Daddy-Daughter Dance and a Holiday

Patrick and Natalie arrived home with plenty of time to get ready for the Daddy-Daughter Dance at our local Lifetime Fitness gym. That was a good thing because Patrick needed to rest after driving for a total of around 5 hours--lots of traffic in and around Austin. Natalie had plenty of time to play Mario Kart for Wii, which seems to be a new obsession for all the kiddos--more on that later. She also needed plenty of time to find something to wear. She wore the same red dress to the last few dress-up occasions, a hand-me-down from her cousing Emily, so she wanted to wear something different. She settled on this dress (that can also be worn as a skirt) but the strap that was supposed to go around her neck did not seem secure and she was uncomfortable with that. I had to help her find a shirt that matched and then I had to find a big safety pin to hold it up securely. She looks pretty good in it, I think, but it's definitely not a winter-type outfit. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold outside.

I didn't hear too many details from the two of them, but Patrick said that the dance seemed more scaled down from last year. Last year they had lots of food and especially dessert, which included a chocolate fountain. No chocolate fountain this year. Natalie told me that she had some pasta with alfredo sauce. She did one craft activity, but she couldn't even remember what it was. There were only four activities total, according to Patrick. Natalie was only interested in watching the movie Tangled that they were playing after dinner. The only other comment Patrick made was that there were a lot more small children there rather than some older girls that they had last year.

Sunday was a bit of a blur. Anthony had his friend Alejandro over to spend Saturday night. That meant lots of PS3 games for the both of them. Natalie and Eric played more Mario Kart Wii. Alex also played but he also worked on his project for school due on Thursday. I'll post some more info on that tomorrow. Alex and Eric also built a fort in the game room again. We went to church at 5pm again and then out to dinner at Chili's. We all agreed that the kitchen at Chili's must have been having an off night. Everything tasted a bit blander than it has before and took a lot longer. Ice cream at Brindle's finished out our evening.

The big news for Sunday was that my cousin Rachael had her baby! I remember her when she was a baby so this made me feel a little old. I'm really happy and excited for her. Such a blessing! Her brother Chris' birthday was also on Sunday, so I joked with him about his birthday being forgotten with the arrival of his niece. He was pretty happy about his "birthday present".

This morning I came downstairs and Natalie and Eric were both already eating breakfast. She was eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch and he was eating Special K bars. I said, "You're already eating?" Natalie replied, "I thought maybe that you would make something but then I got hungry." I had already thought about treating the two to breakfast at Starbucks since it was a holiday today, so I asked them if they wanted to go there. They both raised their hands as if I was asking who wanted to go to Starbucks.

The big boys were still asleep, but the rest of us had a nice breakfast there. Natalie and Eric played lots of Mario Kart Wii today. Natalie got to go to her friend Maya's house and to her piano lesson. Alex finished his project with a little help from me. Anthony played lots of PS3 and also got to practice driving with Patrick. Tonight we let the little ones go to bed late because all four of the kiddos were playing Mario Kart Wii together. Patrick and I were listening to them all interacting--not always getting along but still playing together. It was a nice way to finish out the holiday weekend.