Liz's 37th Birthday Party

I had a great birthday party on Saturday night, full of games and friends. I invited my best gamers and we had some fun with Taboo and Pictionary, people really got into it, I was not even the most competitive player there! Mike topped it off with a homemade, gluten-free, carrot cake, which was great, even better with the great frosting!

What is Sam Drawing?

And here is Sam's drawing, of....we are still not sure. He is very creative, drawing saber tooth tigers, with big "fangers" as he states very emphatically, or snake tiger dragons, or even woolly mammoths. You name it, Sam has drawn it. And here, Tyler is waiting patiently in the wings for "Tyler's turn". We all got into the game, great fun!

Tyler's Tree Holding a Package

Here is Tyler's venture into the game of Pictionary. In the Piesman household, however, we go on straight imagination. If you think it, you draw it, no additional cards needed. Here Sam has correctly identified Tyler's Tree Holding A Package drawing. Nothing gets past our Sam! Good job, boys!

Pictionary

The boys enjoyed a game of Pictionary the other night. They were actually very focused and really seemed to get into the action. Tyler loved erasing and Sam loved to tell everyone who would be going next.

Palchik

This was Tyler's first introduction to the water again after a 2 month hiatus and he was a bit nervous to jump in. You can hear him saying, "palchik", which means 'finger' in Russian, as he seemed to be fine jumping in holding a finger, just not on his own. He is really usually a bit of a daredevil, so I am sure another day in the water (although it 'snowed' today), will do him wonders.

Tyler Splashing in the Pool

It was a balmy 75 degrees on Sunday, so in honor of Grandpa's birthday, we decided to take a swim in the heated jacuzzi. Here you see Tyler preparing himself for a day of splashing and frolicking in the pool.

Sam playing basketball

This is sort of a fast paced game, but try to keep up with #2 (Sam). He may not make it on the first try, but check out his passing, rebounding, and second effort shots. The second video is a little shorter.

Bull Riding

This event was by far the kids' favorite! Again an 8 second limit and the bulls seemed very unforgiving and a bit angry! If we stay in Texas, I need to steer these children away from this type of sport...football, anyone?

Bucking Broncos

Here you can see part of the rodeo. I actually loved this part the best, I mean those horses were wild! Eight seconds never seemed that long...

Rodeo Days

We spent the day at the rodeo. San Antonio has the largest rodeo in the country and it happens once a year for a 3 week period. We had never been, so the Lemberg visit became a good excuse for all of us to experience a true Texas tradition. This was not Mike Lemberg's first rodeo, however, he was quick to mention that the Calgary rodeo, which he went to on his teen tour, is the biggest in the world. I think he still enjoyed the small one here in Texas...

This Says it ALL

Tyler has never, and I mean, never fallen asleep in the car (even when he was a baby), but boy was he tired this weekend, crashed out at 3 PM after refusing to take a nap!

More Fun Times

The kids got along quite well. I think Jamie was so happy not to be the youngest, that she took a special liking to Tyler and always made sure he was not walking alone. Sam and Lexa enjoyed lots of hugs and kisses and we even had storytime with Meliss at the end of the day (everyone was very exhausted)!

Sleepovers and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Sam and Lexa had a sleepover party on Saturday night and besides a 4:30 AM wake up, everyone actually fell asleep rather quickly and slept most of the night, in the end waking up after 7 AM! We celebrated Valentine's Day with some chocolate chip pancakes (painstakingly placed in the shape of a heart on each pancake), which were a big hit. We then went to the Riverwalk extension and spent a bit of time walking along the River, which very nerveracking for the parents who trailed close behind watching each step. We had a nice lunch outside and found a van selling cupcakes (legitimate business here) and bought some overpriced sweets, another treat for the kids and parents alike!

The Lembergs Visit

Here you can see some playtime around the house. Poor Melissa was running a daycare outside with 5 kids all under the age of 5 (we added our neighbor, Walker, as well). The kids really utilized all modes of transportation to explore the neighborhood. Lexa and Sam even enjoyed climbing the very small tree in our front yard.

Arts and Crafts with Lexa

The Lembergs came to visit San Antonio for the Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend. We had a great time with Melissa, Mike, Lexa and Jamie. Here you can see some quite, 'down' time, which we did not have much of during the entire weekend, and some nice, creative art projects that are now hanging on our kitchen bulletin board.

Pony Riding Day at Preschool

The ponies came to school last week! What fun...at least for Sam, who was very happy to feed, pet and ride the ponies, but not so for Tyler. YOu can see Martha trying desperately to get him on the pony, but to no avail...maybe next year!

Sam's Basketball Debut

Here is Sam playing on his very competitive JCC team. He has the dribbling down and the shooting, but the travelling is a very difficult concept. As you can see, he really does have a great shot!

Time to Make the Doughnuts

Thanks to Martha, the boys LOVE going to the Krispy Cream donut factory where they can see the donuts falling off the conveyor belt into a vat of oil and follow their production. Here they have decided to make some donuts on their own...mmmm.....yummy.

Talk About A Tourist Video!

Here Mike is video taping our ride from the Las Vegas Airport to the Mirage Hotel. Anyone who has not been to Las Vegas before, will be surprised by the big buildings that look very familiar, like New York and the pyramids....only in Vegas!

Vegas, Baby!

Mike and I took a weekend trip to Las Vegas with our good friends, and neighbors, Christina and Todd and another couple friend of theirs', Betsy and Mike. We had such a lovely time. We gambled, took in a Cirque De Soleil show, slept late and ate very well. The boys had a nice vacation of their own, they were kept very busy by Martha, even enjoying a train festival.

Sick in San Antonio

These pictures span a two week period of time where 'Typhoid Tyler' was sick and proceeded to get both Mike and I very ill. Luckily, Sam miraculously stayed healthy. You can see Tyler sitting on the couch with Sam eating raisins, his only real food intake for a few days. Then you can see Tyler and Sam 'running' in a 4-mile road race with me pushing the stroller, which now weighs about 80+ lbs with both boys loaded up! You probably cannot tell, but the night before the race, I was up all night with a GI bug, sadly, though Mike was also up with a similar bug and he won the 'rock, paper, scissors' game and I got to take the boys out to the Stock Stampede Rodeo race! Lucky me. We finished, but it was a poor showing for me timewise, no marathon qualifying here.