Last Dollar Scoop Tuesday

Do I post a lot about going to Baskin-Robbins on $1 Scoop Tuesdays? Well, tonight is the last night. The special ran from October to tonight. It's become almost routine for Natalie and Eric and I and it's been rather fun. Tonight Eric decided to get the Tropical Ice (the "lellow and owange and white one") instead of the Rainbow Sherbet. We had to leave in a hurry as soon as Eric finished because Natalie, for the umpteenth time mentioned the Thomas candles that they sell there, except this time she almost showed them to Eric. Sometimes that girl drives me nuts!

I had been looking at cakes there, trying to decide what birthday cake to get for him. He usually doesn't like to eat cake, however. They didn't have a "Thomas" cake, but they did have a train roll cake. It's only available with Devil's Food cake but different ice creams. I started asking him questions:

Me: "Do you like chocolate cake, Eric?"
Eric: "No!"
Me: "Do you like vanilla ice cream?"
Eric: "No!"
Me: "Do you like chocolate ice cream?"
Eric: "No!"
Natalie: "What kind of ice cream do you like, Eric?"
Eric: "Lellow and owange and white ice keem!"
Me: (Thinking about how I can't get a Tropical Ice Cream cake)

I'm going back to Plan A--just getting a cake that the adults and other kids will like, and then maybe just getting the little man some Tropical Ice Cream just for him. :)

Easter and Birthday Shopping

I love being able to spend time with this adorable little boy. Here he is holding his new toy. I was shopping for his birthday at the local Toy Zone. I had finished buying him some wooden trains and a Lego James set (from the Thomas and Friends show), all without his knowledge. He had been happily playing with the store's trains and train table. He didn't want to leave, of course. He saw this stuffed James and since I had already seen this and thought about buying it, he easily convinced me to buy it for him. When I said, "Do you want to take a nap today with James?" and he said, "Yes", I knew that this new toy was worth every penny. He went to bed with it this evening too. :)

Earlier in the morning, I also took him to Target and Michael's to get Easter basket stuff for the kids. Eric was a good shopper. Even though he did want to walk alongside the cart and not ride in the cart, he kept up with me and went where I wanted yo go. We got a lot done and Patrick got to exercise in peace. I had the late shift at work but I got to go home early, so I also got to be there to put the kids in bed. This was a great day. :)

Fiesta Texas and Facebook

Today was another beautiful day, a little breezy but with a light jacket, Eric and I were good to go. Natalie was cold in her shorts and short-sleeve T-shirt but the sun warmed her up. We went to Fiesta Texas to pick up our season pass coupon books and to get Eric's picture on his season pass. The rest of the family already had season pass pictures from last year but since he's turning three this year, he gets his own pass. He gave them his usual cheesy grin and looked adorable as usual.

Eric and Natalie rode in the small train and ferris wheel while Anthony and Alex went on the Scooby-Doo Ghostblasters ride (shoot 'em up ride) twice. Their favorite, the Waverunner (spinning ride) was apparently closed for repair. They didn't seem to want to ride anything else, so we only stayed an hour and then went to Rudy's Bar-B-Q for lunch.

In other exciting news, at least for Alex, Patrick and I let him sign up for a Facebook account. He wanted to join just so he could play a game called Ninja Wars. To say that he was excited is very much an understatement. His good friend A has had a Facebook account just to play games also so we let them be "friends" on Facebook.

This morning, Patrick and I were both in our room playing on our laptops. Alex, who was on the computer downstairs, sent us each messages saying "hi" through Facebook's "chat" feature. Did I mention that he was excited? I have to say that it was both funny and convenient. I sent him a message back telling him to change out of his nightclothes so we could go to Fiesta Texas. That way I didn't have to yell downstairs. :)

Rocks

I got some sleep last night when I was on call, so I feel pretty good today. The sun is shining and there's a nice breeze. What a gorgeous day to play soccer! Eric is currently plating with rocks. He's getting quite dirty but he's happy and I have plenty of wipes to clean him up. Both of the older boys are warming up for their soccer games. Patrick is with Natalie at some First Communion meeting, but they should be here for most of the games. I'll post more pictures later.

