EDAMAME

How cool is this? Preston and I are foodies , or so I think. We love to eat and try new foods, so I introduce different things to the boys often and most of the time it doesn't take, especially when is green.
A couple of weeks ago we went to Pei Wei, an Asian place, we love their noodles and for appetizer we ordered edamame. We had the boys try it just so they would spit it out, which happens often. That's ok we had plenty, so they were done; no biggie more for me, hehe. A few days later I bought frozen edamame at Target and yesterday I thought I'd bring it out and this time guess what happened?! Yup, ALL of us ate edamame and not just a little bit, a lot! Now I don't know about you guys but, I was very impressed. The boys loved it and is sooo healthy I think I just might have to buy it again.
I think my boys just have exotic taste because they love pomegranate as well. A plain old banana, yuck, but give them pomegranate, edamame or Mexican mole and they're in heaven. Ok, so maybe not so much the mole thing.
Anyway, Preston and I are just happy that the boys are open to trying new foods and that we're adventurous enough to try it as well. (ok so I cheated a little, I ate a lot of pomegranate when I was little, I grew up in MX what can I say.)

We took a hike- Our hurricane Ike story

As many of you know our poor H-town suffered great damage due to Ike, we're recovering. Here's our rendition of this disaster. Preston was told to leave early from his office and we were prepared, we told ourselves that we would hunker down and we'd get by just fine, but for some reason we both felt inclined to think it over and after a prayer we felt the impression that we needed to leave and go to Dallas to my SIL place. We sure are glad we listened! We didn't have any damage to our house at all, but we were without power for over 2 weeks!!! We left on thurs. afternoon before the storm hit, it took 2 hrs. longer than the regular travel time but we made it without any mishaps, and the boys were awesome, they were patient and seldom asked for things, which was great b/c Preston's mom was riding with us and hopefully she had a good experience riding with us. We were in Dallas for 6 days and decided to come back b/c Preston's office was up and running and my sister had power so we could have stayed with her, but when we got to Houston grandma discovered she had power too, so we stayed with her instead, poor "Amma" she had to bear with us for a few more days. Luckily we had a trip to Disney World planned starting on 9/22 so we got out of her hair asap.
The thing I miss the most about my house was 1)my bed and 2)my kitchen, there's nowhere like home...with power. Also, I think Thomas suffered the most, he started saying "go home" soon after we tried to put him to sleep; he missed his crib and is not used to sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag. Tyler loved it, he was on vacation and got to play with new toys, mainly his cousins.
We keep hearing how hard it was to be there during the storm, listening to the strong wind and to have to live off food storage and survive the Houston heat with no AC; it was too much. Is it bad to say that I'm glad we weren't there for all that even tough most friends and family stayed in Houston?? We feel bad for family and friends that stayed and hopefully the groceries that we brought back to some of them helped.
One of the most eerie things for me was that on the way back to Houston, we planned to stop at a gas station a couple hours away from Houston to fill up again b/c we knew that it was scarce, we filled up in Centerville and the town after it had "no food/no gas" in one of those Amber alert signs, I got chills, we were still hours away from our destination!! Anyway we got home and everywhere you looked there was debris and eventually darkness, pitch black in some parts.
Things are pretty much back to normal and we've had many more things to do that kept us busy and distracted from all the crazy stuff that's happened.
Again, thank you very much Carrie and gang for your hospitality, you're our evacuation route. See you soon. :)
At the Dallas museum.



Sleeping on the floor, finally.








That's a lot of bricks!














So many lights out everywhere, ugh....

