Adjusting to Daily Life

We're back to the school daily grind. No more reminiscing about our Boston trip. Eric and Natalie go back and forth to school on the bus every day. Patrick takes Alex to school in the morning, and I take him home after work.

Of course this first week didn't exactly follow that pattern since I was off work on Monday and I had to work late on Tuesday, so Patrick picked up Alex on both of those days. Alex has also started ramping up his social schedule again. He stayed after school on Tuesday to go to a pep rally for the first football games of the season. Tonight Patrick drove him to the football game on Thursday night. He has been swamped with homework from day one, so I hope that's been a nice break for him. Patrick really misses our extra driver, aka Anthony.

I took this picture of Eric on Wednesday. I found this Darth Vader battery-operated toothbrush on one of our many trips to Target, so of course I had to get it for him. It's a bit cumbersome since you have to keep pressing the red button to make it turn on, but he loves it since he currently loves Star Wars, even if he has to use two hands to operate it.

I've been holding it together since dropping Anthony off at school, but I started really missing him on Wednesday night when he said he didn't want to come home during his Midterm Break at the end of October. I work with the mother of one of his high school friends and on Thursday, we commiserated with each other. It doesn't help that Anthony isn't very descriptive about his life. On Tuesday, I asked him if he was making friends. He texted me back this picture. He was apparently in one of the common rooms on the second floor of his dorm, one of the girls' floors. At least a picture is worth a thousand words. Although I was still left wondering who all of these people were, at least this was better than his standard one word answer--"Yes".

One of our good friends, Gary, texted me on Wednesday about how he enjoyed a line from one of my previous blog posts about how I am now my mother by wrapping up cookies for Anthony. He told me, "She would be proud!" He also asked how I was doing, because his daughter also just left for college and she decided not to come home for the Labor Day weekend. He was also having a tough time coping with her absence. I texted him back, "We raised independent children, right Gary?" He replied, "We did and not it is biting us. LOL." Yes, we raised independent children and we are happy for them. We just have to make some adjustments of our own.

A Visit to the City of Boston

Today I'm going to share a few photos from our day trip to the City of Boston. Our main reasons for going to the Boston area was to visit family and to take Anthony to college, but I also wanted to do a little sightseeing.

Lisa drove us there on Friday afternoon and boy were we glad she drove. The streets are crazy! She also knew some ways to cut down on some of the traffic plus give us a more scenic view. One of the places she wanted to take us was Boston Common. Boston Common is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. (Info from Wikipedia) Braeden loved being outside and being able to look at birds, dogs, and trees. I took this photo of one of the entrances and I love the contrast between the modern skyline in the background and the lush trees in the foreground. Boston is definitely not in the middle of a drought like we are, back home in San Antonio.

We saw a lot of beautiful classic architecture also. There were especially a lot of grand old churches, almost on every block we walked. I wanted to show this particular photo because of the contrast between the old and the new. This is Trinity Church, that was founded in 1733, located in the Back Bay of Boston. We actually walked into the church, but they charged an entrance fee, so we decided that we weren't that interested in seeing the inside, plus Braeden really preferred being outside anyway.

Also found in the Boston Common was a special exhibit. I copied and pasted the following blurb from the Boston Globe:

“Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet” has landed in Boston. The public art project, for which artists designed globes with green strategies to contend with environmental issues, originated in Chicago in 2007 and has traveled the world. The globes, 48 in all, can be found at sites such as the Esplanade, Copley Square, and Logan Airport. The Common is globe central, with 26."

Braeden really thought the globes were cool, especially since he loves balls. He wanted to touch each and every one. As he approached a globe, he would reach his arm out as if to try to reach the globe from his stroller. Lisa would get him up really close, he would touch the globe, then he would quickly pull his hand back as if to say, "I'm done with that one. On to the next one." Amazingly, he seemed to recognize when he had not yet touched a particular globe, because we came back by some of the ones he had already touched, and he didn't extend his hand out to those at all, but instead to the ones beyond that he had not yet touched. Smart kid. :)

Lisa wanted to get a picture by this baseball globe, since Derek is such a big baseball fan. They even got Anthony a Boston Red Sox T-shirt as a "Welcome to Boston" gift. I hope we get many more chances to visit Boston in the coming years. We can explore some of the many other sites that we missed during this quick trip to the city.

First Hello

This is my nephew Braeden. This isn't the best picture I have of him, but this is the best one showing his cute little expression with his tongue sticking out. I met him for the first time when we went to the Boston area to drop Anthony off at school. Patrick's sister Lisa lives in the area, and she let us stay at her house. Braeden was born last April, and we haven't been able to take a trip up there to meet him. Anthony and Patrick met him this past April when they visited WPI. Natalie is anxious to meet him too, but we couldn't take her on this trip.

We got to Boston on Wednesday evening (Aug. 21st) and we headed to Lisa's house. We also got to meet Derek's children from his first marriage, Griffin, Teagan, and Sydney. They're all such beautiful children. We didn't spend too much time with them because they went away for the weekend with their mom Amy. She seemed nice too, and between her and Derek, I could totally see why they're such beautiful children.