Middle School Match

I haven't been very good at posting to my blog lately. We've been trying to get back into our usual routines after being on vacation and I have some late shifts this week. I do want to let everyone know that today, Alex got an acceptance letter to his second choice middle school next year. His first and second choices are in the same physical building and the classes overlap a little, so it's kind of the same school. The other good thing is that school is close to where I work and where Anthony goes to school, so dropping off and picking up will be easier for Patrick and me, even though the times differ by about a half hour. Alex says he's happy, although not "excited". I have a feeling that he'll be more excited when the news soaks in. :)

Choices, Choices

Eric usually chooses the Rainbow Sherbet when we go to Baskin-Robbins. He can't remember "rainbow sherbet" so he calls it "the owange and pink and white one". Today, he noticed the Tropical Ice flavor, which he called "the lellow, and owange and white one". He chose that one first, but when I showed him the Rainbow Sherbet, he said he wanted that one. I told him to sit down and while I was waiting my turn to be served, he tells me "lellow and owange and white one". I was confused, so I asked him about the Rainbow Sherbet but this time he insisted on the Tropical Ice. I didn't want to waste money on a flavor he hasn't had before, so I got him a taste of it. As soon as he tasted it, he immediately said he wanted the Rainbow Sherbet. Maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was funny. He ate it all up, and quickly too. He even drank what little had melted at the bottom of the cup. :)

Aesop's Fables Symphony

We didn't get home until around 11:30PM last night, so we didn't try to go to our usual 9AM mass. We went to the 11AM mass instead. We rushed home after mass so Anthony could eat and get ready for his 2PM game across town. Natalie, Eric and I planned to go to the Children's Symphony. Since Alex wanted to stay home and work on his school project that is due on Friday, we invited Natalie's best friend M to go with us. The two of them look very cute together, and Eric just loves her too. Here, Natalie is holding an egg "shaker" that Eric made. Natalie and M each made one too.

Before the show, they always have an "instrument petting zoo" where the kids can play actual instruments. Last time Natalie tried out a violin. This time they wanted to try the bass. M went first, then Natalie, so naturally Eric wanted to try it too. This was a very adorable moment, as you might imagine. They played "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", one of the songs Eric can sing by himself. Too cute!

The theme of the show was how music can tell a story. They started out with the "Prelude to Hansel and Gretel" by Englebert Humperdinck. The conductor described how the different parts of the music represented parts of the story. The next two pieces were from "Peer Gynt" by Edvard Grieg and they were recognizable, even by Natalie's friend M. The pieces were "Morning" and "In The Hall of the Mountain King". They finished off with someone narrating three of Aesop's fables while the orchestra played. They really do a wonderful job trying to get the kids interested in classical music. In the middle, they had a 15-year girl who won the local "Young Stars" competition, play her cello with the orchestra. After the piece, she answered questions from the audience. When she said that she practices as much as four hours in a day, Natalie said emphatically, "I won't practice four hours in a day!" Oh well, I tried! ;)

Going Home

Alex really enjoys puzzles. He's been trying to do the crossword puzzle from the newspaper this morning, and he's been asking us questions about almost every clue. I teased him by asking if HE'S the one doing the crossword or WE are. He already finished the Sudoku puzzle. He said that he finds those much easier to solve. Oh, and he seems to think that my dad, his Lolo, is a great crossword puzzle solver. He told a story about how Lolo asked him for a pen, and then five minutes later Lolo gave him the pen back because he has finished the crossword. :)

Everyone else is either reading or playing on their electronic toy. Natalie already went outside to play in the snow, but now she is downstairs feeling tormented that Eric is destroying her Lego creations. She doesn't remember when she used to do the same thing to Alex, who used to do the same thing to Anthony.

Patrick is doing a small load of laundry because Eric leaked onto his pajamas. Other than that, we're ready to start packing. It's a two hour drive to the airport from here, and our flight doesn't leave until 7:55pm. It's going to be a long day, but at least the sun is shining and it should be a fairly easy drive. It will be nice to sleep in our own beds tonight. Thanks for the hospitality, Grandma and Grandpa!

Snow Day

This morning we awakened to snow falling. I love watching snow falling because it's so quiet and you can see the accumulation. The deck outside was covered with snow and the kids were watching the snow so longingly. It was a bit colder than it's been here, so we stayed indoors in the morning. Natalie and Eric were playing on the poker table downstairs when I snapped this picture of Eric. He had put his vehicles in the little slots on the table and he was so proud. Natalie was playing the card game "War" by herself.

