That Frog Guy

We went back to the American History Museum today since we spent so little time there on Sunday. I had to take this picture of DD because we were at the Popular Culture exhibit and she tells me, "Hey Mama, there's that frog guy!" Is that sad or what? She didn't even know Kermit the Frog's name! Honestly, she never watched TV much when she was "younger". She would get bored and walk away. The big boys never liked watching Sesame Street. DS#3 has only watched the podcasts. I've tried getting all of them to watch Sesame Street at various times and they wouldn't.

I enjoyed most of this museum. Learning about history is just my "thing". The Abraham Lincoln exhibit was probably my favorite followed closely by the First Ladies exhibit. I enjoyed learning about Lincoln more in depth and I just liked looking at the beautiful gowns in the latter exhibit. The big boys liked the Robotic Car and DS#2 liked the interactive science exhibit where he had to figure out how to put two wooden puzzles together in a specific way. DH enjoyed the Science in America exhibit (a big surprise) and the Robotic Car. By the way, that exhibit showed how a driverless car was able to win a 100 mile or so race through the desert. That's without remote controls either. The car had sensors to tell it which way to go to avoid obstacles and to avoid driving off the road. It was pretty cool, actually. DD didn't even pick an exhibit as her favorite part of today. She said that riding on the Metro was her favorite part of today.

Tomorrow we've got "tickets" to the Washington Monument, and we're also planning on stopping by the Jefferson Memorial. It rained today while we were in the museum. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow!

Air and Space

We spent a very long day at the National Air and Space Museum -- about 10am to 6pm. We ended up taking a guided tour first, which was great for learning things that weren't written down on the information signs, but that lasted from 10:30am to 12:45pm. I just wish I already knew enough about the Space Program and the History of Flight to actually ask questions.

The picture above is of DS#1 in front of only one of the Saturn 5 engines (the pose was his idea). The Saturn 5 rocket was used to launch the Apollo missions. It's pretty impressive to think about how huge the rockets were that were needed to propel the various modules into space (since so much energy is required to go fast enough to leave the Earth's atmosphere).

The older boys had a blast (pun intended) learning all about air and space. DD got bored pretty easily, but she did enjoy their interactive exhibit about the mechanics of flying. DS#3 was in his element with all of those planes, but he did manage a short nap during the guided tour. I enjoyed the guided tour the best because it put together several of the exhibits into a narrative that put each plane or space vehicle into perspective for me instead of looking at each one on it's own, if that makes any sense.

Because we've been spending so much on lunches at the museums, we tried to go a little cheaper at dinner. Tonight that meant stopping by the CVS Pharmacy on the way home to pick up some frozen dinners for the family. I've never had to shop for groceries "in the city" before and this experience has left me wondering where people go to do their "real" grocery shopping around here. I guess we should ask at the front desk tomorrow. I'm a little sick of fast food every day.

Lastly, I found myself revisiting the subject of the war memorials again today. When I was going through the World War I and II exhibits today, one of the signs pointed out how if they had listed out all the names of the dead in one of those wars (I can't remember which one, probably WWI) the list would have been eight times longer than the list at the Vietnam War Memorial. It's a sobering fact, but there aren't as
many soldiers dying in combat anymore, a fact that may seem good or bad depending on your perspective. This unfortunately gives us more business at the Army hospital that I work at, but at least there aren't millions of dead soldiers.

National Museum of Natural History

Today we visited the Natural Museum. This photo is of DD in front of an Easter Island sculpture similar to the one in the recent movie, Night In The Museum 2. We spent a little time looking for other items from the movie, like the Giant Squid and T. Rex. They even had handy dandy pamphlets showing us where the exhibits mentioned in the movie are housed. We'll have several more to look for in the following days.

My favorite exhibit was one on Forensic Anthropology and how they figured out members of an early Virginia settlement died. DH said he enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit. DS#2 enjoyed learning about the mammals and the sea creatures. DD loved the exhibits that she was allowed to touch, especially some of the bones. DS#1 enjoyed most of it. In fact, DH noticed how DS#1 was reading everything and seemed to really be absorbing all of it. He did just say that his favorite was the same as mine, however. DS#3 seemed exhausted and spent most of the day riding in his stroller with his burp cloth and his toy "Doggie".

A note about the war museums yesterday - only the Vietnam War Memorial had all the names of the veterans listed. The WWI Memorial was just a pavilion with the names of only the Washington, D.C. veterans listed. It was so minimal compared to the other war memorials. I enjoyed the WWII Memorial the most because it really was beautiful with the water and the design.

Today we even made it to church. We've had a very full day. Tomorrow we're going to the Air and Space Museum.

Trains Only

DS#3 woke up from his nap and we can't seem to get through the American History Museum because all he wants to do is look at the train exhibits! He wanted us to open up this case so he could play with the train, but of course we can't!