This is a picture of Braeden during our short sightseeing trip to Boston. I'll post some other pictures later. I love that wave! Braeden was a bit clingy towards his parents, especially his father. He would start crying whenever they left the room. At one point on Friday, Lisa had to get some work done from home, so Patrick, Anthony, and I spent time with Braeden in the basement. He was very upset at first but then started playing with one of his toys. He started getting tired and was laying on the ground. We were afraid to pick him up for fear that he would start crying again. Patrick got a bottle for him and Braeden allowed Patrick to hold him while feeding him the bottle. Score! Later, Anthony played with him quite a bit and he warmed up to Anthony. I have a cute video of Braeden and Anthony playing with balls. He still cried whenever his parents left the room, but at least he started showing us some smiles!

Lisa, Braeden, and Lisa's husband Derek live about a half hour away from WPI. They have already told Anthony that he has a "home away from home" there with them. They told him several times to give them a call when he wants a home-cooked meal or when he wants to get away.

I'm glad that not only does Anthony have some family nearby but also I'm glad that we have an excuse to see Lisa and her family more often. That next visit might be really soon, though, because I thought I was holding it together, but today I started really missing my biggest boy!

Early Move-in Day

The move-in day for freshman at WPI was on Sunday, August 25th. Luckily, we were able to request to move in on Saturday, August 24th, instead. If we had known about being about being able to move in early before we got plane tickets, our weekend might have been a little more relaxed. Still, it was much easier moving in on Saturday than Sunday, because there was no one around on Saturday and we could park right in front of Anthony's dorm and make multiple trips to get more items for his room.

This is Anthony's corner of the room that he shares with three other boys. He picked the one corner with the two windows on two sides. The other beds had either one of the windows or none at all. We were surprised at how dirty and dusty his room was when we moved in. The school website says that they take care of cleaning the bathrooms and common areas but not the individual rooms. We at least expected that they would clean the rooms before the kids moved in. That did not appear to be the case. Patrick's brother-in-law Derek got Anthony a few cleaning supplies (paper towels, Clorox wipes, Lysol cleaner, and a dustpan and brush). We got him a small vacuum cleaner and some Swiffer dust cloths. We needed them all. The community bathroom (two for each floor) was located right across the hall to Anthony's room since he is on the end (Room 101), and that was filthy too.

When we got there, the dresser you see under his bed was in the closet. We decided to move it out to make more room to actually hang stuff in the closet. I realized later that I didn't take a picture of the closet. Maybe Anthony will have to send that picture to me another time. I didn't realize how many clothes Anthony actually had until I saw them in the dresser and the closet. That's after purging a bunch of stuff when he packed up his bedroom at home. We bought him three packs of 18 plastic hangers and he used them all, including hanging most of his T-shirts. It was interesting to see his roommates hang up a few flannel shirts and such. Anthony may have to make room when he buys some cold weather clothing. He really doesn't have any now, and August in San Antonio is not a good time and place to buy cold weather clothing, so he will buy them in Boston when the time comes.

This is a view of Anthony's desk area under his bed. He is not actually sleeping, of course. I just wanted a photo of him in his bed and he decided that he would pretend he was asleep. The beds were all very squeaky, so hopefully he will get used to that noise when they are all in there sleeping.

We got him a plastic drawer cart for his school supplies (under his desk) and another one for cleaning supplies and extra toiletries to put in his closet. That lamp on his desk is new as well. That was one of the suggested items that students should bring to campus. Anthony said he didn't need one, but he is just not used to being at a desk. He also displayed a couple of stuffed animals (one from a friend and one from his cousins for graduation), his DATA wooden statue from graduation at his magnet school, and a wooden lizard that he bought in the Bahamas when we were there for Spring Break last March. He also has a small set of plastic drawers for smaller supplies such as pencils, pens, scissors, and such.

There is a wireless internet system on campus, but the IT guys were there on Sunday also connecting the students up to wired internet. The one good thing about moving in on Sunday would have been that there were lots of people to carry stuff into the dorm instead of the multiple trips we made to and from the car.

This building has one of the cafeterias that they can eat at, Morgan Hall, and this is where we ate on Sunday for lunch. When we got there on Sunday, we met his roommates and their parents. Each roommate also had one sibling with them--I didn't ask if they had more siblings. There were students and parents everywhere. These pictures would not have been possible. One roommate brought a refrigerator and another brought a microwave. The dad of the third one seemed to be planning on buying a second refrigerator because he didn't think the one would be enough for the four boys. One boy brought a bunch of snacks--peanuts, popcorn, etc. Anthony didn't want me to buy a bunch of snacks for him. I guess he's not that much of a snacker anyway. He did accept two bags of Dove chocolates, though, one cookies and cream and one caramel. Lunch was "all you can eat" for Patrick and me, so I grabbed some cookies and brownies and wrapped them up in the napkins you see on Anthony's lap in this picture. I have officially turned into my mother. ;)

All of his roommates are from the Northeast--one from about 20 minutes away, another from Connecticut, and the third from Rhode Island (I think). I guess I wasn't as chatty as I should have been and gotten the whole scoop while I was there. When the parents heard where Anthony was from they all said, "Wow, that's far." Yes, it is.

I'll post more pictures from our trip tomorrow.

First Day of School 2013

We've had quite the busy last few days. Patrick and I just got back very late last night from Boston. We had a little scare. Our first flight from Boston to St. Louis was delayed by an hour, but thankfully, they held our second flight from St. Louis to San Antonio until we could get there (they waited for seven other people also). I would have been very upset if I had missed the kids' first day of school!