Earlier, Patrick had gone with his parents to a mass dedicated to his paternal grandmother who would have been 100 today. Later, he went with them to look for a USB dial-up modem. They recently got a new computer and Patrick was going to help them set up their dial-up Internet. I guess they don't really sell those anymore since most people have some type of high speed Internet nowadays. They'll now be looking into getting mobile Internet since they travel. They'll be amazed at how much faster that connection will be.

Later in the afternoon, Patrick dropped me off at the nearby Silverthorne outlet stores and I shopped for about three hours. While I was gone, Alex, Anthony, and Grandpa played poker, with Natalie as a spectator and Eric "helping" by putting his cars on the poker table and playing with the poker chips. Alex loves games and he seems to really enjoy playing poker while we've been here.

Natalie did go outside for almost an hour to play in the snow by herself. The big boys were busy playing their Nintendo DS games. Eric would have wanted to join her, but he would have gotten very wet and cold and we were about to go out and eat. Alex and Natalie did go out with Grandma in the morning to Keystone Resort where they were having kids' activities like make and takes involving making bracelets and snow. Natalie enjoyed it far more than her brother, but still it was a good snow day activity.

Hopefully the weather will clear up overnight so we have an uneventful and quick drive to the airport tomorrow. We won't be leaving here until after lunch. We won't get home until around midnight from our nonstop flight.

Last Ski Day

There's that cheesy smile again. I took this picture at Arapahoe Basin. Patrick, Grandma, and the other kids had gone up the Exhibition Lift to ski while I spent time with Eric. Grandpa was at home. We decided that instead of hanging out inside the lodge, we would play outside in the snow today. Yesterday when everyone else was leaving to go ski, Eric was telling us that he wanted to "go to ski hill" too. Poor thing! Anyway, today he got to play in some of the snow outside and he was very happy about it. He would pick up some chunks of ice, which he called "snowballs" and throw it at my legs. If I picked up a "snowball" and threw it back at him, he would laugh and laugh. He had a difficult time even picking up the "snowballs" because his mittens were way too big. His thumbs barely reached inside the thumb part of the mitten, and sometimes he would have to use both hands.

This was our longest ski day, since we figured that it was our last for the year. Alex especially kept wanting to ski more. He wanted to ski tomorrow, but Patrick and I both wanted a day of rest before heading home on Saturday, so we compromised and skied until around 2PM today instead of quitting around lunch time. We all also got to ski with Grandma today. She was impressed with how the kids are skiing now. Natalie seems a bit more timid than last year when she head down a bumpy blue run with Patrick scrambling to keep up with her. She skis with more control, however, and that is always good. Alex is much more confident this year. He enjoyed some of the more difficult blue runs, although he still doesn't like the bumps like the rest of us. Anthony is still a bit tentative, but still more relaxed. We suspect that this may be because he doesn't want to get hurt and ruin the rest of his club soccer season. He also enjoyed more difficult blue runs this year.

After we got home, Alex and Natalie spent another couple of hours playing in the snow outside. Eric joined them for a good hour or so of that time. They loved it! I can still remember how Eric hated being dressed in his snowsuit last year but then fought being changed out of the snowsuit because it meant that it was time to go inside. This year he begs to put on his snowsuit but he still gets very upset whenever he has to go inside. He still fits in that snowsuit but his little ankles end up getting very cold. That doesn't bother him at all. All of the kids have had SO much snow fun this year!

Snow Fort and Tubing

Eric had a blast in the big snow fort at the top of one of the mountains at Keystone. Here he is sitting in an ice chair. He had the hardest time getting on it because he kept slipping. He loved the slide most of all, but then he usually loves slides. He did a lot of climbing and picking up chunks of ice and calling them "snowballs".

The rest of the family went tubing, including my sister and niece. Their minimum height requirement was 42 inches, so that's why Eric couldn't go and I stayed at the snow fort with him. They all apparently had a lot of fun, although we weren't able to get any pictures. Alex started to not feel well near the end because of the spinning action of the tubes. He loves the spinning even when he doesn't feel well.

We went out to eat at the Snake River Saloon tonight, partly to say goodbye to M and E. They're leaving for home tomorrow. It was really fun being able to see them this week. Hopefully we'll be able to vacation together again in the future. Tomorrow we have more skiing planned.