A Restful Spot

This a picture of DD resting at the World War II Memorial. The poor girl is tired from all of the walking we've done today. We walked about a mile from our hotel to the Lincoln Memorial this morning. It's weird to be glad that the temperature is only in the 80s.

We are currently eating lunch in the Food Court inside the Reagan Building. It was weird having to go through security just to eat at a Food Court, but it was worth it to eat in air conditioning. I think we're going to the National Aquarium next. We may go back to the hotel after that so we can relax by the pool. My feet hurt!

Buffet Breakfast

Last night we went to bed fairly early. The little ones and I were in bed by 8:30pm EST. The other half of the family went to bed by 10pm. DD and DS#3 slept in one bed together, while DH and I slept in the other bed. DS#1 and 2 slept on the sofa sleeper in the other room.

This morning, the little ones were awake and goofing around by 6:41am! We managed to quiet them down so we could stay in bed until 8am. They offer a buffet breakfast here. DS#2 got a Belgian waffle, Apple Jacks cereal, scrambled eggs, and a blueberry muffin. DS#3 stole some of his Apple Jacks. We were a bit indulgent and let DD eat a boiled egg and 2 chocolate chip muffins. DS#1 only woke up when the rest of us were leaving for breakfast, but even after 2 pancakes, 2 sausage links, scrambled eggs, and a hard-boiled egg, he still finished eating before most of us. I was in line for an omelet for forever, but it was worth it.

We're trying to decide what to do today, probably the Lincoln Memorial and a couple of museums.

We're here!

DS#3 was so excited to be on the plane in his own seat. Unfortunately for me, both he and DD wanted to sit with me while DH got to sit with the other two. DH still helped me a lot, but it was more inconvenient for him. Here is a picture of the little man drinking his apple juice and watching his Thomas video. He looks so serious, doesn't he? The boys forgot to pack the headphones, too. Luckily, DS#3 allowed us to put the earphones in his ears, but they kept falling out. *SIGH*

The rest of the flight went pretty well. DS#3 even took a little nap. DD survived only because she stopped asking how much longer we had until we landed. We're in Baggage Claim. As soon as we get the bags, we're grabbing a shuttle bus to our hotel. So far so good!

Sent from my iPhone

Testing 1, 2, 3

Well, I was able to post a picture taken with my IPhone but all of my text that I painstakingly typed out did not post with it. Oh well!

I just found the text I typed up. It's below:

I'm at the airport right now and I want to see if I can take photos and post them to my blog while on the go. We were actually ready to leave the house early this morning, partly because the kids were excited and got up early. DS#2 was lecturing us about getting to the airport with plenty of time to eat breakfast. We already know that we forgot to bring DVDs because DS#1 thought DS#2 was going to do it and vice versa. Fortunately, DH did bring the Thomas the Tank Engine DVD for DS#3.

That's enough typing for now. It's so much slower on this IPhone keyboard!

Sent from my iPhone

Heading Out in the Morning

Just a short post to say that we're all excited (well, maybe not DS#3 since he doesn't even realize what's going on) about going to Washington, D.C. tomorrow. DH did a great deal of work today. He shopped for last minute items, he held the newspaper and mail, and he did laundry--lots of it. The kids had mostly packed when I got home and the electronic distractions were already being charged.

My picture for today will be a photo of the suitcases grouped together at the foot of the stairs. I didn't have any time to upload anything to the computer, so I'm not posting any photos tonight. It's ironic that one of the suitcases says "Going to Grandma's", except we're not going to Grandma's house this time. DS#1 received that suitcase many, many years ago from Grandma, and now DS#3 is using it.

We're leaving tomorrow morning and not returning until the Fourth of July. I hope the weather cooperates with us and that the kids do okay walking everywhere. We'll be taking the Metro also, but not the Red Line. ;-)

Two More Quartets

Today, we got pictures of DS#2 and DD. I want to get pics of all the kids around their birthdays again this year, and I plan to put the matching frames above my bed. The frames are called "quartets", by the way, hence the title of this blog post.

I love the pictures i've gotten from The Picture People.This first picture shows DD's frame. I just had to post a picture because of some of the expressions on her face. My goal was to capture a variety of expressions. The upper right hand picture was the result of telling her to make the face she makes when Mama tells her to practice her piano. I laughed so hard when saw that very familiar face. :) You can also see her cute new hairdo.

It was a little harder to get a variety of expressions from DS#2. He was very reluctant and I was just feeling lucky that he was cooperating as much as he was. At first he refused to even tuck in his shirt. I love the smiling picture in the lower left the best. He does have a great smile, doesn't he?