We set the alarm for 6am since Eric needs lots of time to eat breakfast. For some reason, the alarm didn't go off, and we didn't wake up until 6:15 or so. I sat next to Eric to remind him to keep eating and it worked out. He had his clothes already ready and he didn't take a long time to brush his teeth. We were a little surprised he didn't choose a dinosaur shirt, but he has so many shirts that it's nice he seems to like most of them. We both took him to the bus stop.

Eric's friend Liam was there at the bus stop. Liam used to be in Eric's PreK class in daycare because Liam is a big boy. He is a few months younger than Eric, however, and was just starting Kindergarten this year. Liam was not too happy about being there. Eric, on the other hand, was relaxed and excited and talking animatedly with his friend John Daniel, who is also our neighbor and who is going into the third grade. There was only one other little girl at the bus stop this morning. We think that most of the kids were driven to school today.

No problems at all on the first day for Eric. He got off the bus okay this afternoon and for the first time, when I asked him if he had learned anything today in school, instead of saying, "Yes" he said, "No." I told him that was okay for the first day since he and his teacher were just getting to know each other. He had Rainbow Sherbet for an after school snack and proceeded to play Dinosaur Star Wars upstairs in the game room.

Natalie was next. Eric's bus picked him up at 7:04am (scheduled) and Natalie's bus was supposed to get to the same bus stop at 7:31am. She has to wear a uniform to school this year. Apparently they can wear a "spirit shirt" any time also, but she didn't get to buy one last week when she was in Cub Camp since we weren't around to give her money. So, she wore her white polo shirt today and some of the other kids at the bus stop wore their "spirit shirts".

I was surprised when we were shopping for school uniforms and she picked out skorts to wear to school instead of shorts. We got her a couple of pairs of shorts too, but for this girl that doesn't usually wear skirts or dresses, skorts were a surprise. Natalie thankfully let me take pictures of her this morning. As a concession to her, I did not wait with her at the bus stop and I only took one picture of her at the bus stop, really before the other kids got there. I also did not meet her at the bus stop this afternoon. She's been able to walk the short distance to our house from the bus stop for a year now, so I figured she would be okay.

Alex is happy he doesn't have to wear a uniform this year. Patrick questions Alex's choice in footwear often, but I like that he knows what he likes and that he has his own style. Interestingly, he took Natalie's old Libby Lu drawstring bag to school today. I guess it went with his pink shoes.

He had to get another student ID today. When he went to a movie with Grandma and the other kids last week, he thinks he left his wallet at the movie theatre. He took it upon himself to call the theatre, but of course they said they didn't have it. He texted Patrick about this, but of course we couldn't do much from where we were. Luckily Alex didn't have much money in there, but he also lost his Fiesta Texas season pass.

Oh, and another note about his facial expression in this picture. He willingly went outside with me so I could take the picture, but he wanted to look serious in the photo. That was fine with me, he's a cutie either way. :)

Both Natalie and Alex spent a couple of hours in an "advisory period" at the beginning of school where they straightened out schedules and such. The first day of school doesn't usually involve a lot of actual class work, although apparently Alex already has homework.

We gave them their choice for dinner and they chose Chipotle--easy enough. We ordered through their phone app and Patrick picked it up. The order was ready and already paid for when he got there. Hopefully the rest of this first week will go as uneventfully. I'll try to blog about our Boston trip in the next few days.

It Happened

Yes, it happened, Natalie got braces again. When she got braces the first time, it was to correct a more immediate bite problem. One of her upper incisors on both sides were turned inward and situated behind the lower corresponding incisors, to the point that the lower incisors were rubbing the upper incisors--not conducive to good tooth health. She had a reprieve for a year or so, while permanent teeth grew in, but now she has to have them again. She had spacers put in last week and today (Tuesday--when I wrote this blog post) she had the upper braces placed. She'll have the lower braces placed later, but for now, she won't let me take a picture of more of her face than this. She has red and blue rubber bands in place, her choice. Her teeth have been sore today, so we indulged her with a chocolate shake when she finished at the orthodontist's office. She had refried beans and flour tortillas this evening instead of Tampiquena (flank steak) because she said it hurt more to chew something harder.

Yes, it happened, Natalie is finally taller than Grandma. Grandma has always been just a hair shorter than five feet tall. Patrick "blames" her for the fact that he is shorter than his father. She "held him back". When we first saw Grandma and Grandpa after Patrick picked them up from the airport, it looked like Natalie still had an inch or so to go--then I realized that Grandma was wearing shoes and Natalie was only wearing socks. Grandma was a little reluctant to take her shoes off for the "official" photo comparing their heights, but she did it and the result is shown this photo. Natalie is just a little taller than Grandma. Also notice the silly photo bomber in the background.

Lastly, yes, it happened. We are taking Anthony to the Boston area to where he will be going to college--class starts on Thursday next week (August 29). By the time you see this, we will hopefully have landed in Boston and are getting acquainted with my youngest nephew. We still have things to get--toiletries and snacks and other miscellaneous stuff. One roommate is apparently bringing a refrigerator and one is bringing a microwave.

This is a cute picture of the little ones hanging onto Anthony and goofing off with him today. I will miss that big goof.