Thomas Crisis

Grandma kept lots of cars and trucks that used to be Patrick's and his brother's toys, and Eric has been happily playing with them. This morning he was looking for his Thomas the Tank Engine and we couldn't find him anywhere. Patrick informed me that we didn't bring Thomas with us. Of course the little man wouldn't accept that for an answer. Luckily, he was okay with watching Thomas videos instead. Whew! Crisis averted!

Our plans today include going to the library, tubing at Keystone Resort, and going out for dinner on my sister's last night here.

Skiing Day 1

Today was our first day of skiing. Arapahoe Basin doesn't offer reservations for ski rentals so we got there early, around 8:30AM. It was good thing too, because while we were finishing up our rentals, lots of people arrived and Patrick later heard them say that they ran out of equipment to rent. We bought Anthony, Alex, and Natalie a group "private" lesson because they are all around the same level and the cost was a little cheaper than the regular group lessons. They did that from 10AM to noon. Patrick and I went skiing for about an hour before I decided I was exhausted and went to the mountain lodge to rest and wait for my sister and her daughter to arrive. Patrick is a much better and faster skier than I am, so he went up the mountain for more skiing.

My sister M and niece E arrived around 11:30ish. E took her first ski lessons yesterday, and M took a refresher lesson since it's been something like 10 years since she has gone skiing. They bought lift tickets for the beginner lift because they had the "magic carpet" lift and E had never been on a regular lift before. E was very hesitant and kept sitting down instead of trying to stop while doing down the very short beginner run. By the second run, I knew that she was done. She would not even try to get up once she fell. I had to physically turn her skis and pull her up. M was of limited help because she wasn't that confident in her skiing either, but she finally took her skis off so she could help E down. Finally, E just sat at the bottom sulking and eventually playing with the piled up snow while I took M up the beginner hill a couple of times. She did well and might have been ready for the mountain, but we went back to the mountain lodge instead.

By the time we got back, the kids had finished their lesson and wanted to go skiing with Patrick and me. Grandma and Grandpa had also arrived with Eric and waited in the mountain lodge with M and E. Anthony and Alex both felt like they learned some new things during their lesson and relearned some old things as well. The instructor told Patrick that Natalie had some problems with "control". She apparently did not turn enough and kept speeding up. We tried the reinforce skiing under control when we went up the mountain with them. After one run, she was ready to go in again, while Patrick went back up with the boys for one more run.

We were all pretty tired after skiing, but Natalie and Alex apparently had not had enough of the snow. They immediately went outside to play in the backyard. Eventually, Eric and Anthony joined them, as did E when she got back from their hotel. I took a nap! I found that walking back and forth from the beginner lift to the mountain lodge while carrying my skis was much more exhausting then the actual skiing. I woke up when Patrick brought Eric into our room after his bath. Eric played hard, apparently, and even threw a snowball that hit Anthony. Anthony responded by inadvertently getting snow in his baby brother's snowsuit. Patrick said he took some pictures and video, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post here later.

Tomorrow we're going to relax and "sleep in". Eric actually asked to go to bed tonight so that usually means he is exhausted. Natalie is spending the night at M and E's hotel. We'll see what time people actually get up tomorrow.

We're here!

We got to Grandma and Grandpa's house by around 11pm MST last night and didn't get to bed until around midnight. At least it was a fairly uneventful trip. Eric took a long nap-- almost until we got to Phoenix and then he was awake and happy until Denver. The three youngest kids napped in the car until we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They were up and waiting for us.

This morning we heard Eric stomping on the floor above our heads by around 7am. Natalie was up too. Apparently when Grandma asked her if she wanted cereal for breakfast, she responded that she didn't eat cereal on Sundays, she ate donuts. Grandma did get donuts for everyone. When Patrick heard that he promptly told her that she could have cereal next Sunday.

Natalie was the only one who had all of her snow gear (the pants and boots still fit her from last year) so she is currently playing outside by herself. Patrick left with the boys to get them new boots. Eric can still fit in the red snowsuit from last year but not the boots. He was very excited about the thought of playing in the snow.

I'll take some more pictures of all the kids playing in the snow later.

Mobile Blogging

I'm going to start mobile blogging this week an I wanted to practice. We're at Starbucks after dropping Anthony off for his game. Natalie wanted the chocolate cupcake. Eric wanted the "boo muffin" aka blueberry muffin. Both are having the kids' hot chocolate. I'm having a blueberry scone and my usual Mocha Frappucino.

Patrick and Alex are headed to Alex's game.