DH took down the crib today. We're not sure yet whether or not we'll give it a way or try to sell it. Either way is so final. I was a little sad but we're not using it anymore and we need that space in the gameroom. We're using an old dresser for DS#3's clothes that is doubling as the changing table right now. In the future (we don't know when yet) we'll transition him into DS#2's room. He's sleeping in DD's room right now, but she has way too many clothes to share space with his clothes. :)

Last Swim Meet

Boy am I glad that tonight was the last swim meet of the season! I had to work late, so I missed three of the kids' races, but I did catch the last two. This is a cool photo that DH took of one of the races I missed. DD is the one in the middle. They actually had diving blocks at this pool. She forgot her swim cap (again). She actually tied for first place in the Girls 6 and under 25m Freestyle this time. She was all chatty about wanting that first place ribbon, even though hers wasn't the fastest heat. I'm happy that she hasn't broken her "streak".

Here she is before the Girls 6 and under 25m Backstroke. I would really love this picture if it weren't for those people behind her. She's putting her goggles on, but I think she looks like she's meditating before her race. She won this one too. Right after this race (her last one) she took her blue ribbon and ran off to play on the playground equipment. She's still a little girl, after all, who was ready to relax and play like a little girl after her competition.

A Simpler Father's Day

DH was a bit burned out on eating out a lot earlier this week, so he decided on a simpler Father's Day. After going to church this morning (he even went out yesterday to get the usual donuts for Sunday morning), we went to the neighborhood pool. I dropped everyone off and got Subway sandwiches to bring back for everyone to eat.

DS#3 really loves being in the pool now. The weather has been hot, hot, hot, so the water is warm and really feels good when you get in because it's SO hot. Did I mention that it's hot? I got out some cheapie water guns that we have in the toy bag, and DS#3 looked so funny trying to shoot them. He can only shoot them if he uses his thumbs to pull the trigger, so he looks a bit funny when he plays with them. Sometimes he ended up shooting himself with them!

This alligator towel used to belong to DS#2. DS#3 wore it for maybe one minute, but that was enough time to snap this picture. :) The rest of the kids mostly played by splashing each other in the pool. DD even swam a few laps back and forth. She doesn't swim as fast as everyone else, but she did it for the fun of it. They have a swim meet tomorrow and they only got to go to swim practice a couple of times last week, so this was good.

After swimming, we got home, took our showers and baths, and DS#3, DH, and I all took naps. Later, I saw DS#3 happily "reading" a book on the stair landing. He was turning the pages and saying what sounded like random letters.

DS#2 finished the Lego Star Wars Republic Attack Gunship that we bought on Friday. He started building it yesterday and did this pretty much by himself. I think he might have asked DS#1 for a little help yesterday. I thought that it was great that the two brothers could still play together despite their tastes diverging over time.

For dinner, we just popped some Pizza Rolls in the oven and we watched the Chicken Little Blu-Ray that DH got from Netflix. He's signed us up at least for the summer and we've been getting our money's worth. Right now the rest of them are watching Hellboy II, something I wasn't really interested in.

Tomorrow we have a swim meet and I'm also working late. The kids don't have any summer camps going on this week so it SHOULD be more relaxed otherwise. Of course we're gearing up for our big trip to Washington D.C., so it won't be a "free" week. It's a good thing we were relaxing this weekend!

Happy Anniversary

Since today is our 17th wedding anniversary, DH decided that he wouldn't make me make breakfast, so we went to IHOP. I managed to get this picture while we were there. DH is such a wonderful husband and father, and this is just one snippet of time when he and the boys are all happy and getting along. Of course, DS#3 is about to get upset because he wants to roam free...

Partly because tomorrow is Father's Day, I took the kids out this morning so DH could have some time to himself. Yes, since he is a "stay-at-home Dad", he doesn't necessarily want to spend Father's Day with the kids. Sometimes he just needs a break. Anyway, we started with a trip to the library because DS#1 keeps powering through his books. I just asked him and he thinks he has read maybe 15-20 library books in the the 16 days he's been out of school!

Remember that bird hat that DS#2 bought yesterday that he let me take a picture of? Well, DS#3 was really into wearing that hat today. He insisted on wearing it in the car on the way to the library. At the library he took it off for a bit, but when we went to Barnes and Noble, he wore it the whole time! Here he is making DS#1 go up the escalator. Later on, DS#3 and I went up and down the escalator a few times while waiting for DS#2 to make a decision about what to get.

Tonight, DH and I went out for our anniversary dinner. It's so cool that we can just get DS#1 to babysit now and we can just go have dinner somewhere. Anyway, we went to The Lodge Restaurant and did the eight course Chef's Jason Dady's Signature Tasting Menu, just like last year. I don't know if they've changed the portions (some of the courses were also a little different), the pace that they bring out the courses, or my stomach has gotten bigger, but I was able to pretty much finish all the courses this time. I remember barely being able to taste the dessert course last year because I was so stuffed. It was just as delicious as it was last year. In all, it was a very fitting end to today and a very nice celebration of our anniversary. :)

Driving Me Silly

We've taken a whole bunch of pictures this week, mostly related to DS#2's birthday. I have so much to post about, but I'll have to share only two photos for today because it's getting really late and I'm pooped. On top of a long and stressful week, I did a lot of driving around today.

