself. I am hoping it will work the next time around. I believe he really took heart to the book and related it to our store outing. If there’s a parent out there who really is on the same page when it comes to “the case of the gimmies”, I would recommend this book. Now only if I could get him to listen the first time I say something; that would be a miracle. Does anyone know any good listening books?

Our family went to see “G Force” today at the discount movie theatre in Round Rock. It was a cute movie and worth the seventy-five cents we each paid. On Mondays all movies are seventy-five cents for three or more. On other days it is a little higher.  As an adult and as a kid I enjoyed going to the movies, so I’m hoping my boys like the experience too. We go on Mondays for the discount. I figure if my three year old doesn’t sit still through the whole movie it’s o.k. It’s not a huge loss. He’s been doing pretty well. The last fifteen to twenty minutes it gets a little disturbing. At this point my son and I usually head to the back of the theatre so others can watch. As a parent, I look for reasonable and fun things for my boys to do and hope this information might be helpful for another parent.

The event “Day out with Thomas” was held in Rusk, Texas over the weekend and we missed out. Our three year old son is a big Thomas fan. We went to the event held in Burnet, Texas on October 9th, but would have loved to have gone to Rusk. Our family has gone to the “Day out with Thomas” three times through the years and have enjoyed Rusk the most. We have been to Austin, Rusk, and Burnet. In Rusk all the activities were held outside in a spacious atmosphere. Everything wasn’t crammed together. It wasn’t limited to space. Our sons have enjoyed each outing, but as a parent I preferred Rusk. It was quite a drive, but worth it. Each location had similar stations. They included storytelling, meeting Sir Topham Hatt, tatooes, several train tables with running trains, inflatables, and the main attraction of riding a train with Thomas in front. Some people are unaware that it isn’t necessary to purchase a ticket to enjoy the whole event. The ticket is only to ride the train. People can enjoy the activities for free. Also, each time we have gone, there have been tickets at the window for purchase on location. That has been our luck each time. Each time we have had to take our son home screaming from him not wanting to leave. On a weekly basis he asks me when are we going back to “Day out with Thomas.” We would have loved to take him this weekend, but maybe next time around. For parents that have children that love trains, I would definitely recommend this event.

Today we decided to check out the event at Skyridge Plaza in Round Rock. I’m not a fan of crowds or lines so we went at 10:00 when it started. That was the perfect time to go. That first hour the crowds and lines were minimal. Everything was free except for the pony rides for $5.00. It was a fairly small event, but perfect for my three year old and five year old. We lasted two hours and that was perfect. The activites included a petting zoo, face painting, balloons, inflatables, and a cake walk in which the prizes were pretty generous considering it was a free event. We would definitely go again next year.

There are two Halloween events in Round Rock on October 24th that we might go to. They are both free which is a big plus. One event is being held at Skyridge Plaza from 10 to 6. The address is 2000 S. IH 35, exit 251 in case anyone wants to check it out. Also, there is an event at Round Rock Gardens located on Sam Bass Road from 4 to 7.  Both events look inviting. If anyone has been to either one I would love some feedback. If not, I will let everyone know which one we went to and if we enjoyed it. Considering the times, we might check them both out. As a mom, I love the opportunity to have my boys outdooors and try to let them experience as much as time and energy will allow.