Melanie
Sent from my iPhone

Indulgences

Today was a beautiful day. I got to go to the gym with Patrick and Eric. Eric was so cute running to the child care area at the gym. As soon as he got in there, he got some hand sanitizer from the automatic dispenser, rubbed it in, then proceeded to almost break down the locked barrier until they let him in. He was excited to be going there! After going home to take showers, we went to Piatti's Restaurant and Bar, located in the Quarry Market shopping area. Eric loved the calamari, although he referred to it as "chicken". That was just the appetizer, but he was full after that, so he kept busy looking at the flowers and birds in the outside seating area while Patrick and I ate our meals. Eating out is a wonderful indulgence, and Patrick and I like to do that when I'm off from work.

At home, Eric showed me how much he needed a nap when I was changing his diaper. Patrick left to go to the bank, and as Eric heard the garage door open and close, he suddenly burst into tears. He cried out, "Papa!" and would not calm down when I reassured him that Patrick would be right back. So, we spent a good portion of the afternoon in bed. Taking naps is definitely an indulgence that I try to get whenever I can. I especially love taking naps with Eric because I love looking at him when he's sleeping.

When they kids got home from school, Alex played outside with one of his friends, and Natalie practiced piano. Despite a little reluctance from her, we managed to get through one of her pieces that she is supposed to memorize for "Achievement Auditions" in mid-April. I couldn't believe that she didn't know the notes already, and I was tough on her. She ended up playing for over an hour. I had already promised her at the beginning of the week that if she didn't "move her clip" at school all week, I would take her to get her nails done today. She's been consistently "moving her clip" once a week for the past few weeks. Taking away privileges weren't working, so I tried giving her a reward this week. She may have had a good week anyway, but I want to think that the positive reinforcement worked.

I forgot my camera at home, so I'll just have to describe the image. When she was getting her toenails done, she was short enough that she had to practically lie down to get her feet to reach the footrest. That girl LOVES to get her nails done. I reminded her that I was over 40 before I ever had a manicure and pedicure, and she's had three since she turned 7. That doesn't even count when she had the Libby Lu and Disney Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique "makeovers" she's had at age 6 and 7. That girl is definitely indulged!

Tomorrow morning we have to finish packing and go to soccer games for Anthony and Alex. We're leaving for Denver in the late afternoon and then spending a week with the grandparents. Taking vacations is an indulgence I hope we'll always have the time and money for. I'll try to post from there, but I may have to add pictures later since my internet will be limited. Have a great week!

Revelation

Tonight instead of Natalie's piano lessons (at 4PM) and the boys' soccer practices (at 6PM and 7:30PM), we also had to go to Natalie's "Showcase" where all the grades performed a little show for the parents at 6PM. Luckily, this show was held at a bigger facility across the street from where the kids have their soccer practices. I think this was because their school really could not hold that big of an audience. So, Patrick took Alex to his practice and then went with Natalie to her show. I had just gotten home with Anthony and we stayed home with Eric until it was time to take Anthony to practice.

I picked up Alex at 7:30PMish and took him home while Patrick was still at the show. Soon after Alex got into the car, he asked me, all of a sudden why I tease him about girls when I "know" he likes girls. Wow! I wasn't expecting that at all! Patrick and I have discussed how Alex probably liked girls, but didn't want to admit it, but to have him flat out admit it struck me completely by surprise. He then started telling me about how his friends all like certain girls at his school but that he wasn't interested in anyone right now. He admitted that he liked one of the girls on our street last year, but that he didn't anymore. He told me that he "felt pressured" to tell me because I was alone in the car. Actually, Eric was in the car too, but he knew that Eric "wouldn't care". I told him that maybe "felt pressured" was not the right phrase. He probably meant that he instead felt like it was a convenient time to tell me. He has the oddest way of expressing himself some times!

He said that he wanted to tell me on Wednesday when he was last in the car with me, but that I didn't seem like I was in a good mood. That was because he and his sister had been bickering constantly in the car! He also mentioned that certain friends had "girlfriends" (with one friend having "lots of girlfriends in different states") but that he didn't think he should have a girlfriend until maybe high school or college. I told him that was a good idea so he can first find out what he likes in a girl.