Today when I got home DD was bubbling with excitement because we were both getting our hair cut at the place I usually go to. She was so excited that it was well worth the $15. She was begged for me to allow her to get her hair bobbed and I finally consented since it's summer anyway and it's SO HOT. She does look pretty cute, doesn't she?

After getting our hair cut, DD and I went to Toys 'R Us to return the Lego gift that I got for DS#2. I made a mistake and forgot that my dear sis said she was getting him that same Lego Star Wars set. Then, we went home so she could eat before swim team practice. I dropped DS#1 and DD off at swim team practice and went with DS#2 to Target.

DS#2 had been eyeing a specific Lego Star Wars set and wanted to apply the money that I spent on the set I returned plus add some birthday money and savings to get the big set. Well, they didn't have the big set at Target. While there, they said it might be at a different Target so I called there and was on terminal hold. Finally they said that they didn't have it and it wasn't available at any of the other Targets in our area. *SIGH*, so he wanted to go to Toys 'R Us. "But I was just THERE!" I whined.

I told him that we could just go tomorrow, so we went ahead and stopped off at the Michael's craft store nearby. While there he found these animal foam hats. He was so silly, dancing around with the hats on. Here he has the bird hat on with the red, white, and blue little hat (made to look like it's on the bird's head), and he's also waving a flag. How silly is that? He did look rather cute, and he was more than willing to let me take a picture. The hats were on sale for 2/$3 so he bought three of them. Can you believe that I had a 50% off coupon there and I didn't buy anything but DS#2 did?

After he made his purchase I realized that I didn't want to go to Toys 'R Us tomorrow, so we went tonight. It wasn't a short drive but at least the traffic was flowing easily. The big Lego set was $10 more at Toys 'R Us than at Target, but he really wanted it sooner rather than later. He exclaimed about how he had been waiting for so long and saved up his money for this.

This set cost $140 total! As you can see, he willingly posed for a picture again! Can you tell how excited he is? Even though I had just spent 2 hours driving around and shopping with him, I have to say that it was worth it. Besides, I made him promise that he would be really good for me tomorrow. ;-)

Sleepover Diary Part 1

Today I stopped by the neighborhood pool on the way home from work. DH was there with eight kids. I think he's a saint, don't you? :) Anyway, DS#2 was there with four friends, then there were my other three children. DS#3 actually got in the pool today. It was so hot out and the water was so warm that he didn't mind it at all. DS#1 was without his beloved cell phone because apparently he jumped into the pool with it still in his pocket. We're hoping that the insides will dry out overnight and it starts working again tomorrow or the next day.

DD was all over DS#2 and his friends. DS#2 was even using her as a human shield for one of their games and she totally let him. These are the two children that are usually at each other's throats. Apparently when they were playing "Marco Polo", she kept getting in the way. DS#2 told me later about how DD wouldn't stop talking. I reminded him that she was his little sister and that she really looked up to him. He was having so much fun being with his friends that he didn't really mind that much.

After the pool, we all headed to our favorite ice cream shop. DD insisted on riding in the van with DH, DS#2, and his friends. She wanted to follow them around everywhere! Yes, it was just before dinner, but birthday boy really wanted to go have ice cream after the pool and before dinner. Napless DS#3 fell asleep in the car on the way (we had to take two cars). If I had taken him inside the ice cream shop, he would have awakened and been cranky. He would have been clingy and I wouldn't have been able to eat my ice cream very well anyway, so I waited in the car with the air conditioner on while DH got me an ice cream cone and DS#1 brought it out to the car for me. Apparently, David Robinson, formerly from the San Antonio Spurs was also in the ice cream shop with his kids. DH didn't want to "bother him" to ask for a picture or anything. *Sigh* I just thought I'd finally trained DH to take pictures of anything and everything!

At home, the boys played on the Wii for a while before proclaiming that they were hungry and ready for pizza. After pizza, they watched the Pixar Short Films Collection - Volume 1 DVD that we rented from Netflix. That DVD is so cute that I would consider buying it and keeping it. The boys loved it. After watching it, one of DS#2's friends went home. We're not sure if he just doesn't like sleepovers or if he didn't want to stay because his family just got back from a big vacation a couple of days ago. The rest of the boys got ready for bed, although none of them took showers first. I exclaimed that all of those stinky ten-year-olds would all be in DS#2's bedroom!

I put DS#3 down on our bed when we got home from getting ice cream. I thought for sure he would wake up when we got home, and he did, but he went right back to sleep. As DH puts it, "He was toast!" I opened the door to our bedroom for a little bit and even with the noise of five boys downstairs, he stayed asleep. DH transferred him to his bed about an hour ago and although he "woke up", he stayed in bed and went back to sleep. DH is not looking forward to his likely very early awakening.