Today, Patrick had a talk with him about how this is a brand-new experience that might seem a little scary, which is normal and okay, but we're proud of him and that he'll be fine. I'm not sure if Anthony needed that pep talk or not, but the internet and communications with texting and Face Time/Skype will allow us to stay close even from so far away. Maybe I needed that pep talk more than Anthony did?

Krispy Kreme Trip with Eric

If you're on Facebook, you may have seen these photos already, but I thought I would add a little more journaling here on my blog. This past Sunday, Eric and I took a mother-son trip to Krispy Kreme. I like Krispy Kreme, but Patrick doesn't. Natalie was sleeping over at a friend's house or I might have taken her too. The big boys were still asleep, of course. This became a nice excuse to spend a little one-on-one time with my youngest child.

He wanted two of the chocolate iced donuts. He is used to getting two full-size donuts every Sunday. I got the chocolate iced vanilla custard filled donut. We also got him some chocolate milk. I gave him his choice of where to sit and he chose the comfy chairs instead of one of the tables. That meant that I spread napkins all over his lap and made sure he had plenty of napkins to wipe his hands on. He ate it all except for the last quarter donut because he was "full". We then watched them make donuts while we waited for the restroom.

I saw the pile of Krispy Kreme hats, so I put one on his head. He said, "Take a picture." Ah, at lest one of my children doesn't mind getting his picture taken yet. He has the sweetest smile and the cutest dimples! We went outside to leave, and he pointed to my phone and said, "Why don't you put that picture on Facebook?" This boy is hilarious! I told him that I had put the first picture on Facebook. He said, "Well, you could still put the other picture of Facebook, too." I didn't learn until later, when I was telling this story to Alex, that apparently Eric asks him to post things on Facebook all the time. Isn't it remarkable when the six-year-olds are so used to social media that even when they aren't yet old enough to post on those sites, they ask their family members to?

I remember when I used to take Eric on mother-son trips to Starbucks. We don't get to do those trips anymore since he started school. My in-laws are here and Patrick and I are taking the biggest boy to college tomorrow. Where does time go?

Alex Style

I don't usually post here about Alex. He has been busy all summer spending time with his friends. His personal chauffeur, Anthony, will be leaving for college this week, and Alex will really miss him--until he moves into Anthony's old bedroom next month. Alex doesn't usually allow pictures of himself. He is very good at detecting cameras pointed in his direction, even better than Natalie. So, when I told him I wanted to take a picture of his shoes, his face lit up, and I was a little surprised. He even laid them all out for me. These aren't even all of his shoes. He has some running shoes and soccer cleats--"regular shoes" as he put it.

He spends any available money he has on shoes and clothes. He has made some other questionable purchases, but those we won't discuss here. Here is his shoelace collection. He has encouraged his sister to show some personality with colorful shoelaces as well. He also has some colorful belts, socks, and hoodies to match his shoes. Right now he still shares a room with his six-year-old brother, who takes up most of the closet with his clothes, toys, etc. Alex can hardly wait to move into his own room.

As I mentioned yesterday, Anthony still needed some jeans and shoes after our shopping trip yesterday. Alex also asked if I would buy him a pair of shoes. Our first stop at the mall today was Journeys, a shoe store. It was interesting to see how Alex knew exactly what he wanted and what colors would be available. I taught him a few months ago about looking online to see what products are available and at what cost, so he could make his money stretch a little further.

Anthony had no clue what shoe he wanted, only that he wanted a pair like he was wearing--black leather Converse All-Stars. He wandered around in the Journeys shoe store and didn't even pick up any shoes. He looked at pretty much every pair of black sneakers at the Vans shoe store until he found a pair that he liked almost as much as the worn out pair on his feet.

A similar thing happened at JCPenney. Alex went to the table where they had the exact jeans that he wanted. He knew he wanted the Levi's 508 jeans and he knew he wanted the khaki color in 29x30 or 30x30. Anthony did at least know that his jeans were a size 29x32, but he didn't know that the last couple of pairs that I bought him were the Levi's 527. This is the reason why I keep a photo of the last pair of jeans that I bought him on my phone. He also couldn't find his size, but all I did was pick up one pair and the right size was underneath. At least we were able to find him a pair of jeans today. Size 29x32 wasn't readily available, but we got lucky. They didn't have Alex's size in the color he wanted. Yes, they are different, but I love them both. :)

So, one pair of shoes each for Alex and Anthony and one pair of jeans for Anthony. I also bought Alex some bright-colored socks at Foot Locker. I spent a total of $250. Ouch! Patrick also went out just a little while ago and bought Alex some new running shoes and soccer cleats for another $100. It's expensive buying men's clothes and shoes!

Prepping for College

The boys are taking a little breather here in this photo after Anthony was cleaning out his room today, or in other words, packing. Eric is playing his newest obsession, Plants vs. Zombies 2, on Anthony's phone. Alex is enjoying his "new" iPhone 4 (my old one). Patrick and I found it interesting that Alex was the one that pointed out to Anthony only YESTERDAY that he should start packing! We're leaving Wednesday morning!