Alex had to admit that the main reason why his whole family teases him about girls is because he acts so funny. He'll cover his face with a pillow just because there's a screenshot of a young lady on TV. He admitted that he started doing that because his Papa teased him. I informed him that Patrick has a "deal" with Anthony he won't tease him about girls if Anthony confides in his Papa. So far that has worked pretty well. Hopefully it will also work with Alex.

Sorry this post sounds so "stream of consciousness" but I had to record this story while it was still fresh in my mind. REMEMBER--don't tell Alex I told the world about this! I only asked him if it was okay if I told his Papa about this and he agreed. *SIGH* My baby is growing up!

Waiting at Church School

Patrick and I did switcheroo of our roles again today. He went to Anthony's soccer game and I took the kids to Alex's guitar lesson, church school, and then Natalie's soccer practice. Today was the day when Natalie was supposed to have her "interview" before getting First Communion. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was except to make sure her parents are praying and going to church with her. Also, the lady was checking up on us to make sure we were going over the First Communion lessons we're supposed to do at home. We haven't started the book yet.

Natalie was in her silly mood during her interview despite my threatening her to calm down and be serious. This whole "interview" thing was very inconvenient for me because I didn't know how long this was going to take ahead of time or when exactly they were going to be doing this. I wasn't sure if Natalie would have enough time to eat after class and before soccer, so I went ahead and picked up some Chick-Fil-A on the way from Alex's guitar lesson and we ate early.

Eric was good for me at least. He sat quietly during the interview and he played nicely while we waited for class to finish. Here he is laying in the grass after purposely falling and landing in the grass. He kept doing that and then, just to make sure I was watching, he would tell me, "Mama, I fall down." Here he is also probably saying, "I'm lying down in the gas (grass)." He would keep saying that until I responded verbally in some way and looked at him. He was quite a distance away--this photo was taken with my 12x zoom all the way zoomed plus I cropped the photo after uploading it to the computer.

While Eric was being good, Alex and Natalie were constantly bickering. Ugh! Those two give me a headache when they do that. I need to remember that the next time Patrick and I do a switcheroo!

Well-Hydrated

We were all about to watch a taped episode of Mythbusters when Patrick realized that Eric was wet where he wasn't supposed to be wet. He had been drinking lots and lots of milk and, well, he was well hydrated. So, I gave him a bath. He played by himself in the tub and when I got him out, he started singing one of his sister's favorite songs. He sang "Best of Both Worlds" over and over again while I got him out of the tub. When I was getting him dressed he was singing something that sounded like "We are the Champions" although I wasn't really sure.

He then asked if he "watch TV with Mama". He didn't actually watch TV. He was playing on the big leather chair in my room. He would lay on his belly on the seat and slide down to the floor. He also got on my bed and rolled over and purposely fell the 2 1/2 feet or so to the floor. He was SO juiced!

Patrick came in and started watching TV also (I was watching "Chuck") and Eric started jumping on top of him. He was so active and in perpetual motion that I was glad to get these three photos. The rest of the photos showed Eric as a blurry spot. I told Patrick that if I hadn't known better, I would have thought that he had some big sugary snack, which he didn't have.

I enjoy just watching Eric sometimes. This is such a fun age. :)

Sunday Recap

I took Alex to his home game this afternoon while Patrick took Anthony to his away game in Austin. Alex wanted to get there early, which was fine with me since I seem to always run a little late. He was the first one there, so he practiced shooting goals by himself. He really puts his whole body into the kick when he wants to kick hard and I was glad I was able to capture this shot.

I was talking to Alex's coach before the game as we were watching his team scrimmage against each other to warm up. I noticed that Alex was much more aggressive with his own teammates than against other teams. His coach agreed and said that he was trying to work on that. Alex has the potential to be a really good player if he would just be more aggressive. Anthony used to be the same way, and he is only now playing more aggressively, so we're wondering how to get Alex to make that switch. Too bad just telling them to be more aggressive doesn't work. They don't listen anyway. By the way, Alex's team lost today 3-0 and Anthony's team lost 1-0. Bummer!

After I took this picture, I told Natalie that this was my "picture of the day". I had told her specifically to wear sneakers because I knew the fields would be wet (it had been drizzling off and on all day). She doesn't like to wear dresses so much anymore, but she's still all about the "bling". She wanted to wear this sparkly pair of flip-flops. So, of course when she went out to an adjacent field to play with her soccer ball, she got wet grass all over her feet and shoes. She is cleaning off her feet here. She also kicked her shiny pink ball into a puddle and then wanted to put it in my trunk. I was not happy about that either. If only she would listen to me...