DH took a bunch of pictures at the pool and I took a few afterwards. I was going to post them tonight, but I'm exhausted. I can hear the boys still very much awake and goofing off outside of my bedroom door, but I'm going to bed way before them. Tomorrow I'll have to post DH's account of what happens later tonight and tomorrow.

Cavities and Sleepovers

DD had her first cavity filled yesterday. DH asked her if she wanted him in there with her and she said, "no". The dentist was impressed with how well she did. He said he had lots of adults that don't do as well in the dentist chair! Of course our dentist is pretty good too. DD didn't even realize that she had a shot to numb her tooth. It was a little weird to see only part of her little face move (because of the numbing shot) afterwards.

DH and I have been getting things ready for DS#2's "party" tomorrow. He decided that he wanted to have his friends sleep over for his birthday. They're coming over tomorrow afternoon around 1:30PM and they'll all go to the neighborhood pool. After the pool they're coming home and watching TV or more likely, playing video games. DH and I decided to get two more Wii controllers just so four of them could play at the same time. I could just feel his excitement bubbling inside of him when he was charging up the two Wii controllers that we have (he doesn't yet know about the other two controllers). He's been talking about how he can't wait until tomorrow, too. He wanted to invite six boys but only four of them are here in town this week. Three of the four live here in the neighborhood and one played on his soccer team this past year. I can't believe I'll have seven boys here tomorrow night.

DH is planning snacks and then pizza for dinner. He's even planning to make banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast on Thursday, DS#2's actual birthday. I'm a little jealous that I won't be around for that! :)

The New Closet

As promised, here are the pictures of our new closet from earlier in the week. If this works out all right, I should be at work when this blog entry posts.

First, I have to show this picture of the water pipe that DH drilled a hole in. He laughed about how high the odds were of hitting this pipe (I had him hold it so you can get a good perception of the size) right in the middle out of about 40 feet of wall space. The pipe was vertical and luckily contained cold water rather than the hot water that a pipe just below it was carrying.

The drywall guy put up the track at the top of each wall and DH installed the rest. This is the first wall that DH finished, and it happens to be his part of the closet. He said he wanted to get good at installing before going over and installing my part of the closet. The very back of the closet that DH is working on in this picture will be completely for overflow storage, like our Christmas tree and some toys that I try to buy ahead of time for miscellaneous birthday parties. Notice the little helper. :)

This is my part of the closet, right after you walk into the door. It's also the part that collapsed first. We've found that having all of this organization stuff in here instead of just one shelf over a closet rod, really increases the amount of storage space we have here. I've been trying to put my stuff in a way that makes sense to me. It seems like so much space, but then DH points out that we're not done filling the closet with our stuff yet.

This is the long wall where the closet shelving collapsed second. Most of this wall will be for storage items like the luggage, some boy clothes for DS#3 to grow into, and some old sparring gear from karate that we're saving for someone who might need them in the future (since there were so expensive to begin with). The shelves on the left are for my shoes. I discovered when I put the shoes in that I underestimated the amount of shoes that I have. So far it fits, but looking at what I have makes me want to buy more...

I thought I would throw in a cute picture of DS#3 sitting amongst the stuff that was still in the bathroom before the complete closet install. DS#1 came in to help out before he went to soccer camp and I guess DS#3 wanted to sit on that little ledge next to the shower. Of course he can't see a camera without doing his cheesy smile. :)

Swim Meet vs. IH

We had our third swim meet of the season today (DS#1's third and DD's second since she missed the one last week). I thought I would start out with this photo of my oldest looking very pensive right before his event. I'm just amazed at how grown up he looks here (you can click on the picture to see it a little bigger).

Here he is standing next to DH (who is timing the race before DS#1's race). He's pretty tall for almost 14, but I hope he gets just a little taller. DH and I were talking about the fact that even if someone is of "average" height, which I'm told is about 5'10" now for men, they're still considered "short". For that reason, we're hoping our sons get to be closer to about 6' tall. We'll probably get our wish with the first two, but I'm not so sure about DS#3.

DH volunteered to be a timer for the swim meet today. He was only supposed to be "working" for half the meet, but I guess they were a little short on volunteers, so he ended up timing for the whole meet. That meant that he was tired from standing for three hours, and I was tired of trying to entertain the two-year-old for three hours. Luckily for me, DS#2 was a huge help because he took DS#3 to the playscape for most of the meet so he could play to his heart's content.

This is my picture for today. I know that two weeks ago, my photos of the day were of DD at her first swim meet and her Spring piano recital, but I had to choose another photo of DD at her second swim meet because she just looks so excited here, doesn't she? I caught this right before her race. She got two first place ribbons again today for her heats in the individual 25m freestyle and backstroke. Again, she was way ahead of the pack when she finished. Again, she was proudly showing off her ribbons to anyone and everyone that she could show them off too.