Anthony has been enjoying his summer doing new things and seeing his friends as much as he can before they start school (some start this coming week) and before he leaves. Earlier this summer he went on a two-day/one-night beach trip with a large group of friends. This week he went on his first camping trip ever with a group of friends (Thursday through Saturday). I was lucky to get this picture from him. I asked him if he was having fun and if he knew when he would be back (on Saturday). He replied "Yes, no." That is his typical wordy answer. I reminded him to take pictures, so he sent me this one. I had to laugh at his serious expression and I asked him if he was trying to look serious or angry. He replied, "Seriangry." I love that boy. I keep bugging him about taking more pictures. I'm happy to get whatever I can get.

About a month or so ago, I asked him if he needed more underwear or socks. I still remember being in college and doing my own laundry. I wanted enough underwear and socks so I wouldn't have to do laundry as often. At that time, Anthony replied, "No, I'm fine." This week Patrick called me and said, "Anthony needs more underwear and socks! Some of it isn't in good shape and he just needs more underwear and socks!" Great--we're down to the week before he leaves for college and we have to shop. I was going to get those things on the way home from work, so Anthony texted me the brand and size of his boxer shorts, "Fruit of the Loom. It says size small." Ok, that cracked me up because he didn't even know what size underwear his wears, since he has never bought his own, of course. He had to look and "It says size small." I didn't end up getting them that day, so he still needed them. Oh, and I also asked him at least a month or two ago if he needed more clothes--shorts, jeans, shirts, etc.

Today, finally today, Patrick made him sit down to make a list of things he wanted to get for college. That list included one more pair of jeans, some T-shirts, and shoes. Of course, underwear and socks were on that list. Sigh. So, today we went to Target and bought $200 worth of T-shirts (5 or 6), boxer shorts (3 packs of at least 5), socks (two packs of 6), a pair of shorts, a plaid long-sleeve button down shirt, and two white T-shirts for Alex. We didn't find jeans or shoes at Target, so we've planned another shopping trip tomorrow, to the mall this time. After we bought all of that, Anthony turned to me, smiled, and said, "Thank you, Mama." Of course I smiled back and said, "Of course. I just wish you would go shopping when I want to go shopping."

So, meanwhile, Anthony is finding things in his dresser drawers like eyeglasses he hasn't worn in years--like one of his first pairs when he was five years old. There was even a pair of broken eyeglasses in there. Does this boy ever clean out his drawers? The answer to that question is obviously "no".

I made dinner tonight (enchilada casserole) and we ate at home after church. I also made some brownies, which I haven't done since before the old oven broke. I had a brownie with bananas, vanilla ice cream, and some chocolate syrup on top. The boys liked that idea but wanted to really go over the top, so they made the concoction in this picture. They had the brownies and bananas plus they put a Magnum bar in the middle and at least two scoops each of Cookies & Cream and Dulce de Leche for Anthony and Mint Chocolate Chip and Dulce de Leche for Alex, and they topped that all off with chocolate syrup. It was almost too much for even Anthony, although he finished his. Alex had no trouble at all finishing his. Then they both sat down to play on the PS3. When I reminded Alex that he still needs to complete his summer assignment for school, he said, "But I'm spending time with my brother who is about to go off to college." Oh well, how could I argue with that. They are both very different, but I love that they enjoy a lot of the same things.

I was at a party last night where people asked me about Anthony going off to college. Every time I replied that I was fine now, but I wasn't sure how I will do when I have to walk away. That time is coming soon. Wish me luck.

Anthony and His Chair

We got Anthony a laptop when he first entered high school, because he needed it for his schoolwork. He used to hang out in his "cave", as Patrick calls Anthony's bedroom, but I convinced him to come out to the living room because then we could at least see him and interact a little with him. He settled into one of the reclining chairs, the one placed to the left of the fireplace. Now that we got him a new laptop for college, he uses the reclining chair to the right of the fireplace, because the power plug is on the opposite side on this laptop as on his previous one. Sometimes he multi-tasks, like reads Reddit on his iPhone while listening to music while something else is on his computer. He was sitting in that corner when we had fourteen 10-12 year old girls over for Natalie's party. The noise didn't seem to bother him at all (probably because he had his earphones in).

He watches videos on his computer, plays games, skypes with his friends, etc. Our Netflix and Hulu Plus subscriptions have been well worth the price we pay for them. Once in while, when school was still in session, he would even help friends with their homework/schoolwork using Skype. Since school ended, he has been on the computer almost continuously, when he isn't out with his friends. He also sits in the reclining chair when he plays on the PS3 (as does Alex), except that he moves it to the center of the room in that case. When I took this particular picture, he was playing on the PS3 while his good friend Alejandro was also playing on HIS PS3, and they were communicating through Skype at the same time. I am still amazed at how easily kids integrate technology into their everyday lives!

Of course, Anthony isn't the only one that is "plugged in". After folding a bunch of laundry (see that stack on the coffee table), Anthony settled into his chair and got on his computer. Eric has his own "chair", a present from his godfather. That little boy has become quite iPad-obsessed this summer. He will miss it once school starts. The iPad does have some educational value, at least. What other six-year-old can spell "Invincible T-Rex"?

At least Patrick and I can rest knowing that Anthony does other things besides be on the computer (just not as much). When Alejandro spent the night this past week, they apparently decided to eat ice cream and Pop Tarts together. Apparently it was an idea they got from the Internet, not surprisingly, and they had good things to say about the concoction. Patrick and I already know that we will have lots of leftovers when Anthony is away at college. The other kids won't eat leftovers.