Proud mama

I think this is pretty impressive, so here goes. Our sons love music everything from Credence Clearwater Revival to Fergie junk. So we always thought that they would like to play instruments or sing at some point in their lives, although the singing is already done a daily basis, but you know get some formal education.
A while back, Tyler got a 5 key color coded animal xylophone and he would bang on it and stuff when he was little. Well, on Friday we got it out for some reason and asked me to play something on it and I said "ok...twinkle, twinkle?" "sure, mom" he responded. So I figured out the tune and 5 mins. later I played it for him (I have taken piano lessons people), well another 5 mins. later he was playing it. Just like that!! Nothing to it, that kid. He keeps flooring us with his sponge-like awesomeness. "Little dude, got skillz." :)
On sunday, we went to my parents for dinner and before we left he saw the piano and ran to it and said "Mommy help me." Now keep in mind that this is not color coded and with far more keys than anything he's actually played. The following video is the first rendition of "twinkle, twinkle" and the time it took Tyler to figure it out and play it. Later on he did play the entire thing more than once, with a few mistakes.
I tell ya, this kid, amazing! Yes, we're proud of him and we love him.

We were robbed!!

Well, this post was supposed to be named ridiculousness, the reason behind was b/c I had pix of a new plasma TV, and a Wii that we had gotten, told ya, ridiculous! Anyway but before I could post this, some crazy kids came in through our bedroom french doors and stole that and many more things. Yup, that's right our Wii is out there kidnapped and held hostage probably for the rest of its existence. In all seriousness, we're fine, it was a few weeks ago the boys and I weren't home, it was in the middle of the day with many more houses to rob, but they chose ours. One of our neighbors saw the whole thing and thought it was strange that we let someone "borrow" a TV, yeah, odd that, no police call, nothing. But I'm not bitter. I think the most valuable thing they robbed me of, was my sense of safety and security, the french doors are gone in its place stands a wall, which apparently can be open very easily in the nightmares that I keep having.
So now off to differents options that we are studying, in the near future we will probably tell you all about them, but in the meantime you know why I've been so negligent on my blog, well it's no good reason now, but a small one.
Keep safe everybody!!

Family Pix

Everybody say cheese!!













It's easier said than done, definitely, family pictures that is.
One of my sisters thought that it would be a good idea to go and take pictures, at a park or something since, believe it or not we haven't done this in years, how sad. Anyway, each family was color coded by availability of colors and at random. We liked most of the pictures but it was a production; it was a hot, hot day and when our boys are out in open spaces, let's just say that they don't behave entirely like boys, well maybe they do, a bit too much.
We definitely need to work out the kinks and maybe nxt. time we could have a picnic afterwards. And hopefully someone will think,"hey let's do it in cooler weather not when it's 100+ outside" :).
All in all, we had fun and we definitely need to do it more often, not every 5 yrs.

Austin trip/ Preston's MBA Graduation

Well it has finally come to an end.
Yes, ladies and gents I give you the newest UT Ex, my very own worn out husband.
We left Houston on Friday afternoon so that we could make it to a graduation dinner in the evening, we had a nice bar-b-que and mingled with fellow graduates-to-be. Previously Preston and I had gotten tix to go see "The Dark Knight", which was awesome, and we made it back to the hotel early in the morning, it was a looong movie.
Saturday morning we headed to UT campus for the convocation, followed by a reception. We mingled with grads and their fams, as well as, in the company of "amma" (grandma) and both Lupita's sisters and her respective families. We enjoyed each others company and, although I know that Preston was a little heartbroken because he wasn't going to see some of his friends anymore, he was ecstatic about finishing. Sorry honey, I know you'll keep in touch with them.
We left to San Marcos for a trip to Aquarena Springs and ride the glass-bottom boats (see pic above), the boys had a blast. and then met with Lupita's family again for some hearty burgers. And finally; home.
Thanks for the treat Dona and Vicky and thanks for coming.
Grandma thank you for coming, hope you had a nice ride with us. And thanks again for all your help during the trip.
And here's a preview of our future grad, he's a picked a good school.
Hook 'em Horns!!

4th of July fun

In the morning there was a 5K/2.5K (your pick) fun run at church. The boys slept in and I decided to do my first 5k ever. I didn't do as badly as I thought I was going to do, so yay me.
After the run, we had breakfast and all the men in our fam. definitely made it for that. We went to a parade and chilled until it was time to meet grandma and go to Hermann Park for the festivities with fireworks and a symphony concert. We definitely enjoyed it, but it was a bit too long for the boys, they were troopers.