Tomorrow I get to be on call for 24 hours at the hospital. Oh Joy! Hopefully I'll be able to finish my post for tomorrow ahead of time so there will be something new here tomorrow. Wish me luck with my call!

Soccer Camp

All week the kids have had soccer camp for three hours a day. They all wanted to do it, despite the hot weather, even DD. Now she says she wants to play soccer in the fall. Luckily, the "micros" have practice AND play "games" only once a week (Fridays), and she says she doesn't want to do dance and gymnastics anymore. I think it's great because she'll still get exercise and she'll meet new friends.

DH took a few pictures today. In this first picture, DD's coach was playing a game with them where he would ask them a question. If they only answered "yes" or "no" or repeated the answer to a previous question, he would pour a little water on their heads. If that were me, I would probably answer incorrectly just so I could cool off with water on my head, but then again, they're 6-7 years old.

They also played a game where they would hit a water balloon with their heads. This is one way to train them to not be afraid to hit the soccer ball with their heads. Actually, on DS#2's team this past season, they were all "heading" the ball, so much so that the parents laughed about how all of them liked hitting that ball with their heads for some reason.

I love this picture of DS#3. He often walks around with his hands in back and I can just tell that he's doing that here. My mom says this reminds her of my paternal grandfather and how he used to always walk around with his hands in back, too.

DH and I had a "date night" tonight. I'm laughing at the term because we left the house around 4:30PM and got back by around 6PM. We basically just went somewhere to eat then went home to enjoy a movie with the kids. Really exciting, I know, but we get a little desperate for time when we can actually talk to each other instead of emailing or texting and without kid interruptions.

Tomorrow we're going to have lots of time with the kids. We have a swim meet all morning followed by naps then church. Yup, lots of time with the kids.

Water Park Fun

The closet is finished! Actually, the strips used to hang the shelving were up yesterday, and last night when I was at work, DH started installing the shelves, drawers, and rods according to the plan they made for us at The Container Store. He finished today and we started moving in. I'll have to post more about that in the next few days. The new closet is awesome!

This week we have coupons to take friends for free to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, so we used the opportunity to let DS#1 invite his good friend A. We went after the kids finished with their soccer camp this morning. When we were walking toward the entrance, an employee told us that DD had to wear shorts over her swimsuit. Our first thought was, "We do not want to have to go home to get shorts!" Then there was some confusion whether or not they would let us in to buy her shorts in one of their gift shops. They gave us different answers but in the end, we bought her shorts in one of their gift shops and they were so focused on her swimsuit showing that they didn't even check our bags for guns, explosives, or the contraband juice boxes we had brought for DS#3.

This picture shows what she was wearing, by the way. She was barely showing skin, but she wasn't wearing shorts! Oh, and when we were at the gift shop, they had two choices for girl's shorts. One was a short and black (like gym shorts) with "Six Flags" written across the rear. The other was a pink, bermuda length short with "Six Flags" written down one leg. DH and I thought it was funny that DS#1 said, "Please don't buy her the short ones." I wasn't sure if he was being protective or just tired of seeing skimpy clothes on his sister.

The big boys ran off to do their own thing, and DH ran around with DS#2. That left me with DD and DS#3. It was a little difficult to keep an eye on both of them at the same time, so I was a little afraid someone would abduct DD. She wanted to go over to the "treehouse" where there were water spouts and a big hat filled with water that would dump the water onto the people below. DS#3 took a little while to start playing in the water. When he did he really looked like he was enjoying himself. He still didn't like water falling on top of his head, but he at least tolerated some of it later on.

When DD did stick with us, DS#3 kept following her around, which she encouraged, but she kept going in deeper water and he refused to hold my hand while in the water. I had to fish him out a couple of times. After more than three hours, he was exhausted, and so was I. He actually started putting his head down on this shark water feature. That's when we found the big boys and got him dressed to leave. Unfortunately, he napped only while we were in the car on the way home but fortunately, that perked him up enough to allow him to last until his bedtime.

My Sweet (Smelling) Girl

A couple of years ago after I had my second miscarriage, I remember my mother-in-law giving me some scented bath gel and lotion. I'd never been one to use such things, but when I used them, I felt good about myself--just the boost that I needed. I realized that I didn't have to use the same bath soap as DH anymore and I started using my own soap.

Now I visit Bath & Body Works about twice a year during their semi-annual sale. I'm not partial to any particular scent, so I buy whatever is cheap and on sale. I do prefer the "fruity" scents rather than the flowery ones. I don't wear perfume anymore because it any strong scent has started bothering my nose, but B&BW products have just enough scent but not too much. During their last sale I decided that I would start getting my own hand soap, too.

Their sale only lasts until this weekend, and I figured that I had better go during the week because I'm working this coming weekend. When I was heading home, I sent a text message to DH asking if DD wanted to go shopping. Of course she said "Yes!" followed by "Can we go to Bath & Body Works?" This girl LOVES B&BW!