Even though Anthony was in his little corner for most of the summer, quiet and almost part of the furniture, we will definitely miss his presence this coming school year. I'm starting to get sentimental about everything. Wish me luck next week when we drop him off!

Four Sleepovers in a Row

This is a picture of my two nieces, Emily and Aly, finally getting to eat their marshmallow Minions. We saved these two specifically for them, and they were pretty excited about eating them.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Natalie had two of her friends sleepover the night of the party, Friday night. Aspen and Ally are two of her friends on Team Beijing, which is her particular swim group in club swimming. When I tried to tell them to get ready for bed, one of them, Ally, asked, "Why, we're not going to sleep yet?" They were determined to stay up until at least 11pm, which is when Aspen's mom said she had to go to sleep, and they did just that.

Aspen had to go home at 10:30 the next morning, because her grandparents were in town visiting, but we asked Ally to stay over one more night. We didn't use to do this, but Alex has "broken us in" with his multiple day sleepovers. Ally's mom was shocked that I would want her daughter to stay with us that long and asked if I was sure. I didn't mind and she lives way across town, so I didn't want her mom to have to drive over so soon.

My niece Emily arrived on Saturday afternoon, along with her mother Melissa. My sister Cynthia arrived a short time later with my nephew Nick. My other niece Aly arrived with her father later that night. They had been visiting relatives elsewhere. So, on Saturday night, Natalie had four girls (including herself), sleeping in her room. They were getting along so well, though, that I enjoyed watching them interact. This is a picture of them on Sunday morning playing Twister. Emily was the super player who won pretty much every game. Aly was the tough one who hung in even when they called it a draw between her and Emily. Natalie was usually the first one to lose her balance. Poor Ally broke her elbow a couple of months ago and couldn't straighten it, so she never made it very far and ended up being the one doing the spinning.

Ally went home at about noon on Sunday. Next, I had made plans a couple of weeks ago for Natalie's friend Maya to sleep over. Natalie and Maya have been friends since they were in day care at six weeks old. Maya had been as busy or busier in her Taekwondo competitions as Natalie has been with her swimming competitions this summer, so they haven't spent any time at all together. In fact, Maya was in a competition that weekend in Dallas, which is the reason why she didn't make it to Natalie's birthday party. Maya got first place in sparring and second place in XMA Forms there--yay, Maya!

So, Maya came over soon after arriving back home. She spent the night over on Sunday night. My family all left, except that my sister Melissa, Aly and Emily all stayed in town at the local Marriott Hill Country Resort--so not too far away. This is a picture of Natalie and Maya at the Longhorn Cafe. We went there to eat dinner after church on Sunday evening. The two of them were definitely very quiet and asleep by about 10:30pm.

Maya spent most of the day with us on Monday, and went home just before Natalie had her orthodontist appointment. She had spacers put in with braces to follow. For one last sleepover, Patrick dropped off Natalie with her aunt and cousins on Monday night. This is a posed picture that the girls allowed Melissa to take. I love it because it shows how goofy they can get when they're together. Natalie again went to bed too late, but at least she was starting to sleep a little later. She came home on Tuesday afternoon, when Melissa and the girls were going home.

Natalie's friend Aspen actually texted her on Monday to ask if she could spend the night at Aspen's house on Tuesday. This time we had to say "no", with the promise that she could do that another time. Four sleepovers in a row makes for a grumpy, grouchy Natalie. No one needs that!

Natalie's 11th Birthday Party

As if she didn't spend enough time in the water with her swim team practices, Natalie requested a pool party for her birthday. She invited 20 girls--no boys because, as she put it, if she invited boys, she would have to make sure more than one came, and basically, that would complicate things. We had originally planned on having the party on Saturday, but I made a mistake on the Evite invitations. We didn't realize until this past Tuesday, August 6th that I had made this mistake, when we went out to dinner with friends and they pointed it out to us. We already had a dozen girls reply "yes" by then, so we felt like we had to go ahead with the Friday party. Luckily, I had Thursday and Friday off, so I was able to do all of my prep stuff.

The party started at about 3pm. We weren't at the pool for more than about half an hour when Eric discovered that one of the pool lights was out of place with an exposed connection. The father of one of the girls was there. He works at the Natatorium where Natalie swims, and he advised that we get all of the girls out of the pool because of the possible electrical hazard. That is not what you want to hear when you've planned a pool party. We had eight girls by then. They all went into the baby pool instead, along with Eric, the brother of one of the girls, and another little girl who was probably about 3-years-old that was just there to enjoy the baby pool. I thought that no matter what, the girls would make their own fun, but it wouldn't be nearly as fun in the baby pool as the big pool.

There was another neighborhood resident there, and she suggested calling the guy who is in charge of our neighborhood pool. He came and checked out the light and told us it was safe to get back into the pool. He even got some tools and fixed that light so it would stay in place. Hooray--the party was saved!

Now, Natalie had invited two fairly distinct groups of girls to this party--her friends from club swimming and her friends from school and the neighborhood. They tended to split into their own group, so at one point, Patrick mixed them up to play a little game. We had gotten these "mini-water blasters (like water guns) for party favors and the girls used them to propel two beach balls across the pool to see who would get to the other side of the pool first. Patrick did a great job choosing the teams, because the contest ended up pretty much in a tie.