Getting Along

Anthony had two high school soccer games this morning, and as usual he got to watch the first game and play in the second game. He has started to play in the midfield position along with his usual defender position. He's not used to the midfield position, so we can tell that he gets a little disoriented, but he's been playing well all around. Just like last week we rushed home after getting takeout (from Sonic, this time) so we could go to his 2:30PM club soccer game. Patrick only watched the first couple of minutes of Anthony's game because he had to drive Alex to his away game across town.

With all of these soccer games, Natalie and Eric are often left to play on their own, because their negligent parents are trying to watch the game. They get along so well sometimes, but other times, not so well. This is a picture of them holding hands while running after the soccer ball. Unfortunately, Natalie runs a little faster than Eric, and soon after this picture was taken, Eric lost his footing and fell. By the way, this was taken with my big zoom lens, so I was too far away to rush to Eric's aid. Luckily he wasn't really hurt.

The reason why they were probably running together is that the two of them have a hard time sharing the ball, and by running together, they probably both felt like they were both playing with the ball. This was the interaction between the two of them a little while later. Eric is holding on to the ball so his sister can't get it. Natalie is sitting on Eric and tapping his back. She wasn't tapping hard, but she was a little annoyed that he wasn't playing with the ball, but he wasn't going to let her have it either.

For most of Anthony's afternoon game, they were digging in the dirt with small fallen branches. I'm not sure if they had a purpose to their digging besides just digging for the fun of it, but I left them alone because they were getting along.

Getting Along

Anthony had two games in New Braunfels yesterday, which is around 45 minutes from our house. I was off from work yesterday, so Patrick was able to go to the games while I stayed to cart the kids around. First we went to Natalie's piano lesson. Then we went to a neighbor's house to pick up Alex. He had Media Club after school and got picked up by his friend's parents. We didn't get home until after 5PM so he insisted that it was too late to eat before soccer practice. He was actually rather grouchy, but that's a subject for another time.

After a hurried dinner where I ate standing up at the counter, we left the house again by 5:30PM to take Alex to soccer practice. We dropped him off and went directly to Target where we always hit the Dollar Spot first. First, Eric wanted to wear the pink bunny ears headband--not the white or the purple but the PINK one. Then he saw the yellow flower headband and he wanted that instead. Natalie found some car stickers and of course he wanted that instead. Finally, he found this car. He agreed to put the car stickers back in favor of this car. I decided that I needed to document this with a picture so I told him to put the car near his face so I could get a picture. The next thing I knew, he had jammed the car box up right onto his face gave me his cheesy smile. I laughed out loud because he was SO cute. :)

During most of the rest of the shopping trip, he didn't want to sit IN the cart, he wanted to sit UNDER the cart. I gave him a lollipop and he was happily sucking away while I filled my cart with far more stuff than was on my original shopping list. Natalie in the meantime helped me find the essential items on my list, as well as a swimsuit for herself. She also made a side trip through the shoes, just in case there were any shoes she might like. When we were done, we had bought over $100 worth of stuff! Target is a very dangerous store. *WINK*

When we got back to the soccer fields, the two of them still had lots of energy. They had this routine where Natalie would bump her tummy against Eric's side. He would fall down with his arms and legs spread out on the grass and she would step over him and pretend to fall on top of him. They were both laughing and giggling like they were having the most wonderful time ever. These two get along so well and they seem so close (most of the time) that it makes Patrick and I very happy. :)

$1 Scoop Tuesday

I know I don't need an excuse to get ice cream, but I love that kids' scoops are only $1 at Baskin-Robbins on Tuesdays. The kids remember and they ask for it too. I have tons of photos of Eric and Natalie eating ice cream, but Eric was particularly messy with pink all over his mouth, so I couldn't resist.

I meant to post this page yesterday since yesterday was my first day in my new "office" aka cubby. I moved most of my stuff out last Friday, and my old officemate moved my computer after I left that day. We were both a little sad but excited to be with our friends in the other area. We both had to purge quite a bit of stuff, including old, outdated textbooks, which was a good thing. In any case, I didn't have room for all of this "art" by Anthony and Alex, circa 2002-2004, so I took pictures and scrapped them instead. Looking at those pictures makes me think of those adorable little boys that made them for me. Luckily I still have the adorable little boy above to hug and hold. :)