I also suggested that I could bathe her with different soap than I use for DS#3, who I tend to bathe at the same time. She was all over that idea. She wanted some lotion, too. She also asked for some hand sanitizer and she was just so enthusiastic and happy that I agreed. As you can see by the picture, she wanted her own bag, but she willingly carried mine, too. :)

After I gave her a bath this evening (I only bathed her by herself tonight), I told her that I would put the B&BW lotion only on her back/shoulders/arms. She gets this recurring eczema type rash on the backs of her legs, so I told her I would use the "regular" lotion on that area. She laughed and said, "Yeah, we don't need to put the (scented) lotion on my bottom because if I 'gas' it'll still stink." That girl is too funny!

The Evil Closet of Doooom!

I'm going to post about the same thing that DH posted about on his blog today, because I just have to use one of the pictures he took as my picture of the day for today. The day didn't start well for DH. He called me during our morning conference at work to vent about how DS#3 demanded to watch Thomas this morning. DH was slow to figure out that that's what he wanted and DS#3 threw a HUGE fit. We have some old VHS tapes from when DS#1 was this age, but we don't have a VCR hooked up to a TV. I guess DH forgot that we can get instant downloads of Thomas from Netflix.

Today was the day that our Elfa organizers that we ordered from The Container Store were coming in. The next phone call was this afternoon when DH told me that he was drilling evenly spaced holes in the wall in our closet when he hit a pipe. ACK! The water came in at a high pressure and DS#1 had to put his hand on the hole while DH went to turn off the water. Remember that leak in the kids' bathroom in January? Ugh! That was a two week ordeal getting it all fixed, including redoing the tile in the kids' bathroom!

This is what I saw when I got home, well, maybe minus the towels on the floor. I came home a little early so I could take DD to piano lessons and DH could stay home to wait for the plumber. We didn't take a picture of what's inside the trash can, but there's at least a gallon or two of water in there--from the ceiling. Fortunately, when the plumber is done we can turn the water back on, but unfortunately, we'll have to get the other people in here to fix the sheetrock again.

I don't know if you can really tell from this picture, but half of DS#1's clothes look darker than the other. That is the wet half. He was standing to one side with his hand on the hole with the spraying water. Poor guy didn't want to go to swim team practice tonight. Besides the three hours of soccer camp this morning that all of the "big" kids went to, he was tired from his "swim" earlier in our master bedroom closet. Because the plumber is currently here, because DS#3 is currently in a very deep sleep, and because DH had to leave for his soccer team manager's meeting tonight, I had to drop DD and DS#1 off at the pool and they are going to walk home. It did warm my heart to see DD walking away to the pool with her big brother looking after her.

Oh, and I almost forgot. The title "The Evil Closet of Doooom!" was coined by DS#1 when referring to the master bedroom closet. This evening he modified that a little and said it was "The Evil Closet of Doooom on the Dark Side". Do you think the kid had been influenced just a little by his father's Dungeons and Dragons books?

Random Info About This Weekend

Well, I wasn't able to upload any photos from my parents' house, so I skipped blogging for the weekend. I visited them with DD, DS#2 and DS#3. DH stayed at home with DS#1 who had a swim meet and who was trying to see some of his friends before they either moved away or left for the summer. Yes, DD had a swim meet also, but she really wanted to see her cousins and she is only six after all. We stepped back from being Type A parents, at least for this weekend. There's no great way to say everything I want to say, so to make it easier on myself, I'm going to go through a few highlights and thought on the events that occurred this weekend. I'm going to be a little random, so bear with me.

My mom got this toy from either my nephew or someone else. DS#3 is really into trains right now, and he really loved this toy. He was taking the string and going all around the house with it. It makes noise too, by the way, but it's not too loud and therefore we tolerated it fine.

He also discovered Thomas the Tank Engine videos. The last time my parents tried to play the videos, he was very disinterested, maybe because there's a lot of narrating and not enough "action". This time, he actually preferred the Thomas videos to seeing episodes of "Dora the Explorer" and "Go, Diego, Go", so that's a HUGE change for him.

Our reason for visiting was that my Dad's birthday was on Friday. My mom also turned it into a celebration of the June birthdays in our family. As you can see, we have quite a few. Throw in Father's Day and my wedding anniversary and we do a lot of celebrating in June.

Notice the smiley face chocolate chip cookie cake made by my niece E with my Mom. Someone decided to include one candle for each birthday boy instead of loading up the cookie with candles. Smart idea! For once, my nephew is the reluctant one in this photo instead of DS#2.

On Saturday morning, my Mom decided to go water her plants in the backyard. DS#3 really wanted to go outside, so this was perfect. We thought for sure he would be out there playing with the water and the hose, but to our surprise, he wouldn't go anywhere near that hose! He did run around the backyard instead, stopping to look at what Mom was doing.