We brought bags of chips, water bottles, and juice boxes to the pool for the kids. The mother of one of the girls is functionally a single parent because her husband works in another city and only comes home every few months. She stayed to chat plus she brought her 8-year-old son. That was wonderful because then Eric had someone to play with too. Anthony and Alex actually came by the pool for a few minutes, but some of the girls made sounds like they didn't want any boys at the party. They weren't even in swimsuits anyway, so we packed up the birthday gifts and Anthony and Alex took them home with them.

This is the group photo I took of the 12 girls that played with Natalie at the pool. Even here you can see the six girls on the left are club swimming friends and the six girls on the right are school/neighborhood friends. We had two more come--one just as we were leaving the pool, and one when we got back to the house. We had planned on being at the pool for only about two hours, but the girls really didn't want to leave and we didn't get back until almost an hour later than planned.

The girls changed into dry clothes, then they all sat down in the living room while Anthony got the movie Despicable Movie going on the TV. I popped probably 7-10 bags of microwave popcorn during the first part of the movie and they kept asking for more. The girls got popcorn all over the living room. The girls all raved about the Minion marshmallows and wanted to eat them right away, but I made them wait until after they had pizza. They loved the marshmallows and the cupcakes--those were worth my time and effort, definitely.

The guests started leaving at 8pm and they were all gone by about 8:30pm, except for two of the guests, Aspen and Ally, who stayed for a sleepover. Natalie has never had a sleepover with them before, so this was important to her. Alex helped clean up the wrapping paper materials and popcorn on the floor so his sister could play with her friends. Anthony had helped a lot earlier. In all, Patrick and I thought this party went pretty smoothly. Natalie was very excited and happy the whole day. That's why we went through all of this trouble, after all.

Party Prep

This is a picture of Eric with his Christmas Minion, courtesy of Alex. Alex got this toy a while back and they found it while they were cleaning this week. Eric hasn't been separated from this Minion since, except for when he went to the pool for Natalie's party today. Patrick took all the kids to see the new Despicable Me 2 a few weeks ago, and Eric has been all about Minion since then, at least when he's not into Star Wars or dinosaurs, that is. He even put a Darth Vader mask on his Minion and called it Darth Minion.

I saw a couple of ideas for Minion treats on Facebook 2-3 weeks ago. Natalie had already asked for a pool party and then we talked about seeing a movie back at the house after the pool party. Because of the Minion party treats and because of the recent release of Despicable Me 2, I decided to make this a Minion-themed party with Minion treats and the first Despicable Me for our feature movie. Patrick and I figured that would be a fun movie that would be acceptable for all the kids and the parents.

This is a picture of a marshmallow covered with a candy coating (yellow candy melts). I used black writing gel and candy eyes for the eyes. There was supposed to be a strip of a blue Fruit Roll-up at the bottom, but I couldn't find any blue Fruit-Rollups, so I went for the plain version. Natalie and I had to make a run out to Michael's yesterday to buy the yellow candy melts and lollipop sticks. Our local grocery store had everything else. The marshmallows tended to be smushed into irregular cylinders right out of the package, so getting the candy coating even was challenging. They're not perfect, but they were a big hit! The girls all wanted to eat them as soon as they walked in and saw them. I managed to make them wait until they had pizza first.

I also made these Minion cupcakes. We decided on red velvet cupcakes for the base, since Natalie still LOVES red velvet cake. The Minion are Twinkies cut in half. The kids got excited even at the thought of having Twinkies. I used the same black writing gel and candy eyes as the Minion marshmallows, and I used individually placed chocolate sprinkles for the hair. The placement of the chocolate sprinkles actually didn't turn out to be as tedious as it sounds or as I thought it would be.

I ran into a bit of a mess when our kitchen got a bit hot from the oven being in use and such, and the cream cheese frosting started to melt a little and lose it's shape. I had to take breaks and put the cupcakes in the refrigerator to cool down the frosting. On some of them, I must have used too much of the black writing gel, because the candy eyes started slipping down. Natalie joked that it looked like the Minion didn't use waterproof mascara and it looked like the mascara was running down the Minion's face.

I wasn't terribly careful with my lines or the icing or any of that, but in all, I think they all turned out pretty well. The kids all oohed and aahed over the treats, as did the parents, definitely making this a worthwhile investment of my time. We planned on watching the first Despicable Me movie. More on the party itself with pictures tomorrow.

The Big Clean-up

At least once a year, Patrick gets the kids to go through the game room and get rid of broken or unwanted toys and reorganize what's left. They usually create a big mess while the process is going on. The deadline for this year is Natalie's birthday party tomorrow. This year she wants a pool party and then the kids are coming back to our house for a movie. That means the house needs to be clean.

This is a picture of some of the mess this morning. Eric is a blur because of the low light in there plus he is running towards me for a hug. He said he hadn't hugged me for "a while"--I think it had been about an hour or so. What a sweet boy. :)

Just remember that this process has been going on for about four days (since Monday and today is Thursday). Yes, they've been taking their time.

