A Calm Saturday

For the first time in a number of weeks, we didn't have a swim meet or anything to get up early for on Saturday morning. Of course I was on call last night so I did get up early, but when I got home, everyone was still there either sleeping or playing quietly (Eric and Natalie). I decided to go ahead and make the traditional chocolate chip banana pancakes and turkey bacon. Here Eric is staring intently at the bag of chocolate chips on the counter. He looked so cute with his head on his folded arms that I had to take a picture.

He has been so attached to this stuffed dog lately. I posted another picture on this blog earlier in the week. He carries M the dog everywhere. Here, Anthony put the dog on the sofa so she could "watch" Eric eat some lunch. The dog totally looks like she's watching him, doesn't she?

Eric has also been doing more things "by myself", from picking out and putting on his clothes, to getting his own milk cup from the refrigerator. If we try to help he gets upset. Here he decided to get his own cheese stick while I was cutting up his hotdog. I took a picture as future proof of his climbing into the refrigerator. I really only mind when he gets into the freezer because he's not very fast and I'm worried that everything will defrost. We're encouraging the independence up to a point. I just wish he would be independent-minded enough to use the potty by himself!

Three of the four kids had friends over today. Here Natalie is reading with her friend from down the street. AR's mom and I joked about how we paid $100 (swim team fee) for our kids to meet each other, even though they just live around the corner. They have family in Mexico and they'll be leaving for a 3 or 4 week visit on Tuesday. Natalie has been trying to play with AR a lot before she leaves.

What else did we do today--watch the World Cup of course! We were disappointed that Ghana defeated the US today, but it was still fun to watch the game. Anthony's good friend AO spending the night. At the time I took this picture, Alex also had a friend AE who was sitting out of view of this photo.

Tonight Patrick and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. We went to the Lodge Restaurant that we've gone to for the past couple of anniversaries. Our actual anniversary was last Sunday but because of Father's Day/ Alex's birthday, we moved the celebration to tonight. I took pictures of all of the entrees this time (except for the one I forgot) and I'll try to post that in the next day or two. Tomorrow Natalie has her last swim meet of the summer.