Oh, and I have a funny story. My kids call my Mom and Dad, "Lola and Lolo" in the Filipino fashion. DS#3 was in a copycat mood this weekend. He was mimicking what people were saying. He even said "See You Later" to my Mom when we went to the Children's Museum. Well, instead of calling her "Lola", a couple of times he called her "Mom", as in "Hi, Mom!" Too cute! He is starting to be able to say his siblings names instead of his generic name "Ah-ya". It's been amazing what he's been able to say that he wasn't able to say before!

The girl cousins all spent the night at my sister M's house on Friday. I met them at the Houston Children's Museum with DS#3. That museum is amazing! I have fond memories of that place from when we were members when DS#1 was a toddler. He used to take little classes there and we were there all the time. It's expanded quite a bit recently and there was so much to do and see.

The girls were going from one activity to another pretty quickly, although they did spend a lot of time at "Kidtropolis" where it's basically like a small "city" with a bank, grocery store, police station, etc. They could accumulate "money" on their "ATM cards". Apparently my DD was very happy with how much money she had. She actually proclaimed, "I'm rich!" Oh boy, DH and I are in big trouble! :)

DS#3 always gets very spoiled when my Mom is around. She feeds him on demand, which for a "grazer" and a "snacker" like him, is just Heaven! I didn't realize that he loved blueberries, but here he is using a footstool as his table, eating blueberries. He even asked for a "fok" or "fork" to eat them with.

I didn't take any photos today for my Project 365 album so I'm using this last one. We were traveling this morning and then naps (DS#3's and mine)took up the afternoon. You know your kids are spoiled when you ask them where they want to go out to eat to celebrate the end of the school year and they all choose upscale restaurants! DS#1 chose PF Chang's (Chinese), DS#2 chose Paesanos (Italian), and DD chose El Mirasol (Mexican and DH's favorite). DH chose Paesanos, one of my favorites. :)

Last Day of School 2009

Yesterday was busy with working late for me, and DH also being busy with the kids since I wasn't around. I didn't even take any pictures, and neither did DH. Today was just busy. It was the kids' last day of school, which is always bittersweet for me. They said goodbye to their teachers, and luckily, they loved their teachers, so it was sad in a way. We're all looking for the different pace that the summer brings, though, so we're glad that summer is here.

DS#3 was napless today because he got to go to his brother and sister's parties. He got pizza and fruit and DS#2's party and he got ice cream (plain for him and all the fixings for DD) at DD's party. Apparently, he ate a lot and so since he usually really eats one really good meal a day, we didn't make him eat dinner.

I realized when it was almost time for DS#1 to get home from the bus that I hadn't gotten any pictures of him this year getting on or off the school bus, so this was my last chance. I was still far away when I got this one, but I didn't want to get too close for fear of embarrassing him. :)

All the kids (and the parents) got ice cream at Baskin Robbins after school today. Since DS#1 didn't get home until 4PM, this was close enough to dinner that neither of us were that hungry. DH was at piano and guitar practice at the time with the other kids, who got their ice cream right after THEY got home on the bus a little after 3PM. The youngest kids and I did our usual swim team practice routine while DS#1 went to his first soccer practice for his "new" team. Next week will be different--hopefully a little slower paced.

J Awards

Tonight was the Eighth Grade Awards Ceremony at DS#1's school. They're called the "J" Awards after the name of the school. We only got there 10-15 minutes ahead of time, so at first, we weren't able to sitting together. That, however, offered me the opportunity to get this great shot of DH and DS#3 with my super zoom lens. Notice the clasped hands again. :)

DS#1 received the President's Award (for grades above 90 in the Fall semester and above 85 in the Spring semester, I think), an award for Outstanding Merit in Pre-Advanced Placement English and Science, and recognition for his blue ribbon at the Night Gallery (see blog entry HERE). He also got a plaque for getting A's for all three years of middle school. DH and I were happy that they included the two years where DS#1 wasn't at this school. They certainly didn't have to, but it was wonderful of them to acknowledge all of the hard work DS#1 has put in during his middle school years.

During the ceremony, DS#2 and DD kept busy by taking turns playing with Mama's IPhone. DS#3 kept busy by drinking milk and playing with his transportation toys. Notice the red car wedged between the chair legs. Notice the blue Thomas the Tank Engine train hanging from the chair from the magnet on the end of the train. Notice the cheesy smile on this beautiful boy.

Thank goodness for my super zoom lens. I was able to capture this photo on stage from way on the other side of the cafeteria where we were sitting. Thank goodness for my DS#1 who loves his Mama and knows that she will be taking pictures of him. I was tickled to see him looking at me several times, and especially here where he is looking straight at the camera! Love you, Son! :)

Finally, the whole ceremony took well over an hour. DS#3 discovered one of his burp cloths inside his diaper bag, and this led to him rubbing it all over his face and then spreading it out on the floor, and finally laying on it. This didn't last long, but it certainly told DH and me that DS#3 would be ready for bed as soon as we got home!