Part of the reason why this has been taking so long is that when the kids find old toys, they start to play with the old toys. Frankly, they were getting along well, so Patrick just let them play along with the cleaning. The Jenga in this picture is not an old toy, but it's definitely a favorite. Alex actually bought some extra sets so he could use them to build instead of actually playing the "game". Eric loves to build things and he especially loves to help his brothers build things.

Eric called me upstairs so I could see this. He and Alex had put together this 3D version of his name. They even taped a ruler to the side of the table to mark exactly where my eye had to be to see the "Eric" to be able to make sense of the bunch of blocks. Notice that some of the blocks are specifically placed a little behind. I thought that was pretty creative.

Also notice the Minion stuffed toy (a character from Despicable Me) on the table next to Eric.  He is constantly holding that stuffed toy since they found it a day or two ago. He's going to love the Despicable Me-themed food I'm making for Natalie's birthday party tomorrow. Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog post for pictures.

End of Summer Splash Swim Meet

I took a picture of Natalie jumping into the pool for a warmup swim today, and I'm tickled that it looks like she's rising up out of the water. Yesterday and today, she was in yet another swim meet, the End of Summer Splash meet. This one is a short course meet, and last year she was at this same meet as an unattached swimmer, her first "big" swim meet. She has come such a long way since then. Even with all of the meets she has been in this past year, this is still a very big meet. Someone said that there were over 600 swimmers at this meet. She only swam in four events last year, because she was just "getting used to it". This time she swam in six events assigned by her coach. She could have been in 10 events, but I'm guessing her coach wanted her to be at her best in these six events.

I missed yesterday's events because I was on call at the hospital. Luckily I got some sleep so I could at least pay attention to today's events. Of note, even though she knocked off so much time on her 200 IM on Saturday, Patrick commented to me about the fact that her breaststroke didn't look good. Her timing between her kick and her arms was off. That just means that she will do better in the future. She has been working very hard on all of her strokes, especially breaststroke to hopefully catch up to the other strokes. The meet results are as follows:

Saturday
100 yard Freestyle--1:09.80 (-6.74)
200 Yard IM--2:55.33 (-15.90)
100 Yard Fly--1:25.47 (+00.52)

Sunday
50 Yard Fly--33.86 (-2.05)
100 yard IM--1:21.53 (-5.84)
200 yard Freestyle--2:43.43 (-5.01)

This was our first meet at the new outdoor pool. It's a nice facility, but it's outside--it's hot outside in August! According to Patrick, yesterday was very disorganized. They started the meet 45 minutes late. They didn't have heat sheets for sale. Instead, they posted the heat sheets at various locations so people could go look up their child's events.

This is a picture of Eric at the start of yesterday's meet. They sold breakfast tacos and various "healthy" foods such as fruit and nuts. The meet was very long and they didn't leave until around 2pm. Natalie and the other swimmers were all in the sun by then. No wonder she didn't do well in her last race! Eric was such a trooper. He played on the iPad a bit, but also played with his dinosaurs. Anthony drove back from sleeping over at his friend Alejandro's house at about 1pm and picked up Eric to take him to lunch. They didn't even sell lunch at the concession stand!

Today went a bit more smoothly, including starting only about 15 minutes late. Patrick volunteered to be a timer today just so they would not have to wait as long looking for more timers. We were able to leave by about 12:30pm. Again, Natalie was not happy with her last race. She had an "A" time in the 200 Free during the long course season, and she wanted an "A" time for short course too. She still has high goals for herself.

Last year when Natalie was at this meet, the Olympics were going on and she had just watched a week of Olympic swimming. She wanted her name on her swim cap just like the Olympic swimmers, and both Patrick and her coach said that she would have to earn that. Well, this year she has a swim cap with her name plus "TAGS team" on it. She has really earned it.

National Cheesecake Day

July 30th was "National Cheesecake Day" according to The Cheesecake Factory. They advertised that you could get any slice of cheesecake for half the usual price on National Cheesecake Day. In addition, they offered a coupon through Facebook where you could get the half-price cheesecake on July 29th with the coupon. We figured that going at lunch would be less crowded than going to dinner. Since I had the day off on Monday the 29th, the timing was perfect. Alex was the only one missing since he would be at his PE Camp, but he usually doesn't care for cheesecake anyway.

I posted this photo on Facebook. We had to wait a few minutes for them to get our table ready, so Eric decided to use his big brother as a jungle gym. Anthony is very accommodating and didn't seem to mind Eric climbing on him. This position is always very tempting for me and for Natalie because we always want to tickle all that bare ticklish skin on Eric.

After we ate our lunch, we each ordered our own dessert. Anthony ordered the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut cheesecake, Natalie ordered the Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake, and I ordered the Kahlua Cocoa Coffee Cheesecake. Patrick was going to order his usual Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and share it with Eric. When the desserts arrived, however, Eric said he had wanted chocolate cake. Before we were seated, we were looking at the desserts and Eric had commented on a huge chocolate cake called the Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. Sure enough, that's the cake he wanted instead of the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. We figured we would have leftover desserts anyway, and in the end, we got half off each of the desserts, so we let him have his own piece of dessert. I posted this photo on Facebook also with the caption, "Happiness is a piece of chocolate cake bigger than your head." I have to give credit to Patrick--he was the one that said that when he saw the chocolate cake in front of Eric. That cake was seriously bigger than Eric's head!